tv Anderson Cooper 360 CNN September 14, 2011 5:00pm-6:00pm PDT
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that congressman israel talked about. but it is true that steve israel told you this, there was an yaup state in the same district that hadn't gone democratic in 120 years. >> so what lesson is there? it's an urban area. what's the lesson? >> economy and jobs are the number-one issue in this country and people expect their elected officials to perform and to put forward policies that will change the way our economy works. that's what house republicans have done. the president gives speech after speech after speech and people aren't buying it. they didn't buy it in new york and by the way, if i'm a senate democrat, i'm watches last night's results and thinking the president is going to campaign run his re-election campaign against a do-nothing congress? the democrats control the senate. i'm thinking, oops? >> jim, paul, thanks for coming in. that's all the time we have. tomorrow, more on governor perry and his foreign policy question. anderson cooper and "360" starts right now.
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good evening. is michele bachmann's latest misstep the beginning of the end of her campaign? by most accounts bachmann did well in the republican debate taking rick perry to task on his order to girls to get the hpv vaccine suggesting he was catering to pharmaceutical manufacturer, merck. >> i'll tell you this, i had a mother last thiet come up to me here in tampa, florida, after the debate. she told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter. it can have very dangerous side effects. the mother was crying when she came up to me last night. i didn't know who she was before the debate. this is the very real concern. people have to draw their own conclusions. >> that was bachmann on "the today show" accounting what some stranger said to her. no reason to doubt someone says
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this to mrs. bachmann but it's incredibly irresponsible for her to repeat this as part of her argument against the hpv vaccine and then throw up her hands and say, make of it what you will p the cdc says there's no evidence that this has any link to the vaccine. bachmann is spreading all-out falsehood here. a dangerous falsehood at that. and its not the first time she's done this. i want to play you some of her other statements in the past, and keep in mind, there's no political wiggle room on these statements. no grey areas or spin. what you're about to hear is just flat-out factually incorrect statement. >> i think we know that just within a day or so, the president of the united states will be taking a trip over to india that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. he's taking 2,000 people with him. he'll be renting out over 870 rooms in india and these are five-star hotel rooms at the taj
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mahal palace hotel. that's why this week it's ironic and sad that the president released all the oil from the strategist oil reserves. is that abortion? does that mean that someone's 13-year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local planned parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night? mom and dad are increase the wiser. >> the executive director of planned parenthood in illinois said they want to become the lense crafter of big abortion in illinois. >> i find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that a swine flu break out under jimmy carter and i'm not blaming it on president obama, i think it's just an interesting coincidence. and speaker pelosi, who has been busy sticking the taxpayer with her $100,000 bar tab for alcohol on the military jets that she's flying. >> well, the latest cnn orc poll
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has bachmann in seventh place as behind sarah palin, ron paul, cane and newt gingrich. so the question is with the false -- the misstatement the false statements that she made have they caught up with her? do voters care about the truth? joining us live, david gergen and ron carey, bachmann's former chief of staff. you wereth were the chief of staff. why does this stuff seem to happen over and over and over with her? is it willful on her part? carelessness? michelle is very impull sfrif a personality standpoint. top her credit she reads an awful lot but i'm afraid she reads 80 or 90% but forgets the 10 or 20% that can change the outcome. her impulsive nature coupled with the fact she doesn't digest information as carefully as she should leads to these impulsive statements that are sometimes off the mark enough that it
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makes her into a more of a provocative controversial if i your. >> are these things written out in advance for her or these are things that are in her head and pop out? >> no. that's one of the challenges i found with working with her and it's consistent with what others said. she doesn't use her staff well. she's pretty much independent and does her research. she'll be out there on the stump preparing her own remarks and speaking off the cuff with no staff intervention or involvement whatsoever. so it's difficult to prep her and help her kind of fact-check before she speaks. she'll be out there speaking and you'll say, where did this come from and this is something she heard on tv. great example, a month or so ago when she flubbed the el visi eb anniversary and she didn't listen carefully. it was the anniversary of his passing and not his birthday and that's just really hard for the staff to manage her lack of
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ability to stay on script. >> and david, certainly, that's minor, the elvis thing. a lot of the things she's saying are serious issues with serious political ramifications and you shouldn't be making misstatements about like mental disabilities being brought about by hpv vaccine. it doesn't seem, david gergen that these things stick. that we're constantly pointing out this is factually incorrect but it doesn't seem to have had much impact on her? >> americans are very forgiving and often a person starts with a silzing background and they're well-meaning, compassionate as she is. when they get into the big-time and get into -- the nfl and in fact, she's playing and it's a much tougher game. and you're forgiven one or two but you get a whole string like this and particularly this last one, it's done serious damage to her campaign. in this last event about the
