tv Erin Burnett Out Front CNN July 8, 2014 4:00pm-5:01pm PDT
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guns from owning guns but we can strengthen the laws by dealing with loopholes. >> remember what the u.s. attorney did in richmond in 1996. he started using the federal gun laws -- >> we thank senators ben cardin and my colleague for a couple lively moments there. >> thank you for outrage. the debate continues online. as well as on facebook and twitter. from the left, i'm stephanie cutter. >> i'm newt gingrich. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >> next crisis at the border. surge, undocumented immigrants pouring into the united states. even democrats are worried this could become president obama's katrina moment. breaking news, the middle east on the brink of war tonight. israel warning of a ground offensive into gaza, the u.s. embassy has personnel heading to an underground shelter tonight. the israeli ambassador to the united states is out front tonight. one city in america officially votes to give free marijuana to
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the poor starting tonight. let's go "outfront." >> good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight the crisis at the border. a surge of undocumented immigrants. children tens of thousands of them coming into this country. a situation that's fast becoming one of the biggest politician challenges president obama has ever faced. today the president made an emergency $3.7 billion funding request to handle the crisis. now, the crucial thing about that number is it's almost twice as much as what the administration had earlier signaled it needed. leaving even some members of the president's own party to ask whether this administration was caught totally off guard. >> i hope it doesn't become president obama's katrina moment. >> one reason this crisis is so dire, an historic flood of children caught crossing the
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southwest border of the u.s. according to did ept of homeland security, in 20 thousand 9 there were about 3300 children that came over that border from el salvador, guatemala and honduras, they were caught by border control agents. so far in this year, early july, 40,000 children have been caught. that is a crisis. and kyung lah is at the border tonight with the story of one family and what they left behind. >> reporter: pet reason na brought her son rudy to the u.s. not not a better life but simply a chance to live. what do you want for your family? to live safe, she says. kidnappers had threatened to kidnap her son if she didn't pay them. defactor rulers in some towns in broke the legs of her father and killed another child in the family. so she ran. two weeks ago she paid a guy
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$200 to take her to the u.s. border but she was arrested shortly after she crossed a river into texas. she and her son joined thousands of other mothers and children in these packed detention centers. tens of thousands of them expected to cross illegally this year. to cope with the influx of central americans like petrona, the government flew them to el centro. to be fingerprinted, have their picture taken and appear in court. hers is in the state of washington where her husband lives. she waits in a shelter to head north to her husband, also undocumented. he fled goo wauatemala years ag. neighborhood house, the nonprofit sheltering the women and children said all the undocuments they're housing are leaving california on buses paid for by their families.
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el centro's incoming mayor says unlike murrieta which has seen loud protests of the immigrants coming to their station, his city will help them. >> what happens to them is up to the federal judges to decide. it's not up to us to decide. and so we owe them a responsibility to provide a safe environment. >> you can't go back. >> no. >> she won't go back, says petrona, whether she's welcome in the u.s. or not, her son will at least be alive, living in the shadows. so what happens to her now? she does have that court date to appear in washington. will she show up? she said that she didn't want to answer. the nonprofit says they believe the majority of the undocumented immigrants will show up, but many opponents say that's naive. they won't show up. they'll disappear because the rick of deportation is simply too large. erin? >> it makes complete sense.
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why would you? kyung lah, thank you so much. joining me the chairman of the house homeland committee republican senator from texas, michael mccaul. you just heard the report. it's moving. the family came here she said not for a better life but for simply a chance to live. the president calls this an urgent humanitarian situation. even the former governor of florida, jeb bush said that what so many of these families are doing is not a felony, an act of love is what it is. what should the united states do with this family? >> look, i went down to dhs intake facility in texas and i saw three young girls, younger than my daughters, all in tears. i saw babies down there. this is a very tragic crisis that's going on in this country right now. one like i've never seen before on the border. in the case of your expose, that
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individual, if they could demonstrate a fear of persecution back home and violence and possible trafficking, that would give them a legal basis to stay in the country. i do think it's important, though, we see over 50,000 of these minors coming into the united states since october to provide a message of deterrence to stop them from coming in the first place. we're not going to stop this until we start sending them back. and i know the administration's been all over the map on that and we've had congressman from laredo agree with that assessment but that's just human nature. a deterrent value i think here is important because otherwise i'll keep coming. >> the president has said recently, look, don't come, because you could get killed trying to come and if you do come, you know, you'll get deported. i know you've been critical of the president's immigration policies but today he said give me $3.7 billion more.
