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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
University of Missouri President Steps Down; Officials Express Growing Certainty That MetroJet Flight 9268 Was Brought Down By ISIS Bomb; Trump Steps Up His Attacks Against Carson; Dr. Carson's Past; Bond for Two Officers Accused of Murder Set at $1 Million; Stabbing at West Bank Checkpoint. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired November 09, 2015 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:05] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening. Thanks for joining us.
Tonight, dramatic climax to a remarkable string of events at one of America's major universities and there could be more to come. The president and chancellor of the University of Missouri stepping down in a storm of protest over alleged institutional racism. Protests that continues as we speak. It's been growing for weeks with people statewide and nationwide watching. One grad student launched a hunger strike and then over the weekend came with may have been the decisive blow.
On Saturday, members of Missouri's football team which brings in millions of dollars from revenue at the school said they would boycott games until university president Timothy Wolfe resigns. This afternoon, he did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM WOLFE, RESIGNED AS PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI: My decision to resign comes out of love, not hate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And his protesters linked in celebration. Elected officials weighed in on both sides of the aisle and all sides of the issue. Then came new pressure on the university chancellor to resign, as well, and he did. In a moment, the grad student that launched the hunger strike joins us, young man who says that some people considered him a dead man walking when he started.
First Kyung Lah with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We not going to move on! I'm sorry. You are just going to have to deal with it.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are watching a protest at the University of Missouri's homecoming parade and the red car is university president Tim Wolfe. These students are protesting what they say is a pattern of racism on campus and ineffective response by the university's leaders eventually counter protesters get between them and president Wolfe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not engage. Do not engage!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engage. What the (bleep) are you talking about?
LAH: Wolfe does nothing to address the protesters and the police break it up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't give them conviction like this.
LAH: The incident a result of what students say was inaction by administration to address racial incidents on campus. Tensions started to boil over on campus in mid-September when this man, student body president Payton Head reported on Facebook that some guys riding on the back of a pickup truck decided it would be OK to continuously scream the "n" word at me. The post went viral.
A few weeks after that a report of another racially charged incident. An African-American student organization was rehearsing a play at this outdoor amp theater on campus when they say a white male jumped on stage and called them the "n" word. University police were called and a few days later the student was identified and quote "moved from campus pending an investigation."
On October 24th, another incident of hate in this residence hall. At 2:00 in the morning someone entered a bathroom and drew a swastika with feces. It was actually the second time in less than a year that someone had vandalized a university dorm with a Nazi symbol. And this most recent incident, the guilty party was never found.
On November 2nd, a week ago, graduate student Jonathan Butler vowed he would starve himself until Tim Wolfe was gone writing in a letter to university officials that he continue until either Tim Wolfe is removed from office or my internal organs fail and my life is lost. This past Friday this video was posted to twitter by Wolfe being confronted by students a second time. This time, he responds.
WOLFE: Systematic depression is because you don't believe that you have the equal opportunity for success.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Money, money, money. Step back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you just blame us for system oppression, Wolfe?
LAH: On Saturday, university football player Anthony Sherls (ph) tweeted that athletes of color on the football team wouldn't play until president Wolfe resigns or as removed due to his negligence towards marginalized students experiences.
On Sunday, as protests grow on campus, local station KSEK films a truck-driving by them flying a confederate flag. That same day, the football coach tweets out this picture of the team writing we are united, we are behind our players. And then, this morning a month after the first confrontation with protesters.
WOLFE: I'm resigning as president of the university of Missouri system. Why did we get to this very difficult situation? It is my belief we stopped listening to each other.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And Kyung Lah joins us from the University of Missouri campus in Columbia.
Just a few hours after the president and the chancellor also stepped down, are the protests continuing?
LAH: You can see, Anderson, there are still tents behind me. I'm actually standing on the quad but those tents, very different from what they have been all week. Those tents are empty. The students have gone home. But they are symbolic sign that the work is not finished. And almost hearing that, the university did respond as the chancellor was stepping down, the university promised they would implement a number of initiatives and they would do so within 90 days. They say they will hire a chief diversity officer. That there will be a full review of all policies involving students and staff. And they will also make sure to additional support for anyone who feels they are a victim of discrimination and work on hiring and retention -- Anderson.
[20:05:28] COOPER: All right. Kyung Lah, appreciate it.
