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Erin Burnett Outfront
ISIS Retakes Key City, Obama Doubles Down on Strategy; Nuke Deal Deadline Set For Tomorrow; Trump: San Francisco Murder Proves Point on Immigration; Cosby Admits to Giving Drugs to At Least One Woman. Aired 7-8:00p ET
Aired July 06, 2015 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:10] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next, President Obama speaking out moments ago, admitting ISIS fighters are nimble, owning up to failures in the fight.
Plus, new details on the New York prison escape. How the convicts planned to kill prison worker Joyce Mitchell's husband and the moment Mitchell said she couldn't go through with it.
And breaking news with this hour, Bill Cosby admitting he gave drugs to at least one young woman he wanted to have sex with. We have that breaking news tonight. Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening to all. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, President Obama admitting ISIS fighters are nimble forcing failures in the U.S. war against the terror group. These are strong words coming on the same day ISIS takes over a key Syrian city. And the President tonight also conceding ISIS is a global threat. Something the White House has actually denied.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: ISIL and its ideology also poses a great threat beyond the region. In recent weeks we have seen deadly attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait, and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. We see a growing ISIL presence in Libya and attempts to establish footholds across North Africa, the Middle East, the caucuses and Southeast Asia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto is OUTFRONT. And Jim, the President's speech today I know you believe was very significant on these points. He was admitting the fight really hasn't gone as he planned.
JIM SCIUTTO, CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Significant in how sober it was, Erin. And he has to admit those setbacks, because you can't ignore losses of a city like Ramadi. But also just real slow progress on training the ground forces in Iraq and Syria that the President said today are necessary to push back ISIS. And the President said in response to that, he is going to accelerate that training and send in these more U.S. advisers, this lily pad strategy, et cetera, which he then hopes will help the Iraqi forces on the ground and Syrian forces in Syria to gain back some of that territory. But as he said at the very start of this press conference, it's not going to be quick. Preparing the American people for a very long, difficult battle.
BURNETT: And also admitting that ISIS is a more formidable enemy than he thought. Right?
SCIUTTO: Yes.
BURNETT: You know, this man he had called them a jayvee team. Right? Now admitting anything by it.
SCIUTTO: It is. No question. I think this was one of the most significant parts of this. He called them a jayvee team about a year ago. But it was only a few months ago, Erin, that I would still hear from administration officials and the President himself would say, listen, this is a regional, it's a local threat. But the President saying there, and how you can deny when you have a single day a week ago with attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France tied to ISIS, and the President talking about how it now reaches the U.S. Homeland with ISIS' tremendous ability to radicalize people via the internet, via social media. So, you know, it was a jayvee team. Then it was a local, regional threat. Now it's international threat. We knew that. The President admitting that today.
BURNETT: All right. Jim Sciutto, thank you very much. Those significant developments.
Also tonight, the race to a nuclear deal with Iran. The latest deadline is just hours away.
Fred Pleitgen is live in Tehran tonight. And Fred, Iranians are saying, they are getting what they want and the United States isn't.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Erin. There's some wild rumors flying around Tehran today. There's one Iranian media outlet that's reporting that President Obama allegedly wrote a letter to the Iraqi president asking him to intervene because Obama needs a deal more than the Iranians do. There's others simply saying that the President has acknowledged he needs a deal more than the Iranians. You know, you've been here before, you know the lay of the land. There's many moderates here in Iran who want a deal, who want better relations with the rest. But there's also a hard liners who feel that Iran should not give an inch, especially to the U.S. We spoke to both. Here is what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (voice-over): This song, a single tirade against the U.S. The lyrics accusing America of imperialism and human rights abuses. Ending in the typical chant of death to America. This rally by hardliners in Tehran is meant to show support for their nuclear negotiations team. Our negotiators are very honest and we believe in them this woman says. But I'm not very optimistic that a deal can be reached. They put up banners at Tehran's main monument with thousands of signatures and their demands. No inspections at Iran's military facilities and immediate sanctions relief. An end to sanctions is what most Iranians want to jump start their ailing economy.
We visit this car parts factory outside Tehran where the equipment is more than outdated.
(on camera): This machine was built in the Soviet Union about 30 years ago. And even the company that makes this machine has told the Iranians they can't give them any more spare parts because of the sanctions. So, now they are hoping it doesn't break down and trying to make smaller parts themselves.
