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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
New Video of Teen Stowaway From San Jose to Maui; Man Accused of Unlawful Entry on Secure White House Grounds; Monica Lewinsky Speaks Out; Veterans Died Waiting for Care?
Aired May 06, 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. Tonight breaking news on disturbing allegations that veterans died waiting for care at VA hospitals. First veterans groups, now some senators say that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki should lose his job, should resign.
Also tonight Monica Lewinsky breaking her silence about her relationship with President Bill Clinton. Why she says it's finally time to bury the blue dress.
We begin with another breaking news story. New video that seems to prove a story that sounded unbelievable at the time. That a teenage boy somehow managed to travel from San Jose to Hawaii. A five-hour flight and below freezing weather in the wheel well of an aircraft.
Here is the video just released by the Hawaiian Department of Transportation. It's surveillance video at the airport showing what seems to be the boy getting out of the wheel well of the aircraft. And this happened on Sunday, April 20th. Hawaii's Transportation Department said at the time that the teen seemed disoriented, was questioned by a worker at the airport who then called security.
A law enforcement official telling CNN that the teen was trying to get to Somalia to see his mother. He jumped a fence at the airport in San Jose apparently and then spent more than six hours on the ground before the jet took off, according to a government official. He's now back in California and police are planning to interview him about what happened.
CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien joins me now and on the phone is Dr. Robert Schoene, a high altitude researcher and professor at the University of Washington Medical School.
Miles, you know, when you see this video, I was certainly one of the skeptics out there about all of this, that it was -- how was it even possible. Now we see this video. It does seem to show what a lot of people thought could not happen actually did happen.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It really is extraordinary, Anderson. And when you see -- you can see he's obviously affected by five and a half hours well above 35,000 feet, which is, after all, much higher than being at the summit of Everest. And people without oxygen are not advised to go up there for any length of time. So clearly -- and he staggers around. He's clearly affected. He stumbles and falls. But there he is coming out of that wheel well.
And I was among those skeptics who -- you know, I've been in an altitude chamber where they take you up to, you know, what -- is equivalent to 35,000 feet. That you take off your oxygen mask, you become positively slap happy, can't do simple mathematics and then you're about to pass out. And so the thought that somebody could survive this is amazing.
COOPER: Dr. Schoene, I know you doubted also that anyone could survive at such high altitudes and temperature for long but again, you see this video, this young man staggering around the tarmac and then he somehow regains his composure, appears to hold a conversation with someone there on the tarmac. Is it all surprising to you?
DR. ROBERT SCHOENE, HIGH ALTITUDE RESEARCHER: Absolutely. As we talked about when this first came out, Anderson, I -- from a basic physiologic standpoint, it doesn't make sense. And the thing that I mentioned before was the back end of the story and that's what we see now on video that he's walking, albeit stumbling, and maybe talking. We don't know what the conversation said. But someone who certainly would have been hypothermic that usually takes several hours to warm up for somebody to not faint or ambulate.
So I'm -- I guess I'm still skeptical on how he did it and -- it supersedes anything we know in physiology.
COOPER: Remind us, Doctor, what happens to the human body when it's subjected to the kind of conditions that young -- this young man would have experienced.
SCHOENE: Well, we talked a little bit about that before, and I think certainly the cold exposure, and we assume the wheel well is cold. I don't know that for sure, but I assume it is. The body temperature would drop because of all the reasons people become hypothermic with convection and radiation of heat and so forth and that might well have occurred -- begin to occur in the first 30 to 60 minutes and after five hours at a temperature that we know would be well below zero his body temperature, who knows, 60, 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
The other issue, of course, is his brain. And with the degree of low oxygen that he was exposed to, we know from short-term things as well as long-term things, the brain just doesn't do well at all. Even if he's cold. I just -- which would protect the brain to a certain degree, I'm still a bit amazed or skeptical.
COOPER: Miles, we had asked Gary Tuchman a while ago to demonstrate what it's like inside the wheel well of an aircraft, how you could stay in there. Listen to a little bit of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And we're told there's only one place to sit where you could possibly survive because when the wheels move in, the two huge wheels, they come right here. There's no room except for right here in this spot. And this is where the experts say you would have to sit with your knees close to you. The wheel well would close, the two tires right here and this is the only place where you could possibly survive. There's nothing stupider in the world to do but this is where you can do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Wow.
