obviously someone is encouraging them to bring it up now because i'm doing so well in this republican nomination. that's all i would say. why are you bringing it up now? secondly, are you being used to try and help paint a cloud and help sabotage my candidacy? that's all i would say. i would simply ask a question as to why they would do that now. >> that has apparently angered one of the women. here's what her attorney, joel bennett told "the washington post," it's frustrating herman cain is bad mouthing two complainants and my client is blocked bay confidentiality agreement. joining us on the telephone, chief legal analyst, jeffrey toobin. if she signed a confidentiality agreement a dozen years ago and the restaurant association signed that agreement, frum proo presumably mr. cain signed that as welsh. >> you're making assumptions i'm not sure are valid. we don't flow what's in the contract. nigh guess is herman cain did not sign that confidentiality agreement, it was probably directly between her and the national restaurant association so it's up to the restaurant association whether they want waive it. presumably they'd be influenced by herman cain saying let her tell her story, but first place he hasn't said that yet, he'll be sure to be asked that soon. second place, we don't know what the restaurant association will do. but to get to the bottom line, chances are, when someone wants to tell their story in the united states of america, they wind up telling it and i expect we'll be hearing from this woman sooner rather than later. >> you have that expectation. and i suspect you are right. let's go through how this would work legally. if she signed the document a dozen years ago, if it's just between her and the restaurant association, nothing mr. cain is saying would take away the agreement, correct? it would have to be the restaurant association itself which the only statement they have made on the record they can't and won't comment on person until decisions made a long time ago. >> probably, although, again, it depends on what the agreement says. there might be a provision that says it's waived if a former employee of the national restaurant association speaks. in that case, her attorneys could argue he's voided it, that's why the wording of the contract, because that's what a confidentiality agreement is, makes all of the difference. what does it osay? is she bound by it? >> would it be typical to have a penalty for violating it? obviously there was a financial settlement here, reports are the five figures, is there, if you violate this you pay a penalty or forfeit the money? >> that's the custom. the custom for employees who leave and sign confidentiality agreements is the agreement says, if you breach this, you have to give whatever money we gave you back. and obviously she even though it's many years late, especially since it's many years late, done want to give that money back. that's the risk she runs in breaching it, who knows if they would go to court to enforce it, but she's being advised by cautious lawyers they want to make sure she's not at risk of losing her money. >> that's the last point i wanted to raise. if she decides to speak and does that, the restaurant association would seek an injunction or penalize her, most unlikely? >> the national restaurant association is not the center of national political controversy. i cannot believe they are pleased to be in this position. they want less attention rather than more attention, and they are sitting around presumably thinking, how do we get out of this thing without getting our name dragged through the mud? last thing they want to do is file some lawsuit which would only guarantee much, much more publicity. >> jeff toobin, helping us work out legal issues tonight. word of two sexual harassment allegations and two cash payments by the restaurant association surfaced as mr. cain emerged as force in the republican race. he's leading most national polls and in first or second in most of the key early primary and caucus states. the crisis could impact that because cain's explanations have been inconsistent. first, for example, he said he was not aware of any financial settlements with two accusers. >> as far as a settlement, i am unaware of any sort of settlement. i hope it wasn't for much because i didn't do anything. but the fact of the matter is, i'm not airof a settlement that came out of that accusation. >> within hour, though, he was discussing one of the cases, including the settlement in great detail. >> and i did this saying, you're the same height as my wife, because my wife is five feet tall and comes up to my chin. this lady's five feet tall and came up to my chin. obviously she thought that that was too close for comfort. >> today mr. cain said this to hln's robin meade when asked about his changing story. >> just started to remember more. remember, in 12 years a lot of stuff can go through your head. this isn't something i had top of mind when i was trying to recall every detail that went on 12 years ago. >> defiant cain predicts his campaign will not be harmed and he say is he had a record fund-raising monday. with the story has come a racially charged subplot. cain calls it a high-tech lynching the same term clarence thomas used when his nomination was in question because of anita hill's last-minute sexual harassment alleges. look at this e-mail, engaging in a high-tech lynching by smearing his reputation and attacking his character. the idea of a black conservative like herman cain as gop nominee is barack obama and the left's worst nightmare. that is now become a rallying cry in conservative circles. listen to this exchange between sean hannity and ann coulter. both cain and thomas used high-tech lynching is that accurate? yep, it's coming from the same people who used to dot lynching with ropes now they do it with a word processor. hannity, the democratic party? coulter, yes. among those who agrees with ann coulter, president of the media research council and someone who fiercely disagrees is our cnn contributor, roland martin. bret, i want to start with