Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Former Hawaiian Officials on Obama's Birth in Hawaii; Pope Frances Vising Cuba; Baby Doe Identified; The Ridiculist. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired September 18, 2015 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening. Thanks for joining us.
The news tonight, a thundering silence and it's news because that silence is from a man not associated with it, Donald Trump. Ten other candidates tonight at a conservative political forum right now in Greenville, South Carolina. Carly Fiorina speaking right now. A major event in a key primary state with ten candidates trying to make the most of it.
Donald Trump was supposed to be the 11th here and instead at the last minute he pulled out. His campaign saying that something pressing had come up of quote "significant business transaction," unquote with details to follow next week. And then radio silence, in the middle of noisy criticism from both sides of the aisle how he handled this question at a town hall last night in New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a problem in this country, it's called Muslims. We know our current president is one. You know he's not even an American.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need this question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That's my question. When can we get rid of them?
TRUMP: We're going to be looking at a lot of different things. And you know, a lot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We're going to look at that and plenty of other things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Afterwards no comment from the candidate, only a brief comment from his campaign manager telling us that Mr. Trump did not hear the part alleging that the president is Muslim. He said quote "the media wants to make this an issue about Obama, but it's about him waging a war on Christianity."
By daybreak, pundit politicians, Democrats and some Republicans were criticizing Mr. Trump for not doing or saying more. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He knew or should have known what that man was asking was not only way out of bounds, it was untrue. And he should have from the beginning repudiated that kind of rhetoric, that level of hatefulness in a questioner in an audience that he was appearing before. So I would call on him and call on all of the candidates to stop this descent into the kind of hateful mean spirited divisive rhetoric that we have seen too much of in the last months.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He has got to decide what he wants to do from south. But I would just tell you that if somebody at one of my town hall meetings said something like that, I would correct them and say no, the president is a Christian and he was born in this country. I mean, those two things are self-evident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Chris Christie expected on stage shortly. Carly Fiorina speaking right now. But again, the big stories the candidate who is not there.
CNN's Sara Murray joins us now from the event.
So this cancellation by Trump, what are you hearing about it?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I think there are a number of people here who are disappointed. Voters who showed up and were hoping to see Trump and how he stacked up in a substantive forum like this against all these other candidates. A couple of other folks they are saying, look, Trump missed out on an opportunity and that's exactly what the head of the South Carolina Republican Party Matt Moore had to say to me earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Trump was supposed to appear at this event today, he's not here now. What do you make of that?
MATT MOORE, SOUTH CAROLINA GOP CHAIRMAN: It's a bit disappointing. I think the people here, they were excited to see him. Any chance to get in South Carolina to get in front of 5,000, 10,000 people, this is the biggest event in South Carolina of this year. And so, I think it's a missed opportunity for him and his campaign. And not many like this in the next few months. So it's a really fluid race. I think coming out of today here in South Carolina, you're going to see candidates, the momentum. He is missing out on that tonight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Now, Trump is not a candidate who is known for shying away from controversy. But a couple of folks on ground here also said they weren't really buying the idea that he canceled to do a business deal. They think that he might have skimmed to the forum to avoid taking tough questions either on stage or about this latest controversy, Anderson.
COOPER: So even though he did cancel, obviously, plenty of other GOP candidates have been there and spoken. They are at the event. Have they addressed Trump's comments at all?
MURRAY: The candidates who have taken the stage are not addressing Trump's controversy on stage for the most part. Ben Carson, did come up here. And it's his birthday today and he said the best birthday gift he could get was Donald Trump dropping out at least for a day. So that certainly entertain the crowd.
Well, look. This is an opportunity for these other folks to see the people they don't see on TV as much and being in this room, I can tell you Carly Fiorina right now is getting a very warm reception and Ted Cruz, who is angling for a similar block of voters as Donald Trump also got a very warm reception earlier this afternoon.
COOPER: All right. Sara Murray, appreciate you being there. Thank you.
Just to underscore, the campaign is promising details of this present business next week. As you might imagine, though, it's raising a lot of questions tonight.
Chief political correspondent Dana Bash who is digging on this deal and join us now.
So, do we know anything about this alleged business transaction?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: In a word no, they are being very cagey about it. It is simply saying that it is significant as you were just talking about with Sara. And a source close to Donald Trump told me that we do expect it to be announced next week. So that is going on there.
