don't trust they're willing to invest what needs to be invested to keep facebook from being dangerous. as soon as the election was over, they changed more to prioritize safety. that feels lining a bre trayal of democracy. >> joining me is the attorney for frances haugen. thank you for being with us. people describe your client as a whistle-blower. if i were to ask you off the street, what's she blowing the whistle on, what would you say? >> a range of misconduct by facebook in the united states and in foreign countries that affects elections, teenage girls and ethnic violence in myanmar, bangladesh, ethiopia, lying to investors, withholding material information from facebook investors, a wide range of misconduct by facebook. >> lying to investors about what? >> everything from how much hate speech is removed from the platform to the serious problems they've had expanding user demographics, american teens others, and other issues, for instance, how many users are targeted with ads misrepresentations to advertisers. >> if you're lying to investors, is that fraud? >> possibly. this will be up to the sec to determine and others. so frances has made disclosures first to the sec, which obviously has jurisdiction to supervise publicly traded companies like facebook, to several state attorneys general including california, vermont, nebraska, tennessee, massachusetts to the u.s. congress, and also to some european regulators. >> what's facebook's responsibility, would you say, and how much of this is consumer responsibility, where people have to curate their own tastes and curate their own clicks? >> well, facebook has tried to blame users for these problems, has said it "takes two to tango" implying that when people end up hurt on the platform, they share some of the blame, but we also know that facebook's internal data shows that it knows many of its users have problematic use, they're addicted to the platform, including teenagers, younger people, people suffering from mental health issues, people who are open to radicalization on the platform, and so facebook knows that its products are harmful to a significant percentage of its users. >> what's your client's concern in terms of possible reta retaliation? >> well, it's scary. facebook is valued at over $1 trillion. it's one of the largest companies on earth. it can afford the best lawyers in the world and if they wanted to sue her, try to come up with some kind of frivolous claim against her, make her life miserable, they clearly could, and she's always been concerned about that, and so we have done our very best. we've ensured she is a lawful whistle-blower. we filed with the securities and exchange commission, which under the dodd-frank protects her from retaliation. >> let me read to you the statement facebook put out after the "60 minutes" interview. "every day our teams have to balance the need for people to express themselves openly with the need to keep our platform a safe and positive place. to suggest we encourage bad content and do nothing is just not true." your reaction? >> no one is saying they're encouraging bad content and no one is saying that they're trying to make these bad things happen. they're not taking obvious steps to solve the problem. they have always put growth, virality, speed on the platform ahead of safety for the users, and so some simple interventions that don't all, not all of which require deleting content, so slowing down reshares, requiring people to click on a link before it's reshared, altering the recommendation algorithms, some can reduce the amplification of hate and violence and inciting content of misinformation, whether it's about the election, about covid, lots of things. >> how much blame does your client think belongs to mark zuckerberg? >> as she said last night, she has real compassion for mark zuckerberg because i don't think he's set out to create these problems. even though he's the ceo the chairman holds the majority of the voting shares, he's actually unable to stop some of these things. the way the poe news structure is set up. if he has a fraction of 1% impose changes that would reduce virality by a fraction of 1% that, would harm many of the executives' bonuses so zuckerberg's hands are tied which suggests regulators and congress need to step in. >> if you're lying, accusations are true, lying to investors, he couldn't change that? >> well, no. clearly there's some misconduct that could be changed. one of "the wall street journal" stories from a few weeks ago showed when he set out to stop covid misinformation he was unable to do so. he created a platform that even he can't totally control. >> john tye, i know your client is testifying before congress. we could learn more in the coming days beyond the 60,000 pages of documents now available to the public. thank you so much for being here. >> that's right. >> we appreciate your time, sir. >> thank you. >> did you have one last thing you wanted to get in? >> she is up against a trillion-dollar company. she started a go fund me. anyone who feels supportive we encourage you to reach out and make a donation to help her protect herself against possible retaliation. >> john tye, appreciate you being with us. now to the ecological disaster that is unfolding along the southern california coastline after a huge oil spill there. 