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American Morning

Eight of Ten Missionaries in Haiti Released to the U.S.; Conservative Summit Kicks off Today in D.C.; Foreclosure Fix Falling Short; The Crash that Changed Everything for Toyota

Aired February 18, 2010 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Thursday morning to you, thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. It's the 18th of February. I'm John Roberts.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Sara Sidner in today for Kiran Chetry.

ROBERTS: Good morning to you.

SIDNER: Good morning.

ROBERTS: It's nice to see you here, fantastic.

SIDNER: First hour flew by, and we're going at it again.

ROBERTS: Two left. Stay awake, that's the main challenge.

SIDNER: It is difficult.

Here are the top stories we'll be telling you about in the 15 minutes. They're back in the U.S., eight of the ten U.S. missionaries charged with kidnapping in Haiti arrived in Miami overnight. They are at airport at their church and in Haiti, but what about the other two still behind bars?

ROBERTS: It's the crash that changed everything for Toyota. A California highway patrol officer and three family members killed after the car raced out of car at 100 miles an hour. Toyota says it was a problem with floor mats. Here why the family's attorney says that only part of the problem.

SIDNER: Defying anger from China, President Obama meets with Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the White House today. Can the U.S. afford a major falling out with the Chinese? We're digging deeper on the complex relationship between Washington and Beijing.

ROBERTS: First this morning, new developments overnight -- eight of the ten missionaries are back in the United States this morning. They arrived in Miami overnight, many going their separate ways, at least for now. They were charged with child kidnapping and held for close to three weeks after being stopped at the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic with more than 30 children.

And we're learning that some of those kids' parents gave the testimony that set them free. We're all over this developing story this morning. Our John Vause is in Haiti with a look at what will happen to the two Americans who remain in jail.

First, though, John Zarrella standing by with the latest developments from Miami this morning. Hi, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John, we expect that most of those eight will be leaving here this morning and heading back to Idaho after spending the night at the airport hotel here in Miami international that's behind me right here.

Now the airplane, the military aircraft that brought them into Miami arrived here about 11:30 p.m. last night and taxied out on the tarmac where they deplaned. After that they were taken into the U.S. customs area to clear customs. That took about another hour or hour and a half or so.

It was 1:00 a.m. when they were released from customs but did not come out the normal way everybody usually comes out. Instead they were taken and spirited out a side exit which led them directly to the airport hotel.

As they got off one set of elevators and moved to the second set of elevators, they showed very little expression and did not talk at all with the media as they want up to their rooms.

We did talk to the attorney representing Jim Allen, one of those eight, and he said his client was very happy to be back home and hoped that now the attention would return to the real issue, which is the people of Haiti and what's going on there.

He also said that his client, who lives in Amarillo, Texas, would be going home today and there would be somewhat of a homecoming sometime this afternoon in Amarillo.

The eight Americans were released from that Haitian jail late yesterday afternoon and taken to the airport in Port-au-Prince where they boarded that C130 military aircraft for the two, two and a half hour flight back here to Miami International.

So John, they are here. We expect they will be leaving or perhaps have already left Miami airport and are on their way home, many of them back to Idaho and at least the one on his way back to Amarillo, Texas. John?

ROBERTS: John Zarrella, thanks so much for the update.

SIDNER: What about the two Americans still in jail in Hiati this morning? The judge in the case ordering Laura Silsby and Teresa Coulter to stay put because authorities want to know more about a trip they took to Haiti before the January 12th earthquake.

The state department issued a statement saying "The United States government respects the sovereign rights of the government of Haiti to conduct its own judicial process. The U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince has been providing them with assistance to make sure they are safe and receiving necessary care."

For more on this, let's bring in John Vause. He's live in Port- au-Prince this morning. What's the latest there, John?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Sara. It looks like Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter will be spending another few days at least in a jail cell here in Haiti. The judge in this case says he wants more information. He wants to continue on with this information.

The main reason why the other eight missionaries were set free and Silsby and Coulter were not, is we're told that he could find no criminal intent on the part of the eight missionaries. It appears some of the eight missionaries say they didn't know much about the plan by Silsby and Coulter to come here and rescue children and take these orphans out of the country to try to save the abandoned children.

John Zarrella mentioned Jim Allen. We know he was a last minute addition to the missionary trip here. He works in construction. He thought he was coming to Haiti to help rebuild the country.

