Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20121228

We begin tonight, keeping them honest. Its a phrase we lose a lot on this program and one were passionate enough. Its never more more important than the story were bringing you tonight. Last night when we were covering the shooting in newtown, connecticut, anderson learned something that made us all sick to our stomach that people were trying to capitalize on the tragedy, fraudulently trying to capitalize on the victims family families. Tonight a woman has been arrested in connection with one of those alleged scams. Drew will join me with the details in a moment. First heres how we got to this point. Last week the uncle of 6yearold noah told anderson there were fake web site, facebook pages and emails going around asking for donations in noahs name. Drew griffin and david fitzpatrick, our produce, tracked one of those emails to the bronx, and her name is noah alba, and they went to her house. Here is what happened next. Hi. Are you ms. Alba . You set up donations on behalf of the newtown tragedy . No. Here is your name and address on the email. No, i will show you who i am. Can i come in with the camera crew . No. Alba eventually agreed to let her voice be recorded and denied she had anything to do with the email having to do with donations. This is more of what she told producer david fitzpatrick. This has your email on it right there. There is about noah pozners funeral, and take a look at this, because it has your email all over it, and on the second page it is your paypal account and a bank routing number, you have set up. Thats not my paypal account. I have a paypal account is that your email . Which one . It says right there. Yeah, thats one of my gmail. It is your account . My personal account. But i never set up any funds for anybody. You should know that the pozner family tells us that they are very upset about all of this. I e never did anything like this. Well, then who sent this email out . I never sent this email out. I dont have a reason to send any email out. This is all so bizarre. Alba claimed that she was being set up by enemies in of all things the crafting community. Alba has a business selling victorian picture frames. Its really hard to believe. Anderson and drew spoke about that last week and that she also allegedly also asked for donations after Hurricane Sandy. I think its important to name this person again as noel alba is her name . Thats her name and her story is it that her enemies, quote, within the crafting community thats the most ridiculous thing ive ever heard. A, that she has enemies in the crafting community and that they have somehow set up a paypal account and web sites about Hurricane Sandy and about this beautiful little boy. I mean, that is ridiculous. Anderson spoke with noah pozners uncle after we tracked down alba and this is what he said. Instead of doing things with our family, im running around trying to protect the family. I look at my nieces and i think of these scammers, and they are stealing from them. They are the survivors of this tragedy. It is just infuriating. Its infuriating. Im going to do everything i can to protect them and to get the word out and today i spoke to ms. Alba, i did contact the fbi. And theyre looking into it. They were very interested in the information we provided. Thats great. Hopefully they can look into her finances. We didnt have the capabilities of looking into her actual bank records, but that should be relatively easy to track down. That report got a whole lot of attention. Turns out it got very specific attention from both the fbi and the u. S. District attorney in connecticut. Today, noelle alba was arrested, charged with lying to federal agents who were investigating her for fraudulent fundraising activity. Here you see her leaving court in hartford, connecticut. She appeared before a u. S. Magistrate. She was released on 50,000 bond. If she is convicted, she could face up to five years in prison and a 250,000 fine. The fbis criminal complaint refers to the reporting we did last week, saying quote, on or about december 19th, 2012, Cnns Anderson Cooper 360 Program Broadcast a story regarding Charity Scams and the sandy hook tragedy. Alba was a subject of the program and allowed the cnn crew to record her audio voice in response to questions about her involvement with charities to help sandy hook victims. Alba claimed that the paypal account listed in the request for donations was not hers, only that she had an account like that. Alba claimed she never set up any funds for anybody. The journalist reported that alba claimed she immediately refunded all of the donations she received. She claimed other members in the Scrapbooking Community within which she interacted on facebook had tried to set her up. It also shows the sickening depth of her deception. And drew griffin joins me now. The story didnt add up to us when we first spoke to alba. Now the fbi is alleging pretty awful things, and she said she acted real quickly to decease to deceive people to donate money. The fbi complaint shows four hours after the shooting, really as we were all realizing the magnitude of the tragedy, noelle alba on her website called victorian glamour fairies, or vgf, in the complaint, identified herself as an aunt of one of the children who attended school there. Vgf also claimed at that time to have provided pictures to Law Enforcement officers to help identify victims. Vgf did