126,000 gallons of oil pouring into the pacific ocean from a pipeline breach and it's unclear if this leak has been stopped. the cause still unknown. natasha chen is live in huntington beach, california. how do they not know if this has been stopped or not? >> reporter: brianna, we think the 126,000 xwals that's been spilled that you mentioned probably isn't going to be any more spilled at this point because that was the entire capacity of that pipeline according to the ceo of amplify energy, the parent company responsible here. that's what he said in a press conference yesterday. that is the pipeline that is what's believed to be spilled at this point. there hasn't been any new spillage observed in the last day or so. what we're seeing right now wash up on shore is from that initial spillage that some people started smelling as early as friday evening, but that was officially reported on saturday morning. so that started coming onshore about saturday evening, and remember, this happened about four and a half miles offshore, so by saturday evening, people are seeing clumps of oil pop up on shore, reports of animals with oil on them as well. right now officially one oiled duck is receiving care and the rest of the reports are being investigated and the advice is for people to really stay out of the water, to stay away from the shoreline. the people we met yesterday were trying to scrape those tar balls off the bottoms of their feet. health officials say that people with respiratory illness should also be on alert, because products that evaporate from this spill could potentially cause irritation for the eyes, nose and throat potentially even dizziness and vomiting, so that is something that everyone should really watch out for here and just to stay away from the water for a bit. brianna? >> i'm sure there will be some people planning to go check out what is happening there on their coastline so they should heed those warnings. thank you so much. just moments ago former white house press secretary stephanie grisham spoke in her first tv interview about the damning claims made in her new trump tell-all. you'll hear from her next. plus senator kyrsten sinema's side trip. where did she leave washington during crucial talks over biden's economic agenda and breakthrough infections dealt a setback to the cast and crew of a popular broadway show. bogeys on your six, limu. they need customized car insurance from liberty mutual so they only pay for what they need. woooooooooooooo... we are not getting you a helicopter. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ what happens when we welcome change? we can make emergency medicine possible at 40,000 feet. instead of burning our past for power, we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. we can create new ways to connect. rethinking how we communicate to be more inclusive than ever. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change. faster. vmware. welcome change. go with simparica trio it's triple protection made simple! simparica trio is the first and only monthly chewable that covers heartworm disease, ticks and fleas, round and hookworms. dogs get triple protection in just one simparica trio! this drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions, including seizures. use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. protect him with all your heart. simparica trio. serena: it's my 3:10 no-exit-in-sight migraine medicine. it's ubrelvy. for anytime, anywhere migraine strikes, without worrying if it's too late, or where i am. one dose can quickly stop my migraine in its tracks within two hours. unlike older medicines, ubrelvy is a pill that directly blocks cgrp protein, believed to be a cause of migraine. do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. most common side effects were nausea and tiredness. serena: ask about ubrelvy. the anytime, anywhere migraine medicine. people, with quickbooks live someone else will do your books for you. they'll even pair you with an expert bookkeeper like me, who knows your business. knows... your... business! expert bookkeepers who understand your business. intuit quickbooks live bookkeeping. new this morning, former white house press secretary stephanie grisham speaking out for the first time in a brand new tv interview ahead of the release of her new book detailing her time in the white house. >> did president trump order you not to have briefings? >> when we discussed me taking the job he already suspended the briefings for six months under sarah and said he didn't think we needed any more briefings. he spoke to the press two or three times directly my job was so work more behind the scenes with print and regional and local. >> you were talking about this culture of casual dishonesty at the white house. you were enabling that culture, weren't you? >> yes, i was, and i've reflected on that and i regret that and especially now watching him and so many people push the false election narrative, i now want to in whatever way i can educate the people about the behaviors within the white house, because it does look like he's going to try to run in 2024. >> do you believe he will? >> i didn't at first but i'm starting to believe he will. he's clearly the front-runner