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Supreme Court to Determine Constitutionality of Arizona Immigration Law; "Betrayal of Trust": Rape at Military Academies; Obama Honors Teacher of the Year; Romney Hires Openly Gay Spokesperson
Aired April 24, 2012 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Kyra Phillips. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 8:00 out West. We have a busy hour ahead. Let's get straight to the news.
Borders and boundaries, a day before the highest court in the land takes up the question of who can enforce immigration law, a top sitting Democrat wants a new law. Live pictures now.
Chuck Schumer wants state and local governments to get federal permission before they take it on themselves to investigate, detain or turn-in suspected illegal immigrants.
He is chairing this hearing as we speak on the two-year-old Arizona law due to be challenged tomorrow at the U.S. Supreme Court.
I'll have more on that and some surprising facts from the U.S./Mexican border in our next segment.
And there's little drama, but don't tell voters going to the polls in five states today. Voting is underway in Republican primaries in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York.
Mitt Romney, of course, appears to have the nomination in the bag, but even though Rick Santorum has dropped out, his name is still on the ballot.
And at least for now, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul vowing to fight on.
According to CNN's count, Romney right now has 695 of the 1,144 delegates needed to clench the nomination.
President Obama focusing on education. This morning, he honored this year's National Teacher of the Year and all of the finalists at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: These are the kinds of teachers who change lives forever. I wouldn't be here today if it were not for teachers like these who challenged me and pushed me and put up with me and inspired me and set me straight when they had to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The president now heads to college campuses in three battleground states this week. He's trying to push Congress to keep interest rates on college loans from spiking in July.
The government's star witness expected back on the stand in the trial of former presidential candidate, John Edwards.
Former Edwards aide, Andrew Young, was the first witness in the start of this trial. He's considered the key to making the prosecution's argument that Edwards used nearly $1 million from wealthy campaign donors to conceal his affair with Rielle Hunter.
If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison.
In Chicago, the trial resumes half an hour from now in the killing of the mother, brother and nephew of Jennifer Hudson. The actress and singer testified yesterday, none of the family members wanted their sister, Julia, to marry the defendant, William Balfour.
For her part, Jennifer Hudson testified that Balfour told her, quote, "I'll kill you r family," if she left him. The defense says there's no forensic evidence linking Balfour to the crimes.
James Murdoch in the hot seat, once again, blaming others for keeping him in the dark about the phone-hacking scandal that's engulfed his father's newspaper empire.
Speaking under oath, he appeared before a British inquiry today. He defended his record as head of the newspaper group saying those under him prevented him from making a clean sweep of the now defunct "News of the World" tabloid.
Before the scandal broke, Murdoch was viewed as the heir apparent of NewsCorp, headed by his father, Rupert Murdoch.
Widespread violence spreading across Syria, despite U.N. peace efforts. New video just in to CNN showing the shelling just outside of Damascus.
Once again, this is amateur video. We cannot verify its authenticity, but it does give you an idea of what Syrians are still facing every day. At least 11 people killed today, two reportedly as a result of torture.
There was also an explosion in Central Damascus. All this despite the U.N. Security Council's agreement to send in more monitors.
The Army private accused of leaking vast amounts of government secrets is trying to get the charges dismissed. Bradley Manning is in court, Fort Meade, Maryland, armed with claims military prosecutors withheld information, overcharged and can't prove that he tried to aid the enemy. That's the most serious charge against him. Many of the leaks attributed to Manning ended up on the website, Wikileaks.
Police in Baltimore have made a second arrest in the savage beating of a man caught on tape. Police say the man from Virginia was headed to his hotel when he was robbed, beaten and stripped of his clothes last month, all while people laughed and did nothing to help.
The incident made national headlines after this video was posted on the Internet. The video helped police arrested two 20-year-olds and they are still looking for two more people.
Facebook has topped more than 900 million active-users, worldwide. Just to give you an idea of how many people that is, it's more than the populations of the U.S., Indonesia, Brazil and Japan combined.