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vaccine, what she has said, in effect, has given further fuel to this whole anti-vaccination crowd that is claims that all sorts of vaccinations cause problems for children, especially getting vaccinated for autism. vaccination can lead to autism. that's what the argument is. if you get vaccinated for various childhood diseases you get autism. that's been proven wrong. a lot of kids didn't get vaccinated as a result and there's a part h of the world where deaths went up for children atributed to that. so this anti-vaccination, this is sort of an antiscience view that she's embraced here and i think she didn't do it willingly. i think she mistakenly did it. it's very dangerous because it encourages parents not to get their children vaccinated and to go back to this centers for disease control, you cited that earlier, the cdc is one of the most important scientific
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institutions we have and they have recommended that girls, young girls, 11 and 12 years old be vaccinated against this hpv because it's the most common sexually transmitted disease and it can be dangerous for children and to sort of play against that and say -- no can be don't get vaccinated at all. frankly, that's irresponsible and she ought to right away, say, i made a mistake on this one. own up to it and move on. >> if i can comment. david, i think is a bit off on the fact that i don't think -- in defending michelle, she didn't say don't get vaccinated. she said parents should have the right to make the decision. >> but if she's saying that -- her term, mental retardation and then throwing up her hands and saying, you know, make of that what you will, that's pretty damning stuff to be thrown out there with -- and to have it be medically incorrect information. >> well, i guess i'd like to say that michelle's been known ever
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since she was elected to congress or ran for congress, as making provocative statements and it really has impacted her in minnesota in -- she has a history of underperforming compared to other republicans on the ballot and the one thing the republicans will agree upon this year is barack obama needs to be a one-term president but when you look at the field of candidates as we get more serious we're going to look at candidates as to how electable are they? michelle, in 2006 she was on the ballot with tim pawlenty and in 2010 he defeated the gubernatorial candidate and ke defeated her in 14 of 15 state house districts. so michelle, even though she has a red district, 24 of 25 state legislatures in her district are republican so it's a deep red district but she consistently underperforms other republicans on the ballot and my concern is
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that these provocative statements drive away independents and moderates who we need to defeat obama in 2012. >> can i come back on that? i agree with what you say. i want to say one thing. the people who warned parents that if they had their children vaccinated, they could easily become autistic, did terrible damage because it persuaded a number of parents not to have their children vaccinated. and to warn that getting vaccinate ford hpv causes mental retardation is making exactly the same mistake and causes, and particularly when it comes from a leading political figure in the country. >> got to leave it there, gentlemen. let us know what you think. we're on facebook and ploel me on twitter. @anderson cooper. accusations of a white house stimulus scandal in washington. did the obama administration rush alone to the crown jewel of
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the green energy mush? and a stunning blow for the opposition. seizeded by syrian forces, reportedly tortured, after months of being in hiding on the run. will his death inspire even greater commitment from the protesters on the streets? we'll talk to a friend of the dead man who is determined to speak out, despite great risk to himself. isha has more stories. stunning new revelations from casey anthony's father, george anthony. he says he believes his daughter drugged his granddaughter, caylee, to sedate the toddler so she could go out and have a good time. details from the exclusive interview and much more when "360" continues. so to save some money... man: looks great, hun... woman: ...and we're not real proud of this. man: no...we're not. woman: we...um... teen: have you guys seen captain stewie and lil' miss neptune? dad: did you look all over the place? under your desk? all around?
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coulded solyndra, a company that declared bankruptcy, laid off all 1100 workers and was raided by the fbi last week. on top of the the failure of the business, there's growing controversy as to whether the without tried to rush the loan through government channels. e-mails have been uncovered showing in august of 2009, white house officials were consistently bugging the office of management and budget about when they were going to decide on the more than half a billion loan. the energy department had tentatively approved it but the omb, office of management budget, was still doing the review. the white house wanted vice president joe biden to announce the loan the approval at the ground breaking for the company's factory so time was of the essence. one e-mail a white house assistance mentions the upcoming event and asks if there is, quote, anything we can help speed along on the omb side and get this response where from a staffer, quote, i would prefer this announcement be postponed.