in the republican party. everybody's showing their fealty to him. he's on his revenge tour for people who dared to vote for impeachment and i want to warn people once he takes office, if he were to win, he doesn't have to worry about re-election anymore. he will be about revenge. he will probably have some pretty draconian policies that go on. there were conversations a lot of times that people would say that will be the second term. that will be the second term, meaning we won't have to worry about a re-election. >> is it a mistake to work for president trump? >> yes. >> why'd you do it? >> watching people in the beginning react to him, i gave voice to people who felt forgotten. many you have us got into the white house and got heady with power and we didn't think about serving the country. it was about surviving in there. he loved the chaos and that's, it's bad and obviously hindsight is 20/20. i have no allusions people will think i'm so hero. this has not been a fun process, even with the statement you just read the left doesn't like me, the right doesn't like me, but i have gone back to basics and i have my family and i have my friends and people can take this book for what it is. it's honest and that's all i can say. >> joining us now is cnn white house correspondent kate bennett. it's juicy. that is for sure, this book, right? it's got a lot of details in it. i wonder what you think of her comments so far, knowing what you know about the book, which you've read? >> i do think it's interesting. she is basically saying this was a bad place. this continues to be a person, speaking of former president donald trump, whose motives are driven by revenge or driven by, you know, wanting to change the country in a way that might not be accepted. it was interesting what she said about the refrain, that will be the second term, that will be the second term for the more draconian policies that were discussed within the west wing. i think the juicy parts are the most interesting, she was in the room more than any other adviser for both the president and the first lady and i think for me, reading the book, those moments of insight into the chaotic world, the drama, the real life "apprentice-y" feel in the west wing was what was interesting. >> you have reaction from the former first lady. >> i just got this from melania trump's office about stephanie grisham. "the author is desperately trying to rehabilitate her tarnished reputation by manipulating and distorting the truth will mrs. trump. ms. grisham is a deceitful and troubled individual who doesn't deserve anyone's trust." as stephanie grisham has said, she's expecting this. she's expecting them to take her down and she said, i mean this is the irony of the whole thing, she said "i was once one of the people who worked on the inside and took others down when they turned on the trumps." that was her job ostensibly for many years. >> she said they were "heady with power" didn't care about serving the country. that is a sad admission and certainly we're looking to see for more answers from her. kate, thank you so much for that. we will get a chance to talk to stephanie grisham. we're going to do that live right here on "new day" tomorrow morning. and up next, the senator confronted by protesters while she was going to the bathroom. plus the trump-backed candidate running for arizona governor still perpetuating the big lie. ♪ look good feel good play good. gillette proglide, five blades and a pivoting flexball to get virtually every hair on the first stroke. look good, game good. gillette. every day in business brings something new. so get the flexibility of the new mobile service designed for your small business. introducing comcast business mobile. you get the most reliable network with nationwide 5g included. and you can get unlimited data for just $30 per line per month when you get four lines or mix and match data options. available now for comcast business internet customers with no line-activation fees or term contract required. see if you can save by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. everyone okay with roads? >> i like roads. >> me, too. roads are where trucks live. >> kiir sten? >> i want no roads. >> why? >> chaos. >> tell us, kyrsten, what do you like? what is good to you? >> yellow starr bursts, the film "the polar express" and when someone eats fish on an airplane. >> that's moderate democratic senator kyrsten sinema getting the "saturday night live" treatment over the weekend, one of the key holdouts preventing the passage of two spending bills at the heart of president biden's agenda. according to the "new york times," she left washington at a critical point in the negotiations. joining us david axelrod, senior political commentator and host of the "axe files" podcast. you know you made it to the culture zeit geist when you're on "saturday night live" but she was mocked for people not knowing exactly what she wants, david. >> that's kind of the hallmark of her public career. she rarely speaks in public, would not sit down with you guys or anyone else on tv. she doesn't hold town hall meetings in her state very often. she really keeps her thoughts to herself and that's difficult in a time when you're trying to negotiate a major piece of legislation like