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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Ben Carson Doubles Down On His Controversial Comments; BBB Giving High Ratings To Some Bad Companies; Cosby Accuser Files Federal Civil Lawsuit; Lawsuit Alleges 2008 Assault At Playboy Mansion; Investigators To Brief On Oregon Shootings. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 07, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:11] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: So Ben Carson has really ignited some new controversy for some comments that he made regarding the shooting in Oregon. Carson told Fox News that in that kind of situation he would confront the gunman and he wouldn't just stand there. And today he tried to clarify his comments on CBF have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. BEN CARSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to plant in people's minds what to do in a situation like this, from the indications that I got, they did not rush the shooter.

The shooter can only shoot one person at a time, he cannot shoot a whole group of people. And so the ideal is overwhelm him so that not everybody gets killed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: In an unusual move, Donald Trump came to Ben Carson's defense on Twitter saying "Ben Carson was speaking in general terms as what he would do if confronted with a gunman, and was not criticizing the victims. Not fair!" Carson has accused the media also of being unfair.

I want to bring in Brian Stelter who knows a thing or two about media because he's our senior media correspondent and also host of Reliable Sources.

Ben Carson is having to do a lot of clean up with words that seem really clear I mean I can see how reporters parse lots of things and competitors and the race parse lots of things, but on this particular case is that fair?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Donald Trump's support was unusual this seem like an unusual moment for him to come out and support Carson because many, many people interpreted Carson's to be victim blaming, the worst kind of victim blaming frankly, because we're talking about victims who are no longer even alive to defend themselves.

There were so many more eloquent ways Carson could have made this comment he could've started by saying I can't imagine being in a room when a gunman comes in. However we know best practices indicate that now a days government officials recommend for people in those rooms to surge at the gunman, that's inaccurate thing to say, right, that's the recommendation.

BANFIELD: Some of these people in the room were kids, they we're teenagers 17-years-old, 18. Yes, there were some grown-ups too, but they were effectively kid, and I do recall the one who is was the chosen one sent to the back of the room. Through his mother told CNN he was absolutely frozen in fear, paralyzed in fear.

STELTER: I don't think anybody -- I don't think any of us know how we'd react in a moment of horror like that. And Carson could have said that.

Now I think generally speaking when we see a candidate blaming the media, going after the media, that's almost always an indication that things aren't going well for him or her it's almost always an indication that the candidate is trying to distract you from what else is going on. But I will say in the defense of any candidate, including Carson, it is hard to be out there everyday single day running for the highest office in the land, sometimes you may self lead, but is it might not come out quite the right way and that is why it's we're going and doing other interviews and following up and explaining yourself.

But in this case I can understand why he's getting a lot of heat and to me attacking the media comes across is not quite effective.

Now Jeb Bush recently made some comments I did think were more fair when he was been criticizing the media saying to me was taking my contacts, for saying that stuff happens when regards to gun violence.

In that case you have like a five paragraph long comment and it was important to go and review the whole thing. Context always matters here. But in some cases when we hear candidate's passion the media they are trying to distract you from a...

BANFIELD: I will reiterate too that often times the candidate competitors are taking those words and running with them as well and media is airing their comments what might look like we're just, and we would make a new high along that.

STELTER: It's a time to honor tradition (ph) to bash the media, usually its smoke shield.

BANFIELD: The you Brian Stelter. And by the way you should watch your show, "Reliable Sources" I do every Sunday 11 A.M. Eastern Time, thanks Brian.

STELTER: Good to see you.

BANFIELD: You too.

Just moments ago, Hillary Clinton weighing in on gun violence as well, we have what she had to say right after this quick break.

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[12:38:14] BANFIELD: You think you could trust the Better Business Bureau. Its stamp of approval is supposed to give people confidence in the quality of a business or a charity, but what if the ratings are wrong?

Nearly 5 million companies throughout the United States get a grade from the better business bureau from A+ to the way down to bad one, F. But an investigation by CNN, money is giving the better business bureau its own failing grade for the high marks it is handing out to really bad companies. Here is Senior Investigative Correspondent Drew Griffin

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: NourishLife, sold dietary supplements claiming they treated speech disorders of children with autism. It was one big problem according to autism advocate Julia Bascom. No proof the product worked.

JULIA BASCOM, AUTISM SELF ADVOCACY NETWORK: They're selling false promises. They're selling promises that haven't been supported by any kind of scientific research. They're selling a product that hasn't been tested. We don't know what it does.

