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Anthony Weiner Under Fire; Whitey Bulger Trial Continues; Protecting the Pope

Aired July 24, 2013 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: A 6-year-old girl found murdered. A couple of weeks later the family's car set on fire. Now this case has taken a dramatic turn. Police approached a neighbor's home, the home of a teenager.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: There is no question that what I did was wrong.

B. BALDWIN (voice-over): The critics are getting louder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He should definitely drop out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has no shame.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes New York look bad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Enough already.

B. BALDWIN: Could Anthony Weiner's wife help save his political career?

College students coming forward and accusing Southern Cal of not taking rape cases seriously.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worry for the other women who he might hurt.

B. BALDWIN: Security levels in Rio raised to high risk as the pope goes public.

Confessions, sex and murder. Whitey Bulger's alleged hit man tells all, including what the mob did with the teeth of its victims.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

B. BALDWIN: Let's continue on, shall we? I'm Brooke Baldwin. Great being with you.

You see the animation, and that means news on the royal baby. After months of speculation, we have a name for the boy who will one day be king, George Alexander Louis, to be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.

Max Foster, our CNN royal correspondent, CNN royal historian Kate Williams at Buckingham Palace for us, and Victoria Arbiter, our CNN royal commentator, welcome to all of you.

It's like three days in a row we get the goods.

Max Foster, to you first. Why George?

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why George? Well, they haven't explained that.

Our best guess is that the queen's father was a George. Well, he wasn't christened George. But he became King George. That's our thinking. It's also a very, very popular name, Brooke. I have got young boys, as you know. A lot of kids at their schools are called George. I think it sort of fits the Zeitgeist. A bit of a debate about whether or not he will be known as Prince George, though, just because Prince Harry was christened Henry. And there are other royals who've taken middle names, for example, but at the moment, definitely Prince George.

B. BALDWIN: OK.

Victoria, do we know -- now that we know the name, of course, we know a sovereign can change a name eventually because it was Albert who then became George VI, do we know what the royal family is up to today? I know they're no longer at Kensington Palace.

VICTORIA ARBITER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No. They're not at Kensington Palace. The queen popped in to visit them this morning. She there for about half-an-hour. Then uncle Harry stopped by to meet his new nephew.

And then William and Kate were seen driving with the baby out the front gate. And no one really was sure where they were going, but they have gone down to Bucklebury. My guess is that Kensington Palace is quite a construction site at the moment. It's very noisy. I think being at home in Bucklebury, where there's mom to help out, it's quiet, serene countryside, it's a healthy place for a new baby to be. I think they're very much enjoying this family time together.

B. BALDWIN: Kate Williams, to you,. We learned of the baby. We saw the baby yesterday. We now know the baby's name. What's next? What do we get to look forward to?

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: What's next?

We have next got to think about is the christening and the godparents. Most royals have quite a lot of godparents. Prince William has six. What we might think is, is this baby going to have six godparents? It's quite a lot of thank you letters and Christmas cards to send, isn't it, really?

But most people in the Church of England have three godparents. Will he have six or will he have three? Certainly I think we're going to see Prince Harry as one of those godparents, the fun-loving, exciting uncle he's going to be. And also Pippa Middleton is going to be I think the godmother. Who's going to be the third one? That's an interesting question. Possibly James Middleton. Possibly Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne.

And these people are very vital to the little prince. They're supposed to be integral to his upbringing. They're supposed to always be there for him. Of course, let's remember, if this child was to come to the throne as a minor, William was to die before -- reached the age of 18, Harry would be the stand-in king.

B. BALDWIN: Heaven forbid. Let's not -- hopefully none of that happens, right? Kate Williams, thank you.

To your point, that is a lot of thank-you notes to be writing to all these godparents. Kate Williams, Max Foster and Victoria Arbiter, thank you very much for the news on the royal baby name.

Back here at home, totally switching gears, Anthony Weiner clinging to his campaign for mayor of New York City one day after he admitted in front of a lot of cameras that he kept sending lewd pictures and texts for a year after that sexting scandal forced him to resign from Congress.

Two major New York newspapers, "The New York Times," "New York Daily News," published editorials today calling on Weiner to quit the race. Just this morning our cameras caught up with Anthony Weiner, as here he was walking out of his New York apartment. He did his best to keep the focus on New York, on the issues, instead of, well, the scandal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEINER: This is not about me. This is about the fact that the middle class, people struggling to make it in the city, they can't find housing they can afford, jobs with benefits. Their education system isn't what -- so this is what I try to talk about every single day. And there has been a disconnect.

