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John Kerry Speaks Out On Bowe Bergdahl Controversy; California Chrome Falls Short Of Taking Triple Crown; Officials Say They Are Caught Illegally Crossing Texas Border; Exclusive Interview With Lavar Burton; Outrage In Arizona Over Detention Center For Undocumented Children

Aired June 08, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL FISHMAN COHEN, CO-PRODUCER, IRELAUNCH: Prior to 2004 we could only identify nine programs and now we have identified 105 programs.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Carol This woman has helped thousands of women trying to re-enter the workforce. Even Hollywood is catching on to the trend.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Carol Fishman Cohen is the woman companies go to when they want to launch a return to work program. She's helped thousands of women try and re-enter the workforce, she says even Hollywood is catching on to the trend.

COHEN: There are TV characters like (INAUDIBLE) "the Good Wife," (INAUDIBLE) "Modern Family," portraying characters of people who have taken long career breaks and are returning to work. It shows that the conversation has moved away from academic circles into the mainstream media.

KOSIK: So what makes moms like Kristen this so special?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They come with the level of maturity and life experience that you can't get from a 22-year-old.

KOSIK: As for Kristen, she has come advice for moms who are considering a break.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You never know what you're going to want to do ten years from now. You just don't. You think you do, but you don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Part of it is in a Wall Street is trying to attract more women, but more and more companies from met life to major law firms to start-ups have begun doing programs like this. And if you want to go back to work and aren't seeing an internship, you can ask a company to give you an internship, like a setup, a trial run, so to speak, so you get back in the game and they don't feel they're gabbling on someone with a resume gap -- Fredricka.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, very encouraging. Alison Kosik, thank you so much reporting from Wall Street.

We have much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all begins right now.

Hello, again. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. These are the stories that are topping our news this hour.

U.S. secretary of state John Kerry speaking out for the first time on the release sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. His response to the critics --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: To leave an American behind in the hands of the people who would torture him, cut off his head, do any number of things, and we would consciously choose to do that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: More of that exclusive interview, next.

And California Chrome felt short of winning the Triple Crown. Now his co-owner is making headlines for calling the other horse owners coward. That story is coming up.

Plus, outrage in Arizona over a detention center for undocumented children. Officials say they are caught illegally crossing the border in Texas. Arizona's governor is now says it's inhumane and she has strong words for President Obama.

In his first comments about the swap of Taliban detainees for army sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, U.S. secretary of state John Kerry maintains that it was the right thing to do even though critics dispute whether Bergdahl served with honor and distinction. Bergdahl has been a deserter by his owned fellow soldiers. Bergdahl's family and hometown have received threats and hate mails.

In an exclusive interview, Kerry tells CNN's Elise Labott, the world have yet to hear Bergdahl's version of events over the last five years. And he defends sending those Taliban fighters to the small Middle Eastern country of Qatar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: We're told that these five can roam around the country, pretty vague on what the restrictions and monitoring are. I mean, tell me about that. And on a scale of one to ten, ten being the most confident, how confident are you that the Qataris are going to be able to keep a close eye on these guys?

KERRY: Well, they are not the only ones keeping an eye on them.

LABOTT: The U.S. is going to keep an eye on them?

KERRY: I'm just telling you that they are not going to be the only ones keeping an eye on them and we have confidence in those requirements., And if they are violated, then, we have an ability to do things.

Elise, I am not telling you that they don't have some ability at some point to go back and get involved. But they also have the ability to get killed doing that. And I don't think anybody should doubt the capacity of the United States of America to protect Americans.

No one should doubt the capacity of America to protect Americans. And the president has always said he will do whatever is necessary in order to protect the United States of America. So these guys pick a fight with us in the future or now or at any time at enormous risk and we have proven what we are capable of doing with Al Qaeda, the core Al Qaeda in west Pakistan/Afghanistan.

LABOTT: Some people say Bowe Bergdahl is being swift boated. Do you agree with that? Did he serve with honor and distinction?

KERRY: Elise, there's plenty of time for people to sort through what happened, what didn't happen. I don't know all of the facts.

LABOTT: Sounds like you're not sure you served with honor and distinction.

