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tv   Anderson Cooper 360  CNN  September 7, 2011 5:00pm-6:00pm PDT

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yourself to policy school, develop a apparatus. you don't think you can do it on the basis of charisma. eric makes a larger point, our politics is looking too much like a cult. on the fringes, folks whip themselves into a frenzy where any dissent is a sign of dire disloyalty. >> there's a larger point and i think this is where a lot of conservatives made the break is we were a lot of us indated by supporters saying september 3rd would be th day. when karl rove said it would be the day, sarah palin portrayed herself as a media victim, that he was saying she may run and announce on september 3rd, somehow he was the bad guy. that doesn't work out. she has not had a job for two years. some of these people have full-time jobs. and she's the one dithering to the very end? that's not the way it works. >> i look forward to our inboxes. my voice mail is probably full right now. "anderson cooper 360" starts right now. good evening. breaking news tonight. new details of president obama's plan to put americans back to work. he unveils the plan tomorrow
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night. it's still being crafted as we speak. some of the pieces are coming into focus tonight. so is the bottom line, which is growing from earlier estimates. that's certainly welcome news for democrats who say the president's been too timid and the economy need a big dose of medici medicine. at the same time the larger the price tag the tougher it may be to get through congress. even though the white house says it will offset the cost of a jobs plan with savings elsewhere in the budget. chief whos correspondent jesse allen has been working her sources. what is the latest? what's going to be in this plan this. >> my understanding from democrats who are familiar with the president's working figures right now tell me that the plan could end up upwards of $400 billion. the biggest ticket item would be an extension of the payroll tax cut for employees which is set to expire at the end of the year at $120 billion. he would propose in this draft roads and infrastructure above current plans for the highway bill to invest $100 billion in
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that. unemployment insurance, extending that at $50 billion. but not just extending it, also finding new ways to true to get the unemployed into workplaces, to find them -- almost get them internships in a sense, new kinds of jobs training. we've talked about this before. renovating schools, finding ways to get laborers into dilapidated schools quickly, to help them renovate them, $30 billion for that. even giving tens of billions of dollars to teachers and first responders in the states, getting them to work if they've been laid off or keeping them on the job. these are just some of the working figures, of course, it could all change between now and tomorrow night. >> last night we were -- when we talked to you about this, $300 billion. you're now hearing $400 billion. it's interesting to see how that has gone up. also we heard yesterday the plan was supposed to be revenue-neutral. how are they proposing to pay for it? >> a couple of ideas. one piece of it is to close tax loopholes over time, corporate
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tax loopholes over time, an idea that should be familiar from those debt talks we were discussing so much over the summer. also, raising taxes on the wealthy over time. but another piece of this, we understand, would be possibly changing formulas or altering the way entitlements are structured. so medicare, medicaid, those kinds of ideas are worrisome, of course, to democrats because they're key democratic priorities. i should point out to you, all of that, he'll touch on it tomorrow night. the details of that will be laid out in a strat package, a separate proposal that the president will spell out in a different speech next week or in the coming weeks. >> obviously for a lot of republicans, when they hear the word or when they hear president obama talking about investing, they're going to hear the word spending. >> right. >> aren't necessarily going to buy these offsets are for real, that at love people will say, this is accounting tricks. >> the white house is expecting that and has been clear that they know they're going to come up against some resistance. but the white house has made it
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emphatically clear the president's message will be, everybody needs to act, it is incumbent on everyone in washington to take this job situation seriously. this is where we get into politics. the message will be, if congress doesn't act, and by congress he means in part house republicans, then he will take his case to the american people and accuse congress of being a do-nothing congress and blame them, the house republicans in essence, for not doing enough to get jobs growing. and it will be a political message through the campaign year. >> do they have numbers how many jobs they say they can create with this? >> we have asked and we have asked. what their answer is, give it time tomorrow night, as soon as he comes out with specifics. independent economists will give us numbers we can parse ourselves. >> appreciate the reporting for that. joining us, david gergen, democratic strategist, and obama 2008 pollster, editor in chief redstate.com. you've been calling for bold action from the president. given what we know so far, $400 billion, what do you think of what you've heard of the plan?
