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CNN Saturday Morning News

Anti-American Protests Continue in Middle East; Political Analysts Assess Presidential Candidates Foreign Policy Statements; Filmmaker Claims Convicted Murderer May be Innocent; Interview with Errol Morris; Man Behind Anti-Islam Video Taken into Custody; ACLU Files Suit on Behalf of KKK

Aired September 15, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will bring to justice those who took them from us.

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KAYE: U.S. embassies under attack. A film sparking rage in the Muslim world is blamed for protests against America in more than a dozen countries and the deaths of four Americans.

They are breaking points, the thresholds of no return. And maybe who separates peace from war. They're called red lines. All morning we're putting them in focus.

Jeffrey MacDonald in prison for the grizzly murders of his wife and daughters in 1970. But Academy Award-winner Errol Morris says Jeffrey may be innocent. I'll talk to him live.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. It is 10:00 on the east coast. 7:00 a.m. out west. We begin this morning with the latest on the anti-American protests in the Middle East. The man being blamed for firing up the protesters with his anti-Muslim film met with police while you were sleeping. Miguel Marquez has been following the story, and he joins me now from Los Angeles. Good morning, Miguel. So why was he meeting with police to begin with?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he wasn't meeting with police. He was meeting with his probation officer. L.A. County sheriff's detectives picked him up around midnight to go and see his probation officer. Media had been camped out there all week. Clearly from those pictures you were showing, this is a guy who does not want to be seen. I'm sure he fears perhaps for his life. But there are other things out there. This is a man who was on probation until 2015. He was convicted in 2010 of identity fraud and identity theft. He has a slew of conditions that he has to keep up with, most interestingly that he is not supposed to use any device access the internet without his probation officer okaying it. Here are a few words from Steve Whitmore as to why they took him in. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN WHITMORE: The L.A. county sheriff's department assisted federal probation officers in a voluntary interview -- nobody is arrested. Nobody is detained. Nobody is in custody. The gentleman came on his own accord. We're just assisting them in this interview because federal probation asked us to do so. There were conversations between the federal probation officers and him. He was ready and willing and very cooperative.

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MARQUEZ: Now, as I understand it, this is the first step toward any sort of revocation or change to his probation status. If his probation officer deems it necessary, there may be a hearing coming up before a judge, probably the judge that convicted him and sentenced him to that probation. He served a year in jail time as well, and that probation. And then after that hearing, we would find out whether his probation is revoked or whether or not it's changed in any way, but at this point, we don't have any word on that hearing.

KAYE: Miguel, in terms of why this happened in the middle of the night, is it simply just because he wants to try and stay out of the spotlight now?

MARQUEZ: Well, I think this -- as Steve Whitmore said, I think this was coordinated between federal officials, local officials, and he and his probation officer. There was a ton of media outside of his house. They were concerned about his safety. They are concerned about retribution. They wanted to do it in the lowest key way possible. And what you're looking at now in Los Angeles at midnight on a Friday night, that's about as low-key as it gets.

KAYE: That is for sure. Miguel Marquez, great reporting. Thank you, appreciate that.

And now to those anti-American protests fanning across the Middle East right now. Specially trained marines have been sent to beef up security in Libya, Yemen and Sudan. American embassies have been targeted by protesters.

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(SHOUTING)

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KAYE: Those protests haven't only been in the Middle East. This one took place in Australia overnight. Protesters there clashed with police near the U.S. consulate. We've seen protests in more than a dozen countries. The majority have been mostly peaceful protests, though.

MARQUEZ: This all started with protests in Egypt and Libya. Four Americans were killed in the Libyan attack, including ambassador Christopher Stevens. The bodies of the victims were returned to the U.S. Friday. Libya now says the attack was carried out under the thumb of Al Qaeda, who used the outrage over the anti-Muslim film to disguise their pre-planned attack. President Obama was at joint base Andrews to pay his respects.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Even as voices of suspicion and mistrust seek to divide countries and cultures from one another, the United States of America will never retreat from the world.