not identify the identity of her nephew. Randy, that was at 1 30 in the afternoon. We didnt know the names at that moment. All of that, it seems is a lie at that point. According to the fbi, every word of it was a lie. It didnt stop. Thats whats amazing. The fbi claims alba was basically building in sympathy on this web site. The very next day started asking for money. This is from december 15th. Some of these spellings are texts and theyre wrong. Were trying to take them straight from the complaint here. We have set up a funeral fund for my brother and families. Anyone willing to make a donation can make one. Then she goes on to give a paypal account number and a direct deposit number from chase bank. Then she says, we ask you to continue to not just pray for us but for families who lost their kids. I read the complaint this afternoon and was stunned. I mean, this woman sitting in her home in the bronx was allegedly telling donors she was actually visiting the crime scene, identifying the bodies of victims, right, and even meeting with the president . If its true, its so outrageous. Its almost like theres a mental issue, not just fraud. The fbi says she told one donor by phone she had to go to Sandy Hook Elementary School and enter the crime scene to identify her nephew for Law Enforcement. This is what she texted about the president. This is the exact text he met with us, hugged us, and even cried with us. Hes really down to earth. And most sickening to me is then she allegedly texted this detail about the victim she claimed is her nephew. Again, a text message, im a mess, not looking forward to seeing that casket because thats is what will all kill us today. 11 gunshots in his little body or take those bullets. The guilt we have just keeps building up. This was all made up. She had no ties at all to any family in the tragedy. She was apparently just trying to get people to donate to her personal accounts. Did she . Did she get any money . At the time, she told us she did get about 300 which she said she refunded. That apparently is true. The fbi is not specific about the money, but they say that the paypal deposits were refunded. She is charged with lying and the same lies that she apparently told us she told the fbi and that it wasnt her and that someone else was setting her all up. According to the fbi, they will be able to prove it was her, that she was claiming to be the aunt and was in the process of receiving donations on behalf of this family. Drew, this is so shocking, but really the most shocking out of all of this is its fairly routine, right . You have seen this happen before after other tragedies and other disasters. Yes, Fake Charities popping up, recently surrounding Hurricane Sandy victims. There could be more related to newtown. The u. S. Attorneys office in connecticut and the fbi are being very aggressive trying to track more of these, and nothing specific, they are telling us, but this arrest today which could end with a fiveyear prison sentence is to be a warning of anyone who is trying to take advantage of the tragedy and these suffering families. A warning that we certainly hope is true. Drushgs thank you very much. Ken berger is the president and ceo of charity navigator, a nonprofit that investigated evaluates charities and he joins me live. The details, you were listening there, so disturbing. Have you ever seen anything like this . Unfortunately, we have seen situations like this. And i think any time theres a tragedy, unfortunately some really awful people come out and exploit the public. Its really horrible. I mean, this is one of the worst i have seen. Its pretty horrific to say the least, but there are low things people are doing out there when it comes to many of these kinds of tragedies. What kind of person, i mean, i saw you as you were watching the report, you were shaking your head. What kind of person does Something Like this . This is not your average scam. Theyre taking advantage here allegedly taking advantage here of a horrific situation. In your work, can you take the picture or take us into the mindset of somebody like this . Unfortunately, it seems theres no simple profile. Its people from all different economic backgrounds and all different kinds of people we have seen engaged in some very unethical behavior. I think its a matter of character and integrity of an individual. And also there are occasions when there are clearly Mental Health issues involved, but there is no clear profile. It is across the board. Its so sad. Authorities have told us theyre investigating other cases. Are you at all concerned this case in newtown could be the tip of the iceberg . Absolutely. That is often the case. In the case of Hurricane Sandy, 1,000 websites were created within a week. So that gives you a sense of the scale of how these things can be. Our concern is that the amount of oversight capacity of the government is quite limited and is shrinking while this kind of abuse seems to be steam rolling and theres more and more of it we see. Especially this year when we had a number of tragedies. Are authorities outnumbered or can they do something to stop this . Theyre definitely outnumbered. The irs and state attorney general offices have long been far behind in keeping up with these things. And now as the government is shrinking, there is more of a problem. Unfortunately, it requires the work of cnn and other investigative reporters to bring it to light, and sometimes