"outfront" tonight, crackdown in china. just as a breakthrough appears possible in the case of blind activist chen guangcheng, the chinese government clamping down, perhaps harder than ever on other voice of descent. communists parties authoritarian rule. we spoke to several on the inside today. the organization human rights in china told us they haven't heard anything from activist and chen confidant zeng chengdang for days. latest tweet two days ago when she announced she was under house arrest. human rights lawyer was also reportedly detained and beaten. he tried to visit chen in the hospital thursday evening. then there's this woman also known by her english name pearl pup see her there. she's the woman we told you about that helped chen escape his house arrest in the dead of night. she was detained herself. we are told by human rights groups she was released yesterday. take a look at this man. an unnamed supporter of chen's who actually would not allow cnn to identify him today pup soo pictures from behind him and his computer, not his face. why? he says he fears for his safety. coving this story, he and his crew, you see these pictures here. this is obviously -- you can see an altercation. followed by plained clothes police who hassled them at every stop as they tried to approach chen's village. it's impossible to note how many stories like these are out there. reliable statistics on political prisoners in china are extremely hard to come by. the congressional executive commission on china keep as prisoner database and recorded 6,886 cases of political or religious imprisonment in china. they believe the numbers are much higher. currently there are 1,437 known political and religious prisoners in the country. the commission knows of 23 cases of house arrests. secretary of state hillary clinton in beijing today acknowledged the human rights problem is not just about chen guangcheng. >> this is not just about well-known activists. it's about the human rights and aspirations of more than a billion people here in china and billions more around the world, and it's about the future of this great nation and all nations. >> did the united states make it worse for the other disdissidents? even if there is a decision in this case? on the foreign relations committee, and, of course, you just saw video covering the story since the beginning, spoken to all the players. both "outfront" this evening. the past 48 hours, you barely slept as you've been talking to all the players. been intimidated yourself. how tense is the environment in beijing and are you hearing even if we could get a resolution in the case of chen that there could be a broader crackdown on dissidents? >> reporter: erin, extraordinarily tense and it's been that way for the past year. this is a leadership transition year in china. only happens once every ten years and they wanted to orchestrate this with absolutely no problems. frankly, it's blown up in their face not just with this case but others as well. just overnight more man 20 journalists, international journalists were called in and given this warning. if you continue to go to the hospital where chen is being held, you will have your visas revoked and have to leave the country. we know that people that we've spoken to over the past week have been arrested. they've been detained, under house arrest and being forced not to speak out on this at all. this is the response of the government. the one hand they look as though they're giving something by opening the door to a resolution here, but just as they open the door they're slamming one behind it. erin? >> let me ask you about this. sharing some of the numbers. obviously it's lard to know. right? i mean, obviously, human rights organizations thinks they're a lot higher. do you worry about the other chen guangchengs out there and if the chinese government ends up having to give him back or let him go to the united states, such a public problem, for them, that they're going to crack down much harder on those who remain? >> well, erin, china's an oppressive regime, and chen guangcheng has been part of being on the end of the repression that exists in china. so any time that we give, you know, an opportunity to a chinese dissident, either to come into our embassy or to try to negotiate as we are doing in this case, for him to come to the united states with his family, the reality is, that regime is going to still be there and it's going to continue to oppress its people. that's why speaking up about human rights in a more broader discussion is incredibly important. >> and maybe a silver lining here. talking to people who spent significant time in china for these situations, they say to their knowledge there's never been a dissident who came into the u.s. embassy basically released on to the streets? resolved another way. they come to the united states, for example. the u.s. was under incredible pressure to resolve this before the secretary of state and timothy geithner's visit. do you think they made a mistake, now caused china to feel in a sense humiliated that could hurt other activists? >> from everything that i've seen, chen guangcheng originally wanted to stay in china. he wanted to continue his activism, but he wanted to be reunited with his family. he wanted to be out of the problems where he was being severely harassed and there was an opportunity to achieve that. he obviously had a change of heart, and now it seems that we have a deal where we can come to the united states to study, with his family. and then pursue whatever his future course might want to be. >> senator, of course, referring to the possibility that chen could be coming to new york university. what's your sense of chinese officials sort of what you're hearing? are they feeling that they lost face and were humiliated in any way in this or feel more than the u.s., the u.s. bungled it? >> i think it's the latter, really. they pair to be magnanimous. the once offering a resolution, they hold the cards, saying they can give him the passport and allow him to apply for a student visa and lectures the united states saying if you want to keep this relationship on an even path you need to act better, be much more vigilant and make sure this doesn't nap the future. demanding an apology from the united states for harboring chen. i've come to this conclusion. we're talking about the most significant defining relationship of the 21st century. the two big powers of the world exposing serious flaws on both sides. look at united states. they had a man who had been beaten, under house arrest, made it to the embassy under their protection, facing enormous stress and handed hem sbook the people oppressing him. on the other hand, china, despite all of this, despite the lifting people out of poverty and the economic success, it's still so bad, has such a tawdry human rights record that people want to flee in fear of their lives. this is the defining relationship from the rest of the century there is huge work to do appreciate your time. front story, too. still "outfront" -- a bangup job. >> this is a sad time in america. when people who want work can't find jobs. >> secret services. >> no. just go [ bleep ]. i'm not going to pay you. >> all this "outfront" when we come back. man: 1939 -- my parents ran across an ad for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. is as much about getting there... ♪ ...as it is being there. ♪ [ birds chirping ] away is where the days are packed with wonder... ♪ [ wind whistles ] ...and the evenings are filled with familiar comforts. find your away. for a dealer and the rv that's right for you, visit gorving.com. olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! 