justice, the department of justice is rightly enforcing our nation's a antitrust laws to protect consumers. most lawmakers believe that once you hit this stage of the process, that it's for the courts to, for the courts to decide. and let the judicial process take its course. >> host: would sprint be okay if three major companies existed? at&t, verizon and sprint? a trioply instead of a duopoly? >> guest: a trioply, is that a new word? [laughter] we, obviously, think that a monopoly is the worst. a duopoly is very close to it. i'm not familiar with the term trioply -- [laughter] but we believe a strong sprint, a strong number three is good for consumers, good for competition and good for the economy. >> host: and finally from me, you also include spectrum in your lawsuit, the issue of spectrum. how does spectrum figure in to your lawsuit against at&t/t-mobile merger? >> guest: well, one of the reasons at&t said it sought to acquire t-mobile was because it needed the spectrum to provide improved services to its customers. but we've demonstrated at the fcc, and we think compellingly at the j

the departed justice -- the department of justice is very capable, and we have every confidence that they will prevail in court. but sprint has said from the very outset that this transaction would harm consumers and competition, and we filed suit to contribute our expertise and resources to prove that the transaction was illegal. >> also joining us this week is juliani grunwald of "the national journal." >> if you take a look at the doj's complaint, they have a very strong case, and we have full confidence in its ability to prevail. >> you mentioned some of the concerns that you and other critics of the deal have raised about it, citing competition, also raising the prices, impact on innovation. what impact would it physically have on sprint, on your company? >> the main concern have raised, both with the department of justice and the federal communications commission, is that if the transaction were allowed to go forward, there would be two companies, at&t, t- mobile, and horizon. those two companies, who are former bell companies, would create a duopoly, which could use its influe

>> more important i don't think the justice department has revised its thinking. i think the acting head of the antitrust division said recently that the department doesn't file lawsuits to settle. so we are not looking for any conditions, and if you take justice at its word, and we certainly do, they are not looking to impose conditions. they are looking to block the transaction. with the antitrust law -- >> can i just make a follow-up? >> if you were to reach a settlement with at&t would something like the condition ensuring that you have access at a regional rate would lessen the blow for you a little bit on this and make less? >> in the antitrust world, what you need to do is try to replace the competition in the transaction to eliminate, and just decreasing the price of that call for sprint and other wireless independent companies would not replace the competition taking the market and creating a duopoly really is the creation of a duopoly to companies with 80% controls of the market it's that kind of duopoly that's going to harm consumers and competition. >>

let me be clear the justice department is not our partner in this effort.t of this investigation. their continued interference will not be allowed to derail the committee's work. >> sean: house oversight committee report describes in great detail the type of interference incount ared -- encountered: >> it is no surprise that a former clinton official is getting clintonesque about his alibis and his rationalizations how this program got out of control. but but it is a case of parsing definitions and -- >> sean: now the question is whether holder's clinton-like evasion will help him as his former boss did in the 90s. >> there's a teflon counting around so many of the top obama officials. the question is for the american people will you allow that coating to stand after you know what has gone on? after you know the hell that brian terry and his family had to go through? when people decide in 2012 who they want running the white house they will decide if they want somebody like president obama who put eric holder in place. >> sean: we may not need to wait until

mentioned the other mergers because in some of those cases the first salvo, if you will, was the justice departmentthe regulator in some cases the f.c.c. saying if you meet certain conditions then we can talk about the merger. >> that's right. >> suarez: the department of justice announcement seemed a lot more categorical than that. like it wasn't open to massaging this deal before it goes forward. >> that was the most striking thing to come from both the press conference with antitrust officials and the complaint itself. the justice department said that in any way... in every way that it looked at the merger, every test that it posed that the merger actually failed to meet any of its antitrust standards. and the timing of the merger just a few months after it was announced, the merger was announced for the justice department to really kind of quickly come up with a lawsuit to block the deal really signaled to antitrust experts who are following this merger that the justice department does not want to find some sort of middle ground. that they really are serious about trying to block this deal. >>