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i don't need legislation, but i need more money for border patrol agents for department of homeland security, for assistance there to try to stop this problem. i mean, do you at least support what he's trying to do there? is that money that he's asked for something that you think is fair for him to have? >> we just got today. we're looking at the supplemental appropriations bill. i'm a little concerned it's a short-term band-aid for what could be a long-term crisis if we don't fix this. what i mean by that is we need to look at thins like changing the 2008 trafficking law to provide for faster removal from the united states back to central america. this is not a one-way ticket. it's a one-way trip. >> the senate passed an immigration bill. the president said he'll sign it. needs to get through the house. obviously that's where it comes to you. you were invited to meet the president back in october as you say where this all started with these children coming over the
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border. you decided not to go meet with him at this time saying you saw it as a political trap. if you won't meet with him, won't talk about it, won't look at the bill on the table, how can you be frustrated with him and blame him for the problem. >> i do think administration actions have encouraged this. it's been spun by the direct trafficking organization, the direct cartels that profit off these children that if you come, you can stay. now, was that completely accurate? maybe not, but they're misleading what the president has done with these policies of immigration reform and also this other bill -- >> but would you meet with him and talk to him -- >> of course. >> about something now? because you refused to in the fall. >> i think this is a time for us to come together. i speak with secretary jay johnson on a regular basis. one thing i'd like to see in a supplement bill is my border security bill that passed unanimously in a bipartisan way out of my committee, the homeland security committee, and it's been held up because of
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immigration reform. i'd like to see a bill like that being put in the middle of this supplement appropriations. >> charm, thank you very much as always. >> thanks, erin. >> joining me now is david gergen, former presidential adviser to presidents nixon, ford, reagan and clinton. one democrat expressed, you know, look, this could be the president's katrina moment. obviously, those are strong words. should the president be worried about that? >> absolutely. and this is becoming -- it has become a humanitarian crisis. the president is doing the right thing by putting forward this package, this nearly $4 billion package. congress should pass it and allow him to take steps at the border to stem this tide and begin reversing it. but i don't think it went far enough. two things, we need to get to the root causes of what's causing this, the nations that are sending us these children have the highest murder rates in the world. they're very dangerous nations. we have helped colombia deal with its gangs and we made a lot
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of progress on that. these are small countries in central america, we could help them end some of this violence and let the kids stay there safely. the other thing is, i think the president ought to go to the border while he's in texas. he'll be there for fund-raising purposes for the democratic party. as president he ought to deal and step up to the crisis at hand and go to the border and send a clear mess aage, parents do not send these young children on 2,000-mile trips ta take 45 days and put them on top of trains that subject them to rapists and leave them in the wilderness. there are terrible things going on to these poor children. >> if he went to the border and said it from there, it would have that power. he's scheduled to be in texas but not go to the border tomorrow. which begs the question as to why does it seem this crisis was such a surprise? it just seems from the way the reactions come out of the white house, if they knew about it, they certainly weren't talking about it. you get the feeling they weren't
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even aware of it. >> i worry about that. i have a lot of respect for president obama and his team but even so why were we surprised by isis moving in iraq and when intelligence a lot of other people noticed and thought this was coming. this problem at the border has been building up for five years as you pointed out earlier. these kids take 45 days to get there. we have a lot of time to pay attention to this and figure out what to do. why has it suddenly become a surprise? i don't understand that. >> all right. and that why is the biggest question facing this white house right now. thank you so much to david gergen. >> thank you. >> for that perspective there. out front next, the breaking news, the middle east on the brink of war. in israel a massive force, is ground assault right now about to happen? plus new developments in the hot car toddler death. we're getting a glimpse of one online profile used by the father to communicate with women. a major bakery chain suddenly