[19:05:18] (voice-over): But nuclear technology is also a matter of national pride in Iran. And a majority believes using it for civilian purposes is their right. Iran is a superpower itself and we will not accept any pressure this man says. And he adds, we're looking for peace and a good deal but not a deal at any price. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei says, he supports the negotiations but he remains skeptical that a deal can be reached.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: And Erin, I did manage to speak to this country's deputy foreign minister today. And he says that he believes that so far the talks that have been going on between the U.S. and Iran are unprecedented and that the two sides have been talking to each other for such a long time and he believes that if a deal does come through that there is a real chance for deeper cooperation in other fields as well -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Fred Pleitgen, thank you very much, live in Tehran tonight.
And I want to go now OUTFRONT to republican Congressman Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Chairman, you just heard our reporter in Tehran, you saw that scroll, you know, those long white sheets where they are signing their names. They don't want inspections. All the people doing that, putting that in the monument in the center of Tehran. You don't like this deal. What is your biggest concern right now?
REP. ED ROYCE (R), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Our biggest concern is just that, we have 84 percent of the House of Representatives in Congress who signed a letter that I sent to the White House saying that at the end of the day, we have to have those inspections on those military bases. Now, the administration shoots back the argument that well, we wouldn't let the Iranians come on to our bases to inspect. The problem is that that's where they did their bomb work. The problem is that they have been caught by the IAEA. You know, there's 1,000 pages of documents. And we have to have international inspectors have the ability to do that.
And if we lift the sanctions up front as the Iranians are demanding, that money is not going to go into the economy. What we have seen Iran put the money into is their offensive capability. They have 100,000 rockets and missiles now that they have put into the hands of Hezbollah. They've already announced they are rebuilding the tunnels in Gaza for Hamas and they will going to transfer the rockets there, too. So to lift the sanctions up front would be a very bad move. That's the position of Congress and it's bipartisan.
BURNETT: And of course, as you've pointed out, the spring leader has said, inspections will not happen. You know, I don't know at this point, none of us know exactly where the agreement is on that front. But that's what he said. Now, the secretary of state as you know John Kerry is at the talks in Vienna. He is saying though Chairman that this will not be a deal unless it's a good deal. Let me play exactly how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: If we don't have a deal, if there's an absolute intransigence, if there's an unwillingness to move on the things that are important, President Obama has always said, we will be prepared to walk away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Do you not believe him? You don't think they would walk away at this point?
ROYCE: From what we have heard in terms of the negotiations here, it sounds a lot like the 1994 framework agreement with North Korea where we try to convince ourselves and I remember the debates then on this very issue. We try to convince ourselves that even though we don't have access to the military sites or anywhere, anytime inspections, that we have got enough information somehow to make sure that the North Koreans are honest. Well, they ended up getting the bomb right under our nose. Right?
So that's why we're so sticklers in Congress on this issue. And this is why when we see the administration back off with these statements about, well, we wouldn't let them on our military sites. Hey, look --
BURNETT: Right.
ROYCE: There's a reason we have got these sanctions on Iran. And the regime was imploding. Now we have lifted a lot of the sanctions and what is Iran doing? It is, you know, basically already overthrown the government in Yemen. It is creating problems throughout the region. So, we want to take a line here where we do actually have one red line, and that is that these sanctions aren't coming off immediately and we are going to be with a right to have international inspectors go anywhere, anytime, when they have suspicion that there's bomb work going on.
BURNETT: Two red lines you draw which of course the Iranian's might draw. Those two redlines in and of themselves may make a deal impossible, something that the prime minister of Israel agrees with. He doesn't want a deal. And he talked about it today. Here is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER: This deal will pave Iran's path to a nuclear arsenal. It will give them a jackpot of hundreds of billions of dollars with which to continue to fund their aggression and terror. Aggression in the region, terror throughout the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: -- Chairman in the Senate, the republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee thinks the U.S. should move a deadline for the deal, try to fix some of the problems, just prolong this whole process a little bit. Obviously, this has been going on for more than a year. Do you support extending the deadline?
[19:10:14] ROYCE: Well, here is my question on this. Throughout this one-year period, we have not seen Iran change its rhetoric. Every day with the morning prayers, it's death to America, death to the great Satan, death to the little Satan. Israel is a one bomb country. You know, if their attitude was changing in the middle of this and we had visible evidence that their goals were changing, but when the Ayatollah tells the rank and file it's every military man's responsibility to mass produce ICBMs, we have got a problem.
