[Baldwin:] All right. Breaking news, we're now learning there is a hearing under way regarding the man who was caught just about 24 hours ago in a town in Pennsylvania Indiana, Pennsylvania. His name, 21- year-old Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez. Police Pennsylvania State Police and the Secret Service were able to track this guy down. They believe he is the guy connected to the shooting from last Friday night at the White House. I want to go to Athena Jones, she is at the White House for us. And, Athena, you're now learning what charge this young man will face.
[Athena Jones, Cnn Correspondent:] That's right, Brooke. The U.S. attorney just announced that they're going to be charging him with attempting to assassinate the president. This is according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kitchen Robert Kitchen or Jimmy Kitchen who just said this in court a short while ago. We're getting all of this from our CNN producer, Carol Cratty, who was there in the courtroom giving us kind of a play by play of what's going on. They're going to be charging him with attempting to assassinate the president. Of course, President Obama was traveling at the time. But the presumption is the suspect didn't know that. It shouldn't be too much of a surprise though, because you'll remember back in 1994, Francisco Martin Duran was charged with coming up and shooting at least 29 rounds through this front gate here on the North Lawn. He was convicted of attempting to assassinate the president. So it is not a surprise these charges, we don't know what other charges could come. We're still watching and still waiting to hear more Brooke.
[Baldwin:] Also we're learning today a little more about this man. The fact that Friday was his birthday. He had hate for the president. What else do you know?
[Jones:] Well, as you know, the authorities have talked to the friends and family who believe he had this intense interest in the president or the White House. We do know that his family had reported him missing way back at the end of October, on October 31st. This is his family in Idaho Falls, Idaho. They were concerned about him. And so slowly things are beginning to come out and we'll certainly be paying more attention as the story continues.
[Baldwin:] All right. Athena Jones, thank you so much, for us at the White House. Now a grilling on Capitol Hill today. Energy Secretary Steven Chu was in the hot seat. He defended the $535 million in federal loan guarantees he approved for the failed solar energy company Solyndra. In this fallout, an investigation was launched to find out if political favoritism played a role in funding this particular company. I want to bring in our Jessica Yellin, our senior White House correspondent. She has been following the developments. Tell me about the hearing.
[Jessica Yellin, Cnn Senior White House Correspondent:] Hey, Brooke. Well, it has been pretty testy, as you might imagine, with Steven Chu, the energy secretary, in that chair for more than four hours today so far. The Republicans on the panel have focused their questioning on whether he takes responsibility for this loan beyond simply saying that he feels that it was unfortunate but whether he'll actually apologize for making this investment to begin with. Here is what the energy secretary said to the larger questions at stake in this investigation. Listen to Secretary Chu.
[Chu:] As the secretary of energy, the final decisions on Solyndra were mine and I made them with the best interests of the taxpayer in mind. And I want to be clear, over the course of Solyndra's loan guarantee, I did not make any decision based on political considerations. My decision to guarantee a loan to Solyndra was based on the analysis of professional experienced professionals, and on the strength of the information they had available...
[Steven Chu, Energy Secretary:] loan guarantee, I did not make any decision based on political considerations. My decision to guarantee a loan to Solyndra was based on the analysis of professionals, experienced professionals and on the strength of the information they had available to them at the time.
[Jessica Yellin, Cnn Chief White House Correspondent:] As you might imagine, Brooke, over the course of four hours he was pummelled on that statement. So he fought back in his own sort of quiet soft- spoken way. But it was, it's been ongoing and it's not done yet. They're just taking a break for the moment.
[Brooke Baldwin, Cnn Anchor:] Taking a break. Jessica, what about the initial charge that this was all about doing a favor for an Obama donor?
[Yellin:] That's what is sort of interesting about all this, Brooke. That's where it started. What it has moved to is that has not been the focus of today's hearing. So today, the critics have accused Secretary Chu of not having a staff that properly vetted Solyndra before giving them so much money. And then also pumping more money into the company later and letting taxpayers sign up for a deal that if they went bankrupt gets taxpayers paid back before private investors. So it sort of as you can see in the weeds. And you've moved away from that original charge that there was a political possible scandal about political favoritism. It has kind of creped away from the original accusation.
[Baldwin:] What about Democrats? You talked to a lot of Democrats here in Washington, what do they say about all this?
[Yellin:] Well, this is interesting. So even the Democrats on the panel are saying today that this is a manufactured scandal by Republicans who are hiding a political interest of their own. The Democrats are saying Republicans are doing this because they're defending oil and gas interests who don't want to see green energy take off. Because oil and gas interests, the Democrats argue, donate to Republicans more than to Democrats. And so therefore the Republicans are trying to stop this green energy industry, which this loan program supports. It's just such a political football right now, Brooke. It's going to keep going.
[Baldwin:] All right, well, we trust you. We'll keep our eye on the ball and if it gets testier, let us know. Jessica Yellin for us in Washington. Thank you. Now to this. Tunnels under the U.S.- Mexico border. They're so common. It's such a big problem. Did you know San Diego actually has what they call a tunnel task force? Yes, a tunnel task force. On Tuesday, a major pot bust led this task force to this tunnel in a warehouse that connected to another warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico. Tons of marijuana were transported into the U.S. this way. Rafael Romo following this. So many questions for you. First, let's begin with the fact that this had a pretty sophisticated tunnel.
[Rafael Romo, Cnn Correspondent:] Very sophisticated. It had everything they need to make it a very sophisticated, efficient and fast operation. We're talking about a total of anywhere from 15 to 16 tons of marijuana just to put in it context, anywhere from $20 million to $30 million street value and it was very long. It was the size of four football fields, 400 yards running across the border. They went 20 feet into the ground. It was four feet high by three feet wide. And when agents went there, they saw all of the sophistication that we're talking about. Structural supports so there were no accidents. Ventilation, everything needed to have it as a smooth operation for these drug traffickers.
[Baldwin:] Peeking over your shoulder just so I can see the images. You can see it on the ground and one of the warehouses. How did agents find this to begin with?
[Romo:] It started in a very simple manner. There was a small cargo truck leaving a nondescript warehouse near the border that looks suspicious. Agents stopped the truck and they found three tons of marijuana and so one thing connected to the other. And they found five tons on the Mexican side and six and a half in the warehouse on the American side. But the bottom line, and this is what agents want to say. They want to send a message to drug cartels that this is going to happen every time they tried to do this. Let's listen to what they said.
[William Sherman, Dea Agent:] I'm confident if these cartels want to continue to smuggle their drugs into the United States in this fashion, we're going to find them and we're going to find them faster than they can build them.
[Romo:] The thing is that, Brooke, they're very resilient.
[Baldwin:] Who is they?
[Romo:] The drug cartels. Unfortunately, the drug cartels, in the last four years, 75 tunnels have been found across the U.S.Mexico border mainly in California and Arizona. Three in the exact same area we're talking about last year. One of them had even a rail system with carts so that the drugs could just be push
[Baldwin:] Made a little easier. Well, that's why they have a tunnel task force. Rafael, thank you so much. Coming up next, we're going to get you back to the "Occupy Wall Street" story. We'll talk to a woman who is weighing in on future of this movement. She said this is just getting started. But it has a bit of growing up to do. That's next.