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one parent's in jail and the other remakes under a cloud of suspicion after their toddler was trapped in his car seat for seven hours in the sweltering georgia heat. that child died. authorities are going through the hard drives and looking at the finances of leanna and ross hair pips his son was dieing in the car. while that was happening, ross harris was engaging in hued conversations with up to six different women. now we now have this information. the father's profile on scout, that's an online network sort of a meeting dating sort of a site. he used it to communicate with women. and martin savidge joins me
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"outfront" tonight at the cobb county jail. this story continues to shock. despite the revelation about the husband's online escapades and that new profile we just showed our viewers, the wife appears to be standing by her husband. she visited the jail today. what can you tell us about that? >> right. she does, erin. many people do seem shocked by the fact that she's been so steadfastly in the corner of her husband. she was here early this morning. she went inside the visitor's center there. and she was inside the facility here where her husband's being kept for about 36 minutes. now, then she was seen coming out. we really don't know if they had the opportunity to meet face-to-face. there are specific guidelines you have to set up in advance your plan to visit. one reporter reportedly asked leanna when she came out if she did meet with her husband and she seemed to shake her head no. there's no real way because authorities won't confirm any visitations whether or not the two met.
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but assuming they did, it's very likely that the two were talking about the case. much of that would have been recorded by authority. but we don't know what was said if in fact they met face-to-face. we also don't know if she's done this before, but it's clear right now she's steadfastly sticking beside her man. >> marty, thank you very much. stacey honowitz joins me outside, she prosecutes child abuse cases in florida. authorities are still going through all this evidence. whether there was financial duress with this couple as we discussed last nightp also they're looking at computers, hard drives, cell phones. now they found these online profiles and he was talking to these women which may be distasteful but may not be relevant to this case. how concerned should the couple be about what they're going to find? >> well, i think they need to be very concerned. as we talked about last night, they'rening the net. they want to find out if there's
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anything nefarious, if there's financial problems between the two of them, if there's a reason they didn't want this child in their life, if there was kind of a conspiracy between the two of them to end the life of this child. so when they're going through the purts and looking at profiles they're looking to see if there's anything relevant that will make this case stronger than it appears to be at this rate now. >> as you said, you do this for a living, you deal with these kind of horrific cases. as hard to imagine as one parent doing it, it's harder to think of two colluding to both get on the same page. how unusual is it? >> well, like i said, it's very difficult for me to sit here and tell you that it never happens because i see it in my line of work. this is what i deal with on a daily basis. i see parents that are involved in an agreement or conspiracy to maybe get rid of the child or to injure the child. we see it every single day on the news. child abuse cases where a child's kept in the basement and
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the mother knew the whole time. we do find it to be extremely difficult to digest for the average person, but it does go on. we're seeing more and more of it. really we have to figure out why so much of our parents skills seem to be in the toilet at this point. >> how easy will it be or difficult for them to prove anything about mr. harris? i mean, this year 16 children have died as a result of heat stroke in cars. this happens on average nearly 40 times a year. and these are accidents. so doesn't this make this close to impossible to prove? >> well, no, because the fact of the matter is those other incidents are not going to come into court. they're not going to be admissible that all these other deaths are taking place. the defense will try all -- to use all their power to try to get those and to try to sway the jury that this was an accident. but you have evidence here so far -- i don't know how admissible it's going to be. but they've worked towards
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saying that this was planned. you have him online at the time trying to google, to figure out how long it's going to take a child to die. he had lunch with the baby i think less than an hour before, how did he not know the child was in there? he walked up to the car to put something in the car later on, how did he not smell death? she came and said, did you say too much? when she called the day care, she asked him, did he leave the child in the car? all these things are not just coincidences. you have to put all these pieces together to say this was planned. we're going to have to wait and see. i'll never tell you that they'll be able to prove it. but they are linking things together to try to headache this case that this was a planned death. >> good to talk to you again. and still "outfront" the breaking news in israel. warning of a massive ground assault on gaza. american employees in tel aviv are heading for an underground shelter. we have a live report from jerusalem next.