Many of you -- many of you have been focused on other things. But when people talk to me on the street, they don't want to talk about something in my past. They want to talk about their future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

B. BALDWIN: At least one of Weiner's opponents not buying that. Watch what he told CNN this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Instead of the debate being about those central challenges, it's all about the personal life of Anthony Weiner. And this sideshow has to end. That's why yesterday I called upon him to step aside to do what's right for New York City.

(END VIDEO CLIP) B. BALDWIN: We should tell you we have also gotten our hands on a piece that his wife, Huma Abedin, wrote for the September issue of "Harper's Bazaar." It's entitled "The Good Wife." It was written before Anthony Weiner's latest scandal broke and the fiercely private Abedin explains why she's out there in the public eye campaigning for her husband.

"So, why am I doing this? Because Anthony has always been a smart, caring and dedicated person. And while he's the same public servant who wants what's best for the people he represents, he is now something else, a better man. New Yorkers will have to decide for themselves whether or not to give him a second chance."

Let me bring in CNN political commentator Ben Ferguson in Dallas and author and Sirius Radio talk show host Jenny Hutt in New York.

Hello, you two. Nice to see you.

Jenny, I'm beginning with you just because you're a New Yorker. You will be voting in this race. What is this really about?

JENNY HUTT, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: This is about people being excited because it's a salacious story. And when there's sex and there's someone to be angry about because he's done something that's seemingly unscrupulous, it's a feeding frenzy and it's fun to look at. But frankly I think this is about their marriage. Let them handle their marriage how they want to.

B. BALDWIN: You two are both married, not to one another. But you're both married.

HUTT: Yes.

B. BALDWIN: No couple is perfect. You have the ups and downs, as Huma was talking about yesterday.

HUTT: No.

B. BALDWIN: Ben, Huma is closest to him. You have the voters. They see her standing by her man. She said yesterday she forgives him. Shouldn't they be taking, you know, her endorsement into consideration before they vote?

BEN FERGUSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: But what happens when little Timmy's calling the mayor's office to do a report on the mayor and he calls in the evening and Carlos Danger answers the phone?

(CROSSTALK)

HUTT: Oh, come on.

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: That's what I'm worried about here. No, but, seriously, can we do any better than this? That's my big issue, is...

HUTT: Do better how?

FERGUSON: ... you have got a guy that's got problems. You have got a big city. Is this the best that New York can do? A guy that's nickname is Carlos Danger? Let's be honest. That's kind of embarrassing.

B. BALDWIN: Jenny, jump in.

HUTT: OK, so, Brooke, this is what I think. If he were running to be a family therapist or a marital therapist, correct, not the right guy. But in terms of doing right for our city and focusing on the issues, I don't think this is problematic. This is about he and his wife, intricacies of relationships. There's complexities.

I'm married 16 years with my husband, 17-and-a-half. Would I be happy if my husband were to behave in this manner? Of course not. He'd be in big, big trouble. But I'm not married to Anthony Weiner. Huma is. Leave her alone to do as she pleases. Stop judging her and her choices.

(CROSSTALK)

B. BALDWIN: Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Take Huma out of this. Guys, look at the polls. Throw up the polls. We have two different polls here. I don't have my piece of paper. I'm going to do this on the fly off the screen.

This is the New York City department -- these are the Democratic choices for mayor. One of the polls, you have Christine Quinn at the top. Anthony Weiner is below. The other poll is the Quinnipiac poll, and Weiner is on top. This is before this whole thing broke. Let me say that. But a lot of New Yorkers so far, they knew about the scandal back in 2011. They're still liking Anthony Weiner, at least as of a couple days ago. What do you tell New Yorkers?

HUTT: Right.

FERGUSON: I think part of this is, is people love just kind of messing with politics and they love a good train wreck. And people in New York love the gossip columns. I think some of this is, I think some of this is going to change when it gets closer to Election Day, because I think people love being able to pick up the newspaper and they feel better about themselves because look at this guy.

(CROSSTALK)

HUTT: Wait a minute. Hold on.

FERGUSON: More people are going to know him by the name Carlos Danger than they are after Anthony Weiner. That's really hard to do with the last name Weiner. Yet he's been able to top it. That's impressive.

HUTT: Listen, I think people are going to know he's Weiner. I think if people don't vote for him, I think it's because maybe he was a little stupid in that he got caught. Frankly, I think to make it like he's the only politician to have some sort of sex scandal, which by the way didn't involve actual sex, right?

B. BALDWIN: Right. Right. It didn't. But then you also talk about picking up the newspaper. And both of you saying we love the salacious stuff, but at the end of the day it's one thing. Who knows what people are up to behind closed doors? America loves a good redemption story. Look at the Bill Clintons and the Mark Sanfords. Why can't this guy be redeemed?

