breaking news tonight, facebook's ceo disputing the powerful testimony by whistle-blower frances haugen. she told a senate subcommittee that she believes facebook harms children, stokes division, and weakens our democracy and says congressional action is needed. but mark zuckerberg fighting back, saying a lot of haugen's claims don't make any sense and denying that facebook puts profits over the safety and well-being of its users. also tonight, president joe biden trying to save his domestic agenda, selling his massive infrastructure bill to union workers in michigan while telling house progressives the social safety net plan needs to be trimmed back to about $2 trillion. will they go along? plus brian laundrie's sister saying she doesn't know where he is, pleading with her brother to turn himself in. and gabby petito's mother saying someone needs to start talking about what happened to her daughter. cnn's brian stelter has the latest on the damning testimony from the facebook whistle-blower that ceo mark zuckerberg is disputing tonight. >> the only way we can move forward and heal facebook is we first have to admit the truth. >> reporter: and the truth, according to frances haugen, is that the social media giant is hiding what it really knows about its impact on its users, including the spread of misinformation. >> facebook likes to paint that these issues are really complicated. facebook prioritized that content on the system. >> reporter: haugen testifying to the senate about what the company did ask did not do to confront the spread of misinformation leading up to the 2020 election and beyond. >> on "60 minutes," you said that facebook implemented safeguards to reduce misinformation ahead of the 2020 election but turned off those safeguards right after the election, and you know that the insurrection occurred january 6th. do you think that facebook turned off the safeguards because they were costing the company money, because it was reducing profits? >> facebook changed those safety defaults in the run-up to the election because they knew they were dangerous and because they wanted that growth back, they wanted the acceleration of the platform back after the election, they returned to their original defaults. the fact that they had to break the glass on january 6th and turn them back on, i think that's deeply problematic. >> reporter: another big focus of the hearing, how facebook and its other social media apps, including instagram, negatively impact kids. >> kids who are bullied on instagram, the bullying follows them home. it follows them into their bedrooms. the last thing they see before they go to bed at night is someone being cruel to them, or the first thing they see in the morning is someone being cruel to them. >> reporter: senator richard blumenthal calling the revelations jaw-dropping and comparing facebook to big tobacco. >> it is documented proof that facebook knows its products can be addictive and toxic to children, and it's not just that they make money. again, it's that they valued their profit more than the pain that they cause to children and their families. >> reporter: the word addiction coming up over and over again during the testimony. >> it's just like cigarettes. teenagers don't have good se self-regulation. she say explicitly, i feel bad when i use instagram, and yet i can't stop. we need to protect the kids. >> reporter: in a tweet, facebook responding, saying haugen didn't actually work on these issues directly. she was a product manager tackling misinformation and had no direct reports and never attended a decision point meeting. but haugen brought receipts, research from inside facebook, documenting the damage being done. >> there are organizational problems. >> reporter: and during all this, where was mark zuckerberg? senators called out his absence. and quipped that he was sailing, referring to his recent uploads to facebook and instagram. >> rather than taking responsibility and showing leadership, mr. zuckerberg is going sailing. >> reporter: lots of comments about the credibility of this whistle-blower. people blown away by how knowledgeable she is and how much she is willing to share. and remember, don, the documents she has provided, they show lots of employees inside facebook have the same fears that she does. this story is not over, not by a long shot. don. >> brian stelter, thank you very much. i appreciate it. i want to bring in now "new york times" opinion contributing writer kara swisher. kara, so good to see you. it's really great to have you on to talk about this. this is right up your alley here. good evening. today's testimony was incredibly damning. will this be the moment that finally forces facebook to change or some change at least when it comes to social media sites? >> i do not think so. i think right now, it's the congress that has to act because facebook, as you saw from the response by mark zuckerberg, is saying this is not the company we know, which is in essence saying, we don't know what she's talking about. i think some of the tweets from some of the p.r. people and statements trying to minimize her, trying to make it seem like she's a nobody, that she's not in the big meetings, i think aggression is what they're using here. so it's up to congress now to act. and frankly, they've done nothing, and so it's at their foot. they have to do something right now. >> to what you said, this is how mark zuckerberg and others responding