I actually think that, you know, what you were hearing in Sara report from the crowd that they think that Trump is actually probably reluctant to jump into the controversy. I think maybe it's the opposite. He sees this controversy and it's not a bad thing for him politically to just kind of stay back and let everybody talk about it and continue to discuss it without him, you know, having to change the direction of the discussion. Political plus for him with his supporters.
[20:05:33] COOPER: Political plus, you are saying what? Because many of his supporters believe that the president is Muslim or that Muslims in America are a problem?
BASH: Possibly some of that. But I think more to the point of the way he approaches voters and the way he deals with the media. He actually gave an interview right after his speech last night, his town hall to "The New York Times." And in it, he apparently said, you know, part of the reason why voters like me is because I don't respond like a regular politician. Like you heard Chris Christie say he should have responded today or Lindsey Graham say he should have responded today, like John McCain did back in 2008, saying, let's not do that.
They like him because he's politically incorrect. And there's a lot to be said about not getting out there right away to try to tamp that down. He's going to be in Iowa tomorrow. It is hard to imagine he's not going to talk about it there. But for 24 hours, I mean, it's kind of incredible when you think about it. All of these talk about the fact that somebody is not talking.
COOPER: Dana Bash, thanks very much. We'll see what happens in Iowa tomorrow.
Joining us now CNN political commentator and Trump supporter, Jeffrey Lord. Also Republican strategist Rich Galen and CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson.
Jeffrey, first of all, do you believe as a Trump supporter that he handled the question the right way last night?
JEFFREY LORD, FORMER REAGAN WHITE HOUSE POLITICAL DIRECTOR: You know, I listened to this when I got home from California. I listened to this on your show and I heard a replay later than that. And I have to say when you listen to the questioner, he makes his first business about the Muslim, et cetera, et cetera as a sort of assertion. But then he goes into the question about training camps.
To this minute, I don't know whether he's talking about ISIS style training camps or whether he is talking training camps in America like the Islamabad (ph) and upstate New York which is as a matter of fact very near my relative's home. I have no idea. But did he handle it right?
Look, here is the thing I believe about this, Anderson and this drives me crazy and a lot of conservatives will - are surely going to be upset with this. When Barack Obama ran for president everybody, you know, discussing his religion. I believe the president is a Christian. He was a member of my denomination, United Church of Christ. The theology of the UCC is that the members run the church. President Obama had sat there with a pastor who is virulently anti- Semitic and never fired the pastor. He had the ability to do it. He never did it.
So now we're talking about President Obama, not doing something and he gets a pass as a candidate for president. And now we're talking about Donald Trump one minute from a questioner in New Hampshire whom he couldn't control, this is going to be seen by conservatives as a massive double standard. And this is the kind of thing that fuels the Trump campaign. They hate this stuff out there.
COOPER: I hear what you're saying about a double standards there. I mean, supporters, obviously, of President Obama would say, look, he did finally repudiate his pastor's statement.
LORD: Yes. And when he was running for president and that kind of thing, right, but not the day he should have done it.
COOPER: The claims, because I read them earlier, was that he hadn't heard that kind of thing from the pulpit. Whether or not that's true, that's -- you're bringing President Obama or then candidate Obama, but just Donald Trump on the merits of this alone as a leader, do you wish he handled this differently, as somebody who supports this man you want him to be president?
LORD: If he - I mean, I don't know what he heard and didn't hear. But if you're saying, well, should he have said the president is a Christian. Sure, I believe the president is a Christian. I mean, I know because he was a member of my denomination. So I have no question about that.
COOPER: I think the bigger issue what the guy said first about the problem in America is Muslims. I mean, you know, to paint with a broad brush an entire religion of people is a big statement.
LORD: Right. So I would also say to this - I mean, the subtext here is what's wrong with being a Muslim. I mean, let's just say for the sake of the argument, this guy is saying the president is a Muslim to which I would say and so what for the reason that you just named. I mean, there are plenty of Muslims --
COOPER: Jeffrey, if the guy had stood up and said you know what the problem in the country is, it's Jews or you know, what the problem of this country is its black people, would you be making the same argument that Donald Trump didn't need to say something to him then? What he said the problem in this country is Muslims.
LORD: Right. I think maybe he should have answered it. I mean, there's no question --
RICH GALEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Five and a half minutes to get there, thank you, Jeffrey.
[20:10:04] COOPER: Rich Galen, how to you think he handled it?
LORD: Rich, I mean, this is a big --
GALEN: Jeffrey, look. What you're doing -- in Washington, D.C. what Jeffrey just did as he well knows it is call deflecting. You took the issue completely turned it around.