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and in cuba, one of washington's most powerful senators. a story so crazy you couldn't make it up. but it's true. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ hooking up the country helping business run ♪ ♪ trains! they haul everything, safely and on time. ♪ tracks! they connect the factories built along the lines. and that means jobs, lots of people, making lots and lots of things. let's get your business rolling now, everybody sing. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪
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to the fastest dsl from the phone company, comcast business gives you more for your money. why pay more for less? call today for a low price on speeds up to 150mbps. and find out more about our two-year price guarantee. comcast business. built for business. tonight's money & power one of the most recognized cupcakes company closed. crumbs cupcakes shuttered its doors telling employees they would lose their jobs immediately. has the cupcake bubble -- remember when everybody wanted them, even at weddings, has the bubble? >> reporter: it all happened so
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quickly. some customers were caught unaware. this was the first crumbs to open on manhattan's upper west side in 2003. it's now one of 65 across 12 states that's closed its doors. cake watchers are now looking closely to see if there's another cupcake calamity coming. for this competitor, magnolia bakery, nothing of the kind. their cupcakes are selling like hot cakes. >> as long as there's a good cupcake and the price is right, people will always buy them. it's an american staple. >> i have a crush. >> reporter: 15 years since this scene in "sex & the city" put magnolia and cupcakes on the map. >> you don't consider it a trend or a craze because it's been a significant amount of time since it started. >> reporter: magnolia has survived by diversifying by going international.
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>> i think for me sometimes i don't want to eat a whole cake and i don't want a piece of cake. the cupcake is just enough. >> reporter: a cupcake just enough for some, not quite enough for crumbs. >> richard, see, here's the thing, i love cupcakes. i finished -- when i had my baby, i'm on maternity leave, ied me to start focusing on maybe losing weight, i couldn't resist them. i'm really sad to hear about this. what happened to crumbs? is it just crumbs? >> we couldn't find any crumbs because they're no longer there, of course. we had these cupcakes, get away from them, ms. burnett, you're not touching them. first of all, they made serious losses. they were down 18 million. forget red velvet. think more red ink. then you had the stodginess of the share price. down at 11 cents before it was finally delisted. and if all that wasn't enough, the icing on the crumb cupcake
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was it broke its defaults on its bonds. 14 million in debt. the loans were called in. the reality is the cakes may have been large but the finances were stale. >> well, i'm going to say there is no cupcake calamity. just give me a simple vanilla cupcake, with a vanilla top. magnolia makes a delicious one. save one for me. >> which one? there you are. it's on the desk in your position awaiting your return. in fact, why don't you just take them all. >> thank you, richard. i can't wait for that cupcake. out front, israel warning tonight of a massive ground assault on gaza. american embassy employees now being ushered underground. is war inevitable? and free pot. one american city is expected to vote yes, but is this really a good idea? and an historic and humiliating
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that's why i always choose the fastest intern.r slow. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. the middle east on the brink of war tonight. the israeli government warning of a possible ground invasion into gaza, air strikes between israel and hamas are intensifying.
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across israel today air raid sire ens were blaring, sparking panic in the streets. at the american embassy in tel aviv tonight, people rushed to an underground shelter. israel says hamas militants fired 130 rockets at its citizens from gaza and israel has unleashed an air assault of its own into crippling the terror group's rocket-launching ability. ben, you're sitting there on that side of it where they're afraid of those israeli strikes that are happening. how close is this to an all-out war? >> well, we're still a few steps away, erin. the israeli cabinet has authorized the callup of as many as 40,000 troops, but that's not necessarily going to mean they're going to call up that many. for instance, if there's going to be a ground incursion into gaza, there's a lot of preparation that needs to be made and that could take quite some time.
