sam la hood's email with our own catherine marriage today. earlier today ray la hood. sam la hood's father transportation secretary was asked about his son's while he was attending an auto show. here is his response. listen. >> i talked to him two or three times today. >> how is he doing? >> is he doing just fine. thank you. i'm doing just fine. >> watch out, you are going to run into a car there. >> when he word when he might get home. >> there are a lot of people working on that. we will see how it works out. >> we are told that they are working on this now, shep, at the very highest levels of the administration. >> shepard: jonathan hunt on what is turning out to be a very difficult situation in egypt. thank you. so much for the newt gingrich momentum out of south carolina. we say that because there is a new poll up by seven points in survey. that is still a statistical tie. rick santorum and ron paul are both back more than 20 points. there is another poll that shows mitt romney and president obama would tie in the state of florida. obviously a crucial battleground

. >> shepard: one of the captives is the son of the transportation secretary ray la hood. is he sam la hood. he works for a group promoting democracy in egypt. our chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live in washington tonight. catherine, it's my understanding that you spoke with that hostage, the younger la hood. >> that's right. he told me, shep, they are being held for two reasons. the egyptian judge alleges that they took a salary. >> if it does go to trial, it could last up to one year in a case that's as wide raping as this one is. the penalty for that is six months to five years in jail. these are very serious charges. >> sam la hood says egyptian media is reporting that 300 organizations are affected so this does appear to be broad and wide ranging. >> does he think this is because his father is a cabinet secretary. >> good question. he doesn't believe his father's job made him a target. he said there is no question that it's hard for his dad, his mom and other families waiting for news. and tonight nothing suggests the egyptian investigation is rapping. >

we were not able to raise sam -- to raise sam la hood, and sam la hood told us recently there had been no progress. >> my family is very concerned for my own safety, as well as the family members of everybody else that works for the republican institute and these other organizations. it's a little bit scary for us to be facing these very serious allegations, but you know, also for the egyptian police that work for these organizations. >> when -- what la hood emphasized, he also this is larger and broader than this group iri and the other nan given monthly groups, he believes this is a broader crackdown on those who want to build come democracy in that country. gen jen which makes this story even more significant, catherine. thank you, we'll continue to watch that. jon: there is more tough talk from iran to tell you about, why the islamic republic says it will respond to any military threat in a, quote, crushing manner. all the latest over the tension in iran's nuclear program and what to do about that. jenna: and disturbing new developments in the case of a missing maine toddler. what

among them, sam la hood, son of transportation secretary ray la hood.ational republican institute. he and other americans staff working for similar groups, are banned from leaving the country after egyptian security forces raided their offices. in a telephone interview with cnn last thursday, before going to the members, sam la hood said he felt safe but was concerned. >> our attorney believed that the fact that the judge took this additional step of preventing us from traveling is, you know, indicates a more serious -- a more serious step along in his investigation. >> reporter: the state department calls it a unique situation and says the americans were invited by embassy. >> we don't feel like they're in physical danger which is different than -- >> we're told the decision for the americans to go to the embassy was made because there was concern that arrest and trial could be imminent. that makes for a tricky situation for the state department. the department's own foreign affairs' manual states -- refuge can only be sought out of concern for safety,

la hood's son to leave the country. he works for a washington- backed group. officials say they are investigating foreign influences on the road including mr. la hood's group. >> sam kind of scary to be facing charges in egypt working for an unregistered nongovernmental organization and the transportation secretary's son now says he might be stuck in egypt for a long time. >> if it does go to trial and the trial can last up to one year in a case that's as wide ranging as this one but the penalty for that is six months to five years in jail. republican congressman frank wolf has been calling for the u.s. to stop aid to egypt because he is saying they are not laying the ground work for a freer society which congress said they had to do in a recent appropriations bill. wolf said that these recent actions by the egyptian government are a clear violation of the ground rules that the congress has laid up. if similar assault on civil sea sitey and religious freedom occur in the future, aid should be definitely halted. egypt's million tri alone gets $1.3 billion from the u.s. and they say they have been put on notice. >> those are decisions that are going to have to be ma

sam la hood is son of u.s. transportation secretary lahood.e's associated with a group working to improve conditions in egypt and has become a target now of harassment by security forces. senior foreign affairs correspondent jim doherty joins us. let's listen to a snippet of a phone conversation. >> sam, do you feel safe where you are at this point? >> you know, i feel safe physically. obviously the fact that the investigative judge chose to prevent some of us from traveling is something that our lawyer tells us indicates that this investigation has taken on a more serious nature, and the next step from here would either be arrest or go to trial. >> jill, spell out what we do think the most likely next step will be. >> reporter: boy, it's a complex situation and pretty unpredictable. trial he's mentioning or arrest. that would be very, very serious. one of the problems is, this goes back quite awhile. at least a month, even previous months, where the government has been cracking down on these non-governmental organizations, i.r.i. being one of

sam la hood who heads the international republican institute in egypt was stopped from getting on a planehe is being banned with several other americans as tensions rise over the work of rights organizationraising concerns about egypt's transition to democracy after mubarak was ousted last year. >>> priceless stolen art work back in the right hands thanks to bureau of immigration and customs, two paintings were stolen from southeastern france in 1981, today one was returned. it is a francisco work found at an auction in 2003 we told you about this when it happened this is the follow up, the director says the art theft may not seem like the normal work they do but does not make it less significant. >>> a county jail in kansas is giving people a chance to visit inmates without leaving their homes, family and friends can chat with people from their home computers, the online visits will cost 50¢ a minute or $10 for maximum 20 minute chat. >>> no more waiting for sales at jc penny the department store is marking down all merchandise by 40%, permanently instead of holding hundreds of sales a y

and one of them is said to be sam la hood. he is the son of the transportation secretary ray la hood. reporters caught up with the secretary earlier today. >> mr. la hood. any comments about your son? >> he is safe. thank god. >> shepard: safe, but still stuck in egypt. no word on when he or his co-workers can come back home. of course, it's worth noting washington has about a billion dollars worth of leverage because that's roughly the amount the united states send to egypt each year in aid. catherine hanch with the news she is live in d.c. tonight. american officials say they do not believe that these people who can't leave are in any real danger. >> that's right, shep. according to the state department, the americans are being persecuted by egyptian authorities because they work for these groups that promote democracy. it sounds like the talks may be stalled. >> suffice to say we are not where we want to be in terms of resolving this situation. and the conversations continue with the egyptian government. >> what's key here

my very good friend samuel hood is -- sam la mood is one of them. >> his father is the secretary of transportationo use that as leverage to get these americans home. >> the egyptian -- egypt, of course, just observed the one-year anniversary of the uprising and the government now in power which we talked about. supreme -- which is essentially a set of generals that launder power under mu bark. >> when i spoke to salmon friday, the civil society groups are so concerned. there are nearly 300 groups shut down. and his office was raided. an amazing democracy promotion work. he's scared for the local staff especially because the repercussions that they face for fighting for freedom, for fighting for liberty, for fighting for pluralism, it's terrifying. >> i did not know. i will confess, i did not know that. >> check the daily beast on this very topic today. >> all right. we'll tweet that out. put it up on the website as well. >>> victoria defrancesco soto. >> we started off looking at the negative ads that the romney camp is airing towards gingrich. we're going to see a growing negativity of the ads, e