BURNETT: All right. Chairman, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much, sir.
ROYCE: Thank you, Erin.
BURNETT: I have been at one of those rallies in Iran where they chant death to America. And at the same time people would talk to me and be so friendly. It was a very odd experience as they're chanting that. They were so nice to the Americans who were there.
OUTFRONT next, a young woman murdered in a senseless shooting. The alleged shooter an illegal Mexican immigrant with a criminal record. Donald Trump tonight using this as a political talking point.
Plus, David Sweat, the convicted killer who broke out of a maximum security prison behind bars behind tonight. We will going to take you inside that new home.
And breaking news in newly released documents. We can tell you, Bill Cosby is admitting tonight he got drugs with the intention of giving them to a woman he wanted to seduce.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:15:17] BURNETT: Breaking news. A young woman's murder igniting a major political fight tonight. Donald Trump today speaking out about the death of 32-year-old Katherine Steinle. Here is what happened to her. As you can see, a lovely young woman. She was shot and killed in San Francisco by an undocumented Mexican immigrant and convicted felon. He had actually been deported five times from the United States. Now, Trump is arguing the shooting shows he is right on immigration. He says, the suspects, quote, "was forced back into the United States because they didn't want him in Mexico." Others though are blaming cities like San Francisco saying that they are compassioned towards undocumented and illegal immigrants cause this woman her life."
Dan Simon is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you shoot Kate Steinle, the lady who was down on Pier 14?
FRANCISCO SANCHEZ, KATHERINE STEINLE'S SHOOTER: Yes.
SIMON (voice-over): This is Francisco Sanchez confessing at a jailhouse interview to firing the gun that killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle, walking along this popular San Francisco pier with her father, Steinle was killed last week after a bullet pierced her chest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could feel she was fighting, grasping for every breath.
SIMON: Kate's father says, no words were exchanged between Sanchez and his daughter. Authorities called it a random act of violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a little solace that I was with her. But I also have the overwhelming grief of the thought of the moment she was shot.
SIMON: Why the alleged killer was even in the U.S. to fire the fatal round is now subject of a fierce debate. Sanchez is an undocumented immigrant and is a seventh time convicted felon who had been deported to his native Mexico five times. It would have been six, but the San Francisco sheriff's department, which had been holding him on a drug charge, let him go after charges were dropped. Why? San Francisco is what's called a sanctuary city. It doesn't help federal authorities catch undocumented immigrants. About 300 municipalities have the designation around the country. But San Francisco takes it a hardline approach. In the case of Sanchez, it released him even though the Feds had issued a detention request or detainer to pick him up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A detainer is not a legal instrument.
SIMON: The sheriff defending the policy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I firmly believe it makes it safer. For a law enforcement perspective, we want to build trust with that population. And our sanctuary city and other attendant laws have allowed us to do that.
SIMON: Tell that to republican presidential candidate Donald Trump who seized on the case saying the tragic shooting is, quote, "yet another example of why we must secure our border immediately." Sanchez says the lure of a paycheck kept him coming back to the U.S. SANCHEZ: I'm looking for the jobs in the restaurant, or roofing,
landscaping or construction.
SIMON: And he says he killed Kate Steinle by accident. After finding the gun wrapped in a t-shirt underneath a bench. And he didn't mean to fire it. Though he reportedly told police he was aiming at sea lions.
SANCHEZ: Sorry for the deadly --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON: Well, Sanchez says, prior to coming to this popular tourists area, he popped some pills that he found in a dumpster. Erin, quite frankly, some of the details in this case are hard to believe. We don't really know what the truth is except for the fact that Sanchez should not have been in this country. But apparently, being deported five times was not a deterrent. And that is exactly why this case is exhibit A for Donald Trump and others. Back to you.
BURNETT: It's horrible no matter how you look at it. And I mean, it will cause us to question a lot of things. Thank you very much, Dan Simon.
OUTFRONT now, the democratic strategist Paul Begala, former RNC chief of staff Mike Shields and a former republican Congressman Tom Tancredo.
Congressman Tancredo, Donald Trump today saying that the arrest of this undocumented Mexican immigrant for this -- I mean, this is a horrific case. Right? I mean, it's horrific. Someone who have been deported multiple times ends up killing somebody. There's no way to say this isn't a horrible tragedy and it shouldn't have happened. Donald Trump says, it proves he is right. Does it?