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>> well, it's bigger than we thought, anderson. a few days ago we were talking about 200, it got to 300 last night, now at 400. if they give a speech next week, who knows what it would be. i think one thing to be observant of here is it's a big price tag. but about half of it is a continuation of what we're already doing. it's not new stimulus. it is the payroll taxes have already been on a holiday. it will be an extension of that. the amount of actual stimulus to be injected into the economy is still fairly modest. i do think the republicans are going to call this stimulus ii and they're going to say, wait a minute, we spent weeks and weeks trying to get the deficits down by $900 webillion, now you come along with a $400 billion program? >> cornell, this is stimulus ii? when you hear the word investment and road building and
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infrastructure, it does sound like 2009. >> it sounds awful like common sense. if you look at where the american public is, what a vast majority are in the polling, this is not something that's unpopular with the vast majority of middle america. it is unpopular to the base and core of the republican party. but when you're talking about making investments in infrastructure, you talk about building roads and schools, making investments in those type of things that are going to help build the middle class, the vast majority of americans are for that. >> eric, what about that? it looks to be the centerpiece of the plan, extending payroll tax cuts, that's something the republicans could ostensibly get behind? >> here's the problem for the president in this. he's got an extension of the payroll tax holiday, extension of unemployment benefits, that's status quo, things we already have that aren't contributing to creating jobs. what we're dealing with the president, who by summer of 2010 if we remember and go back to that press conference, he would not say the word stimulus. you had reporters asking him
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about it, and he would shift the subject. this is the summer of 2010. he wouldn't use the word stimulus anymore. now we're going to come back to the stimulus. yeah, let's talk about the polling -- >> you're saying this is just another stimulus? >> yeah, i think so. a majority of americans didn't think the first stimulus worked. we're talking about a economic team that showed a chart of what unemployment would be if the stimulus passed, the high would be 8%, 10%, now here saying natural disaster, europe, they're to blame. >> it took us eight years to tear down the prosperity clinton built. a lot of americans understand we didn't get into this overnight, we're not going out of it overnight. reasonable americans understand we're not going to get out of this overnight from there you look at what the stimulus has done, until recently we've had strict job growth each and every month. has it been as much job growth as most of us would like to see? no. but we went from nose-dive and
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losing jobs to job growth and that was a part of the stimulus package. but we didn't get into this overnight and we're not going to get out of it in a year or two years of his first half of his presidency. >> dufd, do you think that's a message that registers, resonates with americans? the idea that, well, this problem has been built up under the past administration? that's an argument we heard obviously in the beginning when president obama was running a lot. is that an argument he can still make? >> well, i do think president bush still gets more blame than president obama does for getting us into this mess. but increasingly, president obama is looked to as the person who has to get us out. and he's now seen as infection wall in doing that. his negative ratings on the economy are the highest they've been in his presidency, the approval ratings the lowest they've been in his presidency. he goes into this in a hole. i do think, anderson, some of this is going to be generally greeted by a lot of people as very sensible. the infrastructure job bank, for example, that's a long-term
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project that the country needs in the view of most economists. and frankly on both sides of the aisle. this notion mentioned of having the unemployed have a chance to go work in a company for eight weeks and have the government help to do that, that's been tried in georgia and it's an arresting idea, that some republicans like. there's the makings here of a package that he could get a deal with the republicans. i think a lot's going to depend on the tone he uses tomorrow night. if he lectures the republicans, if he's partisan in tone, it's going to be much, much harder to ultimately get a package. >> eric, do you agree with david's i guess optimistic assessment that there could be the beginnings of some sort of things to bridge the political aisle here? >> i think there will be some things to bridge the political aisle. i also think it's a problem for the president because the things that will bridge the political aisle and build the consensus job-creation package won't create jobs. david mentions the program in georgia. i'm intimately familiar with it.
