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Iraq's Own G.I. Janes; Transportation Secretary Speaks Out About Toyota Recalls; Dark Side of the Internet

Aired February 03, 2010 - 13:59   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This day in history in 2007, a truck bomb went off in a Shiite market in Baghdad, killing more than 130 people.

I want the tell you about a story that our Diana Magnay has looked into, and it is about the women who are serving in the Iraqi army who are responsible for finding other women who are suicide bombers, or potential suicide bombers, and defusing the bombs and identifying the women. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MANAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A splash of nail polish here, a bit of lipstick there. Iraq's G.I. Janes don't come to training without looking the part.

We have had to blur their faces because of security concerns. In 45 days, the General Somea Medi (ph) expects his new female recruits to be confident with a gun and understand the basics of the combat.

A lot of them will work in administrative jobs, he tells me, but a number of them will be searching women at checkpoints.

In 2008, the number of female suicide bombers spiked when extremists found they could easily hide suicide vests under the women's long-flowing robes. The security forces quickly drafted in women to check wear for cultural reasons men couldn't.

Most of the recruits say they are not that bothered with what they end up doing as long as the monthly paycheck comes through, and they can keep putting food on the table.

(on camera): There was just a question-and-answer session between the general and these female soldiers. One of them asked whether she could bring her son to the training, and he had to decline, but it just shows you that most of the women here are really just looking for a way to feed their families. And the armed services is one of the biggest employers in Iraq.

(voice-over): Fatima is 24 and a graduate in English literature. She works in administration at the Ministry of Defense.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know the army fills the life we need to live. There is no work. No work. MAGNAY: The Iran/Iraq War left Uma Omar (ph) a widow, and she lost her son to insurgence violence. The army is the only way she can support the rest of her family.

"It used to be my son and three daughters," she says, "and now also my mother who is elderly and needs support, too. But then my son died in the bombings, so it's just my three daughters and mother I look after."

Now U.S. troops are leaving. Extremists have stepped up their attacks against Iraq's security forces. These women are scared of broadcasting the fact they've joined the army. But fighting for your country isn't such a difficult choice to make when it's your only chance of a decent salary.

Diana Magnay, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Let's stay with our top story this hour, the story of Toyota -- the problems for the company, the fallout for the company for dealers, for drivers.

First of all, I want to tell you what kicked off today's new discussion. This was an exchange between Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Republican Congressman Tom Latham of the House Appropriations Committee.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY LAHOOD, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We need to fix the problem so people don't have to worry about disengaging the engine or slamming on the brakes or putting it in neutral. And that's really our goal.

REP. TOM LATHAM (R), IOWA: No, I agree, but I mean, there's...

LAHOOD: My advice is, if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, take it to a Toyota dealer, because they believe they have the fix for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: That caused a number of problems. It caused Toyota's stock to go down and it caused a lot of people to get very, very panicked, particularly because that's not the advice that Toyota has given to its drivers.

A short while ago, Ray LaHood clarified to CNN his earlier remarks.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LAHOOD: My advice to a Toyota -- a person who owns a Toyota, take it to the dealership, have them look at it, have them examine it to make sure -- to see if it's one of the ones that needs to be fixed, and if it is, leave it there and have them fix it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: OK. That's a little different from entirely not driving your car if it's part of the recall.

We're on the story. We've got Poppy Harlow at a dealership in Brooklyn. She went out there. She spoke to the General manager.

And I don't know if you got a chance to speak to some customers, but this is clearly causing a great deal of turmoil, a lot of panic out there.

What do you know, Poppy?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of panic.

We're at the Bay Ridge Brooklyn Toyota dealership. It's the biggest in all of Brooklyn.

To give you some perspective of just how bit, they sold about 3,500 cars last year.

I sat down for a conversation with Mike Ianelli (ph). He's the General manager here. He couldn't go on camera with us, Ali. As you know, no one from Toyota other than their representatives that have been on the air can talk to the media, but he did talk to me about this situation.

And you know what he said? Let's take a look at this statement. He said, "You will not damage Toyota's reputation with one incident."

Now, that doesn't mean he's not concerned. He is fielding millions of calls, he said, from customers wanting some clarification, wanting to know what's going on. So here's what he did.

He posted this letter on his Web site last night just to assure his customers they're working on it. Going to read you two parts of this letter to their customers.

He said, "First of all, I would like to promise you we're doing everything in our power to ensure this recall is handled to the best of our ability while showing each customer the honor and respect that you deserve."

What I have behind here, Ali, are a lot of the responses he got. He said about two were negative and about 40 positive e-mails came into his inbox.