Now, the graduate student who stopped eating to get his point across John Butler joins us along with Missouri student body president Payton Head.
John, you stopped eating last week. I'm wondering were you surprised how quickly the president stepped down and now the chancellor?
JOHN BUTLER, HUNGER STRIKE PROTESTER: You know, I wouldn't say that I was surprised about the president stepping down and the chancellor. Honestly, it should have happened earlier, it should happened before the hunger strike just because former UM system president Tim Wolfe had a track record since he has been in office of just being negligent and not really performing the key roles of his duty as the UM system president. So, we really honestly, you know, I reiterated this all day, but we should have never gotten to this point.
COOPER: Payton, I wonder - I mean, for those who do not go to the University of Missouri, can you explain what the campus university atmosphere is like for African-American students?
PAYTON HEAD, PRESIDENT, MISSOURI STUDENT ASSOCIATION: Especially at this time it's very tense. It is unsafe. And I think that's one of the main reasons why we have been calling for leadership in a time where students have been saying over and over and we feel unsafe and we feel un-included in this campus community.
As student body president, that is my job. I bring these issues to our administration so they can address them. What I've seen over the course of my year in office here at the University of Missouri is a lack of response, a lack of concern for these issues that marginalize students have been bringing to the attention of UM administration for years.
COOPER: John, just on a personal level, I mean, when you were not eating, I mean, to go on this hunger strike, did you have any doubts at any point?
BUTLER: I don't think I had any doubts because for me, I never took it as a deficit approach. A lot of people know how corrupt the system is and they thought I would die from day one, from the moment I made my announcement. People thought I was a dead man walking. So for me, especially with faith in God, I really didn't look at it from a death set approach that I would die even though I took precautions that I might, I really did come at this with an approach of victory knowing the harder we fight, the greater the reward.
COOPER: You said you took precautions you might. What do you mean?
BUTLER: Precautions in terms of updating my living will. I did have a DNR signed. There are other precautions in terms of, you know, what would happen with certain things in terms if I had a seizure or if I went into a coma and outlined those things in documents to make sure that people know what to do if any of this would have turned out poorly.
COOPER: So you were really prepared to go that far?
BUTLER: Yes, this was not a light decision. I have been facing issues on this campus as an under grad since 2008. And now as a grad student here, I've been facing issues. And so, this wasn't an easy decision to make, but over the past two and a half, three weeks prior to the hunger strike, I really took the time consulting my spiritual leaders and my pastors and other mentors about this decision and knowing that I am truly committed to this change, that's what I really set my heart on doing and just was the necessary precautions just in case anything happened.
COOPER: And this is important, as an under graduate you say you've been facing these issues since 2008. Did you feel unsafe on campus?
BUTLER: I felt unsafe since the moment I stepped on this campus. But the thing we have been pushing to everyone is that we love Mizzou (ph) enough to critique and to fight against the injustices that we face at school. So my first semester here, I had someone write the n-word on my wall. I've been in physical in altercations with white gentlemen on campus. You know, I have other incidences that going on. And for me, it just I've always not felt welcome at this university because the campus hasn't been a welcoming and inclusive environment.
COOPER: Payton, the Missouri's lieutenant governor Peter Kinder was on a radio interview today. And he said that you and the students had no legitimate authority to drive the president out and were seeking quote "governance by mob rule." Those were his words. He also said it was reminisce of Ferguson which he called a catastrophe. I'm wondering how would you respond to that. HEAD: In regards to that comment, you know, I have nothing to say. I
think that shows the lack of leadership in this state. That's a problem. And it shows the fact that this is not just, you know, UM system issue. This is a national issue that we need to address as a whole.
You know, these incidents that we are seeing on this campus are not single isolated incidents. Racism is systematic. It is institutional. And we are not blaming Mr. Wolfe for institutional racism. What we have a problem with this was we have a leader who is supposed to represent these students who are coming from all 50 states, over 120 different countries around the world not understanding the history of this institution and how it played a role in perpetuating systems of violence towards marginalized and in minor students. So that is what I think that the people in this state need to educate themselves on. And that goes all the way up to, you know, the capital, that goes to our UM system and it goes to the nation, as well.
COOPER: Well, Payton Head and John Butler, I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you, gentlemen.
HEAD: Thank you.
BUTLER: Thank you.
COOPER: Just ahead, much more on the Missouri protest and the role the college football dollars may have played in as well.