But despite the company's sizzling growth, the company says its profit fell 12 percent in the first quarter. Facebook is blaming seasonal advertising trends.
The social giant doesn't seem too concerned. It's expected to go public next month.
The Supreme Court ready decide if it's legal for police to check the immigration status of anyone they find suspicious. More on that, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It's a momentous week for the law that put Arizona in the immigration enforcement business. SB1070, as it's known, turned two years old and tomorrow it faces its ultimate challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Among four key issues is whether Arizona and the states that have followed its lead can require police to check the status of suspected illegal immigrants whom they stop or arrest for other reasons.
Lower courts have said no, but the public says yes. A brand-new poll from the Quinnipiac finds almost seven-in-ten registered voters nationwide support the Arizona law. Just over a quarter disapprove.
And while lawyers, justices and politicians debate the policy, the facts on the border are startling.
The Pew Hispanic Center finds net migration from Mexico, legal and otherwise, has essentially stopped.
Take a look at this. From 2005 to 2010, roughly 1.4 million Mexicans immigrated to the U.S. while almost the same number went home.
Jeffrey Passel is senior demographer and lead author of that report. So tell me exactly what is going on here. JEFFREY PASSEL, FORMER PRINCIPAL RESERARCH ASSOCIATE, URBAN INSTITUTE: We are seeing a number of factors come together. We have had falling immigration flows from Mexico for about six or seven years now.
The number of people coming in 2010 was only 20 percent of what it was ten years earlier and a combination of factors on the U.S. side seem to have led people to decide to go home.
The economic opportunities here are not what they were. Life is difficult. It's harder for people to get in.
And we have seen several things going on in Mexico. Their economy has grown the last two years better than ours.
It does seem to be really a combination of factors on both sides of the border and at the border that have led these two flows to come into balance.
PHILLIPS: So, Jeffrey, let me ask you, OK, you pointed out weaker U.S. economy, tougher border enforcement, a surge in deportations, a better Mexican economy and, as a result, a wave of reverse immigration back to Mexico.
Did any of that surprise you?
PASSEL: Well, the data we had up until about two years ago did not show large numbers of Mexicans going home, so it was a surprise when we got results from the Mexican census that showed almost 1 million people who had been in the U.S. in 2005 were back in Mexico in 2010.
We recently got data from a U.S. survey that showed the first real significant drop in the number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. and the way that happens is people going home.
So, you know, there were some surprised in this. People have been talking about the return flow for a couple of years. It just really wasn't showing up in the data. Now, we are beginning to see it.
PHILLIPS: It's interesting, at the beginning of the report, I'm going to quote here, "the largest wave of immigration in history from a single country to the United States has come to a standstill."
When you read that, it sounds dramatic.
PASSEL: Yes.
PHILLIPS: But do you think it's really an end or is it just a pause?
PASSEL: Well, there -- you know, I'm not graded for telling the future, but ...
PHILLIPS: Come on. You are a researcher. You put together all the information. You analyze all this.
PASSEL: The demographic trends in Mexico tell us that the number of potential immigrants is shrinking because of the drop in birthrates over the last 40 years in Mexico, so there won't be as many Mexicans to come to the United States.
The part of the goal of the last 20 years has been to develop a Mexican economy to create jobs for those people and some of that seems to be working.
If this goes on for another couple of years, I think we'll see changes in the networks of Mexican that facilitate the immigration.
So, you know, it certainly is -- I would say it's virtually impossible that we'll get back to the level of immigration that we saw ten years ago.
It's possible that the flows may pick up, but I don't think they will ever get anywhere near what they were in 2000.
PHILLIPS: It's interesting to just see this information and talk about this, especially, Jeffrey, in light of looking at this presidential race and we are talking so much about the Hispanic vote and what an impact that will make on this election.
Jeffrey Passel, thank you so much for your time.
PASSEL: You are very welcome. Thank you for having me.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
A conservative radio host is blasting the Romney camp for selecting an openly gay spokesperson. Why Bryan Fischer believes Rick Grenell is a security risk.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: As GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney tries to shore up votes to clench today's primaries, Romney's decision to hire this openly gay man, Richard Grenell, as his foreign policy spokesperson has one conservative radio host fuming.