TOM TANCREDO (R), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: Sure, it proves he is right about the issue of illegal immigration. It has been debated for so long. The only thing about this is the media attention or even Donald Trump's attention to a specific country. It is not unique to Mexico. This is not an issue of ethnicity. This is an issue of illegal immigration. The President allowed thousands of illegal immigrant criminals who had already been arrested for other crimes, he let them go a while back. Since then, I think it's about two years now since he released them all, 121 of them have committed murders, all illegal aliens, all had committed other crimes, all released. And by the way, they were not all Mexicans. They were a variety. They were Cuban, they were El Salvador people. And it is not a country issue. It is not an ethnic issue, it's an illegal immigration issue. It is an open borders problem. And yes, Donald Trump is absolutely right to point that out.
[19:20:16] BURNETT: All right. Mike, you know, I spoke to Donald Trump today. He is confident in his comments about Mexican immigrants. He is not going to back down. There's no question about that. I can tell you it's not going to happen. Here he is on this show and others doubling down on this key issue of the use of the word rape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
But you don't have any regrets about that word rapists?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, some are. And some are good. And some are rapists. And some are killers.
No, there's no apology. Because what I said is right. I mean, what I said is 100 percent right.
Women being raped. But who is doing the raping? Who is doing the raping? And the crime is raging. It's raging. And it's violent. And people don't want to even talk about it. And if you talk about it, you are a racist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Mike, does he have a point that to talk about these issues makes you a racist? I mean, what he is basically saying as people become so PC that you can't have these conversations without being called that?
MIKE SHIELDS, FORMER RNC CHIEF OF STAFF: Yes. Look, I mean, this is an important debate. I don't think anyone in the country believes that our immigration system is correct and doesn't need fixing. And so, yes, we're going to have a big immigration debate. The republican presidential primary is going to have a big immigration debate. I think how we have that immigration debate really, really matters. I think the tone matters. I think that the words that we use matter. When you are communicating to the entire population, you have to be careful that the way you do that comes across in a way so that you are communicating, yes, things need to change, but we want to do it in a way that communicates our values and to Mexican Americans and make them aware that we still care about them.
BURNETT: And Paul, you know, Donald Trump coming in second place in the latest CNN poll as well as others, coming in in Iowa, in one poll for example number two surprising many. I know you don't think he is going away. How important is this issue going to be for him? Because he has made Steinle's name now a national name. He has made this story something that we are all talking about.
PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, of course, our hearts break for that family. Our country failed her. And they failed her family. And we should take a look at the issue. But I think the political debate is the one we just saw between Mike and Mr. Tancredo. Some on the republican right, frankly addressed this in a way that I find -- but then a lot of voters will find I think hysterical over rock. Mike is trying to reach out to voters, which some Republicans are trying to do. I did though commit research today. I looked it up. I looked up Hidalgo County Texas, right in the Rio Grande Valley. I've from Texas. I've been there at Hidalgo County million times. Great place. It's right in the tip of the spear. It's on the border with Mexico.
BURNETT: Right.
BEGALA: The crime rate there is lower, significantly lower, than the crime rate in Mr. Tancredo's home state of Colorado. So, if all these people are coming over and they are criminals and I'm sure Hidalgo they have undocumented residents. The crime rate in Hidalgo County is significantly lower in a crime rate in the state of Colorado. Mr. Trump doesn't want to say that. Because he is right wing political correct and I suspect Mr. Tancredo is as well.
BURNETT: Congressman Tancredo, what's your response to that? Because you would expect the first place you would see if these were true would be along the border.
TANCREDO: Why? What makes you think they stay at the border? For heaven's sake. What a ridiculous concept. They come across the border. They don't hang out at the border. They come across the border and come into every single state in the nation. As the gentleman said, the fellow that they arrested in San Francisco, he came here, he was looking for a job. They are mostly looking for jobs. But you know, he is a different face of illegal immigration. He is not the one that the media so likes to present, you know, the valedictorian, the bird, that mean, the person who has been -- was born in the United States but because they were young, you know, I'm sorry, the person who was brought here by their parents when they were young.
BURNETT: Right.
