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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Toddler Died Inside Car, Accident or Murder?; Fight for Iraq; Immigrants Flee Danger In Central America; Michael Jackson's Children, Five Years After The Pop Legend's Death; New Incident Could Result In Long Suspension For Suarez

Aired June 25, 2014 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone.

Tonight a story that has stunned much of the country. You would think it's the ultimate how could you? How could a parent leave a toddler in a hot car all day, killing the toddler?

Tonight late details, what we are learning in the death of that toddler goes far beyond that one terrible question.

Also tonight between reports of Syrian air strikes and alleged Iranian drone flights, is Iraq now completely up for grabs? And what role, if any, is left for the U.S.?

One of the top experts who once helped keep Iraq in one piece before talks about whether it's possible to hold it together now.

And later, it's been five years since Michael Jackson died, and five years of criminal trial, lawsuits, family feuds, a hit album from beyond the grave and more. We'll tell you about all the players tonight, where they are now, and some amazing stories to tell.

We begin, though, with what at first appeared to be and might in fact simply be a terrible accident, perhaps the worst mistake a parent can make. Every year hundreds of parents leave their children in hot cars and this year, according to the advocacy group, Kids in Cars, 14 children have died including 22-month-old Cooper Harris.

That's Cooper right there, left in the back of an SUV on a broiling hot Atlanta area day. The vehicle parked outside the daycare center at his father's workplace. Justin Harris never took him inside when he went in. By late that afternoon, Cooper was dead.

Now if that were all there is in the story, it would be horrible enough. But again, sadly not unheard of, a dead child, a grieving, heartbroken but clearly negligent parent, and perhaps that's all that Justin Harris was -- a tragically negligent parent on that day. Thousands of people think so, the authorities, though, think otherwise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE BOWMAN, COB COUNTY, GEORGIA POLICE DEPARTMENT: The Cobb County medical examiner believes that the cause of death is consistent with hyperthermia and the investigative information suggests the manner of death is homicide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, information he says supporting a murder charge against the father Justin Harris.

Victor Blackwell reports tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Early Wednesday morning exactly one week ago, Justin Ross Harris was seen at this Atlanta area Chick-Fil-A. The newly released arrest warrant says after breakfast Harris was seen strapping his 22-month-old son Cooper into his car seat. He drove less than a mile away to this Home Depot Support Center where he works as a Web designer.

Normally Harris takes Cooper to a daycare center on site but not on this day. Instead Harris headed inside the office and left his toddler in his rear-facing car set in the back in the blazing Georgia sun.

Investigators say Harris returned to the SUV at lunchtime, opened the driver's side door and placed something inside. He then closed the door and walked off.

The temperature outside hit 88 degrees that afternoon. The temperature inside the SUV potentially exceeded 130 degrees. Cooper was likely already dead.

The arrest warrant says at 4:16 that afternoon, the end of the workday, Harris returned to the SUV and started to drive home. Seven minutes later and about two miles down the road, Harris screeched into this parking lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopped out of the driver's seat, opened the backdoor, pulled his child out, laid him on the concrete, tried to resuscitate him.

BLACKWELL: But little Cooper was dead. Patrol officers were in the area when the 911 calls came in.

SGT. DANA PIERCE, COB COUNTY, GEORGIA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Medical personnel who arrived on the scene determined that the child apparently had been in the automobile, the father's automobile, since about 9:00 this morning.

BLACKWELL: Harris told police he'd somehow forgotten to drop Cooper off at daycare that morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could feel his sorrow and his hurt because of the situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just screamed, "What have I done?" Loudly. Obviously, it was a bit dramatic, you know, hands in the air, looking up towards the sky, "What have I done?" Type of -- type of thing.

BLACKWELL: But police say it was all an act. When officers asked Harris basic questions about his story, they say those answers just did not make sense. Then police say Harris cursed and screamed at them. They took him to police headquarters, questioned him further, and ultimately charged him with cruelty to a child and felony murder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's fully aware of what he's charged with and he'll be entering a plea of not guilty at this time.

BLACKWELL: More than 10,000 people signed an online petition urging the district attorney to drop the charges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is impossible for this to have been intentional. There is no way it would have been intentional, especially from the father's reaction.

BLACKWELL: But investigators disagree. A Cobb County sergeant tells CNN, "What I know about this case shocks my conscience as a police officer, a father, and a grandfather."

Now what investigators want to know is why.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, Victor joins us now from Marietta, Georgia, with more.