We are talking about Bryan Fischer, the director of issue analysis at the American Family Association. Fischer gave Romney a political lashing, tweeting and writing this on his blog:
"The message Governor Romney appears to be sending to the pro- family community through his Grenell appointment is drop dead."
Bryan Fischer joins me now via Skype, along with the executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, R. Clarke Cooper.
Bryan, let's go ahead and start with you. Clearly, you feel strongly that Romney, as you put it on your blog, quote, "stepped on a land mine." Why? BRYAN FISCHER, DIRECTOR OF ISSUE ANALYSIS FOR GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY, AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION: The real issue for the evangelical base, the social conservative base, is where does Governor Romney stand on the issue of values, the issues of marriage, the issues of human sexuality?
And this, I think, is an alarming signal for the governor to send. He did this right after Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention endorsed him. Robert Jeffress of Dallas First Baptist Church endorsed him. The National Organization for Marriage endorsed him.
And then right on the heels of that, Governor Romney picks as the face of his campaign on national security and foreign policy a man who is not just a homosexual, but is a homosexual activist who is actively working on behalf of homosexual marriage.
That's of great concern to people in the evangelical base.
PHILLIPS: Do you believe openly gay people should not be hired in the GOP?
FISCHER: The real issue here is for Governor Romney and what he thinks about homosexual behavior. His church -- my complaint about Governor Romney is not that he's Mormon, but that he's not Mormon enough.
Now, according to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, the Mormon church believes that homosexual behavior is sinful and that homosexual acts are offensive to God. So the question that needs to be asked of Governor Romney, do you agree with the teaching of your church?
If you do, that homosexual acts are offensive to God, then why have you made the face of your campaign someone who engages in conduct that your own church says is offensive to God.
If you don't agree with your church then how can you expect the evangelical base to support you?
PHILLIPS: But we are talking the separation of church and state here? Isn't that a good thing? Isn't that what Americans want?
They want a president that is not going to make decisions based on his religious beliefs. He's going for, in his words, the most qualified person.
FISCHER: But, Kyra, you cannot separate religious liberty from the issue of the homosexual agenda. In fact, the homosexual agenda represents the single greatest threat to religious liberty and freedom of association in America today.
And Clarke from the Log Cabin Republicans ought to know that. He was an Eagle Scout. The Boy Scouts ran into enormous trouble on religious liberty and associational issues because they would not allow homosexuals to serve as scout masters.
He knows the threat that homosexual represent to freedom of association.
PHILLIPS: Clarke, step in. Go ahead.
R. CLARKE COOPER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LOG CABIN REPUBLICANS: Kyra, you mentioned the point of separation of church and state.
Look, Governor Romney didn't hire Rick because Rick happens to be a Protestant. If anything, he hired Rick because he's immensely qualified as a foreign policy/national security technocrat.
Rick is the ideal candidate. He was hired based on his qualifications and his experience in the Bush administration, not because of his orientation. If anything, Rick's orientation had nothing to do with the hiring process.
FISCHER: Kyra, my response to that would be, Clarke, if his hiring had nothing to do with homosexuality, why did so many homosexual groups like the Log Cabin Republicans come out and celebrate this appointment if it had nothing to do with homosexuality and normalizing homosexual behavior?
PHILLIPS: Go ahead, Clarke.
COOPER: One's political affiliation and one's religion are choices. One's orientation is not a choice.
And when it comes to matters of individual liberty and individual responsibility which are core conservative tenets, we all recognize that freedom means freedom for everyone.
Dick Cheney said that. The (INAUDIBLE) conservative recognizes that and, again, we are talking about someone's qualifications as a spokesperson on national security issues is based on their experience and their ability to be able to speak candidly, honestly and also with a background that is relevant to what is happening in the national security portfolio today.
Again, Rick's orientation has nothing to do with his experience in working in the national security framework.
