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American Morning

TSA Admits Cameras Not Recording When Man Went Through Security Unscreened; Obama Says Intel Failure Potentially Dangerous; Americans Unhappy at Work; 150,000 Seniors Drop Membership With AARP

Aired January 06, 2010 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Wednesday morning. Thanks very much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning on this hump day.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: That's right.

ROBERTS: Getting over it. It's January the 6th. I'm John Roberts.

CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. Here are the top stories we'll be telling you about just 15 minutes.

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd set to announce he will not be running for a sixth term in November. He is the second senate Democrat this week to say he's stepping aside. Late breaking details from Washington just ahead.

ROBERTS: Even the snowbirds can't escape the cold this winter. There is a state of emergency in Florida where most lows are in the mid 30s. Our John Zarrella joins us live from an Orange Grove in Vero Beach this morning to tell us how the growers are doing.

CHETRY: Also, a blame game now over a stunning failure in the airline security. CNN learning that the high-tech camera system was actually not recording when a man walked into a secured area of Newark Liberty Airport without being screened. That set off a chain reaction causing hours of delays and chaos. We're live at Newark with more on what happened.

ROBERTS: But first, there will be no sixth term in the Senate for Connecticut Democrat Chris Dodd. He has decided not to run for reelection in November. Instead, he's going to retire. Dodd will make the announcement later on today.

And while Democrats may breathe a sigh of relief that Dodd is bowing out, they are reeling from another shocker, from North Dakota senator Byron Dorgan. He's not running in the fall either.

Our senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash is working her sources in Washington this morning, and these retirements seem to come out of nowhere. What happened?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Let's start with Byron Dorgan. He was a big surprise. He's popular back home, but he actually appears to be a victim of the intense polarization of Washington. A close associate of his told me yesterday he's just frustrated and he has been for months.

But when it comes to Chris Dodd, that's another story. He has been gearing up for a tough reelection battle, but it has been rumored for a while that he may retire. So much so that I actually asked him point blank a few weeks ago if it were true, and he laughed it off and dodged the question.

But Dodd clearly couldn't escape the reality that his standing among Connecticut voters is pretty low right now. And John, the irony is his high profile political roles that people -- let people know who he really is, they've actually gotten him into trouble.

For example, he's banking chairman at a time the financial system collapsed. And you may remember last year he got unwanted publicity for AIG's bonus controversies. Remember, he told us he didn't have anything to do with it, and then he came on and admitted that he actually did agree to a White House change that allowed AIG executives to keep those bonuses. Just two examples of why he plummeted in Connecticut.

ROBERTS: So what are the potential ramifications for the Democrats' 60-seat majority in the Senate? I take it they could fare fairly well in Connecticut. North Dakota might be another thing.

BASH: You're exactly right. When it comes to Dodd, there were some in the Democratic Party that hoped for this, even pushed for it, because Dodd's leaving clears the way for Connecticut's popular attorney general to run. And if Dodd ran, they feared they would lose. So this could help them keep Connecticut in Democratic hands.

In North Dakota, they actually might be in danger of losing that seat to Republicans now. It's a red state, and there are rumors that the popular Republican governor may run. So this really could endanger the Democrats' already endangered 60 vote majority.

And John, if the health care and battle is any example, it should be in how important it is to President Obama that he has those 60 votes in the Senate, because that's exactly what his health care passed in the Senate, exactly 60 votes.

If they're going to keep pushing legislation that is geared toward the Democrats, they'll need every single one of those votes.

ROBERTS: They may need to start pushing quickly. Dana Bash, thanks so much this morning.

CHETRY: It's three minutes past the hour. Also new this morning, there's another change to the way that we track potential terrorists. and if this were in place before Christmas Day, officials say that we may have kept the man with the bomb in his underwear off the plane.

Our Jill Dougherty is on security watch this morning live from Washington. And Jill, when you talk about how this affects suspects, the government is also taking some action on screening certain passenger as well. Explain how all of this is changing. JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's start with the biggest change, and it really is a big change, because if it had been in effect, the Christmas Day bomber, we are told, the attempted bomber, we are told by officials, would have been on a no-fly list and would have had his visa revoked.

Now, up to now, there's been a high bar. You needed multiple sources of information. And that is why that suspect didn't have that happen, even though his father had told U.S. officials that his son was being radicalized and had gone to Yemen.

Now the bar is going to be lower. There could be as little as one source of information.

And we're also told that since December 25th, officials in the intelligence agencies have been scrubbing, as they put it, the data. Half a million names on the list, which is a database of names, and they have taken action. They've added to the watch list and they've also revoked visas of some people. They're not saying specifically how many.

And after the fact they did revoke the visa of the suspect in the Christmas Day attempted bombing. Kiran?