So we heard from the police department there just a short time ago saying that Cooper's likely cause of death is hyperthermia. What else did they have to say?

BLACKWELL: Well, the question that so many people have asked over and over, Anderson, is where is mom? Where is the mother in all of this? Well, the officers said today that the child's mother was here in Cobb County just outside of Atlanta and was interviewed by detectives, although they did not characterize that conversation. But I was candidly struck by what was not said during this news conference. So we heard in that report that the new arrest warrant says that Harris went back to the car in the middle of the day, went into the car, and then closed the door.

Did he see the child? Did he not? That's for folks at home to decide. Well, the officer when asked would not just simply say if Harris meant to or did not mean to leave the child in the car. That's one element. The chief here released a letter before the news conference in which he said this was not simple negligence, and there is evidence to prove that. So a discrepancy between what we heard from the officer and what was written in the statement by the chief.

We also know today that that charge of cruelty to a child in the first-degree was downgraded to a second-degree charge, quite possibly because they cannot prove malice but only negligence -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Victor Blackwell, appreciate it.

I want to bring in our legal analyst here. Criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos and former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin.

I mean, Sunny, obviously this is -- it goes beyond tragic. What do you make of this? I mean, clearly there seems to be details we don't yet know more about this guy's history, about his attitudes. There is a lot we still don't know.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think that's right. I mean, certainly, it's a tragedy, and we can all agree about that, but we don't know some facts. I mean, I want to know, you know, was there history of abuse? Was there some sort of bitter divorce or custody battle going on? What was his typical schedule? So I think there are just a lot of unanswered questions.

COOPER: But you say -- I mean, I read something that you wrote I think on CNN.com about -- that you have done this. I mean, that a lot of parents do this accidentally.

HOSTIN: Yes, and this story became very personal for me because I did write an opinion piece on CNN. I left my daughter when she was 14 months old in the back of our car, and I was with my husband, and it was a hot July day, and literally, Anderson, my husband left her in the car, I left her in the car, we went to get a shopping cart, we took the shopping cart past the car, went into Home Depot.

I went into the garden center and it was only after about five minutes that my husband came to me and said, oh my god, we left Paloma in the car. And --

COOPER: But she was fine obviously.

HOSTIN: She was fine, but I will tell you I'm still ashamed about it. I'm embarrassed, I'm horrified. And I can see how someone could do this. Had you asked me these questions prior to when I did this, this horrible thing, I would say no parent would ever leave their kid in the car, even if you do leave your kid in the car, you should be charged. It's negligent.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: The statistics show this happens -- I mean, a -- quite some regularity.

HOSTIN: Over the past 10 years, we're talking about probably over 600 kids that have died in this way.

COOPER: Right.

HOSTIN: And so I am just reserving judgment. I am not convinced that this was murder. It could have been an accident.

COOPER: Mark, you say that this is an example of prosecutors using what you called he didn't act right evidence. Can you -- what do you mean?

MARK GERAGOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Let me -- let me tell you something. The idea that somehow you've got 11,000 people, the people who are on the scene, who saw this and are eyewitnesses to his reaction, and then the officers didn't like his answers to the questions and he didn't act right or he didn't do this or that.

Can you imagine if this is true, that it was an accident, how are you supposed to react? What kind of overwhelming sense of guilt would you have as a parent? What kind of distress would you be through? How are you supposed to act? What playbook is there for these cops to come in here and say we don't like his answers or we don't like how he acted --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: But wait -- wait a minute, Mark.

GERAGOS: If that's their evidence --

COOPER: Wait a minute, Mark. What you're saying, you're basing this on how other people thought he was reacting. Passersby, people --

GERAGOS: No.

COOPER: So why are they right and the police wrong in this case?

GERAGOS: Neither way. I don't think that you can base it on either one. I think that you have here at least what's been reported. They haven't -- at the hearing today, they didn't bring out anything that said there is any history of abuse. They didn't say that there was any motive. They didn't say this was a bitter custody battle. They didn't say anything of the sort.

There is nothing, so far, at least in the public record, to suggest that this was an intentional act, and if it was a negligent act, what more punishment could there possibly be in the world than to have your child die because of your own negligence? How are you going to punish somebody? What is the -- what is the punishment or a serial punishment?

HOSTIN: I have to agree with you, Mark, and you know I rarely do, and I'm usually hang them (INAUDIBLE), when it comes to any sort of abuse of children, but in this case, if this wasn't intentional, if there wasn't any, I guess, evidence of premeditation, I completely agree with you. I punish myself every single day when I think about the fact that I left my kid in the car for five minutes.