KERRY: That's not what I'm saying, Elise. What I'm saying is there is plenty of time for people to sort through that. What I know today is what the president of the United States knows, that it would have been offensive and incomprehensible to consciously leave an American behind, no matter what, to leave an American behind in the hands of people who had tortured him, cut off his head, do any number of things and we would consciously choose to do that? That's the other side of this equation.

I don't think anybody would think that's the appropriate thing to do. And you know, it seems to me, we have an ability, we know we have the ability to be able to deal with people who want to threaten Americans, who threaten the United States and that's what they go back on the word to do and if the Qataris don't force what they have done, we have any number of avenues available to us to be able to deal with that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Reaction to secretary of state Kerry's comments has been swift. Even some Democrats are questioning the swap and the possibilities that the detainees could go back to fighting. Here is Senate intelligence committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I heard John Kerry this morning say, you know, don't worry about them in Doha. You can't help but worry about them in Doha and we have no information that the United States is going to see that they remain in Doha, that they make no comments, that they do know agitation.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Another U.S. senator who is criticizing the president and the swap is Senator John McCain, himself, a former POW from the Vietnam war.

Candy Crowley is our chief political correspondent and anchor of "STATE OF THE UNION."

So, Candy, you talk to McCain today and you also refreshed his memory about an interview he did with Anderson Cooper back in February that at the time, he supported the idea of a trade to get Bergdahl home. So, what was his explanation as to what has changed?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we has respond to the saying, and he did say in the interview it would depend on the details. The problem a lot of people see, those that do fact checks, is that the details of this trade actually have been out there for quite some time. And, in fact, some of it was detailed in a piece that ran the day before McCain talked to Anderson.

So -- but he said, listen, you know, I would have never, ever have said that these five guys, who he considers to be the worst of the worst, should be let set free essentially, he thinks, in Qatar. I did take advantage of his time, five and a half years as a POW, Bergdahl for five years. And I asked him about all that we have heard about Bergdahl this week, that he was a defector, of that he, you know, perhaps became a convert to Muslim while -- to Islam while he was in captivity, that he had turned against the U.S., blah, blah, blah. And I asked him if he thought if all of that were true, that meant that Bergdahl was less worthy of the U.S. helping him get out of his position than John McCain was as a POW.

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SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: No, it does not, Candy. We have the obligation to do whatever we can to bring any of our captured servicemen and women back. But the question is, at what cost, whether it would put the lives of other American men and women who are serving and in danger and, in my view, clearly it would.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And Candy, you know, it would seem that the release of a POW would bring Americans together. But we are seeing it is quite the opposite. Is this, you know, telling of landscape of politics today, that everything, everything would be second-guessed?

CROWLEY: Everything is second-guessed. But there's a lot to go around here. First of all, it's not just Republicans who say -- and I am worried about this deal. We have some of the military who are worried that these five guys from the Taliban are now in Qatar. We have Democrats on Capitol Hill who are worried about that, who are worried that the president, they say, didn't come as he is supposed to do by law and give them notification and tell them what restrictions are set in place. So there's plenty of this to go around.

But the answer to your question is, you know, you know, this is a sharper, political atmosphere. And I think the White House also bears some responsibility here because they had a Rose Garden ceremony for the Bergdahl parents. They knew full well that there was some question as to how Bergdahl came into the captivity of the Taliban. And they, you know, they kind of wanted to have a big, triumphant moment and it was marred a bit by the circumstances surrounding Bergdahl's disappearance. So there's a lot going on here but that doesn't mean that politics isn't a major player.

WHITFIELD: And so, any way of knowing what kind of impact this might make on this year's election?

CROWLEY: I think it fits into the Republican's playbook, which is that this president doesn't know what he is doing. He is terrible on foreign policy. Just look, he let terrorists go. But it's part of an overall play book which has the Republicans trying to make this midterm election when the president is not on the ballot. Nonetheless, about the presidents and they try to make the opposite.

WHITFIELD: All right, Candy Crowley. Thanks so much.

CROWLEY: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. No Triple Crown for California Chrome. I'll tell you why the horse's owner is fuming over the loss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: California Chrome was the horse folks were betting on after winning the Kentucky derby and Preakness. There were high hopes that he would blow everyone away at the Belmont stakes.

CNN's Richard Roth watched the race for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Steve Coburn, co-owner of California Chrome, was in a good mood moments before the Belmont stakes waving his cowboy hat for the fans.