CHETRY: And again, as you were talking about, the suspects being affected, the government though also taking action on screening certain passengers. How is this going to work?

DOUGHERTY: Right. That's the other side of it. The government has decided that people who are coming from, or traveling through countries that are deemed official, you know -- I'm sorry, state sponsors of terrorism, or people who are coming from or traveling through countries that are of particular interest, so that's a total of 14 countries, are going to get enhanced screening.

And what does that mean? They're going to be patted down, they'll have to go through body scans, et cetera.

So on both fronts, there is a lot of very quick movement. Kiran?

CHETRY: Jill Dougherty for us this morning on security watch for us. Thanks so much.

And President Obama also told his national security team, quote, "this was a screw up." Our Jaston (ph) Fontana (ph) was there for it all. We'll talk to deputy national security adviser Denis McDonough about the changes made and the changes still coming to the way we fly.

ROBERTS: Well, the fallout continues to snowball over the security breach at Newark Liberty International Airport. It turns out the security cameras that should have captured the man's image as he went in through the outdoor were on, but they weren't recording. It's being reported the cameras have been offline for quite some time.

Our Susan Candiotti is live at Newark airport this morning with our security watch. And how in the heck could this possibly have happened, Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don't we all want to know the answer to that, John? Good morning.

The question is, why is this only coming to light now instead of on Sunday night when that man breached security, according to the TSA, by going the wrong way through the exit of a security check point?

You remember when that happened they had to shut down flights for hours while they tried to find that man. They never did find that man. And then they had to rescreen everyone. So it was pure chaos on Sunday night.

At the time, TSA told us that they were reviewing tapes to look for the security breach, but what they didn't tell us is that they had to scramble and go to Continental Airlines to look at their video because the TSA cameras were rolling but not recording.

TSA's explanation for all of this is that, well, it's our job to pay for the cameras, but it's the port authority's job to make sure that they're working properly. We're still waiting to hear from the port authority to see what they have to say about that.

But here is what else TSA is saying about it -- quote, "After reviewing the circumstances and meeting with the port authority surrounding the breach, the TSA has volunteered to check the surveillance cameras on a daily basis to make sure that they have consistent operations."

Now, of course, that prompted us to go to our own CNN security consultant Fran Townsend. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: This is another one of those security failures where what we need to know are the facts and the chronology of when did they stop working, when were people notified, and who failed to take responsibility for correcting what is a very serious problem?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, the fact the TSA is now volunteering to look at the cameras on a daily basis makes you wonder how is it that no one was already doing that? John?

ROBERTS: It does. It raises a lot of questions, and inexplicably how they couldn't be hooked up to a recording device is really unbelievable. Susan Candiotti for us this morning at Newark Liberty Airport. Susan, thanks.

CHETRY: Well, it's eight minutes past the hour.

(WEATHER BREAK)

CHETRY: And this cold snap actually proving to be a nightmare for orange growers in Florida dealing with the freezing temperatures, doing everything they can to protect their crops. Our John Zarrella is there live. We're going to check in with him in just 20 minutes.

ROBERTS: And president Obama's national security meeting yesterday in the Situation Room, what was said and what's going to come of it. We're talking with the deputy national security adviser Denis McDonough coming up next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's 11 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

The third gate-crasher at November's White House state dinner is now being identified this morning as Washington, D.C. event planner Carlos Allen. He got into the party by slipping in with India's delegation.

The attorney for Carlos Allen confirms that his client is being investigated by the Secret Service. Several networks have been reporting that the man in this video is Allen. CNN has not independently confirmed that.

ROBERTS: President Obama delivering a loud and clear message to his national security team -- they screwed up, and they can't fail again. The president is pressuring his team to fix the mistakes that led to the attempted airline bombing on Christmas Day.

What can be done going forward? And will anyone be held accountable for failing to connect the dots? Joining us now from the White House is Denis McDonough, he is the deputy national security adviser. Denis, great to see you this morning.

According to a White House transcript of the meeting in the Situation Room, and it's rare that we hear anything that comes out of those meetings, the president appeared quite incensed about it all. It said quote, "This was a screw up that could have been disastrous."

Take us inside that Situation Room. Just how tough was the president in that meet something.

DENIS MCDONOUGH, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL CHIEF OF STAFF: Thanks for giving me the chance to be with you this morning.

I think frankly the president exuded a sense of urgency about this challenge, but frankly everyone in the meeting did that. Everybody recognizes that Al Qaeda still intends to do us great harm. Everyone worked frankly overtime throughout the course of the holidays to get to the bottom of what happened not just so we can understand what happened but so that we can up our game.

And frankly everyone around the table yesterday, including John Brennan, including the president and others, accepted responsibility for this and have dedicated to make sure that we don't allow it to happen again. ROBERTS: The president also said that the agencies had the intelligence to stop the attempted attack, but failed to connect the dots. He used that language, "connect the dots." Eight years after 9/11 and in the post 9/11 era, all we heard about was failure to connect the dots. Eight years after 9/11, how is that still happening?