Also, and late developments in the police chase and shooting that badly wounded a man and killed his 6-year-old son. The two city marshals involved facing murder charges. Tonight, a big day in court and at least some answers emerging.
And later what a 360 investigation reveals about the controversial nutritional supplement that Ben Carson took during his treatment for cancer and the nature of his relationship to the company that makes it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:09:54] COOPER: We are talking about big changes at major university in the state in Missouri where racial tension is front page news ever since Ferguson erupted. Leaders at the protest moment at the University of Missouri said they feel that kind of tension all the time.
A moment ago you heard the graduate student who went on hunger strike said some did not expect him to be alive to see what happened today. That he would die before the university president stepped down, a feeling he told me he did not share.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:15:21] BUTLER: I don't think I had any doubts because for me, I never took it as a deficit approach. A lot of people now how corrupt the system is and thought I was going to die from day one, from the moment I made my announcement. People thought that I was a dead man walking. So for me, especially with faith in God, I really didn't look at it from a deficit approach that I would die even though I took precautions that I might.
COOPER: So you were really prepared to go that far?
BUTLER: Yes, this is not a light decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Not a light decision at all. The university president and chancellor are out tonight. And we are talking right now about all the reasons why including many believe that millions of dollars in revenue the football team brings in every year. This is why the threat by African-American team members to boycott games may have been the last straw along with the fact the team recruits so heavily from African-American communities around the country.
Joining us is CNN sports anchor Rachel Nichols and "New York Times" Charles Blow.
There are obviously, Rachel, a lot of factors involved here. Faculty members, we are talking about walking out today as well. Where the number of protesters have pointed to as well. But it is undeniable the power and we see it that this team has. I mean, they bring in tens of millions of dollars to the school every year.
RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, your guests have been hunger striking for a week. Within 48 hours of the football team making an announcement, that's when we saw these resignations.
Look, there are more people who watch football games in this country than go to church. There are more people who watch football than vote. This is where we have a lot of national conversation. And sometimes athletes use that power implicitly. We saw all the way back to Jackie Robinson setting an example on immigration and pushing the country forward and sometimes it is explicit like it is with these Missouri football players.
What is so interesting to me is the uptick, the rebirth we have seen in athlete activism in recent years. You may remember Michael Jordan never got involved in anything, right, reportedly saying hey, you know, Republicans buy sneakers, too. But we have seen Lebron James got active in the Trayvon Martin case. There is an NFL and NBA players in the, I can't breather Eric Garner shirts. We saw the Clippers say they refused to play for their team owner Donald Sterling and now we can count the Missouri football players among those athletes.
COOPER: Charles, I mean, it is probably is the most high-profile example of college players embracing the power they have.
CHARLES BLOW, OP-ED COLUMNIST, NEW YORK TIMES: I think it is high profile, but I also think that it points to sort of a deficit, moral deficit, right, that you couldn't get this sort of action without a threat of loss of income and revenue. And that kind of erodes the power of the president stepping down because there are hands in his back from a monetary perspective rather than simply from a moral perspective that you should have done more to be inclusive of the voices on your campus. And I think a lot of times these young people are particularly agitated when they go into a college environment where they think it is an enlightened environment. They are part -- this (INAUDIBLE) group is part of the most diverse generation ever. But they go into these environments where they become even smaller portion of the population that than they are in the general population. And then to experience this kind of hostility, they do feel besieged. And if you can't recognize that without someone saying we're going to take $1 million off the table on Friday or Saturday or Sunday, that's a moral problem.
COOPER: Well I mean, the fact that if students are feeling unsafe on campus, I mean, there is no excuse for that. I mean, it's beyond - it is just not acceptable. I know you spoke at the university a couple years ago and students talked to you about this back then.
BLOW: Absolutely. I spoke at a Martin Luther King event about race and politics. It was 2011. It was one year before this current president took office. And even then, the students talked to me very openly about kind of a hostile environment on campus. And in fact, one of the professors who had sought to invite me there wanted me to specifically open up dialogue about these particular issues. And that professor has stayed in contact with me and will constantly send me things. And in fact, this past week student leaders were sending me kind of information about what was happening on ca campus.
And what you saw was, you know, it's not just the last six months. I think it is just a cumulative effect of a whole generation of people who are basically saying we are tired. We are just tired of having to take and having no one feel like they are listening to what we are saying.