this, if you don't signal your intentions to the people you're negotiating with. she does speak out, john. she spoke out over the weekend to attack the progressives in the house for holding up her infrastructure bill, the one that she helped pass in the senate, the bipartisan bill, but i think that was more to score points with republicans and independents in her state than to advance the process here. that's really too bad. >> she visited arizona and her spokesman said it was for a medical appointment. "new york times" reporting she held a fund-raiser saturday. cnn has not confirmed this. what message does that send, if true? >> it sends a message of priorities. apparently she had a class to teach at arizona state sunday, she had a fund-raiser friday night. this is clearly we're a serious jumping tour in this process. what bothers me, you guys, is there are two things that happen when the process is going, serious negotiations and people trying to dine on the situation with key constitched whencies. she prizes in arizona her standing with republicans and independents, and she saw an opportunity to score some points here. it didn't help the process and bad look to hold a fund-raiser rather than sticking around in town and sitting down and trying to work these issues through. >> she is in the middle of a firestorm h to teach a class at asu, followed into a bathroom by demonstrators we can all agree -- >> out of line, out of line. >> probably counterproductive if you want to change your mind on something. >> i think she probably thought this was, this is helpful, because it makes her look like a victim. it wasn't completely out of bounds, and inappropriate. ultimately, i honestly believe they're going to get to where they need to go and she's going to get to, no pun intended there, the process is going to get to where they need to go, and but it's going to go more slowly if people indulge themselves politically this weekend by throwing a log on the fire as did representative gottheimer who had a blistering kind of attack on friday which will help him in the swing district in new jersey but not get to the goal line on the two bills. if they don't get there, that will be a disaster for all of them. >> joe biden clearly needs to get there on both bills but what else does he need to do? he's had a string of not great things or not great successes for the last month and a half or so, david. so if you were still in the white house, how would you tell him he needs to turn this around? >> well, i think this is a big way. i mean, the thing that has -- the things that have happened in the past couple of months, some were of his making, some were not. have called into question competence and command. passing these two pieces of legislation would restore a sense of command and control on the part of the white house, and they know that, too. clearly they're very focused on it. he's doing the right thing this week. he's going out into the country and giving people a sense of what's in these bills. it's a terrible default if they don't let people know what the specific elements of this bill are, and how they will affect their lives, because otherwise, it's just a battle over price tag, and that's never attractive, but if it's about early, you know, about pre-k or about health care or about child care or paid leave and so on, those are things people can relate to in their lives, so i think they're going to do, they're going to be on a dual track, one is negotiating, and the other is selling and i think he has to do both to land the plane here. >> david axelrod, thanks so much. >> great to see you guys. just ahead, the trump-backed believers in the big lie about election fraud, what happens if they're elected to office themselves? and the breakthrough covid cases forcing broadway's "aladdin" to cancel performances. the genie joins us live. my retirement plan with voya keeps me moving forward. they guide me with achievable steps that give me confidence. this is my granddaughter...she's cute like her grandpa. voya doesn't just helelp me geto retirement... ...they're with me all the way through it. voya. be confident to and through retirement. with clean, fresh ingredients, panera's new chicken sausage and pepperoni flatbread is a mouthwatering explosion of yes. craft? yes! heartiness? yes! living life to the flavor-fullest? heck yes. pa now $1 delivery.es. advanced non-small cell lung cancer can change everything. but your first 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people who back this b.s. are not patriots. they're either cowards are fools, cowards of politicians who privately know better and fools if they continue to be duped by an anti constitutional conman. either way, they're complicit in an ongoing attempt to undermine our democracy. review the results of the election in a state he won by five points. make no mistake, this is about validating voter suppression and election subversion, because already, gop legislators in at least 18 states have enacted 30 new laws that do things like empower state officials to take control of county election boards, strip secretaries of state of their executive authority or make local election officials criminally or financially liable even for technical errors and get this, 10 of the 15 republican