PHILLIPS: Bryan, let me ask you, just off what Clarke is saying and what you have said and we start talking about background and qualifications, if you take a look here at Grenell's resume, we are talking over two decades of experience at the local, state, federal level, appointed by George W. Bush in 2001 as director of communications.
He's got a master's degree from Harvard. Why would this not qualify him to be a part of Mitt Romney's campaign?
FISCHER: The reality is, Kyra, he is not the only qualified individual out there that Governor Romney could have chosen.
He knows about his past. He knows about his sexual preferences. He knows about his activism on behalf of the homosexual agenda. He made a deliberate and intentional choice to pick him as the face of his campaign on national security issues. Out of all the qualified applicants he could have chosen, he picked a man who is a homosexual activist.
That is the thing that's sending off alarm bells in the evangelical community because, as I mentioned, I share with Clarke. Our concern is for liberty, our concern is for religious liberty and we recognize the threat that homosexual activism and the homosexual agenda imposes on religious liberty. That is our concern.
Where is Governor Romney at?
COOPER: But we are talking about foreign policy and national security issues here. I mean, did you like how John Bolton did when he was U.S. ambassador to the U.N..?
PHILLIPS: Let me ask, Bryan. Hold on. Just a second, Clarke? Bryan, did he do a good job?
FISCHER: He did a great job.
PHILLIPS: OK, well, Grenell was his spokesperson so does that make him any less ...
COOPER: And Bolton doesn't care about one's orientation. I can tell you that. Ambassador Bolton had no issue with Rick's orientation, my orientation. Neither did Ambassador Khalilzad.
My security clearance and Rick's security clearance had nothing to do with our orientation. It was our ability to be able to perform our jobs in the national security portfolio and he's qualified for that.
Governor Romney has picked the best and brightest. And George Bush picked the best and brightest. So, good on Governor Romney, good on President Bush being able to pick candidates to serve in their campaigns and eventually in a Romney administration, those who are the strongest when it comes to foreign policy and national security.
PHILLIPS: And, Bryan, I just thought that was interesting. You thought Bolton did a great job and Grenell was his spokesperson.
FISCHER: The point here is that personnel is policy. Everybody in D.C. says that. Personnel is policy.
When Governor Romney picked somebody who is an activist homosexual and puts him in a prominent position, he's sending a shout- out, it seems to me, to the homosexual lobby.
And it's absurd, Kyra, to say this is not about sexual orientation, sexual preference because I wouldn't be talking to a representative of the Log Cabin Republican if they didn't recognize that this was a big gain for the homosexual lobby and that's why we're concerned.
PHILLIPS: Final thought, Clarke?
COOPER: I prefer to be a Republican and I prefer to be a practicing Episcopalian. My orientation, my happening to be gay is not a choice.
So when you talk about preference, sure, I can choose who I vote for and I can choose how I practice my faith because we have that liberty.
But, again, freedom means freedom for everyone, not for some, and, you know, Bryan, you know, you've got to be careful because you are starting to sound like George Wallace. Segregation today; segregation tomorrow. Be careful because you're left in the dustbin of history, buddy.
PHILLIPS: Clarke, Bryan ...
FISCHER: Clarke, there's no equivalence between sexual orientation and race. People are born into a race. Sexual orientation is a matter of choice and preference.
PHILLIPS: Gentlemen, we have to leave it there.
COOPER: Not a choice.
PHILLIPS: Clarke Cooper, Bryan Fischer, you both made your points. I appreciate you both of you for coming on. Thank you.
FISCHER: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Landing a job is hard these days. Landing a summer job, even harder. A few tips to help you stand out with potential employers as you are looking for the job you want, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Finding summer work can be hard for anyone, but it's especially tough for young people and Felicia Taylor is here to help them get through the process.
Felicia, you have some tips?
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.
You know, Kyra, it's not too soon to start looking even though summer seems like it's months away.
We spoke with Brad Karsh. He's the president and founder of JB Training Solutions and he says that people should think of internships as sort of like ten-week job interviews.