MCDONOUGH: I tell you what, one of the big changes was, as John Brennan figured out in his review, is that one of the problems was not a failure to share intelligence. In fact all the agencies developed a great amount of intelligence and shared it with others.

The problem was an inability to take all this information and to put it into a usable form, analyze it, make sure that it was leveraged to tell a broader story.

Frankly, over the course of this year, with Zazi, with David Coleman Hedley, with the five guys going back to Pakistan to threaten our troops and others, we've seen great work by our intelligence community, and, frankly, we've come to expect it.

So when there's an instance like this, we want to get to the bottom of it and figure out how we can avoid it happening again.

ROBERTS: The president's exact words regarding what you just talked about was he said it wasn't a failure to collect intelligence. It was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had.

Post 9/11, Denis, the government created the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, which then morphed into the National Counterterrorism Center. It's there to synthesize this intelligence, to integrate it, to put it all together. And it didn't happen in this case. So how was it that they didn't do that, and then how do you fix it?

MCDONOUGH: Let's put it all in perspective. We're getting intelligence through a variety of sources. We're getting a huge amount every day.

And so the challenge is, obviously, to take all that intelligence and get it into a usable form, and then to make sure we're drawing on all the expertise in various agencies and offices to ensure that we have the fullest possible picture.

So again, we've seen this happen very regularly, time and again, dozens of instances that we can't talk about, several which I've just mentioned that we have talked about. But the bottom line here is that we want to learn what happened here, not in some kind of typical Washington blame game kind of way, but rather to figure out how we get to the bottom of it and make sure that we learn from it and prove our game and make sure it doesn't happen again.

ROBERTS: I guess the thing, Denis, is it's just, you know, a lot of people are surprised that you put together these entities. And I know that they were put together in the previous administration, but they continue on to yours and they're designed for this very specific purpose, yet they don't seem to be doing it. But let me move on here.

Is anyone going to be held accountable for this? Will any changes be made in either management or leadership? We're hearing that something might be afoot.

MCDONOUGH: Well, you know, as I think was evident in the meeting yesterday and as I indicated just a minute ago, John, everybody around the table accepted responsibility, have been working overtime to get to the bottom of what happened. Not in any kind of Washington blame game way but rather as an effort to try to improve our game to make sure that it doesn't happen again, to learn the lessons of this incident so that we can get to the bottom of it.

Now, the president has said time and again throughout this process that there'll be accountability at all levels. But we're not going to prejudge a final review here and jump to any conclusions. And I think anything you hear out there now is just a kind of rumor mongering that's so typical around these kinds of things.

ROBERTS: All right. Denis McDonough, the deputy National Security adviser. Thanks for joining us this morning, Denis. Good to see you.

MCDONOUGH: Thanks for having me, John.

CARROLL: Still ahead, we're talking about the cold weather and a state of emergency in Florida this morning as the cold weather spills all the way south and really threatens the citrus crops. Our John Zarrella is live this morning. We're going to have more with him.

Hey, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. And I'm in a Florida orange grove where the temperature is hovering at 30 degrees. That's actually good news for the growers. I'll explain coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty minutes after the hour and that means as it does every day, that it's time for "Minding Your Business."

CHETRY: And we have Stephanie Elam with us today. And we're talking about whether or not people are happy in their jobs and surprisingly the numbers are low this year.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They're low and they've been going lower and lower. And we're taking a look at it and it is pretty disturbing to see that only 45 percent of people in the United States are happy with their job. Only 45 percent are satisfied here. That's the lowest level in 22 years, and that's since the records started being kept in 1987.

So it's down 61 percent over that time. Conference board polling 5,000 different households, and this is even as one in ten Americans are without a job. So who's the most satisfied? Twenty-five to 34 year olds, 47 percent. Only 47 percent of them are satisfied. The least satisfied group? 24-year-old and younger, and only 36 percent of them are satisfied, although I can't say I'm too surprised that the youngens (ph) are not exactly thrilled with the jobs that they have. That's pretty standard.

But the satisfaction really did dip for every demographic, for every age group, for every income level. And it just shows here that people are really looking to make some changes. In fact, a quarter of people who were polled said they don't find to be at their current job in a year.

So take a look at the satisfaction decline since 1987. Sixty-one percent were satisfied then, down to 45 percent for 2009. And this is even as the work environment has improved. You've got less hazards, you've got more vacation time, but still people unhappy.

What they're saying this could mean? It means it could impact productivity. It could also mean that there's a change in employee behavior, and on top of that, obviously, if people aren't happy, what are they going to do? They're going to try to leave and go someplace else, and that could also lead to changes in how information is passed from people working a job now to current -- to future people moving into those jobs. And then that means that there's more of a learning curve that has to be established every year. So it affects every job all the time.