the justice department sues to stop at&t's takeover of t- mobile, saying the deal would be bad for competition. >> betting against at&t is difficult, but on the merits we felt this deal faced a lot of challenges going in. >> susie: what now for at&t? we'll look at what today's action means for the entire wireless industry. it's "nightly business report" for wednesday, august 31. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thank you for joining us. the giant merger between at&t and t-mobile got disconnected today. the justice department filed a lawsuit to block the $39 billion deal, susie. >> susie: tom, the announcement surprised at&t and investors. but in the end, the government called the deal bad for consumers, saying today "price, quality and innovation would be diminished if the merger between the number two and number four wireless carriers took place." >> tom: toda

reporter: but at a 2009 conference at this washington hotel, says a new government audit, the justice departmentnt more than $16 apiece for muffins. and $10 each for brownies. examples, says the department's own inspector general, of wasteful and extravagant spending. at a 2007 conference in denver justice department organizers spent more than $5.50 each for cans of soda. in 2008 in san francisco they paid $32 a person for snacks consisting of cracker jack, popcorn and candy bars. at the same conference the amount spent for coffee came out to $1 an ounce, the same as this $25 bottle of california pinot noir. >> set an example like you would with your family. you wouldn't spend $16 for a muffin in your family. we shouldn't be doing it in the federal family. >> reporter: this report is a follow up to one four years ago after the justice department was caught paying $5 apiece for meatballs. conference planners say they sometimes paid more for food in return for getting hotel meeting rooms at no charge. though the report says they failed to see if paying for the room and finding another food source

i will tonight we have a true glimmer of hope and it comes from our country's justice department they might remember how many groups criticize the proposed thirty nine billion dollars eighty and merger it was announced this past march as anti-competitive as detrimental to consumers and owing all that criticism he went on the p.r. offensive claiming that it was going to bring thousands of jobs back to america as part of the deal but of course as an experience pointed out on yesterday's show eighteen he was trying to find ways to entice regulators to allow their massive merger. we know that the reason why they're sending jobs overseas is because they can get cheap labor but if they can make a sweet deal and get a profit off this merger then all right share will sweeten the deal will bring five thousand jobs back to the united states. so now in one of the more shocking developments of the year the government wasn't fooled the heads of eighteen t.n.t. mobil were slapped with a surprise anti-trust lawsuit yesterday from the justice department and a twenty two page suit was sent because the

merger that was all good so it's refreshing to see the justice department actually saw through at least one of the deals and decide to stop eight hundred eighty s. efforts so for the government's realization of these two companies as one major corporation would that for consumers that is a true glimmer of hope. now still ahead on tonight's show we have our thursday edition of show and tell and then it won't break you make strong a lawsuit is filed over two hundred fifty thousand unredacted diplomatic cables that have now been released on the internet all the cables revealed a deadly killing spree in iraq from hands of u.s. soldiers into the dive into that topic in just a month. into the only military mechanisms if you don't work to bring justice or accountability. i have every right to know what my government should do if you want to know why i pay taxes. but i would characterize the obama as a charismatic version of american exceptionalism. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for sleep you think you understand it and then a glimpse something else you hear see some other

is that a false statement from the department of justice? alse statement from the department of justice. they knew about this. i made reference to this in my first letter as they indicated, and the order came directly to an atf agent to make the sale. he had the money to make the sale. he bought the guns. he transferred them to another person of the underworld. that other person actually paid for for thmore for the guns thae taxpayers paid to buy the guns in the first place, and then they went to a storehouse, so the -- so everything else, as i said, which means the justice department is misleading in their answer to me. >> greta: you say misleading. is that just a polite way to say they're lying? let me read on in the letter. i actually have the documents. it goes on in the letter saying this. i also want to assure you, meaning you, sir, that the atf has made no attempt to retaliate against any of its agents regarding the matter. then i have an e-mail from a supervising atf agent which he's talking about you better be having fun and you'll g

issa is using words like stonewalling and obstruction to describe what he's getting from the justice department investigators say several hundred of those weapons are still out there unaccounted for. they fear the casualty list could climb and they're pressing hard for answers from justice. >> from one of the lead congressional investigators looking into the atf's fast and furious program, serious concerns about the justice department's inspector general. republican congressman darrell issa says this about the office tasked with the internal probe into the operation that allowed thousands of weapons purchased illegally to be carried into mexico. >> how would you describe the cooperation from the justice department right now? >> i'd describe it as stonewalling. in this case, the ig has compromised sensitive material that we've gained through discovery by making sure it got to one of the objects of our investigation. >> issa, head of the house oversight and government reform committee has sent a letter to cynthia snader. issa wants to know why her office prematurely gave audiotapes critical to th