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we couldn't find employers using this program. we couldn't find employers to do this because they're so still afraid of the economic uncertainty. they don't want to bring people in for eight weeks and then have to pick them up. we've seen this in police forces across the country where part of the stimulus package was to have the federal government pay for police officers for three years then the local government pay for their salaries after that or pays back the federal government. we've had local police forces around the country not willing to do that because there's so much uncertainty out there. these problems are compounded and it's a pie partisan problem. it isn't just the president's fault, everyone's dealing with this issue on both sides of the aisle. >> president obama says americans are tired of political game-playing. is congress listening? wait till you see what we uncovered about how much bickering lawmakers in both parties are doing. how much bickering and how middle is getting done. will it stand in the way of passing a package? keel talk about that, keeping them honest. follow me at twitter at that
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time andersoncooper. what could be a big break for amanda knox, doing time in italy for a murder she says she never committed. today's developments on dna evidence might open the door for her to come home. what her dad told me about how she's handling her ordeal. >> having your freedom taken away for four years for something you haven't done is an incredible situation. and she's an incredible young lady. dose. new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. [ bell dings ] [ car door closes ] ♪ are you okay? yeah, i'm okay. and the truck? i got good news for you, kid. you're getting a new truck. what do you mean? i mean it's gonna cost more to fix than it's worth. besides, the truck's older than you. grab your stuff out of the truck and meet me up front.
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i'm a server at red lobster and i sea food differently. . >> breaking news. we're learning more about president obama's job-creation plan. sources saying it is growing. now $400 billion, takes payroll tax cuts, incentives for hiring and spending on infrastructure. all of it reportedly to be paid for with offsetting budget cuts. president obama's going to lay it out tomorrow night in a joint session of congress. safe to say he chose the location for something more than a good photo op. congress will have to be part of the solution or get tagged at part of the problem. he wants people to know congress will have to pass his plan, pass some plan, or pay a political congress. can congress agree on any plan at all? mr. obama's skeptical. >> people are sick and tired of the nonsense and the political games. we can't afford to play games.
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put the partisan games aside. wear tired of games. no more games. we don't have time to play games. it's time for the games to stop. the time for washington games is over. >> most americans go further. in a recent cnn poll done during the debt ceiling disaster, 17% said lawmakers acted like responsible adults. we're talking about lawmakers who months earlier couldn't agree on a budget, pushing the country close to government shut-down. then they did it again. one side created a debt limit showdown. both sides bickered over it until the grownups took action. why did s&p downgrade the united states credit rating today? >> i think there were two reasons. the first reason is the one that you've outlined, being our view, the political setting in the united states have been altered. we've taken them down a notch, the rating down a notch.
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the political brinksmanship we saw over raising the debt ceiling was something that was really beyond our expectation. >> within days the stock market tanked, consumer sentiment fell, hiring dried up. very real consequences for americans. these lawmakers, who after all represent americans who got hurt, they learned their lesson, right? no more game-playing no, more political posturing, no more sniping over trivial things when the fate of the country is at stake. right? >> frankly, i'm so tired of his speeches it's going to be hard for me to watch. >> i'm going to be watching from my family room in metarie, louisiana, because i have a saints game party there and i'm absolutely going to be there for the big game. >> he wants congress, each and every member of congress, to be a prop in that 30-minute the theater. >> congressman walsh can't bring himself to be in the same room with president obama. congressman brown will be watching from his office. congressman visitors will be watching the saints game.
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senator demint is probably not going. gop won't even be giving a televised response. in case you think republicans have a lock on partisan or childish or however you want to look at it, look at what house minority leader pelosi said. the republicans' refusal to respond to the president's proposal about jobs is not only disrespectful to him but to the american people. the point is nothing now is too trivial not to pick up and sling at the other side. the end result, nothing gets done. we did checking. the current congress is on track to be the least-productive on record. lawmakers only managing to pass 28 bills so far. 28 bills. the last three congresss with the house under both democrat and republican control, doesn't matter, all averaged three times that number. nothing's getting done. a new "wall street journal"/nebraska poll puts the job approval rating for congress at 13%. not 30%, 13%.