(CROSSTALK)

HUTT: He can.

FERGUSON: Well, here's the other thing. Here's the other thing. You have real people that are truly suffering in New York City. You have unemployment rates that are very high, especially among minority communities.

You have got schools that are having major problems. They're having budget issues. And the real question is, out of all the people that live in New York City, is Anthony Weiner the most qualified person for this job? And I think with the distractions and the fact that he can't get his act together, even it took him a whole year to get his own personal life under control after a scandal that almost cost him his marriage and cost him his job, I think it's a terrible choice for the people suffering in New York City.

HUTT: And I think that's totally incorrect, only because one thing really has very little to do with the other. Who cares who he's sexting in terms of whether he can fix budget issues and housing issues? That's all I'm...

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: If he's distracted during the budget meetings because his phone's beeping all the time, it could be an issue.

(CROSSTALK)

HUTT: Hopefully, it's just his way to decompress.

B. BALDWIN: Ben Ferguson always taking it back to Carlos Danger.

Ben Ferguson, we got to go. Ben Ferguson, Jenny Hutt, great conversation. It's true. Really, it's about that question and the people of New York City. Guys, we appreciate it very much.

Coming up next, we are learning more about a tragic case with shocking twists and turns about this 6-year-old little girl. She was murdered. Her parents still are dealing with the tragedy. They end up being targeted with another crime. When police go to arrest a suspect, they're ambushed. We will explain everything that happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) B. BALDWIN: A student at the University of Southern California comes forward with claims she was raped. She says the school's campus police told her, and this you may not believe, that they will not pursue a rape case because this alleged rapist didn't orgasm.

This is according to police. Then another student, Tucker Reed, comes forward saying she was raped by her former boyfriend in 2010. She goes to the university. She complains. They, according to this woman, brushed it off, says -- quote -- "The process made me feel raped a second time."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER REED, ALLEGED RAPE VICTIM: It's very interesting to note that a victim can come forward with a binder of evidence that supports their claim that they were subjected to a violent attack. But the school will choose to believe a completely unsubstantiated claim from a male student who denies it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

B. BALDWIN: Now dozens of USC students have filed a federal complaint against the school.

Stephanie Elam joins me now with more on this one.

Stephanie, what exactly are these women claiming? Are they actually accusing the university of trying to cover all this up?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's not exactly the words that they would try to use, Brooke.

I think what they were saying here is that they have been bungling and maybe messing up how things are happening. That's sort of the terminology that they use. Maybe shelving is the claim that they're saying or when a student reports that they have been raped, they said that they mis-take the report. That's part of their issue here with this, Brooke.

They have now formed a coalition called SCAR, the Student Coalition Against Rape. They say they have 77 members, men and women, who are students here at USC who are now part of this complaint that they have taken to the Department of Education and the Department of Education has confirmed that they have begun an investigation into how USC is handling this.

B. BALDWIN: So, then, why is it USC and the campus police deciding what should and shouldn't be classified as rape?

ELAM: Well, there's two things here. USC does say that they do not take the place of the Los Angeles Police Department and these sort of claims do need to make their way there.

At the same time, though, they came out with a statement. I want to read it to you right now, what they said. USC did say that it "takes all reports of sexual violence extremely seriously and has many resources available to assist students who experience unwanted sexual contact. In all reported instances, we thoroughly investigate and take appropriate disciplinary, as well as interim remedial action."

They also say that they look forward to this investigation and that previous investigation into these rape claims, they say, have resulted in students being dismissed from the school or up to that. Other sanctions have been imposed as well, Brooke.

B. BALDWIN: And just quickly, this isn't necessarily unique to USC. There have been other women from other campuses across the country with similar claims.

ELAM: That's true. And we did also confirm that with the Department of Education. They say they have open investigations with several universities looking into claims on how these rape cases, these claims of rape are being handled at these schools and with what these students are alleging.

As far as the two women that I talked to, because I wanted to just mention this -- I also talked to another senior. And she tells me that at this point, her shame of, you know, coming out and showing your face about the story like this, she had shame about it. But now it's turned to sadness for rape victims who are dealing with this all by themselves. They say they found strength in this together.

But what she does want is that the university will talk to them directly.

B. BALDWIN: Stephanie Elam for us in Los Angeles. Stephanie, we will stay on this story right there with you. Thank you very much.

Coming up next, protecting the pope. He wants to be easily accessible. Look at this mob, though. Some security experts say scenes like this could be recipe for disaster. We will take you live to Brazil next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

B. BALDWIN: Right now, Pope Francis is in a helicopter headed to Rio de Janeiro with his security raised to high risk. The problem? Pope Francis insists on getting close to his flock. And that can create a security nightmare.