So people just not very happy now, and it's not really clear what all the changes are, especially since the work environment has gotten better for so many people in this country.

CHETRY: Also I guess with, you know, the fact that there's so many businesses that are not hiring right now, they're unhappy and they can't go anywhere else.

ELAM: Right.

CHETRY: So it's a tough call.

ELAM: And you just have you to stay where you are. Yes.

CHETRY: Stephanie Elam for us this morning. Thanks so much.

ELAM: Sure.

CHETRY: Well, still ahead, the AARP losing 150,000 members over its backing of the health care reform bill. Our Carol Costello with our continuing series "Lobbying for Your Health," after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, it's just about 25 minutes past the hour. Top stories just five minutes away. First, though, an "A.M. Original," something you'll only see on AMERICAN MORNING."

The AARP considered to be one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the country, they have more than 40 million members over the age of 50.

ROBERTS: Yes. The group supports overhauling health care. The only problem is not everyone's on board and some of its members are taking it out on the organization.

Our Carol Costello is live in Washington this morning with more on her special series, "Lobbying for Your Health."

Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran. Yes, some members of the AARP are mad, boiling mad. No lobbying organization has more influence over health care reform than one of the biggies, the AARP. But victories aside, the AARP lost support during the health care battle. Lost support among its members. It lost 150,000 of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Robert Tice used to be a proud card- carrying member of the AARP, but he's not proud anymore.

ROBERT TICE, AARP MEMBER: The letters don't mean American Association of Retired Persons. It just means AARP. It's just a name.

COSTELLO: Proof of effort Tice came on November 5th, 2009.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When it comes to the AARP, this is no small endorsement.

COSTELLO: The AARP's endorsement of health care reform so angered some seniors, AARP admits 150,000 have dropped their memberships.

DAVID CERTNER, AARP LEGISLATIVE POLICY DIRECTOR: We don't like losing any members. We think that a lot of members have some misinformation about where AARP stands, what we've been fighting for.

COSTELLO: Critics charge the AARP is fighting not for its members but for its bottom line. According to the roughly $650 million AARP made in 2008 enrolling members in AARP-branded insurance plans, that's almost three times what it made in membership dues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're telling me you don't know what kind of money AARP makes?

COSTELLO: Republicans are also questioning why AARP would endorse a health bill that includes huge cuts to Medicare Advantage plans offered by AARP and others. These private plans offer seniors an alternative to Medicare that often includes extra medical coverage like dental and vision care.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I recognize the gentleman from Georgia.

COSTELLO: Georgia Republican Congressman Phil Gingrey thinks he knows why.

REP. PHIL GINGREY (R), GEORGIA: A few people, seniors that are on Medicare Advantage and back into Medicare fee for service, the more opportunity AARP has to get royalty from the sale of the Medigap policies.

COSTELLO: Gingrey says those seniors force out of Medicare Advantage would have to buy supplemental insurance, like Medigap, which gives you the chance to get additional payments and coverage from Medicare. For insurers like the AARP and its partner, United Health Care, that means a much higher profit margin.

GINGREY: They have to purchase a Medigap policy, and oh, guess what? AARP has 30 percent of that market.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AARP COMMERCIAL)

NARRATOR: You should know about this card.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It's a fact not lost on its members.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: AARP is about insurance. People need to know that. AARP is not out there to help you. It's to take your money and put it in their pocket.

COSTELLO: The AARP insists this is not true.

(on camera): So your lobbyists haven't lobbied to leave untouched Medigap?

CERTNER: No, it's not even an issue we have lobbied on at all.

COSTELLO (voice-over): David Certner says the AARP supported cost of Medicare Advantage to trim the fat, so Medicare itself survives.

CERTNER: We understand that there are financial issues with Medicare and we need to save money for the Medicare program.

COSTELLO: Certner says the AARP fought for more important things like convincing lawmakers to close the gap in Medicare drug coverage known as the donut hole.

(on camera): How do you plan to win back those 150,000 members who dropped out?

CERTNER: I think when people see the benefits of health care reform, I think they will, you know, come to realize that there was a lot of misinformation out there, that these bills really were good bills to help strengthen the health care system.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Robert Tice for one is waiting to see for himself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The AARP says it's important to keep in mind that although many members have dropped out, many more have joined or renewed their memberships. They tell me that adds up to two million more members.

Another note, the AARP has always brokered insurance for seniors. It's why the AARP tells me it was created to convince insurance companies to sell policies to elderly people -- John, Kiran.

ROBERTS: Certainly no shortages of emotion out there though on this issue, is there?

COSTELLO: No. Seniors are very up front, some of them, with how they feel about the AARP. There's no mincing of words, believe me.

