Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Women in Combat; Trump Rising; Ex-Subway Pitchman Admits to Victimizing Children. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 19, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:06]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle has agreed to plead guilty to child porn and sex charges. Under the deal that still needs court approval, he could be sent to federal prison anywhere between five and 12.5 years.

Investigators said the case against Fogle spanned years and years and included tens of thousands of pieces of evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN DEBROTA, ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: If Mr. Fogle had done the right thing when he learned of the victimization of the first victim, the first girl, who was 14, if he had reported that to authorities, victims two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 and 12 never would have been sexually victimized.

JOSH MINKLER, U.S. ATTORNEY: Today, Jared Fogle has been charged and has admitted to participating in a five-year criminal scheme to exploit children. Beginning in 2011, Fogle learned that the head of the Jared Foundation, Russell Taylor, was sexually exploiting a 14- year-old girl.

At that time, Fogle chose to receive and view child pornography involving that 14-year-old girl. This continued during a four-year period, and Fogle's actions resulted in the sexual victimization of 12 minors in the state of Indiana.

The approximate amount of data reviewed by the Indiana State Police, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI includes 159,634 text messages, 27,140 e-mails, 47,623 images and 3,394 videos.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Let's go to first our correspondent Jean Casarez.

And, you know, I guess how many years did this span?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Where do you begin? 2005 and onwards.

(CROSSTALK)

CASAREZ: So during the time that he was under contract with Subway. BALDWIN: As a pitchman.

CASAREZ: Although they specifically said that they do not see any correlation at all with Subway.

The investigation continues, but this was something that he was doing unbeknownst, it's believed, to everyone, and there are two counts here. Today was just the initial appearance, where he was apprised of the formal charges that were filed today, but we already do have a signed plea agreement that he says he will agree to.

BALDWIN: Aha.

CASAREZ: It is so specific, Brooke, but it really talks about these allegations, count one being knowing and distributing and viewing these child pornography videos that the head of his foundation secretly taped of minors as they were getting in and out of showers. They had no idea that they were being videotaped, but, count two, as concerning or even more concerning, he was traveling to New York at very exclusive hotels to engage in child prostitution, having sex with minor children, minor female children, and asking them to then find other minor children where he would give a finder's fee, also engaging in communication with prostitutes around the country, it appears as though adult prostitutes, engaging in prostitution with them, and then asking them if they knew any minor children he could have sex with.

BALDWIN: You say unbeknownst to the company and also apparently to his wife. Let me get to her statement in a moment, but first we heard from one attorney. Here is Jared Fogle's attorney speaking briefly outside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY MARGOLIS, ATTORNEY FOR JARED FOGLE: He's already volunteered to make restitution to those individuals who have been impacted by his behavior.

He knows that restitution can't undo the damage that he's done, but he will do all in his power to try to make it right. Jared also knows that he has a medical problem. He's already sought evaluation by a world-class professional experienced in these matters and he will seek appropriate treatment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right, so treatment, restitution. Can you explain to me how they arrived to this plea deal and the year range and also the money, the $100,000 per victim?

CASAREZ: Well, here's what he's getting out of it, because there is a possible 50-year prison term for those two counts. And he has agreed that he will go to prison for five years. Prosecutors said that they will ask to no more than 12.5 years in prison.

However, fact is once it gets before the judge, the judge will listen to the evidence and the judge can do whatever he wants irregardless of a plea deal, but we will say up to 12.5 years in prison. So, that's what he gets out of it. He is going to have to pay $100,000 to each victim. That amounts to $1.4 million.

Upon accepting the plea deal, he has got to put that money into a trust account. And, Brooke, those monies will be paid to victim immediately. But think about that and his net worth is millions upon millions of dollars.

[15:05:00]

BALDWIN: Thank you for my segue. Stay with me.

Let's talk about how much he's worth, because a lot of people, you know him as the 425-pound Indiana University student who turned to veggie turkey sandwiches to lose half his body weight. He shot his first 30-second ad for Subway back in 2000, turning his dramatic weight loss into quite the lucrative career, giving speaking engagements all around the world, penning a memoir, serving even as a grand marshal for NASCAR.

So, pennies, nickels and dimes here. How much money did he make and how much money can Subway stand to lose?

Cristina Alesci is here with that point.

How much is he worth?

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Celebrity Net Worth puts his entire net worth at $15 million.

BALDWIN: Wow.

ALESCI: And I spoke to some industry sources who told me today that there are numbers going around, circling the industry saying that Subway paid him a couple of million dollars a year.