the e embarrassment to force the government to get involved, so there is a lack of oversight there and a need for far more enforcement. Im sure youre concerned people at home are listening and saying maybe i shouldnt donate. Maybe it makes them afraid to donate. What do you say to them . For every horrible story, theres a great story and fantastic charities. The united way of westchester, or western connecticut is involved, and they are helping the Community Help where the money goes. You have save the children, a whole lot of organizations out there that have a track record, a reputation. They do wonderful work. Dont despair. Please just do a Little Research and dont just give on impulse. All right, ken berger, appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. Sure. And just a note from a local official in newtown. She said the town has received so many gifts since the tragedy that the post office and local workers cant even handle the volume anymore. Shes actually asking people to stop sending things and instead donate them to needy families in their own communities. As far as donations, there are several legitimate funds for the victims, including one for noah pozner. You can find them at impact your world, cnn. Com impact. Breaking news when we come back. Looks like president obama and congressional leaders will try again tomorrow to steer us back from the fiscal cliff. More on what, if any, deal could be shaping up. And keeping them honest, why avoiding Economic Disaster seems to be so hard to do for some of the folks in washington. 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The package of drastic budget cuts and tax increases that go into effect Tuesday Morning are totally manmade and totally avoidable and all sides know it. Its a kind of legislative dooms day machine written by the men and women who work here and signed by president obama. The idea being to make it so painful not to cut a deal on taxes and spending that they would be forced to cut a deal on taxes and spending. Except keeping them honest, they havent done it. Even though they knew the stakes, they knew the deadline, and both sides promised that this time things would be different. We need to return to fiscal responsibility. How is it that were going to be able to do that . Getting our fiscal house in order. The American People have spoken loudly. They want us to get our fiscal house in order. Fiscal handcuffs on this congress that are sorely needed. Washington is beginning to get its fiscal house in order. So they approve legislation that gave everyone nearly a year and a half to reach a longterm agreement on spending and taxes or face truly punishing consequences if they didnt. Youll remember at the time this was a really big deal. Republicans had forced the issue by refusing to raise the debt ceiling without budget cuts. Markets went haywire. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords even returned to washington from rehab from her almost fatal gunshot wound just to vote for the bill. And while the experience left everyone bitter, they promised to work extra hard, as they said, to get our fiscal house in order. If only because the law they just passed made it crazy not to. Well, call them crazy. No progress before the Election Campaign began. No progress during the campaign. Then more recently, House Speaker john boehner and president obama each made important concessions. The president on entitlement spending. Speaker boehner on upper income tax rates. Speaker boehner, though, could not get conservative republicans to go along and seemed at a loss on what to do next. We cant cut our way to prosperity. We need real economic growth. Many of us believe on both sides of the aisle on the fundamental reform of the tax code will help us get our economy moving faster and put more americans back to work. And more americans on the tax rolls. How we get there, god only knows. President obama, meantime, seemed to lose patience. No sign hes eager to go off the cliff, but hes also not ready, either, to concede in his words what hell get for free when the bush tax cuts expire Tuesday Morning. Democratic lawmakers, though, are more willing to let that and Everything Else happen and both sides are still pointing fingers. Take a look at Mitch Mcconnell and harry reid just this afternoon. Youll excuse me if im a little frustrated at the situation. Republican leader finds himself frustrated. I say im frustrated because we have been asking the president and the democrats to work with us. He complains i have not delivered the votes to pass the solution to the fiscal cliff. Hes in error. I told the president i would be happy to look at whatever he proposes. Hes upset because, quote, the phone never rang. As i said, this is a conversation we should have had months ago. We have nobody to work with, compromise. Republicans arent about to write a blank check. We cant negotiate with ourselves. Thats all were doing. We dont have many days left. Were in the same situation we have been in for a long time. As you can see, senate is back in session today. The house plans to be back on sunday. More now on the breaking news. Senior Congressional Correspondent dana bash joins us now from capitol hill. Chief White House Correspondent Jessica Yellin is on the white house north lawn tonight. Dana, ill start with you. You listened to big talk on the intro. Today was finger pointing and political chicken, but both sides will be talking