ROBERTS: Well, you know, when you get to be that age, you can say just about anything you want, right?

CHETRY: Yes. It's a huge chunk of their social security checks every single month as well.

ROBERTS: Absolutely.

CHETRY: So you know a lot of concerns.

ROBERTS: Carol, thanks so much. We'll see you again tomorrow.

COSTELLO: Sure.

ROBERTS: And we want to know what you think about Carol's story. Comment on our blog. You can you find it at CNN.com/amFIX.

CHETRY: Meanwhile, we're coming up on half past the hour. That means it's time for our top stories.

And Democratic Senators Chris Dodd of Connecticut as well as Byron Dorgan of North Dakota announcing they're not going to be seeking re-election. The move would force Democrats to defend four open Senate seats in order to have the majority. And adding the concerns, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter also expected to announce today that he will not seek a second term.

ROBERTS: Rush Limbaugh returns to the mic today after being hospitalized for chest pains. The conservative talk radio host was rushed to the hospital last week while on vacation in Hawaii. Limbaugh said tests showed that nothing was wrong with him and that he did not have a heart attack.

CHETRY: Also in Florida, a state of emergency as farmers scramble to save their citrus crops from a freeze and it could be cold for a record long time. John Zarrella braving the cold for us this morning. He is live from an orange grove in Vero Beach this morning. So you're saying it's not the temperatures but the duration that has people nervous? JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a little bit of both. What's got them nervous down here in the groves is that they haven't seen the duration, the prolonged period of cold weather here in Florida for about 20 years now, going back to the mid-to-late 1980s, and then the cold temperature on top of that. And we've got a thermometer we brought out here, Kiran to the orange grove, and you can see it's sitting right at about 30 degrees.

It's been that way for the past couple of hours. Expect with the sun coming up that that will warm up pretty quickly. And here's something you don't often see in Florida. Frost on the ground. So take a look at that. That will be gone pretty quickly as well as the sun comes up. But I have to tell you, this cold weather is affecting everyone across the state.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): There is plenty of sunshine in Florida. The problem is right now it's not throwing much heat. For folks here not used to sub 60s, it's downright miserable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've got layers, layers. I'm freezing.

ZARRELLA: The brisk air has a tendency to get people moving at a brisker pace. For the most part, the beaches were empty, although there's always someone who wants you to believe it's really true, the water is warmer than the air. Of course, everything is relative. If you're in town from Iowa for the college bowl game, this is like summer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You, Florida people don't know cold.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't know cold. Minus three in our hometown of Sheridan, so it's still 60 degrees warmer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 60 degrees warmer here. We love it.

ZARRELLA: Yes, and when you leave, take the cold with you. The state's farmers and growers would like that more than just about anyone. Still have a heck of a lot of fruit that could be damaged.

LOUIS SCHACHT, SCHACHT GROVES: Definitely. I mean, the honey bells, this is the prime time of year for them. People love to ship them north.

ZARRELLA: Louis Shack's family has been growing citrus in Vero Beach for 60 years. It's a small family operation. They've done what they can to protect the crop, flooding the ground between each row of trees will keep the temperature up a couple of degrees. That's all it might take to save the fruit.

SCHACHT: If it stays, you know, just above freezing it can help sweeten the fruit and be fine, and really tie the season a little bit further for us but if, you know, it's a fine line to walk. If it gets too cold then you could definitely have some damage.

ZARRELLA: The feared number is 28 degrees. Below that, for more than four hours, would freeze the fruit right on the trees and could wreck Florida's $9 billion a year citrus industry. Strawberry growers are not in a good place either. The fields have been watered to allow an insulating coat of ice to form over the tender berries.

VICKIE BECK, ANDREW'S SOD AND STRAWBERRY FARM: Nothing you can do but try to do your best to protect them and make the best out of it and say a few prayers to watch over them. And keep going.

ZARRELLA: Perhaps a lot of prayers. Even colder temperatures are expected by the weekend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: You know, last hour we cut an orange to see if the inside was still good. There wasn't any ice in it, and we're going to cut another one right here real quick and show everybody the same thing, which is really good news, plenty of juice in this honey bell orange. If it had frozen, you'd see this would all be ice. So this is what the farmers want to see. No ice in the fruit. So so far, good news. John, Kiran.

ROBERTS: Yes. I wasn't aware, either, John, that you know, they like cold temperatures coming down close to freezing because it sweetens the fruit, just as long as it doesn't go too far.

ZARRELLA: Yes, absolutely. The farmers do, the growers do. It's good for the strawberries. It's good for tomatoes. It's good for everything. Just not too cold too long. That 28 degrees is the cutoff. More than four hours below 28 and they've got some real problems. And that still could be the case for this weekend. John, Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. They're holding their breath, crossing their fingers and saying their prayers. Good luck to them. Thanks, John.