COOPER: And, Miles, I'm told the wheels, I guess, are hot when they first come up but that only lasts so long. It's an incredibly tight space that this young man would have been stuck in for that long a flight to not even be able to move once up -- you know, once the wheels are folded up.
O'BRIEN: Yes. It's -- and the fact that he knew that particular spot, you know. You know, there's a lot of questions that come out of this. We could go on and on in our skepticism, but let's not forget that it does raise an important question about security here. This is -- we -- you know, we go through security theater on the front end of the airport with the TSA. The back end is pretty porous, let's be honest about it.
The fact that he could hop a fence and get to where he got, if this was a terrorist, God forbid what might have happened.
COOPER: Yes. A lot of questions raised, a lot of questions we still don't know the answers to.
Dr. Robert Schoene, thank you. Miles O'Brien, as well.
We have more breaking news tonight. A security situation involving the Obama family that caused a temporary lockdown of the White House.
Joining me now live is CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski.
You're at the White House right now. You were locked down along with everybody else. What happened?
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is a weird situation. I mean, the whole complex was locked down for about an hour with almost no information coming out. And people couldn't leave, so you had people just kind of stuck inside in this big group. And, you know, every now and then you do get somebody trying to jump over a gate, trying to climb the White House fence and they're arrested.
And there's kind of a smaller situation like this. But even some of the people here who have worked here nearly 30 years say they have never seen anything quite like this. That in the middle of the afternoon while the Obama daughters, Sasha and Malia, were being driven back to the White House in their motorcade, a car, a guy driving a Honda was able to follow that motorcade in and made it past the security barrier.
I don't know if you know for those of you watching outside of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, that's closed off to traffic. And foot traffic, people can walk right up to the gate, but cars can't go there ever since 1995. So when a car gets close, there are these barriers there. Those barriers that come up out of the pavement. They drop down when an official car comes through and then they go right back up.
So this guy, who it turns out is a 55-year-old employee of the IRS, for some unknown reason followed the motorcade in, made it past those barriers. He's since been arrested. Right away that car was stopped and uniformed Secret Service got out and arrested him. They say he's now charged with unlawful entry.
But there are a lot of questions here. I mean, first of all, he works at the Treasury Department. The IRS is right next door on the other side of the White House in the direction that he was traveling, so did he not know where he was going? Was he trying to get a shortcut on the back end of the motorcade?
The Secret Service isn't -- answering those questions now, including was he lucid, was there anything wrong with him that he did this. They're not giving away any detail. But of course the other question is, physically, if those barriers go up and come down, how was he able to get past? I mean, did the Secret Service there at the gate not know that this Honda was not part of the motorcade?
Again, those questions aren't being answered right now, but they say they should know something more in the morning -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Michelle Kosinski, appreciate it. Thanks very much.
A quick reminder. Make sure you set your DVR so you can always watch 360 whenever you'd like.
Just ahead on the program tonight, after more than a decade of silence, Monica Lewinsky is sharing new details about her relationship with President Clinton. And more importantly, the humiliation that she says made her suicidal and what her life had been like since then. How there's a double standard the way she has been treated versus others.
Also, one year ago tonight they were freed from hellish conditions. Three Cleveland women held hostage for years. That was one year ago tonight. Well, tonight one of them tells me about the torture that she faced at the hands of her captor, including helping deliver another kidnapping victim's baby.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE KNIGHT, KIDNAPPING SURVIVOR: The baby came out not breathing. And at the point in time, I knew what he'd say. If the baby didn't come out breathing, I'll kill you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Well, maybe it's been years since you heard her name, but it's certainly not a name that you would have forgotten, one that became synonymous with a sex scandal in the '90s and that's a big part of the reason that Monica Lewinsky says she is speaking out now after so long.
After keeping a very low profile for more than a decade, Monica Lewinsky is writing for the first time about her relationship with President Clinton and what's happened since. In a piece for the upcoming edition of "Vanity Fair" she says it's time to stop tiptoeing around her past in order to give it a purpose.
Randi Kaye reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the arms of the president to the pages of "Vanity Fair" magazine. It's been a long road for Monica Lewinsky, but she's found her voice, and she has plenty to say.
In her tell-all essay for the magazine, she writes "It's time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress."
The world's most famous intern, opening up to "Vanity Fair" about her affair with President Clinton. The scandal it created in 1998 and what she calls the global humiliation. Now 40, she is determined to have a different ending to her story and hoping to give a purpose to her past.