to each other tomorrow instead of at each other. What is the latest on that . Thats right, theyre going to all be going to the white house. When i say all, i mean the top four congressional leaders, democrats and republicans, to sit down with the president. Im told by a senior democratic source here in the senate that the expectation is if they cant figure out a path forward over the next three days in this meeting tomorrow, a way to actually pass something to avert the fiscal cliff, then it is very likely, almost definite, that we will go over the cliff. I have to tell you that sources in both parties think thats the likelihood at this point anyway, but this meeting tomorrow is absolutely going to be crucial. And what the Senate Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell who you just heard from there, what hes saying he hopes to get from the president is a more details explanation of what he has been saying publicly, which is that he thinks he just wants the senate to pass the stop gap measure to keep tax cuts where they are for 98 of americans, which he campaigned on over and over again in the last election, in the hopes that enough republicans will come onboard and then this could possibly get through the house. Jessica, is there cause then for optimism or is this meeting really just for show . Well, as dana pointed out, at this meeting, they could work out the details of this scaled down proposal, which could be a final agreement. For example, republicans have been calling for these details, and the kind of thing they would like to know is if, just one example, if Unemployment Insurance is going to be extended, how would that be paid for . These are the sort of things that could be worked out tomorrow. Senate republicans, the leader, Mitch Mcconnell, has made it clear today as dana reported, that he goes into this meeting looking to hear what the president is proposing, but Speaker Boehner, his Office Issued a statement sounding far less willing to compromise before this meeting than he did before his other meetings with the president. So optimism, thats not how i would characterize the mood around this town. Theres some hope, not a lot of rosiness, though. Dana, even if the house does get the chance to vote on some sort of deal, i mean, theres no guarantee Speaker Boehner can deliver his conference, right . He couldnt even get republicans to vote for his own bill. How does he convince them to vote for any deal that the president approves . Thats right. The feeling among House Republicans, particularly those close to Speaker Boehner is if something could get through the senate, the capital i, capital f, if, it would be something that would probably get a number of republican votes in the senate and will do the same in the house. He, the speaker, told members of his republican conference in a Conference Call today, were told, that hes not interested in passing something without with a majority of democrats, without the majority of his own caucus. But the reality is that he believes that if they get to that point, he will get the majority of his caucus, even if it means passing the president s plan because there are enough democrats that will go along with perhaps the majority of republicans who dont want to see taxes go up on all americans. Having said that, the flipside of that argument is what we talked about last night. There are a number of House Republicans who would much rather vote after january 1st to cut peoples taxes than to vote now to raise other peoples taxes. Both sides are saying the other one could drive the nation over the fiscal cliff, that their opponents have something to gain by letting the deadline pass. Do they have a point . Do either have anything to gain or at least think they stand to gain if theres no deal in time . Right now, both sides are trying to win a p. R. War. As we have been saying, its increasingly likely we go over the cliff. Now theres just a lot of posturing. A lot of arguing to the the base, because they cannot be seen as voting to raise taxes on people. For democrats, it is positioning for the larger public, because they have to be seen as in their view upholding the president s promise made during the campaign on to increase taxes on the wealthiest and hold them down for middleclass americans. Right now the polling is with the president and the democrats, but if we go over the cliff, it is not hard to project that in a few weeks all of that is going to shift, and the American Public will blame everyone in washingt washington, and everyone will be hurt. So the two sides have to make a deal in short order if it is before january 1st or the two week weeks after, they have to get something done. Thank you, dana and jessica. And with us now, New York Times finest, columnist ralph, and ross. Ross, im going to start with you. You think both sides have decided its in their political interest to go over the fiscal cliff. Is that right . Yeah, you never want to rule a deal off the table because we have lived through so many rounds that have ended in deals in the last couple years, but in this case, i think democrats think they get a better deal on policy by going over the cliff. That they end up getting more in taxes with less in spending cuts than they would get if they had to cut a deal right now. And republicans have persuaded themselves not completely convincingly in my view, but they have persuaded themselves its much better to accept slightly