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KAYE: In other news, an attack in southern Afghanistan has left two U.S. marines dead and at least three others wounded. This base is home to American-run camp leather neck. Just look at the aftermath. You can see smoke rising from the base. Military officials called it a sustained attack and say as many as 20 insurgents were killed. The Taliban has claimed responsibility. Now, this is the same base where Prince Harry is stationed, but officials say he wasn't in any danger.

And speak of the British royal family, an Italian magazine now plans to publish more topless photos of Kate Middleton. This comes just days after a French magazine did the very same thing. The pictures were snapped from the road outside a private chateau while the duchess and prince William were on vacation. A French editor defends the photos saying "We were just doing our job." The palace is now taking legal action.

How you do the job. That's the argument on the campaign trail. Mitt Romney is hammering president Obama over the fire storm in the Middle East. But did Romney misfire himself, or are his comments just a footnote in a much bigger story? You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

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KAYE: It's going to be a hot one there in L.A. Did you see that? It's 100 degrees.

Between Democrats and Republicans, there's been a lot of talk about who said what and what happened when in regard to the September 11th attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya. So let's take a look at the real timeline here. Anger was growing about an anti-Islam film made in America. On Tuesday, the U.S. embassy in Cairo released a statement that it, quote, "condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims." That statement, by the way, was not cleared in Washington.

Later on Tuesday, there was an attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. At 10:20 Tuesday night before details of the attack were clear, governor Mitt Romney issued a statement accusing the president of apologizing for American values. It said "It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who wage the attacks." just after midnight Wednesday, Obama's campaign responded, accusing Romney of taking a political swipe during the crisis, saying, quote, "We are shocked that at a time when the United States of America is confronting the tragic death of one of our diplomatic officers in Libya, Governor Romney would choose to launch a political attack."

At 6:21 a.m., CNN reported that U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens was killed and over the next few hours we learned three other Americans had also been killed. Later that morning, Romney issued his own timeline of events, stating the embassy in Cairo put out a statement after their grounds had been breached. In other words, Romney indicated that the U.S. apologized for the film after the attack, which is not the case. In fact, the embassy statement was actually issued before the breach there.

Since Tuesday's attack in Libya, Republicans have kept up the pressure on President Obama by criticizing his foreign policy over and over in the wake of the growing protests in the Middle East. Joining me, CNN contributor Maria Cardona, and Amy Holmes, anchor for GBT "Real News." Welcome to both of you this morning. A lot to talk about. Maria, forgetting the time line here, were the remarks by governor Romney even appropriate?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, absolutely not. I think that that was one of his biggest blunders. You've been seeing a lot of Republican strategists and hand wringing and kind of saying like what was he thinking doing something like that on September 11th.

Randi, 11 years ago when September 11th actually happened, I was the communications director at the Democratic National Committee. The statement that we put out that day was something to the effect of the following, "There are no partisans today, only patriots." The RNC joined in that sentiment. All Americans joined in that sentiment and that has been what has been the case for the last 11 years on this hallowed day. It was too bad that Romney did not know the difference this past September 11.

KAYE: Amy, I want to get your take, but first I want to share this quote from president Reagan from 1980 after operation eagle claw failed to rescue the hostages in Iran. This quote says "This is the time for us as a nation and a people to stand united." So what happened here, Amy?

AMY HOLMES, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I wish that 9/11 were not an occasion for campaigning, but as Steve Hayes reported in the weekly standard, the Obama campaign actually was in full gear. David Axelrod was tweeting. Bill Clinton gave a speech campaigning against Mitt Romney on 9/11. We saw that the Romney campaign and the Obama campaign set aside negative ads but the campaign continued on.

As for Mitt Romney making a statement in reaction to the U.S. embassy statement, I would have liked to see him take some time to gather more facts so that he could have a fuller critique of president Obama's foreign policy. I think that would have been more wise. But I think the focus on Mitt Romney here is completely misplaced. For the media to be focusing on Mitt Romney, whether or not he looked presidential instead of the man who actually occupies 1600 Pennsylvania avenue, I think this week we have seen that the administration's media policy is basically completely -- was a complete debacle from beginning to end, starting with the Cairo embassy statement that morning, which they hoped would quell the crowds, it did not, to yesterday's statement by jay carnie, the White House press secretary, claiming that this was all about a 14-minute film that I watched, and a sixth grader with his friends in the backyard with an iPhone could've done a better job. This is absurd. It's a complete debacle.