(On camera): Lewinsky says she was inspired to speak out by Tyler Clemente, the Rutgers University student who jumped to his death in 2010. He was humiliated after being caught on a Web camera kissing another man in his dorm room. Lewinsky tells "Vanity Fair" his story brought her to tears. That after her affair, she too had strong suicidal temptations. She's hoping to help others in their darkest moments.
(Voice-over): In her essay, Lewinsky dishes on the affair and the ugly aftermath. "I myself deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton," adding, "It was a consensual relationship." That she was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position.
At the time, the president tried to protect himself, too.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.
KAYE: But seven months later, President Clinton spoke to the American people again. This time a different story.
CLINTON: Indeed I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact it was wrong.
KAYE: Monica Lewinsky spoke with ABC's Barbara Walters about that.
MONICA LEWINSKY: I felt like a piece of trash. I felt -- I felt dirty and I felt used. And I was disappointed.
KAYE: We haven't heard much from Lewinsky since then. This interview with Larry King on CNN in 2002 was one of her last.
LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST: Was there a little, like, you know, flirtatious thing going on?
LEWISNKY: Sure. There had been this flirtation and that really was where it began. And that's where it started. And from there it's sort of the --
KING: Took off.
LEWINSKY: That's -- the match lit.
KAYE: Silent for more than a decade, she's quick to note in her essay that the Clintons did not pay her off to keep her quiet. Though she's done little professionally over the years besides promote her own handbag line, it wasn't for lack of trying. In fact, she can't even get a job. After getting her Master's Degree at the London School of Economics, she told the magazine, "Because of what potential employers so tactfully referred to as my history, I was never quite right for the position."
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Joining me now is chief national correspondent John King, chief political analyst Gloria Borger and senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, author of "Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President."
Gloria, I think it was really interesting a lot of the things that Monica Lewinsky said in these excerpts in "Vanity Fair." It does seem to me there is this tremendous double standard.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
COOPER: That she hasn't been allowed in many ways to move on from this and the fact that she's still the butt of jokes and lines in songs this many years after is kind of extraordinary.
BORGER: It is extraordinary. And I'm -- and that's why I give her an awful lot of credit for writing this piece, because she's a 40-year- old woman now. She admits that what she did as a 24-year-old was wrong, but she's got to try and figure out a way to get beyond it.
I mean this very often happens with power relationships in which women are kind of the ones who end up on the wrong side of it. I mean if you look at military sexual assault or workplace harassment issues, you know, it's the women who often pay the price. And I think that's what happened with Lewinsky here. Not to excuse her behavior, but every time she tried to put this behind her, she found herself the butt of jokes or people wanted to put her on display like she was an animal in some kind of a zoo. And it's -- it's offensive and that's why I give her all this credit for writing this piece.
COOPER: Yes, John, I mean, she was like the men are allowed to move on, not defined by a sexual, you know, indiscretion whereas the woman is defined by that. And again, she's -- you know, this has been, you know, how many -- how many years later. What do you make of her speaking out, John?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There have been four presidential elections since this happened, Anderson. That's one way to put it into the political context. And the question is, will this now somehow be part of the conversation in the fifth presidential election should Hillary Clinton run?
What do I make of it? I think she makes an important point. I think she writes a remarkably candid piece here and I give her credit for that. I think she's dead right, that all of Washington turned on her. The special prosecutor, team Clinton and the like. And she makes the point that she thinks it was because, you know, those who turned on her were imbued with power, to use her words, and I think there's no question about that.
That Bill Clinton was the president of the United States. Bill Clinton came out the winner, if you will, with the upper hand in the impeachment battle, in the fight with Ken Starr. He survived all that and he's gone on to have a relative thriving -- very thriving post- presidency and she was run out of town, so you can understand her resentment there, although in the piece she sounds more reflective than resentful.
COOPER: And, Jeff, it's interesting. I mean, she could have made a lot of money, as she said. I mean, she was offered many millions of dollars for interviews. She could have, you know, continued to speak out. She's remained quiet through a lot of presidential elections. You know, it seems like fair enough for her to be speaking out now and kind of trying to define herself in the way she really is.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: You know, I did a lot of reporting about Monica Lewinsky for years. And, you know, this is a woman who wanted one thing out of life. She wanted to get married and have a family. And she hasn't been able to do that so far. And it's just sad.