you. how can you say what evidence is there that the democratic party and the left has anything to do with it this? >> do with what, john? that's the issue. you know, we've been talking about this for 36 hours now, i'm going to ask you a question, what's herman cain done wrong? what's the accusation? what's the fact in the matter? >> i would say this, i would say you're absolutely right, there is no evidence he has done anything wrong and we have been clear to say, innocence until proven guilty its worse than that. it's worse than that. there's not an accusation. and he's on trial. there's no accusation. what's he being accused of? sexual harassment means anything you want it to mean, you know that. none of us know. and we're talking about this for 36 hours? that's a lynching. >> if a democratic candidate for president had been the head of a trade group or some private association and been involved in cash settlements for sexual harassment allegations whether they -- maybe that democrat would say they're baseless like this, you wouldn't think that as a news story. >> if there wasn't a specific charge, i'd say the same thing, absolutely. what is the accusation? politico's going to run a story, they say they've got it, what is it? i'm waiting to hear what the charge is. the man's been on trial for 36 hour. what's the charge? >> you reacted strongly to the idea that there was a high-tech lynching and that term became front and center during the clarence thomas confirmation process. you sent out a tweet, conservatives, this is a lynching and you had a picture of a tweet, we're not going to show it, but what is happening to herman cain is not a lynching. what got you so mad? >> yeah, john, we should show the photo. i believe cnn should, because brent talked about it's a lynching. no, let's me tell you something, when you saw black men hanging from trees, body burned, that's a lynching. a lynching is not when you have herman cain standing at the national press club singing aamazing grace. at end of the day you have a story done by politico that talked about allegations made against herman cain, a settlement from a national restaurant association. if the nra wants to release information, so be it. but what brent is try to do with the fictitious e-mail he sent out they want to center the -- they want to make it about a race discussion. it is not. ann coulter and others, it is offensive to compare what is happening to herman cain to lynching. lynching, what people were murdered, were killed, what's happening to herman cain is called big boy politics. if you run for president, this was going to come up. how do you not think it was going to come up? >> even if this is a smear, if it's opposition research whether from the left or another one of the republican campaigns, how does it have anything to do with race to rolland's point? >> how do you -- first of all, how do you disprove a negative? again, i'm going to say -- >> people are asserting that this is because you have a prominent african-american conservative that that's why this is happening. where is the evidence? >> oh, i'm saying that there is a special disdain that the left has for black conservatives. absolutely i'm saying it. and i'm saying they showed it against clarence thomas and showing it against herman cain. herman cain said, it's going to happen and it has happened. look if that term is acceptable for justice clarence thomas, it's acceptable for me. if it's acceptable for herman cain, it's acceptable for me. >> and this is -- >> i want to ask you, what's the charge? >> excuse me, i'm going to answer this. here's what you have, john. you have people on the right who despise reverend al sharpton, reverend jesse jackson sr. i can say, people on the right doesn't like some blacks on the left, people on the left don't like some blacks on the right, this is not a race issue. and brent knows it. what he wants to do, john, is to shift this conversation, that's what -- you notice that's why rush and ann coulter, shawn hannity, brent, parodying the same phrases. talking about when you run for president, things in your past are going to come up. so whether you are -- >> what things? >> whether you are john kerry and the swift boat. >> what things? >> excuse me. >> i'm going to sksh. >> john. >> i'm going to ask for the fourth time the question, what's the charge? what is the accusation -- >> go to the national restaurant association who conducted their own investigation -- look, you have a news website. excuse me, brent, i didn't interrupt you. you have a website, news busters, go do your own research, your own reporting. whether senator kerry and swift boat, whether it was john edwards, whether it was president obama, and the reality is stories come up, issues come up that get investigated and so this is a long line. but it is nonsense for -- >> what is the story. >> -- to make it a race issue. >> you've got him on trial and you won't tell me what the charge is. what's the charge? >> he's not on trial. >> i don't think we have anybody on trial. we have a man of the major association. >> you're tell me herman cain is not on trial. you're better than that. of course he's on trial. >> i think there are questions -- he's running for president of the was the story was published by a represent putsable news organization that accounts cash payments from an organization he headed to two women he says those accusations and baseless. i take him at his word until i know otherwise that payments were made. he did complicate thing business having contradictory statements. >> yes, he did. >> i can see -- i concede it was 12 years ago and it took some time but he did xli indicacompl things by having inconsistencies. >> if you take him at his word and there's not a scintilla of evidence against him, why are we talking about this? >> listen to what john said, brent, brent, i read your press releases. if this was reversed you would be slamming john king saying how dare you not talk about this? the fact of the matter is he gave an emphatic that i had no knowledge whatsoever of settlements. few hours later he