When I got back to the car, the car was already warm. Her face was flushed. It could have been a tragedy, and to suggest that if a parent is negligent and does make this sort of tragic mistake that the parent should still be charged, in this instance I disagree.

COOPER: But, Mark, Mark --

HOSTIN: I think the punishment is enough.

COOPER: Mark, can you explain the cruelty charge? Because originally it was a first-degree charge. GERAGOS: Well, that's what's so bizarre about this. Both the felony

murder and the cruelty, they are eliminating the malice aspect and for your viewers, the idea that somehow this was premeditated or that there was intent or something of that character. And they -- so they've eliminated that. So it's almost a concession that they don't believe -- that the prosecutors don't believe that they've got the evidence to say that this was intentional or premeditated.

If that's the case, why are they coming down so strong? Why a felony murder? Why are we going to put this man -- I mean, I guess the only silver lining here is the one place that I would want to place my client, if it was, in a situation like this is somewhere where he could be under suicide watch because if this was truly an accident, the overwhelming guilt is somebody would want to take their life because how can they live with the fact.

Look at Sunny's guilt, and nothing happened, thank God.

COOPER: Right.

GERAGOS: But can you imagine if this was an accident, what's going through this father's mind? And other than the fact that they've got him under suicide watch, I can't imagine why.

COOPER: If it is -- if it is -- was an attempted murder, it does seem a very strange way to try to kill somebody. I mean, it --

HOSTIN: It really does.

COOPER: To bring them with you, it just -- it seems like a very odd --

HOSTIN: And to bake your child in a car. It just seems unfathomable to me. But people do do horrible, evil things to children.

COOPER: Yes. Well, that's true.

HOSTIN: And let me make it clear, if this was premeditated, I think that you seek the death penalty in a case like this. Georgia does have the death penalty for felony murder. And you do seek it. But we really do have to be clear that this wasn't an accident.

COOPER: We'll see.

Sunny, appreciate it, Mark Geragos, as well.

A quick reminder. Make sure you set your DVR so you can watch 360 whenever you'd like.

Up next, the leading expert on counterinsurgency in Iraq and someone who used to advise David Petraeus on how to handle the insurgency this time. And new signs of the mess there is growing even worse.

Later hundreds of unaccompanied kids coming into the United States illegally every single day now. Thousands now housed in facilities in the southwest. Their numbers swell. The question no one seems able to answer, where do these kids go next? What happens?

Well be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: It seems like everyone in the region wants a piece of Iraq or have the same of what becomes of it. Syria reportedly bombing border towns, Iran flying drones over Iraq, ISIS fighters on the march, new signs the Iraqi military could have a hard time defending the one place they absolutely have to defend, Baghdad.

In the capital, new word from Iraq's prime minister on forming a more inclusive government. That word is no.

Joining us, Nic Robertson in Baghdad, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, also Kenneth Pollack, a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy.

Nic, a lot of fighting in Iraq today on a lot of different fronts. So a western official telling CNN the Syrian Air Force bombed targets inside Iraq, in Anbar Province. What's the latest you're hearing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, 57 people dead, many more wounded, some of the dead women and children, three places mostly along the border with Syria, al-Walid, al-Qaim, two of the places, believed to be Syrian aircraft flying in the air.

The Syrian government denies it. The Iraqi Army spokesman here says not at all. They are monitoring their air space, they say, that they can see, that nothing came into it so they don't believe -- at least they're saying they don't believe that it was Syrian aircraft but those bombs falling on a Sunni population believed to be Syrian causing a lot of outrage and heartbreak. Women and children among the dead.

And western officials saying that they believe that these were, indeed, Syrian aircraft. They just don't know how much of a tie-up there would have been between the Syrian government and the Iraqi government. Of course Iraq is denying anything there -- Anderson.

COOPER: And Nic, you went to Iraqi defenses outside Baghdad today. If ISIS tries to move into Baghdad, I mean, how prepared are they there?

ROBERTSON: You know, they are scattered. It's not a continual -- continuous frontline. Interestingly, the tank that we saw on the frontline was a Soviet made T-54. We asked the commander where were his Abrams tanks. He said he was leaving back at base in case he needed to defend that. It does kind of make you wonder why he doesn't put his best kid in the frontline.

We were in a Sunni village that the government forces had said they had taken. There was Shia graffiti on it and a Shia flag on a tank. You get this sectarian overtones on the battle front there. And there just aren't as many troops as you would expect. The line to me appears as if it could be porous if ISIS made a concerted effort there -- Anderson.