Now, this all happened before Ray LaHood said the first statement this morning, and then essentially retracted it later. And Ali, one of the employees here told me, "Listen, Ray LaHood has already done damage to our reputation because many people haven't seen the retraction."

So there's a lot of concern about it.

But, Ali, I want to bring in some of the customers that we have been talking to.

Come on over here, you guys.

First of all, we have Laurie Roberts here. We have Joe Vitale as well. Both of them here looking to buy new Toyotas.

I want to ask you first, Laurie. You've owned seven Toyotas right?

LAURIE ROBERTS, TOYOTA CUSTOMER: Yes, I did.

HARLOW: Why aren't you concerned about this recall? We're talking about a real safety issue here.

ROBERTS: Well, it is a safety issue, yes, and for the general public. But Toyota is reliable and they will take care of the problem.

HARLOW: You have total faith in Toyota. But you are driving one of the recalled vehicles right now, a Highlander?

ROBERTS: Yes, I do. But I still believe in Toyota. And that's just a problem, just a setback for them at the present time. But they're going to take care of the problem. As you can see, they stopped all sales, they stopped everything just to work on the problem.

HARLOW: Why are you still driving yours?

ROBERTS: Because it's Toyota. It is the most reliable vehicle there is.

HARLOW: And Joe, your RAV4 rolled over last weekend, but you are here looking to buy another one?

JOE VITALE, TOYOTA CUSTOMER: I am, yes. I trust the Toyota engineering. And as far as I know, the Toyotas that are made in America are the ones that have the gas pedal problem. So, as far as I know, the new models that the Japanese make are not being affected. So I don't know if this is one that he owns, but, absolutely, I have faith in Toyota.

I've always been a happy customer. The one I owned was six years, and I only had to do oil changes on it.

HARLOW: OK. All right.

So, Ali, as you can see, I mean, the customers we have spoken to here feel pretty positive about the situation that Toyota is in right now. But again, we are dealing with a lot of issues here. And Mike Ianelli (ph), the general manager, is very concerned about his business right now. Understandably so -- Ali.

VELSHI: Yes. I mean, that's incredible. When Laurie said to you Toyota is reliable, that's what they banked on. That's what they've built an entire company on.

HARLOW: Right.

VELSHI: I guess the point is what they do now to get in front of this.

It does seem like the problem today, this confusion, was caused because you had the transportation secretary taking a stronger position than you heard from the company, itself.

HARLOW: Right.

VELSHI: Poppy, you've covered this a great deal. Are we seeing fallout from other car companies? Are we seeing -- we've seen General Motors and Ford trying to capitalize on disaffected Toyota dealers -- Toyota buyers.

HARLOW: Yes. I think you're going to continue to see that. We saw the January sales come in yesterday, as you know, Ali, and Ford and GM sales were up significantly while Toyota's were down.

And they're offering these incentives. And it's going to be interesting to see how many more incentives they're offering.

Joe, who was just on the air with us, I was talking to him before, and he was saying, you know, "How about a good deal on this?" I mean, you see all of the sales force behind me here wanting to sell their cars, offering what seemed to be incentives on their own behalf, deals out there to try to lure in customers.

This is a tarnish to Toyota's name. That is certain. But I've got to say, coming out here, spending the past few hours here, I'm actually surprised to see customers in here, not one that has told me that they are concerned about buying another Toyota.

Now, Mike Ianelli (ph), the general manager here, wanted to make it clear that he is concerned about any safety issues, they're taking it very seriously. He doesn't want it to seem like he's doing business and trying to push car sales when there's concern. But he said, "We're waiting to hear from Toyota. They're going to train our mechanics at a facility near here, in Queens, New York, then they're going to send us the parts."

And he did confirm, Ali, that his dealership, last night, got a letter from Toyota pledging financial support. We saw those reports saying that they would pledge financial support. This dealership will be eligible for $60,000 in support from Toyota to get to these (ph) people -- Ali.

VELSHI: Dealers are getting up to $75,000.

Well, it would behoove Toyota to get as far in front of this thing as they could.

HARLOW: Right.

VELSHI: Poppy, great work on your side. I know the Money.com team rushed out there as soon as this news came out there, and you and your colleagues at CNNMoney.com is following this in great detail.

So feel free to go to CNNMoney.com to get every detail that you need on this Toyota recall and the latest developments.

All right. What do you do when somebody posts a picture of you on the Internet that you're not interested on having on the Internet, or someone says things about you that's not true? How do you deal with those kinds of attacks and how do you protect yourself from them?

I'll tell you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Dark side of the Internet. How ominous.

Come on. Don't be so negative.

