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Adultery Site Hacked; Cosby Court Documents Revealed; Donald Trump Under Fire. Aired 3-3:30p ET
Aired July 20, 2015 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:05]
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES PETTY, FRIEND OF CHATTANOOGA GUNMAN: That it was a stupid group and it was completely against Islam, and not to even think about going towards them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: I want to talk much more about this interview with my colleague, our senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin.
Tell me more about this conversation you had with this friend of the gunman. Tell me more about what he said.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: First, let me tell you who he is. James Petty has known Mohammad Abdulazeez for about a year. When they met, they were just buddies in the same group. Eventually, James Petty converted to Islam and is going through his first Ramadan and is considered Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez his kind of spiritual guide through the process.
They very were close. They texted all the time. He slept over at Mohammad Abdulazeez's home several times. They went shooting together. They played sports together and they also talked politics together. And, Brooke, as we're looking for any kind of clues as to what happened, what snapped in his friend's mind, as he says, he believes you will not find it in radical Islam because they talked about it and apparently Mohammad Abdulazeez was completely against what was happening in the Middle East. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Did you ever talk about the conflicts in the Middle East?
PETTY: Not too much. It was more like a -- what they are doing is wrong.
GRIFFIN: Who?
PETTY: Mohammad -- who was doing wrong or...
GRIFFIN: Right.
PETTY: Like ISIS mainly, like groups -- any terror groups kind of like ISIS.
GRIFFIN: What did he say?
PETTY: That it was a stupid group and it was completely against Islam, and not to even think about going towards them. And I felt like it wasn't kind of in a sense of, I'm with their group, so I don't want you to do like me. It was more like just stay away. This is not where you should be going towards.
GRIFFIN: You felt that he truly believed in his heart, at that moment, that what ISIS was doing was wrong?
PETTY: Yes, sir.
GRIFFIN: And that any kind of radical Islamic terrorism is wrong?
PETTY: Yes, sir.
GRIFFIN: And he discussed that?
PETTY: He did.
GRIFFIN: Did you ever notice anything out of sync with this guy?
PETTY: I believe not. He was the most genuine, kind, sweet person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Brooke, James Petty said Mohammad Abdulazeez was more American than he was and he just really, like a lot of people in this town, don't know, can't point to anything as to what happened here -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: I'm just sitting here shaking my head. If he's saying he was more American than anyone, didn't he also -- Abdulazeez apparently had some pretty fiery anti-American sentiments. What did he say?
GRIFFIN: There is no history that James Petty has where he can point to that says he had anything to do with anything against the United States. He can't imagine why he picked this target behind me, why he shot five U.S. Marines.
He said his friend had problems, heavy pot smoker, heavy pot smoker. His parents were very worried about that pot smoking, and called him, he says, every 30 minutes to find out his whereabouts, much to the annoyance of Mohammad Abdulazeez. But contrary to what his parents have said, he says he saw no depression, none whatsoever, in the year that he knew him, called him happy-go-lucky, very friendly, right up until July 10, Friday prayers, that he last saw him, just days before this shooting, said he was in the best mood he has ever seen him in.
He is very perplexed as to what, as he kept saying, snapped in his friend's mind. BALDWIN: We will be watching more of your interview with this friend
of Abdulazeez later through the everything here on CNN. Drew Griffin in Chattanooga, thank you so much.
To politics now. What we call dub vintage Donald Trump makes an inflammatory remark and, when challenged, he refuses to apologize and in fact he digs in. He even criticizes his critics, taking on the media here as well. But this time, Trump is refusing to apologize for remarks over the weekend about Republican Senator John McCain.
McCain and Trump have seriously policy differences over issues like immigration and Senator McCain recently criticized a Trump rally in McCain's home state. So in a conversation with Republican pollster Frank Luntz, Donald Trump feared back, specifically targeting McCain's years as a prisoner or war in Vietnam.
It's a lengthy exchange and we want to play you this whole thing just so you can hear in the entirety what Donald Trump says. Here you go.
[15:05:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK LUNTZ, FOUNDER, LUNTZ GLOBAL: Referring to people as rapists, referring to John McCain -- a war hero -- five-and-a-half years as a POW and you call him a dummy, is that appropriate in running for president?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's -- you have got to let me speak, though, because you interrupt all the time, OK?
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: No, I know him too well. That's the problem.
Let's take John McCain. I'm in Phoenix. We have a meeting that is going to have 500 people at the Biltmore hotel. We get a call from the hotel. It's turmoil. Thousands and thousands of people are showing up , four days before. They are pitching tents on the hotel grass.