COOPER: I mean, that's pretty remarkable. That's the -- one of the main roads into Baghdad.

Barbara, Iraq is now getting more than just advice and training from Iran, yes?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Anderson. A senior U.S. official tells me that they now believe Iranian drones are flying over Iraq gathering intelligence, gathering information, to give to the Iraqi Shia regime, and also, Iraqi al-Quds force commanders, that paramilitary force, pardon me, Iranian Quds force commanders, the Iranian paramilitary force, they are moving some of their commanders into Iraq to work, to provided advice but perhaps more importantly to mobilize Shia militia and Shia militiamen in southern Iraq. Another effort perhaps by Iran to exploit what appears to be a growing sectarian divide.

COOPER: And, Barbara, Kerry has left now, certainly doesn't seem to have, you know, calmed down tensions there at all. How is the administration reacting to, you know, developments regarding Syria and Iran?

STARR: Well, what they are saying here at the Pentagon is it just shows the complexity of the situation. You know, within 24, 48-hour period you have more Syrian military activity. You have more Iranian military activity. The U.S. having perhaps 130 military advisors of its own on the ground and as Nic points out, much uncertainty because right now ISIS is stretched quite thin as we know. Their lines are stretched over many, many miles, and the question is, can the Iraqi forces take advantage of that, push back, push ISIS back and also maintain their hold on Baghdad?

COOPER: Yes. And yet we've seen actually no evidence that Iraqi government forces are able to actually retake territory that ISIS forces have taken.

I mean, Ken, the prime minister there, al-Maliki, rejected today calls for an emergency unity government. You've met with him a number of times. I doubt you were surprised by that.

KENNETH POLLACK, SENIOR FELLOW, SABAN CENTER FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY: No, not at all, Anderson. In fact, when I saw him just a couple of months ago in March right before the Iraqi elections, I found a prime minister who was very confident of his position, expecting to win big in the elections, which of course he did, and not really planning on making any concessions to anybody. In fact, mostly talking about his rivals as all being agents of foreign governments.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Does he really believe that? I mean, does he -- does he see no need to reach out to Sunnis, to Kurds?

POLLACK: He seems to really believe that his rivals are traitors, are agents of foreign government. You know, it's hard for us to believe it but Prime Minister Maliki really does seem to believe that he is the only Iraqi nationalist, he is an Iraqi Democrat, and everything that he does, he truly seems to believe, at least in my experience is actually what's necessary for the good of Iraq.

That makes it very hard to convince this guy to do anything other than what he thinks is best.

COOPER: And -- I mean, last week Maliki blamed the Saudis, saying that they were the ones supporting ISIS. The Saudis warned Iran not to get involved in Iraq. We now have Iranian arms flowing to the Shia government, the idea of Iranian drones overhead, and the Syrian government perhaps bombing targets.

Is this now just -- I mean, this is no longer just Iraq. This is a -- this is a regional war, isn't it?

POLLACK: Right. First of all, we need to recognize the Iraqi civil war, the Syrian civil war, they have merged. And already we've seen the Saudis, the Turks, the Iranians, all being drawn into the Syrian civil war. It's no surprise that they're now being drawn into the Iraqi piece of it. And the problem is of course that could get worse.

You know, we've seen lots of other of these (INAUDIBLE) civil wars that start out as a civil war with different neighbors backing different sides but then when somebody's proxy starts to lose, its great power, its neighboring backer has a choice to make. Do we let them go down the tubes or do we double down and invade? And too often they will invade themselves.

Think about Lebanon, how that drew in both Syria and Israel, and provoked a war between Israel and Syria.

COOPER: Nic, I just want to make sure. Have you seen any evidence of Iraqi forces able to retake territory that they have already lost to ISIS or to Baathist or to other Sunni groups?

ROBERTSON: No, I mean, the short answer is we haven't seen them able to do that, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Nic, Barbara, Ken, thanks very much.

I want to go now to David Kilcullen, who served as senior counterinsurgency adviser -- to David Petraeus, General Petraeus in Iraq, and to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He's the author of "Out of the Mountains: The Coming Age of the Urban Guerrilla."

David, our Nic Robertson just was outside Baghdad, looking to sort of the Iraqi military defenses on the way into the city and found them basically lightly defended not even with their best Abrams tanks out there. They didn't even have the Abrams tanks out there.