TANCREDO: This is a different face entirely. It's one that we don't like showing, the media doesn't like showing. And nobody likes talking about. But it's a real face of illegal immigration. And when thousands -- and I mean to say thousands of people in this country have been murdered, have been raped by people who were here illegally who should have been deported earlier, the number is that high, over time, then whose blood really and truly, who has the responsibility for that? Isn't it the people who have allowed these borders to remain open? I mean, they are as culpable I think as the people who are doing the -- committing those crimes.
BURNETT: Mike, you know, you hear --
TANCREDO: It's incredible to me they can forget about this. And they don't stay on the border.
BURNETT: Now, Mike, Congressman Trancedo making an impassioned case here. Obvious, Paul giving some statistics a little bit different. But the GOP when it comes to those running -- Ted Cruz defended Donald Trump and you have Donald Trump. But then you have everybody else jumping on the other side. Because they want the Hispanic vote. Let me play it for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I think what he said was wrong. I don't think -- it was inappropriate. I think is has any place in the campaign. GEORGE PATAKI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Inappropriate is too
weak a word. Unfairly and wrongly denigrated an entire class of people.
RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump does not represent the Republican Party. I was offended by his remarks.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trump is wrong on this. So, he is doing this to inflame and to insight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:25:22] BURNETT: So, is that going to work for all them Mike, in terms of getting votes?
SHIELDS: No, I don't think this is a successful strategy. I mean, that's what sort of what is lost in all this is that I don't believe you are going to get the republican nomination by saying things that are offensive to minorities. I think there's a very small group of people that are going to be okay with that. The vast majority of republican voters are a lot smarter than that. I think they are smarter than a lot of people give them credit for. And in fact, I think republican voters are looking for a nominee who is actually going to reach out and appeal to Hispanic voters. We need to have an immigration debate. I think both the other guests have pointed out important facts about that debate.
BURNETT: Uh-mm.
SHIELDS: No one believes immigration system is fine the way that it is. But the Republicans in the end are going to wound up nominate somebody who can appeal to Latino voters and not say things that are offensive to them.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, all of you. Appreciate your time.
TANCREDO: Thanks, Erin.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, new details on the New York prison escape. Surprising new information about how the prisoners and Joyce Mitchell planned to kill Joyce's husband.
And the breaking news at this hour, Bill Cosby admitting under oath he gave drugs to at least one woman before having sex with her. We have the documents and two women who have accused Bill Cosby will be OUTFRONT this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:30:42] BURNETT: Breaking news: we are learning tonight that Joyce Mitchell, the woman charged with helping two convicted killers escape from a maximum security prison destroyed key evidence. Her attorney telling CNN tonight that Mitchell destroyed pills that Richard Matt gave her. Now, those pills were intended to basically sedate Mitchell's
husband. She was going to give pills to him and then Richard Matt was going to kill him after Sweat and Matt escaped.
As for Sweat tonight, he is in a new maximum security prison. After 23 days on the run, he will spend each and every single day in a tiny 105-square-foot cell.
Alexandra Field is OUTFRONT tonight in Romulus, New York, where the Five Points correctional facility is located.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He tunneled his way to short-lived freedom before a police sergeant took him down. Now, notorious escapee David Sweat will be confined to a cell 23 hours a day at Five Points prison, 200 miles southwest of Dannemora, the conditions far different from life on the infamous honor block.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Lexan, polycarbonate, unbreakable really. Tough to break. I mean, we tried everything.
FIELD: The maximum security facility built in 2000 was touted at the time for its increased ability to segregate disruptive and violent inmates from staff and other inmates. Sweat's new home, a high security single cell.
ERIK JENSEN, FORMER CLINTON CORRECTIONAL INMATE: He's probably wishing that those two bullets killed him.
FIELD: Former inmate Eric Jensen served time with Sweat at Clinton correctional. He also went to Five Points, where Sweat will be placed in a special housing unit, the most restricted unit.
JENSEN: At the back of his cell, there's a door. That door is controlled from the control booth. It's a little four foot by eight foot kennel. We used to call it the dog kennel. Go out for your recreation. Meals are brought to you. Your shower is in your cell in the corner. They control water for you.
FIELD: Sweat will be in one of 150 cells considered disciplinary housing. The state-of-the-art prison houses nearly 1,300 of New York's most violent inmates. In 2011, two of them plotted to break out, according to a former representative for the Corrections Officers Union, who says the plan was thwarted by prison officials.