Many companies use summer jobs as sort of an entry point for full-time positions, such as UPS, for example. They plan to hire about 1,500 workers this summer through the Labor Department's "Summer Jobs Plus" program.
The vice president of human resources and workforce planning at UPS describes what she looks for in an applicant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYTANA KIDS, VICE PRESIDENT FOR HUMAN RESOURCES AND WORKFORCE PLANNING, UPS: We look for students that say that they are willing to work hard and do what they are asked to do.
And we look for students that maybe have been part of different leadership opportunities in their school and that shows us they are willing to do what it is that we need them to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAYLOR: So it's kind of like a little bit of practice for students that are, you know, possibly looking for jobs in these companies after they graduate. It's a good opportunity to sort of practice your skills.
PHILLIPS: All right, so, how do these students get recruiters' attention? You can send out a dozen resumes and not hear anything.
TAYLOR: Yes, I mean, it's true. There's no question about it. And the number one thing is to make sure you really have a connection with the people you are interviewing with.
Brad says the best place to start is your school's career center. Networking is key. Everybody knows that.
Even if it's with friends and family, people that you already know. You can even network online and that can help a lot.
Many employers use sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linked In to recruit their employees. UPS hired over 3,000 workers last year through social media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIDS: Students or non-students in this area are very much into the social media space and we encourage them to connect with recruiters utilizing these sites and start to have a conversation with employers about what it's like to work at their company.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAYLOR: And what's interesting is, obviously, just because the internship has ended, that doesn't mean that the connection should end. You stay connected even after you have gone back to school.
In the last month of your internship, you might want to talk to human resources or your manager if you are interested in working at the company after you graduate.
But, even if you are not interested in working there -- maybe you didn't enjoy the experience that much -- you don't want to burn any bridges. Instead, see if your boss can actually help you find a job in an area of that company that does interest you. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Felicia, thanks.
Questionable campaign contributions, a mistress and a politician's fall from grace. Day two of John Edwards' trial. Will it impact the Democratic party?
"Fair Game," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Arizona's tough immigration law, praised and ridiculed, signed into law by Republican Governor Jan Brewer two years ago. Tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether S.B. 1070 is constitutional. It could have an impact on who Hispanics vote for in November, and it's "Fair Game."
Democratic strategist, Tara Dowdell; and Republican strategist, Cheri Jacobus, joining me now.
Ladies, let's listen to Mitt Romney on the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: With regards to illegal immigration, of course we build a fence. Of course, we do not give in-state tuition credits to those that come here illegal.
(APPLAUSE)
That only attracts people to continue to come here and take advantage of America's great benefits.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right. Tara, you heard it right there. Won't this help Obama win the Hispanic vote this time around?
TARA DOWDELL, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think he did well last time around. The Republicans have been incendiary and divisive and offensive in their language as they refer to Hispanics and their illegal immigration issue. It's not to say that illegal immigration I not a problem and should be resolved by the federal government because it should be.
At the same time, the Republicans -- it's the way they have approached the issue. It's very suspect that the Arizona immigration law came about at a time when the number of people who entered this country illegally is at an all-time low. It's a suspect thing. It's also suspect, given deportations are up in this country, yet Arizona felt the need to pass this law and in a way where the Hispanic community is concerned about racial profiling and being treated unfairly. It's not as if they are not the only people that enter this country illegally. Many people enter this country illegally. PHILLIPS: Cheri, will the law help or hurt Romney?
CHERI JACOBUS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, at this point, Quinnipiac poll shows 62 percent of the respondents support the law. It hurts the Democrats to be out there misrepresenting Republicans using those words like incendiary and suspect and that sort of thing. At first, it seems to work until the American people pay attention to the details and look at what's actually happening, and realizing there's a difference between talking immigration, legal immigration, and people who come here illegally.
True, the Obama economy is so bad it's keeping the illegals from wanting to come in. That's not how you resolve the issue. Democrats have a problem if they start beating the drums on this. They are trying to appeal to people with language that is negative and trying to divide people based on race and ethnicity. I don't think people of Hispanic heritage support illegal immigration. So it's very risk for the Democrats to go down this path.
