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Interview With Congressman Steny Hoyer; 'Million Women' March in Cairo; After Kim Jong-il; Re-Examining the 'Axis of Evil'; New Polls On Obama, Congress; Colors Ceremony Closes Iraq War; The State Of Post-War Iraq; Beaten and Locked Up; The year That Was In Tech; House Rejects Tax Cut Extension

Aired December 20, 2011 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed.

The ceremony that closes the war in Iraq happens today. It is called a Color Ceremony: the return of the United States forces, Iraq colors, the flag that flew over Baghdad. Now, you're looking at live pictures here now of the flag's arrival.

The army general who oversaw the troop withdrawal, he is also on that plane. It's being met by President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at Andrews Air Force Base. We're going to bring you parts of the ceremony, along with a live report from our Chris Lawrence, later this hour.

And with time running out on a deal, House Democrats and Republicans are fighting over a payroll tax cut. It could soon hit home for many of us, your family's finances. Republicans, they don't like a Senate- passed two-month extension. They want a conference committee to work out a yearlong deal. Well, it's causing all kinds of gridlock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. AUSTIN SCOTT (R), GEORGIA: You know, most Americans love this time of year. It's Christmastime, where we celebrate the birth of Christ and spend time with our family and friends, and at church. And I sent a quick message to my wife last night, and I said, "Honey, I may be here a while." And she said, "We have five days until Christmas. Stay in the fight, Americans need you."

REP. FRANK PALLONE (D), NEW JERSEY: You know, I love Christmas, too, but when the gentlemen on the other side of the aisle suggests that somehow they are going to stay around here after today, I don't believe that for one minute. I guarantee you that at the end of the day, ,the Republicans are going to go home. The difference is, they are going to go home without having passed the Senate bill that allows people to get their payroll tax cut, their unemployment insurance, and the seniors to go out and be able to access Medicare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: North Korea's newly-declared "Great Successor" steps to the forefront. Kim Jong-un today visited the mausoleum where the body of his father, Kim Jong-il, is lying in state in a glass coffin. It is the first time that the 20-something-year-old has appeared in public since his father's death.

Now, he has inherited the North Korean leadership, including its nuclear arsenal. Many around the world are worried about how he is going to lead.

So, state-run TV continues to show pictures like these, North Koreans weeping uncontrollably as they supposedly mourn the death of the so- called "Dear Leader." The nation is now in an 11-day official mourning period. Reactions from the international community to the death of Kim Jong-il, somewhat muted. South Korea's government did express its sympathy to the people of North Korea, but will not send a government delegation.

The State Department says a man being held by Iran should be released without delay. Iran's semi-official Farsi news agency broadcast this video of what it called the confession of a U.S. spy. The State Department official on Monday confirmed the man's family reported that he was detained in Iran in September. The U.S. is now calling for his immediate release.

The FBI says violent crime is actually down across the country. We want you to check out the map here.

The Midwest had the largest decrease in violent crime, an almost 10 percent drop in the first six months of this year compared to last year. The West came in second, with crime there dropping about six percent.

So, why is this happening? Attorney General Eric Holder says communities are increasingly reaching out to help law enforcement agencies solve crimes.

All right. So this is the kind of political gridlock that could have a very real impact on your family's bottom line. We are talking about a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut passed the Senate, now languishing in the House. If something doesn't get soon, the average American family is going to pay the price, no doubt.

Without a deal, taxes are going to go up for many Americans in January. So, the average increase, about $1,000, but it is a wide range. If you make $35,000 a year, you'll pay $700 more. If you make $110,000, your taxes are going to go up by more than $2,300.

So, the clock is ticking, frustration is building.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's political. It's not really to help people. The motivation is to make sure that they try to make each other look bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, they are supposed to be servants of the people, and really they all agree, supposedly, that we need the payroll tax cut. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congress isn't really considering the people of America and the struggles that we're going through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Joining me now, Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer from Maryland.

So, Congressman, first of all, it seems like we are at a gridlock position here. No one seems to be budging.

What can you do to convince either the Democrats or the folks on the other aisle -- across the aisle to move this thing forward and avoid a tax increase?