AL MOTHERSHED, FORMER CORRECTIONS OFFICRE REPRESENTATIVE: They did have an elaborate plan to escape. There was a hole in the fence. There were contraband items in the cell aside from the dummies that they worked up to place in their spots.
FIELD: Among other high level offenders, David Sweat will be closely monitored. The high profile inmate now placed on active suicide watch, under 24-hour surveillance.
(END VIDEOTAPE) FIELD: And now that David Sweat has been transferred from Albany
Medical Center to Five Points Prison, he'll be subject to a disciplinary hearing.
Erin, we have spoken to a lot of people who are familiar with the process. They say the penalty can range, it can vary, but it could include years of solitary confinement and with that solitary confinement, there's often the loss of further privileges like phone use or even visitation, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you so much, Alexandra.
And now more on our breaking news, the elaborate plot to kill Joyce Mitchell's husband that included slipping him pills.
Lou Michel is a reporter with "The Buffalo News". He's been following the breaking details.
And, Lou, what have you learned about the pills and how Richard Matt actually obtained them?
LOU MICHEL, THE BUFFALO NEWS: Well, Richard Matt had a back problem. The speculation is that he had held on to a couple of these pills. They were sedatives. They were designed to knock out Lyle Mitchell.
And then once Richard Matt and David Sweat emerged from the sewer pipe, Joyce Mitchell was going to drive them over to her home. And as Matt phrased it, he was going to take care of the glitch. That's how he referred to Lyle Mitchell.
BURNETT: Now, Richard Matt, that's the one who gave Joyce Mitchell the pills, they were having an intimate relationship. You know, everyone has talked about the relationship as maybe she was head over heels for him but he was using her, that they would have killed her very quickly into this escape.
Could he have had real feelings for her?
MICHEL: Well, it's possible that he had -- he was certainly amorous with her.
[19:35:01] Yes, it's feasible that he may have loved her. But, you know, it could have just been on a very animal level. From what I understand, he would demand sex from her and she would comply in the secluded area of the prison tailor shop.
BURNETT: That night, right, the night of the escape she's supposed to give the pills that she's gotten from Richard Matt to her husband, and then she's supposed to show up at the manhole and drive off with them. She gets cold feet, though, just hours before all this was supposed to happen, before she was supposed to give her husband the pills. And you are reporting that was at a Chinese restaurant.
What happened? MICHEL: She and her husband both work at the prison. After
their work that day, they drove to the only Chinese restaurant in Malone, New York. And she is sitting there. She's looking across at her husband.
And as my sources have told me, she realizes that this is D-Day and she has a sudden crisis of conscience. She's thinking to herself, here is a good man. He has never harmed me. He has always been there for me and I'm going to have him killed in several hours. And she decides she's not going through with the plan.
BURNETT: Now, you're reporting that Matt lost a lot of weight, I mean a lot, in order to pull off the escape. How did he do that? There was a specific reason?
MICHEL: Yes. When they finally -- over the weeks when they went into the guts of the prison, down the catwalk and into the tunnels, they found that old, unused steam pipe. They cut it open. It's two feet in diameter.
Meanwhile, you know, Matt has this back problem. That's probably how he got the medication. But he is 40 to 50 pounds overweight. He is not going to fit. He goes on this crash diet.
Prison officials suspect that he went on the diet in order to lose the weight to fit through the pipe to crawl through the pipe to freedom.
BURNETT: And now, according to Joyce Mitchell, they were -- she had shown up at the manhole, they were going to drive for hours, seven hours, right?
MICHEL: Right.
BURNETT: To a predetermined location which you are saying was West Virginia?
MICHEL: Right. It would have been a little more than seven hours. David Sweat knew of a secluded place in the wilds of West Virginia where they would camp. They told Joyce to bring her car packed with sleeping bags, tents, a fishing pole. If she could get ahold of her husband's shotgun, if, in fact, he had one, to bring that along, and they were going to cool their heels in West Virginia until the coast was clear and then head to Mexico.
BURNETT: All right. Lou, thank you very much. All that breaking news, as we said, from "The Buffalo News".
MICHEL: Thank you for having me.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, the breaking news at this hour. Court documents just made public. Bill Cosby testifying under oath he drugged at least one woman to have sex with her. This is a major development. Obviously, he has denied this again and again and again.