later on some controversy arose inside the program in the justice department. we expanded that group of four into nine. we had the speaker, majority and minority leaders of the house and senate and have all of them and, brief them as well and then i went around at that point and asked them all at that.-- nancy pelosi was a member on, jay rockefeller, on the democratic side, asked them if they thought we should continue to program. they said absolutely. then i said, do you think we ought to go back to the congress with the additional legislative authority to continue to operate the way we are operating and they said, absolutely not. they were in a unanimous on both points. they were concerned if we went up and asked congress for a vote on the subject, that the fact that we were doing it would leak and we would in effect be telling the enemy we were reading their mail. so, it was well noticed in the congress. there was some controversy later on internally that the president dealt with but it was i am convinced a key part of our success in terms of preventing furt

the justice department signed up to it. these guys went out on our authority and collected intelligence we badly needed to have, and the next thing you know you gate change in administrations and the new crowd coming in says, we're going to prosecutor those guys who were responsible for carrying out those policies. well, i came here to aei at one point, about two years ago, and spoke on the subject. i will say the administration appears to have reversed course. all of those activities were investigated by career lawyers in the justice department at the tail end of the bush administration. it had all been looked at before to make sure it was copacetic, and the obama administration did finally -- and i think -- i hope the matter is now resolved. back off. and those people that frankly i think didn't deserve to be prosecuted. i don't think deserve to be decorate for the work they did for us that saved many, many lives. >> host: let's jump forward to that speech, which you say was may of 2001 here in aei and it was in part a cr

is the department of justice 100% cooperating with you? >> closer to 0% this is continued to be frustrating. as the mexican government tells us publicly they are being kept in the dark. we can't get information from the department of justice. we can only give information from whistle-blowers. and we are getting a lot. >> greta: why the justice department cooperating? >> we send communications, including subpoenas. this is one of those situations in which they haven't admitted they let guns walk even though there is no credible way to say they didn't let them walk, but let them run. one group of sales of over 700, just one straw buyer what do you mean you didn't know where these things were going? >> greta: how many people have been murdered as a result of guns going from the united states to mexico? >> l.a. time has a number of 150. -- the "l.a. times" hat a number of 150. >> greta: that is horrible. >> one is horrible. a border patrol agent gunned down in the prime of life is too much. one mexican having to face weapons that should not hav

under the department of justice, market quantification guidelines, it is off the charts. ust wondering what at&t thought when they went into this, in terms of the ending -- the department of justice. where this would go in terms of other mergers, where you go from four to 3, where the market shares are incredibly consolidated. what do you think at&t saw was the best out coming year, going into something safe and it in a controversial tax credit what at&t wanted in this case was the spectrum on by t-mobile par. [inaudible] how good your wireless province services depends on where the electromagnetic spectrum you have licenses are. t-mobile has very attractive places on the pants. in various cities. at&t want those to be able to expand the market. it is the secret that at&t cell phone services have problems, drop calls, particularly in urban areas, which would allow us to put up more cell towers and improve its service in those places. that is a way to address one of the biggest price isms against the country. host: one person made those arguments when he was before legislat

justice department announced that furukawa electric was involved in bid rigging for ten years up until last january to maintain the price of automobile wire harnesses. three top executives at furukawa have admitted to their involvement in the koconspiracy and will serve prison years ranging from one year to 18 months. a detroit court is expected to officially hand down the verdict soon. u.s. officials said price fixing has harmed automakers and consumers because auto parts were sold at artificially high prices. the justice department, in cooperation with the fbi, will continue to investigate other automotive companies that may have also been involved in the price fixing. >>> japan's fukushima daiichi nuclear plant can be used to be a step closer to a state of cold shutdown. tokyo electric power company announced on thursday that the temperature at the number two reactor largely remained below 100 degrees celsius, bringing the mercury below the 100 degree mark at all three troubled reactors, but tepco still faces challenges, such as stabilizing the cooling systems before a state of cold