Those are the questions that the media should be asking, did we have warning about these embassies being attacked. What do we know about the Libyan assassination of our ambassador there? What precautions were taken to secure those embassies? We have Americans who are now dead and the question needs to be about this administration and the Middle East and what we know about that situation as it is continuing to unfold as you and I talk right here this morning.

KAYE: We've certainly been asking those questions this morning of our reporters in the field and they are trying to gather that information as well. But Tom Williamson, a former U.N. ambassador and now an aide to Mitt Romney, basically said these incidents never would have happened if Mitt Romney were president. That is a pretty bold and certainly unprovable statement. How does that sound to you, Maria?

CARDONA: Oh, absolutely. And this again underscores, along with Romney's blunder, that he said something on September 11th, that what he said was incorrect given the timeline, and then followed by one of his foreign policy advisors saying that if Mitt Romney had been president this wouldn't have happened? That underscores the fact that this is not someone who is ready to take on the challenges of being commander in chief.

And that's why you see President Obama leading in double digits on foreign policy, and I suspect that that lead will only continue to get bigger as these kinds of statements come out when they have absolutely no proof that that would ever happen. Even Republicans have said that is not a smart thing to say, because clearly that doesn't take into consideration all of the things that happen in foreign policy that are outside of your control. And if you look at how President Obama has reacted this week, he has been nothing but presidential.

HOLMES: He went to Las Vegas to campaign.

CARDONA: You look at how he has talked about this. You look at how Hillary Clinton has talked about this. This is a time for Americans to come together when it comes to foreign policy.

KAYE: Let me jump in here.

CARDONA: This is time to focus on the four people that actually have lost their lives.

KAYE: In the eyes of voters, does the president need to make a bold military statement to cross that red line?

HOLMES: A bold military statement. That's a tough decision and a serious one. And I think that one that needs to be very well considered. In are other things that can be done, for example, revoking visas for folks from the Muslim Brotherhood to travel to the United States. There are a lot of diplomatic things that can be done.

As to this idea that the president has been behaving presidentially, he went to Las Vegas to campaign. Jay carney repeatedly said this is all about this 14-minute video. If you believe that, it is absolutely absurd. I believe it's absurd for Mitt Romney's campaign -- it wasn't even his campaign, to claim that this wouldn't have happened under the Romney administration.

We've been to this movie before. The Middle East is continually, it seems, in a state of psychotic rage, but we can also agree after this week that the president's Middle East outreach policy is a bust. We've been seeing these riots going on in 20 different countries across the Middle East. What are they wanting to do, other than apparently wanting to draw a MapQuest with the address of the filmmaker in southern California and blame it on him?

CARDONA: There's a lot of blame to go around for that film maker. A lot of people have said that that is the reason for the unrest.

HOLMES: This is absurd.

CARDONA: There were plans apparently to focus on an attack specifically by a very small group of terrorists, and if Mitt Romney wants to claim that he would have either negotiated with those terrorists or that that attack wouldn't have happened, I think that's a very dangerous road to go down.

KAYE: Listen, I'm going to ask the two of you to stick around because we're not done. We've still got to talk about taxes and swing states coming up.

But first, our political junkie question of the day, and we are sticking with swing states on this one -- before Barack Obama turned Virginia blue, who was the last Democrat to win the state in the presidential election? Yes, that's a good one. You can tweet me the answer. I'll let you know who gets the right answer first.

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KAYE: Before the break, I asked who was the last Democrat before Barack Obama to win Virginia? The answer is LBJ. Johnson carried the state in 1964. A big congratulations to Mike Bates for tweeting me the right answer first. Nicely done.

Welcome back once again. Maria Cardona and Amy Holmes are still here with us talking about politics. Amy, CNN has learned that in the vice presidential vetting process, the Romney camp asked for ten years of back tax returns from potential VP candidates. Now, as you know, he's been criticized for only releasing two years of his own taxes. So doesn't this make it just a bit hypocritical here?