tonight -- you just noted about what he said. writing in part, he said the argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical. we make money from ads and advertisers consistently tell us they don't want their ads next to harmful or angry content. so he is saying that haugen's claims don't make sense, right? but she came with receipts. >> well, they're minimizing the claims. they're trying to make them too broad. at one point i thought one of the comments was, you know, we didn't start the civil war or something like that. nobody thinks facebook is the cause for hatred among human beings. that's humans behaving like humans. the politicization, politicians. you can blame donald trump. you can blame fox news. you can blame anyone, whatever side you're on. but facebook amplifies and weaponizes all these feelings. there's never been such a communications platform in history, and the fact of the matter is they manage it sloppily. it's seen around the world they've had problems and now they've had them here. what she was saying made a lot of sense, and i think a lot of the people on both sides of the aisle were listening to her. >> mark zuckerberg and those who work at facebook, they can easily change the toxic nature of facebook if he wanted to most of all. he's at the top. take a listen to this. >> he holds over 55% of all the voting shares for facebook. there are no similarly powerful companies that are as unilaterally controlled. in the end, the buck stops with mark. there's no one currently holding mark accountable but himself. >> straight up, kara, is she right? is mark zuckerberg the problem? >> oh, yeah. well, he can't be fired. i don't know, don. you and i can be fired, right? >> yeah. >> it does have an effect on us. so if you're unfireable and unaccountable and you run the biggest communications platform in the history of the world, you know, that's a lot on your shoulders. even if you're really good at your job. and i think sometimes he does a good job. sometimes he doesn't. but it's too much for anyone to bear, and especially too much for one private company, which makes money off our data, to be able to be trusted with a lot of this stuff. now, i don't know what the solutions are. i don't agree with a lot of her solutions. i don't agree with other people's solutions. but there should be a transparent discussion about how to regulate this company and others like it because they have an impact. and so what does that mean to do that? are they a utility? are they a publisher? are they a media company? that needs to be determined. >> listen, i think you're right. i have my idea of what i think, but i don't know if that will work. but we should have the discussion and see if there's something that will work. kara, i appreciate you joining us. thank you. have a good evening. >> no problem, don. thanks. now to democrats scrambling to make a deal to pass the president's domestic agenda. joining me now, democratic congressman colin allred of texas. how are you doing? >> i'm doing fine. i agree with your previous guest, though, that we need to do something about facebook. >> go on. >> well, you know, i do think that particularly among the younger members of congress who have come in recent years, we understand the reach and really the danger of some of these social media companies and recognize the need for some form of regulation. and we need to have that debate, so i appreciate you covering that. >> thank you very much. i appreciate that. let's talk about what sources are telling cnn, that democrats are floating the idea of changing senate rules so the debt ceiling can be raised by a simple majority vote. do you support this? would you support this? >> absolutely. i mean there's just no way that we can allow us to, you know, play politics with the full faith and credit of the united states. and really with the global economy. i mean the fact that mitch mcconnell, who knows better, who really does -- and there are a lot of quotes from him previously talking about the importance of doing this -- is saying that it's only incumbent upon the democrats to do this, and they have to overcome his, you know, obstacles. then, okay, we are showing right now how the filibuster has crippled the united states senate and how we need to find a way around it. >> finally. finally democrats realizing that republicans don't want to work with you? i mean finally, seriously. i hate to sound, you know -- i don't know -- sarcastic or whatever the word is. but, i mean, colin, congressman, where has this been? where has this attitude been? >> well, it's been there. we just haven't always had the votes to do it, don. i think, you know, you and i talked a lot about voting rights and how passionately i feel that particularly in the area of voting rights, it shouldn't be subject to a majori-- i think i were able to get around the filibuster, that you'd see more bipartisanship in the senate because there would be more, you know, impetus to work together. >> you have to work with each other. there wouldn't be this sort of bypass in the system that you can use, right, in order not to be bipartisan. finally. i hope most of the democrats in washington are waking up to this. okay. so, listen, president biden told house progressives that the social safety net package has to come down from $3.5 trillion to somewhere between $1.9 trillion and $2.2 trillion. so where are you willing to make cuts? >> yeah. well, i think we have