Well, other states are also dealing with a dangerous even deadly cold in some places and they're facing more frigid weather today. Our Rob Marciano says it's not going to warm up any time soon. His extreme weather forecast coming in just 10 minutes.

ROBERTS: And a story that you're not going to want to miss here, a yoga group allegedly billed customers at tens of thousands of dollars, some former employees call it a cult. Our Kyra Phillips investigates. It's coming up next. It's 35 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Money, power and greed, but these are not words that you normally associate with a spiritual yoga center. ROBERTS: Cult is another word, but that's what two dozen former employees are calling a popular chain of wellness centers. Our Kyra Phillips is here with us this morning with a CNN Special Investigation. Good morning.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. We all want to feel good about something, right? We talk about that all the time, and we want to feel good about ourselves. We want to live lives of good health, filled with good deeds. This desire, this philosophy actually led me to a pretty fascinating investigation into a chain of yoga and wellness centers called Dahn Yoga and its founder, Ilchi Lee.

It has thousands of members who claimed it changed their lives. But now Dahn Yoga is under attack and former employees, two of whom you're about to meet, claim the organization is a high-level cult.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Most Americans have probably never heard of Dahn Yoga, nor its founder, a Korean businessman named Ilchi Lee. Ilchi Lee is seldom seen in public. That's why this event is packed. It's the dedication of Dahn Yoga's Mago Earth Park. Mago meaning Mother Earth. And according to this video, Ilchi Lee is the messenger of a new creation story.

ANNOUNCER: All of humanity needed to hear earth's message. He set out for America.

PHILLIPS: This was part of the spiritual message that drew in college students like Jade Harrelson and Liza Miller. They started out as members and soon became employees. But they began to question what they believed. What had been promised as the path to enlightenment began to look like a cult.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They prey upon people like me who are ignorant about the way money works.

PHILLIPS: What started out as a few hundred dollars grew into payments of thousands as their training advanced. And to pay the bills, they took out student loans, giving the money straight to Dahn Yoga.

JESSICA "JADE" HARRELSON, EX-DAHN YOGA EMPLOYEE: My superiors and the masters at Dahn encouraged me and were actually the people who taught me how to take out these student loans?

PHILLIPS (on camera): How much money?

HARRELSON: I would say in total, my expenses with Dahn, came to about $40,000.

PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh.

HARRELSON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Were you able to pay that back? HARRELSON: Oh, no. I'm still paying it back and I'll be paying it back for another 20, 25 years.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): However, Dahn Yoga's head of public relations tells us no one was ever coerced into spending money they didn't have in order to advance within the organization.

JOSEPH ALEXANDER, VP, PUBLIC RELATIONS, DAHN YOGA: We make no excuse and no public apology for the fact that we are a business. So they have misinterpreted natural business cycles, natural business goals as some type of undue pressure.

PHILLIPS: But these former employees say they believe some of the money they spent, which was supposed to help the world, instead supported an extravagant lifestyle, like these expensive homes in the Sedona Mountains and this stable for Arabian horses.

RYAN KENT, ATTORNEY FOR EX-EMPLOYEES: As far as I can tell, the need for growth is designed and intended to provide more money to Mr. Lee, rather than any spiritual goal.

PHILLIPS: Ryan Kent represents 27 former Dahn Yoga employees who are suing the organization. Calling it a "totalistic, high demand cult group, which manipulates its members to serve Ilchi lee's financial interest."

ALAN KAPLAN, ATTORNEY FOR ILCHI LEE: They've injected allegations of cult-like activity.

PHILLIPS: Characterizations heatedly denied by Ilchi Lee's attorney. Who says it's little more than a money grab by disgruntled former employees.

KAPLAN: Let's make it clear, my client Mr. Lee is not a cult leader. Dahn Yoga is not a cult.

PHILLIPS (on camera): What's bow training?

LIZA MILLER, EX-DAHN YOGA EMPLOYEE: Bow training would be a series of repetitive motions to over and over again.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Bowing over and over like this. Liza says it drove her to the brink of exhaustion, just to re-enforce her dedication to the group.

MILLER: We actually had to do 3,000 at one point which took about 10 hours, and we didn't eat or drink during that time.

PHILLIPS (on camera): 10 hours of bowing, no eating, no drinking. Did people pass out? Did they get sick?

MILLER: People were rolling around moaning, crying, wailing, there was a lot of emotional distress.

PHILLIPS: And nobody at any time said this is crazy? This is ridiculous? MILLER: If we were to come out and say things like that, we would, again, be refocused to ourselves and our problems.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Alexander says that depiction is simply untrue.

ALEXANDER: Generally people do a smaller number of bows and they build up to more. I know of no one who does 3,000 bows on a regular basis.