higher taxes that they themselves dont have to vote for directly, even though theyll still be casting a vote for new tax rates, theyll be able to say, well, taxes have already gone up and were just voting to cut them. So thats sort of how, at least, i think both sides are persuading themselves to sort of tiptoe off the cliff. And charles, i know you think republicans have more to lose here, but does either side get a boost from this . I dont think you get a boost, but i think the republicans really take a knock. I think even ross believes they take a knock for this. Because what he is saying, and i think hes absolutely right, is that they have convinced themselves, played a mental game on themselves in principle as long as they dont vote to raise anyones taxes, theyll take a worse deal than the president was offering them in the first place because they can have the principle to say they came back after they let the tax breaks expire and then just voted to lower them on fewer people. Its an incredible kind of situation that they find themselves in. They have kind of convinced themselves that is actually a better situation than having fewer people be subjected to higher taxes, which you would think would be their position. Its extraordinary. I think that the American Public can see straight through that kind of nonsense. Thats why you see in the polls, consistently, people say that they think that the president is doing a better job negotiating on this fiscal cliff, and that they will blame republicans more if we go over it. We have certainly been hearing that. Ross, you have been saying no matter who comes out on the deal, it makes it less likely republicans will win tax debates anytime soon. Yeah, in the sense that, you know, the party has i think charles is right, that the party has sort of locked itself into a corner where, yes, there is this possibility that theyll be able to vote for tax cuts and theyll be able to say, well, we held the line. We did our best and so on. But the danger for them is that these stopped being the bush tax cuts and become the obama tax cuts, right . I think thats what conservatives and republicans should be most worried about from a longterm political perspective right now. I mean, in a sense, they have sort of they have won a particular policy battle in the sense that most of the bush tax cuts, both parties believe should be extended. Right . Were talking about 97 , 98 of the bush tax cuts. You could say thats a policy win for republicans, but if those tax cuts ended up getting branded as obamas tax cuts that he passed after we went over the fiscal cliff, it then loses whatever upside there was for republicans, except, and we have to mention this, for republicans vulnerable to primary challenges, theres obviously a lot of anxiety about being, you know, the first republican in 20 years to vote for a tax increase. I think thats the big fear, that its been so long. Republicans havent cast this kind of vote. You dont want to be the first one to do it. Yeah, and charles, were told the democrats may be waiting until the very last minute. Maybe theyre banking on pressure and the gop caving. What should americans make of that with so much at stake here . I think theres gamesmanship on both sides, thats obviously true, but i think democrats understand they get a better deal out of this if they actually go over the cliff. What the president was offering, his last round of offers, was in fact something that a lot of democrats and liberals did not take kindly to. In fact, when boehner was not able to pass plan b, he threw the president a lifeline and said nobody can be mad at you because i cant get people to vote for these higher tax limits. In a way, the president comes out of this in a bet ter and stronger position. The bush tax cuts will expire if you do not have a deal. The republicans are not willing to move, as far we can tell at this point. That means when you come back, you will get exactly what the president has said he wanted all along. Which is you will then have to vote to extend the tax cuts for people making 250,000 or less. Hes in the cat bird seat. And basically whats happened here is that the democrats have learned to love intransigence. Last time we went through this with the debt ceiling, we had this endless democratic whining might be unkind way to put it, but, oh, the republicans are playing too much hardball and putting the countrys future at risk and so on. This time the democrats have said, we will play hardball, too, and as charles said, they have a better hand to play this time. Charles, ross, thank you both very much. Up next, who still has to worry about the massive winter storm . Chad myers has the latest forecast. And well tell you about the tornado on aisle three. Amazing video when 360 continues. Share brotherly love. Share one ups. Mom . Mom . The share everything plan. Lets your family share a pool of data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. Now get a lucid by lg, free. Anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating . Yeah. One Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. Approved [ female announcer ] live the regular life. Phillips. . O female announcer ] live the regular life. Meet the 5passenger ford cmax hybrid. When youre carrying a lot of weight, cmax has a nice little trait, you see, cmax helps you load your freight, with its footactivated lift gate. But thats not all youll see, cause cmax also beats