Look, you know, she made a mistake when she was 23, 24 years old. You know what? A lot of people make mistakes when they're 23 or 24 and they go on with their lives and they're forgiven and people forget about it. She did -- made a mistake in such a high-profile setting that it hasn't been possible for her.
I'm totally sympathetic to her. I hope she can move on with her life. But, you know, if she hasn't moved on at this point, it shows. It's a big, big burden.
BORGER: You know, and young women are easy targets. And you know, she -- she wrote in this piece, and it really made me think about it. She said that she was perhaps the first person whose global humiliation was driven by the Internet. Now we're used to things going viral, you know, in a minute. And Monica Lewinsky suffered something we really hadn't seen before. I mean, suddenly within the span of 24 hours, she was world famous, she was reviled.
She had a huge media machine against her, a White House machine against her, whispering that she was some kind of a stalker and a crazy person. And now, you know, looking back on it, you can only imagine what she was going through. And in her piece she tells us what she is still suffering as a result of this. And she needs to move on.
COOPER: Well, imagine going for job interviews and people -- you know, and her gradually realizing over the course of the interview that, you know, they kind of just want to gawk at her basically or use her.
BORGER: Right.
COOPER: And I want to read a quote, Gloria, that was released by "Vanity Fair." This is in regards to some of the recently released archives that quote Hillary Clinton telling a friend that she partially blamed herself.
BORGER: Right.
COOPER: And that she regarded Monica Lewinsky as a, quote, "narcissistic loony tune." Monica writes now, "Yes, I get it, Hillary Clinton wanted it on record that she was lashing out at her husband's mistress. She may have faulted her husband for being inappropriate, but I find her impulse to blame the woman, not only me but herself, troubling."
Which is an interesting layer to all of this.
BORGER: It really is. Because Monica Lewinsky is clearly somebody who's thought an awful lot about this. And I went back to those archives and looked up what Hillary Clinton had said to her friend, Diane Blair, and what she said was that maybe she wasn't smart enough or maybe she wasn't sensitive enough to the problems Bill Clinton was having.
When you go back and you look in that day, you know, women blamed themselves. We still blame ourselves. But you go back to the '90s, what Hillary Clinton was doing then was saying maybe this affair was my fault and what Monica Lewinsky is saying today is, you know what, it wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault, it was a consensual relationship. But Hillary Clinton, don't blame yourself. And it's an interesting way of sort of one generation reaching out to the next generation and say, you know, you had nothing to do with this.
COOPER: And, John, you mentioned, you know, sort of the president -- you know, how this might get involved in presidential politics yet again. I mean, it does seem like an opportunity for -- again, for Monica Lewinsky to be used by various players in this, by the right, you know, to use this as a cajole against Hillary Clinton if Hillary Clinton runs. But it does seem at least that Monica Lewinsky herself, you know, does not want to be used by anybody anymore and just kind of wants to define herself.
KING: She makes clear in the article that one of the reasons she went underground, that she got very quiet back in 2008 was because she knew that Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign was playing out. Now she says what am I supposed to do, be quiet for another five years? So she's clearly wrestling with it. But look, make no mistake about it. If she wanted to be more active and more public, she could have been. And she made a conscious decision that that's not the way she wants to live her life.
Will others try to take advantage of this? Just today, Anderson, when word of this article came out, Rush Limbaugh described Monica Lewinsky somehow as collateral damage in Hillary Clinton's war on women.
The right needs -- you know, the right should study history. It went after Bill Clinton about this many, many years ago and did not succeed. The impeachment -- yes, he was impeached by the House, but the Senate did not convict. But will some on the right try to use this again against Hillary Clinton? Of course they will. That is the history of this saga that goes back 16-some years.
And if Hillary Clinton runs for president, this and other things that the right believe they can drag up every now and then, they will.
COOPER: I certainly hope that she's able to forge a life moving forward that, you know --
BORGER: Right.
COOPER: -- is one that's beneficial to her and that she's able to define herself exactly as she wants and not as something that happened -- that, you know, she was involved with back when she was in her early 20s.
Gloria, thank you, Jeff and John, thanks.
BORGER: Thank you.
COOPER: Well, for more on the story and others, you can go to CNN.com.
Up next, we have more breaking news tonight. Who should pay the consequences for claims that U.S. veterans died while waiting for care at VA hospitals? How about the Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. There are new calls for him to resign tonight.
