story. it s what he is alluding to here and what is brought up in the lawsuits themselves, back in the summer of june, there was a break-in in the new birth church. his office was broken into, and $100,000 in jewelry was stolen, and one of the people arrested in that case is maurice robinson, one of the men filing the lawsuits. the bishop is saying he wants money. his attorney is saying, look, this came about the same time that he was starting to find out about these relationships. he was upset about it, and it was his way of lashing out at the bishop to go after what he cared for most, which is the material possessions. there are other developments in this case that you re following as well, right? we re starting to hear that two more people could come forward. those cases have not been filed. we are not ready to get into the details of that, but we have been told on good authority that that could be happening sooner
personal struggles and falls pap that s made him even bigger than life to this flock. ed lavendera joining me live now. let s talk about this in more detail. we are starting to get more react from the bishop s camp. strong react. his spokesperson art franklin called into cnn this morning and essentially accused these two young men of shaking down the bishop. listen to what they told us. this is actually, john, a case of retaliation and a shakedown for money by men with serious credibility issues who are trying to mount their own defense. this is something that went from 48 hours in contact with the attorney making outrageous demands to this dog and pony show that we are seeing that began yesterday. what he s talking about, the shakedown and credibility issues, kind of gets to the heart of what will matter to a lot of people as they follow the
number 25,000 a. spokesperson for eddie long denies the allegations and spoke to john roberts last hour on american morning. this is actually a case of retaliation and a shakedown for money by men with some serious credibility issues who are trying to mount their own defense. this is something that went from 48 thundershowers of contact with the attorney to claiming outrageous demands to the dog and pony show that we are seeing that began yesterday. the attorney filing the lawsuits is also pulling in punches. b.j. bernstein represents the two men that accused long of sexual misconduct. go ahead and react to what franklin said. we haven t had a chance to talk to him. he says it is a shakedown for money. civil suit. about retaliation and appalled at what s happening. absolutely not. i mean, first of all, the issue here is it had to be brought out to the public so that this stops. and these two young men, it is
they have known for months bob woodward was writing this book. he has a strong track record and mostly considered accurate and not made up with wild allegations of someone meticulous and the president interviewed with him, other senior officials and cooperated at least with parts of the book but you are right in terms of timing. the president going to new york city today for the u.n. general assembly. he doesn t want to talk about afghanistan right now, kyra. ed henry from the white house, thanks. the pastor of a mega church facing allegations of sexual misconduct from two men saying bishop long betrayed their trust. their attorney up next. on the long journey h of t to their feeding grounds. one of the most important things you can do is help the next generation.
aspire to be. reporter: in separate lawsuits, two young men say bishop long used his spiritual authority to coerce and manipulate them into destructive sexual relationships. 20-year-old maurice robinson and 21-year-old anthony flag say they met eddie long through the bishop s longfellow youth academy. he would use biblical stories to talk about how important it was to follow your leader and master. and let him know that the acts that he was engaged in were not necessarily meaning that he was a homosexual. reporter: the spokesman tells cnn he adamantly denies the allegations, the young men allege long made them his spiritual sons in a private ceremony called a covenant. within that covenant, it was essentially a marriage ceremony where there was a candles, exchange of jewelry. and biblical quotes given in order for anthony to know and