What is in your estimation wrong with the Iraqi military?

DAVID KILCULLEN, FORMER SENIOR COUNTERINSURGENCY ADVISER TO GEN. PETRAEUS: It's a combination of things. I think the most important two issues are firstly that a lot of Iraqi soldiers don't necessarily want to fight for the Iraqi government that's currently constituted. So they are basically bailing and leaving positions, which they probably have the equipment to defend but they just don't want to.

And the second issue is that over about the last six months, ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has been building alliances with the former Baathist regime. And a lot of the people that were senior within the Iraqi military have been reached by that group of people so that there is potentially some issues of loyalty and competence within the senior leadership of the Iraqi military.

COOPER: Is there any chance for the Iraqi military as it currently is, serving the government that they currently are serving, to roll back any of the advances that ISIS has made unless they are able to or the government is somehow able to peel off some of these Baathist or some of these Sunni groups which have also joined up with ISIS?

KILCULLEN: I think it's highly unlikely that the Iraqi military or this Iraqi government is going to be able to recapture a lot of the ground that they've lost. So I think we're looking at sort of a de facto facts on the ground, partition of Iraq into three parts, sort of Sunni area in the west of the country, the Kurdish region to the north and the east, and then the area that the Shia government currently controls. And I think that's about as far as it's going to go.

COOPER: I mean, that's clearly something that, you know, some politicians in the United States -- Joe Biden among them -- had talked about or suggested years ago.

Was that inevitable or do you think as a result of a number of factors, perhaps leaving too soon, the war in Syria, and Maliki's unwillingness to reach out to Sunni groups?

KILCULLEN: Yes, that's exactly right. I mean, this has been coming for a very long time and I think it's not inevitable, but it's now a reality on the ground and the three main factors are firstly that we pulled out too early. We stopped the job of training the Iraqi military half way through. We drew down our intelligence capability, we pulled out from any kind of leverage over the Iraqi government.

Secondly, the Iraqi government basically didn't go through with a lot of the deals that were made with the Sunni and the Kurdish community as part of stabilizing Iraq between about 2007 and 2010, and so alienated the Kurds and the Sunni community. And then thirdly, ISIS has been able to grow and to recreate basically the son of al Qaeda in Iraq over in Syria as part of the conflict that's been going on since 2011.

COOPER: I mean, unless there is major change among the government of Iraq in Baghdad and a government that's more inclusive and willing to reach out to Kurds, willing to reach out to Sunni groups, how do you see this continuing or resolving or I assume you don't see it resolving?

KILCULLEN: Well, I think there are a number of scenarios but firstly, I don't think it's very likely that the Shia government under the Maliki will agree to a government of national unity as it's being called. He's already rejected that idea a couple of times, including just most recently --

COOPER: Today.

KILCULLEN: Today?

COOPER: Yes.

KILCULLEN: So I think it's highly unlikely that that's going to happen. Yes. On the other hand, you know, the Shia community don't particularly like Prime Minister Maliki but they've got no alternative at this point, and neither do the Iranians. So I think he's seeing himself as reasonably stable in his leadership role, even though the country is looking pretty shaky.

COOPER: David Kilcullen, appreciate you being on. Thank you.

KILCULLEN: Thanks, Anderson.

COOPER: As always, you can find out more about this story and others at CNN.com.

Just ahead, the crisis that is getting worse by the day, thousands of undocumented kids who cross the border illegally without parents. What becomes of them now.

Plus five years after his death, some of the people closest to Michael Jackson still struggle with their loss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight pressure is building to stop the flood of undocumented kids crossing the U.S. borders. As many as 400 minors are entering Texas every day without a parent, most of them from Central and South America. Where to put them is one question. Tens of thousands are being housed in overcrowded facilities.

There was another House hearing today on the crisis with some lawmakers putting the blame on the White House. The Homeland Security secretary has ordered five dozen criminal investors to Texas to prosecute human smugglers. Stopping the flood is one thing, what to do with the kids who are already here is quite another.

Joining me tonight is CNN contributor, Dan Restrepo, who served as senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs in the National Security Council and also former Custom Border Patrol Commissioner Ralph Basham.

Ralph, dealing with the staggering amount of unaccompanied kids coming across the border, you called this an almost impossible mission for DHS. What do you mean?

W. RALPH BASHAM, FORMER CUSTOM BORDER PATROL COMMISSIONER: First of all, it's like the perfect storm. You have a situation here where these children coming from countries that are literally out of control and the violence and the gang issues there have driven their parents to the point where they are willing to risk these children's lives to get them out of that situation and get them to the United States.