COOPER: And Rachel, I guess if the game had been cancelled, there would have been a million dollar-fine. But the larger thing, I mean, this program brought in $83 million just last year.
NICHOLS: Yes. This is where we spend our time and money as a society that filters into our academic institutions. And I think college athletes around the country are looking at what happened at Missouri over this past few days and saying, what are other issues that concern us? We think college athletes say I don't have enough money in my pocket to eat while they are making millions of dollars for these schools playing basketball or football. Are they going to now take a stronger stand on that using this collective power that they have seen harmless?
[20:20:26] COOPER: Rachel Nichols, good to have you. Charles Blow as well. Thank you.
This is not the only story making big headlines tonight. Right now, officials are expressing growing certainly Metrojet flight 9268 was brought down by a bomb placed onboard the Russian airbus an ISIS affiliate. There is also an increasing belief it was an inside job, someone works on the job at Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt. But now everyone is completely convinced.
Our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto joins us now with the latest.
So how certain are officials in the U.S. tonight that a bomb did in fact bring down this plane?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I tell you. To some degree it depends on who you talk to. There is one U.S. official telling CNN, 99 percent certainty a bomb brought down this plane. And you had a U.K. foreign secretary tells CNN just a couple of hours ago, that there is a high probability that ISIS is involved. But a U.S. intelligence official tells me there is no definitive statement yet from the U.S. intelligence community because the evidence, frankly, is incomplete. Some of it equivalent of this official's words of hearsay. And the U.S. has had no access to evidence such as debris to look for explosive residue or the voice recorder to assess that mysterious sound heard on tape.
That said, if ISIS is found to have done this, Anderson, this would be in the words of the U.S. intelligence official clear and concerning evidence that is expanding its ambitions outside of Iraq and Syria.
COOPER: Where do Egypt and Russia stand on this?
SCIUTTO: You know, so many politics involved here. Russia's prime minister tweeted today quote "the Russian plane crash in Egypt may have been the result of a terrorist attack." Now, that's further than any Russian official has gone to this point. But Egyptian officials, they are pushing back. The chief Egyptian investigator saying today that there are all these other scenarios that are still on the table. You know, so many politics involved here, a terror attack in Egypt would under mind the credibility of the Egyptian's crack down on Islamic extremists at that country and they are very active here, you know.
For the U.S., though, the key is what evidence they provide to the U.S. to what kind of access. And, you know, the FBI has offered to help and it's got great experience on things like this. But those talks still underway.
COOPER: All right, Jim. Thanks very much for the update.
Just ahead, Donald Trump talking live on the campaign trail right now. He is ramping up his verbal attacks on Ben Carson as new pollster the race between them closer than ever. Will the attacks continue when the two face-off in tomorrow's debate?
Also ahead tonight, caught on video, a stabbing in the West Bank as it unfolded, security guard survived. The story behind this horrific attack.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:26:45] COOPER: Welcome back.
Donald Trump was speaking tonight in Springfield, Illinois. Let's quickly listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a president that wants to show how tough he is by sending 50 men. So everybody over there, they are not babies. You know, they are not the JV that this guy thought they were, OK. Remember, the JV, there is the JV. Well, they just knocked down an airliner, they say it's 99. 9 percent as of today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It once the Republican front runner in the latest national poll. Over the weekend, he stepped up attacks for Dr. Ben Carson who is edged ahead of Trump in South Carolina, according to new poll. Even as claims Carson's made about his past are being challenged.
On CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," Donald Trump fanned the flames of skepticism over Carson's contention he was violent in his youth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I just don't know. I mean, I'm not involved. I don't really know. It's a lot of things, you know, when you say, though, hitting your mother over the head with a hammer, when you talk about hitting a friend in the face with a lock, a padlock, and you know, you talk about stabbing someone and he got stopped by a belt buckle, which, you know, belt buckles really pretty much don't stop stabbing, they turn and twist and things slide off. So you know, it is pretty lucky if that happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Mr. Trump has his own record of taking liberties with facts from his own life story, something he has admitted on more than one occasion. But will the attacks on Dr. Carson have a lasting effect and could they actually propel Trump the nomination?
Stuart Stevens says no way. He was Mitt Romney's chief strategist during the last campaign and author of the "last season a father, son, and a lifetime of college football." Also with us is Mark Leibovich, chief national correspondent for "the New Times" magazine.