So when it comes to Miss Silsby and Miss Coulter, the judge wants still some more information. Keep in mind, the Haitian legal system is a lot like the French legal system. The judge actively participates in the investigation, he asks questions. It's not like the U.S. where the judge passively sits back and adjudicates the evidence presented by the prosecutor and defense.

Lawyers for both women say all of this should take just a few days. They are confident that the women will be set free, but it could actually take a couple of months, Sara.

VAUSE: Thank you so much, John.

ROBERTS: Well, six minutes after the hour.

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ROBERTS: From floor mats to software, Toyota says it has a fix for its runaway cars. Hear why one family who lost loved ones when their accelerator got stuck says they are not convinced.

SIDNER: Gucci, Prada, Chanel, their catwalk creation cost a fortune. But would you believe the big money maker for some designers has to do more with scent that style? We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Conservative leaders are meeting in Washington, D.C. today for the start of the Conservative Political Action Conference. What does the future hold for America's political right?

Here to break it all down for us this morning, David Frum, former speechwriter for George W. Bush, and Susan Molinari, former Republican congresswoman from New York.

David, let's start with you. In just a year the Republican Party has gone from ruined to reenergized, focused a lot on new strength in the conservative movement as well as the tea party movement helping to get people to like Scott Brown elected in the state of Massachusetts. How do you see all of that playing out of the conference this weekend?

DAVID FRUM, FORMER SPEECH WRITER FOR PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: The Republican Party has been riding along as unintended beneficiary of the country's economic problems. That's the thing dragging down the president.

The strategic situation of the Republican Party remains what it was over the past 20 years. The party is in a difficult situation because diminishing appeal to groups like married women, the highly educated. But a president facing the horrific economic circumstances that President Obama faces is going to be weighted down in the polls. That's what's been happening.

ROBERTS: Susan, what's your take on what you'll see this weekend and the interplay between the establishment conservatives and new tea party people coming in and will have something of a voice at this year's CPAC?

SUSAN MOLINARI, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW YORK: It's interesting that CPAC is the established conservatives. They were the upstart for the conservative wing of the Republican Party, and I mean that in a good sense.

The CPAC convention is first big forum where we start to kick the tires, if you will, of the new candidates that could be potentially our Republican presidential nominees and other stars on the horizon. I think actually this is an exciting time and should be a great weekend for the Republican Party in those and the conservative center right of this country, which seems to be more and more people.

I think David's right. We have to be careful because as we have learned from Scott Brown and in Virginia and in New Jersey, what we're also doing here and winning elections -- in Long Island, we won a series of local elections that took us all by surprise -- is gaining the trust of the independents too.

So we want to walk the line of dealing with conservatives while dealing with independents, because that's how you grow a majority party.

ROBERTS: Susan you mentioned the words center-right, and there's some sense the party is moving further right. You look at Marko Rubio, the opening speaker today, going against Charlie Crist in a very divisive primary election in Florida. You've got J.D. Hayworth now throwing his hat in the ring against John McCain in Arizona.

What do you think, Susan? Is that an anti-incumbent sort of sentiment out there or is the Republican Party trying to move further to the right?

MOLINARI: John, I don't think that is that much different than where we were when we won the majority in 1994. A lot of the class of 1994 were very conservative. At the same time we were able to broaden our message to bring in a lot of moderates in the northeast.

That is the challenge in electing and governing, as the Democrats are finding right now, where they really can't get their coalition of conservative Democrats and progressives together.

ROBERTS: David, what do you think? Some people are saying moderates are becoming an endangered species in the Republican Party, and the same thing could be said for the Democratic Party. But on the Republican side of the fence, what do you think?

FRUM: This is an unnecessary self-inflicted wound. In fact the Republicans will field in the 2010 midterm elections a sleight of very credible and very reasonable candidates, people like Rob Portman, the team in California, Tom Campbell, Carli Fiorina contending for the Senate nomination, both very different but reasonable people.

What we don't do a good job of is allowing the screamers -- making sure the screamer on the fringe are on the fringe. J.D. Hayworth will not knock off John McCain for the nomination in Arizona. We are embarrassed of the people with the harsher message, and we do not speak up and say this is the party of Portman and Fiorina and Campbell.

ROBERTS: Susan, let's get back to the tea party moment. We had Karen Hoffman on this morning. She talks about the beginning of a relationship with the RNC and the Republican Party. What do you think that relationship is going to look like this year? And what impact do you think it might have on the November midterm elections?

MOLINARI: I think Republicans have to be careful, but we do have to take advantage and work with the tea party people. I know tea party people from Staten Island and Brooklyn who are afraid of the overreaching agenda of President Obama.

