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Woman Accusing Cain of Sexual Harassment Holds Press Conference; Sex Abuse Charges Rock Penn State; Michael Jackson Death Trial
Aired November 07, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: You're looking at a live picture from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where the state's attorney general and police commissioner are holding a news conference on what could be one of the biggest scandals to rock college sports. That is Penn State. The shocking sexual abuse allegations against one of its famed former coaches, Jerry Sandusky and the alleged cover up that followed. That's where a Grand Jury says Penn State athletic director, Timothy Curly, and Gary Schultz, the university's senior vice president for finance and business come into play. Both resigned late last night and are about to appear in court to face charges.
Again, any moment now -- actually right now, we're hearing from the state attorney general and the Police Commissioner. But we really cannot forget in all of this the eight alleges victims, boys as young as 7 or 8 years old. And we do have to warn you that the details revealed by the Grand Jury report and, quite frankly, hard to stomach.
Let's listen in here just for a short time to this press conference.
LINDA KELLY, ATTORNEY GENERAL, PENNSYLVANIA (live): -- many news articles and opinion pieces have already been written about this and many of you are very familiar with the allegations contained in the presentment, as well as the defendants that have been charged and the institutions and organizations that have been mentioned in this case.
I also understand that many of you have questions concerning the allegations, the criminal charges, and other issues related to the case. Commissioner Noonan and I will attempt to address many of those questions -- as many of those questions as possible, but I need to qualify that statement by making it clear that this is an ongoing investigation, and it's also a grand jury investigation, which means that there are going to be some details that we will not be able to discuss.
As we noted earlier, this is a case about a sexual predator accused of using his position within the community and the university to prey on numerous young boys for more than a decade. A large part of this case, as you know, revolves around the actions of Jerry Sandusky and the criminal charges that have been filed against him for the allege sexual assaults he committed on eight young boys who were victimized over a period that stretch from -- stretched from the late 1990s until 2009. Equally significant, however, is the role that several top Penn State University administrators, athletic director, Tim Curly, and vice president of business and finance, Gary Schultz, who also oversaw the university police -- the roles that they played in this matter by allegedly failing to report suspected child abuse and later providing false testimony, false statements to a grand jury that was investigating this case.
I suspect that many of you, based on what I know, have already read the presentment which, as you know, details a disturbing pattern of sexual assaults on young boys all of whom Sandusky met through his involvement in the charitable organization known as The Second Mile which is an organization that Sandusky himself founded.
Some of those assaults allegedly occurred while Sandusky was a coach at Penn State, while others happened on the Penn State campus and elsewhere after Sandusky had retired from his coaching position, including the showers in the locker room of the Penn State football team at Lash Hall on the University campus, which Sandusky apparently had unrestricted access to as part of his retirement agreement with Penn State.
It was the activity in those football locker rooms first reported by a victim in 1998 and again by a witness in 2002 that are particularly disturbing. The incident which occurred in 2002 at Lash Hall where Sandusky was seen committing a sexual assault on a young boy of about 10 years of age was reported to University officials by a graduate assistant who happened to be in the building late one Friday evening.
Those officials and administrators to whom it was reported did not report that incident to law enforcement or to any child protective agency. And their inaction likely allowed a child predator to continue to victimize children for many, many years. The Grand Jury heard some very graphic and compelling testimony from key witnesses during their investigation of this case. Including, of course, the graduate assistant who told them what he saw in the shower that night in Lash Hall, and they also heard testimony from Joe Paterno who is the football coach at Penn State.
Men who saw or heard about the sexual assault of that young boy in the football locker room and who reported the incident to those top administrators at the University. The Grand Jury also heard testimony from others at the University, including the defendants in this case, athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president, Gary Schultz, who are now charged with making false statements about what they knew, failing to recall key details and making statement that the jury -- Grand Jury found not to be credible, and failing to report suspected child abuse.
I'd like to emphasize that one of the basic principles of our legal system is that witnesses are required under the law to tell the truth when they're called before a Grand Jury. The truth, pure and simple, nothing more, nothing less. And that principle applies to everyone from the ordinary man on the street, as well as to those who occupy positions of power and influence, men like the defendants in this case.
And if we're to enforce the law and protect our citizens, and in this case, protect our children, we cannot condone under the law the actions of those who make false and perjurous (ph) statements to a Grand Jury, regardless of the positions that they hold, particularly when they involve serious matters of great importance. The sexual abuse of a child is a horrific offense and that understandably arouses strong emotions within all of us and can cause scars that last a lifetime for its victims and failing to report sexual abuse of children is a serious offense and a crime.
In this case, it's alleged that top administration officials at Penn State University, Curley and Schultz, after receiving a report of the sexual assault of a young boy at Lash Hall in the shower by Sandusky, from both a graduate assistant and the coach of the Penn State football team, not only did not report that incident as required by law, but they also never made any attempt to identify that child.
So today, as we stand here, we encourage that person who is now likely to be a young adult, to contact investigators from the Attorney General's office at telephone number 814-863-1053, or the Pennsylvania State Police at 814-470-2238. We also encourage anyone else who has any information related to this case to please contact those same numbers.
This is an ongoing and active investigation, and commissioner Noonan and I have both made it abundantly clear to everyone at both of our agencies that we're determined to quickly respond to any new witnesses or to any additional information that may appear.