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record low job approval. but a vite job to do. back now with our panel. is there any way, david, the president can any jobs bill through congress or is the atmosphere so poison any plan he offers is dead on arrival? >> you wonder, 13%, what are they seeing that they like? it's hard to know. they didn't get the word, i guess. look, anderson, i do think there is some prospect of getting some jobs bill through. that should be the name of the game with republicans. the republicans are paying a price in congress. for all the shenanigans that went on before. their popularity is lower than the president's. so it's in their interests to do something. but i think it's up to the president to, in effect, invite them, challenge them if you'd like, say, look, here are my ideas. come up with your ideas. let's sit down, see if we can't work this out. i think there is that
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possibility. i think that should be easier than getting a super committee on the deficits to pass something. i think that's going to be a very, very tough set of negotiations. but on jobs, i think there's a prospect of getting that done. >> cornell, everybody plays games. is it enough for the president to just put a plan out there knowing it probably won't go anywhere? is that all about having something to beat republicans up with next year? >> no, that's about the president showing leadership and trying to move the country forward. the opposite of that would be for him, what, not to put a job bill out there, not to try to move the country forward? the other thing here is the press trying to play this equal sides. it's the democrats and republicans. it is not the democrats, not as equal to blame. no one watching congress over the last several months could possibly say the democrats have been holding up progress. there's a reason why they're the least-productive congress right now. 240 days and this republican congress has not put forth one jobs plan. they are unproductive.
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>> eric cantor made comments calling for more civility in washington. is that just talk or are republicans willing to compromise? it seems compromise is that dirty word. >> i love it when democrats start saying republicans are to blame. all politicians behave the same way, regardless of party. independent voters know it if the republicans and democrats don't. the republicans came out with their republic poll today which shockingly shows the democrats blame the republicans, republicans blame the democrats, independents blame everybody on both sides of the aisle, equal time for both. the stakes are so high for both sides and both sides feel this election is going to be very high. it's very hard to get something done. they will get a compromise plan put through. my concern is that it's a plan that will look good for both sides but ultimately do nothing to create jobs. >> david, do you think both sides are equally to blame or do you blame republicans more? >> i think the debt ceiling fight was something republicans brought on more than anybody
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else. they wanted the fight. you know, and they paid a price for it. but i think the democrats have played plenty of games. the president played a game last week when he wanted to put this speech on wednesday night. threw it in the face of the republicans who are having this big debate tonight. i do think republicans are more responsible for the debt fight. but i want to come back to somethinger insa eric said. will this jobs plan, will whatever they come up with as agreement, actually create jobs or is it more about politics? i think that's a hard question. too much of what's being proposed now is really about short-term things. little, modest things on the edges. what's really needed, of course, is something much more fundamental to pave the way for a much better environment for growth. in the future. and neither party, frankly, is yet tackling that. >> cornell, you would say president obama wanted to do something big but wasn't able to? >> i would say, look, i'm trying to be fair here, but you've got to point it out.
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here's my prediction. is that the president will make his speech and the tea party cohort will be -- entrench themselves against it. they've already entrench the themselves against it. the level of disrespect they're showing by not even showing up, going to football parties while the untree is dealing with unemployment, boggleth the mind. here's what my prediction is, the tea party cohort of the republican party will say no, no, no what whatever the president does and will slow this process down once again. >> i've got to leave there for time. thanks very much. crime and punishment. will a man be held in aruba be let out of jail? we'll go to aruba for the latest. it could be a huge victory for american student amanda knox fightinging conviction in italy. i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go.
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be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru.