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this is the first loan guarantee and we should have full review with all hands an deck to make sure we get it right. a lot of people who work in an office might recognize or see that tone and think that they were just trying to cut through red tape and the white house is certainly playing -- characterizing it as that. jay carney said what the e-mails show is a, quote, urgency to make a decision about a scheduling matter. but republican investigators for house energy and commerce committee which held a hearing on this issue today, came to the conclusion that the pressure from the white house, may, indeed, have changed the way omb reviewed the loan and there was also concern showing that the e-mails show there was red flags about the company's viability before the loan was approved. abc news obtain aid particularly damning e-mail between doe staffers and the e-mails predicted and i quote, the model runs out of cash in september of 2011. turns out that prediction was true.
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the company declared bankruptcy late last month with u.s. taxpayers now holding the bag on more than $500 million loan. last week, the fbi and agents from the energy department inspector general's office raided the company's headquarters in california. know one's going on record with what the raid was all about but the doe inspector general usually investigates allegations of fraud and wrongdoing. still, energy department officials are also defending the decision to back the company saying loan application was almost complete before president obama took office. but at today's congressional hearing the republican congressman of louisiana said that solyndra's failure could be a harbinger of things to come. >> this was a poster child of the first stimulus bill, the president right thousand, is touting what i call, "son of stimulus." another bill to come through. spend more taxpayer money, to do more things like this. >> when white house press secretary jay carney was asked about the failure he said there
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are no guarantees in any business. >> the whole purpose of this program, which has a broad portfolio of many companies that are -- that are doing well, was to invest in cutting-edge technologies, with some government assistance, with some government loan guarantees, would help us establish a beachhead in the vital industries that will allow america to compete in the future. there are no guarantees in the business world about success and failure. that is just the way business works and everyone recognizes that. >> congressman tim murphy was it will congressional hearing and we'll talk with him in a moment. here's congressman murphy today an exchange with the executive director of the energy department's loan program's office. >> we talked -- this staff talked with the company on a regular basis. >> i really want you to stop throwing everybody else under the bus 'i hear you throwing all your stuff under the bus. i want to know. you're in charge. you've handled loans of this size and now you're saying it's
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everybody's else's fault except you and you're in charge. tell me what you did, you're the one in charge, with half a billion of taxpayer's money saying, it's all my staff's fault. i didn't know. i can't do anything about it. >> joining me live, republican congressman, tim murphy. thanks for being with us. they represent over 1% of the loan guarantees under that energy department program. it's the only one that's gone bad. the white house says, look, sometimes businesses fail. in your opinion what makes this bankruptcy different? >> it makes it different because in january of 2009, the credit group already voted unanimously to say -- this is not good. it was a couple weeks later that suddenly that decision was reversed. and, also, in september of that year, you saw the e-mail that says, this whole company will be out of money in 2011. mr. silver came on board in november. he said it wasn't my fault. everybody came before me. he also said shortly after that exchange we had, that they
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didn't get one check. the checks kept coming. even though comment after comment was showing this company wasn't doing well, they didn't have the money. they went to restructure loans and this is when a real bomb went off here, too. the law clearly says, we pass, that they cannot change where their money goes to if the company goes belly-up. it was supposed to be the taxpayers get repaid first. what he said was, their lawyers advised them they didn't have to pay attention to the law and changed it so the private investors got their money first so a number of things began to occur which showsed the taxpayers are out of $535 million and the other investors get their money back. we may not see any of that. so it's all these other elements. it isn't whether or not the company could survive. the issue was, there were lots of signs before the first checks were written that it wouldn't work and lots of signs after the checks were written to say -- we shouldn't go any further. >> is it your belief that the obama administration, basically, just pushed this deal forward
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because they so much wanted to be seen as doing something? or they wanted to promote green energy they felt this was like the perfect company to give a large amount of money to? >> i don't know if it was the minds or hearts of the obama administration with you it was clear in talking to mr. silver, here's a man that talked, with the companies he had been a major player in, they invest -- capital invested, entrepreneurial capital, he was used to loans of this size and more. clearly, if you're involved with investing private people's money, at some point if you say, we shouldn't throw good money after bad because this company can't survive, you can't do what he said but this is all about building the building on time. you have to fill the building with people and products and make it happen and it was clear to me from what he said is he had information before him from staff saying it couldn't work. and then he said, it's the staff's fault. when it came time to change the law, he said it was the lawyer's
