Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20111103 : comparem

Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20111103



restaurant association. we're also learning details of the one of the first two incidents that ended in financial settlements. they come from chris wilson, a former colleague who witnessed he says one of the incidents and spoke about it today to gloria borger and ktok. >> i'll tell you at the time she was a very lower level staffer. i think she was maybe two years out of college and this all occurreded at a restaurant in crystal city and everybody was very aware of it and so it was only a matter of time because so many people were aware of what took place and her situation and the fact she left after this. it was a -- everybody knew what the campaign -- that this would eventually come up. >> chris wilson is a rick perry supporter. gloria borger joins us shortly. that's not all, though. on top of all of that according to forbes.com cain is blaming another campaign operative. a 2004 campaign adviser now working for rick perry for sparking this whole mess but keep in mind cain's accusation directly contradicts his own statements about not recalling any sexual harassment allegations or settlements. the day began with a conservative front-runner not wanting to talk about any of this anymore. >> let me say one thing. i'm here with these doctors and that's what i'm going to talk about so don't even bother asking me all of these other questions that you all are curious about. okay? don't even bother. >> good question, though. >> are you concerned about the fact that the women -- >> what did i say? excuse me. excuse me! >> rick ross with -- >> step aside, please. >> what part of no don't these people understand? >> which way are we going? >> well, there was some pushing, shoving, no answers from the candidates. the questions that began on sunday when the politico story hit detailing at least two incidents of alleged sexual harassment in the late 1990s. today possible corroboration on the at least angle. a third nra employee spoke to the associated press. quote, she said the behavior included a private invitation to his corporate apartment. the report goes on to say that the unnamed woman says cain made sexually suggested remarks or gestures. quote, mr. cain has said over the past two days at public events that we could see other baseless allegations made against him as this appalling smear campaign continues. he has never acted in the way alleged by inside the beltway media and his distinguished record over 40 years spent climbing the corporate ladder speaks for itself. this third accuser did not file a formal complaint. according to the ap she says this happened about the same time of the two complaints in the politico story on sunday that cain had a ten-day warning on but no answer to at first. and then the next day his memory suddenly seemed to come back. >> if the restaurant association did a settlement, i am not -- i wasn't even aware of it and i hope it wasn't for much because nothing happened. >> i am unaware of any sort of settlement. i was aware that an agreement was reached. >> he attributed the earlier lack of recall to how long ago this happened and confusion over asked about settlements when he understood them to be in his word agreements. yet today talking to a writer at "forbes" magazine he himself blew a big chunk of his hazy memory excuse to bits. he says during his 2004 campaign he told a consultant a claim was brought against him while he ran the nra. quote, it was a typical campaign conversation. i told him there was one case, one set of charges, one woman while i was at the national restaurant association. that conversation happened in 2003. yet monday morning and afternoon he had no memory of the incident at all. and then he did but was confused so did he forget it between 2003 and monday, something that he remembered and told the political adviser seeing it as a potential liability? that adviser is now a perry adviser, something the cain people are pointing to as evidence of a smear. confusing, i know. joining us now chief political kro correspondent gloria borger and legal consultant jeffrey toobin. >> this evening he's not speaking with us, he is speaking with his client. he's meeting with her and she's the one who 12 years ago alleged sexual harassment against herman cain and he told me that it is likely he will ask the restaurant association to allow his client to issue a statement under his name without her name to issue a statement saying that she vehemently denies cain's remarks and that she was sexually harassed and he believes he needs permission from the restaurant association because he wants to get an agreement from them that this would not be construed as a violation of her confidentiality agreement. >> but he's already said that. he said that on this program last night. are you saying he would go further in the statement, though? >> i think she feels she needs to issue an explit sit statement. i asked him how much detail would be in it. he did not know but this is what he did say to me. he said, she doesn't want to become another anita hill. that's not her interest or her expectation. she would like to put this behind her. she put it behind her 12 years ago. she is not a publicity seeker. she's happily married and has a good job. so, it's clear she wants to set the record straight but it seems like she doesn't want to go in front of the cameras. >> you also talked to chris wils wilson, the former pollster for the national restaurant association who says he witnessed cain sexual lly harassing an employee. did he tell you cain was inappropriate with this woman? >> all he would do confirm essentially what you played at the top of the show which was the interview but in that interview it was very clear that he believed what she did -- what he did was inappropriate and he also said that, you know, everybody knew with the campaign that this would eventually come out. and, one other point, anderson. i raised the question with him, obviously, of whether he was politically motivated and he would say this on the record to me because he does run a political action committee independent from the campaign of rick perry but he supports rick perry so it's an obvious question to ask and he said, quote, i had nothing to do with leaking this in any way and i have never discussed or shared this story with any of my clients, period. >> it was interesting what chris wilson said. he said this occurred in crystal city and everyone was very aware of it. >> right. >> i'm not sure if that means that people witnessed it and thought it was inappropriate at the time. that means they were aware of it or if it just word was out in the national restaurant association that this had occurred. >> right. and we really don't know but if everyone was aware of it, you can only surmise that people were talking about it the next day at the office or it became a topic of conversation and believe me we're following up on this radio interview. >> jeff, a third woman has accused cain of sexual harassment in an interview with the associated press. you say there's a big difference between this accusation and the other two that there was a settlement for. >> right. just because a woman says something to the associated press, that is not of great importance. what makes the two that politico originally reported on so significant and important