So I think there are various people in the tea party and it helps the party in that they are an echo chamber sometimes for the dissatisfaction for the government creep of the Obama presidency.

But at the same time I do have some concerns that this is an establishment, the tea party, that claims it has no leaders, that it is the bottom up. And so I think as a national chairman as just as Republicans we do have to be careful who we empower by meeting with, because anybody we meet with becomes the titular head of a party that says they have no leader.

So I think we could eventually get into trouble if we're not very careful.

ROBERTS: And, David, when you look at the theme of the CPAC conference as a recurring one, it's saving freedom. There's a lot of forums under that title. Let's take a look at them.

There's, quote, "saving freedom from fascism, saving freedom one patriot at a time, saving freedom from the enemies of our values, saving freedom from the hoax of global warming." We only found one focus on jobs and the economy titled "Saving Freedom, It's about Jobs, Stupid." You're thoughts on the program there, David.

FRUM: Well, this is an example of the way we -- what we're saying versus what we're doing. As a party where Republicans are, is they are focused on the economy and jobs, and they are going to be proposing a series of ideas in these state campaigns about where to go. But we unfortunately allow ourselves to speak in public forums, in national forums in these very extreme ways.

Freedom is not in danger in the United States, but employment is in danger. And that's the thing we ought to be focused on. That's I think one of the real dangers from the so-called tea party movement. If that means the millions of people who are concerned about the direction of the country, it's a very important component of the Republican coalition. But if it means the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people who turn out at these events, that is a tail that can't be allowed to wag the dog.

ROBERTS: All right. Well, we'll be watching this one closely. Newt Gingrich has called this potentially the most important CPAC conference ever.

Susan Molinari, David Frum, always great to see you. Thanks for joining us.

MOLINARI: Thank you, John.

FRUM: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Sixteen-and-a-half minutes after the hour. Stay with us.

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SIDNER: Nineteen minutes after the hour, and that means time for "Minding Your Business."

Government to the rescue one year later. We're looking at foreclosure rescue and how it panned out. Our Gerri Willis is "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Good morning to you.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Do you guys remember when we broke the story on CNN last year, last February, it was a very big program. Making home affordable and the result is not so great. Only 12 percent of people who have signed up for this program have actually gotten help. Let's take a look at the numbers here.

A hundred sixteen thousand permanent loan reductions, permanent loan modifications have actually been awarded -- Eight hundred thirty thousand trial modifications, that means that they're in the first three months of a trial mod. Sixty thousand have been denied.

And remember the administration wanted to help four million people. At the end of the day, the ability to help these folks has really been constrained by what bankers want to do. Remember, there are a lot of players at the table besides just the consumers themselves.

The president's plan to begin with is to bring monthly payments down to 31 percent of pre-tax income, and that's just proving too hard to do. At the end of the day, I think we're looking for other solutions out there. We're going to see foreclosures continue to rise this year.

The folks that I talked to say, you know, we're going into foreclosure now for the old fashioned reasons, you lose your job, you have no income, you can't have a mortgage. And some of the new mortgages out there, option arms, for example, those are resetting. People can't pay them, and they will not qualify for the president's plan because the values have dropped so much.

So we're going to have a lot more pain out there. Foreclosures will probably climb to a high of three million or more this year. We're just looking for more pain in that category. Remember when housing prices were $200,000 on median 220? Now the median price $173,200.

ROBERTS: Wow. There are so many people in this country that are under water and just walking away.

WILLIS: I know. It's very sad.

ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) way you go.

Thanks, Gerri. Gerri Willis "Minding Your Business" this morning.

SIDNER: Tiger Woods will finally break his silence after the Thanksgiving accident that ultimately forced him to admit he cheated on his wife. The golfer is expected to apologize for his behavior in a public statement tomorrow at the PGA Tour headquarters in Florida. Of course, CNN will bring you live coverage of Tiger's apology tomorrow morning, 11:00 Eastern standard.

Twenty-two minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.

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ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes now after the hour. And new developments regarding Toyota's ongoing troubles. The government now plans to open a formal investigation today into potential power steering issues in 2009 and 2010 model Corollas. The automaker says it received less than 100 complaints from drivers who felt like they had lost control at high speeds. So far though, no plans for a recall.

SIDNER: Toyota's growing list of problems really came to light after a California Highway Patrol officer and his family were killed when their car took off at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour.