The hotel says, we can't handle this. It's going to destroy the hotel. We move it to the Convention Center. We have 15,000 people. The biggest one ever. Bigger than Bernie Sanders. Bigger than -- 15,000 people showed up to hear me speak. Bigger than anybody and everybody knows it.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: A beautiful day with incredible people that were wonderful, great Americans, I will tell you.
John McCain goes, Oh boy, Trump makes my life difficult. He had 15,000 crazies show up, crazies. He called them all crazy.
I said, they weren't crazy. They were great Americans. These people -- if you were to see these people, you -- I know what a
crazy is. I know all about crazies. These weren't crazies.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: So he insulted me and he insulted everybody in that room. And I said, somebody should run against John McCain who has been, in my opinion, not so hot. And I supported him. I supported him for president. I raised $1 million for him. It's a lot of money. I supported him.
He lost. He let us down. But, you know, he lost. So I never liked him as much after that, because I don't like losers.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: But...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Frank, let me get to it.
LUNTZ: He's a war hero.
TRUMP: He's not a war hero.
LUNTZ: He's a war hero, five-and-a-half years as a prisoner...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured. OK? I hate to tell you.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. OK?
And I believe perhaps he's a war hero, but right now he said some very bad things about a lot of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: All right. We have to dissect a lot of this, talking Trump and McCain, the Republican presidential primary.
I have joining me from Washington Matt Lewis of The Daily Caller, CNN politics reporter Jeremy Diamond also in D.C. And I also am joined by Amber Barno (sic). She's a former Army helicopter pilot and a spokeswoman for Concerned Veterans for America.
A big welcome to all of you.
And, Amber, if I may, I just have to begin with you and your military voice because, you know, we have heard -- since Trump made these comments, we have now heard from Senator McCain. He said, listen, I'm not the one who needs the apology. He says these veterans and these veterans' families are the one who Donald Trump owes an apology to.
What would you like to hear Donald Trump say to and say to you?
AMBER SMITH, CONCERNED VETERANS FOR AMERICA: Well, it's Amber Smith, first of all.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Oh, I apologize.
SMITH: That's all right. It was a complete slam to America's veterans. I'm completely disgusted by what he said.
Donald Trump has zero credibility to stand on this issue whatsoever and to attack an American war hero. When he attacks John McCain and said that he likes people who weren't captured, America's veterans, people call them heroes because they put something above themselves. They selflessly step up and fight for their country when we need it most.
And so for him to attack them, it's attacking their family members, it's attacking anyone who served, and he has no idea what it means to put something before yourself when it doesn't involve money and serve your country selflessly.
BALDWIN: If you read Donald Trump's opinion piece in the "USA Today" today, he definitely talks about his concern for veterans and all the money he has poured in for veterans in this country.
But letting to your point, Amber, Matt, let me just pivot to you, because is really the moment. Now you have these Republicans -- this is the moment that they are pouncing. Let me play this mash-up, if I may, and these are some of his rivals in response to these McCain remarks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not just absurd. It's offensive. It's ridiculous. And I do think it's a disqualifier as commander in chief.
RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump owes every American and, in particular John McCain, an apology.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And in my view, the democratic process is going to lead to him hearing what he is so fond of saying. You're fired.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I speak for me. You just heard what I say. I will let Donald Trump speak for Donald Trump.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You want me to say something bad about Donald Trump or bad about John McCain or bad about anyone else. I'm not going to do it.
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's nothing funny about the hate that he is spewing at immigrants and their families and now the insults he's directed at a genuine war hero, Senator John McCain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:10:07]
BALDWIN: All right, Matt, we have talked about this before. You have said, listen, he's saying all these things. You have said, listen, he's saying all of these things. It's generating buzz. We see how he's doing in the polls. More on that in a second. But you said this time he went too far?
MATT LEWIS, DAILY CALLER: Well, I think so. Look, I think this is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump politically.
BALDWIN: Beginning of the end?
Beginning of the end. He will stick around, but I think that we have seen a tipping point.
Up until now, I think Republicans -- Republican politicians have been reluctant to criticize him for the horrible things he said and I think that's partly because there's an element of the base, not the majority, but an element of the conservative movement who actually like some of the things that Donald Trump was saying about immigrants, for example, as horrible as that is.
But now I think what we have is a permission structure. You know, it's really unacceptable in the Republican base to say something horrible about veterans and I think that now there's this permission structure and you're going to start to see people come after him. They are no longer afraid of him. They are no longer afraid of the conservative followers turning.
I think they have pounced on him and I think this is just the beginning.
BALDWIN: So, this is, OK, the beginning of -- as you say, perhaps the beginning of the end.