As you all know, or should know, Sandusky was taken into custody this past Saturday in Centre County, Pennsylvania and is currently awaiting a preliminary hearing. The defendant's Curley and Schultz are both scheduled to appear for their preliminary arraignment at 2:00 this afternoon here in Harrisburg. The case against Sandusky is being prosecuted in Centre County, because that's where the sexual assaults allegedly took place. The case against Curley and Schultz is being prosecuted in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, because that's where they allegedly made false statements to the investigating Grand Jury.
With that, I believe that commissioner Noonan has a brief statement before we attempt to answer some of your questions. Commissioner Noonan.
FRANK NOONAN, COMMISSIONER, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: Thank you, Linda. Good afternoon. For those of you who don't know, I was the chief of investigations at the attorney general's office before I became commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police. So, I've been involved with this investigation for several years, and it's unique in many respects.
The first thing I'd like to say is that this is not a case about football, it's not a case about universities, it's a case about children who had their innocence stolen from them, and a culture that did nothing to stop it or prevent it from happening to others. Now, if you read the presentment, what you saw there was something we that do the investigations like this would call grooming. What happened here was grooming, where these predators identify a child, become mentors, they're usually children that have had -- they're having a little difficulty, they're at-risk children. Through The Second Mile program, he was able to identify these children, then give them gifts, establish a trust, initiate physical contact which eventually leads to sexual contact and that is very common in these type of investigations.
What is unusual though in this particular investigation is that in 1998 there was a police investigation in which he made admissions about inappropriate contact in the shower room, Jerry Sandusky did, and nothing happened and nothing stopped. In 2000 -- the year 2000, janitors at the University -- at Penn State University observed a sex act in the shower room and because they were afraid of their jobs, didn't report it. So, nothing changed and nothing stopped.
And then in 2002, the graduate assistant saw another sex act being committed in the locker room in the shower by Jerry Sandusky. He did report it but nothing happened and nothing stopped, and that's very unusual. I don't think I've ever been associated with a case where that type of eyewitness identification of sex acts taking place where the police weren't called. I don't think I've ever seen something like that before.
Now, as you go through this case as I have, there aren't many heroes involved. But if I were to identify some heroes, it would be the men and women standing on this stage, the investigators, the troopers, that have worked on this case for over two years and the prosecutors. You got to understand --
KAYE: You've been listening there to the allegations against Jerry Sandusky there from Penn State, along with two other top administrators. A lot to process there, some very disturbing details. We're going to break it all down with our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin right after this very quick break. So, keep it here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back. Just before the break, we were sharing with you that press conference from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the case coming out of Penn State University. The attorney general there calling the former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, a sexual predator who used his position at the university and in the community to try and reach out to young boys. Alleging sexual abuse against Mr. Sandusky and saying this all occurred while -- some of it occurred while he was coaching at Penn State and some of it did occur in the showers at the locker room there on the University campus. I want to bring in our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin to talk a little bit more about this.
Jeffrey, first, you were listening to that press conference along with us. A lot of very disturbing details. Hard to stomach, quite frankly. What did you make of it? JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, we're all in the news business. We see bad things happening in the world all the time. But, boy, I mean this has to rank as one of the most shocking and appalling stories that I have ever encountered.
I mean here you have years of knowledge that this guy was abusing children. 2002. Early -- you know, mid- and late '90s. And year after year, the cops are not informed and this guy continues to be in contact with children. And how people very much appear to be much more concerned about him and his reputation and the school's and his nonprofit rather than the future victims is just -- is just so horrifying.
KAYE: And if you go back to, as you said, these allegations go back to really to 1998. And in 1998, he actually made comments acknowledging that he had this inappropriate behavior with a young boy then. Obviously he has claimed that he's innocent in this most recent case. But when you look at what -- how the university handled this and you look at the senior vice president, Gary Schultz, who was there at the time in 1998, does it strike you as odd that when he hears about this event in 2002 where a grad assistant allegedly witnessed Sandusky in the shower performing a sexual act on a young boy, as young as 10 years old, does it not strike you as odd, Jeffrey, that Gary Schultz or anyone else didn't put this together or recall those events from 1998?
TOOBIN: Well, odd to say the least. I mean we all, again, live in a world full of, you know, bad things. But if you were the vice president of a university and you hear that a football coach is sexually assaulting -- and that's what it was -- a child in the showers of the football stadium, you'd think you'd remember that. It's probably not all in a day's work. I mean the idea that that would be somehow out of your memory does defy credibility. But again, you know, we need to hear his side of the story.
But I mean, again, where were the police? Where were the authorities? And again, I'm not blaming the authorities. Why was no one calling them when all of these things were coming out year after year.
KAYE: Getting back to the 2002 incident. This grad student called his father, he apparently was so distraught by what he had allegedly seen. And then they went to Joe Paterno, the football coach. So Paterno has said that he didn't get all the full details of exactly what happened. He actually testified, as you know, before the grand jury. But could he face charges in the future? I mean what might this mean for him?
TOOBIN: You know what, I -- based on what I've seen -- and I've read the grand jury's report -- I don't see any criminal offense that Joe Paterno could have that he could be charged with. I mean, he appears to have done the precise legal minimum required of him. When he heard this, he went to the athletic director and reported it. So, I mean, he didn't just do nothing when he heard of it.