More from Drew Griffin ahead.
And later, it's been one year since three young women finally were freed from the house of horrors where they were tortured and rape for about a decade. Tonight more of my interview with the very courageous Michelle Knight who tells me why it was so important that she showed defiance to her captor. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KNIGHT: For the first time in my life, I stood up to a person that was a demeaning person. And it felt good to stand up for myself. I never did before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: More breaking news tonight. New voices joining the chorus, calling for the head of the Veterans Affairs Department to resign over disturbing claims of what's going on at the VA hospitals in this country. Now last night we told you that both the American Legion and the Concerned Veterans for America are demanding accountability from Eric Shinseki, the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Now two United States senators are also calling for the secretary to resign over claims that were revealed for the first time in a series of reports on this program. Claims that VA hospitals are making vets wait months to get care. They're keeping secret waiting lists hidden from the public in VA headquarters in Washington as well and that veterans are dying while they just wait to see a doctor.
Senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin has been "Keeping Them Honest" from the beginning. He joins me now live from Washington.
So, Drew, what's the latest on this?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the chorus is growing here in Washington, Anderson, especially from Republican senators who want Eric Shinseki, the secretary of Veteran Affairs to resign. Even the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, weighed in today. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: I wish the White House instead of traveling around the country talking about the urgency of climate change would talk with equal urgency about this failure of leadership and incompetence at the VA.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: Obviously a change in leadership might be a good step in the right direction.
SEN. JERRY MORAN (R), KANSAS: Today I am demanding accountability and true transformation within the VA system and its culture from top to bottom and all across the country. Secretary Shinseki seemingly is unwilling or unable to do so and change must be made at the top.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What does the White House say about it, Drew?
GRIFFIN: Well, White House press secretary Jay Carney, he addressed it today in a briefing. And what's more interesting is what happened when our own White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski, asked him why Eric Shinseki isn't coming out of this building and talking about this crisis.
Here is Jay Carney's answer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president remains confident in Secretary Shinseki's ability to lead the department and to take appropriate action based on the IG's findings -- Michelle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going along with that, I know that some have been trying to sit down and talk with Shinseki and including CNN, they have been asking him for an interview since November. Why won't he just come out and speak about this or talk --
CARNEY: You're asking me for an interview?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And yes, can the White House direct him to --
CARNEY: I'd refer you to the department for the director's schedule.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Look, Anderson, if the White House wanted Shinseki to come out and talk about this, Shinseki would be out here talking about this. We've been asking for an interview for six months. We've been here all day today, and, yes, we asked again today to the public affairs office here at the VA and have gotten absolutely no response.
COOPER: It's not just reporters, it's important to point this out, who are trying to get information from Shinseki. He's also been ignoring requests from family members of veterans and there are people on Capitol Hill complaining about accessibility.
GRIFFIN: Yes. And I was surprised to find out about that after our story last night. It's much more infuriating that the VA just ignoring CNN. I don't know if you remember this, but I heard from the family of a veteran we told you about back in 2012, a guy named Bill Nicholas, a World War II vet, an airman in the Navy, whose job as a young sailor in World War II was to rescue downed pilots in the Pacific.
In 2012, he died of legionella-related illnesses from the bacteria he contracted within the water system of the Pittsburgh, VA Hospital. The management at that hospital knew it had legionella in the water, didn't tell the patients and the staff. Many people were exposed. Bill Nicholas is one of several vets who died.
Nobody has ever been held accountable for that. The family wanted answers. The family sent us an e-mail last night saying how could Shinseki and Obama allow this to keep happening without any accountability? I will never understand how they can just turn a deaf ear. And listen to this. The worst part.
When we request a meeting where we can look Shinseki in the eye, he simply does not respond to our requests. Do these people have no conscience? Anderson, that is from a family of a vet who died unnecessarily in a VA hospital. They can't get a meeting with Shinseki or any answers as to why that took place.
COOPER: That's amazing to me. Drew Griffin, appreciate it, thank you very much.