But minutes later, Coburn refused to wave the surrender flag after California Chrome finished fourth missing out on the illusive Triple Crown. The California factory worker blasted other owners of horses who did not run in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. The Kentucky derby and Preakness leaving them rested for the Belmont to take down California Chrome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a coward's way out, in my opinion. This is the coward's way out.

ROTH: Critics have called Coburn's comments sour grapes. He didn't back down Sunday morning.

STEVE COBURN, CO-OWNER, CALIFORNIA CHROME: These people nominate their horses for the Triple Crown which means three. Triple. Three. And then they hold out two and they come back and run one. That would be like me at 6'2" playing basketball with a kid in the wheelchair. ROTH: But the Triple Crown has been won only 11 times. And that

tested endurance winning three races if different distances in just five weeks is Ryan's horse racing's greatest achievement. Coburn's 77-year-old trainer was more generous in defeat.

ART SHERMAN, CALIFORNIA CHROME'S TRAINER: The horses are not cowards and the people are not cowards, you know what I mean. I think it was a lot of text myself. But, hey, he was at the heat of the moment, you know what I mean? And, don't forget, he's a fairly new owner. You know what I mean? Sometimes your emotions get in front of you.

ROTH: Coburn went to the barn to check on California Chrome who has an ailing hoof. The owner still sounded in pain.

COBURN: And if there's ever a chance that we have another horse that has earned his way to the Kentucky derby, we will run in Kentucky and then the hell with the rest of them.

ROTH: California Chrome is off to California. His owner will follow but not singing New York, New York on takeoff.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Steve Coburn is expected to leave New York city tomorrow. The horse racing industry at Belmont is not going to be there definitely to wave him good-bye. A lot of them wish he would fade from the scene and one person though may be, they doubt he will have a Triple Crown nominee any time soon -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much. Richard Roth in New York.

Hey, remember reading "Rainbow"? Well, so do millions of other people and a lot of them are donating money to bring it back in a new form. The show's host, Lavar Burton, is going to tell me all about it right after this, live.

But now it's time for this week's human factor. Let's get right to it. Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nowhere does country singer Julie Roberts look more at home than on stage, performing for her fans.

JULIE ROBERTS, COUNTRY SINGER: I decided that at a young age I wanted to be a singer like Barbara Mandel. And I would pray every night when I was a little girl that I would get a record deal.

GUPTA: During college in Nashville, Roberts interned at Mercury Records. When she graduate, she was offered a job as a receptionist. Eventually becoming the assistant to chairman Luke Lewis. A demo, without Roberts' name on it, found its way to Lewis' desk and her days of answering the phones were over. She got to work on her first record.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please welcome Julie Roberts!

GUPTA: CMT was in the moment when Roberts' first single debut order the radio. Roberts' album went gold. She was living the dream. Then one night on stage, a nightmare.

ROBERTS: The first time that I knew something wasn't right with my health, I was on stage.

GUPTA: Roberts kept on singing but knew something wasn't right. A few tests led to a quick diagnosis. Multiple sclerosis. It don't matter

ROBERTS: I was so afraid that it all would be taken away from me if I told the world I had M.S.

GUPTA: Fortunately, that has not happened and she manages her ms with three shots a week plus a healthy diet and plenty of exercise.

ROBERTS: I have never missed a show because of M.S. and I will never miss a show because of M.S. This is what I'm supposed to do. It is what I love.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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WHITFIELD: A whopping pot of gold for "Reading Rainbow," the campaign to bring back the popular television show has earned more than $3.5 million on kick starter and that number keeps growing.

Host and children literacy advocate Lavar Burton is raising money to bring the reading message to more kids. But some critics are not too happy about the way in which they are going about raising the funds.

Lavar Burton is joining me live from New York.

Good to see you.

LAVAR BURTON, HOST, READING RAINBOW: Fredricka, it's good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right. So you are trying to help bring "Reading Rainbow" to an app so that it's on people's phones and they can get it on their iPads. So how do you hope to achieve this goal?

BURTON: We call it for every child everywhere. And the idea is to take our app -- we've had an app for two years on the IOS platform and the kindle fire. And we know that it's successful. 139,000 books a week are being read by kids in our app, Fredricka. So we know that we can use this very engaging technology to kids to read, not just play games on these very engaging tablet devices but read and that's really huge. The same way that we used television back in the '80s and '90s. That was the technology we used then. Today's kids want today's technology.