Now, this is a longstanding relationship, right? He started doing commercials back in 2000 and then he parlayed that success into motivational speaking engagements. And those, we found figures of reports that estimated those engagements from $5,000 to $10,000 every time he spoke.

So, clearly, he was leveraging his fame as a spokesperson to -- for his own personal benefit, right? But in terms of the value that Jared generated, incredible amount of value for Subway itself. Before he became spokesperson, Subway had about 10,000 locations worldwide. Two years after he started doing commercials, you're talking about 16,000. He helped them become...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: He's Jared the Subway guy. That's incredible.

ALESCI: The largest fast food -- yes -- and bigger than McDonald's.

(CROSSTALK) CASAREZ: To go along with what Cristina is saying, nothing precludes civil suits here, that their lives have been destroyed, in a civil court. This is criminal court.

BALDWIN: Could have a whole other wave. I hear you. Cristina Alesci, Jean Casarez, thank you both so much. This is probably not the end of our discussing Jared the Subway guy.

But let's move on and talk politics, shall we? Hillary Clinton.

Thank you, ladies.

Hillary Clinton hanging on to her front-runner status, but not by much, because you know who is closing in on her? Donald Trump. Let me show you some numbers. The later CNN/ORC poll of this hypothetical general election matchup, Trump is now trailing Hillary Clinton by a mere 6 percentage points and also more bad news for Clinton. Our poll shows her approval rating is dropping among Democratic voters.

She now has dipped below 50 percent for the very first time. On the rise, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, who, by the way, has yet to declare a candidacy. People want him in.

Joining me now,Jeremy Diamond, CNN politics reporter.

And, Jeremy, first just on these numbers, when you parse through all of this, even her unfavorable, it is higher than ever before since 2001. You have the drumbeat of the e-mails. You know that's not going anywhere. We saw her obviously frustrated last night at the news conference throwing her arms up and making a joke about it. And you also cover Trump calling it the Watergate on steroids.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Listen, Hillary Clinton is trying to downplay this issue.

She seems to think that it's a sideshow. She and her campaign have repeatedly said that they want to talk about the real issues. They certainly don't seem to think that this is one of them. Hillary Clinton repeatedly insists that voters aren't asking her about this, that it's just reporters, and, of course, the GOP is seizing on this with Donald Trump today making that comment.

At the same time, Clinton is now below 50 percent in first time in her support from Democrats. But that does still put her at a pretty high position. I think a lot of Republicans would probably like to have numbers that high this early in the game.

BALDWIN: What about Donald Trump? We talked a lot about what he said about immigration and now there's the whole 14th Amendment issue that he's brought up and now all these Republican candidates are having to answer this because of this.

But it seems to me when you really look at what he's been saying, is he speaking out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to immigration issues?

DIAMOND: Yes, well, we're still trying to get to some of the real details about his policy.

He released some details on Sunday, but there's still some points that it seems he needs to clarify. At first, he was calling for the end of birthright citizenship, meaning that if you're born in the United States you won't automatically become a citizen, particularly if both of your parents are undocumented citizens.

Now, last night in an interview with FOX News, Trump appeared to go even further, where he seemed to suggest that even those who are currently considered American citizens, who may have been born to undocumented parents, he seems to suggest that even those people aren't actually Americans.

So that could take him even further, but it's certainly putting the GOP in an interesting position with regards to immigration, with a lot of the other Republicans kind of trying to give a Trump-like version of his immigration policy. Certainly, we saw that from Scott Walker this weekend in Iowa.

BALDWIN: But then he's also saying -- and correct me. He's also saying, right, if you're not from this country and you attend an American university, then you should be able to stay in the U.S.

[15:10:05]

I'm just pointing out -- and we're trying to find details, but it's sort of like difficult to figure to figure out what exactly I guess maybe a stance would be.

DIAMOND: Exactly.

BALDWIN: But let me move along. Right. Let me move along though because tonight you have Donald Trump and Jeb Bush, it is like, what, the exact same time in the same state, sort of these dueling rallies in New Hampshire.

DIAMOND: Yes.

Both of them are going to be giving town halls this evening in New Hampshire about 20 miles apart from each other, and this comes at an interesting time in the race. Bush was the presumed front-runner until not too long ago. And now Trump has been surging. He's atop of the national polls. He's also atop of the polls in New Hampshire.