And then you take into consideration these facilities that were built basically to house Mexicans for temporary period of time to hold them for 24 to 48 hours and send them back to Mexico is just not capable of handling this number of children and their needs.

COOPER: So Dan, as you see it, I mean, what is the answer here, long term and short term?

DAN RESTREPO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think it's a combination of things. There is no easy answer here. There is no real solution. You have to manage the areas of challenges or manage how you treat these kids humanely, how you process them in a way that respects rights and send those who need to go back. That's part of the solution set here, part of the management is returning those who aren't eligible to stay, which sends the message into the system, into these countries in particular that this journey is not worth the risk.

COOPER: But that takes a long time, that system of determining that right now.

RESTREPO: It takes a while and I think one of the challenges that is in front of those who are managing this is trying to speed that up and speed it up in a way that doesn't trample on anybody's rights.

COOPER: Ralph, it's a little hard to send the message to parents in Central American countries, look, don't send your kids because it's dangerous. Most parents know it's dangerous, but are doing it even with that knowledge. Some in Congress had asked for more agents or the National Guard to be deployed along the border. Do you see that as exacerbating the situation?

RASHAM: First of all, border patrol, CBP in general need additional resources, just to handle their current mission assignments setting aside this current crisis that exists down on the southwest border. But they need to, I think, maybe they are looking at the wrong group of people to bring to bear against this problem. They need additional facilities. They need additional caretakers.

They need additional immigration judges. They need the judicial system to be ramped up to deal with these people and as Dan said, you know, sending this message back to the country of origin, send a clear message that these people, these children are going to be returned.

COOPER: But, I mean, Dan, what about the argument that some Republicans are making people are lured to the U.S. by the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act, which suspends deportation for many immigrants?

RESTREPO: There is a need to make sure that misinformation is not out there to be exploited by these criminal syndicates. Unfortunately, criminal syndicates are trying to create the impression that there is some sort of golden ticket in the United States. There isn't.

I think administration has been pretty aggressive in terms of its messaging both in the countries of origin, in the Spanish language media in particular both here and there to make sure that that is clear to remove any doubt that may exist, and I think the real challenge right now here, Anderson, people work the problem and not the politics.

COOPER: Dan, Ralph, I appreciate both you being on. Obviously no easy solution on this. Appreciate it. Thank you.

This weekend on CNN, don't miss the debut of "Documented," a very powerful film by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, an immigration activist, Jose Antonio Vargas. It airs at 9:00 Eastern this Sunday.

Up next, hard to believe five years ago today the world was absorbing the news that Michael Jackson had died before he was about to begin a concert series. His three kids are now growing up without him obviously. We'll show you what the last five years have been like for them and the family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Five years ago tonight we were covering the breaking news about Michael Jackson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: This is the ambulance actually leaving his home. All we know for certain right now is today at his home on the west side of L.A. something happened, Michael Jackson's heart stopped, he stopped breathing. Medics were called. Efforts were made, but despite those efforts, Jackson died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, Jackson, of course, one of the best known people on the planet, dead at the age of 50, survived by his three kids. Details that night were still sketchy. Many facts came to light at the trial of Jackson's private physician, Conrad Murray. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, went to prison.

Hard to believe that five years have now gone by. Jackson's youngest child is now almost a teenager. Conrad Murray is out of prison now. Tonight, Randi Kaye looks at where some of the key people in Jackson's life are now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paris Jackson, just 11 years old and broken hearted when she shared this with the world.

PARIS JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S DAUGHTER: Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him so much.

KAYE: Today the pop star's only daughter is 16. Life without her dad has been a struggle. In June last year, she attempted suicide cutting her wrists with a kitchen knife. ALAN DUKE, CNN DIGITAL REPORTER: She's getting intensive psychiatric help since then. In fact, sent out of state to a boarding school.

KAYE: Her brothers, Prince is now 17 and a self-described nerd. He's an honor student who has done some acting. He's now preparing for college and remember Blanket Jackson? This was him on that now infamous balcony scene. He's now 12. He was just seven when his father died, even carried a Michael Jackson doll to the memorial service. Today, he loves to make movies.

DUKE: Blanket seems to be the one who is the most like his father as far as his personality. He's a shy young 12-year-old, still home schooled.

KAYE: Paris and her brothers recently made a documentary about their dad with grandmother, Kathryn. The trailer was posted on YouTube.