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), MINORITY WHIP: Well, Suzanne, what we're trying to do is say, look, the American people -- and we just heard some spokesmen for them saying, look, why can't they work together? Why can't they come to an agreement? Well, that's exactly what happened in the United States Senate.

They didn't like the House bill. As a matter of fact, Harry Reid tried to put the House bill that the House members are talking about on the floor and the Republicans objected. So what they did was, in consultation with John Boehner, came to an agreement.

MALVEAUX: Right.

HOYER: That agreement had 89 senators out of 100 agree on a proposition that would continue the middle class tax cut, would give certainty and assurance that as of January 1st, there wouldn't be a tax cut, give 48 million Americans assurance that they would still have access to their Medicare doctors, and give 2.3 million Americans an assurance that they wouldn't lose their unemployment insurance, and therefore their ability to support themselves and their families.

MALVEAUX: So, at this point --

HOYER: That's what we can do. That's what we're urging us to do.

MALVEAUX: At this point, having known -- we actually know how we got to this point.

HOYER: Right.

MALVEAUX: What do we do now? How do we move this thing forward? Because, clearly, we're at a gridlock here.

So do you have new ideas or new suggestions?

HOYER: Suzanne, when you say we're at gridlock, the Senate overwhelmingly agreed and McConnell said this was designed to pass. Very frankly, the House bill was designed to fail, we know that.

The president said he wouldn't sign it. The Senate said they wouldn't pass it. They passed it over to the Senate anyway knowing full well that that would put us in this position.

The way to get beyond this is to simply say, OK, we apparently -- at least we articulate that we all agree there ought to be a year extension. But in the short term, because we have not yet reached agreement, let's pass the Senate bill, give assurance for the next 60 days that the present position will stay in place -- that's not hard to do -- and work for the next 60 days, and hopefully we can get that done in 30 days perhaps, that which we've been unable to do so far, come to an agreement on a year's extension, the payroll tax, the unemployment insurance, and other matters that we need to deal with, including paying doctors to take Medicare patients' appropriate sums.

So, we need to do all three of those. We can do it easily.

All we need to do is pass the Senate-passed agreement, passed by the overwhelming majority of United States senators. Eighty-three percent of the Republican senators, 90 percent of the Democratic senators agreed on this proposition. The Tea Party faction, however, of the Republican conference rejected John Boehner's recommendation that they do this.

MALVEAUX: Right. Right. So is there anything --

HOYER: And so what we're trying to convince them of is, let's move forward. Let's do this.

MALVEAUX: Right. Are you optimistic? Because your Republican colleagues say they are not going to support you on the House side. I understand what happened on the Senate side, but we're talking about the House, obviously. They say they are not going to go along.

Is there any reason to be optimistic that they will vote in favor of this?

HOYER: Suzanne, if we see this continuing convulsion, as I call it, of opposition of confrontation and of a refusal to come to compromise, I'm not optimistic. And I think that's tragic for the 160 million Americans that will be affected in terms of their taxes and of the people on Medicare and the unemployed, who will be adversely affected.

So I hope the Republicans come to their sense and say, yes, we've done this before. For instance, we pass a continuing resolution when we can't agree on funding levels. We pass that for a short period of time so that we can try to come to agreement, and often we do in fact come to an agreement.

That's all we're asking today. We think that's a reasonable thing to do. Six Republican United States senators are urging the House members to do just that. Harry Reid has indicated --

MALVEAUX: OK.

HOYER: -- in order -- and here's the -- in order to do what the Republicans want to do, you have to have three cloture votes. Each one of those cloture votes requires 30 hours of debate. So, as a practical matter, we have seen the United States Senate unable to come to grips with that. Now we see them having reached an agreement. We ought to take yes for an answer.

MALVEAUX: All right, Congressman.

HOYER: We ought to move forward and we ought to continue to do the people's business in a constructive, positive way.

MALVEAUX: Well, we're going to have to leave it there. We certainly hope that this is resolved, averting a tax increase for so many Americans during this holiday season.

Appreciate your time.