candidates running for secretary of state in five battlegrounds still question whether trump really lost the election, according to reuters. this f they win that's the equivalent of putting the member of the flat earth society in charge of nasa. trump's lies have taken over the republican party, disfiguring our democracy and a test to downplay the danger are no likely to age better than mulvaney's op-ed promising if he loses, trump will concede gracefully, as the trump virus continues to spread, we need to inoculate our democracy from its intended effect which is the overturning of an election. while senator joe manchin considering his quixotic effort to convince ten republicans to vote for his reform bill there's a more targeted effort which could gain republican support an urgently needed clarification of an 1887 law known as the electoral count act the same murky and messy law john eastman attempted to exploit in his six-point memo for how to conduct a coup. among the law's many deficiencies it allows state legislators to appoint a slate of electors regardless of how citizens voted if the state failed to make a choice on election day, a circumstance the law does not currently define. in addition, it allows an objection to the counting of electoral votes to occur if one memb senator and member of the house sign on. the law does not give the vice president discretion to ignore state electors as trump reportedly wanted mike pence to do saying wouldn't it be almost cool to have that power? he said that. to remove any temptations the vice president is a mere function wear when it comes to counting election results. this reform is needed to avoid another contested election and a new constitutional crisis and cross-aisle repeal backed by aei and the kato institute. fanatics don't care about facts and that's why we need to strengthen our laws now. so attempts to overturn the next election by trump aparatchiks do not succeed. >> thank you very much. i bring in cnn political commentator from utah mia love. thanks for being with us. as john points out the issue now is that there are republicans running for office for whom the big lie is a central platform and in 2024 they'd be in a position to do something about it. >> carrie lake has an opportunity to talk about what she's going toarizona, how she' make things better, instead the main campaign platform she would have done things differently than governor ducey, she wouldn't have certified the elections so it's really interesting because she is not giving anybody in arizona any hopes as to what she will be doing. it's completely focused on whether it's her idea or not, whether it's what she wants to do or not, she made the statement that she would not have certified the votes, so that's what the campaign has become about, instead of hey, this is what we're going to do in the future and how we're going to help arizona really have a leg up. >> what's to keep, if some of these candidates get elected, what's to keep them from overturning an election going forward? >> well, unfortunately, i don't know what's to keep them from doing that and i think that it's going to, people are going to be a little concerned about where her priorities are, same thing with greg abbott. instead of pledging his allegiance to donald trump, he really needs to pledge his allegiance to the united states and to the state of texas, and it seems as if they're removing themselves from the very people that have voted them in, and are focusing on whether the president is going, the former president is going to run for office again, and unfortunately i think that some of these elected officials are hedging their bets and i think it's going to be detrimental not just for them but for the people that they represent. >> well, what is the incentive structure right now inside the republican party? isn't the incentive structure set up for them to do exactly what they're doing? >> well, the incentive i think what they're afraid of is, one, not being able to fundraise. they're using that trump train in order to gain money and it's the outside of that, the absolute opposite of that which is fear, and that fear is i'm not going to get the support or the money that i would like to get, and right now, what you're seeing in terms of republicans, there is this turmoil, instead of talking about what is happening in washington, what is happening in the state, they're trying to, it's self-preservation. it's trying to make sure that they get the votes that they want and the funding that they want, and i think that there are some people that really need to look at this and say i don't need trump in order to do this. there are so many -- he is the past. in order for the republican party to actually move forward without the president, they need to ignore the former president. >> i want to ask you something about what the former president said over the weekend at yahoo! finance. he was asked about governor ron desantis, what would happen if ron desantis ran in a presidential primary. he said "if i faced him, i'd beat him like i'd beat anyone else. i don't think i will face him. i think most people would drop out. i think he would drop out." what do you think about that? >> i think ron desantis -- i worked with ron desantis before and ron desantis