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"crime and punishment." the man being held in connection with the disappearance of
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american robyn gardner in aruba is staying behind bars. gary joer dawn know was appealing a ruling he could be health another 60 days. he hasn't been charged with anything. his attorney says he's being detained improperly. gee the court rejected his appeal. does the prosecution have any evidence linking him to robyn gardner's disappearance after all this time? >> reporter: you know what, that's a great question. and i'm afraid i don't really have a great answer. the feeling is right now by a lot of people who have been following the story is that they do not have a shred of real proof that will somehow link gary giordano to the death or the crime of what happened to robyn gardner. that's what they're saying. many people are saying, look, look how many times they keep asking the public for help, asking the people if they've seen something, if they have, to tell them. we're a month into this
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investigation and they keep appealing to the public. that sends a signal this case is really thin when it comes to the prosecution. >> abc news has new details regarding that insurance policy that giordano took out on gardner. what are they saying now? >> reporter: well, what they've been pointing out is the fact that this insurance policy they claim was one that he originally took out on robyn gardner earlier in the year. we know from talking to other traveling companions, other women who have gone on trips with giordano, that this was a common practice, he would take out insurance policies for both him and his traveling companion. the fact that he took out a policy early foreare robyn gardner is not out of keeping with his m.o. the only thing bass she backed out of that trip at the last minute and that apparently really ticked him off. as a result, he sent some nasty texts and made very threatening statements, that according to her roommate. that's why the roommate was so surprised that robyn gardner ended up heading off to aruba
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with gary. >> you spoke to his attorney. i want to play some of what he had to say. >> do you think the natalee holloway case influences opinions i think it has something to do with it. >> in what way? >> they haven't found natalee as yet. so i think this is an ongoing investigation and they want to try to keep him also for a long time here. >> do you think your client suffers as a result of the cloud of suspicion from that case previous? >> my personal feeling, yes. >> do you think his rights are violated? >> definitely. >> obviously arur ban law is different from u.s. law. he wouldn't be able to be held this long without charges being brought. do you think he has a point in terms of the natalee holloway case influencing this one? >> reporter: oh, yeah, a lot of people think that he has a point with that. they think that may really be the driving force here that's going on. not to demean the legal system for aruba but as we know, that
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case with natalee holloway was never resolved, a lot of suspicion places on the aruban authorities for not prosecuting it properly, maybe even bungling the case. six years later, another american goes missing? this is a popular destination for american tourists so they do not want to look soft when it comes to figuring out what happened to robyn gardner. does gary giordano pay the price? his attorney says yes. big day in court for american amanda knox who's fighting her murder conviction. an italian judge denying a request by the prosecution and that could help her appeal in a big, big way. her dad is hopeful she could be coming home soon. anderson, a deadly day in syria. human rights activists say at least two dozen people were killed there today. they report tanks and heavy gunfire in the city. cnn cannot independently confirm these report because the syrian government has repeatedly denied our requests to report from
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inside the country. a charter plane crashes on takeoff from a russian airport, killing at least 43 people. most onboard were members of a russian hockey team. several had played in the nhl. they were heading to belarus for a match. polygamous sect leader warren jeffs has filed a handwritten motion asking for a new trial in texas. that is where he was convicted of sexually assaulting underage girls who he claim wednesday his spiritual wives. jeffs claimed his rights to practice his religious beliefs were violated. san diego police are searching for a gumby bandit. there he is. a man dressed as the '60s tv character attempted to rob a 7-eleven store. not really inconspuk business. he claimed to have a gun but got tangled up in his costume, never showed it. he only got away with loose change. >> how would you hold a gone with gumby hands?
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time for tonight's shot. let's head to indonesia. check this video out we found on youtube. wow. it's called flare surfing. those are flames coming off the guy's surfboard. never seen this before. it looks even cooler at night, take a look at this. american daredevil surfer bruce irons pulled off this stunt in the indian ocean. please do not rye this at home. he had to keep the back of his board above the water so he didn't extinguish the flare. please do not try this at home. it looks amazing but doesn't look like a wise idea unless you're a professional. let's check in with piers morgan. coming down to what could be the most crucial speech of the obama presidency. i'm talking to two men who have strong opinions about the future of this country. tom friedman. like tiger woods he's off his game and says china is america's