GRIFFIN: After an investigation of federal trade commission this year filed a lawsuit claiming the companies claims deceptive.

NourishLife paid a $200 thousand fine and was forced to stop making claims that its supplements help kids with autism. It was a huge blemish on the company's record, but you wouldn't be able to tell that from their rating, the Better Business Bureau rated NourishLife A+ its highest rating.

Julia Bascom has one question, How?

BASCOM: Damage were may flood (ph), damage were exploited. Disabled people and disabled children were exploited.

GRIFFIN: NourishLife tells CNN it "prefers to move on" and says it's received "the Better Business Bureau complaint free award for the past six years and maintains an excellent customer service program."

[12:40:00] It turns out the Better Business Bureau rating for NourishLife isn't the only rating you maybe leery off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For more than 100 years Better Business Bureau has been helping millions of consumers find businesses they can trust.

GRIFFIN: A CNN MONEY investigation has uncovered more than a hundred companies that had been the target of serious government regulatory action in the last year but still received A+ to the A- ratings from the BBB.

And that even includes a company called Freedom Stores, it's a chain of furniture and consumer electronic stores that cater to the military and gave easy credit to service members. But according to Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, the company ripped off gullible consumers by garnishing wages, taking double payments and even charging credit cards without permission.

I mean it sounds like they're just preying on the military?

MARK HERRING, VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: It is unbelievable that anyone would single out and target our military service members like this. And, you know, I am not about to let Virginia be a safe haven for companies who would target our veterans, our service members or families or really any consumer.

GRIFFIN: Herring sued last year forcing freedom and its affiliated companies to pay back customers $2.7 million. They also paid a fine of $100,000. But guess what? Freedom's Better Business Bureau rating remained in an A+ and its affiliated company, military credit service received an A-.

They're not A rated in your book?

HERRING: I certainly not going to buy anything from them

GRIFFIN: This summer the company announced it was closing its retail stores and declined for comment for this story.

The list of companies highly rated by the Better Business Bureau also includes Adventist Health System, a company accused by the justice department of recklessly cutting corners by providing potentially harmful radiation at some of its hospitals.

That resulted in a $5.4 million fine. Provident funding associates force to pay $9 million dollars in damages for preying on minority borrowers.

The companies wouldn't respond and the Better Business Bureau wouldn't go on camera instead they sent us this statement.

"Ratings are dynamic the Better Business Bureau statement reads and the may fluctuate on a daily basis to reflect the addition of new information or removal of data that's more than three years old."

As for the more than 100 companies we found that they serious government action because of the bad business practice. The BBB said government action is only one part of the determining a company's rating, and it just can't keep track of every action against all the 4.7 million companies it rates.

The consumer advocate Joe Ridout, that sounds like the Better Business Bureau isn't doing an A rated job.

JOE RIDOUT, CONSUMER ACTION: I would not counsel anyone to trust the BBB without looking at other source of information.

It can be useful when you find a low grade. But if you have a high grade if you trust that that trust is likely going to be misplaced. GRIFFIN: Ashleigh, the Better Business Bureau actually beginning changing those ratings or chose to give no ratings at all, NourishLife went from an A+ to an A-. But, you know, in the end, it's really up to consumers to do their own research about a company for more on this story go to cnnmoney.com. Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Drew, thank you for that phenomenal work, I appreciate it.

Cnnmoney.com is the place to go for more extensive reporting from Drew and his team have a look that is critical material for consumers.

Coming up next, that case against Bill Cosby, boy, it just won't go away, will it? And it is just taking a giant leap off of the tabloid pages, and right into federal court. Want to know what that means?

Back right after this.

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[12:48:23] BANFIELD: Bill Cosby has brushed aside decades of sex abuse allegations, but he cannot ignore a new federal civil lawsuit that was just filed yesterday.

A case unlike the others, because this one falls within the statute of limitations, I want you to meet Chloe Goins a 25-year-old model who says when she was just 18 she met Bill Cosby at party at the Playboy mansion. That was back in 2008.

And what she says followed strike an eerie similar tone to what we have heard from so many other accusers.

Bill Cosby gave her a drink she alleges, she blacks out, she woke up naked to find Cosby doing things that I cannot even explain on television.

We reached out to Cosby's team. Press Representative Andrew Wyatt responded with this, "We are not making any comments at this time nor are our attorneys speaking out publicly."