ROBERTS: Our Deb Feyerick is live in Los Angeles this morning for us with an "A.M. Original." And, Deb, police say the problem was the floor mat, but the victim's family not convinced of that explanation.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Absolutely, John and Sara. And you know, when you think about it, it appears that there was a lot going wrong in this car. This was a 911 call really heard round the world. It changed the image of Toyota and sent the car giant scrambling to recall millions of vehicles. And we do warn you that this 911 call is difficult to listen to.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): The 911 call lasted just 17 seconds.

CHRIS LASTRELLA, WAS IN FAULTY CAR: We're going North on 125.

911 OPERATOR: Mm-hmm.

LASTRELLA: And our accelerator is stuck.

FEYERICK: August 28th, 2009, California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor was driving his 13-year-old daughter Mahala to a soccer match in San Diego County. His wife, Cleofe, a genetic researcher, was next to him in the passenger seat. Her brother, Chris Lastrella, behind Mark, was talking to a 911 operator describing what would be the family's final moments.

LASTRELLA: We're going a 120. Mission Gorge. We're in trouble. We can't -- there's no brakes.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

LASTRELLA: Mission Gorge -- end freeway half mile.

911 OPERATOR: OK. And you don't have the ability to, like, turn the vehicle off or anything?

LASTRELLA: We're approaching the intersection. Hold on. Pray. Pray.

FEYERICK (on camera): Witnesses say the car appeared to be having problems. It pulled over to the side of the road and seemed to be surging, almost as if it had run out of gas. Moments later, witnesses say it shot past at over 100 miles an hour. By the time it reached the end of this freeway, investigators say Mark Saylor had run out of time and options.

The car slammed into the back of another vehicle continuing straight through the intersection and hitting this embankment. Witnesses say the car went airborne, rolling over several times before landing in this dry riverbed and bursting into flames.

(voice-over): The family died instantly leaving behind relatives like cousin Joe Audal (ph) asking why.

JOE AUDAL (ph), COUSIN: It's absolutely devastating for everybody. It's hard for my aunt to really even go on with her life.

FEYERICK: Mark Saylor knew these roads. He'd been a highway patrol officer for 20 years. Colleagues say if anyone could have stopped a runaway car, it was their friend.

JOHN CONCEPCION, FRIEND OF MARK SAYLOR: He was great on the brake and on the accelerator. He knew how to control a car very well. And I'm sure he did everything in his power to bring the car under control.

FEYERICK: The car didn't even belong to the Saylors. It was a loaner they received that morning while their own car was being serviced. According to the sheriff's report, the man who had driven the same loaner had told the dealership about a serious problem with the car. Family attorney Tim Pestotnik (ph)...

TIM PESTOTNIK, FAMILY ATTORNEY: And that consumer brought it back to the dealership and told them that the accelerator was stuck. And the car was still used three days later with our clients who were all killed unfortunately in the same car.

FEYERICK: Detectives later discovered the rubber floor mat in the Lexus Sedan was the wrong size, meant for an SUV. The vice president at the dealership told investigators they, quote, "do not mix and match the all-weather mats. The company declined to talk to us pending its own investigation. Even so, lawyers for the Saylor and Lastrella families believe the floor mat is only partially to blame.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know there was evidence of heavy application of braking. So I think in the beginning, you know, he's kind of finding the car is lurching, kind of like a bull and finally those brakes fail entirely. That throttle is wide open, that car takes off like a rocket.

FEYERICK: Friend John Concepcion gave a eulogy at the funeral describing Saylor as a religious man of great faith and strong opinion who fell in love with his wife at first sight.

CONCEPCION: You know, he is very persistent. He knew what he wanted, and he knew that at that time was the one that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

FEYERICK: The couple doted on daughter Mahala, Mark coaching her soccer team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His main focus was obviously on his daughter who was growing up, real good kid. Real loving, real curious, you know, wanting to know about everything.

FEYERICK: The head of Toyota expressed sympathy for the deaths. Now the family hopes the millions of recalls prompted by this tragedy will help save others.

AUDAL (ph): They're in a good place right now.

FEYERICK (on camera): Do you believe that?

AUDAL (ph): Absolutely. They're heroes and angels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Now as a result of the crash, Toyota redesigned the pedal and floor mats of millions of recalled vehicles and in some of them even installed a brake override system. Lawyers say if that system had been in the car that Mark Saylor was driving, that he and his family would be alive today -- John, Sara.

ROBERTS: Terribly tragic story this morning. Deb, thanks so much for bringing it to us.