LORD: It is telling truth about the media.
COOPER: Let Rich answer --
GALEN: Trump was wrong in not stopping the question immediately. You know it, he knows it, the campaign -- let me finish here. And when you go back to that McCain footage from eight years ago, not only did he say she was wrong, but he actually took the microphone away from the woman so she couldn't say anything else while he defended the president. I mean, this is a completely different situation and shows the ineptitude of Donald Trump when he can't blusterous way through something, he runs off and hides.
LORD: Political correctness to the max.
COOPER: We have to take a quick break. We'll have more on this from Jeffrey and Nia-Malika Henderson and more from Rich Galen as well.
Coming up, later, while neither this subject nor this kind of controversy is anything new to Donald Trump. His record as a birther and what happened when we put his allegations to the test?
And later breaking news in the heartbreaking baby doe mystery. Do you remember this? Tonight, we finally know that poor child's name and name of a murder suspect as well in her tragic death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's go look. Come on, let's go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:15:05] COOPER: Continuing conversation with Jeffrey Lord, Rich Galen AND Nia-Malika Henderson talking about this moment in New Hampshire last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a problem in this country, it's called Muslims. We know our current president is one. You know he's not even an American.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need this question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That's my question. When can we get rid of them?
TRUMP: We're going to be looking at a lot of different things. And you know, a lot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We're going to look at that and plenty of other things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Now, I want to play what Rich Galen referred to a moment ago, John McCain back in 2008, how he handled the similar question or comment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's not -- he's a -- he's an Arab. He's not --
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: No, no ma'am. He's a decent family man citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about. He's not. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Nia, we haven't heard from you. What do you make of Trump's response?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, it's not surprising. I mean, this is Trump's brand, right? I mean, he came to prominence at least in this political incarnation, the latest version of Donald Trump in 2011 and 2012, he was very much a birther. And that was his audience. And he talked about Obama needing to release his birth certificate. Once Obama released it and even before Obama released it, he kept saying that Obama probably had something to hide, maybe the thing that he had to hide was something on his birth certificate about his religion.
So it would be off brand in my view for Trump to actually pull a John McCain in that instance and sort of correct that questioner there. I think Donald Trump knows his audience, 43 percent of Republicans think that Obama is Muslim. So I don't -- I think it would be a surprise if he handled this any differently in my view. Because this is very much Donald Trump's brand. He's a stoked this and benefited from a lot of these sort of lies and rumors about Barack Obama that have been in the political discourse going back to 2008.
COOPER: Jeffrey, I mean, if -- do you think Donald Trump was basically playing to those 43 percent of Republicans according to a CNN poll who believe the President Obama is a Muslim?
LORD: No, you know, you just played the clip again. And when you listen to that clip, I think you just clearly zeroed in on the guy's question, which was about the training camp and he was kind of vague in the answer because frankly the question was hard to understand. I mean, training camps where? Did he mean in the Middle East or did he mean here? I certainly didn't understand it hearing it again just now. And I think that's all he did.
And again, Anderson, this is the kind of thing I think is the problem here in the media, is that we take these tiny little sound bites and we make them into manic controversies. And you know, this is going to be replaced by something else the next day and next day and next day. Meanwhile, you've got people out there who to borrow from Chris Christie are struggling with their lives and their jobs and their economy and all this kind of thing and we don't want to go there. And that's -- we don't go there enough or with this kind of intensity. We use these as distractions. That to me is the real problem here, well above and beyond this particular situation with Donald Trump.
COOPER: Rich --
GALEN: I think it's interesting, Anderson, that some random guy at a town hall meeting finally flummoxed Donald Trump, when the best reporters and anchors and interviewers in the country, including you, couldn't pierce the armor.
LORD: Well, do you know the answer, Rich?
GALEN: Hold on the second, Jeff.
LORD: Do you know the answer to the guy's question?
GALEN: Yes. The answer is he shouldn't have ever let him get past the first statement. He should have stop it right there.
LORD: No. What is the answer to the training camp question?
GALEN: I'm not running for president. Your guy is running for president. It is not me. But my point is that Donald Trump I think, Jeffrey, Donald Trump is exhausted. I think he wasn't on his game. If he had been rested, he would have handled that differently. And I'm just wondering if he isn't buying something today to cover up the fact that he was too tired to go down to South Carolina.
COOPER: Rich, let me ask you because maybe - let me play devil's advocate here because I like to look at things from all different angles as much as I can.