HOYER: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: I'm joined now by Larry Sabato from the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

First of all, explain to us -- there is a position here that -- and there's the two-month extension of this payroll tax cut, or this yearlong extension. Why is that at the center of this debate?

LARRY SABATO, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Oh, Suzanne, what's really at the center of the debate is the extreme polarization that exists now between the two parties. They will fight about anything.

And we've all seen the polls in Congress where they have job approval levels of 7 to 9 percent. And in listening to Congressman Hoyer, he's a great guy, in listening to the people on the Republican side explain their point of view, I'm convinced they're trying for zero. They want to get that 7 percent down to zero.

And if they don't come together and agree to continue this payroll tax credit, they're going to find their ratings falling even further. And it will have consequences next November when they're on the ballot.

MALVEAUX: When you look at -- you know, you hear the congressman, Steny Hoyer, and you hear some of the Republicans weigh in on this matter, which side do you think is going to pay for this if this doesn't work out, if it's not sorted out by January?

SABATO: I think, disproportionately, the Republicans are going to pay, because there's a disagreement between the Senate Republicans and the House Republicans. It's very clear that the Senate Republicans thought they had an agreement for this two-month extension, that it would at least get them through so they could debate it again as we approach that two-month limit. And of course the House members, particularly the freshman and the Tea Party, they had some good arguments as to why the two-month extension wasn't a good idea.

But the long and short of it is, that they've wasted weeks in negotiations. This reminds me of the super committee. I think we all wasted all of our optimism on the super committee. Nothing happened.

Here they are again arguing about something that 85 percent of the American people are in agreement on -- Democrats, Republicans and Independents. And they wonder why people see them as hopeless.

MALVEAUX: All right. Well, hopefully they will work this out before January.

Larry Sabato, thank you very much.

A rundown of some of the stories we're covering over the next hour.

First, we are live in Egypt, where a million women march is protesting the beating of a female demonstrator.

And do you remember President Bush's "axis of evil"? In less than 15 minutes, the possible new threats ahead now that most of those original leaders are gone.

Then, riveting testimony out of Philadelphia. This is really tragic. Disabled adults were allegedly held captive for their disability checks.

And a little later, the emotional meeting of two families now bonded in tragedy and gratitude.

And a year in review for the techies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Syria now says it will execute so-called terrorists. The announcement on state TV is seen as a direct threat to the anti- government protesters.

It comes as two opposition groups accuse government forces of killing 100 people during yesterday's protest. You are looking here at the funeral of the man who was allegedly killed by army and security forces.

So, this crowd chants, "We will defend our martyr with our souls and blood!"

The U.N. estimates that about 5,000 people have died in political violence in Syria this year alone.

In Egypt, demonstrators and security forces clashed at today's "Million Women" march. Now, this march is to call attention to what protesters say is regime violence against female demonstrators. These photos show a woman being beaten and dragged in Tahrir Square, and the protesters say this is not even rarer.

Mohammed Jamjoom, he's in Cairo right now. He joins us live.

And first of all, I mean, so many people saw that woman being beaten by the Egyptian military, stripped, carried away. What is being done for her? Is there anyone there on the ground who is trying to reach her or protect her?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, many people here, both inside and outside Egypt, trying to find this woman, trying to do more for her case, and trying to urge her to speak publicly. But we've only heard from friends of hers and friends of her family so far.

She does not want to go public. She is recuperating. Obviously, you can see the kind of injuries she sustained from that video. It was just horrific.

At the moment, she just wants to stay basically away from the press, away from the media, away from the gaze of the Egyptian society. And we are told through friends of hers that she says basically this tape really speaks for itself at the moment -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: What is happening to the women who are there in the "Million Women" march? Has there been violence? Have they shared the same fate of that woman that we see in those photos?

JAMJOOM: Suzanne, we were out during this march that happened earlier today. It was billed as a "Million Woman" march. At the end of the day, it looked about 2,500, perhaps, women were there. There were also men that were there as well. But it was a big crowd.

And they were quite vocal. They were chanting, "Down with the regime!" They were calling the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces here liars.

They were very upset with what's happened in these past few days, in these clashes, especially the brutality that women protesters here have been facing by riot police, by members of the security forces.