However, given the magnitude of these allegations, given the, you know, seriousness, the fact that all he did was make one meeting with the athletic director and didn't take steps to see that the police were involved and didn't take steps to see Jerry Sandusky banned from the Penn State campus, I mean is really shocking. I mean, I think the verdict on Joe Paterno is much more likely to be a moral one than a legal one. But for a guy who's really represented the best in college sports for many, many years, it's really a very disappointing picture of his indifference, apparently, to the fate of these children.
KAYE: But then you look at the two others who are facing these perjury charges. We have Curley and Schultz, who are facing the perjury charges also telling the grand jury when they testified that they didn't realize how serious it was. I think they used the term horsing around in the shower, that's what they believed. But here they are. They warn Sandusky's charity. They never go to authorities. Warning the charity? I mean, really, come on, right?
TOOBIN: You know, I was just looking at the charity. It's called the Second Life. The Web site -- I mean I was reading what they said on the Web site. I mean it is so incredible how they appear to have covered for this guy. They first heard in 2002 -- and then they rejected those concerns. Then in 2008, they received sufficient information that they say Sandusky has been separated from his work with children. Now I don't even know what that means considering the whole charity is all about working with children. But from 2008 to 2011, they know how serious these allegations are, yet they don't throw him out, they don't go to the police.
And elsewhere on the Web site they're celebrating the vision of Jerry Sandusky. I mean, how a charity dedicated to helping children in what I assume is mostly an honorable way could continue to protect and cover for this guy, year after year, I mean it's really shocking.
KAYE: Yes. I mean this doesn't just fall on Penn State. This also falls on the responsibility of the charity as well.
TOOBIN: Absolutely.
KAYE: Because everybody seemed to forget the young boys and the young victims in this case, which is just horrifying if this did indeed all occur.
Jeffrey Toobin, thank you very much.
TOOBIN: And if I could just make one other observation.
KAYE: Absolutely.
TOOBIN: Every single person in this story it seems -- except the attorney general -- is a man. All of it -- all the people in authority, all the people who knew about this, were men. You might just think about it. If there were one woman involved who would have been able to step back and say, look, this has to stop. We have to take serious action. But it was all these men and no one stepped up and protected the kids.
KAYE: Yes. So many questions still. I'm sure we'll learn much more about it as we continue.
Jeffrey, thank you very much.
I do just want to share with our viewers at home a statement from the Second Mile charity, which we've been talking about, Sandusky's charity, they released a statement today saying, "the newly released details and the breadth of the allegations from the attorney general's office bring shock, sadness and concern. The most recent reports that we've read this past weekend state that Mr. Sandusky met the alleged victims through the Second Mile. To our knowledge, all of the alleged incidents occurred outside of our programs and events." That is the statement coming from his charity.
And just to recap, the time line of what is being alleged is very important. The grand jury's report involves eight alleged victims. At least one as young as seven or eight years old. Sandusky is alleged to have sexually abused these young boys over a period of more than 10 years, going as far back as 1994, while he was still the defensive coordinator at Penn State.
Keep in mind, Sandusky retired from Penn State in 1999 but had access to Penn State's facilities as a part of his retirement contract. Perhaps the most disturbing case allegedly occurred in 2002 when a graduate assistant testified that he saw Sandusky in the showers at the school's football locker room having intercourse with a boy he estimated to be 10 years old. A case both Curley and Schultz were notified about, but are alleged to have swept under the rug.
Most recently, the attorney general began this investigation after Sandusky was reported to the authorities for allegedly fondling and having oral sex with an 11-year-old boy and was barred from a school district in 2009. We will be staying on top of this story throughout the day and as it progresses.
Dr. Conrad Murray's fate is in the jury's hands. Deliberations now in day two. We could have a verdict at any moment. The latest on the Michael Jackson death trial is coming next.
And another woman stepping forward with allegations against Herman Cain. We're awaiting a news conference in New York City. Attorney Gloria Allred will be speaking. We'll bring it to you live as it happens.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back.
Here in Los Angeles, jurors are deciding the fate of Dr. Conrad Murray. The seven men and five women could not reach a verdict on their first full day of deliberations on Friday. They must decide whether Murray is guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's 2009 death from an overdose of the anesthetic Propofol. Joining me now for today's "Crime & Consequence," former Jackson defense attorney Thomas Mesereau.
Nice to see you, Tom.
THOMAS MESEREAU JR., DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Thank you for having me. KAYE: Let's start with this. I mean the jury has been out now, they're on their second day. So the longer they're out, who does it benefit?
MESEREAU: The traditional thinking is it benefits the defense. But there have been so many exceptions to that rule that I don't follow that rule anymore.
This is a very, very intelligent jury. You've got a biochemist on the jury. You've got a lot of forensic evidence. I think they'll going to very carefully and responsibly go through the jury instructions, go through the forensic testimony, go through the evidence. And that takes time if you're going to do it carefully. I'm not surprised that they're in their second day.
KAYE: They asked for highlighters. So does that tell you that they're marking up some of the evidence or maybe the jury instructions?
MESEREAU: I think it does. But remember, every time you discuss an issue, you have to get 12 views, because everybody has a right to their opinion and everybody has a right to deliberate. That takes time. They've got to go through the definition of the -- of involuntary manslaughter. They've got to talk about things like mistake, legal duty, reckless behavior. They've got to go through all of the instructions and the testimony and the evidence.