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at the moment there's no one try to mediate an end to this crisis. back in november 2012, the government of mohamed morsi of egypt had good relations with hamas and they were critical a working out some sort of cease-fire, now you have a government in egypt, a president in egypt, abdel fattah al sisi, palestine being an offshoot of the muslim brotherhood which al sisi has been harsh in cracking down on. israel is making obvious preparations for a longer, more intense conflict. and we've seen with hamas as well, despite all these strikes, they're still firing as many rockets today, in fact more, out of gaza than they were yesterday. and we saw these operations where hamas frogmen went up the
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coast and tried to storm an israeli base. this would indicate that they are also preparing or are prepared and trained for a much harsher conflict or confrontation with israel than we've ever seen in the past. erin? >> an incredible thing to say in the context here. thank you very much to ben wedem wedeman, live in gaza city. joining me now the ambassadisrael's ambassador to the united states. a couple steps from a ground war. are you prepared, are you planning to send in ground troops? >> well, first, let's understand what happened today. we had 150 rockets, about 150 rockets fired at our cities. we had them fired at jerusalem and tel aviv. that's our washington and new york. imagine the situation where you would hear a iran go off in new york -- i'm sitting here in washington, you're in new york,
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and in washington, and everyone would have to run into bomb shelters. that's what happened today in israel. the objective of this mission is very simple. we need to restore deterrents, we need to end the rocket fire and restore security to israel's population who have suffered under rocket attacks from hamas. >> so, so when you say that, given what's been happening and how the situation's been escalating, some might say, well, in a sense what you're saying is it is going to be all-out war because how are you going to be able to do that, given what's been happening, without greater involvement, without ground troops? >> i don't think the situation has been escalating. i think hamas has been escalating the situation. my prime minister, netanyahu, said that quiet would be met with quiet. if hamas ended rocket attacks against israel, we would not take operations. that has not happened. we had 100 rockets fired. and every country has to take
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steps to protect its population. we appreciate the strong statement that was made by the white house today backing israel's right to defend itself. i think all the world should stand with israel in making sure that we can protect our civilians and act against hamas. there's a terror organization, there's no symmetry between an organization that's fired hundreds of rockets at israeli cities. >> the white house did make that statement. jen psaki did make that statement, too. some of those killed today were children. even if they put a human shield to try to protect somebody that you said was a hamas militant. but there were children there. is it still worth air strikes when you're going to have to kill children? >> first of all, we do everything we can to keep palestinian civilians out of harm's way. that's the difference between us and the terrorists. they deliberately target our civilians. they fired at our civilians,
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they hide behind civilians using them as human shields. they place missile batteries next to schools, next to hospitals, next to mosques. that's the enemy we're dealing with in hamas. we've taken action. we've targeted well over 100 targets, maybe 200 targets in gaza today. every single unintentional casualty is a tragedy. we don't seek to harm palestinian citizens. we go to great lengths to keep them out of harm's way. we send text messages to them. we make clear where we're going to hit. hopefully these people are not in any area next to a missile. i've seen myself how many times israel decides not to do an operation because civilians will come into harm's way. i don't believe there's a government in the world, a military in the world maybe in history that has gone to such great lengths to keep the civilians of the other side out of harm's way. >> the air assault that's happening does follow the recent killings of teenagers on both
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side. that's important to emphasize, the beating of tarik ab dull by israeli police. he's an american teen, the cousin of a palestinian victim. here's what you said. >> from what i understand about the facts of the case, this is not just an innocent bystander pulled off of a school yard. he was with six other people who were masked that threw petrol bombs and molotov cocktails at our police. three had knives. >> does that excuse the force used by officers? >> no, and i said actually on the same interview that it doesn't excuse excessive use of force at any time. that's why we have an investigation. we're a real country with loss and we will investigate exactly what happened. but i would be very cautious to rush to judgment and to say that this is a larger problem within israeli society. we had protests all across israel and our police were facing life-threatening situations. fortunately we did not have a