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fault, not his, and that's what tripled us. >> this was under the bush administration. was it a problem then or is it the way it's being executed on this particular deal? >> the program came through on the energy bill of 2005. that set it up. the money came through later on. but what occurred is the folks before president obama took office, in january of 2009, they said, don't go any further. we're unanimously voting not to do this. it was a couple of weeks later after the inauguration of president obama it came through. let the facts speak for themself. i don't know if there's a link there or not. what i do know is pretty clear. there was substantial and repetitive evidence from people within the george of doe, department of energy, this is not going well. this company can't survive. and they kept putting money into it. >> congressman murphy, thank you. >> thank you. and now we have paul begala and jim dike, president of jda
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front line. paul, given what we just heard, how much of a potential problem is this for the obama white house? >> the truth is, it's too soon to tell. we have no idea. this is just now beginning to come to public light. the facts are what they are. i think they'll come to light. congress has legitimate oversight function, whether it's a republican or democrat congress, they need to keep an eye on where the taxpayers money goes. all voters think that's a good thing. the risk for the obama administration is if there's any wrongdoing uncovered, we haven't seen any yet, the risk for the congress, though, is if you look like you're being partisan in an investigation, it can hurt you politically. we saw this when i was in the white house and the white water and the impeachment investigation. but there have been other times, like when john mccain was investigating the scandal, people didn't think he was being political and i think it benefitted him. the less sort of overtly
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partisan you are probably the better off you'll be if you're a member of congress on this. >> jim, how damaging do you think the e-mails are? >> i think it's too soon to tell. i agree with paul on that. i think it puts a lot of pressure on senate democrats to look into this as well. they don't want to come across as if they're trying to give the white house a pass or cover up this. i think this also provides a real opportunity for republicans and republican presidential candidates to contrast themselves with the president in the sense that they believe and empowering the private sector and this is a clear example of president obama's administration empowering the government to make decision. you heard jay carney say it and i think the response to jay carney is -- the government shouldn't be in the business of the private sector. that's not what government is for. i think that's a real political headache. if not, as things continue to come out, possibly criminal wrongdoing. >> paul, what about that? especially right now where they are looking to -- what
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republicans would call, institute a second stimulus, could this become part of that conversation? it seems like it already is becoming part of that conversation. >> it is but that seems a little bit. congressman murphy said this law passed in 2005. we had republican house, senate and president in 2005. so it's hard to say the program itself is somehow some liberal idea. if it was passed and signed into law if congressman murphy's right under a republican administration. look what happened. president obama is out pushing his jobs' bill 37 talking about jobs. the only issue in america today is jobs. i think today's hearing, perfectly legitimate oversight. but if, over time, it looks like it's political then you'll have this contrast that we had every day in the clinton white house. the president is working on jobs and the republican on congress look like they're endless politics of investigation. i'm not saying that's what happened today at all. they need to look into it
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because there is a risk of carrying it too far. >> but, jim, it could fit into the mantra of the government is not the one to create jobs and this is evidence, i'm assuming they would say, of the got not doing a good job of trying to stimulate business. >> and it's not necessarily the existence of the program that's the problem. a lot of it seems to be the execution. what seems to be the administration's intention to provide this company with a significant amount of stimulus funds, whether they deserve them or not, i'm on the board of american crossroads and they have -- we filed a request with the department of energy to find out if political appointees were sitting in on board meetings. so there's a real question as to the relationship between the government. it's not the program, the problem is that the government's relationship and involvement in directing resources to generate jobs. paul's right. this is about jobs. this is about dealing with regulations that the president's
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put in place that are strangling our economy and keeping small businesses from being able to perform. >> good discussion. we'll continue to fall. paul begala and jim dike, thanks. the shocking death of a beloved syrian activist killed by government forces said to be tortured sparked new outrage from protesters and the u.s. the real story from behind the arrest from one of his friends tonight, still on the front lines, still being hunted and risking his life to talk to us. and the clock is ticking for a georgia man on death row. he faces execution in one week. most of the prosecution's star witnesses have recanted their testimony. the story in tonight's crime "c and punishment". it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities, creating and integrating solutions, helping business, and the world...work. rethink possible.