SIDNER: Thank you, Deb.

For an in-depth look at the Toyota recall, go to CNN.com/Toyota. Find out whether you're driving one of the 8.5 million recalled cars and what to do if your gas pedal sticks.

ROBERTS: We're coming up on the half hour, and that means it's time for our top stories this morning.

Eight American missionaries who were charged with kidnapping in Haiti are back in the United States this morning. They arrived in Miami overnight, but the judge kept two of them in jail in Haiti. An attorney says the judge wants to know about another trip that they took to the country before they were caught with more than 30 kids at the border.

SIDNER: A mentally ill man described as having an infatuation with Vice President Joe Biden was able to slip past security and come within feet of the vice president at the Winter Olympics opening ceremonies. Authorities say he used fake credentials to slip past three layers of security. He was eventually arrested though authorities say he will not be charged. The Canadians stressed the vice president was never in danger.

ROBERTS: And prepare for a new level of security screening at the airport. TSA screeners will soon start randomly swabbing passenger's hands at check points in airport gates to test them for traces of explosives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET NAPOLITANO, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: When there's a positive reading, what will happen is the passenger will be pulled aside and there will be a secondary screening. They'll be asked questions. There may be a hard pat down. Things of that sort to make sure that they are not trying to bring something like an explosive on the aircraft.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: TSA launched the program after the Christmas day bombing attempt on a Northwest Airlines flight.

Well, Senator Evan Bayh was in the running for vice president in 2008 and polls showed that he had a 20-point lead in his race for re- election this year. So his announcement that he is done with Congress because nothing is getting done really rattled Washington.

Today we're asking, is Congress really broken? And who's job is it to fix it? Joining us now is Thomas Mann. He is the congressional scholar who has written a book about broken government. He is Washington. Tom, great to see you this morning. Thanks for being with us.

THOMAN MANN, CONGRESSIONAL SCHOLAR: Happy to be with you, John.

ROBERTS: So Evan Bayh's pronouncement this week that Congress is not functioning as it should, his exact words, is he right?

MANN: Yes. In one respect he's absolutely right. Just look at the contrast between the severity of the problems that we're trying to cope with, the worst economic recession and financial crisis since the Great Depression and the ability of the institution to act sort of decisively and thoughtfully.

John, the problem is the combination of highly ideologically polarizing political parties operating at sort of near parity. That is, they eat the one and the outs has a chance with a good election to become the majority, combined with the fact that the parliamentary like party has no parliamentary rules. Instead we have super majority requirements in the Senate. That makes for gridlock on difficult controversial issues.

ROBERTS: You point to problems, Tom, arising out of the two- party system that as you said pretty much at parity that's going back and forth at each other and also what you call the permanent campaign. Explain that.

MANN: Listen, what happens now is -- and we see it particularly with the Republicans being in the minority and anxious to get back into the majority, it means every day there is a message coming from the party and an effort to use the legislative process to improve political prospects for the next election.

Now, that's sort of regular politics. But when it happens every day, when each member of the minority is really under pressure to stick with the party on the campaign, it means no one talks seriously honestly. We saw that yesterday and the one-year anniversary of the stimulus bill. It was just amazing to see the denial that the U.S. and the other G-20 countries which all acted in coordination to try to avert economic abyss, that somehow that was all counter productive and did no good.

In the old days, the minority party would acknowledge and even assist at the margins what the majority was trying to do. Now it's all-out war every day.

ROBERTS: You mentioned a couple of moments ago, the super majority, I believe you were probably alluding to the Senate filibuster rule. You know, we've learned over these years that you need to have 60 votes to be able to get legislation to be guaranteed to get legislation through the Senate.

Scott Brown's election in Massachusetts took away the Democrat's supermajority. Is there talk out there about changing that rule?

MANN: Lots of talk outside the Senate but very little serious talk inside. You know, it wasn't anticipated in the constitution the framers intended majority rule, it's a quirk of the absence of a rule in the early history of the Senate that produced this. But now it's come to be used as a bludgeon.

Frankly, it takes two-thirds of the votes of the senators to alter the rule. Probably the only realistic possibility is to try to use shame to let President Obama and majority take it to the country and try to discredit this and say, let's return to a constitutional majority, which is 51 votes.

ROBERTS: Yes, 50 plus one. You know, when Evan Bayh was on with us, Tom, the other day, he said that what needs to happen is voters need to kick out the ideologues and the partisans in Congress. Is that possible? Because they are the ones who tend to garner the most support. And if you look, you know, the history of elections, it's like 80 percent of senatorial incumbents get reelected. 90 percent of House incumbents get re-elected.