And I'm not surprised that they're in their second day. I think there's also an O.J. Simpson syndrome in Los Angeles where that jury was criticized for coming back in three hours after a long trial. So all of these things have an impact.
KAYE: Right.
As a defense attorney, I mean you've defended Michael Jackson before in cases. What do you think Conrad Murray is going through right now as he waits?
MESEREAU: It's a nightmare for him. An absolute nightmare. He's taking it day by day. He's got a pastor who's council him and helping him with the spiritual side of things. This is not a fun experience for him.
KAYE: I'm sure.
Years of hard work, I mean, really, all come down to this. I mean how do you think the -- what's going on behind the scenes in terms of the attorneys? I mean what are they dealing with?
MESEREAU: They're on pins and needles. You never get used to jury deliberations and you never get used to taking a verdict. Your heart stops a beat -- skips a beat, you know, as you're waiting for the jury to come in, hand their verdict forms to the judge. The judge looks at them, makes sure they're in good order. Gives it back to the clerk. This is a process that never gets easy.
KAYE: Over the weekend, "In Session," our sister network truTV, they had a chance to speak with one -- Dr. Arnie Klein, one of Michael Jackson's former doctors, who spoke of his addiction to Propofol. I'm sure that doesn't surprise you.
MESEREAU: Well, it does surprise me because I didn't know Michael Jackson was addicted to anything. He never was addicted to any drug when I was working with him. And I worked with him nine months before his child molestation trial. Five months during that trial I was always communicating with him. My co-counsel, Susan Yew (ph), doing the same. He would call us at 3:00 in the morning, 4:00 in the morning and we never had a problem communicating with him. He always cooperated. So I never saw Michael Jackson as an addict.
Whether or not he was addicted to a drug later on is not something I experienced. I hate to hear that.
KAYE: Yes.
MESEREAU: I hope it's not true. But you never know what doctors are doing to patients. They're supposed to treat them properly and we never know if that's happening or not, particularly with celebrities.
KAYE: Very true.
Well, we'll continue to wait for the verdict and hopefully you'll wait along with us.
Tom, nice to see you. Thank you.
MESEREAU: Thanks for having me.
KAYE: Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain says he wants to stop talking about sexual harassment allegations and get back on message. But right now we are standing by for an announcement from another woman who says that she was sexually harassed by Cain. She's being represented by famed attorney Gloria Allred. These are new allegations not related to the ones that we've already heard about from the time -- from Cain's time as head of the National Restaurant Association.
And joining me now to talk about the new allegations and the new revelations and the effect of all of this on Cain's candidacy are Wolf Blitzer, anchor of CNN's "SITUATION ROOM," CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger, and CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
Wolf, take it away.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Randi.
This potentially -- potentially -- could be a very, very serious moment in Herman Cain's campaign, because these three other reported women who made allegations against Herman Cain of sexual harassment when he was head of the National Restaurant Association, here in Washington, haven't gone private.
One of them is an attorney making a statement, but none has gone public with her name or the specific nature of the allegations. In this particular case, as released in a press statement that she put out earlier this morning, Gloria Allred said, Miss Allred's client will be the first to give her name and to speak out about details of what she alleges occurred between her and Cain.
Gloria, first to you. Politically, this could be a bombshell.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it could. Because what we've been saying all along, Wolf, until you put a face and specific details on any kind of allegation of sexual harassment, it doesn't pack the punch. And Herman Cain as been able to say that he denies these allegations and the woman reheard from on Friday was really only through her attorney.
So again, this will put a face on it. I think the question people will ask is did she tell her bosses at the time that she felt she was being sexually harassed. Did she filed a complaint. All of those details we have to find out to find out how credible she is.
BLITZER: That would be really significant, Jeffrey, because if, in fact, she did file a complaint with the National Restaurant Association, or some other agency, whether she got a settlement or some sort of monetary compensation, if you will, like two other women apparently did after they filed complaints of Herman Cain when he was the chief lobbyist at the National Restaurant Association, here in Washington, that will be significant contemporaneously as we say in the legal profession, what she did and said about these allegations, Jeff.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely. We have to know what, if anything, she did in the legal process when she said she was subjected to these -- to the sexual harassment. There are, of course, lots of women who are sexually harassed who decide not to go forward with a legal complaint. It is not an easy thing to do. It is not an easy thing to win. It is possible she'll say I went through this with him, but for whatever reason decided not to. But that, of course, will be a very interesting thing to know.
Just in terms of future legal consequences, I think it is very unlikely that there will be any, because we're talking about events that took place in the '90s, that's when he worked at the National Restaurant Association. I think what we're talking about mostly here is political fallout, not legal, because I think there is very unlikely to be any legal processes to come out of any of these disclosures.
BLITZER: Because he was head of the National Restaurant Association from '96 until '99, Jeff. What you're saying, there's a statute of limitations if she wanted to file some sort of lawsuit? That is unlikely right now?
TOOBIN: Right. Yeah. I mean it depends on what state and there are a lot of variables but almost certainly the statute of limitations will have been three years or five years. And we're well over ten years since that.