I spoke to one woman who was out there, a human rights activist named Ragia (ph). I asked her why she was there. Here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here to violently condemn the attacks on Egyptian men and women by the Egyptian army. We will not be quiet, we will not let this happen again, and we will continue to voice out our anger against this military junta that is killing this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JAMJOOM: The women that were out there today clearly showing some concern about their safety, and the men that were out there today were concerned as well. And, in fact, we saw men forming protective rings around the women as they were marching. They didn't want other men that weren't part of this crowd to get too close, because there is so much concern now about what will happen to these women that are out there -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: OK. Mohammed Jamjoom, thank you.

The nation's midsection is getting socked with snow. We're going to get the latest on this massive winter storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: It's been almost 10 years since President Bush named Iran, Iraq and North Korea an "axis of evil."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, when the president delivered that State of the Union Address, January, 2002, Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was president of Iran, and Kim Jong-il was the leader of North Korea. Ahmadinejad is the only one still in power. Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack, as you know, on Saturday. Saddam Hussein, executed five years ago.

CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend, she is joining us here. And Fran is also -- she's a member of both the Department of Homeland Security and CIA External Advisory Boards.

Fran, let's start off with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, only member left of President Bush's "axis of evil." Is he still a big threat?

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: He's not only remained, Suzanne, a big threat, he's probably stronger right now than he was even when President Bush gave that speech.

Look, we've seen the development, their continuing development of a nuclear weapons program, strengthening ties with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which reportedly picked up a group of American spies, and growing -- strengthening ties with Bashar al-Assad, who is proceeding to murder his own people. And so, Ahmadinejad was not only a member of the "axis of evil," and his sort of policies in Iran, but remains a very serious threat to the United States and to the region.

MALVEAUX: And Fran, what about -- now that North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il is dead, do we know enough about his son, Kim Jong-un, to consider him a member of this axis of evil, a real threat?

TOWNSEND: You know, when you listen to President Bush's speech, it's clear that he's not talking about individuals. He's talking about countries and regimes whose policies are a threat to their own people and to the region or to the world. And so I don't think we know enough about the son of Kim Jong-il. But we've seen no reason to believe that the policies of North Korea will change. Their nuclear proliferation, their nuclear weapons program remain a threat to China and to the region of Asia.

MALVEAUX: You bring up the point that it's about the policy, not necessarily the person here. Is there a leader that's emerging, or is there a government that is a new member of the axis of evil, a new threat to the United States?

TOWNSEND: Well, I've mentioned Bashar al-Assad in Syria. I mean, I think, look, we can't deny he's killed thousands of his own citizens, he continues to threaten them. He uses his power and his military against his own people.

And so probably the biggest growing threat in terms of, you know, just regionally and causing of instability is Bashar al-Assad in Syria. It's a threat not only for Israel and Egypt and Jordan and the surrounding neighbors, but frankly because of his relationship with Ahmadinejad and Iran, he is a world threat.

MALVEAUX: And would we consider Venezeula's president, Hugo Chavez, who famously called President Bush the devil, would he stack up, would he be a member of this axis of evil as well?

TOWNSEND: You know, let's remember, Hugo Chavez is very, very gravely ill. I mean, he's traveled to Cuba to seek medical treatment. He's been much less of a public presence.

He is certainly a threat, again, regionally, to his neighbor, Colombia, but he is less of a worldwide threat. And again, you're looking at, does he have the sort of weapons programs that threaten the world? No.

MALVEAUX: All right. Fran Townsend, thank you very much. Appreciate it, Fran.

TOWNSEND: Thanks, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: So what do Americans think about the job that president and Congress are doing right now? We have got brand-new CNN poll numbers up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: We've got brand-new polls on how Americans view the president and Congress right now. Wolf Blitzer is joining us from Washington. So what are the new polls show -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": They show a pretty good number for the president of the United States. He's doing a little bit better than he was only in November. Let's put it up on the screen.

Right now our brand new CNN/ORC poll nationwide, how is President Obama handling his job as president? Right now 49 percent approve of the job he's doing. In November, 44 percent approved. That's a 5-point uptick, not a bad place to be 11 months away from the election in November of 2012.