Remember his car got stuck in a crowd of enthusiastic followers just a couple of days ago on Monday -- look at this -- after Pope Francis -- remember, he was like in a hatchback with the window down -- told his driver specifically not to avoid the crowds?

And a short time ago the pope held mass at a shrine honoring the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Aparecida. This is the same shrine where Brazilian police found a homemade bomb earlier this week. Hundreds of thousands of Catholics are in Rio for World Youth Day, this weeklong festival.

I want to bring in Shasta Darlington, who's covering the historic trip. Shasta, we talked Monday when we were looking at the live pictures of the pope rolling down the highway in the masses with the window down. As he's been considered this high-risk target, has his security changed at all?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, it has picked up a bit.

You can actually see more people around his cars. When he was outside of the shrine today, in that open-back popemobile, there were definitely more men on the scene keeping an eye on him. But there isn't a whole lot they can do. They have got their hands tied. This is a man who says that he will do what he wants to. He wants to be in among the people. He's not going to let them get in his way, which obviously is very exciting for the hundreds and thousands of people who are turning out to see him,but not so exciting for the people who have to keep him safe.

Having said that, there are 30,000 police and troops on hand. And they're doing their best to really make sure that this goes as smoothly as possible. They had that scare on Monday. So far everything has gone very smoothly since then, Brooke.

B. BALDWIN: Here's hoping it continues to go smoothly as all these people would love to get a glimpse of him. What's next on his agenda?

DARLINGTON: Well, Brooke, he led mass this morning. He really had a very positive message for young people. He told them, listen, Catholics have to be optimistic. We are the face of the church. When people see us, they have to see what an optimistic church it is.

But things could get a little more interesting now. He will be coming back to Rio de Janeiro this evening. He's going to a hospital for recovering drug addicts. And these are -- these are people who are down and out. These are going to be usually from very poor backgrounds in Rio, and just another symptom of how this man wants to show that he is there for the poor of the world.

We're going to see him there. He's also going to a shantytown tomorrow. Rio is full of shantytowns, unfortunately, where, again, a good 20 percent of the population lives. He's going to show that this is not a rich man's church, that he is there for them. He will be there. Of course, we're going to see lots of these massive open-air masses right here on Copacabana Beach and at these fields outside of the city, Brooke.

B. BALDWIN: Sounds like a party where you are there, Shasta Darlington in Rio. Shasta, thank you. We will look for pictures of the pope in favelas tomorrow. Wow.

Coming up next, after months of speculation, we finally know the name of the royal baby boy, the prince of Cambridge. We will take you live to London, talk with Christiane Amanpour. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) B. BALDWIN: Breaking news into us here at CNN. Authorities are investigating allegations of sexual misconduct against several soldiers from Fort Carson in Colorado.

Let's go straight to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

Barbara, what do you know?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, very few details available at this hour. The Army's Criminal Investigative Command, the CID, is investigating several U.S. Army soldiers at Fort Carson, Colorado, over allegations that they were involved with -- in what the Army is calling sexual misconduct against minors.

They are calling it misconduct with female minors. That is according to a U.S. Army statement from Fort Carson, Colorado. Because this is a criminal investigation at this point, the Army releasing very few details. We do understand several soldiers are involved. But they will say no more about it.

A criminal investigation could, could potentially lead, of course, to criminal military charges -- Brooke.

B. BALDWIN: Barbara Starr, we know you will stay on it for us.

Barbara, thank you.

The late actor Paul Newman created a summer camp for sick children to escape reality, naming it after the Hole in the Wall Gang from his blockbuster film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Now Newman's friend Alec Baldwin is carrying on in his mission in making an impact for these kids.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: Hi. I'm Alec Baldwin. And we can make an impact on children's cancer.

I have been involved with the Hole in the Wall Gang camp in Connecticut around 20 years now. And the reason I got involved was a friend of mine introduced me to Paul Newman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a fish.

A. BALDWIN: When you come to the camp, what's interesting is you see the joy on the kids' faces.

They're having an experience here that they would likely only have here. The parents that you spend most of the time talking to discuss what they have been going through. And they have been going through a lot, because there's just nothing more vexing, I think, than to have a child who has a grave illness, and you're powerless to do something about that.

All right, Ken, what's the deal? Let's go. These kids have a nexus of the difficult things in life. It robs them of their childhood. When they come to the camp, they have a childhood on so many levels. Hole in the Wall is something where we have to keep it going, and it has to expand, probably the greatest cause I have ever seen in my life.

Join the movement. Impact Your World, CNN.com/Impact.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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