There's an argument you could say, a Trump supporter could say, well, look, Donald Trump is not a career politician. He's probably rarely had town hall meetings where he takes questions like this, he's not used to kind of the types of random people who might stand up and spout off something like this. And he basically just wanted to kind of, you know, he was like oh, God, this is the first question, let's -- he wanted to get rid of it and move on to something else. Should he be held to the same standard as someone who's been a career politician, who's done a million town halls and maybe more experienced with how they handle people?
[20:20:06] GALEN: What do you think Donald Trump would say if he decided to build a 150 story office building in middle of midtown or in Manhattan.
LORD: Good luck and go to it.
GALEN: You idiot, you don't know what you're talking about. And that's my answer.
COOPER: So because he's running for president, you're saying he should be skilled at this.
GALEN: He should be -- yes, absolutely. This is the other side of not listening to people and of not wanting to be trained, of not wanting --
COOPER: But, Jeff --
GALEN: No, I'm not. During the campaign, Jeffery, that was a big deal all the way through the campaign. The reverend wright thing. I mean, you're making it sound --
LORD: No, it was not.
(CROSSTALK)
GALEN: It was mentioned every day.
COOPER: Without bringing, you know, other politicians into this, I just want to focus on first part of this guy's question where he said that Muslims are a problem in America. Had this guy stood up and said Jews are a problem in America or had this guy stood up and said I'm a Muslim. Christian are a big problem in this country.
LORD: Right. But he didn't say --
COOPER: Right. But I'm just saying --
LORD: He didn't say that.
COOPER: If he labeled one other entire religious group as the problem in America, don't you think somebody who --
LORD: That's right.
COOPER: Don't you think somebody who wants to be president of this country would move quickly to say, you know what? You can't paint with a broad brush entire religion?
LORD: Anderson, of course. But we're living in a country, this is fact, not my opinion, where every other day we're picking up the newspaper or turning on the television and finding out that some, you know, radical Islamist is planning to blow up something in America and they got caught. Now, that's a problem.
COOPER: Well, that's not what this guy is saying.
This guy is not talking about the problem of radical Islam, which is a problem in this country. Islam is a problem in this country.
LORD: Well, it sounds to me like he's conflating the two. And I would not conflate the two.
COOPER: Right. That's exactly what he is doing. He is conflating all Muslims with radical Islamists.
LORD: Right.
COOPER: And so, and that -- wouldn't that be a great response for a presidential candidate to say?
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: One at a time. Nobody can hear you when you talk over each other.
Jeffrey, you respond. And then Rich.
GALEN: OK, go ahead.
LORD: We're living in a country where the president and entire administration won't even add knowledge the problem of radical Islam. They won't even call it by its name. That fuels this kind of thing.
COOPER: But the guy who's running for the head of your party who you support, wouldn't you have liked him to have said - I mean, in the ideal world, wouldn't he have just said --
LORD: Anderson, what you're really asking me. COOPER: Talking about radical Islam. That's the problem in America.
It is not the great majority of Muslims.
GALEN: Let me go back to the question before.
LORD: The subtext, is Donald Trump a bigot and the answer is no.
GALEN: It sounds like he is.
COOPER: I'm not raising that. But anyway, Rich, go ahead.
GALEN: No. It is when you said before. This is first time he ever ran for president, maybe he didn't know how to do that. I can tell you that everybody running for the president of their local rotary club would have known to cut that guy off if it was happening in, you know, the holiday inn ballroom at luncheon on a Friday afternoon. I mean, you don't have to be a presidential scholar to stop that question in midstream and Trump didn't do it.
COOPER: All right. Jeffrey Lord, I appreciate you being on and Rich Galen. Nia-Malika Henderson as well.
Up next, looking at Donald Trump's birther claims and big promises about what his investigators were uncovering before President Obama released his birth certificate and proved those claims wrong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:27:19] COOPER: He doesn't have a birth certificate. He may have one, but there's something on that, maybe religion, maybe it says he's a Muslim. Donald Trump four years ago.
He might or might not have agreed with the guy who asked that first question last night or made that made that first statement calling the president a Muslim and foreign. But he certainly has a history of raising such doubts. Back in 2011, he was the country's best known birther. Here he is back then telling the "Today's Show's" Meredith Vieira about the team of investigators he sent to Hawaii to investigate the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I have people that actually have been studying it and cannot believe what they are finding.
MEREDITH VIEIRA, HOST, TODAY SHOW: You have people now down there searching in Hawaii?