PHILLIPS: But allegations against Dahn Yoga and Ilchi Lee don't stop at money and abuse. There's much more.

PHILLIPS (on camera): We just want your side of the story, sir.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now on its Web site, Dahn Yoga boasts an impressive list of scientists and politicians who actually applaud the work of Ilchi Lee. And as you can imagine, CNN has been hearing from Dahn Yoga employees and members since word of our investigation first became public, all praising the benefits of Dahn Yoga and insisting it's not a cult.

There is a link to Dahn's official response at cnn.com/amfix and even so there are serious allegations about not only Ilchi Lee's behavior but that of Dahn Yoga as a whole.

ROBERTS: It's really an ironic coincidence because several weeks ago before you got involved in the story, you were looking for some yoga classes, you actually picked up a Dahn Yoga brochure.

PHILLIPS: Talk about a twist.

ROBERTS: How do people get drawn into this?

PHILLIPS: Well, it's true, I wanted to sign up for new yoga classes. They had just opened up a center close to my home. So I went in there. It's very impressive. I picked up the brochure and found out about the classes but here's what's interesting, they want to meet with you one-on-one and that process is very intense.

Kiran, if you came in, they would say, OK, let me look at your energy, let me check your pressure points. Let me feel your organs, you know, you've got stuff going on. You seem a little sad. And then you're thinking, oh, my gosh. I need something more. And then that's when.

CHETRY: Did they do that to you when you went in there?

PHILLIPS: No, I didn't go that far. But talking to former employees and to others that have gone in for that session, that's how it goes. And so you know, you want to feel good. You want more happiness, and that's how they pull you in.

ROBERTS: Now you're going to be back with us again tomorrow with part two of this investigation. What are we looking at tomorrow?

PHILLIPS: That's right. It's not just the issue of money and these allegations and the fact that it's a cult, but we're going to be talking about allegations of abuse, rape and even death. So it gets much more intense. We'll have that tomorrow.

ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward to it. Thanks.

CHETRY: Thanks, Kyra.

Meanwhile, it's 44 minutes past the hour. Rob Marciano is going to be joining with us the travel forecast right after the break.

ROBERTS: And at 10 minutes' time, we're "Paging Dr. Gupta" for your "A.M." house call, today's taking a closer look at the health care reform bills in the house and the Senate. What could we expect to see in the final bill? Sanjay's "Digging Deeper" for us this morning.

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CHETRY: There you go. Clear and 19 degrees right now in Atlanta. It's going to be sunny and 39 later today for a high.

Our Rob Marciano tracking all of that for us this morning. Hey, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. Another chilly day across the South, and you may want to truck on out of here, head West. That's where you ought to go. Going South isn't going to do you any good because it's almost as cold down across parts of Florida, and as you - as you've been seeing all morning long, John Zarrella reporting from the orange groves there.

Those oranges, they look delicious, but farmers certainly hoping that this batch of air isn't as bad as we think, because it looks like the second of the one-two punch will probably be about five degrees colder in spots, a little bit more than that, than this current batch of cold air that is pretty darn chilly.

Eighteen degrees currently in Atlanta, 17 in Memphis. There have been a few fatalities because of the cold across parts of Tennessee, and snow is on the way for some of those folks, 24 degrees in Raleigh - look at that, 31, 32 degrees in Tampa, so some of the inland areas are hovering right at freezing or just below freezing across parts of Florida, and I think by the time the weekend rolls along, we might see temperatures dip a couple - another couple of degrees.

All right, here's the leading edge of that cold air, some light snow heading across South Dakota and Nebraska, will be driving South into Kansas City and St. Louis. There is a winter storm watch that's up for parts of St. Louis because of the snow that's expected there. Not a whole lot, maybe 2 to 6 inches. You got to go up to Fargo to get up maybe over a foot of snow there.

But the bigger story really is going to be the colder air that's going to be plowing down to the South, 20 to 30 degrees below average from the continental divide to about the Mississippi River. This will ease off to the East, but the core of the coldest air will feel below average will be around St. Louis and Memphis.

Shots out of Florida, talked about the orange groves. Well, the manatees, you've got to take care of them, you know? The FPL Plants in Riviera Beach just around West Palm Beach, they typically, you know, have water that's warmer than normal, but they're changing to cleaner burning fuel, so they've actually installed electric heaters because the manatees have come to depend on that warm water around the power plant during this time of year.

They heat it to about 60 degrees. If it goes below 60 the manatees typically have a little bit of a problem. About 300 of them show up there, and they look to be a friendly bunch and they're enjoying the warmer temperatures, because - at least right now, that water is certainly warmer than the air - John and Kiran.

CHETRY: They are a friendly bunch. They're - just like little sea cows. You know, they eat veggies. They don't bother anybody.