Just ahead, in her own words, a remarkable survivor. Cleveland kidnapping survivor, Michelle Knight describing how her captor favored one of his other prisoners, while heaping abuse on Michelle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE KNIGHT, KIDNAPPING SURVIVOR: She was the wife type of person. I was the punching bag.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Plus the Texas judge who said that she based a rape sentence in part on the 14-year-old victim's sexual history. The rape victim's sexual history. She also said the admitted rapist isn't the typical sex offender. We're digging deeper tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Today marks exactly one year since Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina Dejesus escaped from the house on Cleveland's west side where they were held prisoner for a decade, raped and tortured repeatedly. Shortly after their captor's sentencing, he killed himself in prison. The women he stole so much from are now rebuilding their lives.
Michelle Knight has written a book called "Finding Me, A Decade of Darkness, A Life Reclaimed." She is a remarkably strong person. Here's part two of my interview with her.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): On the outside, no one knew the horrors of what was happening inside 2207 Seymor Avenue. For months, 21-year-old, Michelle Knight was all alone, chained, starved, brutally beaten and raped by her captor.
KNIGHT: I take myself outside of myself and look at a brighter side. At least I'm not dead yet.
COOPER: Then on April 21st, 2003 --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If anybody knows anything about my daughter, I wish somebody would come forward.
COOPER: Michelle saw on TV reports that a young girl named Amanda Berry had gone missing.
(on camera): When you heard that, what did you think?
KNIGHT: The first thought in my head is he did it.
COOPER: You knew right away?
KNIGHT: Yes.
COOPER (voice-over): The man she's referring to, Ariel Castro, had in fact kidnapped Amanda Berry. Even though they were held in the same house, Michelle and Amanda rarely saw each other. When they did, they were not allowed to talk. Michelle says one thing was clear to her. In that house, though they were both captive, they were far from equal.
(on camera): And you got the feeling -- you still have the feeling that he did not like you?
KNIGHT: Yes.
COOPER: But he treated her differently?
KNIGHT: Always.
COOPER: Always. How so?
KNIGHT: She got better food. She got clothes. She got blankets. She got basically whatever she wanted except for home.
COOPER: Why do you think that was?
KNIGHT: He had a fascination with her more than me.
COOPER: Was that physical?
KNIGHT: It's more likely she was the wife type of person. I was the punching bag.
COOPER (voice-over): Michelle's captor often talked about getting yet another girl, and almost a year after Amanda was taken, he did just that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gina's family spent the last three days posting these missing flyers.
COOPER: On April 22nd, 2004, he abducted 14-year-old Gina Dejesus, and soon after, Michelle and Gina were chained together in that boarded-up room.
KNIGHT: When we were sad and we got knocked down by things that he said, we would tell each other, you know, it's OK. That one day it would be over. We'll try to encourage ourselves to keep hope that we will go home, even though sometimes we didn't feel like we were.
COOPER: Hope was hard to come by until December, 2006, when Michelle was forced to deliver Amanda Berry's daughter, Jocelyn.
KNIGHT: It was just so amazing to actually bring a new life into the world, but it was also traumatic at the same time. COOPER (on camera): You write that you saved the baby's life.
KNIGHT: Yes. The baby came out not breathing. And at the point in time, I knew what he'd say if the baby didn't come out breathing. I'll kill you.
COOPER: He told you that he would kill you if the baby didn't survive?
KNIGHT: Yes.
COOPER: He wanted that baby?
KNIGHT: Yes.
COOPER: Who did he consider his family, all of you?
KNIGHT: Yes. But I was like the traitor of the family.
COOPER: The tough one.
KNIGHT: Yes.
COOPER: You smile when you say that. That was important to you to remain defiant?
KNIGHT: Yes.
COOPER: And now it's a source of pride.
KNIGHT: Yes.
COOPER: That you remain defiant? Explain that.
KNIGHT: All my life, I was made to feel insecure, like I was worthless. For the first time in my life, I stood up to a person that was a demeaning person and it felt good to stand up for myself, because I never did before.
COOPER (voice-over): For the next seven years, Michelle, Gina, Amanda and her daughter, Jocelyn, were prisoners inside the home.
(on camera): Were you able to roam around the house?
KNIGHT: No. Never. Any time he would leave the house, he would lock our doors.
COOPER: So was -- I think a lot of people imagined you were just all three living in this house, wandering the house, cooking, doing all this stuff.
KNIGHT: No.
COOPER: You were trapped -- you were locked in this room?
KNIGHT: We were locked up in our room. We wasn't allowed to walk around the house and if we did walk around the house, he was there. And he made sure we didn't do anything.