So, our goal in raising a million dollars was to be able to expand our footprint, get the app on the web and that gave us an opportunity to create a product specifically for teachers in the classrooms is where we can really reach kids.

WHITFIELD: So Lavar, that sounds great. I mean, who would not be an advocate for wanting to get kids engaged in reading, make them more excited about it. Why in the world do you have critics on this?

BURTON: You would have to ask them. I think what we are doing is valuable and worthwhile. One in four of America's children will grow up to be illiterate and that's just not OK with me.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So, some of the critics are saying that they don't like that this used to be public, this used to be something on the a form of public television and now it's a for profit organization helping to raise money.

BURTON: Yes.

WHITFIELD: There's that criticism. And then some critics say --

BURTON: Let me address that.

WHITFIELD: OK. Go ahead address that. Please.

BURTON: Yes. And we have been absolutely transparent from day one. Yes, we are a for-profit company. We are a library of books and videos. We have to spend money to create that content. We license these books from publishers who have to pay their office and illustrators. They are due royalty for the I.P. So I don't know where people get the idea that content creates itself. PBS, although there was no direct cost to the consumers, was made possible by the government, corporations who donated and viewers like you. So I'm not quite sure what the argument is. It certainly doesn't hold water for me.

WHITFIELD: OK. Then the other criticism or at least one of the other criticisms is that it's about accessibility, that only his families who can afford, you know, the internet or have cell phones can actually take advantage of the app. What do you say to them?

BURTON: I say that if you had read the kick starter page or watched the video, you would have seen that our intention in terms of getting -- look, if your family has no financial wherewithal to access technology in any way, shape, or form, where is your child more likely to be able to access this technology? In schools. In the classroom. So that was part of the million dollar raise. Get in the classroom and give the product away, Fredricka, to 1500 classrooms who couldn't afford it.

WHITFIELD: OK. So now, what is the time table, real quick before I let you got. Were you believed this next phase and how will it be available and when? BURTON: This next phase would give us an opportunity to get it on all

platforms, on android, on phones, on gaming consoles, on set top boxes, on television, and it will give us the opportunity to give the product away to 7500 classrooms in need. The campaign is not over yet. We are still rating the money. If we can get to five million, we can help so many more kids.

WHITFIELD: You're very enthusiastic about this. So, this seems to be very rewarding to you. Do you feel like this direction that you've gone with your career in your life is far more rewarding than perhaps the performing arts?

BURTON: I make a living as an actor and independent director in television and movies. But my vocation is "Reading Rainbow." My mother was an English teacher and everything that I do in this field is an homage in honor of her. (INAUDIBLE) is the reason I do this work.

WHITFIELD: What a beautiful tribute to mom. I know she's so proud of you.

Lavar Burton, a pleasure talking to you. Thanks so much and all the best.

BURTON: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: All right. Flip side, there is outrage in Arizona over a detention center for undocumented children. We'll show you where the federal government is holding them and why the Arizona governor says it's inhumane.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And here are some of the top stories crossing the CNN news desk right now.

Three men escaped from a Canadian detention center by helicopter. Police say the chopper touched down in the courtyard of the facility last night in Quebec city and then took off with the inmates. A massive manhunt is now under way. Investigator say two men had been arrested in a drug bust. It's not clear what the third man was in for.

To Paris now. Rafael Nadal lost the first set at today's French open men's final but he rebounded taking the next three sets to defeat Yakovich and it was Nadal's fifth straight French open victory, ninth overall. And he now owns 14 major titles. Roger Federer has the most major wins among men's players, 17.

And today marks three months to the day since Malaysia airlines flight 370 vanished after weeks of grueling searches in the Indian Ocean. There's no sign of the Boeing 777 jetliner. Families of the more than 200 souls on board are trying to raise $5 million to fund an investigation established a whistleblower reward.

An influx of undocumented children since memorial day weekend has caught the eye of the Arizona governor, not because they are in the U.S. illegally but because of where the U.S. has been sending them.

Here is CNN's Rosa Flores.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What behind these walls in Nogales, Arizona has many angry and here is why.