(CROSSTALK)
LEWIS: Yes.
BALDWIN: Jeremy, you have reported -- and I want to get to the polls, especially the Monmouth poll from over the weekend. But sort of tangentially, the Al Franken comments on -- he was then comedian Al Franken and now senator, but in 2000, what it was that he said. These were the exact same comments about John McCain's military experience.
What was it that he said?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Al Franken in 2000 -- this is before he was a senator, when he was just a comedian, a political satirist, former "SNL" cast member, he made some comments where he kind of joked about McCain being a war hero, saying, well, you were captured. That's the point, right? And that doesn't make you a hero.
But he was clearly joking about it. He wrote about it then later on in his book and I reached out to Senator Franken's office, who were very clear that this was a joke. He even had Senator McCain on his radio show in 2004 and made the same joke with him, clearly a completely different context and definitely a different standard.
Donald Trump is a presidential candidate and he's going to be held to a different level of scrutiny.
BALDWIN: Yes. Let me stay with you, Jeremy, because I want to talk about the Monmouth poll numbers over the weekend. He's still in second place, nothing has really changed. You can see some of the numbers here other than obviously what he said about John McCain. Listen, he's resonating in the Republican Party and I imagine the establishment is kind of freaking out.
DIAMOND: Yes.
I mean, it's clear that the comments that he made, unlike immigration, where that's something that Republicans are going to be a little more to loathe to criticize him about, this was an opportunity and this was something that I think a lot people in the GOP establishment were really waiting for, they were waiting for Donald Trump to make a mistake like this. And we will see.
The Monmouth poll didn't show a huge change in Trump's approval or Trump's level of support, but that was a day later. You have got it give it maybe a little more time to see how it's going to resonate. Trump is definitely not backing down though and he's going to continue to talk about this. He's going to be in South Carolina tomorrow and his campaign manager tells me today that he's going to continue talking about veterans' issues and Trump tweeted today, he talked about this, he said, now we're talking about veterans issues.
That's his playbook. It's make these comments, bring an issue up and talk about it and he's not too concerned about the political consequences, it seems.
BALDWIN: Matt, I have to get you in one more time, because, listen, we're all talking about the Trump comments on McCain. But you say what is really being overshadowed was when he's speaking to this heavily conservative Christian audience, what he said about forgiveness. Tell me what that was and your point about that.
LEWIS: Right. Let me give Frank Luntz some credit for asking good questions and doing follow-ups with Trump.
And one of the questions he asked him, he asked Donald Trump if he asks God for forgiveness. And Trump basically said -- I'm paraphrasing here -- but said, no, if I do something wrong, I just try to do something right later. But I don't ask for forgiveness.
Obviously asking for forgiveness is a prime, fundamental tenant of Christianity. And you can tell when you watched that speech, it was almost like the air went out of the crowd. There were people applauding initially and then as Donald Trump started to talk about Christian faith and it became quite evident that he doesn't speak the same language that evangelicals speak and frankly doesn't really hold the same theological beliefs that they do, you could just feel the air being lifted out of that room.
I think that may be the underrated thing. We're all talking about the McCain comments and it might be the religion comments that end up hurting him just as much.
BALDWIN: I'm glad you brought that up.
Matt Lewis, Jeremy Diamond and Amber Smith, thank you all very much.
LEWIS: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Coming up next, Bill Cosby, yes, he used these drugs to seduce women and, no, that is not merely an accusation. That is an admission straight from Bill Cosby himself. You're about to hear from one of his accusers.
Also ahead, it's a Web site that helps married people cheat and now hackers are threatening to reveal their identities of millions of people on the site unless Ashley Madison does one thing.
[15:15:12]
And protests erupt between protesters and KKK members here in South Carolina over the Confederate Flag, but this one moment captured by this photo has a lot of people talking. We will explore that ahead.
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BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
Bill Cosby is accused of being a serial rapist, but his own words prove he's a serial adulterer. In court documents from 10 years ago, the comedian admitted to having sex with at least five women outside of his marriage and this is just the latest bombshell from a deposition taken during a lawsuit from Andrea Constand.
[15:20:06]
She's one of more than 25 women who says Cosby sexually assaulted them. Excerpts have been released, but now the full 1,000-page document is out and CNN has independently obtained it and learned that Cosby gave prescription sedatives to women he wanted to have sex with. And then he tried to hide his affairs from his wife, Camille Cosby.
Cosby's publicist declined comment to CNN, but Cosby has repeatedly denied he's committed any of these crimes saying that the sex and drug taking was always consensual.