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single killing, we had not a single palestinian lost their lives in any of those protests, israeli or those protest can. it does not excuse excessive use of force. i'm not saying that it does. but this particular boy, i would not rush to judgment because he was part of a group of people who had traeked our police officers. and everyone was rushed to judgment about israel, hold your horses. when all the facts come out, it will tell a very different story. >> but see, this is where i get confused. because on the one hand you said excessive force isn't justified then you say wait till you hear what happens. >> it's not justified. once he was arrested, we're dealing with a different reality. once he was in custody, once he was in handcuffs, no excessive use of force can be improceempl. the question is what happened before the arrest? people have painted this as an innocent kid who was pulled off
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a school yard and our police were looking to beat somebody up. that's not the case in this case. doesn't excuse action after he was handcuffed. i saw the videos. they disturb me very much. there's an investigation in israel that's going to deal with it. but don't turn this into an innocent child with police brutality en masse in israel, because it's just not true. >> ambassador dermer, thank you very much. >> thank you. tonight claims cuba framed one of the most powerful men in washington. robert menendez was dogged by allegations back in november 2012 that he had sex with underaged prostitutes in the dominican republic. it was shocking and got a lot of news coverage. the story was first published by a conservative website and it was the prostitutes recanted their story. but mennendez tells our dana bah na the justice department needs to take a closer look at whether it was cuba who planted the story. here's dana bash with her
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exclusive. >> reporter: it has the makings of a spy thriller, a u.s. senator dogged by a federal corruption probe alleging he may really be the victim of a smear campaign by the cuban government. >> it should be pretty appalling that a foreign government would be engaged in trying to affect an election and/or the position of a united states senator. >> reporter: bob menendez told cnn he wants the fbi to investigate. >> i wouldn't be surprised that the regime would do anything it can to stop me from being in a position that ultimately would impede their hopes of being able to get a different relationship with the united states. >> reporter: it's just the latest dwamtic twist in an already thick and salacious plot, allegations that the new jersey democrat traveled to have sex with underaged prostitutes in the dominican republic, which he vehemently denied and prostitutes later recanted. he traveled to santo domingo
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where he looked for the tipster who called himself peter williams. he couldn't find him. when he tracked down the ip address, he was stonewalled. >> any way that you would give us the background of this man? >> he cannot be identified right now, that name, and also the ip address is not -- >> reporter: "the washington post" reports that the cia has evidence that cuban agents were behind this. you never made it a secret your opposition to the cuban government. you were about to become the chairman of the foreign relations committee. you think that's what it was? >> put thit this way, for 22 yes in the house and the senate i've had an opposition to the cuban regime that violates the human rights, the democracy of the people of cuba. >> reporter: still, beyond the prostitution allegations is an ongoing corruption probe of
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menendez's relationship with a florida doctor whose practice is being scrutinized for medical fraud. he gave menendez private jet rides to the dominican. menendez did not pay for them as the law requires until the flights were publicly disclosed. i asked the senator if his legal team may have pushed this cuban conspiracy allegation out there in the public to muck up federal investigations surrounding him. he dismissed that. in fact an attorney who worked on cuban spy cases in the 1990s told cnn that back then they had evidence that the cubans did target politicians including menendez and tried to discredit them politically. dana bash, cnn, washington. still to come, free marijuana. tonight it could become a reality for one city. and speaking of blowing smoke, what is rolling coal? what is it jeanne moos will explain. [ female announcer ] you never know what might be out there. the ambulance racing by you. the ambulance chaser... chasing the ambulance.