MANN: Well, that's right and if they were defeated they probably be followed by people even more ideologically oriented. Frankly the problem is found out there, outside of Washington. Most Americans have sorted themselves into one of the political parties based on their own ideology, it's reinforced by the activist groups and now the Tea Partiers, the media outlets. Everyone is engaged in ideological warfare, no one is talking.

ROBERTS: So the question is how do you get Washington functioning again?

MANN: It seems to me the best hope is for the president to stick to his guns, he ought to be sending out a message, an olive branch to the minority but using a stick at the same time to say, hey, we're not just going to slow down and kill. We're going to move on health care. We're going to move on a new jobs bill and play hard ball and go to the country and live through the war. If the public sees results then we'll begin to improve the governability of Congress because Republicans in the minority will feel obliged to start playing ball.

ROBERTS: All right. Thomas Mann for us this morning. Tom, it's always great to see you. Thanks for stopping by.

SIDNER: President Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama is not winning any friends in Beijing. Which leads many to wonder, why does China's opinion on the visit matter to the U.S.? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

SIDNER: Thirty-nine minutes after the hour. The Dalai Lama is in Washington this morning. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader will meet with President Obama at the White House in just a few hours. That meeting has China up in arms.

In a new CNN/Opinion Research Poll just out this morning, 53 percent say it's more important for the U.S. to maintain good relations with China than take a stand on Tibet. 41 percent are in favor of taking a strong position on independence for Tibet.

Don't hold your breath for a big photo op when the Dalai Lama meets with President Obama today. China has condemned the meeting saying it could harm already tense relations with the U.S.. So why should Washington be so concerned about Beijing's discontent?

Our Jill Dougherty is digging deeper on the important and complex relationship between Washington and Beijing. Good morning, Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Sara. You know, last year President Obama actually put off a meeting with the Dalai Lama because he was off to Beijing. He didn't want anything to interfere with the success of that very important visit. But now this visit comes right in the midst of a lot of tensions with China.

Think about it, Google, Internet security, U.S. arm sales to Taiwan. There are a lot of issues. And yet neither side has any interest ultimately in blowing up this relationship.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY (voice-over): Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown, a symbol of the old China Americans still think of. Was that a poor China at that point we're going 150 years ago?

DOUGLAS H. PAAL, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: China was very poor, under a lot of stress. It had both civil wars and foreign invasions.

DOUGHERTY: But Douglas Paul says that's out of date. He studied China for decades as investment banker, diplomat, CIA expert and presidential adviser. China, he says is now a major international player, holding more than a $1 trillion of U.S. debt and a burgeoning economy.

PAAL: China doesn't want to make cheap things. It wants to make better things. And if you have an iPhone or if you have an Apple computer, that came from China. It didn't come from the United States.

DOUGHERTY (on camera): What's happening with U.S. exports to China. PAAL: U.S. exports are zooming to China. It's the largest export market for the U.S., largest growing market for the U.S.. It grew 65 percent this past year alone.

DOUGHERTY (voice-over): So, in spite of disagreements about the Dalai Lama, and U.S. arm sales to Taiwan, neither China nor the U.S. Paul says can afford a major falling out.

(on camera): There's often the impression that the United States, let's say needs China more than China needs the United States. What's the true story?

PAAL: Well, we both need each other. We need each other for a number of international security issues, to deal with the global climate crisis, to deal with the global financial crisis.

DOUGHERTY: For an average American, what is the most important trend in China that they should be looking at?

PAAL: The Chinese are always looking at America to see whether we're gaining strength or losing strength. And Americans ask themselves, are we at home taking care of our economy and moving ourselves forward so that China will always see us as a source of strength and not as a potential weak party to deal with and put pressure on. If that's done, everything else becomes easy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY: And both sides are under pressure domestically from their own constituents to stand tough on this issue. And another example of how sensitive it is, every detail has been worked out and the meeting is actually going to be taking place here in the map room, which is part of the residence, not in the oval office. Sara, John.

SIDNER: Thank you, Jill. And after meeting with President Obama this morning, the Dalai Lama sits down with Larry King for an exclusive interview. It airs Monday at 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN. John.

ROBERTS: Chilly and windy in the northeast but not quite as bad as it was yesterday. Rob Marciano is tracking your travel forecast for us and he's coming up next. It's 44 minutes after the hour.