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as you can see, we're going to be showing you -- these images of his body. very disturbing. according to his friends he appeared to be badly beaten and bruised, tortured, according to fellow activists. they say he was on the run for three months when he was arrested in damascus. we can't independently verify the detail because syria has repeatedly denied our request for visas. they say the bloody crackdown is an effort to root out armed terrorists. the state department called on assad to end his asalt singling out this man as a champion of peace, committed to the regime's, quote, despicable violence. earlier i spoke to a friend of his and we won't use his name, we call him amere. he was the last person know to see him before his arrest. he joined us by phone from a safe-house in daria.
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>> what was he like. >> he was very nice guy. he was very smart. very lovable. he was smart and brave, courageous. >> we're seeing video of his body -- on his body, what do you see? it looks like there are bruises along his chest, what are those? >> i don't know what kind of torture they used with him. there's marks of, maybe, electrical shock or i don't know what and the abdomen, there's like a stitched -- >> why is it so important for you to risk your life to speak out? why was it so important for him to risk his life and speak out? >> actually, this is our weapons to speak out. we have no other weapon.
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>> amere, do you worry now about you getting caught? do you worry about being taken yourself? >> actually, it doesn't matter i mean, to be frank i try not to be caught by them, but if this happened, so what? my friend was killed under severe torture and my other friends are under -- are arrested now. and there is a big risk that they will have the same destiny as my friend. so it doesn't matter for me if i'm caught because the revolution is going on and i'm very sure of our victory. >> really? you're sure of your victory even
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though your friend is dead and your other friends have been imprisoned and they may come for you, you believe that you will get freedom? that syria's people will have the chance for freedom? >> definitely. there is no chance for this regime to maintain what it had already braut broken. but the freedom is coming. this is a belief that we have here. >> i hope you see it. >> hopefully very soon. >> thank you for your bravery and thank you for talk to me. >> thank you, anderson, thank you very much. >> stay strong. the latest on some other stories. isha. anderson, a mix med saj from iran about the two american hikers jailed on spying charges. today, the iranian judiciary said it was only considering a request to set bail.
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contradicting the iranian president's earlier statement that the men could be freed in the a couple of days. and in libya, gadhafi loyalists face a new deadline. the country's interim leadership today gave people in the pro gadhafi stronghold just 48 hours to leave the city. george anthony, casey anthony's father today said he thinks he knows how his granddaughter, caylee, died. in an interview with dr. phil mcgraw, he said he suspects his daughter or someone with her, may have drugged the 2-year-old so casey could go out and, quote, have a good time. casey anthony was acquitted of first-degree murder in july. and a "360" follow. g gumwhich was last seen getting away. but they turned themselves in. no word yet on what, if any charges, will be filed. anderson, as the foreigner in
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these strange lands, who or what is gumby. >> it's a long story. i don't understand how how the guy can hold a gun with gumby hands. he doesn't have fingers. >> what is gumby? you can't say it's a long story and leave me hanging. >> that's like asking "what is a rainbow? what is a cloud?" >> you're getting all philosophical. >> cow can't define gumby. gumby will not be put in a box. >> gumby is out of the box? >> that's right. >> okay. >> thanks for leaving me hanging, appreciate it. >> and pokey, that's another whole story. we take you to the florida keys -- you have no idea what i'm talking about. one tough turtle was released back into the wild. this is sarah, an endangered loggerhead turtle with a four foot spear embedded many her head. see the x-ray. amazingly she survived and today, the animal hospital staff set her free in the atlantic after five weeks. very nice.