We're going to be speaking with one of Cosby's accusers right after this break. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And now the breaking news, bombshell revelations about Bill Cosby tonight breaking late tonight.
The comedian admitting in a court deposition that he obtained Quaaludes, that's a sort of a drug with the intent of giving the Quaaludes to young women that he wanted to have sex with. According to documents, Cosby admitting to giving the sedative to at least one woman.
Let me just make it clear here, by CNN's count, over decades -- at least 20 women have gone public with accusations against Bill Cosby. He has never been criminally charged.
Our Deborah Feyerick is OUTFRONT with the breaking news.
I mean, Deborah, this is pretty stunning. I mean, over the past six months, this has blown up, 20 accusers that we know of here just at CNN, and now this.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it really started unraveling for Cosby a little while ago. But we do want to say that Cosby has long denied the charges he drug and sexually assaulted more than a dozen women who have spoken out against him. The number CNN has is 20.
But in court papers unsealed because of efforts by "The Associated Press", those public documents are publically available. Bill Cosby does admit in a deposition in 2005 and 2006 to giving Quaaludes to at least one woman. Now, in those papers, Cosby says he got seven prescriptions for Quaaludes and the deposition makes very clear that he wanted the Quaaludes in order to give them to women he wanted to have sex with.
Quote, "You gave them to other people?" "Yes." Question, "When you got the Quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use those Quaaludes for young women you wanted to have sex with?" The answer, "Yes".
Now, the woman at the center of this lawsuit did ultimately settle for an undisclosed amount of money. But in the beginning, she didn't want money from Bill Cosby. What she wanted was an apology and she wanted to know the kinds of drugs that she was being given, according to these now public documents as part of this deposition.
Again, this happened about 10 years ago. It's the first time that we are hearing about this connection between Bill Cosby and Quaaludes.
BURNETT: All right. There's -- a lot of this is shocking to a lot of people simply because he has been denying this so, so acutely over the past six months. But you talk about seven prescriptions for the drug. You talk about specifically there was the adjective "young" in front of the word women. So, young women, plural -- I know there was one involved in the
case but they used plural women of women there, and seven prescriptions. What can we interpret from that?
FEYERICK: Well, that's what we can interpret from what we read from the documents.
BURNETT: Yes.
FEYERICK: And among that is that in one particular case, the lawyer for the young woman, the alleged victim, questions him about a "National Enquirer" article. And in that article, he acknowledges that he reached out to the magazine and got them to change the story after reading what was in it to make it seem as if he was the one who was the victim and not the young woman who was making the allegations. This is a different woman that he is accused of doing this to.
In another incident, he tells the lawyer who he is being questioned by that he doesn't remember being in a car with a young woman who alleges that he gave her coffee with medication or something in it that essentially knocked her out.
[19:45:04] And then she, too, was sexually molested.
So, there's a pattern. That's what this lawsuit really makes clear, that it was to show that he was having interactions with young women.
Again, we want to be very clear. We have reached out to Bill Cosby on this story. We reached out to him in the past. He has denied these allegations.
But this is a deposition that he gave while he was under oath. So, it carries more weight.
BURNETT: A lot of weight.
FEYERICK: And again, it was the efforts by "The Associated Press" who really made these documents public. And it's about 200 pages.
BURENTT: All right. Deborah Feyerick, thank you very much.
And as Deb gets more and obviously, as she said, 200 pages, we're going to bring that to you.
I want to go right -- bring in on the phone one of Cosby's accusers who says he drugged and raped her decades ago, Victoria Valentino. I spoke with her in December.
And, Victoria, look, thank you for being -- getting on the phone, talking to us. I know you met Bill Cosby in Los Angeles. You were a "Playboy" bunny at the time. Your son had recently died. He offered you some sort of a pill to try to make you feel better.
This -- when you hear this reporting, what goes through your mind?
VICTORIA VALENTINO, COSBY ACCUSER (via telephone): My god, I just -- I am so overwhelmed that this has come out at long last. At last, we are being validated and there is vindication. Thank you, thank you, God.
I just -- I have been jumping up and down. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I just can't believe that this is finally, finally opening -- opening up and we are being validated. Validated finally.
There's 49 of us -- 49 of us who have gone public and many more who are still afraid to have their names published.
BURNETT: So, Victoria, what will you do now?
VALENTINO: I have no idea. I don't know. Have a glass of champagne. I don't know.