prius v, with better mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. Before getting the latest on the winter storm from chad myers, i want to play you a truly amazing piece of video. It shows a tornado from that storm as it blew past a walgreens in mobile, alabama. This is on christmas day. Just look at that. Theres no sound so you cant actually hear the cars being spun around in that parking lot or the screams of People Racing for cover as you see there, or the racket of items literally flying off the shelves from Gale Force Winds inside the store. Amazingly, no one was seriously hurt. Meantime, from little rock, arkansas, to littleton, new hampshire, and up into maine, theyre digging out from a heavy blanket of snow or getting ready for even more. Here with the latest on all of it, meteorologist chad myers. The dangerous weather that moved across the country this week isnt over yet. Whos getting hit the hardest now . Now its maine into new brunswick, into canada. The biggest concern i have right now for the mass amount of people is boston. 36 all day, raining. Now its down to 32. And beginning to snow. So by morning, what was wet will be white or will be an ice puddle. So you have to be careful here, now that were going to go down below freezing in boston for the first time, all the way out to the cape as well. Thats where the massive amount of people, the most people will be affected by tomorrows weather when you wake up. Everything that was just wet is not going to be wet anymore. We will see an awful lot of snow here in parts of maine, all the way over to halifax. Up to a foot of snow. That is where it is now. The storm has moved away from the northeast. Still going to make cold wind for new york city, cold for albany, into boston, even into new hampshire. Temperatures are going to be cold tonight, down into the teens for the most part. Vermont, you did very well. I know that depends on your point of view, but for killington, for sugar bush, for the ski resorts there, almost two feet of new snow in a place that has been very hard hit by a lack of snow the past couple years. But in vermont so far, 21 inches of snow. Tomorrow, we get another storm that moves up to the northeast, believe it or not, right up to new york. Its going to be a storm that runs right along the spine of 32 degree weather. So could even see some ice and sleet from memphis back up to new york city by saturday. Its a storm thats going to start in the south, just like the last one did. I dont expect severe weather, just rain here with this one, but then as it runs up the northeast coast, almost a noreaster but not quite, we will see snow even into new york city. By saturday night, it could be three inches, and at least its good that its saturday and not on a friday or monday when youre trying to get somewhere. Saturday, stay home and watch the pretty pictures. Watch cnn. Chad, thank you very much. Were following other troubling developments in utah where warren jeffs is still considered a prophet. The stores only Major Grocery store has shut down and his followers are being told the world will end by monday. Gary tuchman investigates just ahead. [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. This season, discover aleve. All day pain relief with just two pills. Tonight, new concerns warren jeffs may be planning something dire from his prison cell. We have followed him for years. From his fugitive days to his conviction. Jeffs remains a revered figure m among his followers in the church. He remains a revered figures among his followers, even though hes serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting two underaged girls. Now, the closing of a Grocery Store on the utah border has authorities on high alert. Jeffs followsers are being told that the world will end no later than this sunday. With the store now closed, what other preparations might they be making, and at what cost to themselves . Gary tuchman went to utah looking for answers. Its warren jeffs birthday, the imprisoned prophet of the flds church. In the neighboring twin cities of arizona and utah, his followers have a message for him. We send our love. By all accounts, the man they love is still making major decisions and pronouncements from behind bars, and Church Members almost never want to talk about that. Why are you running away from us . Our visit comes at a bizarre and tenuous and difficult time. Sam is a investigator who has represented more than 100 former members of the flds church. The consensus seems to be that warren is indicating by the end of the year the end of the world will be here. When they talk about the calamitous end of the world, people in Law Enforcement take notice. Jim jones, koresh, history has showed us that these things happen when religious zealots take charge of a group of people. A point of concern, the churchowned Grocery Store. The only big store in the community was abruptly shutdown. Not only was this the sole Grocery Store in the flds community, but it was a gathering point. Authorities are afraid its closing may signify something dire. Is it your belief that warren jeffs believes the store doesnt need to be open because the earth is ending. The end of time is near and his people dont need to buy grocery items . Yes. Others are driving out of time to shop. So what do warren jeffs faithful followers have to say about all this . Theyre told to never talk to reporters, and some use their reporter intimidation