should continue to run for governor and for the governor of florida and not to worry about donald trump and i think ron desantis would give him a run for his money. again, the president is going to be, the former president's going to be on your side as long as you pledge your allegiance to him. that is it, and if you show signs thaw are moving away and that you have your own aspirations, watch out, because he's coming after you. >> mia love, great to talk to you. thanks so much. >> thank you, john. up next we talk to the star of a broadway show canceling performances because of covid. a bizarre new turn in the saga over the digital media company ozzy after it was exposed. why the founder says they're not shutting down after all. ♪ ♪ ♪ football, is a game of inches. but it's also a game, of information. because the nfl is connected. and at any moment, the fate 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virtually every hair on the first stroke. look good, game good. gillette. what happens when we welcome change? we can transform our workforce overnight out of convenience, or necessity. we can explore uncharted waters, and not only make new discoveries, but get there faster, with better outcomes. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change-- meeting them where they are, and getting them where they want to be. faster. vmware. welcome change. just two days and three performances into their return to broadway, the curtain has come down on "aladdin" for now after 18 long months, the show returned on september 28th, only to close on the 29th due to a positive pcr covid test, a breakthrough case in the show's company which is fully vaccinated. the show reopened their doors on thursday before shutting them on friday after more breakthrough cases were reported. this hit musical paused performances until october 12th, the first show on broadway to deal with breakthrough cases, likely not the last. joining us now is michael james scott, he plays the genie in disney's "aladdin" on broadway. thank you for being with us. i know this must be an incredible disappointment to be stopping and starting like this, when i'm sure you want to be right there on the stage. >> oh my gosh, first of all, thank you for having me. it is wonderful to join you all this morning and get a chance oto chat. yes t has been devastating and emotional to say the least. i'm ready to perform, to dance, to sing, to do my thing and as all of us were and are still ready to do what we love to do. >> but look, you will be back, right? you'll be back on october 12th and just to be clear, your show, your company is pretty careful. you require the entire production staff to be vaccinated as we saw the entire production not just production staff, you all take numerous pcr tests each week to catch cases if there are any, which is the case that happened here, working with an epidemiologist and various safety calls in place, right? >> absolutely. thank you for sharing that. i want to be clear we've had protocols in from day one. so it is sort of like a very reality kind of craziness of time that nothing is for sure a guarantee. as rigorous of testing as we have had in all things, however, we are doing everything we can to get back and we do get to say we're coming back on the 12th. we're not coming back 18 months later which is what we were experiencing before and the uncertainty of what was happening and the pandemic before. this is a new day and we are moving forward. there have been 16 other broadway shows that are open currently and it is working, we are moving forward. we are doing all the things and like you said, we are the first that had to shut down but everyone's trying to figure out what to do and how to maneuver through this time. however, we are making it work and we are working, so to get it back and we will be back. which is amazing. >> this is a breakthrough case. you have the protection of the vaccine. what do you have to do going forward if you're a performer? are you going to silo in a way? even a breakthrough case you see how this really gets in the way of production. >> listen, i'm praying. no, okay. i'm like, it is, no, it is like one of the things that i know i am doing everything i can, i can speak for myself obviously. i'm doing everything that i can for michael james scott to be healthy and safe and walk through life in this time so that i can go back to my job as well as my other cast members and including some of the cast members who did have breakthrough cases. we are all working through to make sure that we can come back individually and what that means for our personal lives with our families and all the things that we have to do to really be conscious of as we do come back, it is a new reality. it can happen, it is happening. this week i still have to go to the gym with my mask on, swim my laps and warm up and do things to be ready for next tuesday when we reopen on the 12th. >> incredibly challenging, a day in the life of a broadway star such as yourself. m.j.s., wonderful to speak with you this morning. we cannot wait for to you get back on stage. thank you. >> thank you so much, thank you for having me. please come back. the audiences are ready to come back which is really amazing. they still want us back. we're all ready