PARIS JACKSON: You promised me you would teach me how to moon walk, never got around to it.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: He's a very good dancer.

JERMAINE JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S BROTHER: My brother the legendary king of pop, Michael Jackson passed away on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 2:26 p.m.

KAYE: Kathryn Jackson still struggles with the loss of her son. She lives in a $10 million mansion in California with her grandchildren. Apart from her husband, Joe Jackson who lives in Las Vegas.

DUKE: Michael Jackson gave his mom a bus she uses to go every year in August on his birthday, she goes to Gary, Indiana for a celebration of Michael Jackson's birthday.

KATHRYN JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S MOTHER: There is not a day that pass that I don't think about my child. He should be here right now, but there was negligence of a doctor.

KAYE: Dr. Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 and sentenced to four years for Michael Jackson's death. Murray got out of prison in October after serving about two years. He's no longer licensed to practice medicine in either California or Texas.

CONRAD MURRAY: This is part of the untold story, my story.

KAYE: Murray who is still appealing his conviction posted this PowerPoint presentation online last month. His attempt to prove his innocence.

(on camera): Another of Jackson's doctors, dermatologist to the stars, Arnold Kline, is also in financial straits, his health failing. His business took a hit after it was disclosed at trial that Jackson had received large doses of Demerol from Kline's clinic, even though Kline denies giving that to him. (voice-over): Debbie Row, Michael's ex-wife and the mother of his children, is still living on a horse ranch outside L.A. She got engaged earlier this year to one of Michael's closest friends. Four of his brothers are on tour again, Latoya Jackson's reality show is in the second season and Janet Jackson got married to a billionaire. Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Joining me again tonight, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Mark Geragos, at one point, he was one of Michael Jackson's attorneys. You defended Michael Jackson in the child molestation trial back in 2005. He was acquitted of all the charges. In your book, "Mistrial," you recount a really interesting story of meeting him for the first time in Vegas. You said it was like a Tom Clancy novel. In the end, the ideas you had about him, preconceived notions were kind of out the window.

MARK GERAGOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, I think that's absolutely true. The kind of caricature that developed prior to his death actually and surrounding that whole time period starting in '93 with the original accusations and going forward for the next ten years, I think really did a disservice to Michael.

Incredibly, of usually everybody knows how talented he is, but I think he gets shorted shrift, when it comes to just how bright, incisive and what a wonderful father he was. During the entire investigation by the Department of Children's Services that kind of flurried around.

During the time period of 2003 and 2004, I was always, always so impressed by his attention to the kids and how great those kids were and he really was remarkable when it came to being a father and I think he gets not enough credit for that, frankly.

COOPER: That trial, did you get a sense of how it impacted his life? Because obviously, a lot of people did not accept the verdict.

GERAGOS: Well, I remember when we were at the arraignment and he jumped up famously onto the SUV and I turned to Ben Groffman and said, I can't imagine how anybody at that age could do that. Ben then turned to me and said, if we don't do something, this guy is going to come to the trial wearing pajamas and he famously later did.

I remember, I ended up testifying in that trial not once but twice as a witness and I remember looking at jury during the trial and knew then that it was going to be a not guilty. They weren't buying anything the prosecution was selling in that case. I always worried immensely that he would not make it through the trial.

You have to -- number one, a trial is so stressful. Number two, a trial like this with this accusation is so horrid and for him, it was just so devastatingly hurtful.

COOPER: Mark Geragos, appreciate you sticking around. Thanks very much. A programming note, we mentioned Conrad Murray in Randi's piece. Don Lemon will talk to Dr. Murray coming up at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN tonight.

Up next, the alleged bite seen around the world. Soccer officials are on the case. What they could do to the Team Uruguay superstar ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight soccer's governing bodies investigating the moment that was seen live by millions around the world. That's Uruguay's forward, Luis Suarez allegedly biting an Italian opponent's shoulder just before Uruguay scored the winning goal. You have no doubt heard by now, Suarez has a history of biting his opponents. He has been punished twice before by FIFA. If he's found guilty again, what kind of punishment is he looking at?

For that we go to John Berman who joins me now. So FIFA says they are investigating the incident. They issued a statement. What did they actually say?

JOHN BERMAN, CO-HOST, CNN'S "EARLY START": They basically said we want all sides to present their evidence by today. We're going to take a look at it as fast as possible, which means by Saturday. Uruguay plays again on Saturday against Columbia. FIFA says we'll make this decision very, very quickly before the next game because suspending Luis Suarez is a distinct possibility.

