escort at the center of the secret service scandal. and certain models being banned from the pages of vogue? tyra banks comes outfront. well, good friday night to you. i m erin burnett. crack down in china. just as a breakthrough appears possible in the case of blind chinese activist chen guangcheng the chinese government is clamping down harder on other voice of dissent. there s word of the government cracking down on those who criticized the government s authoritarian role. human rights in china said they haven t heard anything from activist for several days. you re looking at an active tweeter, and she announced she was under house arrest. a human rights lawyer was reportedly detained an beaten. he tried to visit chen in the hospital thursday evening. then that s one known by her english name, pearl. she s the woman who helped chen escape his house arrest in the dead of the night, took him to the embassy. she was detained herself. we were told that she was released y
the chinese activist at the center of the firestorm interrupted a hearing, cried out for help. chen guangcheng the blind chinese dissident who sought refuge in the american embassy in beijing called into the emergency hearing about his case and pleaded through a translator you can see the call happening, asking specifically to speak with secretary of state hillary clinton. translator: i really fear for my other family member s life and we have installed radio cameras and even with electric fence. now, all of this comes after a whirl wind day of developments that forced the u.s. to explain why chen said he wanted to leave. he said he needs to leave for his safety. and that put ambassador gary locke on the defensive. this was his decision and he indicated of what he wanted. he had the option of staying in the embassy for years if necessary. congressman chris smith spoke to chen today. he was overseeing that committee hearing on human rights. he is outfront tonight.
well, good evening. i m erin burnett. we have breaking news tonight. extraordinary scene on capitol hill today. the chinese activist at the center of the firestorm interrupted a hearing, cried out for help. chen guangcheng the blind chinese dissident who sought refuge in the american embassy in beijing called into the emergency hearing about his case and pleaded through a translator you can see the call happening, asking specifically to speak with secretary of state hillary clinton. translator: i really fear for my other family member s life and we have installed radio cameras and even with electric fence. now, all of this comes after a whirl wind day of developments that forced the u.s. to explain why chen said he wanted to leave. he said he needs to leave for his safety. and that put ambassador gary locke on the defensive. this was his decision and he indicated of what he wanted. he had the option of staying in the embassy for years if necessary. congressman chris
an extraordinary scene on capitol hill today. the chinese activist at the center of the firestorm between the united states and china interrupted a hearing, cried out for help. chen guangcheng, the blind dissident who sought refuge in the american embassy in beijing called into an emergency hearing about his case and pleaded through a translator as you can see the call happening, asking specifically to speak with secretary of state hillary clinton. [ speaking foreign language ] i really fear for my other family members lives. we have installed seven video cameras and even with the electric fence. now, all of this comes after a whirlwind day of developments that forced the united states to explain why chen accused this country of pressuring him to leave the embassy. after initially saying he wanted to stay in china, he now says he needs to leave the country for his safety. that put u.s. ambassador to beijing, gary locke, on the defensive. this was his decision and he in
number two, the cost of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. $1.3 trillion at this moment. a distant third, the president s stimulus plan, $831 billion. never thought $831 billion would look cheap. well, here s another powerful number. right now this country is paying $224 billion a year in interest on our debt and that number is mushrooming. it becomes an exponential problem. by 2020 we will be paying $544 billion in interest alone. if you want to see something really scary, let s compare that $544 billion to medicare. by 2020 in the year we re paying $544 billion in interest, medicare will cost a mere $279 billion. we ll be paying almost double that just in interest on our debt. now, you may say that s clearly foul and bad and terrible things, but some people believe that spending more is the best way to get this country growing again, to grow out of our problem. paul krugman said the stimulus plan was not big enough. he wants here $800 billion on top of what we already spent