All right. Listen, the bottom line is it's true. Your character, your reputation, your very life -- the Internet actually can threaten those things. People can post pictures and comments in an instant, and in that instant, everything for you can change forever.

Here's some examples.

A series of lawsuits going on across the country involving the pornographic images of a little girl taken more than 10 years ago. That little girl is now a woman. She wants millions of dollars from anyone who has her picture on their computer.

Plus, Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard is suing the mother of his child after he says that she posted defamatory comments about him. He's seeking millions in damages, including 500 bucks per comment posted online.

And here in Atlanta, schoolteacher Ashley Payne (ph) lost her job over pictures posted on Facebook showing her on vacation having drinks with friends. She's now suing the school district.

So what do you do about all this stuff? What do you do about it technically, what do you do about it legally?

I'm joined by two people who know a lot about this -- "Wired" magazine senior editor Nicholas Thompson, he's on the right. And attorney and CNN legal analyst Lisa Bloom on your left.

I guess I really didn't have to spell out which one was Nicholas and which was one Lisa.

LISA BLOOM, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thanks though. VELSHI: Thanks for joining us.

Nicholas, let's start from a technical perspective, because the first thing you'd like to do is be able to stop people from posting these things or react quickly when somebody posts something that's damaging or incorrect about you.

What exists technically to help you?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON, SR. EDITOR, "WIRED": Well, it's actually quite hard. I mean, the first thing you should do is you should write to the person and say, "Please take this down." If they don't respond, the second thing you can do is write to whoever owns the site on which the information is posted and say, "Please take this down." But then you get into all sorts of free speech issues, so that often won't work.

So the next thing you can try to do is you just post more truthful information about yourself. So, if there's some negative information about you, you post lots of positive information and hope that sort of...

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: That it crowds it out. I guess the danger is if you've got somebody who's out to besmirch your reputation. They'll get ignited by that and possibly get into a little posting battle with you.

THOMPSON: Possibly, but one thing that's very interesting about these cases, particularly the Dwight Howard case -- so what happened is, this woman who's the mother of his child posted something to 285 followers of hers. Now, Dwight Howard, presumably acting on the belief that anything that appears on the Internet can really ruin your reputation forever, goes and sues her. But by suing her, he turns it into a big news phenomenon where we're all reading about her posts about how he doesn't visit his child, so he looks a lot worse.

VELSHI: Right.

THOMPSON: So that's overreaction in the wrong way.

VELSHI: OK. But if you can't get satisfaction the polite way, asking for information or asking people to take something down, then you've got to bring Lisa into the conversation -- Lisa.

BLOOM: Yes. Forget about the polite way.

What you need is an attorney to write a strong letter. And if that doesn't work, you need to go to court.

Defamation is impugning someone's reputation and broadcasting it. And it can be done by radio, television, newspaper, Internet, or standing on the street corner and yelling negative things about somebody.

It's all defamation. And the question is, are these statements false? And, if so, are they injurious to somebody's reputation?

VELSHI: When you say injurious, what does that mean?

BLOOM: And it falls light.

VELSHI: If somebody posts something about me, what do I have to do to prove it's injurious?

BLOOM: Well, it has to be something about your career. If I said you were a liar, for example, which clearly you are not, Ali Velshi, but as a journalist, that would be something that would go to the heart of what you do for a living.

Something to go to your reputation. For example, saying that you're a bad father, saying that you're a criminal, that you committed a crime of fraud, all of those things are considered defamation because they have the tendency to have people look down upon you in your career or in your personal life.

VELSHI: Nicholas, what you said really struck with me, though, is that you have to fight this in a way that doesn't make more people aware of it than if you didn't fight it in the first place.

BLOOM: I know. We're in this very tricky situation where a lot of people don't really understand how Facebook and Twitter work. And they believe that if something is on Facebook and Twitter, then suddenly everybody will read it and it will ruin your reputation. And actually, there's so much stuff on the Internet, that most of the time it just goes away.

This has come up in a number of legal cases in the past year, one about housing in Chicago, the other about a model who believed she was besmirched. And in those instances, the person who sued to block the defamation ended up leading to lots more bad information about them becoming public knowledge. So it was clearly a mistake.

VELSHI: All right. We're going to talk more about how exactly to handle this when we come back from this break. You both have a lot of information, and you're handling two very different sides of defamation on the Internet.

We're going to talk about some of the safety issues involved in this, too.

Stay with us. We're talking about the Internet, the dark side of the Internet, right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. The dark side of the Internet -- we're talking about what happens when somebody posts something about you that you don't want on the Internet.