So what this is really about is the presidential campaign of Herman Cain, not the legal liability of Herman Cain. But, when you start to get to a fourth accusation, it really does seem like there might be more fallout than there's been so far. But in fairness, we need to point out, so far, at least according to the polls and fund-raising, he has not been hurt much by this.
BLITZER: I just want to point out to our viewers, you are looking at live pictures from the Friar's Club in Manhattan, in New York. Gloria Allred, the attorney, will be out there with her client. They are going to be making-presumably-serious allegations against Herman Cain.
The difference, Gloria, right now, the three other women who have been reported to have engaged-or been a victim of sexual harassment, allegations, I should point out, Herman Cain flatly denies any sexual harassment whatsoever. They are all anonymous. They are all staying silent in terms of the background. This is a woman who is breaking her silence and going public and that raises it to another level. Because a lot of supporters have been saying it is unfair to make these accusations against him based on anonymous sources.
BORGER: That's right. And that's you see that the poll numbers, Wolf, really haven't moved. Although NBC and the "Wall Street Journal" have just minutes ago released a couple of numbers from their own poll on Herman Cain, and overall his unfavorable ratings have gone up from October from 18 percent to 35 percent. But that's among the public at large, among Republicans there's only 28 percent who have expressed some kind of concern over these allegations.
But if this woman comes out, goes on the record, seems to be credible, you don't know whether she opens the door-if there is a pattern here- for either these previous women to come out on the record, or other women to come out on the record. We just have to kind of see exactly what she has to say and how credible she sounds.
BLITZER: I was getting over this past we-it's not more than a week, Gloria, since these allegations surfaced, a week ago Sunday night POLITICO first reported these allegations of sexual harassment, when he headed the National Restaurant Association. But his supporters keep on saying these are anonymous sources, they're not going to respond to anonymous sources.
BORGER: Right.
BLITZER: Let's move on. But now as we've been saying, it is not going to be an anonymous source, it is one woman going on the record, letting her name will be well known, looking at that crowd over at the Friar's club, in New York, for this news conference, and gong to be making specific allegations.
To a certain degree, Gloria, and I'm anxious for you and Jeffrey to weigh in, they almost seem-the friends of Herman Cain almost seemed to be inviting this development by harping on these anonymous sources. And denying any sexual harassment allegations, well now, one woman is breaking her silence.
BORGER: Well, Joel Bennett, the attorney for one of these anonymous women on Friday, Wolf, said exactly that. As you know, he came out and said that his client needed to set the record straight. That there were inappropriate advances -- plural -- made to her. And while she didn't want to release her name, she felt that she had to let it be known that she felt that her claims were legitimate. And that she received a settlement as a result of her sexual harassment claims, that it was not just some severance pay.
So what you've had, though, is sort of an anonymous she said/he said situation. Herman Cain's been able to raise a lot of money off of this. And now that somebody specific will come out, I think it kind of changes the equation an awful lot.
BLITZER: I should point out we have attempted repeatedly, all day, to get in touch with the Herman Cain campaign and get some reaction. I assume we'll get some reaction after we hear what Gloria Allred and her clients say at this news conference that we are awaiting. It was supposed to start about seven or eight minutes ago. I assume it will start very soon, a jam-packed room over there at Friar's Club. As soon as it is over with we'll continue to attempt to get some reaction from the Herman Cain campaign.
Jeffrey, these stories, they come up during political campaigns. It's almost interesting that if you got something in the past that's happened, you got to assume that it is going to come out, especially when you are running for the president of the United States. But the Herman Cain campaign seems to unprepared when POLITICO broke this story more than a week ago.
TOOBIN: Right. Remember, one of the things we talked about a lot was that POLITICO was in touch with the Cain campaign for 10 days about this issue before they ran their story. So the Cain campaign had plenty of time to research the issue and they were caught completely flat-footed.
But if I can just sort of point to one, rather, sort of obvious point. This is the fourth person. It is one thing to claim that one person is a liar, or has a political agenda, or is just in it for the money. But four people? All of whom are -- worked at the National Restaurant Association? I mean that becomes much harder to -- I mean, obviously I think you are going to see -- this is where politic gets very ugly -- this woman's background who comes forward in a couple of minutes, people are going to go over it. They are going to say, she may have some political motivations, or financial motivations. But four people? That is just a lot of people, especially in an organization, the National Restaurant Association, which is not known as an intensely partisan place, a place where people are especially exorcized about political issues. It is one of many trade associations in Washington. And I think, you know, once you start getting to tour people it becomes harder to discredit all of the accusers.
BLITZER: Except as we point out three of those people are remaining anonymous. One is now going public. We'll see how credible this woman is once she makes her statement following Gloria Allred's opening statement. We are waiting for the start of this news conference in New York. We'll take a quick break. More coverage after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: You're looking at live pictures from New York, a jam-packed news conference at the Friar's Club in Manhattan. Gloria Allred, the well-known attorney, getting ready to go out to the microphones and introduce her client. A woman she says was sexually harassed by Herman Cain back in the 1990s, late 1990s, when he was head of the National Restaurant Association.
This will be the first person to give her name, speak out publicly about details of what she alleges occurred between her and Herman Cain, when he headed the National Restaurant Association. We're standing by to hear what Gloria Allred and her client have to say. We'll have live coverage here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Let's bring back Gloria and Jeffrey, who are watching what's unfolding as well. Give us a little background, Jeffrey. I don't know if you know Gloria Allred personally, but certainly our viewers probably do because whenever a case like this emerges, she almost always is involved. She has a client who plays a role.