MARCIANO: Exactly. Very, very lovable little thing. Little bigger (ph), actually.

CHETRY: Well, not little, but - exactly.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.

This morning's top stories are just minutes away, including Democrats heading for the exits. First, Senator Byron Dorgan, now Senator Chris Dodd. Is this a sign of things to come in November? Our Dana Bash with the latest from Capitol Hill this morning.

CHETRY: Also coming up at 8:30 Eastern, NBA legend Karl Malone. He's speaking out about a current all-star bringing guns into the locker room. He's a member of the NRA. We're going to ask Malone what he thinks should happen after the incident involving the Washington Wizards.

ROBERTS: And at 8:40 Eastern, heroin for dummies. New York City publishing a guide for safer drug use. One DEA official calls it a step-by-step instruction on how to inject the poison. Alina Cho has the outrage (ph) and the city's reaction.

Those stories and more coming your way, starting at the top of the hour.

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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

With the holiday rush and attempted terror attack dominating the head - headlines, really, health care was seen to take a back seat lately. But there is still a lot of work to be done. It's work that was supposed to be finished by now, and senators now have to merge their bill with the one passed by the House, the president saying he will be hands-on throughout this process.

So in today's "A.M. House Call," CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is in Atlanta to break all of it down for us. So, Sanjay, just tell us where we are now and - and how close they are to getting it signed.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's interesting because we're technically on the vacation period thing. The - the House is expected to return on the 12th, next Tuesday, the Senate the week after that.

But I can tell you, according to our sources in Washington, really monitoring this, a lot of informal discussions are taking place right now, even as we speak. The - the thought is that you could potentially bypass the formal - formal process of all of this, making the formal process just that, a formality. So a lot of closed-door discussions going on to try and see if the Democrats alone really have the votes, have the numbers, to get this passed.

So, on vacation, technically, Kiran, but a lot of work still being done behind closed doors.

CHETRY: Yes. You know, it's funny because there have been calls, hey, I thought this was supposed to be on C-Span. Why don't we televise some of these negotiations? And of course there is still a lot of wrangling as to what's going to end up, ultimately, in these two bills.

GUPTA: There is a lot of wrangling. And what's interesting is that, you know, these closed-door, informal meetings, Republicans really are not, you know, a part of those meetings. The Democrats feel they might be able to get the numbers by themselves, alone to - to get this passed.

But, you know, what - what's interesting, what we're hearing is that there is, you know, a lot of concern still being raised, some of it even constitutional. For example, can you individually mandate people to buy health care insurance? Is that even constitutional? That's something that's coming up. There's been a lot of discussion about Nebraska still, and - and the fact be that could their Medicaid be paid for in that state into perpetuity? Is that constitutional?

So there's lots of discussions that are still coming up, but the big three that you and I have talked about, I think maybe since this started, Kiran, you know, how you're going to pay for this, the - the cost numbers are different between the House and the Senate, exactly what - is the public option going to stay in this or not be in this? By the way, we're hearing it's probably not going to be a part of the final thing now.

And, finally, the - the idea of abortion funding. Could any federal dollars ever be used to pay for abortion? There was very strict language in the House bill saying no. In the Senate bill, it was a little looser, saying, well, if you - if you sort of have separate accounts, maybe some money could, but it didn't - it could not be co-mingled with other - other money. So a lot of that still needs to be worked out.

CHETRY: Right. And so, as we talked about, you highlighted some of those key differences as well, you know, and in these types of situations, I mean, in the compromise, I mean, people have to seed ground, obviously, and there are some big differences, as you said, between what the House is OK with and what the Senate was able to get 60 votes to support.

GUPTA: Yes. And - and what's interesting, it comes back down to some - some of those key issues again, and now, you know, as they - as they say, the devil's in the details. You have - you have differing cost estimates, for example, between the House and the Senate.

Within the House, a lot more of that cost was being defrayed by increasing taxes, a surtax on the wealthy. In the Senate bill, a lot of it was being defrayed by, you know, for example, taxes on Cadillac health care plans, and also increasing payroll taxes on Medicare. But again, you know, how - how that all sort of comes together, that - that's a challenging task.

You know, talking to some of the sources in Washington, about 70 percent of us, if you had to put a number on this, is sort of being finagled by the aides of all the - all the House members and the Senate members. And then, that final 30 percent, those big issues is probably where, you know, you're going to have a lot of the - these leaders come in and really make their case and hopefully reach some sort of deal.

CHETRY: All right. Well, we'll follow it every step of the way, as you said, probably closer to February before they get something hammered out. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, always great to see you. Thanks.

GUPTA: Good to see you, Kiran. Take care.

CHETRY: John.

ROBERTS: Airport security breakdown. Have we learned anything since September the 11th? Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge joins us live in our next hour.

And the top stories are coming your way in 90 seconds. Stay with us.

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