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frenemy. plus rudy giuliani, why he says president obama should be more like bill clinton. whether he thinks america is safer now since 9/11. up next tonight, a major development in amanda knox's appeal. she's serving time in italy for a murder she says she didn't commit. today a judge sided with her defense team on a key issue and her dad says prosecutors have no case left. terror in the dust with the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks just days away. we're going to talk to dr. sanjay gupta tonight on his investigation into the dangerous dust at the world trade center site on its effect on all those brave rescue workers and first responders who worked there for so many months. ♪ [ country ]
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more "crime and punishment" in italy. the murder case against amanda knox may be unraveling. the judge rejected the prosecution's test for more dna
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victory. welcome news for the american fighting the conviction of her roommate meredith kercher. she and her boyfriend were found guilty. the roommate's partially clad body was found in the house. without the ability to retest the dna, prosecutors are left with little tying knox in the crime. how was she convicted in the first lace? critics say it was a badly handled investigation by a prosecutor who rushed to judgment. his name is giuliano menini. earlier this year drew griffin of cnn's special investigations unit traveled there for a rare interview, one that quickly revealed the weakness of his case and the mistaken arrest of amanda knox's boss. even though he was working at his own bar on the night of the murder. >> reporter: police apparently didn't bother to check the facts. they immediately arrested amanda
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knox, rafael sollecito, and patrick lamumba for the murder of meredith kenner, announce together public, case solved. giuliano admitted to us, even without any evidence he knew almost the moment he arrived and laid eyes on amanda knox and rafael lay sollecito, they were involved in the murder. prior to the forensic investigation, prior to everything, really, your intuition or your detective knowledge led you to amanda knox and rafael sollecito? >> translator: after the first few weeks, we were convinced because of the behavior of the two people and especially amanda, that they were both involved in the crime. >> reporter: but almost immediately after the arrests, menini had a problem. the third suspect, patrick
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lamumba, had an air tight alibi. he was in his bar that night. he could not have been involved. then the actual forensic tests came back. >> when i looked at it, i was horrified. >> reporter: greg hampinkian is a forensic biologist and director of idaho's innocence project. he also is working with the knox defense team. he says italian investigators did a good job processing the crime scene, collect eed excellt evidence, but slung to shakier evidence that proved their theory. a classic error. a prosecutor who trusted his gut feeling instead of the science that at that time was pointing to another suspect. >> when the dna's finally processed, it's not any of their suspects. so what do you do? what would you do? you let them go. >> reporter: as patrick lamumba
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was being released from jail, investigators analyzing the bloody evidence left at the crime scene found an entirely new suspect. his name, rudy ga day, a known petty criminal from the ivory coast who fled shortly after the murder. turns out ga day's hand print, made in meredith kercher's own blood, was found in the victim's room. ga day's dna found inside the victim's body, in her vagina. his dna on her clothing, on her purse, his feces found on used toilet paper left near an unflushed toilet down the hall. >> knowing all of that, when he finally got extradited back to italy, we thought, thank god this is over. >> reporter: it wasn't. giuliano would stick to his instincts, despite the forensic evidence. >> translator: i did what i did
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because i was convinced, given the evidence that had been gathered, that they were responsible. i am absolutely convinced. >> rudy ga day was convicted in the murder of meredith kercher and he fingered rafael sollecito and amanda knox as his accomplices. closing arguments are going to be held at the end of this month and amanda knox's family is very, very hopeful. knox is serving a 26-year sentence in that italian prison. after the judge's ruling her father said he's confident she will be home soon. i spoke to mr. knox, who's in italy. mr. knox, today's ruling that the prosecution cannot introduce new dna evidence against your daughter amanda, that's very good news for her, isn't it? >> well, actually, the circumstances are such that they cannot ask for another independent review of the dna evidence. the court already appointed its
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own independent experts and they came back with a result that was not favorable to the prosecution. so i think what they were trying somewhat of a desperate move today to say, we want another dna review so that it can hopefully come back to our benefit. >> the thing i can't wrap my mind around, though, if the dna evidence isn't credible, how did things get to this point? how -- why has this gone on so long? >> well, that's a question that i think a lot of people are going to be asking for some time to come. but when you take a look at the very first trial and the negative character assassination that amanda experienced and the media exposure and then from what we have heard associated to first trials here in italy, a lot of it is related to emotion. and when you look at the actual forensic evidence, when you take a look at what the police were saying, which is literally 180 degrees different than what the