PHILLIPS: I'm going to make a different turn here, while I have the two of you, and ask you about the John Edwards trial. We have been covering this for a number of months.
Tara, what do you think? Are people paying attention to this because of the salacious details or is it something that could impact Democrats come November?
DOWDELL: Well, I have to say, Kyra, I think John Edwards is a creep and a louse. So, I really don't think that people will --
(LAUGHTER)
I really don't think that people will associate him with the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, both parties have their share of creeps and louses. This is not a big issue. I think people are happy to see that there is justice being served, given at John Edwards' behavior, the level of arrogance and the people's lives he impacted negatively, I think people are happy about that. But I don't think people are paying much attention to this, given all the other more complex issues we face as a nation.
PHILLIPS: Cheri, what do you think?
JACOBUS: I tend to agree. Sometimes you hear people on the left or right doing something like this, trying to paint the entire party with that brush. This is not the case. It only becomes a problem for Democrats if it's revealed that there are top operatives or high- profile Democrats or party leaders involved in a cover up. Right now, it looks like John Edwards was a creep.
(LAUGHTER)
He got caught and he's getting his justice. I don't think it's going to have an impact on the Democratic Party.
PHILLIPS: I know both of you toned down your adjectives because we are on live television.
Cheri and Tara, ladies, thank you so much.
(LAUGHTER)
Appreciate it.
Straight ahead, allegations of rape at West Point and the Naval Academy. My exclusive report, "Betrayal of Trust," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Zero tolerance, that's the message from Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta when it comes to sexual assault in the military. And it's a message that needs to start at ground zero, the nation's most prestigious military institutions. Reports of sexual assaults at the academies are up nearly 60 percent. Out of the 65 cases investigated last year, one resulted in court-martial.
That's why the two young women you are about to meet are telling their stories. In a lawsuit filed just last week, they alleged being raped in their first year at the academies and their perpetrators were never held accountable. They spoke to me exclusively for investigation, "Betrayal of Trust."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): West Point, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy -- prestigious military universities, tasked with training future officers, ethically, spiritually and morally.
(SHOUTING)
PHILLIPS: But for these high school honor students, their experience would be far different.
KARLEY MARQUET, RAPED AT MILITARY ACADEMY: I remember him turning off the lights and me asking, what are you doing?
ANNIE KENDZIOR, RAPED AT MILITARY ACADEMY: In the middle of the night, I did come to and he was on top of me.
Karley Marquet and Annie Kendzior say they were raped. Raped by fellow classmates they trusted, and ignored, they say, by a chain of command that promised their parents they would be protected.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody. Not a single person, not one, was looking out for her best interest.
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, Karley.
PHILLIPS: Karley was not your typical teenage girl. That's her, cage fighting at 18.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karley.
PHILLIPS: An all-star rugby player, championship swimmer, honor student, Karley could have gone to college anywhere.
(on camera): What was it about West Point that drew you to the academy?
MARQUET: Knowing you have your future set, that structure and discipline. At the same time, people looking at you saying wow, you are doing something great for our country.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Her sister was a midshipman at the Naval Academy. Her father, a Marine. To Karley, they were heroes, everything she wanted to be.
(on camera): Do you think West Point let you down?
MARQUET: Yes. I wanted to be there. It was my dream.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): A dream that was shattered her first year when an upper classman showed up at her door to talk girl troubles.
MARQUET: I kind of felt a little cool that an upper classman wanted to be friends with me, seeking my advice.
PHILLIPS: After sharing a drink, he convinced her to come to his room. Since he was an upper classroom, she trusted him.
MARQUET: I remember just getting more and more intoxicated. My judgment became impaired. I remember him turning off the lights, me asking what are you doing? Then he proceeded to rape me.
PHILLIPS: Karley says she woke up disoriented, in physical pain and afraid to come forward.
MARQUET: I was afraid it was going to ruin my career. I was scared if i said anything there would constantly be a target on my back. I reached out to people, they weren't there. I didn't want to leave my room. He was right across the hall.