HOLMES: Mitt Romney knows what's in his taxes for 10 years. He wanted to know what was in Paul Ryan's. I think it was due diligence to find out for his VP pick everything that he could about that candidate, and if you remember, John McCain was roundly criticized for not learning more about Sarah Palin. So it seems that the Republican candidates -- damned if they do, damned if they don't.

KAYE: Maria, what do you think it is? Ten years of back taxes.

CARDONA: Absolutely. Here's where it becomes incredibly hypocritical. Mitt Romney to, Amy's point, and she's right was doing absolute due diligence. He wanted to make sure that his vice presidential pick had nothing in their taxes that would keep them from playing the role of a good vice president. So why does Mitt Romney deserve better than the American people? Why don't we deserve 10 years of the person who is asking us to hire him for the highest office in this country? Why do we deserve less than Mitt Romney? That is where the question lies, and that is why this does not pass the hypocrisy test for the American people.

KAYE: I know you both want to talk taxes, but I also want to talk about swing states. We have two new polls to show you from Ohio and Michigan. The NBC news "Wall Street Journal" Maris poll shows that Obama has a 7 percent lead in Ohio. And in an epic Maris poll, Obama leads by ten points in Michigan, one of Romney's home states. What do you make of that? Michigan. Romney spent a whole lot of time growing up there in Michigan. Should he be worried, Amy?

HOLMES: Michigan went for Obama in 2008, so I don't think that Michigan is really necessarily should be a central focus of concern. However, Ohio should be. And for the Republican candidate to be able to win the presidency, it's been said by many different people that that person needs to win Ohio.

But Randiy, we're talking about this, what, September 15, before we've even had a presidential debate. And as we know in politics, as this week demonstrates, things can turn on a dime and presidential leadership is continually being tested between now and November. And getting up on that debate stage there are going to be a lot of tough questions about what we saw in the Middle East what we saw about America's credit downgrade that happened earlier this, that both of those candidates will have to answer and the American people will be watching and listening.

KAYE: Maria, how much do you think this is about the auto bailout, looking at Ohio and Michigan?

CARDONA: I think a lot of it is about the auto bailout, because clearly what has come out from the two conventions and from this whole campaign is that it was president Obama who saved the iconic industry that basically supports millions of jobs in this country versus Mitt Romney, who clearly wanted it to go bankrupt.

And I have to say that one of Amy's favorite speeches at the DNC convention was Jennifer Granholm. I think she did a really good job in frankly pushing voters to understand that dynamic, fierce speech that it was president Obama that was fighting for them and not Mitt Romney.

KAYE: Maria Cardona, Amy Holmes, great to see you both.

A Princeton grad and green beret doctor says drug-killed hippies killed his family, but he's the one in prison for the murders. Now an author is defending him and he may get a new trial.

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KAYE: Go to any race and you're likely to see at least one disabled competitor. It wasn't always that way. Pioneers like this week's CNN hero Dick Traum broke the barriers to make it happen. Take a look.

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DICK TRAUM, CNN HERO: Working out at Central Park is the best time of the day for me. It's an opportunity to test myself. You feel like you could do anything. Back in 1965, I got hit by a car and I ended up losing my leg. I didn't see it as holding me back. It just wasn't a big issue.

In 1976, I became the first amputee to run the New York City marathon. It was probably the best day of my life. I just felt this joy can be shared with others. I'm Dick Traum, and I help people with disabilities achieve their potential through sports.

How many people here are doing the New York City marathon? Virtually everybody has a vulnerability. People come to Achilles and we match them with guides.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just did 16 miles!

TRAUM: They atmosphere is so cool. There's jokes, and there's laughter. It truly is a family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had a stroke in 1980. When I started, I could only walk one lamp post and now another lamppost. Now I can do anything in my life.