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defense was saying about the forensic evidence, and not have an independent review during the first trial, you can see how the result came out as-is. >> how do you get through something like this as a family? this is -- you're many miles away. obviously you're in italy now but your daughter was overseas, you were back in america. how do you get through something like this? >> well, you know, it's really been a team effort. it's one where amanda has been extraordinarily strong. and it's one that, you know, we as her family try to live up to what she has been able to accomplish. and not, you know, drowning in despair in prison but trying to stay upbeat as possible. but, you know, having your freedom taken away for four years for something that you haven't done is an incredible situation. and she's an incredible young
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lady. >> how is she doing now? is she optimistic that she's going to be exonerated? >> you know, today was definitely a very positive step in that direction. it's a circumstance where each day is a challenge in prison for her. but being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel i think is something that is going to continue to give her strength and hopefully carry her through the end of this month and hopefully on her way home. >> and do you see a light at the end of the tunnel here? >> i do from a pure case standpoint. when you take a look at the forensic evidence and you use just pure common sense of how horrific that scene must have been, in the room where meredith lost her life, and to have nothing of your person, no spit, no saliva, no blood, no skin cells, no hair. when you take a look at the fact that there's nothing in the room
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of amanda or rafael with the exception of what the police are saying is the two pieces of evidence, the knife and the bra clasp. those are the only things that per se put amanda and rafael in the room. and to have those kind of be, quote, shot down by the independent experts and saying that they were potentially contaminated or you can't even read the dna reading there, and it should have never even been used, it leads you down a path of saying, what other answer can they come up with except acquitting the two of them? but until they actually say those words, you know, we're kind of still holding our breath. >> kurt knox, i appreciate your time. and my best to you and your family. >> thank you very much. coming up, ten years ago first responders jumped into the rubble of the world trade center searching for survivors, trying to recover those who didn't survive. tonight, dr. sanjay gupta investigates the health effects of their heroics in the his new
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the anniversary of 9/11, of course, is coming up. ten years. as new york's ground zero lay smoldering that morning, first responders from across the city, across the whole area, rushed to the scene. diving into a cloud of toxic
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dust, they raked the rubble for survivors. never realizing the true danger perhaps they faced. or maybe they did know it but they were determined to continue to work anyway. there was asbestos, mercury, noxious fumes from burning jets. it's led to several health problems for many on the front lines. now ten years from the attacks, our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta investigates the consequences. he joins usnow with a preview. you actually have brought with you dust from ground zero. where did you get it? >> there's been research going on for some time. a lot of this dust was collected at the time because there was some thought that, what is in this dust? is this potentially toxic? let's analyze it in some way. this is it and it is something that's kept in a cold room at a university. and they have analyzed it. just to your point, anderson, it has all kinds of things in it in strange mixtures.
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benzene mixed with titanium mixed with jet fuel, asbestos, all these things put together in a way that was wholly unique. they've never seen it white like this, all forced together. even this dust, which i found striking, is not the complete picture. at the time of these attacks there were these volatile compounds as well that people were breathing in the air. the acrid smell people talked about. a lot of these things evaporated, dissipated into the atmosphere, and they could not be collected like this dust. this is as complete a picture as we can probably get about what was getting into people's bodies at that time. >> and last -- i think it was last week we reported on this "lancet" study that shows that there is evidence of increased cancer amongst first responders, amongst firefighters who responded in the wake of ground zero. it's remarkable to me that treatment is still not going to be paid for at this point. >> it's striking to me and it's so controversial. we've seen examples of these sort of controversies entering into the world of medicine and
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health before. what's so striking is a lot of the doctors caring for these patients are telling the patients, we believe this is due to the inhaling of toxic substances of ground zero. >> this would inter through someone's lungs and go down into -- >> that's what they believe. they believe the mechanism is it enters into the lungs. you can understand why respiratory disease is spg that could happen. they also believe that when that gets into the body it causes this inflammation in the body almost like an auto immune process. and that enflamts ultimately is the genesis of many different cancers. so it gets into the lungs and people have described it causing an incredible irritation in the airway aus you see there. and that's what they believe sets off potential auto immune problems and cancers down the line. again, it is striking that even in july of this year they said cancers are not covered under the bill no, compensation is provided. this study that you're talking about could potentially change that. >> you would think ten years on that that would be enough time to be able to gather enough evidence of the medical effects. >> what's interesting here is they did see an increase in