Another question we asked about confidence in the president versus confidence in the Republicans in Congress. Let's put that number up as well. Right now, 50 percent say they have more confidence in the president than they do in the Republican leadership in Congress.

Only 31 percent say they have more confidence in the Republicans in Congress than they do the president. But look at the shift since March. In March, it was only 44 percent for President Obama and 39 percent for the GOP in Congress. Only a 5-point spread.

Now it's a 19-point spread. Why is the president doing better than the Republicans right now? Why is his job approval number going up? The internal factors are showing, Suzanne, that it's partially the result of his fight to keep the tax cut for 160 million Americans.

That's part of the explanation, but it should be welcome news over at the White House at the Obama re-election campaign in Chicago and for Democrats in general.

MALVEAUX: And what about likeability here? What does the poll say about Congress and the president? How do they stack up in terms of who's more liked?

BLITZER: Well, as far as approval for Congress, that's not a good number for Congress. Right now in our brand-new CNN/ORC poll, only 16 percent say they approve of the way Congress is handling its job and 83 percent disapprove.

That's similar to other polls, the CBS poll, the Gallup poll, they had it down to about 12 percent approval for Congress. So Congress as a whole, Democrats and Republicans in Congress, they have a lot of work to do to convince the American public that they are doing a good job in this fight as you've been reporting, Suzanne, over extending the payroll tax cut.

The back and forth between the Senate and the House, that's probably going to further undermine congressional credibility right now. As far as likeability for the president of the United States, he's pretty well liked.

We'll put it up on screen in our brand new number. What is your opinion of president Obama as a person? 76 percent approve of the president as a person. Only 19 percent disapprove. That's a pretty good number for this president.

Just getting back to the headlines in this brand-new poll, pretty good numbers for the president going into his re-election right now, but remember this is a snap shot. It can change very dramatically depending on what happens.

A few months ago, his job approval number was higher after the killing of Bin Laden. So it goes up and goes down, but right now 49 percent job approval for the president. That's a pretty good number.

MALVEAUX: Still time for all of this to change as well. Thank you, Wolf. Appreciate it.

The close in the war in Iraq, it is happening right now with the ceremonial return of the U.S. military flag that flew over Baghdad. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are at Andrews Air Force Base.

And so is our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence. Chris, explain to us what is taking place, the significance of this, obviously symbolic, but very meaningful as well.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Suzanne. This is basically the commanding general of the U.S. forces in Iraq returning here to the United States with the official colors of that mission.

He'll then present the flag to the president and announce to everyone that the colors have been returned to U.S. soil. Just about half an hour ago, the plane touched down in Andrews Air Force Base. About 30 troops were on that plane.

These are some of the senior advisers to General Lloyd Austin, who is the commanding general there. Each of those was greeted by the president. And the president gave each of the troops a special presidential coin.

They then filed into the hangar area where the actual ceremony is going to take place and probably within next five or 10 minutes, General Lloyd Austin will announce that the colors are again safe by back on U.S. soil.

You know, it was just Thursday when those colors were formally cased in Baghdad, which ended the mission there. They rolled the flag around the pole and put it -- covered it with a camouflage bag and now it is being returned to the United States.

Suzanne, interesting note about General Austin, he took over in September of 2010 when the combat mission in Iraq ended. But he was actually there nearly nine years ago.

In fact, he was a younger officer then and he gave the order for some of the lead troops of the Third Infantry Division to cross that border into Iraq at the very start of the war.

MALVEAUX: And Chris, you know, there are some critics of the war who are saying that soon as we completely withdraw, there's going to be violence that is going to flare up inside of Iraq.

We already know that the Shiite-dominated government of Maliki is trying to arrest the vice president of the country, who's a Sunni. Do we have any sense of the state of Iraq and what is happening there now that we are leaving?

LAWRENCE: Well, it is certainly a troubling development. The vice president has basically fled to the northern part of Iraq, after security forces raided his home in the green zone and arrested some of his staff.

Allegedly they have arrested some of his bodyguards who supposedly confessed that the vice president ordered them to commit murder, but he says he is fully ready to fight these charges. He said he denied these charges of terror and ready to testify.