Nicholas Thompson is the senior editor of "Wired" magazine. Lisa Bloom is CNN's legal analyst and a trial attorney. Lisa, there's a difference between something that somebody posts about me that makes me feel bad or might even be injurious to me and posting pornographic pictures of a little girl.

BLOOM: Absolutely. And I love this new legal theory brought by the attorney for this little girl, now a woman, who, against her will and without her consent as a child, was part of child pornography. And this attorney is saying that everybody who possesses that child porn, not just the people who make it, but those who possess it and collect it should have to pay damages to her because it's an injury to her reputation each and every time it's viewed and possessed.

And I agree with that. I think it's a great legal theory. This attorney is looking to collect millions of dollars on her behalf. She's already collected over $100,000.

VELSHI: Is it doable, Lisa? I mean...

BLOOM: Look, anything that's going to deter people from looking at child porn is a good thing. Isn't it?

VELSHI: Well, let's talk about this, Nicholas. I mean, here's part of the problem, is that you said right to the person who's posting on the site, or try and get them. But a lot of postings these days are anonymous. At least to me they're anonymous. I suppose to somebody who's an expert at this, nothing is anonymous.

Is it easy to get to the bottom of who's downloading things, who's posting things, who's actually responsible in the Internet world?

THOMPSON: No, it's extremely complicated. I think the general theory that Lisa said sounds quite good and quite plausible, and let's hope this case works out the way it should.

But it is true. A lot of information is anonymized. And a lot of times you can be accused of having looked at something even if you haven't because somebody used your computer or spooked your addressed, or somehow was able to use other technological tricks to make it appear as though as it was coming from you and not them. So we have to be very careful about that.

VELSHI: Lisa, tell me about the free speech discussion here, when it's not involving child pornography, but when it's involving an opinion about you or me or Nicholas that somebody posts on TV (ph) that we might think is injurious. Where have the courts come down on this?

BLOOM: Well, truth is always a defense to defamation. Right? So, if you say something that's negative but it's truthful, it's an absolute defense.

Opinion is generally a defense. If someone says, "I think Lisa Bloom is nuts," that's obviously just their opinion. They're not making a factual statement about me, hopefully. So, we're all protected in that way under the First Amendment. What you can't do is make a factual statement that's incorrect and harms someone's reputation. That's defamation.

Having said that, there are probably millions of times a day that that happens, and people don't get sued. The lawsuits only happen when it's a major offense to somebody's reputation, as in the case of Dwight Howard. I mean, if she's really calling him a bad father and she's making factual statements that are untrue and that are going to harm his professional reputation, he has every right to take her to court.

OK. Warning to all of you people out there. If you make factual statements about people that are untrue, someone like Lisa might come after you.

Nicholas Thompson, senior editor of "Wired" magazine; Lisa Bloom, CNN legal analyst and trial attorney.

What a great conversation on an issue that I think is on a lot of people's minds these days. Thank you for that.

THOMPSON: Thank you, Ali.

BLOOM: Thanks, Ali.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Toyota, sales are down and trouble is mounting amid two recalls involving unintended acceleration. Now there is an investigation into possible braking issues on U.S. models of the hybrid electric Prius.

Now, there is also some advice from the transportation secretary of the United States. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY LAHOOD, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: My advice is if anybody owns one of these vehicles stop driving it and take it to the Toyota dealer, because they believe they have the fix for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: That is what he said earlier today, and then he sort of backtracked on that. CNN caught up with Ray LaHood later in the day, and here is what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAHOOD: My advice to a Toyota -- a person that owns a Toyota, take it to the dealership, have them look at it, have them examine it to make sure -- to see that if it is one of the ones that is needing to be fixed. And if it is, leave it there and have them fix it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: OK. That is little different from absolutely not driving your car if it is one of the cars in the recall. You can call your dealer or call Toyota and find out whether your car is one of the more than 2.3 million in the United States involved in the recall.

We are still unclear as to exactly what is being done about it, and that is why we are bringing in our experts. Poppy Harlow follows the auto industry very clear, she is an anchor with CNNMoney.com, and she is a t a Toyota dealership in Bayridge, Brooklyn. Peter Valdes- Dapena is CNNMoney.com's auto expert and he has been following this from the beginning. Let's start with Peter.

Peter, we have conflicting information, the reason that the conflicting information is conflicting is that because Toyota is not saying a whole lot, and Ray LaHood was saying a lot more than Toyota was. So what do we know about the situation? Are you supposed to stop driving your car, and is there a fix in your car is one of those involved in the recall?

All right. Either Peter is pensive about my question and considering the answer or he can't hear me. I am guessing he can't hear me.