With me now, Lisa Bloom, trial attorney at the Bloom firm and a legal analyst for Avvo. She represents one of Cosby's alleged victims, former supermodel Janice Dickinson. And I also have CNN's Jean Casarez, who is the one who got her hands on this deposition here at CNN.
Jean, let me just begin with you; 1,000 pages, tell me what is inside.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Four days. It was not recorded and his attorneys were very adamant at the beginning to not have it be recorded.
So we don't see his demeanor, but we listen to his words on the written page and he really describes in detail sexual contact with many women, the Jane Does who were the ones in 2005 that were ready to be witnesses in Andrea Constand's trial from a civil complaint. Their names are given and summaries about what they are alleging, half of them, he says, I didn't know them. I don't remember them. I don't know what you're talking about.
So admits to many affairs and many relations and also says that he never wanted a woman to fall in love with him, and so because of that, he would veer away from sexual intercourse and go away for sexual games. He also talks about the drugs. And that's an interesting exchange right there because he admits he got quaaludes, he admits he didn't take, he admits that they were for the women, but he says that it was the time in the '70s when women liked to party with drugs. And wanted to have them, just like a man would have drinks ready for a woman if he was entertaining them.
He goes into all of this. And as far as Andrea Constand, who stood alone in 2005 bringing this civil suit, he goes into graphic, graphic detail about what he says was consensual activity with her. Of course, she disagreed and brought that civil suit, which resulted not in a trial, but in a sealed confidential settlement which included this deposition.
And to this day and right now, there's a motion before a judge to unseal it. Obviously, through legal means, it was able to be obtained. But we never heard from Andrea Constand, her side of the story, because of all of this consensual activity he describes in detail, I'm sure she disagrees.
BALDWIN: We have heard from Fredricka -- Lisa, Fredricka Whitfield interviewed your client former supermodel Janice Dickinson. We heard from Janice last hour.
My question to you is because I know she's suing for defamation after Cosby's lawyer said her accusation of Cosby assaulting her is a lie. I'm wondering with this deposition that Jean was just discussing, is there anything in that there will help Janice's and your case?
LISA BLOOM, LEGAL ANALYST, AVVO.COM: This is hugely significant to us. This is game changer.
By the way, CNN, I'm looking forward to when you post the entire deposition transcript online, as I'm sure is going to be forthcoming because a lot of the media outlets have it now. But just reading what has been posted so far on CNN.com, to me, this is the most significant disclosure of all.
Constand's lawyer said she said, meaning Constand, that she believes she was not in a position to consent to intercourse after you gave her the drug. Do you believe that is correct? "I don't know," Cosby replied. So this is a nondenial. Here he is under oath.
You think most men, if they are accused of drugging and raping a woman, they would say, absolutely not. Of course I never did that. Mr. Cosby says, "I don't know." He doesn't know whether he did it or not. I think that's absolutely astonishing and we will certainly use that in our case.
BALDWIN: What about do you think there's anything in this deposition that a prosecutor could use in pursing one of these sexual assault cases?
BLOOM: Oh, absolutely. Here, Mr. Cosby is admitting that he procured drugs for the purpose of getting women to be sexually submissive. And I would add, he admits that he lied to a doctor to get a prescription for quaaludes that he did not intend to use for himself, he intended to use to give to another person.
That is, of course, illegal and that's lying to a doctor. He also admits a pattern and practice of covering up so his wife wouldn't find out. Here's a man who is admitting under oath to manipulating and to lying. He hasn't shown up for his deposition in our case because now we know Mr. Cosby has some tough choices when he's faced with a deposition.
Number one, he can perjure himself, right? That's not a good option. Number two, he can answer questions honestly. That clearly is not going well for him. Or, number three, he can just not show up and have his lawyers fight and throw a lot of smoke and hope that that works. I don't think that is going to work in our case as well, but that's what they are trying to do at this point.
[15:25:10]
BALDWIN: And so again, just to button this, again, the attorneys are making no comment, Jean, Bill Cosby has said nothing, and even through all of the recent revelations with the depositions, Camille Cosby, his wife, said nothing, right?
CASAREZ: Not since a week ago to "The New York Post" saying, I know of his infidelity, but I believe it was all consensual. And that's basically what he's saying in this deposition.
BALDWIN: Jean Casarez and Lisa Bloom, ladies thank you very much.
BLOOM: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Coming up next, are thousands of extramarital affairs about to be exposed? Hackers are now targeting this Web site for adulterers -- what the hackers are threatening to do to the 37 million users has a lot of people worried, I imagine. That story is next. Also, we will show you the decades-old video that is sparking an uproar in Britain, the queen of England as a young girl giving a Nazi salute, how the royal family is now responding coming up.
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