But you're right this basically escalates the tension between Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's government, which is pretty dominantly a Shiite Muslim and the Sunni politicians.

They have yet to be able to come together and really form a unified government and now with the U.S. gone, that is a very troubling development.

MALVEAUX: All right, Chris Lawrence. Thank you very much, Chris. What's the coolest technology of 2011? Is it tablets? A look back at the highs and lows of the high tech world.

But first here's some free advice from the "CNN Help Desk."

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the "Help Desk" where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Gary Schatsky, a financial planner and president of objectiveadvice.com and Gail Cunningham is with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

Thank you both for being here. Gayle, first question to you this comes from Chris in Florida. Chris writes, my wife is approximately $45,000 in student debt spread out over 10 loans. She is a teacher in a low income school and could possibly receive repayment help. What's the best way to simplify and reduce that debt?

GAIL CUNNINGHAM, NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR CREDIT COUNSELING: Wow, $45,000 spreads over ten months, that's a bit complicated for them to keep up with. I do think there may be help available to them through income based repayment plans.

Now we are speaking here of federal loans. So if their loans are private, that may be a different animal to deal with. But income based repayment apply for that, they are going to ask for documentation of course, such things as previous tax returns, et cetera.

But that's OK. It's going to be well worth it. She may also require some forgiveness along the way and she would probably qualify for that having been in the type of job she is in the teaching profession.

HARLOW: That's a good thing to look into.

CUNNINGHAM: Consolidate those loans. Get the payment started.

HARLOW: And Gary, your question comes from Jonathan in San Diego. Jonathan wrote, I'm considering rolling over several 401(k) plans from former employers into an IRA. How do the legal protections from the two differ?

GARY SCHATSKY, FINANCIAL PLANNER: That's a really good question. First of all, from the legal protection standpoint you're normally talking about creditor protection or bankruptcy. Generally, and it depends state by state, 401(k)'s have greater protections that IRAs, but not all states. But more importantly when you roll over to an IRA, there are great advantages.

You have tremendous flexibility on your investments and you can get cheaper funds. So unless you're really concerned about credit risk, rolling to an IRA often makes a lot of sense.

HARLOW: All right, guys, thank you so much for your advice. Folks, if you have a question you want answered, just send us an e-mail any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Four people accused of keeping mentally disabled adults locked in a basement are in a Philadelphia courtroom again today. Investigators say this was all part of a plot to steal Social Security checks.

Now two of the alleged victims testified today. One of them talked about being beaten and locked in a closet. She also described her horrific ride from Florida to Philadelphia.

Sarah Hoye was inside the courtroom and she joins us live from Philadelphia. What kind of new details have we learned from some of these alleged victims, Sarah?

SARAH HOYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, today was day two of testimony here in Philadelphia and from today's victims, apparently Beatrice Weston, who was the niece of Linda Weston who authorities are calling the ring leader, which is Linda.

She was saying that during her car ride from West Palm Beach, Florida to Philadelphia, she and the other victims, the four who were found in the basement themselves, were in the back of an expedition sitting on top of each other, not allowed out, not allowed food.

She even testified today that she had to urinate on herself during that ride. Once she was in Philadelphia, Suzanne, she was put and locked inside of a bathroom closet in the apartment of Jean McIntosh, which is where the victims were found in that basement, in that apartment building in Philadelphia.

She was locked in a very small crawl space. They had showed pictures during court today and she did identify, yes, I was look locked in that closet and I think I was there two to three weeks. She was even unsure because she couldn't really tell what day it was because she was never let out of the bathroom -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Two or three weeks. I understand there might have been testimony that it was nailed shut, is that correct?

HOYE: Well, there was another closet nailed shut in West Palm. Both another victim, Edward Senabria (ph), yesterday, he testified he was also locked in the closet in one of the residences they lived there by being nailed in. As well as Beatrice today testified to also being locked in a closet somewhere in West Palm Beach, where she too was nailed into a closet. So, closets were being used to hold some of these folks in Florida, along the way, and then also here in Philadelphia. So there's a lot more details coming out in these preliminary hearings.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: This is a horrific story, Sarah. What is next for these four who have been charged?