to decide what is most important in this. what are the programs that we feel have to be in? and then we can decide on the top-line number because it will be variable depending on how many years those programs are for, whether it's five years, ten years, into perpetuity. so i think we have a lot of agreement on what those programs should be. and, you know, they're dealing with the environment, yes, but they're also dealing with helping hardworking american fa families who have had a hard time and were having a hard time for a long time before that. these are really popular things like paid family and medical leave, capping the cost of child care, pre-k and early childhood education, things that i think we've seen, that if you spend a dollar in early childhood education, you get $7 back in economic output. so the top-line number is really less important. i really mean that. we just have to arrive at the programs, arrive at what we're going to do. then we'll work our way backwards and get this done. >> things that will probably benefit rural and red states maybe even more than blue states. people vote against their interests all the time. >> in texas, what we're talking about here would be incredibly important. just by expanding medicaid, we could give over a million texans health insurance. >> ta-da. thank you, congressman allred. i appreciate it. we've got new developments tonight in the gabby petito case. her fiance, brian laundrie, has been missing for weeks. i'm going to ask a former fbi profiler if the trail has gone cold as her family speaks out. >> do you believe he's hiding somewhere? >> i do. >> why do you believe that? >> because he's a coward, flat out. i thought i'd use some other words, but i can't use them on your show. look, i gotta say something. 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(announcer) call now and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner. brian laundrie's sister speaking out this morning, pleading for her brother to turn himself in more than two weeks after the body of his fiancee, gabby petito, was found near grand teton national park in wyoming. >> i would tell my brother to just come forward and get us out of this horrible mess. i'd say brian's a mediocre survivalist. it wouldn't surprise me if he could last out there a very long time, but also i don't think anything would surprise me at this point. i hope my brother is alive because i want answers just as much as everybody else. >> so let's discuss now. former fbi profiler, candace, good evening. you're calling this interview with brian laundrie's sister very revealing about what she may know. what are you taking away from this? >> well, the first thing i noticed is that unlike her parents, who originally said, you know -- contacted the police and said, he's missing, we're worried about him. she's not worried about him. she basically says she's not worried he's dead. she hopes he isn't, but she's wanting him to come home and turn himself in and answer questions. >> you know, her name is cassie laundrie. she's also telling cnn that she hasn't spoken to her parents in two weeks and says that their lawyer advised them not to discuss the case even with her. i mean what does it tell investigators about the parents? does it say anything? >> it sounds to me like the lawyer is worried that if the parents talk to their daughter, cassie, she might reveal something. it is ominous. it is similar to what i thought when brian -- when gabby's parents called her parents, and they were referred to the lawyer. >> now, gabby's parents and stepparents are speaking to dr. phil today, saying that they thought both of them were missing until they found out brian had come home. listen to this. >> i didn't know about the van until the 11th. >> we actually thought they were both missing at that point in time when we were calling them. >> i was worried about both of them. >> when did you learn the van was back? >> the night of the 11th when i reported her missing. a detective came to my door and let me know the van was in florida. >> that's when you said you knew bad, bad news? >> mm-hmm. >> now, what picture are these emerging details painting for law enforcement, do you think? >> well, he shows up. brian shows up in florida back at his parents' with the van. whether it was gabby's van or his van, they were using that van. that was their traveling motel on their adventure in the west for their travel blog or gabby's travel blog. and he shows up without her. he had been living in his parents' home with her. they were engaged. they were living there. they'd been there for months. certainly the parents would have said, where's gabby? >> what's going on, right? something. >> yeah. you know, i would love to know what he said. did he say, oh, i dropped her off in new york or -- i mean, and then everything that followed, the parents not talking with gabby's parents does not bode well here. i mean it just supports my belief that they know what happened. perhaps he revealed what happened. we know she was found to be the victim of a homicide, and nobody's talking. >> now, listen, we cover this closely, but i don't think anybody is covering it as closely as you because you're doing it on your podcast, "killer psyche." tell us about that. >> mm-hmm. last week we shelved our regular episode and decided to focus on the gabby petito case, and it is obviously a story that has captured the nation. you know, young people set