TRAUM: We change the way people perceive themselves and you see the glow. There is nothing in the world that I have more fun doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And next Thursday, we will be announcing this year's top 10 heroes on CNN.com at noon eastern, and you get to help decide which one will be the CNN hero of the year for 2012. Starting next week you can vote online and on your mobile device for the CNN hero who inspires you the most. And there are so many of them, it's going to be a tough decision.

A Princeton grad and Green Beret doctor says drug-crazed hippies murdered his family, but a jury convicted him of the crime in 1979. Now he may be getting another chance at freedom.

And as we told you about last hour, we're talking about last hour, Jeffrey MacDonald in that case, the Green Beret army doctor serving three consecutive life sentences for the murder of his pregnant wife and two drawers. MacDonald says drugged out hippies had committed those two crimes. Now a new book raises doubts about whether he even got a fair trial.

We asked you to hope onto Twitter and tell us what you think about the case. We got a whole lot of response. Josie says "30 years ago adultery was a social stigma, strong enough to convict someone. Today he at least deserves a new trial." Lynn says yes, "Arrogance doesn't always mean guilt, but the guilty are always arrogant. Think Scott and Drew Peterson." Johnny says "I believe anyone who feels they've been falsely convicted of crimes has the right to a retrial. Evidence has been mishandled or excluded, questionable testimony or DNA technology. Needs a new trial." Finally this from Lauren. She says "Oh my, is that still debated?" It sure is. We'll talk about it. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back, everyone. It's 32 minutes past the hour. I'm Randi Kaye. Glad you're with us this morning. Here are five important stories that we're watching. Number one, the man believed to be behind the anti-Muslim film that sparked protests in the Middle East was escorted from his home by police. That's Nakoula Basseley Nakoula bundled in the coast there. He left momentarily. Nakoula was apparently questioned for a few hours before leaving on his own. As part of his probation stemming from an earlier bank fraud conviction, he was supposed to have only limited access to the Internet. Now, of course the trailer for his movie was found on YouTube.

Now to those anti-American protests fanning across the Middle East right now. Specially trained marines have been sent to beef up security. American embassies and those of allies have been targeted by protesters. Those protests haven't only been in the Middle East, by the way. This one took place in Australia overnight. Protesters there clash with police near the U.S. consulate.

Back in America, a circuit judge has tossed out major portions of Wisconsin's collective bargaining law. The law backed by Republican Governor Scott Walker limits the rights of public employee unions like teacher unions. The judge ruled yesterday the law violates both the state and U.S. constitution. But this legal battle probably far from over. After the ruling Governor Walker suggested the state would appeal the decision.

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the start of a financial crisis. The brokerage firm declared bankruptcy in 2008 and to this day is still the largest financial institution to do so. A new report estimates the crisis has cost the economy $12.8 trillion.

And number five. If you didn't preorder the new iPhone in the first hour after it went on sale, you are going to have to wait probably two weeks or so to get it. Online stores have just been slammed with sales the last 24 hours, and Apple shares hit an all-time high, nearly $700. By the way, if you don't want to wait it out, well, the phone also hits store shelves next week. A floppy hat, a rocking horse, a child's doll, just some of the evidence collected in the case of Jeffrey MacDonald, a case that lawyers are heading to court for on Monday. The North Carolina center for actual innocence will argue that he was wrongly convicted in 1979 of murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters nine years earlier. MacDonald was a Green Beret doctor and Princeton graduate. Now he's serving three consecutive life sentences.

The jury and even the U.S. Supreme Court didn't buy his story that crazed, drugged-out hippies killed his family and then beat him up, but he still has supporters. In a new book, "A Wilderness of Error," filmmaker Errol Morris argues MacDonald didn't get a fair trial and questions whether the evidence in the case is credible. Errol Morris joins me now from Boston. Good morning to you.

ERROL MORRIS, FILMMAKER: Good morning.

KAYE: Let's start with the biggest question. What makes you believe that Jeffrey MacDonald might be innocent?

MORRIS: Evidence. I spent quite a bit of time sifting through all of the evidence of this case. There is nothing in the evidence that tells me that Jeffrey MacDonald is guilty, and there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that he did not receive a fair trial in 1979. This is a man who's been in prison for over 30 years for a crime I believe he did not commit.