TOOBIN: Yes, and I have to say, full disclosure Gloria is an old friend of mine, as many of our viewers know, Lisa Bloom who is a well known television legal analyst for many years here at CNN. Lisa Bloom is Gloria's daughter. So Gloria is someone I've known for a long time.
Gloria is a very serious feminist and she came into prominence in California filing some of the very first sex discrimination cases. A famous case she was involved in was dry cleaners in California charged men less than women for dry cleaning shirts, even though the process was the same for both. And she -- that's really how she made her name.
In recent years she's gotten involved in all these celebrity cases. And she was involved in the Scott Peterson case. She had one of Tiger Woods' girlfriends as a client. Now she has this one. Frankly, I don't know how she does it. I think these people seek her out, because she's so famous, but she does seem to have a radar for these cases.
But she's a real lawyer, too. I mean it is not just a celebrity cases. She's one of the lead lawyers or has been in the Proposition 8 case in California, the case that seeks to have same-sex marriage be allowed in California. So she is a real lawyer, as well as many involved in all these celebrity cases. But it is amazing. We all sit around at CNN and think, God, how does she do it? Why is she always in the middle? And I can't claim to answer that, but there she is again.
BLITZER: She certainly is. Most recently, Gloria -- our Gloria, if you remember, a lot of our viewers remember she was also the lawyer for that woman who was involved in the Congressman Anthony Weiner story-
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: -that emerged a few months ago. And resulted in his resigning from the United States House of Representatives.
Gloria, you remember that.
BORGER: I do. And I'm not sure whether these clients go to her, or she actually seeks out these clients. I mean that could really be a part of it. She may have private investigators working for her law firm and she may seek out these clients. We just don't know. I mean the bottom line is how credible is the client. And if I can trust Jeff on this, Gloria Allred is a serious attorney, then you have to presume that she's run the paces with this client, because she doesn't want to stand there in front of the cameras with somebody who does not have a credible or corroborated case to make. It will be interesting.
TOOBIN: Although it is important to emphasize that in most of these cases, whether it is Tiger Woods or Anthony Weiner, these are not cases that lead to litigation. They are cases that basically are about press conferences. So she -- as I think is obligated to do a little less due diligence than if she was actually filing a case. But I think most of her clients turn out to be telling the truth, if about subjects that perhaps are not of the most earth shaking importance.
BLITZER: It looks like a little activity sun folding over there at the Friar's Club. I flashes going off, which suggest that maybe she and her client are beginning to come into that room, but maybe not. We'll soon find out.
I was intrigued the other day, Jeffrey, when Joel Bennett, the attorney representing another woman who had these sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain, the attorney Joel Bennett said in his news conference that he did get a voicemail on his phone in his office from a different woman making allegations. He called back and she decided she didn't want to talk to him, but she had left a voicemail for him. I'm just wondering if that woman who had called Joel Bennett, the attorney in Washington, is the same woman we're about to see and meet here at the Friar's Club in New York. But that's just me asking that question. You have no reason to believe it is, do you, Jeff?
TOOBIN: I don't know. In fact, one of the aspects of confusion of this story is knowing who's who. I mean remember, the one thing that Herman Cain has said about any untoward contact with women at the National Restaurant Association, is he says the full extent of it was a woman came up to him and he said "You're about as tall as my wife." which seems like a very innocuous comment, and that was his point.
But which one of these four women, the two women who received settlements, the one woman who came forward to the Associated Press, and now this woman who is about to have the press conference -- who was the woman that Herman Cain spoke -- had that exchange with or supposedly had that exchange with? I'm not sure which one that is. Does Gloria know?
BORGER: No, I don't. What's interesting to me is that he did come out though and said unequivocally that there is no basis for the allegations of sexual harassment. Joel Bennett, the attorney for one of these women, called it a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances. It's clear to me from listening to what Herman Cain is saying that he's gotten these women a little upset, and angry. And that, as you were saying, Jeffrey, at a certain point you reach critical mass here. And that may be what we're seeing today with this fourth person. If it is indeed number four. Maybe it is number three. We're just not sure.
BLITZER: We're going to learn a lot more about this very, very soon. What would be the smartest-Gloria, I'll put you on the spot. The smartest way for Herman Cain, assuming this woman now makes allegations of sexual harassment, she goes into details about what he allegedly did, and Gloria Allred makes her case as well. What should the Herman Cain campaign do? Because during this first week of this controversy he seems to be doing just fine politically, as far as fund-raising is concerned, and his poll numbers are concerned, though that could begin to slip now that a face and a name emerges.
BORGER: Well, I think he needs to answer the charges directly. I thought he should have done that from day one with the first accuser from the Restaurant Association and said to the Restaurant Association anything that is affiliated with me I'd like you to open up those records, if it is OK with her, to a certain extent. She clearly wanted to keep some confidentiality, however.
So I think Herman Cain has to address these charges, because what he's done previously is, first of all, he started by blaming the leakers and saying, oh, my God, this was leaked from Rick Perry's campaign. Then he kind of backtracked on that. Now he's blaming the media and turning this into sort of a media story, you know, saying the media doesn't have any ethics here.