On the other side of the chain-linked fences are children, hundreds of them, seemingly laying on the floor covered in thermal blankets. This is where immigration officials are moving more than 1,000 undocumented children to this makeshift detention center this weekend, just inside the Arizona/Mexico border.

Arizona's governor is highly critical of the move releasing a statement on Friday saying in part, quote, "I am disturbed and outraged that President Obama's administration continues to implement this dangerous and inhumane policy. Not only does the federal government have no plan to stop this disgraceful policy, it also has no plans to deal with the endless waves of illegal aliens once they are released here. If the Obama administration put half the effort into securing our border as it has invested to institute this operation, our state and nation would not be facing this situation."

This latest operation by federal immigration officials comes on the heels of an influx of women and children over the Memorial day weekend, caught illegally trying to cross into Texas. Hundreds were flown to Tucson then bussed to Phoenix and left at a bus station to find their way.

CYNDI WHITMORE, PHOENIX RESTORATION PROJECT: Beginning on Tuesday, we started seeing families dropped off, including, you know, children most under the age of five, some as young as three to six months old.

LEAH SARAT, PHOENIX RESTORATION PROJECT: They are now being released on their own recognizance which means giving authorization to travel and be unite with family members (INAUDIBLE).

FLORES: But it's this weekend's transport of undocumented children, Tuno Gales (ph), that has called the entire operation into question. A spokesman for homeland security tells CNN the number of undocumented children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border by themselves had increased substantially calling a crisis situation.

Official say at least 60,000 children will try to cross into the United States this year alone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Now, it's important to know that immigration attorneys will tell you that the fact that these children are coming to the United States without their parents has nothing to do with U.S. immigration policy. In the other hand, they do say that it has everything to do with violence in Central America.

Now, here's some important numbers to share with you and this is from the women's refugee commission because they have been studying these influx of children that are coming to the U.S. without their parents. Two years ago that number was at 13,000. Last year it was at 24,000 and this year it's expected to be 60,000 -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Rosa, thanks. You know, at what ages? Do we know the ages of these kids? As young as what?

FLORES: You know, as young as very little because what they are also finding out is that a lot of women are coming with those children as well. Now,

Here's one of the really frightening stories, is that they -- these immigration attorneys keep on hearing the same stories from these children. Some of them are very young. And what they describe is this violence in Central America. They will describe their mother, grandmother, sister being raped and then beaten. And so, they start walking, they start moving towards the United States.

And here's another tidbit. So these immigration attorneys, because they've been hearing this over and over again, once they come to the United States, these detention centers have been coined the word (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE). And (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) is Spanish for freezers because they are so cold and these detention areas are so cold.

And the other thing that is real interesting is that it's almost like for the first time this immigration advocates and politicians like the governor, they are kind of on the same side. They are saying, OK, something needs to be done just because these conditions are so inhumane.

WHITFIELD: That's startling. All right, thank you so much, Rosa Flores.

FLORES: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: Shelly Sterling, yes, we are now saying the name again, might still have a role with the Clippers if the $2 billion sale of the team does actually go through. What would she be doing?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The longest Triple Crown drought in horse racing history will continue for at least another year. California Chrome just couldn't keep up in the Belmont last night.

Joe Carter has more in today's Bleacher Report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE CARTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: To call it a disappointing finish for California Chrome will be putting it badly (ph). And didn't you hear one of the co-owner's Steve Coburn is now at the center of controversy for comments made after the race.

But first, let's show you the race. The horse broke out quickly out of the starting gate and was blocked into third place along the rail and that's when California Chrome went a new route, went to the outside. The jockey Victor Espinoza started whipping the horse but the he call had no response and ended up finishing the race tie for fourth place behind the long shot winner total list.

Now, after the race, California Chrome's co-owner, Steve Coburn, went on a rant about rules that don't require horses to run either of the early Triple Crown races.

STEVEN COBURN, CO-OWNER, CALIFORNIA CHROME: Our horse had a target on its back. Everybody lays that one. Well, they won't run on the Kentucky derby or the (INAUDIBLE). They will wait until the Belmont.

You know what, if you've got a horse running in all three, if you've got a horse that -- if you've got a horse that earns points around the Kentucky derby, those 20 horses that start at Kentucky are the only 20 available eligible to run in all three races, this is the coward's way out.