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ROBERTS: There's a live shot outside the Time Warner Center, our CNN World Headquarters here in New York City, where it's mostly cloudy, right now 33 degrees. Get this, though, it's going up to a high of 42 today, melt away some of that snow that we received over the past couple of weeks.

Rob Marciano tracking the weather forecast here in the northeast and across the rest of the country. He's at the Weather Center in Atlanta. Hey, Rob.

SIDNER: Good morning. ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Good morning, John. Good morning Sara.

Yes, chilly across the Northeast, but temperatures will be above freezing, so some of the snow you see in Central Park will melt slowly. But the overall trend over the next, really, week and a half continues to be below average at the eastern third of the country.

We got a little disturbance in the Rocky Mountains. Dumping (ph) some fresh snow for them. That will be traveling to the east as we go through the next 48 hours. D.C., New York metros, Philly might see some delays because of wind, and Cleveland and Pittsburgh some snow there. L.A. and San Francisco, traveling out west, there's some fog issues, so there may be delays also.

All right, here's your winds. Lake-effect snows today, yes, but not quite as much as what we saw yesterday, and temperatures cold across the southeast again, but not quite as cold as what we saw yesterday. Still, 29 in Atlanta, and 29 degrees in Jacksonville. We get towards the end of -- middle and end of February and, really, the early spring that the south is famous for should be here by now.

Forty-nine expected for a high temperature in Memphis, 60 in Dallas -- enjoy that -- and then 60s and upper 50s across parts of the West Coast, so above average temperatures there.

All right, I mentioned the -- the January warmth in the last half an hour. University of Alabama Huntsville, Dr. Roy Spencer showed this, that this January almost as warm as the last January -- as the January of '98 because mostly of el Nino. Obviously we're in a warming trend globally, regardless of el Nino, but el Nino this year certainly made things a little bit warmer for January, even though the East Coast, the eastern half of the country was unusually cold.

Unusually warm across Vancouver again today, temperatures in the lower 50s for the city and a little bit colder than that up in Cypress and then for the downhill events, up in Whistler, but no precipitation in sight so they shouldn't be canceling any of -- any events because of rain or snow.

John and Sara, back up to you.

ROBERTS: Love that graphic, the el Nino graphic. That's old school, Rob. That's all school.

MARCIANO: Yes, you know, breaking it old school for you, you know. Got to do it once in a while.

SIDNER: Love it. Thank you, Rob.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you guys.

SIDNER: This morning's top story just minutes away, including top of the hour, eight Americans jailed in Haiti are home this morning, still charged with kidnapping but back in the U.S. We're at the airport and on the ground in Port-au-Prince where two are still behind bars.

ROBERTS: At three minutes after the hour, reading the palms of potential terrorists. The new layer of security at American airports. Take off your shoes, throw out your sunscreen, your water and now hold out your hands, we're going to scan them.

SIDNER: And at 18 after, a lawsuit accusing the woman who came up with names like Hagrid, Hermione and Hogwarts of being unoriginal? What could be a billion-dollar plagiarism suit over Harry Potter's empire?

Those stories and more at the top of the hour.

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SIDNER: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 53 minutes after the hour, and that means it's time for your "A.M. House Call."

Former President Bill Clinton back in action, appearing in a public event on childhood obesity less than a week after having a procedure to unblock a clogged artery. He said he has no intention of slowing down but also said he will manage his stress better from now on.

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BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've been given this gift of life by my surgery five years ago, the medicine I take, the lifestyle changes I make. I don't want -- I don't want to throw it around -- throw it away by being a vegetable. I want to do things with it every day.

So I intend to continue to work as hard as I can, but I will -- I'm going to manage the stress better, sleep more, fewer overnight flights, be more disciplined about taking some exercise every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Sounds good.

Clinton had a quadruple bypass surgery in 2004.

ROBERTS: It always sounds good, doesn't it? I'm going to reduce stress. I'm going to get some more sleep.

SIDNER: But typically (ph) impossible.

ROBERTS: I'm not going to travel as much, exercise more.

SIDNER: How do you do it?

ROBERTS: And then six months from now, you know, I'm going to sleep more. I'm going to -- SIDNER: Eat less chocolate.

ROBERTS: Exactly.

Well, when you think of high-end fashion, it's usually the clothes that come to mind. But would you believe the big money maker for some designers has nothing to do with clothing?

SIDNER: Our Alina Cho joins us now live. Good to have you here.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there.

SIDNER: So what is this all about?