By now, you'll probably know that more than 40 women have publicly accused Bill Cosby of raping or assaulting them over the last several decades. Yet, he has never been charged with a crime.

Now, granted most of the accusers say that the incidents happened so long ago that they fall outside of the statute of limitations. But not the incident that Chloe is alleging. And she's kind enough to join me now.

I want you to meet again Chloe Goins along with her Attorney Spencer Kuvin. Thank you to both you for taking the time to do live with me today.

[12:50:01] And Spencer, first to you nine months you told us that this had happened and you and your client told the police about this. So there was a -- an actual police report made about this alleged sexual assault and yet nine months later we don't have any resolution there has been no charges that have been yield in. So I guess the question I have for you is, why do you think of federal lawsuit will prevail if the criminal justice machine so far has yielded nothing?

SPENCER KUVIN, ATTORNEY FOR CHLOE GOINS: Thank you, well actually it's very different. First of all, we've confirmed with the L.A. Police Department that they had completed their investigation and turn them out or over to the district attorney's office in Los Angeles to make a determination on whether or not they're going to file charges.

We had made assurances to the police that we would not perceive with any civil action until the criminal investigation was complete.

We were advised it's now complete. And they're going to determine whether or not criminal charges should be filed. But on behalf of my client, I have to protect her potential claim because it is within the statute of limitations. And I don't want to let that expire.

So we had to file to preserve that claim.

BANFIELD: I understand. Chloe, the sticky point in this suit is the date because the initial outset, you had mentioned that this had happened at a midsummer's night party which was in August of 2008. And then the attorneys for Bill Cosby said we've got travel records saying that, you know, Bill Cosby wasn't even in the state at the date of that.

And then I think you and your attorney amended saying that you weren't sure exactly when the date was. I suppose that the question for you is, do you have any ball park window of when this alleged assault occurred, was it winter '08, spring '08, summer '08 or anything there in?

KUVIN: Well, Ashleigh, let me address that I am going to allow her to answer...

BANFIELD: No, I appreciate if I could hear from, I'd like to hear from your client on that since this is her memory.

KUVIN: I appreciate it. I'm not going to let her get in to the details of those dates right now because we do have a federal lawsuit involved, she's not going to be addressing specific date issues. That has been addressed.

Number one she has never stated publicly the exact date of incident. So therefore that issue is a nonissue, and all we're doing is proceeding with our lawsuit. And if we want to find out exact dates, the Playboy mansion, I'm sure will cooperate with us to find out the exact attendance of every party that people were at.

BANFIELD: So that will be a an interesting subpoena. I can imagine Hugh Hefner receiving that and how he might, you know, respond.

OK, I understand the -- your hesitation to discuss those sort of very, again, very sticky issues within the case, given that, you know, Cosby response has been pretty specific about that. So maybe I will try this, Chloe. This is hard, I mean anybody who's ever has been in your shoes says this is really hard to do especially when the accusation is being made against somebody big and powerful and famous and wealthy et cetera.

So I guess from your perspective, why? What do you want to accomplish with this lawsuit?

CHLOE GOINS, BILL COSBY ACCUSER: Well, it has been extremely traumatic going over the events that happened to me. I'm doing it for justice for me, and not only for me, but for the other women, there's so many other women that have gone through very similar experiences as I have with this.

And they deserve justice as well. And I realize my part in this being that I fall within the statute of limitations.

BANFIELD: And that could make such a critical difference in this case.

I'd love to keep in touch with both of you especially as we potentially learn something from the authorities with regard to the criminal action if there is going to be any. And then of course, how you do with your discovery and with your efforts to subpoena information, make sure come back, Kuvin or Spencer, I'd really appreciate it.

KUVIN: Thank you very much, we appreciate the opportunity.

BANFIELD: Spencer Kuvin and Chloe Goins joining me live thank you for the both of you.

I want to move briefly back to our top story and remind you that we are just a few minutes away now from a news conference in Roseburg Oregon with police investigating last week's massacre at Umpqua community college.

Six days after a 26-year-old student killed nine people and then shot himself, it is not exactly clear what the investigators maybe about to reveal. But you're going to see it here live start to finish at the top of the hour right here on CNN.

Thanks so much for being a part of the program today. It's been nice to have you with us.

[12:54:53] My colleague Wolf Blitzer starts right after this quick break.

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