the justice department said the $39 billion merger would be bad for consumers. >> the department filedawsuit because we feel the combination of at&t and t-mobil would result in tens of millions of consumers all across the united states facing higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products for their mobile wireless services. >> at&t claims it will create 100,000 new jobs when it acquires t-mobile by investing a billion dollars into new infrastructure. several top union leaders including the afl-cio and the communications workers of america they are in agreement. they say it will create a stronger unionized workforce. since at&t is currently the only wireless company with union employees. so it's a stand-off. joining me tonight larry cohen, president of the communication workers of america. and gigi sohn. this is a rather unusual situation that you have got democrats in the senate who are opposing what many labor union members and leaders want to take place. why do you want this deal to go through? what's the up side for workers? >> well, first of all, most democrats, including

justice department announced that furukawa electric was involved in bid rigging for ten years up until last january to maintain the price of automobile wire harnesses. three top executives at furukawa have admitted to their involvement in the conspiracy and will serve prison years ranging from one year to 18 months. a detroit court is expected to officially hand down the verdict soon. u.s. officials said price fixing has harmed automakers and consumers because auto parts were sold at artificially high prices. the justice department, in cooperation with the fbi, will continue to investigate other automotive companies that may have also been involved in the price fixing. >>> and now let's get you a recap of the latest market figures. that is all for now in business. now it's back to catherine >> thanks very much, ai. >>> the japanese government asked chinese authorities to prevent internet hacking before a high-profile cyber attack took place in japan recently. the websites of japan's national office and the national personnel authority were attacked and access was disrupted for a period

even when he was a young man in the justice department, he was cost of the voting rights. from arizona. he is not justice o'connor. justice o'connor was willing to stand-up when she thought something was right. i do not think the justice department is going to be strong and a lot of these cases. that being said, that does not mean, first of all, i have to be frank. i analyze politics. it does not sound good. a lot of these will be states. let's be real. south carolina will not elect a democratic senator. he is in the black majority. the same thing is chairman texas. the same thing as chairman and indiana. kansas somehow got off the tracks. he does become a totally wiped out states. in most of the states, indiana my suspicion as that president obama has written off indiana because there're other promising states. lemme tell about the anger. and did not say this on tv. i prefer reading about things. they want to take the country back. they want to take the country back to 1950, and 1930. they're going in a different direction. they want to take them back in time. let me tell

later on with some the controversy and the justice department we expanded that group of four into nine. we have the speaker majority and minority leaders of the house and senate and have all of them in as well and then we went around at that point and asked them at that point nancy pelosi was in the room, jerry rockefeller, the democratic side asked them if they thought we should continue the program and they said absolutely. then i said you think we ought to go back to the congress and get additional legislative authority to operate the way we are operating and they said absolutely not and they were unanimous on the plains and they were concerned if we went out and asked the congress for the vote on the subject and the fact we would be telling the enemy how we were reading their mail. so it was well known provided to the congress there was some controversy leader on but internally that the president dealt with but it was time convinced the key part about were success in terms of preventing further attacks against the united states i think we saved some thousands of lives, by what we w

one was a sign-off from the president, and secondly was the ruling from the justice department as to where that line was that you couldn't cross. and we sought and obtained both of those. president signed up to it as did the other members of the national security council. some of my colleagues may have forgotten that, but, in fact, everybody who was a member of the security council was informed about the essence of the program and signed up to it. so you had the proper governmental authorities agreeing that this was necessary and worthwhile, and we had the key people over in the justice department, people like john yoo who has been severely harassed because of the fact, the legal opinion he and others issued. but they were legitimate legal opinions from the jus he's department -- justice department, said this is okay and appropriate, this isn't. gave us very clear guidance that we could follow. and the folks out at the agency insisted on that kind of guidance before they were willing to go forward. now, they, one of the things that i found most objectionable with respect to the obama