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>> great stuff there she goes. >> there she goes. she's like, i need to get out of here. >> get me out of here. >> that's an incredible story, anderson. let's face it, when you talk turtles, there's only one thing i think of and to be honest it gives me the -- >> turtleman! that's how you do it on our show! >> he's smiling for you now! >> you see? times like this -- >> that's turtleman. >> now i miss home. >> viewers -- if they want to see the entire turtleman video, it's like a local news report -- i forgot the station. go to youtube and type in "turtle man" and it will pop up. it's three or four minutes. it's well worth the watch. >> i want to go home. >> i bet that reminds you of jolly old england watching turtleman. up next, the controversial
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case of troy davis set to be executed in georgia next week. legitimate concerns have been raised about his conviction for murdering a police officer. the courts have upheld the conviction. we'll lay out both sides of the story and you can see the evidence for youls. and ascathing federal report places the blame for the oil spill in the gulf of mexico last year. [ male announcer ] every day, thousands of people are switching from tylenol to advil. here's one story. [ george ] my name is george. i switched to advil six months ago. i love golf. but i have knee pain, hip pain, back pain and pain in my hands. advil is definitely my pain reliever of choice. it covers all, and i'm a walking testament. you may not know it to look at me, but i can dance too! [ chuckles ]
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murder trialing an off-duty police officer in savannah, georgia. since then, three dates for his execution has been scheduled. now davis, 42 years old, is set to be executed one week from today. what has so many concerned is the possibility that a man may be put to death for a crime he may not have committed. in the years since the trial, seven of the nine witnesses have recanted their testimony and no physical evidence linking him to the murder was presented at trial. in various state and federal courts have reviewed the evidence and all have upheld his conviction and even so, prominent supporters of davis are pleading that the execution be halt and he be given a new trial. here's gary tuchman. >> reporter: anything but a routine question. >> how scared are you of possibly being executed? but it's relevant because the man i'm talking to, troy davis, may soon be a dead man. a jury only took a few hours to decide he was guilty of murdering a police officer in savannah, georgia, a few more hours to decide on lethal injection. brenda for rest was one of the
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jurors. >> he was definitely guilty. all of the witnesses, they were able to, you know, to i.d. him as the person who actually did it. >> there was no dna or physical evidence against davis. the primary reason he was convicted? witness testimony. the slain police officer's wife trusted the witnesses. >> they were so adamant about what they saw, when they saw it. >> reporter: but this is how the juror feels today. >> if i knew then what i know now, troy davis would not be on death row. the verdict would be not guilty. >> reporter: kwla she knows now is this. almost all the prosecution's star witnesses have changed their stories. some saying police pressuring them to say troy davis did it. one of those people is darrell collins. a prosecution witness who signed a police statement implicating troy davis. >> i told them over and over and over i didn't see it happen. they put what they wanted to put in that statement. >> savannah police officer was working an off-duty job here providing security at night for this bus station.
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and for this burger king restaurant that's currently out of business. there was a homeless man in the parking lot who was being harassed and tim date and he yelled for help. the officer ran over and seconds later, the officer was shot and killed. tragic, horrifying and chaotic and two decades later, it all still is. the man that admitted to hairsing the homeless person went to police and told him he saw troy davis shoot the officer. wanted posters went up all over savannah and a reward to catch the cop killer. racial tensions inflamed. after the shooting hoops, davis in atlanta. >> they had a shoot to kill order on him. >> derrick johnston, a pastor, got in touch with dachs and volunteered to pick him up and drive him to savannah to surrender. he said troy i were cysted he was innocent. the pastor never told the story to a reporter and was stunned the da's office never interviewed him. >> you're with the man for four
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hours and you bring to police custody and they never interviewed you? >> never. >> never talked to you about your join i? ? >> never. >> if he admitted to the crime? >> nothing. and this is the one case where nobody wanted to know and i don't think now, looking back, that anybody cared. >> the pastor is one of many who now believe that facts be damned. troy davis was going to be arrested for murder. as for the savannah police they always said their witness interviews were taken properly and no coersion and prosecutors stood by the conviction but a number of witnesses have signed affidavits changing their initial testimony. a former rm prison inmate wrietsz, i was scared if i didn't cooperate with the detective he might find a way of the me locked up again so i told the detective troy davis was the shooter even though the truth was i didn't see who shot the officer. another witness writes -- the police talked to me and put a lot of prib on me to say troy did that and made it clear the only way they would leave me