Stuart, as we look at Donald Trump there on the stage tonight, you said not long ago in CNN that Trump would be out of the race by the time Iowa votes on February 1st because quote "the greatest sin in his value system is to be a loser and he wouldn't want to risk that." Do you still feel that way?
STUART STEVENS, FORMER ROMNEY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I do. He is not going up. Listen, the key here is that no one is attacking Donald Trump yet on television. I think that will happen. It always happens with the front-runner and we've yet to see Donald trump commit to the campaign and serious financial ways.
When he says he's not -- that he's funding his campaign by himself, it's not true. He spent twice as much money from donors than he spent himself. It will probably take $100 million to be the nominee, cost Romney campaign about $135 million, rarely goes down. So I mean, is he going to step up and write a $50, $75 million check? That's what it is going to take. I'm very skeptical if he will actually do that.
COOPER: Mark, you spent time with Donald Trump on his plane ahead of the first Republican debate. That was back in September. Everyone said he would fizzle out. He's still at or near the top of the field. Do you believe he could really become the Republican nominee?
MARK LEIBOVICH, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW TIMES MAGAZINE: I do, actually. And I actually disagree with Stuart. And I think he will make it to February 1st. And I think, look, I don't think he will, I mean, it's not a very big check for him. It is obviously big for an average person. But he hasn't spent a penny yet. And yes, he hasn't been attacked on TV, but he has gotten so much free publicity in the media. And look, I mean, he has driven so many ratings and he has been an expert and in part with the complicity of the media or largely from the complicity of the media at actually drumming up his own attention, which is what he's great at.
COOPER: Well, Stuart, it's interesting. I mean usually candidates roll out ideas or roll out new plans every so often to kind of get more interest. You know, Donald Trump really hasn't done that very much. He's basically kind of repeating the same things over and over again, it's certainly entertaining for the crowd there people. And he's doing very well in the polls. Do you see a time where that starts to wear thin?
STUART STEVENS, FORMER ROMNEY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: I think the problem that Trump has an expanding, the reason he hasn't grown since he sort of - is that there is no reason to beef Donald Trump in any policy sense other than Donald Trump. And I think were he a serious candidate, he would be adding reasons, he would be saying OK, here is a serious plan that will help your life be better. He is angry at immigrants. A lot of people are angry at immigrants. That's not a plan. Putting to deport 11 million people is an absurdity. I don't think anybody really believes it would happen. So, I think that he has to do what serious candidates do if he is going to be a serious candidate.
COOPER: Mark, do you see some of the other candidates and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio continuing to hold fire on Donald Trump and maybe Carson, as well, for the time being because there are, you know, I guess, you could say those guys are poised to assume the mantle, the frontrunners Trump and Carson stumbled. Or do you think they may start going after them?
MARK LEIBOVICH, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: Yeah, I mean I think less so. I mean I think Rubio and Cruz especially have really, you know, sort of built their campaign on the Ronald Reagan 13th amendment ...
COOPER: 11TH.
LEIBOVICH: What's the amendment, sir? OK. Not to attack other Republicans. I mean I don't think - look, I think the track record of other Republicans who have attacked him has not been good, I mean they have continued to sink. And frankly, the voters and the Republican electorate, at least those who are entering polls, are not punishing Donald Trump in any way, shape or form for making statements that might be utterly ridiculous, for making, you know, very few very specific policy prescriptions. And look, I mean that's the marketplace we're dealing with here.
COOPER: Mark Leibovich, I appreciate you being on. Stuart Stevens, always good to have you.
Thank you, just ahead, how deep did Dr. Ben Carson's ties to a controversial nutritional supplement company really go? What does a former colleague at Johns Hopkins think about Carson lending his name to a product that's unproven by science? We're keeping him honest tonight.