PHILLIPS (on camera): You still had to work under him? Take out his trash?
MARQUET: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Why?
MARQUET: It was part of our duties.
PHILLIPS: Chain of command.
MARQUET: Mm-hmm.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Chain of command, military ranks where senior students have the authority over the one immediately below. Every day, Karley had to face the man she says raped her. But weeks later, she found the courage to come forward. She filed a report and requested an investigation.
MARQUET: The reason I ended up telling someone is because I didn't want it to happen to anyone else.
PHILLIPS: Annie Kendzior describes herself as a girly girl, who never thought she would join the military. One of the best soccer players in the country, she was heavily are recruited from the top schools but the Naval Academy was the most convincing.
ANNIE KENDZIOR, RAPED AT MILITARY ACADEMY: They all came on and became pilots and Marine officers. It sounded like those women are so powerful and well respected. I wanted to be that woman.
PHILLIPS: Annie's goal, to fly F-18s. It wasn't long after arriving she realized, that wasn't going to happen.
KENDZIOR: I could tell there was definitely a bias toward the women. I mean, you are a female entering into a fraternity, a giant frat.
PHILLIPS: Annie says there were no derogatory names for the men. For the women, they were called dubs. What does dub mean?
KENDZIOR: Dub, a dumb, ugly bitch.
PHILLIPS (on camera): Were you called a dub?
KENDZIOR: Every girl was called a dub.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): It was definitely a different culture. Annie felt out of place. When she got invited to go to an off-campus party, she was in.
KENDZIOR: I was like OK, cool, college, finally. I can live the college life for one night.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): But Annie said she had way too much to drink. When a fellow midshipman offered her a place to crash, she accepted.
KENDZIOR: I was like, OK, it will be fine. I trust you, you are an upper class. That's what they teach you, to trust your upper class.
PHILLIPS (on camera): Tell me what happened once he took you back to the room.
KENDZIOR: I just layed down and went to sleep. At one part in the middle of the night, I came to and he was on top of me. I remember saying no. But then I passed back out, again.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Annie was afraid to come forward.
(on camera): Why were you scared?
KENDZIOR: I didn't want to be the girl that got the athlete kicked out. Because we had been told stories about how that happened in the past. I didn't want to be that next story.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): For two years, Annie battled depression and thoughts of suicide. She had a secret she couldn't keep anymore and finally, called her father.
FATHER OF ANNIE: She said I was raped, and I couldn't breathe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Still ahead, the battle to change the system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(on camera): How do you get it through these men's heads, if they rape, they will pay the price?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Two young women working toward careers in the military had their dreams shattered. They were alleged raped at two of the nation's most prestigious academies. Now they are no longer in the military and are coming forward to seek justice.
Part two now of my exclusive investigation, "Betrayal of Trust."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): When Karley Marquet came forward to say she was raped at West Point, she believed her case would be investigated.
MARQUET: I remember the investigators meeting with my parents and they promised my parents that if he wasn't going to jail they could at least get him kicked out of West Point with the evidence they had.
PHILLIPS (on camera): But he's still there?
MARQUET: But he's still there.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Annie Kendzior says she, too, believed her allegations of rape would be investigated.
KENDZIOR: I was like they're going to get him, like, good.
PHILLIPS: But Karley and Annie say their alleged perpetrators were never punished. So now, they've filed a lawsuit, naming former secretary of defense, Robert Gates; the former superintendents of West Point and the Naval Academy; Secretary of the Navy; Ray Mabis, and secretary of the Army, John McCue. The lawsuit claims there was limited support from commanders and failure to ensure sexual predators were prosecuted and incarcerated for their crimes.
Karley and Annie are not alone. Reports of sexual assault at the academies are up nearly 60 percent, and of the 65 reports investigated last year, only one resulted in a court-martial.
REP. JACKIE SPEIER, (D), CALIFORNIA: I ache for the former cadet and midshipman who have had their lives torn up. It shouldn't be that way.