HOYE: Well, right now you're going to hear a little bit more from the prosecution. They're bringing forth their witnesses who are then going to see if there's enough evidence for this to go to trial. So you'll have closing arguments by the defendant's attorneys and then the judge will rule if this should go to trial.

MALVEAUX: And, Sarah, how are these victims doing? Who's taking care of them now? Do they have proper care?

HOYE: Yes, they are being cared for. They're at various facilities. Some family members are looking in on them. But for right now, they are being used -- or not being used, excuse me, they are being helped, being worked on in different facilities because some of their conditions were pretty bad. Yesterday we heard testimony from police officers on the scene after 911 was called when these people were first found, as well as a crime scene investigator. And they had said that these people, these victims kept in the basement, were very, very malnourished, there was bones protruding from their bodies. Some photos were shown yesterday.

One of the victims, Tamara Breeden, who was the only woman in the group, she had been beaten so badly that she had scars, scabs over her body. Once they took off her wig, you could see that she had been also hit. There had been scabs on her head. So it was just pretty, pretty gruesome. So they are getting fed. They are being cared after. And their families are looking in on them.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: OK, Sarah Hoye, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Two families who share a deep bond. We're going to show you how they turned a tragic death into life.

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MALVEAUX: Hard to imagine life before smartphones. This year's "it" gadget is the tablet, led by Apple's iPad 2. Dan Simon, he's joining us with this year's look at the year that was in tech.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Hey, Dan.

SIMON: A lot happened this year in technology. We can tell you that it was a huge year for the birds. It was a terrible year for the berries. For them and a certain company called Netflix, this was a year worth forgetting. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON (voice-over): 2011 was the year of the tablet, as device makers scrambled to catch up with Apple's iPad. But nearly all of them were flops, including the Playbook from Blackberry. And speaking of Blackberry, the onetime king of smart phones saw its reputation damaged. Amid a highly embarrassing worldwide outage. Millions of its users couldn't send and receive e-mails for more than three days, forcing the company's CEO to deliver an online mea culpa.

MIKE LAZARIDIS, CEO, RESEARCH IN MOTION: You expect better from us and I expect better from us.

SIMON: The Netflix brand took a hit as well after users complained bitterly over a 60 percent price hike in their movie rental service.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame on you, Netflix.

SIMON: And the PR only got worse.

REED HASTINGS, CEO, NETFLIX: We think that the DVD service needs its own brand so that we can advertise it. So we've named our DVD service Qwikster.

SIMON: Customers hated the idea and CEO Reed Hastings reversed himself. Netflix stock, meanwhile, plummeted.

But some brands saw their fortunes soar. Angry Birds went from being just a popular iPhone game, to an merchandising bonanza. Investors got excited this year with new tech IPOs like LinkedIn and Groupon. Silicon Valley had flashbacks to the dot com bubble era, but the interest and stock prices faded.

We saw social networking this year become front and center on the global stage as pro-democracy demonstrators in the Middle East used it to organize and spread their messages. At one point Egyptian leaders even shut down Internet access during the height of the revolution.

2011 was also a big year for hackers. The term hacktivism (ph) became part of the vocabulary as groups like Anonymous launched politically motivated attacks. It also became clear that smartphones would represent the next frontier for criminals.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, TELEVISION AD: Who's your friend?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, TELEVISION AD: It's the old AT&T network.

SIMON: The cellular phone industry also made headlines with a proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, but the Justice Department said no go amid concerns it would harm competition in the U.S. wireless market.

This year, cloud computing became en vogue.

STEVE JOBS, FORMER APPLE CEO: And we're going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud.

SIMON: Of course the biggest tech story of the year was the loss of Steve Jobs.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN: People around the world are mourning the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs.

SIMON: The Apple CEO lost his long time battle with pancreatic cancer. Never before had a company chief executive have such a loving fan base.

TIM COOK, CEO, APPLE: As we announce innovations --

SIMON: The company had a smooth transition with Tim Cook taking over CEO duties and Apple, once again, had another major hit on its hands with its new iPhone, the 4S, which took voice recognition to a whole new level with Siri.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Find me an Italian restaurant in North Beach.