. >>> thank you, department of justice. that's one of the many posts on a t-mobile message board today. on the consumerwatch, julie watts explains why many are thrilled the department of justice is trying to stop the at&t-t-mobile merger. >> reporter: the long-awaited merger would be good news for some at&t customers lookly improving their service. the justice department says it will be bad for everyone else. its now filing a lawsuit to block the $39 million deal which would shrink wireless competition to just three major carriers. >> the combination of at&t and t-mobile would result in tens of millions of consumers facing hire prices, fewer choices, and lower quality products to their mobile wireless services. >> reporter: in a recent interview we asked ken mcneeley president of at&t california about the very same concerns. >>> reporter: once t-mobile is no longer and they are now at&t, there's a lot of concern that prices across the board will go up because it will no longer be that cheap option. >> sure. and i disagree. t

so when the justice department wants to do something, let them do it. when they don't want to do something, like not prosecute for related murder, the people that traffic these guns to the mexican cartels that led to brian terry being gunned down in arizona, then that's where our priority has to be. my job is to prioritize. this is perfectly good to monitor and see what happens. i intend to. but i'm not going to go off bashing fox or cnbc or c-span because some left-wing blog wants us to. this is the most important issue that comes before us, are we doing what we need to to ensure the protegs of the first amendment? the answer is we're watching the justice department to make sure they do a full investigation. at the same time i want to make sure what the justice department did wrong that led to the death of a border patrol agent is properly investigated. i want to see that when the president and his cronies are picking winners and losers in the private market, in this case in the solar panel matter, that it wasn't because there were large contributions

whether or not sheriff baca does resign, whether or not the justice department does turn this into a criminal investigation, if past is any prologue, no one else other than the sheriff is likely to win or lose an election because of this issue. this is politics but it is politics of a different kind. this is values politics. about who we are as a country. it is a specific kind of political work to fix problems like this. to get attention to problems with the way we are doing the death penalty these days, for example. and sometimes to get attention to the death penalty as a problem, itself. it is political work to raise enough of a ruckus to convince the catholic chaplins and the people like a hollywood producer visiting as a writing tutor, to convince people like that to speak out against the jail they're working in even though they are definitely not there to make waves. because the ruckus has to be loud enough to get people to notice and care that the biggest jail in the world probably ought to be torn down. even the sheriff admits that. to get people to notice and care that the pe

right now we believe the justice department is doing their job.t: they do assert this has something to do with you save your trust news corp. last year because you know robert murdoch. what you to respond to that. take a first of all, i do not believe i said that. i do not know rupert murdoch. i believe i met him on one occasion, and david murdock, was there and a lot of other people. i do not trust anybody. my job is not trust. and i had 16 presidents on my wall. when people come in, i point to them and say here is 16 people you cannot trust. by the way, you recognize every one of those presidents. my job is not to trust the administration. my job is to investigate it. the g it might committee is government. in my committee is government. understand looking behind and try to pierce the first amendment, this liberal group would be furious if i were doing the same thing they want me to do with msnbc or huffington post and the like. confidential sources insist that every new source and television. i realize i'm may not like the way things leak like

there are several different investigations going on right now, including a department of justice investigation, into that company, and its operations. and what congress will be looking for, and what the department of justice will be looking for, is one person to come forward who they gave immunity to, meaning protection from prosecution to pill all of the beans, to say this is what happened on this date, this is what happened on that date, this is what happened on that date. now, it may turn out that it's all harmless, it may turn out that there was just negligence, that there wasn't criminality, but if one person comes forward and says i'm going to tell you what happened, but at the same time, you need to protect me from any kind of indictment going forward, that may take the whole thing apart. alisyn: so their lawyers are suggesting they plead the fifth, right, to avoid self-incrimination here, because the fbi has now gone in and raided the company's headquarters. you're a lawyer. >> yes. alisyn: is this the type of thing that you always advise your clients? is this standard operating proced

the justice department just closed their case on microsoft this year.s is probably the start of a lot of hearings on google for the foreseeable future. nothing that any of the shareholders should sweat about in regard to them possibly getting in some trouble yet. >> all right. thank you very much. interesting hearing. >>> and the "washington post" reports the u.s. is assembling a new network of secret bases for predator drones in parts of the arabian peninsula and also in africa. an aggressive new counter terrorism campaign to attack al qaeda affiliates in somalia as well as yes, ma'am yechbl joining me now know jim miklaszewski. a lot of this conversation come from wikileaks? >> reporter: that's right. this may be one of the worst kept secrets in the world. this issue that was raised by documents that were released that had been originally obtained by wikileaks was referring to diplomatic cables between the u.s. and the islands. about the u.s. establishing a drone there. and the fact that the government wanted to keep that secret. although the u.s. did