That was working for him, but I think, now, when you have specific claims from a specific person, with specific details, that's the key. Because from the other anonymous accusers we just have sort of general idea of a series of inappropriate behaviors. If there are specific instances here, which this woman talks about, he's going to have to respond.
BLITZER: Jeffrey, you've covered these stories over the years, like all of us have. In the past what they usually do is come out, say, all right, look, I have nothing to hide. Here's the truth and they go ahead and explain what they want to explain.
TOOBIN: Right. And one of the things that I think is important to keep in mind also, which is always very important in cases like this, it's the issue of corroboration. You know, the issue -- you know, many cases are one person's word against another. But is there any corroboration of either claims-there we go.
BLITZER: Jeffrey, hold on a second. Here's Gloria Allred and her client walking to the microphones now.
(BEGIN LIVE FEED)
GLORIA ALLRED, ATTORNEY FOR SHARON BAILEK: Thank you for coming today. I'm attorney Gloria Allred and I'm here today with my client Sharon Bialek. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spell that?
ALLRED: And we will give you copies of our statement as soon as the press conference concludes. But, B-I-A-L-E-K.
Ms. Bialek will speak about her interactions with Mr. Cain during and after she was employed at the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association, the NRA, in Chicago, Illinois, in 1996 and 1997.
I'm also here with my law partner, Nathan Goldberg.
Sharon is a registered Republican. Ms. Bialek was born and raised in Chicago and has spent the majority of her life there. She is the mother of a 13-year-old son. She is a college graduate. Prior to working for the foundation for nine years, she was the co-host of a cooking television show, had worked for six years for Revlon, as a key account manager. And then as manager and director of corporate development at the Easter Seals Society, where she had received an outstanding service award. Subsequent to her work at the foundation, her jobs have included five years at WGN Radio in marketing and two and a half years at CBS Radio as managing director of nontraditional revenue.
For the past two years she has been a full-time home maker and single mom. In 1996 Ms. Bialek was recruited by a former Easter Seal colleague who was then working at the National Educational Foundation to work for the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. She was hired as the position of manager, industry relations, as reflected on her business card which I have.
Part of her job was to work on a new initiative called the, quote, "Hospitality Business Alliance," end quote, which was implemented to raise funds to provide scholarships to worthy high school students who wished to continue their education in the restaurant industry.
She was employed at the foundation from the end of 2006 until mid- 2007, at which point she was let go. They told her, among other things, that she had not raised enough money. This made no sense to her as she had raised more in the short time that she was there than had been raised in prior years. However, the foundation, like most employers, had at-will employment policies, which meant that they could let her go for any reason, so long as the reason was not illegal.
Therefore, she had no legal recourse, although she felt that it was unfair. During the time that she worked at the Educational Foundation she had met Mr. Cain. On at least three occasions during the NRA convention, Mr. Cain was seated next to her during dinners and a lunch where Mr. Cain was with the keynote speaker. She had spent a substantial amount of time speaking with him there at the NRA convention, which took place about a month before she was terminated.
At the suggestion of her boyfriend, a pediatrician, whom she had dated for four years, she reached out to Mr. Cain for help in finding another job. Instead of receiving the help that she had hoped for, Mr. Cain instead decided to provide her with his idea of a stimulus package
(LAUGHTER)
Which she will describe.
We have obtained written statements under oath from the doctor that Ms. Bialek was dating at the time, and from a businessman in the Chicago area who has known Ms. Bialek for 30 years. She told each of them, separately, shortly after Mr. Cain's sexual harassment, that Mr. Cain had engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior with her, and that she was upset, and surprised by his behavior.
She told the businessman that Mr. Cain had been aggressive with her. Our client is very brave to have come forward. She will explain why she has decided to do so in her own words. She could have attempted to sell her story but chose not to do so. She knows that by stepping out into the light that she will face public scrutiny. We applaud her for her courage. If all of these allegations, by all of the women who have been reported to have made them, are true, then I, for one, am disgusted at Mr. Cain's serial sexual harassment of women.
Because Mr. Cain, while running for president, is actively lying to Americans, showing disdain for our commonsense and intellect, and showing that he could care less about the impact of his behavior on the dignity of these women. It is time to hold politicians to a higher standard. We need to know the truth about those that are running for office. We cannot afford to once again elect someone to office who will ignore the law, take advantage of those without power, and who will abuse the opportunities that the office of the president provides.
Enough is enough. We have to fight back. That is what our client is doing here today.
Before I introduce her, while we are not handing these out, we do have declarations under penalty of perjury from the two persons that I spoke of, the pediatrician and the businessman, and we have those. In addition, we'll be handing out a copy of her business card at the time, this blown-up copy of her business card, when she was with the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association. And now it is my honor to present Sharon Bialek.
SHARON BIALEK, ACCUSES CAIN OF HARASSMENT: I met Mr. Cain while I was employed at the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association. About a month before I was terminated I interacted with him on several occasions during the five days of the NRA convention in Chicago. Mr. Cain sat next to me at Marchet Restaurant, at dinner. He spoke to me throughout most of this dinner.