is the national restaurant association paid these women money. that suggests something went on, enough either to, you know, settle a case or it was perhaps just nuisance money to get rid of it but paying money is very different from a blank accusation. >> people settle and pay money just to make things go away in lawsuits all the time. i mean, it's more expensive to go through the litigation than just to pay a couple of tens of thousands of dollars. >> that may what happened here, that's a possibility, but the fact that money changed hands following an allegation is a lot more significant and worthy of investigation than somebody saying to the associated press, this guy did something wrong. >> gloria, it seems unless one of these women actually comes forward and puts a face on this, i mean, where does this go? because if you just have some press release from this woman's attorney -- >> right. >> -- i mean, cain supporters will say, look, this is terribly unfair. how do you -- how do you, you know, argue against a phantom, somebody who's not showing themselves? >> i would argue some point you have covered a lot of these stories as have i and jeff. at some point i think you kind of have to assume that the story will come out. the full story will come out. and maybe herman cain will tell the story and maybe the restaurant association will release a report and it's documentation. maybe herman cain will ask for that to be released and maybe in the end the women will say, okay. release our names. you know, it's very hard to predict what's going -- what's going to happen. this is incremental but i think the fact she wants to issue any kind of a statement means that she's clearly upset with what she's heard mr. cain saying. >> it's understandable but a piece of paper issued by the lawyer as you point out is unfair to herman cain. how's he supposed to reply to that? that's not a fair airing of the issue but attacking him blindly and we shouldn't -- i mean, that's not something that should resolve this issue at all. >> right. jeff toobin, gloria borger, as well. i want to dig deeper with dana lash and "the washington post" right turn blogger jennifer reuben and strategist james carville. dana, for the cain campaign, their most recent response to this is basically to call the -- is for a call for the perry campaign and politico to apologize. they're clearly trying to shift the blame. do you think that's going to work? >> i don't think it's going to work. in fact, i think what this is going to do is backfire with the cain campaign immediately. this is something they tried to avoid. now that they have -- like you were saying earlier. it is interesting herman cain said monday or as soon as these accusations came out monday that he had no knowledge at all of any kind of settlement and then yet today the story came out today that, well, he talked to kurt anderson and discussed it in detail. their words, not mine. so he opens the door to all of these questions and i think it's just going to -- i think it is just ended up being bad for him. i'm very interested in seeing his polling numbers from quinnipiac and everything else today to how it translates later on and affect him. i just think it's -- this was a bad move. this was sloppy. an enthe cain campaign is handling this in a sloppy fashion. >> jennifer, to day in's point, they're making more than missteps. are they doing anything right here? >> not that i can see. first of all, they have attacked another individual in the race which is probably not going to endear him to conservatives and steps on the excuse. remember, up until today the excuse was that this was some kind of liberal conservative to get rid of a black conservative. well, how does rick perry fit in that to scheme? just about everything he does pours oil on the flames here. what you didn't mention was that mark block was actually one of the individuals who tipped politico off to yet another incident and this concerns an iowa talk show host who says that cain came in to his studio and made some inappropriate comments to his employees so it just seems that the cain campaign, i don't imagine they're doing this intentionally but they seem to be building and building and making this worse every single day. >> james carville, you put 0 a share of fires in your time. how do you assess all this? >> i'm glad i'm not in the middle of this. i assess, it cain was not telling the truth when he said this. obviously this came from perry. perry benefits. any detective in the world would say -- i shouldn't say obviously. he is the most likely suspect. no democrat would leak this. >> why do you say no democrat? at this point they would hold on to it? >> a democrat doesn't want to get rid of cain right now. silliness. some of the charges maybe some women felt like they were sexually harassed. maybe cain didn't feel like he did. this stuff doesn't have a clear cut definition. one of these women was paid $35,000. well, senator graham points out if you take out attorney's fees, that's not a heck of a lot of money but, you know, sure cain's not telling the truth. sure perry's behind this. he has to do something and he gains from it. >> james, where do you think this goes? i mean, if it's true to gloria's reporting that the lawyer's thinking about having this woman release a statement, not coming forward, does that end it or i mean -- >> i don't know. it just probably end under its own weight and people will show he wasn't candid coming out the chute and something happened and they'll make a judgment on it. i mean, look, in terms of these things this is a category 3. i've been through category 5s. i get that perry wasn't behind this. if not him, than who? the restaurant association? they look terrible. the democrats? they don't want do get rid of cain. it's not romney. he's not in it. if it's not perry, give me a suspect. >> dana, i know you want to -- we have to take a quick break and then more with you and jennifer and james on the other side of the break. join us and let us know what you think on facebook or twitter. tweet us tonight who you think is involved this or what do you think of all of it? we'll talk to your panel, especially the kand date's continued and surprising spreng in the polls and what affect if any of this has. also, very disturbing video that exploded on youtube. whether you're a parent or not, it stops you in your tracks. it shows a texas judge beating his challenged daughter. we'll tell you the story behind it. first, you're back. >> i'm back, anderson. i mised you. >> missed you, too. >> oh, see. absence makes the heart grow fonder. four ammish men victims of beard cutting attacks. that's right. beard cutting attacks. tonight new information about the men accused and the strange sect it's believed they belong to. gary tuchman investigation when "360" continues. i take my multi-vitamin but wanted to do something more for my nutrition. there's so much information out there. what's good for you today, is bad for you tomorrow. i had no idea what to choose. until i found pronutrients -- a new line of supplements from centrum, who i totally trust. omega-3 supports not only my heart, but my brain and my eyes too. probiotics helps with my digestive balance and my immune function. and fruit & veggie has antioxidant properties. new pronutrients from centrum helps make nutrition possible. but my nose is still runny. 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