SIRI: OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: So, as you can see, a lot happened in the world of technology in 2011. And with innovation continuing at a rapid pace, Suzanne, I think 2012 looks to be the same.

MALVEAUX: All right, Dan, I'm usually one of those folks who's behind the technology here. So tell me what you think -- what do you think is going to be the biggest tech story for next year?

SIMON: Well, I think we're going to see Facebook finally go public. I think that's going to be an enormous story, Suzanne. And I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Apple is going to have another huge year. I think we're going to be talking about the iPad 3, the iPhone 5, and maybe an Apple television if the rumors are true. Apple is going to be poised to reinvent television the same way they did with the phone. And also, I think sadly, I think we're going to be seeing the beginning of the end for Blackberry. I think that company is in an enormous tailspin right now and I'm not sure how they're going to come out of it.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Yes, I got one of those too, Dan. I'm a Blackberry cell phone user kind of both of them here. What are people looking for? What do they really want, you know, next year out of the technology?

SIMON: I think they just want ease of use and a beautiful interface. It just comes down to that. Most people, you know, don't have the time to sit down and read the manual and I think the best technologies are the easiest ones. The ones that have a beautiful design. I think that's why Apple has led the way for the last few years. And I think everyone is just trying to catch up to them, Suzanne. MALVEAUX: All right, Dan, thanks. As one who does not read the manual but depends on friends to just kind of help me walk through all this stuff. Thanks again, Dan.

Well, from death to life, one family's tragedy is becoming another family's saving grace.

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MALVEAUX: We've got breaking news from Capitol Hill. Want to go to go Kate Bolduan. This could mean whether or not we are one step closer to seeing a tax cut or a tax hike for the new year.

Kate, what just happened?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there. Well, it seems to be one step closer in the standoff, really, that we have been witnessing really unfold, Suzanne. In a vote that just happened in the House, 229-193, the House voted essentially through a procedural maneuver, which we don't have to get into the imaginations (ph) of what it is essentially to reject, to vote to disagree with the Senate measure that short term extension of a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut.

Instead, the House Republicans who voted in the majority, they want to go to conference to hash out differences with Senate Democrats over this payroll tax extension issue. The House essentially voting here to disagree with the Senate, rejecting it, showing that it doesn't have the support in the House to pass. And here we go to the next step, which is quite unclear at this moment, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, Kate Bolduan trying to sort it all out for us. Thank you, Kate.

Two families who now share a special bond. It happened after a deadly accident. The story is part of our "Giving In Focus" series. CNN photojournalist John Torigoe shows us how the pain of losing a child can lead to the hope of keeping another alive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVA PEREZ, MOTHER: Hernan was a very happy boy and it's impossible not cry when I speak about him.

ARNOLD PEREZ, FATHER (through translator): Hernan died on February the 14th in an accident while sledding in the snow.

E. PEREZ: The snow was too hard. There was ice. The doctor told me my son was brain dead. And somebody come to ask me about organ and tissue donations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They saw the opportunity to leave a legacy of life where they could see Hernan's gift grow into other people.

A. PEREZ: Hernan donated four organs, his heart, his liver and both kidneys. MEGAN CORFEE, LIVER RECIPIENT: Basically they said when they did the transplant, my liver was shrinking. So I was pretty sick.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the case of Megan (ph), it was wonderful that they were actually able to meet her face to face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's so good to see you all here this morning.

E. PEREZ: Today we are very happy to meet the liver recipient, Megan, and to know my son is still living in her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our 9th year in the Rose Parade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back in 2008, Hernan's portrait was on our float. This year, Arnold will be a float rider.

DEBBIE CORFEE, MEGAN'S MOTHER: I see, especially in Megan, that it's something that gives her a boost and a spark in life.

M. CORFEE: (INAUDIBLE) means the world to me. I'm thankful that I have the -- my donor family in my life.

A. PEREZ: We met Megan seven years after Hernan died. She brought light into our life. She was living proof of what organ donation actually brings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for being here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, I love you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

MALVEAUX: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Randi Kaye. Hey Randi.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi Suzanne.