During the conversation-during the luncheon, rather, there was also a luncheon at which high school students that had performed well in the industry, were honored. Mr. Cain sat next to me at that luncheon and spoke to me extensively. Mr. Cain was the keynote speaker at the luncheon. He was incredibly inspirational. When he sat down, I said to him, when are you running for president? The final night of the conference, Mr. Cain sat at a table with me and my boyfriend. He was warm and attentive to both of us and he invited us to join him at an after party in a suite at the hotel, which we did. I felt very honored to be included in this select gathering.
About a month later, I was let go by the foundation. I was devastated. I loved the job and the industry and in the short time that I had been there I felt that we were really doing well in terms of fund raising. My boyfriend suggested that I should reach out to Mr. Cain to see if he might be able to help me find another job with the foundation, or in some other c capacity. He said, Herman seems to think highly of you. Why don't you contact him and see if he could give you some help.
I did. I called Mr. Cain's office and left a message for Mr. Cain. He called me back. I told him that I had been let go. But he said he was unaware of it. I explained that I was going to be visiting my boyfriend's family and would be only a couple of hours by train, from D.C., which is where the NRA had its national office. I asked if we could perhaps meet for coffee. He said he would, and that I should call once I had firmed up my dates and the arrangements.
My boyfriend, since I was unemployed, booked a room for me at the Capital Hilton and I called Mr. Cain to let him know my arrival date, and I would be staying at the Capital Hilton. I asked him, where do you want to meet? He suggested the lobby bar. This was in mid-July 1997. I then took the train to Washington, D.C. When I checked into the room, I was shocked. I had a palatial suite, and the bell man -- I said to the bell man, "There's got to be some mistake," but he insisted that there was no mistake. I later found out that Mr. Cain had arranged for the suite, though at the time I thought maybe my boyfriend had tried to surprise me.
I met Mr. Cain in the lobby of the bar at the Capital Hilton at around 6:30 p.m. We had drinks at the hotel, and he asked how I liked my room, which was kind of normal. And I said I was very surprised. I said, "I can't believe that I've got this great suite. It's gorgeous." Mr. Cain kind of smirked and then said, "I upgraded you."
He then took me to an Italian restaurant where we had dinner. During dinner, Mr. Cain looked at me and said, "Why are you here?" I said, "Actually, Herman, my boyfriend, whom you met, suggested that I meet with you because he thought you could help me, because I really need a job. I was wondering if there's anything available at the state association level, or perhaps if you could speak to someone at the foundation to try to get my job back, perhaps even in a different department." He said, "I'll look into that."
While we were driving back to the hotel, he said that he would show me where the National Restaurant Association offices were. He parked the car down the block.
I thought that we were going to go into the offices so that he could show me around. At that time, I had on a black pleated skirt, a suit jacket, and a blouse. He had on a suit with his shirt open.
But instead of going into the offices, he suddenly reached over and he put his hand on my leg, under my skirt, and reached for my genitals. He also grabbed my head and brought it towards his crotch.
I was very, very surprised and very shocked. I said, "What are you doing? You know I have a boyfriend. This isn't what I came here for." Mr. Cain said, "You want a job, right?"
I asked him to stop, and he did. I asked him to take me back to my hotel, which he did right away.
When I returned to New Jersey, where I was staying with my boyfriend that Mr. Cain had been -- when with I returned back to New Jersey, where I was staying, I told my boyfriend Mr. Cain had been very sexually inappropriate with me, and shortly thereafter I told another friend of mine who has been a mentor the same thing. I didn't tell them the details because, quite frankly, I was very embarrassed that Mr. Cain had been sexually inappropriate to me.
The last time that I saw Mr. Cain actually was about a month ago. I had been invited to the Tea Party conference sponsored by WIND Chicago Radio in Chicago. I didn't know he was going to be there until the night before, when my girlfriend told me.
I went up before and asked him, "Do you remember me?" I guess I wanted to see if he was going to be man enough to own up to what he had done some 14 years ago.
He acknowledged that he remembered me from the foundation, but he kind of looked uncomfortable. And he said nothing as he was whisked away for his speech by his handlers.
During his speech, he had that same infectious presence that we have come to know, and command, as he did when I heard him speak 14 years ago at the NRA. But as I sat there in the audience, I kept wondering to myself, has he done to other women what he had done to me, and whether anyone was going to speak up about it. I really hoped for his sake and his candidacy that mine was an isolated incident and that he had not exhibited those behaviors with other women.
I didn't file a complaint against Mr. Cain, as some of the other women did, because I wasn't employed by the foundation when this occurred. But now I'm coming forward to give a face and a voice to those women who cannot or, for whatever reasons, do not wish to come forward, and on behalf of all women who are sexually harassed in the workplace but do not come out of fear of retaliation or public humiliation. I really didn't want to be here today, and wouldn't have been here if it had not been for the three other women who have alleged sexually harassment against Mr. Cain.
I want you, Mr. Cain, to come clean, just admit what you did. Admit you were inappropriate to people.
America is in -- and then move forward. America is in a horrible turmoil, as we all know. We need a leader who can set an example which exemplifies the standards of a good person and moral character.
Mr. Cain, I implore you, make this right so that you and the country can move forward and focus on the real issues at hand. Thank you.
GLORIA ALLRED, ATTORNEY: Wait. Wait. Excuse me. Wait.
Before we answer questions -- just a minute. Just one second.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those are Gloria's statements.
ALLRED: And we'll take questions in just a minute, as soon as everybody gets a copy.
Which is mine and which is hers?