In the latest poll, Trump is at 18 percent compared to Bush, who stands at 13 percent. And Bush is also looking behind him, because he's got John Kasich, Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is coming up real close behind him. So this evening in New Hampshire is going to be interesting to watch. It's going to be interesting to see how they each pitch other to New Hampshire voters, particularly as each is trying to contrast themselves with the other more and more.

BALDWIN: And then you have, just final note, we saw pictures of Martin O'Malley standing in of, right, the Trump Hotel in Nevada. He switched his newser, standing in front with the big gold Trump letters behind him, saying: "Well, I have got some news for Donald Trump. Our country is already great, but people like Donald Trump sell it short when they sell their workers short, when they spew the sort of hate and division that has no place in this sort of America we want to give our kids."

Everyone maybe trying to take a piece out of Donald Trump, who I believe one of my guests last hour said he's taking all of the oxygen out of the room in the race.

Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much in Washington.

DIAMOND: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And speaking of, just a reminder tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Chris Cuomo sitting down with Donald Trump, wide-ranging interview with the Republican front-runner. Do not miss it here on CNN 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Coming up next, a sex competition, virginity and rape at one of America's most prestigious prep student. Here what happened when this alleged victim took the stand moments ago.

Also just in, the director of a museum says ISIS beheaded a world- renowned antiquities expert because he would not reveal the secret location of archaeological treasures. We will speak with someone who knew this man.

And anonymous no more. If you're cheating, with the help of this Web site Ashley Madison, the secret is out, why married men and women may have some awkward conversations this evening with their significant others.

Don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:56]

BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Today, a 16-year-old girl described to a jury how she says she was raped at one of the most prestigious high schools in the country, St. Paul's School in New Hampshire. The school is trying to distance itself here from the accusations against former student Owen Labrie, whose trial is now in its second day of testimony.

Prosecutors say Labrie had sex with the girl in May of last year as part of what they call "a senior salute," basically this competition for senior students to have intimate encounters as many underclass girls as possible. Labrie's lawyers conceded to jurors that, yes, the two did meet, but the attorney says Labrie did not have sex with this young, who by the way was 15 at the time of the encounter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.W. CARNEY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He realized at that moment that that's not what he should do and he told. And he told, "let's just put on our clothes and head down. And (NAME

DELETED) said yes. What the evidence will show is that they never did have sex.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go to CNN legal analysts Paul Callan and Mel Robbins.

Great to have both of you on. Lots and lots of details here coming out of this trial.

Mel, to you first. Today, the accuser gave in pretty painful detail how says she was attacked. At one point, she told the jurors -- and I'm just going to quote her --"In that moment, I wasn't strong enough to tell him how I was actually feeling, besides the motions I was doing and the times I no."

If you're a juror in that courtroom, how do you interpret, Mel?

MEL ROBBINS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, if you take it at its just plain facts, and it -- you believe what she is saying, that she did communicate to him, then -- and she is compelling.

And, listen, I heard some of that testimony, and she was sobbing on the stand as she was talking. And that's got to hit you right in the gut. And this is a case, Brooke, that is going to down to whether or not they think that this was consensual, and I think what you will hear Jay Carney, who is an attorney that I know -- we both went to B.C. Law School, and he very well known in the Boston area -- is that there's a difference between rape and regret.

And he is going to argue that this was consensual, she was 15, she may not have -- I don't know even what to say. She may have expected it to turn out the way that it did. But he's going to argue that it did not constitute rape under the law, Brooke, but she made for a very compelling witness today.

BALDWIN: On the flip side, though, again, this is really like I think to Mel's point. You have the defense saying there was no sex, obviously the prosecution saying that there was.

Two prosecutors say that the two messaged after the incident and he apparently asked if she was taking a birth control pill. How then do you -- on the flip side, if he's asking that, it makes you wonder, well, would that be because there was penetration and therefore he was concerned about pregnancy?

[15:20:10]

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: And penetration is a big issue in this case.

BALDWIN: Right. That's why I said that.

CALLAN: And he says of course there was no penetration, but why this strange discussion? Why does he say that he put a condom on? And, you know, why did it come up at all? I think, in getting back to the point also that was raised by Mel, this is a he said/she said situation, but what I'm seeing described is something I have seen many times in courtrooms as a prosecutor. Sometimes, when a woman has a gun to her head, the girl, the 15-year-old girl says, I was looking up at the ceiling not knowing what to do, not knowing how to communicate more my no.

She said she had said no to him. And in the end, the prosecutor is going to say men know when no is being said to them, and she communicated it. He ignored it and he penetrated her. That's rape under New Hampshire law.