PETER VALDES-DAPENA, CNNMONEY.COM AUTOMOBILE EXPERT: I am here now.

VELSHI: You got me, Peter. You got me? All right.

VALDES-DAPENA: I got you. Repeat that question.

VELSHI: I thought you were giving deep thought to my question.

VALDES-DAPENA: Yes, always do.

VELSHI: Is there a solution to this yet? Does Toyota have a solution? If you are one of those people who has a car that's involved in the recall, can you take it in and get something fixed for sure?

VALDES-DAPENA: If you are involved in this latest recall, you're probably going to have to wait till this weekend or later, people are going to be swarmed looking for fixes on that one. Dealers are just getting the parts this week, they're just getting the training this week, so this weekend, they will start being ready to make the repairs.

If your car is involved in the older November, that's the one where the gas pedals could potentially get stuck in your floor mats, that recall they can make the repair for anytime, although they will probably be pretty busy right now.

VELSHI: OK. Poppy, you are at a dealership. You went there after Ray LaHood said don't drive your Toyotas. What was the reaction at the dealership from the staff and from customers, because you've talked to a lot of them?

HARLOW: Yes, we talked to a lot of customers, but start with the staff here, Ali, because one of the employees at Bayridge Toyota in Brooklyn, New York said to me, listen, it's all well and good that Ray LaHood retracted his statement, but it has already said it and that's done damage to Toyota. So there is a lot of concern here about that first statement from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood saying stop driving your recalled Toyotas.

What you see here on the floor is some customers right behind me looking at these cars. On the hood of the car, you can't see it now, but there's a sign that says "not affected by the voluntary recall." So they are trying to push that to their customers.

But I did sit down for a conversation with the general manager here, Mike Ianelli (ph), and he said, we are concerned, but we're going to get through this. He said -- and I'll quote for you -- "Here you will not damage Toyota' reputation with one incident." Ali, he couldn't go on camera with us, but he did post this letter on his website last night just trying to reassure his customers of what they are doing here. Saying, we promise that we will do everything in our power to ensure the recall is handled to the best of our ability. He went on to say, we will be by your side all the way through this process.

Now, Ali, just to be clear on where they stand on getting those new parts, A, the mechanics here have not yet been trained, they are waiting to be trained. They are going to go out to a center out in Queens, New York to get the training from Toyota. And then they're going to wait for the parts. So as of now, none of the technicians here, Ali, have been trained to service the recall on the pedal issue, and that's a concern.

VELSHI: So, Peter, what do you do then? I mean, you have been very plugged into the auto community, what are you supposed to do? Are you supposed to listen to Ray LaHood who says don't drive the car if you can't get a fix for it right now, or at least what he said earlier in the day? Or do you not get too panicked about it?

VALDES-DAPENA: The latter. I would not get too panicked about it, Ray LaHood obviously took that statement back himself later on.

The problem, the most recent recalls is for a problem that developed slowly over time, so that people get plenty of warning that it's coming. Your car pedal will get a little rough feeling, the gas pedal, as it's starting to happen very early. Even if it gets stuck, the pedal only gets stuck partway down. Just pressing on the brakes is enough to bring the car under control.

It's not really something -- you know, as scary as it sounds, and I know it sounds scary, a problem with your gas pedal, this is a relatively mild problem that takes time to develop. You know, I have somebody that had 300 miles on her car, she should not be that worried about that at this point after 300 miles. She should not be as panicked as she was about it. So I don't agree with what the Secretary LaHood said. I think people can safely continue to drive your cars, be aware of the problem, be aware if you start seeing signs of it occurring and do absolutely, he is right, get it fixed as soon as possible.

VELSHI: All right, Peter Valdes-Dapena, thanks very much, from CNNMoney.com. He's keeping a very close eye on this. And of course, Poppy and her team at CNNMoney.com are watching this all for us on CNN and they will be staying on top of the story. Thank you to both of you, we'll be staying on top of this for our viewers.

Now, if you have been following the Tea Party Convention, this is this group of people who feels that there is too much government intervention and that they need a little bit more -- people need to have more say over what is going on and how government is spending the money. Well, there is a convention about to begin and a lot of people are dropping out, a lot of the high-profile guests are dropping out.

We will talk about it when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let me give you a check of some of today's top stories.

In Washington, President Obama is hosting a bipartisan group of governors at the White House. They are all from coal-producing states and they're talking about energy policy including expanded use of biofuels.

In Nashville, there is infighting at the National Tea Party Convention before it even starts. It kicks off tomorrow, but tickets cost $550 a pop, and that is too much for a lot of supporters, so they are backing out like some high-profile guests like Representatives Marcia Blackburn and Michelle Bachman.