the justice department lawyers are seeking to recover $3 billion from full tilt and two other sites. defense lawyers declined to comment. >>> jeopardy host alex trebek still calls california beautiful even though he suffered injuries during a hotel robbery. trebek interrupted an attempted robbery at the san francisco marriott in july. he tore his achilles tendon chasing after the thief who was captured. he is undergoing therapy and says he will be back in the bay area soon. >> the legal part still has to be dealt with. the trial date has not been set. but that will be in about a month or so, i guess, and then i will go to san francisco and enjoy another visit to that beautiful city. >> she has two previous convictions and this could be a third strike for her. >>> the giants are in action down south. >> larry beil is here with that. >> we need to run the table. it is hot lately. would they get cooled off by the dodgers's ace. chris stewart, well, he can hit them. anybody else? sp state farm. this is jessica. hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing?

i suspect the justice department doesn't like the ruling and the justice department is going to appealtiffs and another lawsuit in a large group of plaintiffs have indicated they're going to appeal and seek an emergency stay pending the outcome of the appeal. justice tonight said they're looking at options but since they've got a decision in their favor in arizona case, i don't think they're done. >> greta: what is reactions among citizens in alabama? are they paying attention? delighted or think it's too tough? what is the reaction? >> i think it's a little bit of all of the above. but there are an awful lot of strong feelings about illegal immigration in the state. there is support for folk that's talk tough on immigration. leadership in republican party promises they'd do something on it. they ran on a promise and passed a legislation that we're talking about tonight. so they feel they've gotten a lot of congratulations for it. at the same time, church groups and student groups and others have been protesting it, talking about it being discrimination, being unfair and being similar

. >>> the justice department says 3.8 million violent crimes were reported in 2010.ials say they accounted an increase because of the weak economy and high unemployment. >>> the bay area is going against that national trend. santa monica research group says homicides are up in at least three bay area cities. in oakland they are up 25%. san jose 73% and richmond 75%. crime in the bay area had been on a downward trend the last three years. >>> fire officials tell us fireworks are to blame for a grass fire in benetia. it burned a thousand acres between community drive. the áf crews from benicia, vallejo and -- authorities tell us that they are still investigating and no arrests have been made. >>> a va hospital is operating normal today after a shelter in place. the shelter in place warning has been lifted and a leak has been repaired. >>> women who are taking birth control pills will want to hear this. 1.4million packages of birth control have been recalled leaving some women unprotected. >> obgyn dr. ray churn talks about birth control pills on a daily basis. but now

. >>> the justice department says 3.8 million violent crimes were reported in 2010.ls say they accounted an increase because of the weak economy and high unemployment. >>> the bay area is going against that national trend. santa monica research group says homicides are up in at least three bay area cities. in oakland they are up 25%. san jose 73% and richmond 75%. crime in the bay area had been on a downward trend the last three years. >>> fire officials tell us fireworks are to blame for a grass fire in benetia. it burned a thousand acres between community drive. the áf crews from benicia, vallejo and -- authorities tell us that they are still investigating and no arrests have been made. >>> a va hospital is operating normal today after a shelter in place. the shelter in place warning has been lifted and a leak has been repaired. >>> women who are taking birth control pills will want to hear this. 1.4million packages of birth control have been recalled leaving some women unprotected. >> obgyn dr. ray churn talks about birth control pills on a daily basis. but now th

department of justice isn't saying. deny they offered the demirajs green cards if he offered to help in the prosecution of bedini, they don't deny that bedini shot him. they say that the department is not away of any promises made to him. the assistant district attorney who made the deal has no comment to cnn. she's been nominated for a federal judgeship. will you ever allow your wife and son to go back to albania? >> i will not. >> reporter: there's no way you can do that, right? >> that is no. i don't know what i have to do but i'm not going to let him go. >> a pretty remarkable case. jeffrey toobin is here. does this happen a lot? the government just basically makes deals with people and then if the trial doesn't go forward just cuts them loose? >> no, usually if someone pleads guilty as a result of someone's cooperation they honor the deal because they forced them to plead guilty. here, the defendant disappeared, which is through no fault of this guy. and frankly, anderson, usually i can articulate both sides of a le