begins to say, he did. either you did or you didn't. and so, all of a sudden he begins to say i talked about the size, she came to my wife's chin, so all of a sudden, is he saying that's what the comment was? so again, brent, you can dance around this but what i'm saying is, if you want to make the argument that we shouldn't be discussing it at all, that's fine, but it is shameful, for you and others to sit here and compare to to lynching. i'm saying, brent, stop with lynching. stop with lynching. stop using the phrase. that is -- >> brent -- >> disrespectful. >> yesterday morning he said he didn't recollect anything. by last night he recollects a tiny fact, that's all he recollected. >> he was emphatic, no settlement. >> i don't want a shouting match for the entire program. to rolland's point, let brent finish his answer here. >> absolutely. >> he says where does the race part come from, brent? please, take the floor. >> i do believe that there is a special disdain that the left has for black conservatives. whether it is clarence thomas, whether it is herman cain, whether it is thomas sole, anybody who stands up as a black conservative is attacked merslessly by the left and attacked far more fiercely than white conservatives are. >> john, i tell you, attacking reverend sharpton, reverend jackson, i hear the same thing, that's weak. >> we're not going to settle the debate tonight. appreciate both of you coming on the program. we'll continue the conversation as necessary. brent, thank you. we'll get perspective from an executive who worked close wily with herman cain in the private sector. 7 l air -- still have . 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"the washington post" quotes that attorney as saying the woman's trying to reason leased from a confidential at agreement she signed a dozen years ago with the national restaurant association. we talked to his longtime executive assistant as we tried to learn more about mr. cain, the man, whether they believe anything like this could be possible. let's talk to another former longtime associate. joining from miami, frank taylor, worked with herman cain from 1983 through 1986. let me start with that question, in any of your experience with herman cain, did he say or do anything that you would nermts terpts nerpts interpret as sexual harassment in any way. >> absolutely not. >> to describe him in the professional set, because that's the issue at hand, his dealings with woman? >> certainly, i saw herman cain in a number of social situations. he would occasionally go to happy hour with the region's staff at a nearby benigan's on friday nights. i traveled with him to various meetings and conferences with franchisees with other burger king employees, saw him social situations in restaurants, in bars, in some cases nightclubs, and i can honestly say i never saw herman cain do anything that i would consider to be inappropriate. >> you know, he makes a point himself, that he has asense of humor and sometimes it wrongs the people way in politics or seems out of context, he's brash, very confident. anything at all that somebody might misinterpret. >> well, certainly when you shake hands with herman and times that i've seen him since i worked for him, he's not someone that just comes up and gives you a handshake. he gives you a handshake, a slap on the back, i big hello. that's just his style. herman is an outgoing person. and you know, he's someone that you know, is you know, has no problem in giving you a pat on the back or put a hand on the shoulder, but certainly part of the way he is. >> you just heard a conversation that got heated, and from the conservatives you hear a lot of people saying it's not a legitimate news story, why are we covering this, and part of it is allegations were made when he was head of a serious organization and chief executive of the organization and part of it is his response. you know him well as chief executive and as a colleague. as you've watched in the last 24 to 36 hours initially he would say nothing, then he said he knew nothing about this, anonymous sources and then he knew nothing about settlements and discussing the settlements in some detail. has that part of it surprised you, his story has evolved? >> that part is a surprise. i would have thought that the campaign would have had a more coherent response. in working with herman cain, he was an individual who did have a grasp of details, he's a big picture type person. when i worked with him had a grasp of the details. >> you say had a grasp of the details. as a chief executive you're mindful of your behavior and there had been an accusation, you say the campaign should have pulled this together more dw quickly. you assume mr. cain would have remembered quite well, would you not? >> that's hard for me to say. >> hard for you to say. when you say a detail oriented person what do you mean? >> i was the numbers guy for him. he would know the numbers as well as have the broader strategy. what i think that if it's such a situation occurred that mr. cain would have remembered, yes, but that's just my point of view. >> as you've watched all of this unfold in the last couple of days, what's gone through your mind? >> i certainly was shocked when i heard the first reports on sunday. it's just not fitting with the herman cain that i know. >> would you vote for him? >> you know, i think it's too early to tell. we're still a year away from the election. i'm certainly not in a position on who i would support at this time. >> frank taylor, appreciate your insights on your former associate and friend, herman cain. thank you. >> thanks for the opportunity. >> you're welcome, sir. south carolina sheriff who has controversial advise for people in his county. he says it's time to get a gun. o . ♪ with the lowest national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. or go to walmart.com for details. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. ♪ ♪ ♪ when your chain of supply ♪ goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there ♪ ♪ track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like