And back to D.C., $100 million in new bonuses ready to be handed out to AIG employees. The White House calls the payday for the bailed out company outrageous, but legal. Still Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says Congress could still recoup some of the money through a new bank fee in President Obama's budget plan.

All right, when we come back, it's the time for "The Ed Henry Segment." There he is out there. I am going to come there, but if you like "The Ed Henry Segment," then you want to follow me on Twitter. There it is on the screen, @alivelshi, because you will get so an update...

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Check out the necktie on this guy right here. That's the message you need today.

VELSHI: There we go. There we go. Ed's always trying to steal my thunder.

Just follow me on -- @alivelshi so I don't have to take this kind of nonsense from him every day. We will be right back with "The Ed Henry Segment." (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Did you all see the blatant attempt by Ed Henry to get more Twitter followers than I have? In case you didn't, I'm sure he's prepared to show it to you again, right here on the "The Ed Henry Segment."

Hello, Ed.

HENRY: Well, T.J., good to see you. Oh, wait -- it is not T.J. again today? Oh, Ali showed up to work.

Ali, welcome back to your show.

VELSHI: Good to be back, Ed. I wanted to give you a couple of days without me.

HENRY: I missed you.

VELSHI: Well, it's good to be back. That is quite a tie you got on.

HENRY: Yes. Well, you know, I thought I'd wear a little gold, I hadn't done that before -- I thought you were actually pretty tame today, I hope that while you were away you didn't get scared and now maybe you're pulling back on some of your more wild outfits there. You were a little scared about the competition now.

VELSHI: Yes, you're right. It's a little -- I'm just looking at it, it's a little bit quiet today. There's no question about that. I'll -- don't worry, I have more in the wardrobe I can bring out.

I see you made a little bit of a snowman over to your right there.

HENRY: We do have a snowman here. Do you want -- Barry Schlagel (ph) is with me here and he wanted to show you -- he's got a little message for you. We had a kind of a big storm for Washington, it was like two or three inches, all of the schools were closed. But now it's all melted away so all that's left is this snowman and my colleague Suzanne Malveaux was saying earlier, maybe we can call him "Snowbama."

VELSHI: So there you go. Well, listen, you can do this kind of thing today, because you were actually working late last night. In fact, you and your colleagues sort of got called back to work, a bit of a newsy development.

HENRY: It was fascinating. It is so rare that it happens around here that it's late in the evening, like we said, snow was falling here in Washington. It seemed like the night was over, it was really quiet here at the White House.

And then all of the sudden I got this e-mail basically saying, be here in the White House for a briefing with some senior officials in basically 20 minutes. And I was across town at our bureau, so I raced over here in the middle of the snow -- it was just coming down -- I went into the West Wing back there -- and we thought we'd show you out here, give you a different look at things.

And this was a real serious meeting, because these senior officials for the first time were saying that Abdul Mutallab, you know the terror suspect in Detroit, that some of his family members have been cooperating with U.S. officials and that has allowed them to get this suspect now in the last week or so to start talking again.

Why is that significant? Because this White House all of a sudden is pushing back on republicans saying they botched the case. That at the beginning when they read him his Miranda rights, he stopped talking and you've had republicans like Susan Collins saying that was a big mistake.

And what I was fascinated by sitting behind closed doors here last night with some of these officials is that they have been relatively quiet about the investigation, but all of the sudden they decided to strike back. It's clear that they are tired of the political attacks. And if you think back to last week when the president had the give and take with House republicans pushing on the economy, pushing back on health care, on domestic front, I think now we're seeing him push back a little harder on the national security front as well, Ali.

VELSHI: It's interesting, because you and I were together the night of that breaking news and one of the things that we learned, Ed, was that we learned that the suspect had actually given some information about who he was, who had been in contact with and what his goals were, and then he stopped. And that was the criticism, that he was talking, he was singing like a bird until he had his rights read to him and that that he stopped talking. That was the implication.

HENRY: And we're now seeing the White House push back and say, look, if you go back -- this was the underwear bomber, in this case -- the shoe bomber, Richard Reid, back in the Bush administration, he was read his Miranda rights as well.

And so, I think you heard Bill Burton today in the briefing -- by the way, first time that the deputy White House press secretary, Bill Burton, was at the White House podium briefing for Robert Gibbs, so it was sort of a new thing for him. But he was pushing back pretty strongly and saying, look, it seemed like the tactics of the Bush administration used were OK to republican lawmakers, now all of the sudden that there's a democrat in the White House, maybe they don't like some of the same tactics that the Bush administration used. So I think they sort of think a little goose for the gander and that they are finally not take this anymore.