CARTER: Certainly, bearing opinions in those comments there. But check this out. California Chrome may have been slow at the race of the race when he jumped outside ways and was clipped by the horse next to him.

Now, after the race, trainers discovered a small cut on his right foot hook. He is expected to make a full recovery in the next few weeks.

New details today about the proposed sale of the Los Angeles Clippers. According to a source familiar with the situation, this new deal would allow Shelly Sterling to set up a charitable foundation with 10 percent of the selling price or $200 million.

Now, this foundation would target unprivileged families, battered women and young people from the inner city. Now, Steve Ballmer would be a co-founder with Shelly Sterling on this foundation. Ballmer is, of course, buying the team for a record price of $2 billion and the NBA board of governors still has to approve that sale, And that , of course, be coming in the next few weeks.

That's your Bleacher Report update. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Joe Carter.

All right, next, police say two girls savagely attacked a classmate to impress an online mythical figure, the slender man. If that alarmed you, you want to block the slender man from your children, well, guess what, it's not that easy. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Police say two girls coordinated a savage attack on a classmate to try to get the attention of an online mythical figure. The victim survived 19 stab wounds and is now out of the hospital but the question remains, who and what is the slender man?

Rosa Flores investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (voice-over): The police say these two 12-year-old girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weir wanted to impress slender man, a fictitious character on the internet by killing someone allegedly stubbing their 1-year-old classmate 19 times in the woods. Newly released 911 tapes reveal the horror of their actions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She says she's having trouble breathing. She says she was stabbed multiple times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is she awake?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's awake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is she breathing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, she is breathing. She can take shallow breaths and she's alert.

FLORES: Now we're learning more about the man behind this creepy monster living on the internet and on the minds of hundreds and thousands of fans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm the creator of slender man.

FLORES: His name is Eric Knudsen and in an interview earlier this year with NPR's "on the media" show, the 33-year-old father in aspiring school teacher said he was looking to create a character.

ERICK KNUDSEN, SLENDER MAN CREATOR: I like the concept of the monster, a creature that causes general unease and terror. Its methods are strange. Its motives are completely inscrutable.

FLORES: In 2009, Knudsen entered into a paranormal photo shop contest submitting these black and white images of children. The dark character appearing in the background. That's when Slender Man took on a life of its own on the web. Followers writing their own twisted horror stories about the myth mythical creature on Web site including creepypasta.wiki.

KNUDSEN: You know, certain people just don't want to believe that it's fiction because it's obviously much scarier that way. You know, if it's something that is real or could be real, it's much more frightening.

FLORES: Knudsen known as victor sir John (ph) in the Internet, recently released a statement to various media outlets writing, quote, "I am deeply saddened by the tragedy in Wisconsin and my heart goes out to the families of those affected by this terrible act." WENDY WALSH, HUMAN BEHAVIOR SPECIALIST: It's far more difficult for

kids to separate fantasy from reality. There's no way to predict who is going to be more impacted from others except to say that children are far more acceptable and far more vulnerable.

FLORES: Rosa Flores, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So now how can you make sure that your kids can separate reality from? I spoke with CNN digital correspondent Kelly Wallace who wrote a column about ion CNN.com.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Is there something going on in the 12-year-old's young minds where they can't really distinguish between reality and fantasy? And talking to some experts they say that no, really by that age, a 12-year-old should be able to make distinctions of what's real and not just like an adult can.

But, you know, there is something else at work which is sort of that frontal lobe of the brain which governs impulse control, understanding the consequences of actions. That's not fully developed until the age of 25. So there is some, again, total speculation of did that play a role, that these two 12-year-olds losing a sense of the consequences of their actions while also engaged in this fantasy.

WHITFIELD: And in your column at University of Texas, professor kind of underscoring that could be a possibility. But at the same time, you know, as a parent you hear this kind of story and you hear that there's a game involved. And that possibly this game could have influenced this child or these children into carrying out this kind of behavior and a parent has to wonder, wait a minute. At what point is the activity my child doing, is it that influential and does it impair their ability to determine when's right and what's wrong?

WALLACE: Exactly, Fredericka. I mean, there are thousands, millions of kids around the world reading fantasy like "Harry Potter" and "Twilight," "the Vampire Diary" and they are not going out and committing violent acts.