out on an adventure that they want to share with everyone, and something goes terribly wrong, and the young woman ends up a homicide victim, and the man she's with takes off after he'd been home for a while. he didn't take off until, i believe, her body was -- it was determined her body was found, and then he takes off. so we go into all these details and as much background as we have on both of them as well as the case and what went wrong. >> yeah. well, listen, we'll be following this and we'll be listening to your podcast. candice delong, always a pleasure. thank you very much. a campaign ad for a congressional candidate in north carolina going viral, and it compares the hate we're seeing now to what the kkk did decades ago. start your day with crest 3d white and from mochaccinos to merlot, your smile will always be brilliant. crest 3d white brilliance. 100% stain removal, 24 hour stain resistance to lock in your whitest smile. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. tony here from creditrepair.com taking to the streets to talk about credit. can you repair your credit yourself? 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>> well, don, you know, this rollout yesterday actually was intended to demonstrate to the folks in the 9th congressional district that they have a gentleman who is running for this office who has demonstrated that when communities come together as did hayes pond, african african-americans, lumby indians coming together to fight hatred, bigotry, we can accomplish a lot when we do those things as opposed to what we see today. >> you say that what happened them mirrors a lot of what we see today. explain. >> well, don, on a smaller scale, i don't have to identify what the kkk stood for. we all know what they stood for -- hatred, bigotry. as we move forward, i think the world knows what happened at our nation's capitol. we have a divided country as we see today. i'm a candidate running for congress, and i will use my voice to stand for what is right, to stand up for our democracy. in my situation, we have a sitting house member who has undermined our presidency, who has undermined -- and be honest with you, don -- has turned democracy on its head. charles graham, i was raised as a sharecropper's son. my grandparents were sharecroppers. i was taught value, how to treat people with respect, and those are things that i will take into congress to work in a bipartisan way to make my community the home of the lumby, a stronger and better community and the communities throughout the district a much stronger and better communities. and that's what i would be advocating for as opposed to what we see now from many of our representatives. >> since you mentioned the opposition, you're running against the current republican congressman dan bishop. bishop was behind north carolina's infamous bathroom bill that banned people from using restrooms that did not correspondent with their biological sex, limiting access for transgender people. the bill has since been repealed. but you voted for it, and you put out a statement apologizing to the transgender community and said the vote was a mistake. what changed your mind, sir? >> well, don, that was approximately five years ago. when i voted for that bill, i did not realize at the time what would be the outcome of that legislation. i realized after the fact that it was hurtful. it was painful to our transgender communities, and i -- i made a choice that was the wrong choice. i've apologized for that vote, and in addition, don, i did work diligently to repeal this bill, and i'm proud that i've done that. i'm an individual who, don, throughout my life, especially my younger life, i experienced hate. i experienced discrimination. i've confronted it face to face, and as we move forward and going into congress, it is my intention to make sure that all people of color, gender will have a voice in congress as opposed to what we're seeing now. >> what do you think your chances are now, especially with what you're saying, partisanship and divide? you think what you're selling, people are going to buy it? >> well, i think as a member of the north carolina general assembly, the constituents i represent, they want to see their member working across the aisle, trying to bring things to their district, and i've done that. the house member that i'll hopefully running against, don, i don't know that we can say what he's brought to our folks in eastern and rural counties. but i can tell you i have worked diligently to bring opportunitie s to the people that i represent, and i'm very proud of that fact. so my voice would be a voice as a uniter, not a divider. that's what we have in the current situation, someone who has undermined our president, will not support his agenda, and i don't think people appreciate that. >> representative grisham, i'm so happy to have you on. i hope your message gets to people regardless of how they vote -- graham, excuse me. i don't know why i said that, but graham. i hope your message gets to people regardless of how they vote, they vote for you or someone else, but your message is the kind we need today. i thank you so much for joining us. i appreciate it. >> thank you, don. it's a pleasure to be with you. >> you as well. a former contract worker at tesla saying he experienced a barrage of racist abuse at the company's factory in california. company's factory in california. now a federal jury has awarded 3 and when they do call, they say, "i wish i'd called sooner." call right now for free information on the $9.95 plan. are you between age 50 and 85? 