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"outfront" honoring one of the passings of a beat beastie boys. and future playing out on xbox or ps3. look at the trailer for "call of duty: black opes 2" takes play in 2025, a terrorist takes control of the robots and uses them against us. one of the battlegrounds, china. besides foreshadowing a war fought by machines, these types of games bring in serious, serious money. the last "call of duty" modern warfare 3" logged oeb over a billion in sales. the trailer we've been showing viewed over 10 million time on youtube. but it's the gaming industry's own future you should be worried about. that brings us to our number tonight. i love tapping on this thing. this is 553 million dollars. the dollar of video games sold in march. great? down 25% from last year. one of the big problems is not how cool, sexy, amazing violent hoar terrific terrible and swear-inducing those are, it's the lack of devices. playstation 3 released just over five years ago. the last time we got one. xbox 360 the hot thing, over six years since one of those. there it is. twice for each. sorry. i'm learning the wall. got it. anyway -- get the point. all right. the third story "outfront" tonight. drop in unemployment. you say good news? right? the problem it doesn't add up. the economy added 40,000 fewer jobbed than expected in april and unemployment fell only because people were giving up. they don't have jobs and are looking. the number of people in america with jobs, looking for jobs right now at the lowest level since 1981. bottom line, these numbers seem to be good for mitt romney, who's trying to run as mr. fix-it for the economy. other numbers, making mitt happy today, the swing states. in florida, a 9-point lead over the president in handling the economy. in ohio, a 4-point lead. in pennsylvania, the two are virtually tied. just a couple moments before the show began i spoke with the press secretary for president obama's re-election campaign, and i started by asking him about the jobs report today, and the fact that every single month this year fewer jobs have been added. >> well, you know, there is a trend, and the trend is that the president took office in the midst of a severe economic crisis. losing 750,000 jobs. he brought us back from the brink of another depression and businesses have created more than 4.2 million private sector jobs. manufacturing is resurgent. the auto industry is back. we're on track to double our exports. you talk and the workforce participation rate. the fact is over the course of the bast year the unemployment rate dropped from 9.1% to 8.1%. three quarters attributable to increase in employment. these policies are moving this economy forward. what mitt romney proposed is a return to the same policies that got us into the economic crisis in the first place. more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and letting wall street write its own rules again. >> you're trying to say most of the improvement in the unemployment rate, saying it's coming from job creation. still the lowest participation rate since 1981. doesn't that worry you? a lot of people are out there who have got to feel really upset and worried about their futures. they don't count in those numbers. >> well, part of that workforce participation rate are the baby boomers retiring and others going back to college. we're going it keep at it. there are additional steps we can take now that have been outlined in the president's budget to keep teachers in the classroom, keep cops on the beat. to provide a further boost to the manufacturing sector knop doubt that congress should take action on those policies. mitt romney doesn't have any, any plan to create jobs in the short run and in the long run, he's proposed $5 trillion tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, same in 2001 and 2003 that didn't unleash growth, didn't unleash job creation. you saw slower pace of job creation during that recovery period in 2001, which, by the way, mitt romney praised at the time, when those same policy was in place. so those are the last sorts of policies we should be returning to. >> each of the answers you've obviously talked about trying to contrast the president with mitt romney, and i know you're trying to talk about policy, but obviously there's already been studied out, wesley university did a study saying thas been the most negative campaign in history. a big part of that was clearly the republican primary, but your campaign has been jumping on board. here's an ad right now. ♪ >> as a man that wants to run for the president of united states who can't be honest with the american people. why should we expect him to level about anything as president? >> it's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person. he was referring to the hunt for osama bin laden. >> just what you'd expect from a guy who had a swiss bank account. >> shouldn't's president as the incumbent be the guy that says i'm going to hold my head high and not engage in negativity, petty politics? >> this election, like any election, is going to about choice between two candidates, two records and two opinions for the future. we are selecting the next commander in chief here. the fact is the president is somebody when he ran for office in 2008 said he end the war in iraq in a responsible way. he's done that. he said he's refocus on al qaeda. key terrorist leaders taken off the battlefield. said he's refocus on afghanistan. afghanistan is no longer a safe haven for al qaeda and the afghans are stepping up to take control of their own security. and he dedicated resources to going to get osama bin laden, made a tough call to authorize the mission to do so. when a specific policy choice was put on the table in 2007, the president was asked if he had actionable intelligence against a terrorist target in pakistan would he go after that target without the permission of the pakistanis. he said yes. governor romney criticized him and said he wouldn't move heaven and earth and we shouldn't dedicate all resources to get one person pap foreign policy selection. we're selecting the next commander in chief and entirely important to the discussion. >> the first signed, close gitmo. we talk about sheikh mohammed. he hasn't kept that promise. >> he certainly moved forward with the process to ensure the detainees at guantanamo, those who have committed acts against the united states, or harbored intentions to do so are brought to swift and certain justice. reformed the military commission process to ensure it was constitutional. you see detainees like the alleged bomber of the "uss cole" in military proceedings right now. all detainees at guantanamo, kwass reviewed to determine whether or not they're threats to the united states. it they're not a threat to the united states they've been transferred to third party countries. some in congress have tried to hamstring this administration's efforts to bring these to swift and certain justice but the president continued to move forward. >> thanks for taking the time to join us tonight. >> thanks for having me, erin. a florida millionaire convicted of manslaughter. >> state of florida versus john goodman, defendant. verdict, we the jury find as follows. as to count one we find the defendant guilty of dui manslaughter and failure to render aid as charged in information. >> now the accesses of one juror may make that verdict moot. it could be overturned. 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