KAYE: In just a couple of days, attorneys will ask for a new evaluation of DNA evidence, and you talk a lot about flawed forensics. What do you think went wrong?

MORRIS: Something went very, very wrong within hours of the police arriving at the crime scene. This may be my second excursion into a miscarriage of justice story, as 25 years ago, I made a movie "The Thin Blue Line" which got a man who had been sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer, got his conviction overturned and he was released from prison.

A mindset -- I don't know how better to describe it -- sets in. And the police stop looking for certain kinds of evidence. They look only for the evidence that would support their theories and fail to collect the evidence that would contradict them. That happened very early on here.

KAYE: I want to play you a clip from a Larry King interview and I want to ask you about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: Are you optimistic?

JEFFREY MACDONALD, CONVICTED MURDERED: I'm optimistic if the tests are done legitimately, yes. There is no way that those people were in that house and didn't leave evidence. And the government record shows the evidence. It shows wig fibers from Helena Stokley's wig. It shows brown hair in my wife's hand that secretly tried to match -- KING: You're saying the government knew this and still went ahead.

MORRIS: Still went ahead and prosecuted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: You talked about police following their own theory, but what merit is there to his claim? Why would prosecutors have ignored evidence?

MORRIS: I'm not great believer in conspiracy theories. I don't believe the police or prosecutors conspired to frame an innocent man. Something even worse happens. You develop this idea that he did it and you stop looking for evidence that he didn't do it. And that's exactly what happened in this case.

What bothers me most of all -- and I'm bothered by a lot of things -- is that the jury never got to hear evidence that was essential to his defense. It was almost as if the jury was dealt an incomplete deck of cards, where nearly half the deck of cards was missing.

KAYE: Let me bring up Helena Stokley, because he mentioned her in that interview with Larry king. She confessed to being in the home during the murders, but at trial, she said that she didn't have any involvement. Now she's dead. Can her story still help him at all?

MORRIS: Absolutely. This is a story, if you like, about strange coincidences. Coincidences that are probably more than just coincidences. The first responders to the crime scene saw a woman standing in the fog and rain not very far from the MacDonald house. They couldn't stop. They're answering a 911. The NP arrives at the MacDonald home. MacDonald gives a description of four intruders, including a hippie girl wearing a floppy hat. The NP immediately connects that description with the woman that he saw on the roadway. It's put out on the radio. A narcotics cop in Fayetteville thinks oh, I know who that woman is. That's one of my narcotics informants, Helena Stokley, and goes to find her. And guess what. Within a day or so, she starts implicating herself in the crime. She says that she was there in the MacDonald home at the time these murders were committed.

Now, here's my question for you and for your viewers -- coincidences? Coincidence that there was a woman on the roadway that answered to the description? Coincidence that she answered to the description of this narcotics informant? Coincidence that she started confessing to the crime not once, but dozens of times over a dozen years.

Now, you asked a second question. The question is, why didn't she testify to that fact at trial in 1979, and there's a very simple answer, although the answer took 25 years to be revealed. It wasn't revealed until about six or seven years ago. A federal marshal, Jimmy Britt, came forward, said he was present when one of the prosecutors, James Blackburn, threatened Stokley and told her to be quiet or he would indict her for first-degree murder.

KAYE: Before I have to let you go, I have one very quick question for you. I'm curious -- I could talk to you about this for hours. I have your book nearby as well.

MORRIS: Well, thank you.

KAYE: Edgar Smith, the convicted killer, who got a writer to take up his case. I'm sure you're familiar with this. He got a new trial. He was exonerated and killed again and then confessed to the original crime. Is there any chance -- I know you believe in the innocence here, but is there any chance that you might have been fooled by this guy?

MORRIS: There's always a chance that one could be mistaken. I'm not any more infallible than the next guy. But I got a guy out of prison 25 years ago who was diagnosed as a psycho path and a person, who unless he was put to death, would kill and kill and kill again. He died last year, but for 25 years he was free, out of prison, and he didn't even commit a misdemeanor. You tell me.