BALDWIN: Mel, what about in addition to this conversation about, you know, condoms and birth control pills? We know prosecutors are spending a lot of time asking about how she spoke with him after this happened. Tell me why that's important.

ROBBINS: There's a couple of things that are important about this. One is, first of all, it's not a stranger rape. That's a big difference. It's an acquaintance rape, which is what the majorities of rape are.

BALDWIN: Why does that matter in the courtroom?

ROBBINS: Why it matters is because if you have a gun to your head, you're not consenting, even if you're staring at the ceiling not saying anything.

She said in court today that she did freeze, that she didn't kick, that she didn't do anything physically to push him off because she didn't know what to do. That could way heavily in the minds of this jury. Now, let's also keep in mind something I haven't heard anyone talk about.

The jury, the 14 members, the 12 and the two alternates, 11 of them are men. So if a female prosecutor stands up and tries to tell 11 guys, come on, you know the between when she says that she is consenting and when she doesn't, you are going to have men that may have had the experience where they have gotten mixed signals or where they have had a woman regret hooking up with you.

Now, if Jay Carney, the defense attorney, continues to go forward and say there was no sex, there was no sex, there was no penetration in this case, then you have got the jury looking at physical facts. I think the conversation is very important for both sides, frankly, because if they are communicating back and forth and she goes into this incident by texting him and messaging him and saying, I will meet you as long it's our little secret, and the defense can argue that what happened in the aftermath is that the students found out about it, there was gossip about it, and that's when she then reported it, now you have got a case building that...

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: With all due respect to my friend Mel... BALDWIN: Jump in.

CALLAN: ... this thing about women being more sympathetic to other women is a myth.

A lot of times, women are more critical of women. So, in fact, it may be a good thing for the prosecution that there are men, because they are going to understand, we know, they know when a woman says no, and especially when a 15-year-old says no. They are going know that an 18-year-old or a 17-year-old knows that he's picked a very young girl, who doesn't have the skills.

And they have to be more careful about what they are doing. So I think this could in the end help the prosecution, the number of men on the jury.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I think, beyond this, just learning more about this annual dance called The Screw and these "newb nights," that's a whole conversation we can have maybe on another day when we're covering this trial. My goodness.

Mel Robbins, Paul Callan, thank you both so much.

CALLAN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up, military milestones. After the Army announced earlier this week the first two women had completed intense, intense Army Rangers training, now you have news the Navy is breaking new ground and announcing a move of its own involving the legendary Navy SEALs.

Plus, infidelity exposed and naming names, hackers hacking into database of 33 million people who used the cheating Web site Ashley Madison.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:20]

BALDWIN: Just one day now after two women became the first to complete the very difficult Army Ranger training, now women could soon become Navy SEALs, if they can meet those requirements.

Joining me is retired U.S. Marine Corporal Gunnery Sergeant Jessie Jane Duff.

Gunnery Sergeant Duff is also a senior fellow with the London Center for Policy Research. She's also received multiple commendations and achievement medals from the Navy.

So, Jessie, thank you so much for joining us.

GUNNERY SGT. JESSIE JANE DUFF (RET.), U.S. MARINE CORPS: Actually, the medals are from the Marines, but thank you. BALDWIN: So many -- thank you so much for coming on.

DUFF: Thank you.

BALDWIN: You know, this is one of the great news stories, but it seems like the more I read about it this morning, it's it's a great news story, but...

DUFF: Yes.

BALDWIN: As we learned with the two women who passed the Army Ranger school, but they're also women who can't take on combat positions, I'm wondering if these female -- women can become SEALs, would there be limitations to female SEALs as well?

DUFF: Exactly.

So what my biggest question is, we have no historical data that demonstrates what the attrition rates for women are in long-term combat operations. Women have approximately 45 percent less muscle mass, 20 percent less lung capacity.

What are we doing, setting them for failure? First of all, I congratulate the two women who are West Point graduates for advancing through Ranger School. But many, many, many women have failed. And not a single female has passed infantry officer course yet with the Marine Corps.

So this Is going to have a long-term impact upon them medically. Are we going to see them complete an enlistment in four years? Are they going to even get to do 20 years?

BALDWIN: Well, hold on. Let me go back to your point, because I know you had said -- I know you said you knew someone in the military, what, 20 -- a 29-year-old woman...

DUFF: Yes.

BALDWIN: .. who had both of her hips replaced, I think to your point about some of this is incredibly arduous, you know, just physically, right?

DUFF: Oh.