CHO: Well, you know, it's extremely lucrative -- fragrance, guys. You know, most of America, let's face it, simply can't afford the thousand-dollar creations you see on the catwalk -- make that thousands. That's the reason why designers create fragrances -- perfume.

Consumers can own a little piece of the brand. Designers are making millions. So just how much? You may be surprised.

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CHO (voice-over): Carolina Herrera...

CAROLINA HERRERA, FASHION DESIGNER: I mean, it's a dream.

CHO: .. Donna Karan...

DONNA KARAN, FASHION DESIGNER: I think it's a way to reach a huge amount of people.

CHO: ... and Oscar de la Renta.

OSCAR DE LA RENTA, FASHION DESIGNER: It's sort of like an invisible dress, you know?

CHO: These three iconic fashion designers are not talking about their clothes. They're talking about perfume.

CHO (on camera): Why was it so important for you to launch a fragrance?

DE LA RENTA: You know, I was always intrigued by fragrances. I never ever knew that it was going to become the big business that in fact it became.

CHO (voice-over): How big?

CHO (on camera): How lucrative, financially, is it to have a fragrance for a brand like yours?

HERRERA: It is very. Very much so.

CHO: Is it as lucrative as the clothes?

HERRERA: More.

CHO: More?

HERRERA: Much more.

CHO (voice-over): Industry insiders say fragrance can account for up to 75 percent of a designer's entire business. Globally, Donna Karan's designer scents bring in $500 million a year, and there's no price tag on what it does for the brand.

JOHN DEMSEY, GROUP PRESIDENT, THE ESTEE LAUDER COMPANIES INC.: It has a role, a very important role in terms of establishing an identity.

CHO: One reason celebrities all want a piece of it. But designers were the first.

HERRERA: If the fragrance is successful, your name goes everywhere.

DE LA RENTA: The fragrance is...

CHO: For de la Renta, who dresses famous faces and first ladies with gowns that cost thousands, his signature scent, launched in 1977, is a way for consumers who can't afford this Oscar, to buy this Oscar.

DE LA RENTA: Fragrance is the one luxury that you can really buy for relatively little money.

CHO: But it only works when it works.

FERN MALLIS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, IMG FASHION: Some designers, it's unbelievably well (ph) in the fragrance category. And then there are other young designers who think, OK, I'm going to quickly get a fragrance license, and it's a bust because people don't know their name yet.

CHO: But some say the best part, fragrance doesn't have a size.

KARAN: It's not about trying it on. It's about having a relationship. It's a seductive relationship with you and the product. You know, it's something that becomes a part of you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: You know, from concept to launch, it can take up to five years to create a fragrance. The designer comes up with a profile, what he or she wants it to be. They take those ideas to a lab, then it's possible there could be hundreds of tries, samples before everyone agrees on the one that is it, guys.

But, remember, designers have been doing this for nearly a century. You know, people can't believe it but Coco Chanel launched Chanel No. 5 in 1921. The company now estimates that a bottle of it is sold worldwide every 30 seconds.

SIDNER: Wow!

ROBERTS: So that's a (INAUDIBLE), 75 percent of their revenue?

CHO: It's a huge money maker. Think about it. You know, some of these runway creations can cost hundreds, thousands of dollars. A lot of people...

ROBERTS: And as we saw in yesterday's piece from Jeanne Moos, it's very impractical to wear.

CHO: Exactly, at times. But -- but it's just -- it's just unattainable for a lot of people in America, and so for $60, for less than $50, in many cases, you can own a little piece of that lifestyle, a little piece of the brand, and feel great wearing it.

As Oscar de la Renta says, it's like an invisible dress.

ROBERTS: Is it -- is it -- is it being the -- is it buying a piece of the brand or is it just, it smells good?

CHO: Well, there's that, too. Listen, I mean, designers spend a lot of time and energy -- like Oscar de la Renta says, his first fragrance, Oscar, harkened back to his days in the Dominican Republican where he smelled this tree, ylang-ylang, and he found out it was a flower and then later went on to develop a fragrance that smelled like it.

Because, think about it, smell really evokes memory, right?

ROBERTS: Sure.

CHO: You know, it's like that -- that saying, your signature scent. I mean, people want a signature scent, and...

ROBERTS: And anytime I want to evoke a memory, I just open my gym bag and take a big whiff. Takes me right back to high school.

CHO: No. Well, there's that too, John.

SIDNER: Don't go there (ph).

ROBERTS: Back with the top stories in 90 seconds. Stay with us.

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