TRUMP: Absolutely. And they cannot believe what they are finding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, to this day there's never been evidence that any Trump investigators were that Hawaii, let alone evidence what they might have found. We actually did send someone to Hawaii at the same time that he said that his investigators are there, "360's" Gary Tuchman. This is what he found.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Honolulu star bull ten newspaper, in August, 1961, declares Mr. And Mrs. Barack H. Obama have given birth to a son. A simple birth announcement that has become part of a complex web of conspiracy theories with one question looming above all others.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was born in Hawaii.
TUCHMAN: Was President Obama really born in the United States? The answer. Yes.
Have you seen Barack Obama's original birth certificate?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Dr. (INAUDIBLE) is the former director of the Hawaii department of health and a devoted Republican, until we met with her she had not talked on camera about this topic.
As a Republican member of the last Republican governor of Hawaii's cabinet, do you have any doubt that Barack Obama was born in the United States?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not. I have no doubt.
TUCHMAN: (INAUDIBLE) says she was asked in 2010 to make a statement about the Obama birth certificate controversy. Birth certificates are sealed but under state law, a public official can look at someone else's certificate if there is a quote "direct and tangible interest." She indeed felt she had the direct interest because of the statement she had to make. So she found the original birth certificate stored in a vault in the department of health building.
What did it tell you? Was it authentic?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was absolutely authentic. He was absolutely born here in the state of Hawaii.
TUCHMAN: But (INAUDIBLE) says even if she hadn't seen the original certificate, this document, the president's computer generated certificate already had proven he's born in Hawaii.
There's quite a bit of irony over this original birth certificate debates. And that is the original documents are no longer certified by the state. The health department says President Obama or any other Hawaiian could still go through the process of getting one. But either way, they are no longer supposed to be used for official purposes, only the computer generated ones will do.
We wanted to see what you get when ask for you Hawaii birth certificate.
[20:30:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next door, birth, death, marriage, birth for us.
TUCHMAN: So, we met 49-year-old Stig Vitalek (ph) and told him we would pay $10 for a new birth certificate.
(on camera): I'm Gary Tuchman with CNN. We're here to get a birth certificate for Stig.
TUCHMAN (voice over): We asked Stig because we also saw his birth announcements in the Honolulu newspaper and the same article, four names down, another newborn, for 13 hours earlier, Barack Obama.
(on camera): And you give him this original certificate or the electronic copy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a computerized birth certificate.
TUCHMAN: So, this is Stig certificate or live birth. It's the same form Barack Obama has, the very same form every Hawaiian now gets when they request a birth certificate. It has his name on it, his birthday at August 5th, 1961, the date after the president, it says, was filed August 8TH, 1961. This is a raised seal to show us authenticity and on the bottom, perhaps, the most important line, this copy serves as prime facie evidence of a fact of birth in any court proceeding.
(voice over): Another part of the conspiracy theory, is that the birth announcement in the paper is a fake planted by his family or someone else who wanted to trick the world into believing the future president was born in the U.S. Dan Nakaso is a long time newspaper reporter in Honolulu.
DAN NAKASO, HONOLULU STAR ADVERTISER: There are a number of people who believe that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States, that his mother or grandmother called the newspaper and gave false information he was born in the United States. Is it possible that could have gotten in the newspaper?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, that's not possible. Under the system that existed back then, there was no avenue for people to submit information that way.
TUCHMAN: So, how did the information get in the paper?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The information came directly from the State Department of health.
TUCHMAN: We confirmed that fact with the Health Department, too. All birth announcements printed in the paper came directly from the birth records of the hospital. Barack Obama not only has the same proof of birth as millions of other Hawaiians, but the former Hawaii governor remembers him as a baby.
(on camera): You saw him when he was an infant?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, sure, of course.
TUCHMAN (voice over): Former governor Neil Abercrombie says he met the future president just days after he was born because he was close to both of Barack Obama's parents. He remembers his mother, Ann Dunham living in Hawaii and pregnant and remembers celebrating the birth with his friends the Obamas.
NEIL ABERCROMBIE, FORMER HAWAII GOVERNOR: Of course, we had no idea at the time that the future president of the United States was that little boy, that little baby.
TUCHMAN: The original long form documents are kept in a vault in this building. And are no longer certified for official usage according to the State Health Department. But the former director of that health department felt it was her duty to see Barack Obama's original birth certificate.