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cancer rates as you mentioned. what they also say is it has been such a short time that as the 15-year mark, 20-mark and so on, that you may see a much higher increased risk of cancer tan we even believed at the time. what i think is important here, this comes up all the time, there are people right now who need care. there are also people out there who probably should know if this does cause an increase in cancer, they should be getting screened, they should potentially try to find these problems early. there's a lot of lives that can be saved and prolonged if the science becomes more clear. >> you're going to be returning that jar of ground zero dust back to the researchers? >> this is considered -- it's sacred to some extent, as well as scientific. absolutely, it's going to be returned. this is something they wanted us to show. it's thankfully one of the few reminders of what happened on that day. >> sanjay, appreciate it. sanjay's special, the if full investigation on the fallout from 9/11, with never before seen footage of the aftermath of the disaster, "terror in the
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dust" tonight at 11:00 p.m. eastern. let's check in with susan hendricks. >> we're in texas today. an elite task force joined the search for people who may be trapped in that bastrop county wildfire. hundreds of homes literally wiped out in seconds. dozens of wildfires have rained across texas for nearly 300 days, charring some 120,000 acres in the last week alone. authorities in nevada say they don't know why a gunman opened fire at an ihop yesterday killing himself and four other people. his name, esward i don't sencion. he's 32 years old. he shot 11 people in all. of those killed three were members of the army national guard on wall street stocks rallied today breaking a three-day losing streak. the dow added 276 points. the s&p and nasdaq also showed some gains as well. check this out. it may be her most outrageous look yet. yes, that is lady gaga. she will appear in the october
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issue of "harper's bazaar" almost completely without any makeup. still, she says she wouldn't call it natural, saying this. "artifice is the new reality anyway." she looks great. >> cool. susan, thanks very much. coming up, a college freshman says his new shoes gave him blisters and we winds up in the rid dic russ. ? maybe you want to know more about anatomy, or astronomy. you could master something new, or uncover a hidden talent. there's never been a better time to learn.
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two shoe companies, rainbow and sperry. a freshman at virginia technicals himself lance diamond. i don't think that's his name. that actually sounds like a porn name. but anyway. this freshman is upset at these shoe companies because they made flip-flops and slip-on shoes he's claiming completely ruped his first week of college. he explains the saga in a rant he posted on youtube. >> there's no warning label. apparently you have to break them in. so unbeknownst to me i wore them for the whole first day of class for eight hours. i got some serious damage to the bottom of my left and right foot. here comes exhibit "a," my right foot. as you can see, there's a large blister. >> the video goes on for a full 6 1/2 minutes of that sort of stuff in which the freshman recounts in painstaking detail
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how not breaking in his shoes has ruined the college experience for him and he wants compensation. he used the word millions which might sound like a lot of money for getting blisters from brand-new shoes. he says his foot blisters have prevented him from becoming the quote-unquote frat star he wants to be. yeah, if there are two words i think of when i see this young man it's frat star. >> i can't even leave my dorm room. for the first two days i was confined to my room. i messed class. i was going to give blood. but i couldn't make it to give blood because of my damn feet. >> fear not, he ended up giving blood. mr. shoe company executives, the blood he gave was pooled in his shoes. thereby ruining a pair of socks which he seems to be more than just a little bit fond of. >> there's blood on my polo socks. they feel like they make those [ bleep ] out of magical cotton. >> magical cotton. ralph lauren must be thrilled with this young man's
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endorsements. the shoe companies not so much. he's thinking about suing unless his demans are met. he wants his money back, he wants 15 free pairs of shoes, and like all people suing someone else he says he's doing it because he doesn't want anyone else to have to go through the hell he has gone through. >> i want a warping label on both pairs of shoes from now, on signed with my signature on the bottom of it so that they know i'm responsible for saving lives. >> you may have noticed by now our life-saving hero is looking kind of pale like maybe his blood sugar is low. he says the blisters make it hurt too much to go to the deeping hall so he has to sit alone in his dorm room and eat dry ramen noods dells. >> why is he eating ramen noodles dry? well, i can't even make it to the damn microwave down the hall because i'm get blood all over the floor because if i walk ten feet the blisters pop. >> first of all, finish chewing. second of all, point in case? i think it's case in point. i hope this