Plus, a brazen knife attack in the West Bank all but caught on video. A woman there attacking security official. That attack shaking the entire region. We'll talk about it ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:36:18]
COOPER: Dr. Ben Carson made the rounds in the Sunday talk shows slamming the media for questioning claims he's made about his past. Here is what he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BEN CARSON: I've always said that I expect to be vetted but being vetted and what is going on with me, you said this 30 years ago, you said this 20 years ago. This didn't exist. You know, I just, I have not seen that with anyone else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, keeping them honest, one piece of Dr. Carson's past that is still raising questions didn't happen 20 or 30 years ago. It's much more recent history. During the last Republican debate, Dr. Carson denied having any links to the nutritional supplement company Mannatech. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARSON: I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them. I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, as we reported before, Dr. Carson's claim that he has no ties at all to Mannatech don't actually stand up to scrutiny. Our senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin has been digging deeper tonight. He has new information.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARSON: Yes, I think it's a good product.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the product at the center of this political controversy. Ambrotose is a dietary supplement sold by a company called Mannatech. It's made up of tree bark, aloe gum and other natural products supposedly to support better health. In 2013 Mannatech reported sales of more than $170 million selling this product based on what it claims is the science of glyconutrients.
Ronald Schnaar, a professor of pharmacology and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins medical school says, there is no science about it. Glyconutrients is a made up term.
RONALD SCHNAAR, JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: There is no established evidence that these are useful.
GRIFFIN: That has been a problem for Mannatech in the past. The Texas attorney general sued the company back in 2007 charging Mannatech with orchestrating an unlawful marketing scheme that exaggerated their products health benefits. In fact, state officials charged Mannatech's marketing materials falsely claimed its dietary supplements could care and treat Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, cancer and other serious illnesses.
(on camera): The Texas attorney general back in 2007 called that a sham.
SCHNAAR: Yes.
GRIFFIN: You would agree?
SCHNAAR: We totally agree.
GRIFFIN (voice over): Mannatech and its founder eventually paid $7 million to settle the suit without admitting any wrongdoing and stopped making claims it could cure anything.
SCHNAAR: So, what does all this have to do with Dr. and presidential candidate Ben Carson? This.
CARSON: Let me just briefly delve into how I became associated with the products of this company.
GRIFFIN: Ben Carson has a relationship with Mannatech spending nearly a decade, since he began taking the product to promote his own health. Beginning in 2004 up until 2013, Dr. Carson made four speeches in front of Mannatech sales associates. For the most recent speech the company says, Carson was paid $42,000. For the three previous speeches, the company made donations to the Carson scholarship fund but wouldn't say how much. In his speeches and testimonial interviews used in promotional videos, Carson discussed how he beat prostate cancer with surgery while taking Mannatech's dietary supplements.
[20:40:01]
CARSON: That was as close to nature as I could possibly get and that's really how I settled on glyconutrients.
GRIFFIN: And up until he decided to run for president, Dr. Ben Carson's image was front and center on Mannatech's websites and promotional material.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Ray Robins with the platinum group. We are proud to be the exclusive sponsors of the program that you're about to watch with Dr. Ben Carson.
GRIFFIN: Mannatech distributors calling themselves the platinum group even signed on to underwrite Ben Carson's public television special. CNN spoke with three former sales and marketing insiders at Mannatech who say the involvement by the esteemed neurosurgeon went a long way toward legitimizing a product were scientific community was calling worthless.
ALYSSA SUMNEY, FORMER MANNATECH ASSOCIATE: A neuro scientist was definitely somebody that the company wanted to have on their side, have on their team in order to grow the company in a very legitimate way.
GRIFFIN: It's obvious why Mannatech wanted a highly respected neurosurgeon to speak highly of its product. What is not so obvious, is why a respected neurosurgeon would let his name to such an unproven product. We asked about that at Johns Hopkins where Ben Carson became a famous neurosurgeon.
SCHNAAR: We here at a major medical and biomedical research institution have a special responsibility to abide by evidence and to share evidence based knowledge with people. And whenever anybody here falls short of that standard, to me, that's disappointing.
GRIFFIN: Dr. Carson was asked about his relationship with Mannatech in the recent CNBC debate.
CARSON: Well, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda. And this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them. I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of relationship with them.
GRIFFIN: Because that answer didn't quite square with the speeches, the promotional videos and the under writing of his PBS specials, CNN called the Ben Carson campaign asking for an interview. The response from the campaign's business manager quote, "this will never happen. You are up to no good. We don't trust you." Last week, we approached the candidate himself at a book signing in Lakemont (Ph), Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Carson ...
GRIFFIN: Without any hesitation we were invited right onto his busy for a two-minute interview.
(on camera): We're here to talk about a subject that your campaign manager says you don't want to talk about.
CARSON: What's this?