(on camera): Do you know, has anyone else looked at the certificate? Does anyone else --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The registrar has actually seen it as well.
TUCHMAN: The registrar is someone --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awana Naka (ph), he is the chief registrar for the state, and he has - he's the one that took me to see the documents.
TUCHMAN: And you are a registered Republican?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the present time, yes.
TUCHMAN: And work for a Republican governor?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I did.
TUCHMAN: And you still say that birth certificate of this Democratic president is authentic?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
TUCHMAN (voice over): Not surprisingly, the former governor agrees.
ABERCROMBIE: I would just like to ask people who have this political orientation towards the president, respect us here in Hawaii, respect his mother and father. Respect the people that I loved and the people that I knew and the little boy who grew up here in paradise and became president.
TUCHMAN (on camera): It's very emotional for you.
ABERCROMBIE: Thank you. Yeah. It - certainly, sure it is.
TUCHMAN: It is emotional for many people, but emotions and conspiracy theories aside, facts are facts. And the fact is according to all of the evidence, Barack Obama was born just as the Honolulu newspaper announced it in August 1961. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Honolulu.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: That was Gary Tuckman back then on the ground in Honolulu doing actual reporting. Just ahead, breaking news, and mystery is solved, Boston authorities have identified the toddler whose remains were found in a trash bag nearly three months ago. They also say they now know who is responsible for her death and we'll tell you ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:34:04]
COOPER: It is breaking news in the Baby Doe mystery. The toddler whose remains were found in the trash bag along the shore of Boston Harbor. Tonight, we now know her name, Bella. That's her on the right. The image on the left is the composite drawing by a sketch artist that was circulated to try to help solve the mystery. You can see, I mean, the resemblance really, is striking. In addition to her identity, we also now know who police say is responsible for Bella's death. Randi Kaye has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at momma did - Look what momma did while you were sleeping.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was the girl we came to know as Baby Doe in happier times. August last year, a second birthday party in her honor. Now we know her real name.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's that, Bella?
KAYE: It's Bella Bond and she sure loved Hello Kitty.
COL. RICHARD MCKEON, MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE: Today, 83 days after we found this little girl on the shoreline, we're at last able to speak for baby Bella.
KAYE: The girl's body was discovered June 25th. All authorities knew for sure was that she hadn't been dead very long and there was no sign of a struggle. They thought she was about 4 years old, Hispanic or Caucasian. They had no idea who killed her until now.
DAVID CONLEY, SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: In light of the evidence that we have developed, I have authorized the arrest of Michael Patrick McCarthy, age 35, for Bella's murder.
KAYE: Michael McCarthy is Bella's mother's boyfriend. Authorities tracked down hundreds of leads, checking on more than 150 children tipsters thought could have been Baby Doe. Meanwhile, all this time, she was from right here in Dorchester, Massachusetts, just about 17 miles away from where her body was found. She lived right here in this apartment with her mother.
Thursday night the tip investigators had been waiting almost three months for came into the Boston police homicide unit. Authorities acted quickly, arresting not only McCarthy, but Bella's mother Rachel Bond, too. [20:40:02]
She's charged as an accessory after the fact. This neighbor said she hadn't seen the little girl in months.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I assume that these -- had to take custody of her because she had other kids that got taken away.
KAYE: DCF has confirmed to CNN it did have contact with Bella Bond four times, as recently as 2013, following complaints of neglect by her mother and that the agency had terminated parental rights for two of her mother's other children years ago. Meanwhile, back in June when the girl's body was found, investigators had little to go on. A zebra blanket that was with her and polka dot leggings she was wearing. Later lab tests concluded pollen on those items came from trees in New England. So, Baby Doe was likely from the area. Also, the pollen was mixed with soot, telling investigators her surroundings were somewhat urban.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a very good idea what happened to her based on the evidence.
KAYE: Bella's mother's Facebook page is filled with love for her daughter. Pictures of them snuggling, making pizza. Her mother often used the #bestgirl, ever. For this picture, she wrote, "My love, my soul, my life, my heartbeats because she's in my world."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It is so unthinkable, Randi joins us now from Boston. Do we know more about this tip?