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(music) ♪ i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ (music) ♪ i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ a giant verdict against tesla. a federal jury ordering the company to pay $137 million in damages to a former contractor at its fremont, california, plant, who alleges he was subjected to racial harassment and discrimination. no word on whether the automaker will appeal. but the company says it does not believe the facts justify the verdict. owen diaz is the plaintiff in this case. he joins me now along with his attorney, larry organ. thank you. i appreciate you gentlemen joining us. fascinating story. good evening to you, owen and larry. >> good evening, don. >> owen, in the lawsuit you describe racist graffiti and insensitive caricatures. you say that you were repeatedly referred to using racial slurs, that you were told to go back to africa. tell us what it's like working in this factory. talk to me. >> just a hostile work environment. you know, the thing is that my supervisors and co-workers were not only telling me to go back to africa, they were saying the "n" word and saying the "n" word aren't s-h-i -- and things to that nature. i also had a supervisor accost me in the elevator and threaten me with physical violence, and that was captured on surveillance video, and they never took a look at that. then one of the -- another incidents is when that same supervisor that accosted me in the elevator, he drew a picture of a pickaninny, per se, on a cardboard. >> -- says that the company responded to owen's complaints. the racist imagery was removed and two contractors were fired, one suspended, and that owen only complained about usage of the "n" word after he was not hired full-time. how do you respond that? >> well, that, you know, my mother told me never to call anybody a liar. the thing is that they retained the supervisor that was causing the incidents, you know, and they kept him in the same position that he was in in the beginning. and we don't know today if he's still -- still dishing out that abuse to other employees. >> yeah. larry, you know, workman also says that witnesses testified that they regularly heard the n-word at tesla but that most of the time they thought the language was used in a friendly manner and usually by african-american colleagues. in what world is that okay? >> not okay and not true. so, you know, the whole point of the jury's award, $130 million in punitive damage to punish and deter and to make tesla listen to what they're saying. and what happens here, they put out this statement not five hours after the jury's rendered its verdict. it doesn't accept what the jury says. it lies about owen's relationship with tesla because the jury found that he was an employee. they say no n-word complaint, but two witnesses confirmed in fact the n-word was reported by owen. so tesla is just spinning here. you know, it just shows you that the jury absolutely got it right. in fact, they probably should have awarded more money so that tesla might shut its mouth and do something. >> owen, you said the breaking point for you is when your son, who also worked at tesla, was subjected to racial harassment and slurs too. what? >> yeah, that was -- you know, it was the summer of 2015, i believe it was. up know, i was taking my son like a father would do. you know, as i was coming around the corner, i heard his supervisor use an n-word, saying that he couldn't stand all of the f-in' ns. what he did, he effectively e m -- he mass cue lated me. so, you know, the mental damage that's been done to a family is never can be reversed. this is something that i have to go through with the rest of my life, knowing that not only did i make a mistake as a parent and took my son not a hostile environment, but all i was trying to do was just the right thing. i was trying to keep my son on track and turn him into a productive citizen of society. >> larry, a quick response because i want to get another response from tesla. the human resources head also writes about the verdict, says while we strongly believe that these facts don't justify the verdict reached by the jury in san francisco, we do recognize that in 2015-2016, we were not perfect. we're still not perfect, but we have come a long way from five years ago. what do you think? is tesla going to appeal? quickly if you will. >> i think they will appeal, and i think, again, they're not telling the truth. i've got a class action now against tesla, and in that class action, we've got thousands of people who are potential class members. over 100 people have sworn under oath that the n-word has been spoken at tesla since the events that owen was exposed to. >> yeah. owen, thank you very much. best of luck to you and your family. larry, you as well. thank you. >> thank you, don. >> thank you. former democratic presidential and new york mayoral candidate andrew yang breaking up with the democratic party. why he says he's fed up with the two-party system. had enough? - no... arthritis. here. new aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. tony here from creditrepair.com taking to the streets to talk about credit. can you repair your credit yourself? yes. -great. how? uhhh... how long does credit repair take? 