I'm just -- I'm just so -- it's the last thing I expected to hear. I really -- I was just kind of expecting it was going to continue to go on with more women coming out and him just slipping away, and, you know --
BURNETT: Yes.
VALENTINO: -- pretending to be feeble and senile and once more our claims getting swept under the carpet. This is fantastic. Fantastic.
This has opened the door for all of us to speak out against rape culture in our society, just because someone is famous and wealthy and powerful, does not mean he gets away with it. He doesn't get to drug and rape women. We don't have to live with the shame and the blame. Oh, my God, you know, silence is a rapist's greatest weapon.
BURNETT: Victoria, you know, what you are saying is so poignant. I know, obviously, from the situation that you are in, you are dealing with a statute of limitations. It's not that you are going to be able to do something personally yourself, right? You are talking about this has changed things, it has changed hopefully the world in the way the things are handled.
But my question to you is, what's the right punishment for him now? What would be the appropriate punishment?
VALENTINO: You know, I'm not the one to judge that. You know, I will leave that to the courts. Whatever happens there -- but I think, you know, the court of public opinion is going to be a huge shift in the fact that he cannot get away with it any longer.
You know, I don't know. Prison? Would it matter at this point? Who knows? I don't know.
I mean, is that going to change the damage that has been done to all of us over years? And it's not just us. You know, it's the trickle down to our children and their children. I have daughters who were never allowed to watch "The Cosby Show," who because of my personal issues bouncing off of that kind of thing, you know, it affected their lives. And they have children, you know?
So, it winds up being a generational trickle down. Their relationships, my relationships, you know?
BURNETT: Right.
VALENTINO: It's like the pebble you drop in a pond of water and all of those ripples that spread out.
[19:50:00] You know, you cannot imagine what shore they're going to reach.
BURNETT: All right. Victoria, I really -- I really appreciate it, and I know you're -- you know, sort of, hard to put words to what you are feeling right now. I appreciate you coming on and talking to us so quickly after you're learning something that I know is deeply shocking, although of course something you celebrate. Thank you so much.
Next, more on our breaking news, Bill Cosby's admission he used drugs to have sex at least with a woman.
We'll be right back.
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BURNETT: And back with our breaking news, bombshell about Bill Cosby with the court documents now "The A.P." fighting and fighting to have these resolved. It was a closed deposition. Now, it is not closed.
And what we have found out is the comedian admitted under oath that he obtained drugs to give to young women he wanted to have sex with. Admitting that he had requested seven prescriptions for Quaaludes.
OUTFRONT now, defense attorney Tom Mesereau.
And, Tom, this is a -- this is a big thing. Seven prescriptions, admitted using them with intent of getting young women to have sex with him.
TOM MESEREAU, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I don't know if the quotes have been taken out of context. I don't know if any of us have seen the full transcript of the deposition. Were other questions asked of him?
[19:55:00] Was this done in a consensual way? Did the women understand what was going on, did they request it?
I mean, you know, in the '70s and '80s, you had a lot of situations where men were giving drugs to women, women were giving drugs to men. Both were consenting. Both had ulterior motives.
BURNETT: You don't think it's clear cut.
MESEREAU: I don't know what the context is.
BURNETT: You don't think it's clear cut the way -- we were just talking to an accuser. You know, I mean, her view is, this has been vindicated her many decades long shame that she felt she says because of Bill Cosby raping her. You don't think it's that clear cut?
MESEREAU: No. I'd look to cross-examine her on when this happened, where it happened, what her motives were, how long she knew him, what she wanted to do, what she consented to. That kind of thing.
BURNETT: And so, what happens now? So, could he serve jail time? In her case obviously, statute of limitations have run out. That's the case with most accusers.
MESEREAU: That certainly seems to be the fact. I mean, why is everybody coming out at this late stage. And so many of the women who came out appeared to me to have ulterior motive for being with him. I mean, this is not just a one-sided event. There is a context. There are complex motives involved. I don't think we have all the facts.
BURNETT: All right. Tom, thank you very much.
And, of course, as Deb Feyerick said, they're going now through the 200 pages of documents in that deposition. We'll be back with more on this breaking news.
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BURNETT: Thank you for joining us. Be sure to set your DVR to record OUTFRONT. You can watch us anytime, anywhere. I'll be back here tomorrow night same time.
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