COOPER (voice-over): Their tormentor had locks and alarms on every door, mirrors on every corner. The windows were boarded up so no one could see in and no one could get out. He would occasionally let them out in the backyard to play with Jocelyn, but only under his supervision, and the threat that he would shoot them if they tried to escape.
(on camera): When you were in the backyard, did you see other people?
KNIGHT: Yes.
COOPER: You would see neighborhood people?
KNIGHT: Yes.
COOPER: Did you ever think of saying anything to them?
KNIGHT: I didn't want to get shot.
COOPER: He told you he had a gun?
KNIGHT: I know. He had one. Kept it everywhere he went.
COOPER (voice-over): Unable to escape from the hell she was living, Michelle's only solace was a pencil and some paper.
(on camera): What did you do with that?
KNIGHT: I would write songs, poems. I would draw anything and everything.
COOPER: That was a way for you to escape?
KNIGHT: Yes.
COOPER: Who would you write to?
KNIGHT: My son. I would write songs about what happened to me, I would write poems about things that I never had, things that I wanted. Like just random things that you never got to do because of the way your lifestyle was.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: She is an incredible survivor. Tomorrow night, we'll have part three of my interview, the real story of how they were all able to escape. Just ahead tonight, what we've learned about the judge who went easy on an admitted rapist while implying that his 14-year-old victim was promiscuous.
Plus new outrage over the abduction of eight more young girls in Nigeria and new calls for authorities to find them, the parents of one missing girl are speaking out publicly, only on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: In crime and punishment tonight, we're digging deeper on the Texas judge who sentenced a confessed rapist to 45 days in jail, five years probation, and 250 hours of community service at a rape crisis center. The judge's name is Janine Howard and she told "The Dallas Morning News" that she based her ruling in part on the sexual history of the victim, of the victim, who was 14 years old at the time. Judge Howard implied the girl was promiscuous and wasn't the victim that she claimed to be.
As we reported last night Texas has a rape shield law making a victim's sexual history inadmissible in court. That did not stop this judge. We wanted to give her a chance to explain her ruling and her remarks. Gary Tuchman spent the day trying to track her down. He joins me down. Were you able to find her?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, it was a wild goose chase of source, but we felt it was important to give Judge Howard a chance to explain why she denigrated a rape victim. So we went to her courtroom at 2:00 we were told she would come back. Her aide would consider whether to talk to us. The 2:00 turned into 2:30, she never showed up. The courtroom was empty. We were told she ended up going to the doctor's and she wasn't going to come to work today.
After a couple of hours, we went to her house, knocked on the door and asked if we could talk to Judge Howard. A man answered the door, slammed the door in my face. I heard him say hell, no. He opened up the gate in the kitchen with the big dog was and the dog started running towards the door and we left the house.
We ended going to the district attorney's office who did want to talk, very upset at some of these newspaper quotes, including one quote where the judge said she wasn't the victim she claimed to be, implying she was promiscuous. The district attorney says he's outraged, it's absolutely inappropriate for her to trash this victim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG WATKINS, DALLAS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We are here to protect victims. Unfortunately, this judge made a determination to defend herself and to call into question a victim. And what that does is a disservice to all the other victims that are out there that may have to experience what this victim experienced. And then the question becomes do they come forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: The D.A. wanted this perpetrator to get ten years in prison. He was willing to settle for five years in prison, but the judge decided five years probation and only 45 days in prison -- Anderson.
COOPER: And the judge has now recused herself from the case. The D.A. has requested another hearing. Is that going to happen?
TUCHMAN: Yes. The decision has been made by the new judge to hold an additional hearing this Thursday to hear more about the case. Now, they cannot change the penalty. He still gets the same probation and jail time. That cannot change. But the district attorney's office wants Sir Young to not be allowed to be around any children, not be allowed to view pornography and to get an evaluation. Those were all things that Judge Howard said were not necessary. Now this new judge on Thursday morning can decide to do all of that. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: This judge who recused herself said he did not need an evaluation. You're saying, though, it's the law for someone found guilty of this crime to be evaluated?
WATKINS: Texas code of criminal procedure says that if you are a sexual predator, a sexual offender, that you have to be evaluated, and this judge waived that requirement. It's the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: The D.A. says he's especially angry that this judge said that this 14-year-old girl had once given birth to a child. The D.A. says that's totally inappropriate. It violates all medical HIPPA laws requiring confidentiality for juveniles when it comes to medical information. And the mother says it's absolutely not true -- Anderson.