to come back so we will be here. it's happening. it's just a week later. >> october 12th. we'll see you then. michael james scott, thank you. president biden speaking at the white house later this morning about the debt ceiling battle. we'll have live coverage on cnn. next, a new twist in the ozy saga, the beleaguered digital company said it was shutting down for a second after bizarre allegations, wait until you hear what happened now. ♪ i've always been running. to meetings. errands. now i'm running for me. i've always dreamed of seeing the world. but i'm 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let it go! woooo! get a dollar for dollar match at the end of your first year. only from discover. the founder of the digital media company ozy did an interview on the "today" show and said that his company will not shut down after all. >> you were going to open for business. we're making news today. this is our lazarus moment, if you will, our tylenol moment. last week was traumatic, it was difficult, heartbreaking in many ways and at the end of the week we did suspend operations with the plan to wind down. as we spent time over the weekend we talked to advertising partners, we talked so some of our readers and viewers and listeners and investors. i think oddy is par ozy is part moment and not easy. what we do with newsletters and original tv shows, podcasts and more has a calais. >> that was carlos watson who said a few days ago the company would wind down operations after reports suggested it had defrauded investors and grossly inflated audience numbers. the reporter who broke this story wide open with a series of bizarre tales ben smith, media columnist for the "new york times" joins me now. in a second we'll rewind. first your reaction, carlos watson said ozy is not shutting down after all. >> i spoke to him yesterday and he was just totally defiant. he thinks that ozy did nothing wrong and that there is nothing sort of misleading about having essentially purchased your entire audience to something you claim is a hit show, for instance. it has a sort of exotic theory about how audiences work that he is defending and hoping that the advertising industry in particular will go along with. >> so there's several different aspects to your initial report. number one, as you just said, ozy is inflating artificially inflating audience numbers and telling people it's getting more views than it really is. beyond that, there's also just this tale of a flat-out impersonation, someone carlos watson worked with on a utib guy with goldman sachs. that's dishonest fundamentally. >> there are a number of flat-out lies they told. they had "the carlos wattson show" and told the crew it would air on a&e and turned out a video they posted to youtube they told other people this is a special youtube thing, youtube is paying for and carlos said that in writing and that wasn't true. they're trying to get goldman to invest and i think they want someone to say look how great our relationship is with youtube. ultimately they post rid yos to the website like you could or i could. they put somebody, impersonate a youtube executive to make themselves look good. they also have posters up all around new york, particularly near ad agencies with quotes "the fastest showing show on youtube" that is also not the case. >> what's the bigger picture, ben, someone faking it 'til they make it or does this cross a different line? >> when you're lying to investors -- lying to advertisers sadly perhaps i think is fairly common. perhaps i don't know, i don't honestly understand why the advertising industry lets people get away with it. i think they're embarrassed to tell their bosses they've been fueled and their clients, but lying to investors is securities fraud, it's different. so the impersonation is a textbook case of securities fraud. ozy's argument is, a, the guy had a mental health problem and that's why. we don't know if that is true and b, the deal never went through, no harm no foul. the question was it part of a pattern in relationship with investors. >> he said ozy is still open for business. is that possible, viable going forward? what do you think? >> i think it will be, basically up to advertisers whether the tradeoff of not having any real organic audience is worth being aligned with content that is the sort of thing advertisers love, diverse millenials, republicans, democrats, madison caw horn, alexandria owe casio cortez getting along party lines. there is a content for which there is no audience but advertising agencies love it because it will not stress anybody out and allows them to feel they're participating in the social movements of the moment, the kendall jenner with the pepsi can. >> they have to work with somebody who has the allegations swirling about him. ben smith, media columnist for the "new york times," terrific reporting. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. cnn's coverage continues right now. good monday morning. nice to have you with us. i'm erica hill. >> and i'm jim sciutto. california is working to contain a major oil spill that could become an ecological disaster. so far coast guard officials removed more than 3,000 gallons of oil from the pacific ocean after a pipeline leaked more than 40 times that amount into