But the question from republicans on the Hill today as been are they politicizing this intelligence here at the White House and are they jeopardizing the investigation by talking. Bill Burton insisted, no, they are not, but I think that this battle will continue, Ali.

VELSHI: All right, Ed, you'll stay on top of it for us. And maybe you and I should work on getting one tie that we should both wear the same day.

HENRY: That would be kind of cool to match it up.

Did get a load of the necktie on this guy over here?

VELSHI: Yes, that was quite something. Is that an Oak leaf or something?

HENRY: We used a leaf and we turned it into a little -- into a little necktie.

VELSHI: Did you nibble the edges off that yourself or did you have somebody on staff do it?

HENRY: Yes, I did. And I think we should pull out a little wide there, Barry, because I want to make sure everybody gets the sign in.

VELSHI: Oh, yes. The follow Ed @edhenryCNN. Listen, he's still leading me by about 900 and change, so if you could just help me with that, please -- @alivelshi.

HENRY: That's cause you were away.

VELSHI: All right, thanks so much. Ed Henry, we will be back with you in a bit. That was "The Ed Henry Segment" on CNN.

All right, a CNN special investigation -- an alleged cross- country terror plot hatched in Colorado targeting New York City, you remember this. Our Drew Griffin joins me in a moment. He's got some new details that you're not going to see anywhere else.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: CNN has learned new and exclusive details about an alleged plot to set off bombs in New York City.

The FBI says it was the biggest terror plot on U.S. soil since 9/11 and it centers on this man, Najibullah Zazi, an airport shuttle driver in Colorado. He is under arrest, suspected of mixing explosives in a motel room in the Denver area before driving all the way to New York in a rental car. We've now learned Zazi may have had help at least in covering up evidence, and this could be trouble for his family.

Drew Griffin joins me now from our Special Investigations Unit with the latest -- Drew.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: Ali, it is evidence that was found in Colorado and it's pointing the fingers at Zazi's father and now his uncle as well.

A source close to this investigation is telling us that this FBI Evidence Response Team discovered chemical residue in pipes at a property in the Denver area, and found that attempts had been made by Zazi's father and his uncle to actually shred the containers that held this chemicals which included hydrogen peroxide, it can be used to make bombs. The source says the two men knew they were under surveillance.

Now, last week Najibullah Zazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, was charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice. That indictment said he did knowingly and intentionally conspire to destroy liquid chemicals and containers. And now we know Zazi's uncle, whose name is Jaji, whose indictment is still sealed, Ali, is facing the same charge.

According a federal indictment, Zazi was experimenting with these chemicals in that hotel hoping to create a bomb. At the same time, video from beauty supply stores in the same area showed Zazi -- there he is -- buying large quantities of chemicals that can be used to make bombs. Federal officials have said this conspiracy involving the younger Zazi represents the single-most serious terror plot, that's how they're saying it, since 9/11 and the investigation is ongoing and is very intense.

What is interesting about this, Ali, is that we tend to think these investigations are arrested and done. It's not. They are out there trying to still find out what exactly was going on.

VELSHI: Well, what do they think he was going to do?

GRIFFIN: They have said to our Susan Candiotti, the sources say, he was targeting transportation hubs in the New York area. Which transportation hubs? They wouldn't say particulars. But on Zazi's personal laptop, he had this little video of Grand Central Terminal. And so, can we put those two things together? I don't know. Was he scoping bridges? We don't know. We know it was a transportation hub in the New York City area, and that he did have that video on his laptop.

VELSHI: All right, and I know you will stay on it. Thank you very much, Drew Griffin.

Al right, coming up, we're going to dispel the myth that New Yorkers are rude and unfriendly. We're going to take you to the streets and literally carry you away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: I have to kick it up for "RICK'S LIST." Rick's coming up in just a few minutes.

Rick, what you got for us?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We're talking about a lot of things, but the first thing I'd like to say is, welcome back, Ali Velshi.

VELSHI: It's good to be back.

SANCHEZ: You know, we really missed you around here, especially with all these big econ stories that we needed your input on.

VELSHI: Yes, there's a lot going on. Well, I will be joining you whenever you need me to, you know that. SANCHEZ: Listen, I am interested in your take, actually. I have been watching this Toyota story all day. It seems like one of those stories from time to time it looks like it is under control, today it is anything but under control. And now I am hearing, and you could confirm this for me, their stock is taking a bit of a dip, is it not?