technique, large vehicles speeding and screeching by us. And then emitting black smoke for added emphasis. One of the things were hearing is hes been talking about the possible end of time, end of the world, and that people need to be faithful. Is that your understanding of what hes been talking about also . I would rather not talk. A lot of ladies in this community dont want to talk to me. Are you one of them . The ladies are almost always polite. Not always the case with men. Can i ask you, do you still believe in your prophet . Do you not want to talk to me . Because you do hear me . Okay. You can tell me no comment. We can walk away instead of just being silent to me. Were you told not to say any words . [ speaking Foreign Language ] what language are you speaking, sir . Can i ask you, do you believe the end of time is near at this point . It depends. If you fly an airplane, then its the end of your time. Were told that your prophet warren jeffs has said that the end of time will be coming by the end of the year. Do you believe that to be true . How come youre scratching my microphone . You dont want to talk to me, do you . No. Police and prosecutors say warren jeffs end of time declaration is the mark of a desperate man, a man who is marking his time by serving a sentence of life plus 20 years. Gary tuchman, cnn, hilldale, utah. Still ahead, new information about president bush Seniors Health and why his chief of staff said, quote, please put the harps back in the closet. Also this what is this thing with you and Ryan Seacrest . What is the thing with you and Ryan Seacrest . Youre so in love with him. Hes your buddy. What will happen this year in times square . Anderson cooper and Kathy Griffin have a preview straight ahead on 360. Share brotherly love. Share one ups. Mom . Mom . The share everything plan. Lets your family share a pool of data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. Now get a lucid by lg, free. Anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating . Yeah. One Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. Approved [ female announcer ] live the regular life. Phillips. Aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u. S. Postal service. Well even drop off boxes if you need them. Visit usps. Com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. Any time of year. Nice sweater. Thank you. Thank you. Excuse me, sir im gonna have to ask you to power down your little word game. I think your friends will understand. Oh no, its actually my geico app. See . I just uh paid my bill. Did you really . From the plane . Yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24 7. Sounds a little too good to be true sir. Ill believe that when pigs fly. Ok, did she seriously just say that . Geico. Just click away with our free mobile app. Im isha sesay here with the 360 bulletin. Retired general Norman Schwarzkopf has died in florida. He was 78. He led the coalition during the first gulf war. A statement from former president george h. W. Bush called schwarzkopf a true American Patriot and one of the great military leaders of his generation. Former president bush remains in intensive care tonight. Hes being treated for a fever but his family remains hopeful hell be released soon. His chief of staff sent a note to reporters reassuring his condition is not dire and with a message to please put the harps back in the closet. And Hillary Clinton is now good to go but doctors still want her to wait a little longer before traveling overseas. Now, one of the ideas that seems totally obvious and completely inevitable until you realize that somebody had to think of it first. It is something that takes the newest technology, the smartphone and couples it to one the oldest, the chariot. The result makes it easier for some to get around town, and others to make a living. Tom foreman has the story of uber, a german word, in tonights american journey. Reporter for 13 years in the crush and crawl of d. C. Traffic, Robert Harrison has made a sometimes difficult living as a limo driver, but a surge of new riders has him for the first time heading into the holidays for real optimism about his job. They have saved the day for us as independent limo drivers. Thats the impact . Thats the impact, absolutely. He says he owes it to uber, a relatively new service that allows limo drivers to collect electronically with people nearby who need a car right now. So your smartphone knows where you are. All you do is put in a request for a car and in a matter of moments i have a hit. It allows driver who often have hours to kill between prearranged rides to turn the waiting time into money. Uber typically gets 20 of the fare and the driver with the rest. Travis came up with the idea a year ago and spread it to a dozen cities here and abroad. If you can fill that time utility for those guy, help them get business during their dead time, they can do a far better job sort of making ends meet, making a living rage. Ubers rapid rise is not without controversy. In a number of city, taxi operators and local officials have questioned whether uber and other similar ventures are dodging laws that control taxi rates and protect consumers. To be sure, an uber car is more expensive than a taxi but the service is proving so popular with customers who like the comfort and convenience, some cities are already pushing aside the reservations and harrison says thats great news. No uber driver out here will tell you that theyre not making any money. If they are, theyre trying to discourage other drivers from not coming on, right. Tom foreman, cnn, washington. Interesting. We will be right back with anderson and the ridiculist. Try running four. Ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately weve got ink. It gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at Office Supply stores. Rewards we put right back into our business. This is the only thing weve ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. Make your mark with ink from chase. Welcome to chevys yearend event. So, the 5. 3liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds . 315 horsepower. Whats that in reindeerpower . [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevys giving more. Get the best offer of the year 0 apr financing for 60 months plus 1,000 Holiday Bonus cash. Plus trade up for an additional 1,000 tradein allowance. Hurry. Bonus cash ends january 2nd. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesnt treat that. Really . [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ breathes deeply ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. Thats the cold truth to take a centrum silver multivitamin every day. I told him, sure. Cant hurt, right . Then i heard this news about a multivitamin study looking at longterm Health Benefits for men over 50. The one they used in that study. Centrum silver. Thats what i take. My doctor he knows his stuff. [ male announcer ] centrum. The most recommended. Most preferred. Most studied. Centrum, always your most complete. Its lots of things. All waking up. Connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. Its going to be amazing. And exciting. And maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. Were going to wake the world up. And watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. Cisco. Tomorrow starts here. Cisco. Tyeah, its the galaxy note ii. Re great. You can do two things at the same time. You can watch videos and text. Or you could watch the Earnings Report and take notes, like were supposed to. So. Can i get it . Yeah. Okay either of you put together the Earnings Report yet . Yes, me totally. What . Why dont you tackle the next quarter. You eat yet . Polynesian . Pu pu platter . Yup keep up the good work. I will keep up the good work. Do more with the new Samsung Galaxy note ii. Here in britain, the first footing of the arrival to the house brings good luck. Happy new years to cnn from london. On monday night, anderson and Kathy Griffin will team up again in times square. We can feel the excitement already. We know you can. It will be the sixth year for them cohosting the new years eve coverage. And the magic is still there. Kathy loves nothing more than surprises. She set the bar pretty high last year. This year, anderson is trying to set some ground rules. Good luck with that, pal. Heres a preview. I just want to remind some people what you did last year. Take a look. Oh, my lord. What are you, kidding me . We just saw lady gaga. We just saw lady gaga. Are you kidding me . I swear, im literally talking to you guys and i turn around im in my underwear. Wheres the sign. Its not nude. Look at the sign. Good lord. What i like about that clip is that it took you quite a while to even turn around and realize i was almost naked. That sort of thing is not my demo. I understand. Youre totally blacking out. The other thing that people probably dont know is that every year i have to fight to get you to be quiet during the sweetest, most special time of the entire night where the ball actually drops and they play New York New York and they play imagine and all of those nice songs and the crowd is singing and i find it an emotional moment, and i have to fight you not to talk. Yeah, were not doing that this year. Those are the nicest moments. Thats the moment where we have to just punch Ryan Seacrest in the face hard. What is this thing with you and Ryan Seacrest . What is the thing with you and Ryan Seacrest . Youre so in love with him, hes your buddy. I cant believe when we went to dinner last year and you actually wanted to talk to him. He was trying to suck the life out of us and get our secrets. We dont have secrets. Did he call you after the dinner . No, i havent talked to him since last year. When is he going to call us for the dinner . He usually picks up the tab. He does pick up the tab. Im not paying for dinner. There will be plenty more of that on monday. Cnns new years eve live starts at 10 00. And as 2012 draws to a close, we are counting down the top ten ridiculists of the year based on your votes. Tonight, your choice for number seven. It involves the arrest of a man whose name is quite a mouthful, to say the least. Here is andersons take on it from back in january. Time now for the ridiculist. Tonight, were adding a gentleman for the sake of convenience, im going to refer to as mr. Bopbop. He is the man who got arrested in a park in madison, wisconsin, after police found marijuana, drug paraphenalia and a knife on him. According to court records, his name used to be jeffrey drew wilschke. Kind of a tongue twister. I am guessing he got tired of people mispronouncing it because he changed his name to beezow doodoo zopittybop bopbop some call him bop bop, or even bop. Some even call him beezow, although clearly thats his first name. Doodoo would be his middle name. Zopittybopbop is his last name. If he marries someone and she