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alone was if i told them what they wanted to hear. during the trial, davis' attorney tried to convince the jooish ors that a main named sylvester colts was the killer. we tried to find him to have his say. we talked to family members but couldn't track him down. >> i don't believe red coals the one that killed mark. >> among those that believe the case should be re-opened are politics that don't always agree with each other. from jimmy cartory bob barr. troy davis has been hours away from execution three times. he's now one week away from his fourth execution date. gary tuchman, cnn, savannah george. >> we're joined by jeffrey toobin. what do you make of this? >> it's a hard case. this legal saga has been extraordinary. the supreme court, the only time i've heard of it, ordered a federal district court, to hold a new hearing in this case in 2010, last year, and the judge in that case had two days of hearings and wrote 170-page
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opinion saying that the seven of the -- of the seven witness we heard who recanted, it was immaterial. that all but one of them were insignificant witnesses. and the one wasn't even believable at the time he testified in the first place. so he discounted all of the arguments that have been made over the years. and ordered -- said that davis was guilty. but, in a case with no dna and in a case with just based on eyewitness testimony, with this much uncertainty, it's really a chilling thought to think he may be executed. >> do you think it could be postponed again? >> you know, it really seems like they're close tout of option this is time. there's a hearing on monday. the execution is scheduled for wednesday. the board of pardons has a hearing but the board of pardons in georgia has never stepped in on the case before and i don't think they're going to step in again. i don't doubt his lawyers, who are incredibly determined, will try some last minute gestures
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with the district court, court of appeals or supreme court, but this may be it. >> the burden is to prove innocence, not reasonable doubt? >> that's right. the courts -- one of the curious facts about our law is that, the supreme court is never said it is unconstitutional to execute an innocent person. you would think they would have but they've never held that. they say, if you get a fair trial, we are not going to disturb the verdict. our job is to see whether you got a fair trial. whether the evidence was admitted correctly. what you got legal help. if the trial is fair, we're not going to look at the evidence. and that's the question raised by this case. >> fascinating. jeff, we'll follow it. up next, the federal government pointing the finger and blame for last year's deadly oil spill in the gulf of mexico. we'll tell you where they're pointing it. and what an honor. i'm now a wax figure at mady
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at madam toe to you -- -- madam tussauds wax museum. a federal report concludes that bp, transocean and halliburton, all share responsibility for the devastating oil spill in the gulf of mexico last year. it said all three companies violated federal safety regulations. 11 workers died in the initial explosion. and aan apparent engine problem caused united airlines flight at dulles. passengers used emergency slides. supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg was on board and a spokesperson said she was not involved. and mikheil salahis has not been missing. a virginia sheriff spoke to her by phone and said that
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mrs. salahis said she's with a friend and does not want her husband to know where she is. this is where it gets interesting. a spokesman for journey guitarist, neil shaun says, salahis is with the musician. >> i don't care. i don't care about either of to them. i've never want to talk about them. i stopped watching that series when they were on it. >> don't stop believing. >> i never believed in the first place. just ahead, i understand a lot of folks on twitter and i can't find my blackberry, are quite amazed that you don't know who gumby is. >> it must also be said that ethere are those that came to my defense from canada and places like that and saying i'm not alone in my lack of knowledge. >> well, listen, you know, this program is all about learning new things. >> yeah. i feel enlightened. >> if we can teach you one new thing, today, gumby, tomorrow, pokey. who knows who is next?
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>> my, gosh, do you no who migilla gorilla is? >> not very helpful that everybody is laughing at me. >> the rediculist cup. i'm in wax. kind of creepy. tiree will see. ♪ as we're living longer than ever before, prudential's challenge is to help everyone have the retirement income they'll need to enjoy every one of their days. ♪ prudential. bring your challenges. i've got to tell susie ! the vending machine on elm is almost empty.
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entirely unprecedented, i'm back on the rediculist for being kind of blown away by myself, at the unveiling of a wax figure today at madam tussauds here in new york. this isn't one of those things i ever expected. you know, a nobel peace prize, maybe an academy award for best jawline in a documentary. but my own wax figure in the heart of times square? no. and the photo op was north connected to the publicity of my new daytime talk show, check your local listings. how dare you think that. my of sweet, pasty, imitation flesh and i look forward to that line being taken out of context. see if you can figure out which of these pale guys is lucky enough to be the real me. it's me, ha ha. >> you think it's gone to my
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head and i'll become a star who talks about himself in the third person but you're wrong. anderson cooper is not that kind of guy. it's tholt like anderson cooper windy conditions would summon a cameraman and ramble on about what this means to his own mortality. >> it's surreal. i think this is what i'll look like wen i'm dead. that's a little depressing to know what you'll look like when you're zed. >> so i got a little bleak. i got focused on the details of the process. >> it's amazing that they took like more than 250 photographs of my head and this suitcase with all these different eyeb l eyeballs in it. i guess i have three different colors of blue in my eyes which i was unaware of. >> give me a camera and a mike 230e7b and i'll tell you how steely blue my eyes are. get on board, america. it's not like i'm preoccupied with my look. >> i think i have salt and. er hair. it depresses me to think i have
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