KAYE: We don't know any more about the tip, Anderson. They talked about it at the press conference today, but they are not giving any more information. They won't say who called it in and they won't say what the tipster told them. But it certainly was enough to go on and deliver that search warrant and make this arrest. We should know more at the arraignment coming up at the suspect on Monday. But we do have a little bit more information, Anderson, about child services. We also learned today that after the girl's body was discovered on the shore, child services immediately did a sweep of homes in the area that had children matching that age. The trouble is, Anderson, they only checked open cases. And in a case of Bella Bond, her case had been closed even though they had been to the house four times and they did see neglect, her case was closed. The caseworkers never went back to her house, if they had, they likely would have noticed that she was missing, likely would have had a lot of questions for her mother and investigators probably would have been able to figure out who she was much sooner. At the press conference today they certainly weren't faulting the Department of Children and Family Services, they just simply said it was a very unfortunate circumstance, Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Randi, I appreciate that. Joining me now is CNN law enforcement analyst, a retired NYPD detective Harry Houck. Also, Michael Murphy, program manager for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Michael, I mean it's incredible that they've finally been able to identify this little girl and charge someone with her murder. Were you surprised that it took this long, that somebody hadn't called in a tip sooner?
HARRY HOUCK, CNN ANALYST: No, I think sometimes these cases can actually take a while. They have to develop. You have to let the investigators do their work. This case had so much media attention that it did surprise me that it took quite as long as it did. But I think it was something that was going to take some time to develop. And the amount of media attention it got, the number of hits that we saw on this particular image certainly was key to that process.
COOPER: And Harry, I mean it does seem like certainly a lesson for the future, whether or not, you know, the children services should have looked at old cases, not just active cases, but moving forward for the future, that's certainly hopefully a lesson they will learn.
HOUCK: Yes. Definitely, without a doubt. You know, what's really perplexing to me here is the fact, that she had two children taken away from her. So, she wasn't fit enough to be a mother to two children. So, when she has Baby Bella, they don't take her away from her. And especially when they had more allegations against her being an unfit mother.
COOPER: Right.
HOUCK: So, I think the Bureau of Child Welfare has got some kind of --
COOPER: You would think they would certainly look into other people who had had children taken away already.
HOUCK: Exactly.
COOPER: And who may still have children, even if it's not an active --
HOUCK: Exactly. But also to be fair to them, you know, their caseloads are unbelievable. You know, so but I thought this was -- when they first found this body, they had indicated that that's exactly what they were going to do. They were going to check on homes where children had problems to see if the children were OK.
COOPER: Michael, is that something you would also recommend for the future? I mean not to try to be hypercritical of them thus far, but moving forward to kind of look at back cases even if it's not an open case?
MICHAEL MURPHY, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Well, I think it's important for us to remember that these investigators did an absolutely phenomenal job and a daunting task and that they were following up on hundreds of leads. And as a result of the search for the name of this child and now that we know is Bella that they were able to look at several hundred leads. They followed up with other child welfare agencies, with agencies outside of the United States and a couple of hundred kids were found to be okay. And that's important. And so, all of this takes time to develop and as has been said, there is a lot of heavy caseloads. They are trying to get it done. But these folks were tenacious in their process and everybody plays a part. Everybody brings a piece to the table. And it's important.
[20:45:00]
MURPHY: That's how we solve these cases.
COOPER: You know, Michael, no one likes to think that a parent is capable of doing this or a step parent. But I mean you must see this more often than not. I mean it's - we all think about kind of stranger abductions and strangers doing terrible things to children, but often it's a member of the family.
MURPHY: Unfortunately, it is or a para-more in the family, as they refer to someone who has access to the child that is not necessarily a direct blood relative to the parent. That's always an issue. I want to remind you that we have 700 other cases that we're looking at that we don't want this momentum to fall away, that we have other cases that we want to bring that type of resolution to. You can go to help me I.D. on the Facebook page and we can continue to give names to these children and to let there be justice for these children.
COOPER: So, when you say, you have 700 cases, 700 other cases, you mean you have 700 other unidentified kids?
MURPHY: That's correct. The unit that I work with is a phenomenal group of folks.
COOPER: That's incredible.
MURPHY: We're taking - we're taking cases from as far back as the 1960s, continuing to identify, you know, the Chicago case is going on right now, we have another one out of Lake Charles, Missouri. And so, these are cases that tug at the heart strings of America. And we want to make sure that this momentum is not lost. I think one of the most important things to remember here is now that Bella has a name and now that they know who they are, investigators were able to move forward quickly, they'll be able to bring those to justice that have done this wrong.