department of justice isn't saying. n't deny they offered the demirajs green cards if he offered to help in the prosecution of bedini, they don't deny that bedini shot him. they say that the department is not away of any promises made to him. the assistant district attorney who made the deal has no comment to cnn. she's been nominated for a federal judgeship. will you ever allow your wife and son to go back to albania? >> i will not. >> reporter: there's no way you can do that, right? >> that is no. i don't know what i have to do but i'm not going to let him go. >> a pretty remarkable case. jeffrey toobin is here. does this happen a lot? the government just basically makes deals with people and then if the trial doesn't go forward just cuts them loose? >> no, usually if someone pleads guilty as a result of someone's cooperation they honor the deal because they forced them to plead guilty. here, the defendant disappeared, which is through no fault of this guy. and frankly, anderson, usually i can articulate both sides of

>> the justice department, they have also been great with to work with. i believe they have completed their work. it is probably at the white house, where it may or may not be for a long time. the minute the white house wants, even under president bush, it went back to the justice department, so i think it is really in the hands of white house counsel and the obama administration to take a look at this thing, to weigh the merits and see how this fits with and what they see as balancing the rule of law with mercy, and we always need to temper it that way. tavis: and doug jones is an icon. if you go to the birmingham civil rights museum, there is a permanent memorial to him as he constructed this case to put mr. cherry and mr. blanton , and pause for the bombing in 1963 and now tragically represents one of the girls and fathers, chris mcmahon. thank you for what you are doing. -- one of the girls' father is, chris mcnair. -- fathers. coming up, a preview of "too big to fail -- too important to fail." in the next edition, we will explore the crisis in educat

the justice department knew it before fitzgerald came onboard that should have been the end.. it was drug out over a long period of time. dozens hauled before the grand jury. it created enormous problems for us. there was a point at which, i think october 7th, i believe of 2003 there was a cabinet meeting. as the press came in after the meeting to take pictures, normal photo-op. they asked the president questions about this issue. who was responsible for the leak. he said he didn't know, but he wanted to find out. the person who knew was sitting next to him, colin powell. colin knew at that point, because rich armitage told him a week before that mr. armitage was the source of the leak. but of course, none of that ever came out until much later, after the damage had been done. people's reputations had been badly sullied. people had to spend money on lawyers because it was targeted on this investigation that was -- >> sean: why would they not speak up knowing that not only scooter libby, karl rove, if reports are correct, came close to indictment, within hours we are told. a l

the justice department has found a way to spend 16 bucks for a single muffin. 10 bucks on a cookie. and $8.24 on a cup of coffee. all part of the $121 million this one government department spent on conferences in just 24 months. $16 muffins? really? i mean, does washington get it? >> it's -- that's insane and i think that's again, that is why people across this country are so frustrated. >> reporter: nobody could tell us how an ordinary muffin like this could cost $16. but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the way washington wastes your money. just look at herman the hermit crab or rex the mountain lion. the department of homeland security has developed several mascots to teach kids how to prepare for disasters. cut back to just one mascot and by one estimate, you save $2.6 million on production and program costs. and highway funds are still going for all kinds of things that don't have much to do with highways at all. like the $269,000 white squirrel sanctuary in kenton, tennessee. the nearly $200,000 for a theater at the corvette museum in kentucky. and just loo

kroft: there have been clear signs that assange, under the threat of possible indictment by the justice departmenthas moderated some of his views. before releasing the last two batches of classified documents, assange and his lawyers contacted both the pentagon and the state department, offering to explore ways to minimize potential harm. in both cases, their offer was rebuffed. assange acknowledged that his fundraising has been hurt by the decision of paypal, mastercard, visa, and bank of america to cease handling donations. but he dismissed reports that wikileaks is wracked by internal dissention and mass defections. >> assange: we're talking about daniel domscheit-berg, who was a german spokesman, had a limited role in the organization. we had to suspend him some five months ago. >> kroft: describes you as being authoritarian, secretive, punitive. >> assange: i'm the boss that suspended him, that's correct. >> kroft: you don't care to elaborate? >> assange: i think i just did. >> kroft: you said you have this package of very damaging documents, sort of a poison pill, that's going to be released