I think any expert looking at this is thinking that there has to be a lot more in the soup, right? Are there signs of mental illness? Are there issues that were going on in the relationship between these girls? Were they retreating a lot from real life and were there other warning signs to be picked up? And I think that's probably the takeaway for all of us parents here which is just watching your kids, trying to have conversations with them about what they're engaging with online. Are they having trouble with what they're engaging with online and is that something that requires more attention and possibly counseling down the road?

WHITFIELD: And I think all parents know part of the responsibility is watching your kid. But the reality is you cannot be perched on the child's shoulder 24/7. You may have set up certain parameters on when and how your child can go online. But, honestly, you know, you can't know all the spaces in which they go.

So what is the advice to parents? Because, you know, I know we set up restrictions for my 9-year-old. But there have been occasions where I hear something and I say, wait a minute, that's not a site that we have approved, you know, of. Where did you learn this? How did you get it? And when they interact with other kids, they find out about other avenues and kinds kind of want to be in and do what, you know, their colleagues are doing. So how is a parent expected to be able to police as much as, you know, mom or dad can?

WALLACE: Right. It sounds like I really applaud you. I think you are doing the right things because as you said you can't be everywhere. You might set up the parameters at home but then what happens when they are on mobile device or they at a friend's house?

I think it is talking with your kids. Using stories like this one as a teachable moment to have conversations. Are you aware of this? Do you have friends aware of this? What do you do when you are online? Who do you talk to? Are there things that trouble you? And it's expressing your own kind of value system about what you think is appropriate and what isn't. Your family values. That can help kids decipher kind of when's good for them possibly and maybe what's not. It is an ongoing conversation that I think we all have to keep having with our kids.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Kelly Wallace.

And a very controversial therapy that claims gay people can be turned straight?

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WHITFIELD: It's a so-called therapy that claims to turn gay people into straight people. And Texas Republicans are endorsing it. They just adopted a party platform ahead of the 2016 presidential race and it includes support of voluntary reparative therapy.

CNN's Nick Valencia joining me with more on this. So this therapy is very.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: And it is banned for minors in California and New Jersey. So what was this vote all about?

VALENCIA: While, this vote about Texas Republicans putting this as part of their platform. And according to Kathy Adams who is part of the Texas Eagles forum, this conservative group that pushed this resolution through, she says that there was very little dissent. She had a friend who benefited from this therapy. He wrote the resolution, Fred. He asked her to spread it across Texas which it was. And part of this party platform, a 32-member committee put it to the delegate who is didn't even have to vote on it because the majority supported them according to Adams. Now, she said this to CNN in a statement. Here, I want to read this.

In part it said nothing is mandatory. If a person chooses counseling, that it should be available. California and New Jersey have passed bills outlawing it altogether which is under litigation. It is a free initiative according to Adams. No one can change the color of their skin or change the place they're born but they can definitely choose their life styles.

For her, Fred, I asked her, she said this is a freedom issue.

WHITFIELD: OK. So you spoke to the chairman of the equality Texas foundation and what was said?

VALENCIA: Well, you know, for years it's been a dicey issue, gay rights has been a dicey issue for the Republican party, and recently they have adopted a more tolerant tone, equality taxes which is an LGBT group in Texas says that this is a major step backwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE RUDNER, CHAIRMAN, EQUALITY TEXAS FOUNDATION: I'm not sure that I would agree that it's voluntary. It's not voluntary when they close minded parent sends their minor child to someone for the purpose of fixing him or her. So, as applied to children it is almost never voluntary. And I think that reparative therapy as it's called as applied to minors is taunt mount to child abuse, one step above somebody's attempt to beat the gay out of their child and horrific. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Steve Ruddner went on to point out that the American psychiatric association does not endorse this. In fact, they say that the majority of mental health professionals believe that this therapy doesn't work. Kathy Adams says that the organization hasn't always have that position. And they have only recently changed it because of politics, not necessarily procedure. She believes in reparative therapy. She thinks this works and she's gotten the endorsement of 6,000 delegates and a platform committee. People like Steve Rudner and LGBT community, they think that is a major step backwards as Republicans are inching towards this more tolerant tone. This is completely against that sort of theme, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nick Valencia, thanks so much.