PHILLIPS: Congresswoman Jackie Speier has gone to the House floor 19 times --
SPEIER: We need to overhaul this system.
PHILLIPS: -- demanding that Congress and the military change the way sexual assaults are prosecuted.
SPEIER: You report everything through your chain of command, so I'm raped, I go to my commander, I say I've been raped. My commander can say to me, well, you know, I'm not going to pursue this. Or, take an aspirin and go to bed. As long as it's going to be in the chain of command, there is always going to be a conflict.
PHILLIPS: Her bill, The Stop Act, would take investigations away from the chain of command and turn them over to an impartial council of civilian and military experts.
SPEIER: If you're not going to have your assailant prosecuted, why would you want to come forward, because you're basically setting yourself up to lose your career in the military.
PHILLIPS: Speier says for years her calls to action have gone unanswered until Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta took office.
LEON PANETTA, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We've got to train commanders to understand that when these complaints are brought they have got to do their damnedest to make sure these people are brought to justice. That's the only way to prevent this in the future is show that people can't get away with it.
PHILLIPS (on camera): How do you get it through these men's heads if they rape, they will pay the price?
PANETTA: This place operates by command authority and it has to begin at the top, and the message has to go down to the bottom.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Still, Panetta will not take investigations away from the chain of command. But he is changing the rules, Announcing new initiatives just one week after our interview.
PANETTA: What I will do is change the way these cases are handled in the military.
PHILLIPS: Here's what Panetta is doing differently. He created a special victims unit to investigate sexual assaults. Now, instead of slowly making their way up the chain of command, all cases will begin at the level of colonel.
MARY KAY HERZOG, MAJOR GENERAL, SEXUAL ASSAULT AND RESPONSE OFFICE: Everybody has to do due diligence. Commanders have bosses. If that commander is not doing their job, you relieve their butts of command.
PHILLIPS: Major General Mary Kay Herzog heads the Sexual Assault and Response Office.
HERZOG: You have to look at this every day and you have to take what every victim says seriously. I want our victims to come forward.
But the changes in policy come too late for Karley Marquet and Annie Kendzior. Their military careers are over.
HERZOG: That hurts me to hear that because we betrayed their trust and didn't take care of them. We need to do a much better job.
PHILLIPS: According to the lawsuit, as a result of the rape, Karley became depressed and suicidal, unable to handle the stress of seeing her alleged perpetrator every day. Karley resigned from West Point.
MARQUET: it was like I felt like a blemish.
PHILLIPS (on camera): Because they knew you reported the rape.
MARQUET: Hm-mmm.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Annie says she, too, became suicidal. She was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and according to her lawsuit was then forced to leave the academy.
PANETTA: It hurts the message that we're trying to get out there.
PHILLIPS: Because of privacy issues, Panetta couldn't comment specifically on Karley and Annie's cases but it does make clear that blaming the victim needs to stop.
(on camera): Personality disorder, academic separation.
PANETTA: I think that's part of the syndrome that we're dealing with, which is that, you know, once a decision is made that somehow this prosecution is not going to move forward, then you basically turn on the victim who brought that complaint and try to do everything possible to make sure that victim doesn't hang around. Or really diminish them by somehow accusing them of having psychological problems. That syndrome is what we have to break out of.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): And for Karley and Annie, if coming forward helps with that mission, they want to be part of the battle.
MARQUET: I know with at least one person coming forward, there will be others that want to come forward and say something.
KENDZIOR: Then they might get their perpetrators put behind bars which is where they should be.
(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: Due to privacy issues, West Point and the Naval Academy could not comment on Annie and Karley's cases. Both women have requested copies of their case files to learn more about why the men they say raped them are still in the military.
"CNN Presents" my full investigation, "Betrayal of Trust," this Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and again at 11:00 p.m. eastern.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Coming up on the noon hour here on the east coast. Taking a quick look at the markets. Dow Industrials looks like, up almost 100 points. That's a look at your stock market.
Thanks for watching. You can continue the conversation with me on Twitter @kyraCNN or on Facebook.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with Suzanne Malveaux.