GRIFFIN: Mannatech thing. But I've got to ask you, given your stature in the medical community, why were you involved at all, whatever the relationship was in a company that was selling a product that the Texas attorney general says it's a sham product?
CARSON: Well, remember, they contracted me to give a speech. I do not, you know, go into great depth when I get a contract to do a speech. I go and do the speech. And I happen to like their product since I've been taking it, I almost never get sick, but, you know, I constantly warn them not to use me as an endorser and some of the associates took the tapes and they put them up on the websites and stuff like that. There is nothing I can do to control that.
GRIFFIN: Weren't you concerned at the time, even after, I mean this was 2007, 2008, 2009 that they were using your image? Using your ...
CARSON: Well, I didn't know they were doing that.
GRIFFIN: You did not know?
CARSON: No.
GRIFFIN: Do you endorse that product for its benefits because I just talked to a microbiologist today who said there is no scientific proof this works ...
CARSON: It may not. And all I say is I take it because I almost never get sick anymore and I used to get sick a lot, so I like it.
GRIFFIN: So, this product $200 a month or so, you would recommend?
CARSON: I take it for myself. I have never gotten into the process of endorsing anything officially. I've made it clear that I wasn't going to do that. Are you trying to get me to endorse the product? I'm not going to do it.
GRIFFIN: I'm not getting you to endorse it. And I'm trying to - trying to get you to answer a question that glycobiologist ...
CARSON: I'm just telling you that personally, I have found nutritional supplements to be good.
GRIFFIN: Yeah. And are you concerned at all that there is no clinically proven study that says ...
CARSON: I do not - I do not endorse it for anybody else except for me.
GRIFFIN: Dr. Carson, thanks, good luck to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Drew Griffin joins us now. So, he says he not only does he use the product but his mom does, as well.
GRIFFIN: Yes, she suffers from Alzheimer's since I think 2011. He says that she takes it. And I asked him, does it work for her?
[20:45:00]
He says it seems to.
COOPER: How can he claim, though, like he did in the CNBC debate that there is no relationship with Mannatech? I mean he gave repeated speeches. He's been in promotional material. They underwrote something he did on public broadcasting a special that was underwritten by associates of the company. It sure sounds like a relationship, I guess, is the definition of what a relationship exactly is.
GRIFFIN: You know, all we can do is kind of layout the facts and for about a decade, he had this, I would call it a relationship, Anderson, with Mannatech. He was on their website. He says they didn't have his approval to use that, but he didn't stop them from using it either, but all we can do is layout the facts and let the people decide whether or not this was a relationship or what kind of relationship it was. And there are the facts and he says he uses the product, and despite the fact there is no clinical research to say it works, he says it works for him.
COOPER: All right, Drew, thanks very much. Up next, new details on the argument and the police chase that led to the death of a six-year- old and a hail of bullets. And shocking video from the West Bank, a graphic example of the violence sweeping through Israel.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: A Louisiana judge today set bond at $1 million each for the two officers involved in a shooting that sent the father to the hospital and took the life of his six year old son. That, and a local district attorney recused himself, because of his relationship with the one in the officer's families.
Now, this all began with a police chase nearly a week ago.
It ended according to authorities with the two officers who are now charged with second-degree murder firing shot after shot into Chris Few's truck including five that hit and then mortally wounded his son Jeremy Mardis. We're starting to learn at least some of what led up to the chase as well as at least some of the other facts surrounding this apparently senseless killing. More from CNN's Martin Savidge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Six year-old Jeremy Mardis was laid to rest in his former home in Mississippi. Nearly a week after his shooting death at the hands of authorities in a small central Louisiana town. The shooting has resulted in the arrest of two city marshals and a community haunted by questions. At the shooting scene a small number of people held hands and prayed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let him know that our community is behind him and that we will never forget him.
SAVIDGE: As they remembered the child who died, evidence of the hail of gunfire that took his life was all around them. The broken glass, spray painted police investigation marks, even bullet holes. The big question from any why did two city marshals shoot and kill Jeremy?
COL. MICHAEL EDMONSON, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE: Jeremy Mardis, six years old, he didn't deserve to die like that and that's what is unfortunate.