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>> polarization is now at record highs and it's just getting worse, don. right now, gallup says 62% of americans are looking for a third party. the question is why have none of them worked, and the answer is mechanics. you have closed party primaries that are driving the polarization. so that's what the forward party is looking to change, to shift to open primaries and ranked choice voting that would both decrease polarization and lower the country's temperature, but also give rise to new options and new alternatives. >> yeah. well, listen, as a registered interest, welcome to the club, okay? go on. >> fantastic, man. you know, i'm new to the club, but i'm enjoying it so far. >> let's look at your former party, right? because you ran as a democrat in all your previous -- you were a registered democrat. look at your former party and the negotiations over the giant spending package just over the past few days. one thing we're seeing is that there really is a variety of ideas, or there are a variety of ideas and priorities within the democratic party. you really don't think there's a place for you with that broad range in that party? >> the dysfunction in washington unfortunately is a product of our system, don. and what i'm committed to and what the forward party is committing to is actually making it so our system starts working again. right now we're living through a version of our founding fathers' worst nightmares. they would never have had this kind of dysfunctional duopoly, which is vulnerable to authoritarianism because if you have one party that has bad leadership, it can overrun all these safeguards. what they feared was clashing factions that never got anything done. that's unfortunately a lot of what we're seeing in washington over the last number of years really. >> you're aware that the gop-led states across the country are working hard to pass restrictive voting measures. several states already have. won't these sorts of laws and the gop efforts to hold on to power really blunt any momentum for a third party? >> what's interesting is the one state that has already adopted open primaries and ranked choice voting is alaska, which is a deep red state. it turns out that americans of every political alignment think that our system will work better if our leaders have to try and appeal to 51% of voters instead of just the 10% to 20% on either side. so this isn't a red or a blue thing. this is a systemic thing, and that's why we all feel like we're being driven crazy and being pitted against each other. that's what we have to change. we have to disentangle the incentives so they actually line up with our interests, the interests of the american people. >> soi i have your book here. it's called "forward." way nt to read a part about the book about your experiencing running for the presidency. you said, the people around me treated me as at least a celebrity or product that hundreds of staffers were focused on selling, and everyone in my orbit started treating me like a might be a presidential contender. i was getting a crash course in how we treat the very powerful, and it was weird. you add that power causes brain damage. so talk to me about that, and what is the remedy? >> so clinical studies have found that if you're in a position of power, it actually changes your brain wiring where you become less empathetic. we actually catch on to that. we kind of fear that our leaders are losing touch. it's one reason why they always try and recount their humble beginnings, to show that they're still like us. but the fact is the more time you spend in this kind of crucible of political life when you're just being surrounded by a vortex of cameras and money and the rest of it, it does mess with your head. and one thing i believe we should implement is term limits. 18-year term limits for members of congress because 75% of americans recognize that sending someone to d.c. and then having them stay there forever should not be the way to go. >> 18 years? that's a long time. >> see? i'm even being pretty reasonable. >> when you're in office, you should be in office for service, not as a career. so 18 years seems like a long time. that seems like a career. >> 18 years would still be completely different than what's happening now, where a lot of the congressional leaders have been there 20, 25, 30 years. we have a jarrontocracy in the united states right now, don, because of these essentially lifetime appointments that are happening. even 18 years would be a massive improvement. >> andrew yang, always good to see you. the book again is "forward: notes on the future of our democracy." >> let's fix it. thanks, don. great seeing you. >> you be well. and thank you for watching, everyone. our coverage continues. on sunday night and every night. nyquil severe. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine. i would've called yesterday. but... i could've called yesterday. but... i should've called yesterday, but... would've, could've, should've. we hear that a lot. hi. i'm jonathan, an insurance professional and manager here at colonial penn life insurance company. sometimes, people put off calling about life insurance. before you know it, another year has passed. and when they do call, they say, "i wish i'd called sooner." call right now for free information on the $9.95 plan. are you between age 50 and 85? 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