COOPER: I mean, 700, that's just - that's incredible. Michael Murphy, I appreciate you being with us and Harry Houck as well. Always. Coming up, Pope Francis visiting the United States next week. He stops in Washington, New York and Philadelphia. First, he is going to Cuba. He's scheduled to arrive there tomorrow. We're going to have a live update from Havana next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:50:33]
COOPER: Tomorrow, Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive in Cuba where he'll be for a few days before heading to the United States where he'll visit Washington, New York and Philadelphia. "New Day's" Chris Cuomo is in Havana, ahead of the pope's arrival. He joins us now. So, what is the visit there? What it's going to look like?
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: I'll tell you, Anderson, it's going to be a really big deal. And not just for the people here in Cuba, but also for the United States. Behind us is old Havana. And what's going on here is really in real time the past meeting the present and the future. Make no mistake Pope Francis is coming to Cuba to shore up the Catholic Church here. The time of transition. There are evangels here, now Mormons here. The Catholic Church has competition at the same time that the President Raul Castro administration is allowing religion to have a little bit of a resurgence.
So, he's coming here to shore up his own church, but also to reinforce what he's already done here. This new situation between Cuba and the United States, this re-establishment of relations is in no small part because of the efforts of the Holy City, the Vatican and this pope. His facility with language is coming from Latin America and his desire both with President Obama and President Castro, has made this moment possible.
The men spoke this morning as you know, big news coming about President Obama and President Castro speaking about the papal visit, about Castro going to the U.S., about Obama coming here. Has all kind of culminated in Pope Francis's arrival here tomorrow in Havana. And it's very interesting, because he engineered this. John Paul II brought down the wall and it is said that Pope Francis wants to build a bridge specifically between Cuba and the U.S. So, he's going to come here to Havana, it's going to be a huge event in the Plaza of Revolution, Plaza de Revolucion, and he's going to meet here, and then go to what they call the interior in Cuba, he's going to Hoge (ph), he's going to go to Cobre (ph), these really poverty stricken areas within Cuba to be with the regular people and to let people know that he is here to help those who are suffering.
And then he's going to come to the United States as you well know, Anderson. But the key is, when he comes here to Havana, it's going to be a reinforcement of his desire for the church here to be strong again, but also as a manifestation of all the efforts that have gone on for a couple of years now to stop the embargo and to create relationships between the United States and Cuba. So, it's going to be a very, very big deal.
COOPER: Yeah, a lot of excitement pulling no doubt, both there and here in the United States. Chris, thanks very much. We'll be watching all weekend long. Coming up, something to make you smile, at the end of the long week. The ridiculous is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time now for "The Ridiculous." And it's been a very long week, perhaps too long, because we're starting to ponder the meaning of life and finding the answers in those claw machine games, you know, where you put your money in, you try to grab one of the prizes, which are, let's face it, a metaphor for your hopes and your dreams, and just when you think you finally got a hold of one, it slips right through your grasp and you have a suspicion that the whole thing is rigged anyway, so why even bother? Happy Friday, everyone. Fatalistic symbolism notwithstanding, the cruelty of the Claw game was
not a deterrent for two young girls in Texas recently. They had their eye on a certain yellow ball, and six-year-old Juliette took matters into her own hand. She thought outside the box and she got inside the box.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wanted to get my sister a ball. I had my legs out and then I tried to reach up and get a ball, but it didn't work. So I opened the door again, put my whole body in there then I tried to -- I got balls but I couldn't get out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Yeah, like a Shakespearian tragedy playing out at CC's Pizza in Fresco, Texas. Juliette became trapped by her own aspirations. Firefighters were summoned to help. Unfortunately, they used up all their quarters before anyone could grab her. I'm just kidding.
They heroically pried open the machine, and lifted little Juliette out after which she was promptly grounded by her mom. Now, in Juliette's defense, it seems this all began with a dare from her older sister Katie and wasn't just any dare.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I haven't told my mom this yet, but maybe it was a double dog dare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Dang, double dog dare. I ask you, what choice did she have? Now, look, I'm not here to encourage children to crawl inside of arcade games, not by any means at all, but I do think the story does show something there should have been bravery. After all, what's the point of mastering the claw game as it's intended to be played? That's not a useful real life skill. The only time I've ever seen it come in handy is on "Arrested Development" when Buster got really good at it, and even - some issues. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got you, brother.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately, Buster's new found skills did not involve lowering gently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So, oh, Buster, what is the lesson we've learned here? I honestly have no idea. But let's go with be creative, be daring, but always, always have an escape claws on the Ridiculist.
[21:00:00] COOPER: That does it for us. Thanks very much for watching. CNN TONIGHT with Don Lemon starts now.