VELSHI: Oh, yes. It took a big one particularly when the transport secretary told people to stop driving Toyotas. It's recovered a little bit, but the bottom line, Rick, you and I have been saying this from day one, Toyota's got to be out in front of this thing.

SANCHEZ: Well, haven't they been, though? It seems to me that they tried to be out in front of it.

VELSHI: Well, in a low-key way, which is what Toyota has always done. It's been very good for them in the past. Bottom line is this is an American-style crisis and Toyota is giving a Toyota-style response, and that's hurting them a little bit. It lets other people...

SANCHEZ: What does that mean? Wait, wait, I don't understand what you just said.

VELSHI: It means that other people take charge of the message. And when Ray LaHood says to stop driving your Toyotas, you don't have a face associated with Toyota who gets out there right away and says, no, no, he doesn't know what he's talking about. This is what you do. We're still parsing and trying to find information out when you have Americans out there saying this is what you should do.

SANCHEZ: What if you don't know? What if you have a company that's in trouble, there's something wrong with one of your products and you just don't know what the hell it is?

VELSHI: Well, when you are Toyota, "don't know" is not really an option.

SANCHEZ: Really?

VELSHI: They know what is wrong, what they don't know is how long it will take to ix if it, and that's the problem that we've got right now.

SANCHEZ: But they are saying it's some kind of a shim. Can a shim create -- solve this problem?

VELSHI: Well, they know how the fix it, they just don't know how it got wrong in the first place. The fact is, they know what works, those European models have been working. So they've got a fix, they just got to train mechanics.

SANCHEZ: Can you do me a favor? Can you stick around at the top of the show, because I have a gazillion questions?

VELSHI: I will. I will do that. Yes, you and a gazillion people who drive Toyotas. "RICK'S LIST" coming up right at the top of the hour, and I'll be there with him for it.

Time for "The X, Y, Z of It." Now for years, people have sort of told New Yorkers that they're -- well, they are not very friendly. They have sort of been sort of getting a bad reputation. I have lived in the Big Apple for a long time and I'm pretty direct, I don't mince word, but I still try to be a nice guy. Well comedian Mark Malkoff may have finally proved the point, getting a bit carried away in the process. He asked New Yorkers literally to carry him in the length of Manhattan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK MALKOFF, COMEDIAN: The world thinks that New Yorkers are not nice, what do you think? New Yorkers are nice, yes or no? New Yorkers are friendly, yes or no?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are nice, but we ain't stupid.

MALKOFF: Can you carry me at least a couple of feet? Have you ever carried someone that you don't know in New York City?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once.

MALKOFF: Can you carry me to the street over there, please?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MALKOFF: Yes!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.

MALKOFF: Yes!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?

MALKOFF: Yes!

MALKOFF: Can you take me another block?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can take you another block.

MALKOFF: Yes!

(voice-over): I found myself really enjoying the chitchat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have two children, I'm married. I work for the State banking Department.

MALKOFF (on camera): And how did you do wrestling boys?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I left a bad relationship in Boston.

MALKOFF: You don't see this every day in New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How far are you looking to go right now?

MALKOFF: So tell us about yourself?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you are choking me. I can't breathe.

MALKOFF: Oh goodness.

(voice-over): It seemed as though people actually wanted to carry me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that's great. Very lazy, but great.

MALKOFF (on camera): Would you please carry me a block?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

MALKOFF: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cause I'm not going to carry you.

MALKOFF: I am so tired, can you carry me a block?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A block? There's no way, man.

MALKOFF: You're so big. Can you carry me one block?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carry you where?

MALKOFF: Yes, just a block.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carry you?

MALKOFF: Yes, you're a big guy, you can carry me.

(voice-over): I was carried 9.4 miles in the freezing cold weather by 155 of the nicest, interesting and sometimes crazy people in the world, the people of New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Hey, hey, Ali! We will carry you.

VELSHI: You will carry me?

SANCHEZ: Yes, we'll carry you, after this.

VELSHI: Brooke looks really into that.

SANCHEZ: You have a lot of money, and we will split $1,000.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: $500, even split.

VELSHI: Some people say that the only reason New Yorkers stepped up to the plate was because they wanted to be on camera, because we always want something in exchange. But as someone who has lived in New York for nearly a decade, I say, that is not true. True New Yorkers will always lend a hand or a back, not only because we want to help, but we like the quirkiness that makes New York special. We may seem a little bit tougher, a little more direct, but sometimes you can break us down and get a little look, Rick and Brooke.

BALDWIN: Soft and warm a fuzzy, deep down inside.

SANCHEZ: We will go along with that.

VELSHI: A big New York hug to the both of you.

Let's give it over to "RICK'S LIST."