COOPER: Gary, appreciate the reporting. Thanks very much.
Up next, a terrorist group suspected of kidnapping more girls at gunpoint in Nigeria. The leader of the group has claimed responsibility for abducting more than 200 school girls last month and is threatening to sell them. He says they should get married, not get an education.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Chilling new development out of Nigeria tonight. At least eight more girls between the ages of 12 and 15 were abducted from a village at gunpoint. A witness says the armed men are suspected members of Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist group. The same group that abducted 200 girls from a school at gunpoint last month.
More than 200 girls kidnapped for daring to do one thing, just get an education. In a video released Monday, the leader of the terror group said he planned to sell the girls. He said they should get married, not get an education. It is outrageous. The world is taking notice. There are growing calls for the safe returns of the girls with new demonstrations in Nigeria and elsewhere.
The Nigerian government is under pressure to rescue the girls. One senator says U.S. Special Forces should help out. President Obama said the U.S. will provide military support to Nigeria and today's CNN's Vladimir Duthiers spoke with one of the parents of the girls. He joins us live with that. So let's start with the new abductions. What do we know about them?
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, just giving you further insight into how the people in the northeast of this country are being terrorized, seemingly at will by Boko Haram, attacking again in a town, taking eight girls, taking them into the bush, same story that we heard three weeks ago on April 14th, 200 plus girls taken. But this is what Boko Haram has been doing for years. Anderson.
Since 2009, they have killed thousands of people, abducted dozens of girls. This year alone rights groups say they have killed 1,500 people, Anderson. They seem to be able to do this at will. The country, the three states in the northeast that can be under a state of emergency are consistently being attacked by Boko Haram. And the military doesn't seem to be able to do anything about it -- Anderson.
COOPER: You sat down with the parents of one of the kidnapped girls. A lot of parents have been too afraid to speak out. What did they actually tell you?
DUTHIERS: Some very chilling details. First of all, they talked about what happened the night that these girls were taken. They say that the girls had just finished their exams and he said he was at home about half a mile away from where the school was. He said he heard a loud explosion, such that he had never heard before, and he and other people raced to the school.
When they got there, there was a huge fire and gunfire happening and they tried to stay away from the school. They couldn't get close enough to see their daughters being taken away into convoys. He said drove off into the bush. What I found really interesting about what he said and very chilling in fact, Anderson, he said -- I asked him if he knew there are many people who speculate that Boko Haram members live within the community.
And he said that of course they do. He says Boko Haram knows who they are. They just don't know Boko Haram. In other words, they don't know who these terrorists are amongst them, but they say that they are known to the terrorists. And that was very chilling.
I also spoke to the mother, and I asked her about the video that was released yesterday where the supposed leader of the group says that he is going to sell these girls in a market and she broke down in tears, telling me that he must have a heart, he must understand that these are girls just trying to get an education. And that they could be doctors, lawyers, teachers, and she hopes that he releases them. But then she broke down in tears -- Anderson.
COOPER: Vlad, appreciate the reporting, thanks very much.
Let's get caught up on some of the other stories we're following. Pamela Brown has a 360 Bulletin -- Pamela.
PAMELA ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Anderson. Ukrainian forces have launched their biggest offensive yet as they try to remove pro- Russian militants from the southern and eastern parts of the country. They have reportedly seized dozens of buildings across the region and say 30 heavily armed militants have been killed in recent days.
South Korean police say too much cargo and failure to tie it down properly contributed to the sinking of a ferry there last month. Authorities say the cargo weighed more than twice the ship's limit. At least 268 people died in the disaster, 34 others are still missing.
And Los Angeles Clippers President Andy Rosier began an indefinite leave today, which the NBA says will give a new CEO the chance to start with a clean slate. The NBA is in the process of forcing owner, Donald Sterling, to sell the team after reporting surfaced of him making racist comments, as you'll recall -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes, Pamela, thanks very much. Many people weren't surprised about Sterling's comments. Maybe least surprised was NBA hall of famer and long time Clippers executive, Elgin Baylor, who sued Sterling five years ago alleging racist behavior that went back decades.
Tomorrow we'll have my exclusive interview with Baylor. We planned to have it tonight, but we ran out of time. He's speaking for the first time since Sterling got banned from the NBA. That does it for this edition of 360. We'll see you at 11 p.m. Eastern tonight. "CNN TONIGHT" starts now.