KAYE: Well, I know we've been watching this case for decades and we will continue to watch it. A lot of people are already tweeting about your book and about the case. They can't believe it's still being debated.

MORRIS: "A Wilderness of Error". It's still being debated because something really, really bad happened here. It was a miscarriage of justice.

KAYE: We will find out the truth one day, I'm sure. Errol Morris, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate that.

MORRIS: Thank you.

KAYE: The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the state of Georgia, and the group they're representing may surprise you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: You might think they'd be on the other side of this fight, but the ACLU, that group dedicated to fighting for human rights, is suing the state of Georgia on behalf of the Ku Klux Klan. Nick Valencia is joining me. What's going on.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly what they said they would do once the Georgia department of transportation turned down their application. They say that this isn't anything for fun and games. This isn't a publicity stunt and that they're being unfairly judged by the rest of society because of the actions of a few of their members. I asked them, I'm Mexican-American, do you have a problem with me? They claim not to be racist. They claim to be separatists. They said, are you here legally? I said yes. And the conversation ended there.

KAYE: What's the likelihood that they'll win this?

VALENCIA: Believe it or not, a high likelihood. There is a precedent. In Missouri, a local chapter of the KKK applied to this adopt a highway program. That went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court after the Missouri department of transportation denied their application. So in the end, a Supreme Court ruled that you cannot deny a group based on their political beliefs to participate in this adopt a highway program.

KAYE: And adopt a highway, that would consist of billboards and things like that?

VALENCIA: Well, cleaning up this one-mile stretch of a route here in northern Georgia. They would get an adopt a highway sign. Based on the criticism of it being a publicity stunt, we did speak to the lawyer for the KKK, and this is what he had to tell us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN BEGNER, ATTORNEY FOR KKK: Well, it may be. It seems to me, however, that when a group easily meets the requirements for participating in the adopt a highway program, the state ought to just give them the permit and do away with the publicity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: You see there it may be a publicity stunt, that their claims are legitimate. We talked to the department of transportation here in Georgia. We reached out to them. They said the adopt-a- highway suit was not unexpected. We remain comfortable with our discussion and cannot discuss pending litigation.

KAYE: I love that the lawyer says well, it may be a publicity stunt.

VALENCIA: Right.

KAYE: Nick, thank you, appreciate that.

Remember the bullied bus monitor whose horrific taunting by middle school students captured the world's attention? Well, now she is getting the last laugh.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: So life has gotten a lot better for the New York bus monitor who was viciously bullied and taunted by four students back in June. She just received a check, a very big check. Karen Cline got that check for more than $700,000 this week all in online donations from people around the world. A Toronto man started the fundraising campaign after seeing this cell phone video of cline being insulted by a group of middle school kids. The video, as you may recall, went viral, causing outrage around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was hoping that the kids get something out of this. I have.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had no idea. I could not expect anything even close to this. Everyone has shown so much support. So much support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Cline has given $100,000 of that money to a foundation against bullying. The 68-year-old says that she will use the rest to retire and help her family. Good for her.

If you'd like to sound off on stories about bullying, you can tweet me now or any time. Be sure to use the hash-tag bullyingstopshere. I'd love to hear your thoughts on bullying stories.

When we hear about endangered species, it's often another creature disappearing from the earth. Coming up, we have the story of a brand- new animal that scientists say they have just discovered.

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KAYE: Scientists in Africa are claiming to found a new species of monkey. The monkey lives in the remote forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It took three years to determine it was a new species after comparing its skin, cells and genes with similar monkeys. Scientists say it's only the second new monkey discovered in the past 28 years.

And tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m., I'll be talking with an animal expert from the University of Colorado about exactly what we are learning from this new species. So be sure to tune in for that.

Another bit of animal news this morning. No one wants to be left behind on a trip to Disney World, especially not Bob the cat. There he is right there. This little guy stowed away in his owner's bag and flew all the way from Ohio to Florida. The cat was discovered ten hours later when his owner unpacked in her Orlando hotel room. She said Bob was shaken but still purring.

KAYE: We have much more ahead in the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING which starts right after a quick break.

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