SAVIDGE: According to witnesses, it began last Tuesday in a local bar when the boys' father Chris Few got into an argument with his girlfriend. The two separated only to begin fighting again, this time outside in view of two city marshals who moved in and allegedly attempted to detain Few. According to a source close to the case information, Few took off in an SUV with his six-year-old son beside him. The marshals called for backup and pursued cornering Few on a dead end street on the edge of town. These paint marks show where the vehicle stopped. According to authorities, the officers backed up several times, striking their vehicles, then for reasons still unclear, the officers opened fire blasting as many as 16 to 18 shots according to those who heard the gunfire into the Few's SUV critically wounding Few and killing his son Jeremy who according to the coroner was struck five times.
MEGAN DIXON, CHRIS FEW'S GIRLFRIEND: I don't know what he was thinking. I don't know why he wouldn't just stop. He didn't do nothing wrong.
SAVIDGE: State investigators say Few was unarmed and all of the gunfire came from city marshals. Reports said there have been warrants for Few's arrest, but state police say that isn't true. The case turned on video from a recently purchased body camera worn by a Marksville police officer who arrived as backup.
COL. MICHAEL EDMONSON: I can tell you as a father, it was one of the most disturbing things I witnessed. I cannot go into details. I cannot tell you bits and pieces about it. Although I would love to share some of that with you. I simply cannot and won't do that tonight.
SAVIDGE: Now, the two city marshals, 32-year old Derek Stafford and 23-year old Norris Greenhouse have been charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. Their bond set at $1 million each. Jeremy Whittington has been visiting Few in the hospital.
(on camera): Does he know what happened?
JEREMY WILLINGTON, CHRIS FEW'S FRIEND: I can't answer that one. I have no idea if he knows, 100 percent, what happened, what led to everything but he is conscious, he's aware.
SAVIDGE: Aware enough, authorities say, on the day little Jeremy was laid to rest, his father could finally be told he had died.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And Martin joins us now. Just such an awful story. So it's not really clear, I mean, why they were chasing him. Those reports about warrants, that's not true say police?
SAVIDGE: No, it's not. And I've been speaking to a person who is close to the information in this case, and they have been relaying to me that what happened was there was an initial fight that allegedly took place between the boy's father and his girlfriend inside of a bar. They went their separate ways but then later the two confronted one another again and it seemed to be quite a blowout and it was witnessed by those two marshals. And in fact, they felt that there could be some kind of domestic abuse going on so they wanted to move in and detain Few. When they tried, the source says that the marshals claim he took off in his vehicle with the child inside and that's how the whole pursuit began. That's how it started. No one can explain why did it resort to as much gunfire as it did.
COOPER: Martin, I appreciate the update. Thank you, Martin Savidge. Sadly far from the only story in the world, the only shocking story these days Israel right now finds itself in the middle of a wave of stabbing attacks, a graphic example caught on tape. An otherwise ordinary looking woman walked up to a check point at the West Bank, talking casually to the guard and pulled a knife and lunged at him. CNN's Oren Lieberman joins us now from Jerusalem with the details.
So, what's the latest there tonight?
OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, videos like this are shared and reshared across social media, and we've seen examples on both sides here, the Israeli and the Palestinian. In this specific example, which is, we have to warn you a disturbing video. You see this woman as you said, what appears to be a normal woman approaches, and as the security guard is checking her I.D., she pulls out a knife, lunges at the security guard, who is then lightly wounded. According to Israeli security officials, that security guard pulls out a gun, shoots the alleged attacker, and sends her to the hospital where she remains in a medically induced coma. This happens in Beitakh Elite (ph), an ultra-orthodox Jewish settlement just south of Jerusalem. This is part of that wave of attacks, this wave of violence we've seen across Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank. Anderson.
COOPER: I mean, you see right now she's about to reach into her bag as she's checking the I.D. I mean, and this has been going on now for months, these waves of attacks.
LIEBERMAN: It has, and we've seen a number of these. Stabbing attacks, car ramming attacks, but that comes in conjunction with clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces. It's almost as if it's on this sort of low burn that has these flare-ups. It started almost exactly two months ago in mid-September, and continues to this day. October was the worst of it. We saw nine Israelis killed, some 70 Palestinians killed, approximately half of whom are accused by Israeli security officials of having attempted to carry out attacks. The question, Anderson, we have sunrise just a few hours away. How much longer will this continue and what will a new day bring?
COOPER: Oren Lieberman, appreciate the update. More ahead in our next hour, more in our breaking news. Two top officials stepping down at the University of Missouri and the racist tension that students say surrounds the campus.
