mr. lahood? you, or anyone at general motors, talked to mr. lahood about this issue? >> no, sir. >> now i yield to the chairman of the full committee, mr. issa. >> thank you mr. chairman, welcome. i'll be brief. the question here is not about whether general motors is making good cars. whether or not general motors is coming back. i think those are undeniable and i'm very happy for that. and i think the president took great pride in that last night. the question here is, is this in your history recognition, and as far as you know, a typical response to a typical catastrophic event? is this less aggressive or more aggressive by nhtsa? in their response to a mysterious fire on a brand-new automobile when there are only a few thousand in the field? >> as we speak, there are about, excuse me, mr. chairman, about 8,000 -- >> right, and i was correct, there were about 4,000 when this occurred. you've sold -- you may be making 400 a day, but you're selling far less than that. 4,000 or less, in june/july. 8,000 or so now. the question is, when this occurred, the director has

mr. lahood know at the time he was asked the question that he gave answer that there was a formal investigation going on? >> he was very aware of all the work that was undertaking in the agency. >> so our secretary of transportation knew you were investigating this vehicle, was asked a question about the safety of the vehicle, comments and says it's fine. >> the secretary knew -- >> and that was given, that answer was given six weeks before you formally said it was fine. >> the secretary knew of all the facts and the details as to whether they pose an imminent danger. >> don't you that i is unusual? at least a little unusual? >> no, it wasn't unusual. the secretary is asked questions like that all the time. he gave an answer. he did it for toyota. >> we have a picture of a car explosion that took place. you wait six months to start an investigation. two weeks into the investigation, the secretary of transportation is asked a question about the safety of th you haven't conclude the the investigation and you think that's normal? >> the secretary was aware of all of the prefact finding work and en

mr. lahood about this issue? >> no, sir. >> okay. now yield to the chairman of full committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome. >> thank you. >> i'll be brief. the question here is not whether or not gm is making good cars and whether or not it's coming back. i think it is, and we take great pride this that, and i think the president did last night. is this, in your history, recognition and as far as you know a typical response to a typical catastrophic event? is this less aggressive or more aggressive in their response to a brand new automobile? >> as we speak, there's about 8,000. >> there were about 4,000 when this occurred. you may be making 400 a day, but you're selling far less than that. 4,000 or less in june or july, 8,000 or so now. the question is when this occurred -- >> yes. >> the director said, administrator said that it takes six months to do it, but in your experience, would you consider this to be an aggressive response, an average response, or a little slower than average when it comes to when it lights up your p

mr. lahood know at the time he gave answer to the question that there was a formal investigation going onas very aware? >> our transportation secretary knew you were questioning about the vehicle an comments about the vehicle saying it was fine. that was given, that answer was given six weeks before you formally said it was fine? >> the secretary knew of all the facts and the details as whether they posed an implement -- >> don't you think that is? at least unusual. >> no, it wasn't unusual. secretaries are requested questions about all the time. he did it for toyota. >> so you can see, martha getting heated on the hill this morning. during a calmer moment administrator strickland said he would drive a volt and would drive his mom around in a volt too. martha: all right. well that is interesting. we'll see how his mom feels about that. at the heart of all this, peter, question of whether or not the administration made some attempt to make the volt look good, to help gm look good regardless about questions they had whether or not it was safe. >> administrator strickland said his agency abs

mr. lahood is the head of the cairo-based branch of the national institute. the national democratic institute. this is troubling coming from a government from authorities that receives billions of dollars in aid from washington. martha: you know, during the whole arab spring period there was so much discussion about what it would mean when these dictators, many of whom people really wanted to see out of power, but what that vacuum would leave behind. what does it tell us about what is going on in the ground in egypt now. >> reporter: that is precisely the measurement with which we should look at egypt in particular. we see a surging coalition between the military council which is very concerned about its own future, about its own power, but also future allies they may have, those who have now a majority in the parliament, the muslim brotherhood. it seems that both have an interest in not seeing any more in cairo or inee keupt in egypt, ngo's training egyptians for the next elections. that could be one of the reasons the raids took place. martha: before i let

mr. lahood about this issue? >> no, sir. >> okay. now yield to the chairman of full committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome. >> thank you. >> i'll be brief. the question here is not whether or not gm is making good cars and whether or not it's coming back. i think it is, and we take great pride this that, and i think the president did last night. is this, in your history, recognition and as far as you know a typical response to a typical catastrophic event? is this less aggressive or more aggressive in their response to a brand new automobile? >> as we speak, there's about 8,000. >> there were about 4,000 when this occurred. you may be making 400 a day, but you're selling far less than that. 4,000 or less in june or july, 8,000 or so now. the question is when this occurred -- >> yes. >> the director said, administrator said that it takes six months to do it, but in your experience, would you consider this to be an aggressive response, an average response, or a little slower than average when it comes to when it lights up your p