COOPER: But I mean, what sort of evidence can Uruguay present? I mean, there is video. I'm not sure what else you can really present?

BERMAN: It's a bit problematic because so many millions and billions in fact people are now seeing it on video. They said they will consider Luis Suarez' past incidents and that could be a problem. Look, he's done this twice before, right?

COOPER: Because he's claiming he nudged the guy with his head.

BERMAN: It was a mistake and I mean, for my mouth to come down on this guy's shoulder. His shoulder was coming up into my mouth. That's what he says. He says he's being framed by European soccer fans that don't want to see him play.

COOPER: He was suspended in the past for doing this twice.

BERMAN: Twice before. Once when he played in Holland, once when he played in England. There is a guy with a record for biting people on the soccer field. There is one thing this guy can't do in this tournament is bite somebody and he went and did it in this big game. And FIFA has made clear they are investigating. They will take the past into account. A lot of people think there will be a punishment.

COOPER: A lot of people are calling you the "cannibal." You really want to go out of your way to avoid anything to do with your mouth intersecting with somebody's --

BERMAN: Duct tape for the whole game.

COOPER: A lot of people are saying, look, it could be anywhere from a year suspension to a lifetime ban.

BERMAN: It's complicated. The maximum could be two years. If they give a few games, he can't appeal. So you might see a few games to take him out of the World Cup, give him no chance to appeal because it gets complicated if he goes for a longer suspension. People want to see him pushed out of the game for a while, but you also have to remember, pushed out of the World Cup.

That is such a big punishment for one of the best players in the world. He is one of the best players in the world. A lot of fans in South America want to see him play. They will all be very upset when and if FIFA decides not to let him play.

COOPER: I'm getting a lot of tweets saying those pictures are PhotoShopped, it isn't true.

BERMAN: How could they PhotoShop the video?

COOPER: Obviously, the game is Saturday against --

BERMAN: Saturday against Colombia and I have to tell you talking about conventional wisdom, I think he will not be playing in that game.

COOPER: All right, John, thanks very much. Appreciate it. All right, we'll see. "The Ridiculist" is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time now for "The Ridiculist." Anyone that doesn't love the best flight attendant ever. You know when you get on a plane and you have to listen the same old boring safety announcement. A Southwest flight attendant put his own little bedazzle on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you haven't been in an automobile since 1960, flight attendants still have to show you how to fasten a seat belt and it needs to be lowered tight across your hips like the hot pink speedo like I'll wear when I get the three of us a hot tub tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Girl, your moves Sully Sullenberger. I love the woman in front of him silently doing the demonstration. Seriously, who couldn't love this flight attendant?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the event that our captain decides to turn the air flight into a cabin cruise, we'll instruct you how to remove the life vest, the trick is it's a life vest, not a toilet seat cover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Worried about landing in the water? Not anymore. Feeling tempted to sneak a cigarette in the bathroom. Not so fast. This isn't one of Wolf Blitzer phone parties.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's $2,200 if you smoke in the lavatory and if you had $2,200 you would be on United in first class.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: I just realize who he reminds me of, remember the HBO cult favorite, "The Comeback." If you don't, you should. It's a great show. It's actually coming back and on the show, she had a friend named Micki. Her hairdresser.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Avon calling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very good. This is Micki, he's funny.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm ready for my closeup.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: All right, if the producer of "The Comeback," which as I said, is returning this year I think on HBO, do not give this flight attendant a three episode ark as Micki's husband, I'm done. I'm just done. Back in the skies, the best flight attendant ever is reminding people about the pesky oxygen masks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the event of a decompression, buttercup mask designed by Gucci and Martha Stewart will drop from that compartment overhead and you continue wearing that mask until otherwise notified by one of your three uniformed crew members.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Wait a second, he said uniformed crew members, are we sure this guy works for said airline or is he just someone in khaki shorts and a flag tie who happened to grab the mic? I like his style. He's a showman. I like the best show men, this guy knows that you need to have a big finally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you, you love us. We're much faster than the bus. We hope you enjoy our hospitality, marry one of us and you fly free.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: You got to love a crew member that bursts into song and proposes marriage at the same time. Peanuts and vodka has mile high club written on it. With or without on board jazz hands, it's refreshing to someone actually care about their job and make the customer smile. That's how the passenger that posted it on YouTube felt so we send best wishes to the best flight attendant ever and anyone who doesn't think he's good for air travel is going to have a bumpy flight on "The Ridiculist."

That does it for us.