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tonight a new high for washington. it is official, washington now the second state where people can legally buy recreational marijuana. demand is expected to be huge. one reason is that, as of now, there are only 24 stores in a state of nearly 7 million people. and only one store in the city of seattle, which is sort of a stupendously shocking fact or statist statistic. but now washington looks to be cautiously bringing pot the masses. one california city is actually going to go further. marijuana there is available only for medicinal use is now looking to actually give pot away specifically to the poor. the berkeley city council is expected to approve that plan. are they going way too far too fast? dan simon is "outfront". >> reporter: berkeley long ago cemented its reputation for being one of the most liberal cities in america. today it's living up to that image by giving away free marijuana to the poor in what appears to be the first of its
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kind ordinance nationwide. berkeley will require that its medical marijuana dispensaries provide free cannabis to low income residents which would also include the homeless. is it a good idea to give free cannabis to the homeless? >> when you couch it that way, it sounds peculiar, but we're talking about free medicine. this is medical cannabis. cannabis that's used to relieve pain for glaucoma and heart problems and things of that nature. >> reporter: darrell moore and the entire city council voted in favor of the measure. part of a 20-page ordinance to amend a municipal code. it says that 2% of the dispensary's marijuana should be given to the indigent who still must have a medical marijuana i.d. card or referral from a doctor. but even here in berkeley where we placed an open mike, some worry the new ordinance will lead to abuse. >> berkeley has a terrible homeless problem. it will attract more homeless people to the area.
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i volunteer at the local rehab clinic. i think it will increase the number of drug problems that miss and my colleagues see on a regular basis. >> reporter: low income here is defined as making less than $32,000 a year for an individual and less than $46,000 for a family of four. >> this will open a doorway for people to just get marijuana and sell it as opposed to using it themselves for medicinal purposes. >> reporter: but advocates say this measure is all about compassion by providing medicine to those who can't easily afford it. you might think that a business would be opposed to having to give away their product for free, but here in berkeley, with their medical marijuana dispensaries, that's not the case. in fact one of them, the berkeley patients group where i am has already been doing it for years. >> we recognize that it's difficult for those who are severely ill to keep their employment and maintain their income at a steady pace for them to be able to purchase their medicine.
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>> reporter: the medicine can get expensive. frequent users can easily spend hundreds of dollars or more each month. the dispensary says it's been giving free weed to about 200 of its customers. and the city will even require the free marijuana be the same quality on average that is dispense to other members. in other words, the good stuff, dan simon, cnn berkeley, california. >> out front, bloomberg television anchor trish is author of "joint adventures inside america's almost legal industry." trish, great to see you, as always. you heard dan's report. do you think berkeley went too far here with this issue of free pot? >> erin, it comes down to whether you believe that there is a legitimate use for marijuana for medical purposes. i happen to believe there is, and i think the medical community is pretty united on that, as well.
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so what is interesting here is that if you're someone who can't afford this care because your health insurance won't cover it, medicaid is obviously not going to cover it. berkeley has actually come up with a way to address that problem. >> and, you know, it's interesting when you put it that way and of course, as you point out, you've done this research and seemed to make sense to you and it does to a lot in the medical community. sanjay gupta has come around to that thinking. a lot of people say i wouldn't want to work with someone high on pot. when you think about it, beyond just medicine and as far as society, it doesn't seem to be a society good. >> and that gets into recreational use, which is something that's different, of course, and in this particular case, i think erin, for berkeley, for them to come up with a solution to be able to provide that medical use, if someone is suffering from a debilitating illness, something like cancer and there is a shot this is going to help them deal
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with that because they can't afford it should they not been b able to have access to it, berkeley is trying to figure out a solution to that issue. >> and now, and now washington state. so they are the second state to allow recreational marijuana, but, you know, the amazing statistic we were talking about, there is 24 shops across the state setting it. so what is going to happen there? >> i think you will see more shops come online, more dispensaries, erin, a reason why you have so few is washington put up all kinds of red tape in a way that's more, much more than colorado. colorado has plenty of hurdles that dispensary owners need to get through to open there, but nothing like what we're seeing in washington, and a lot of people say that's really good because as this industry moves out of the shadows and becomes more main stream, you have to have the proper rules in place. you want to make sure the right kinds of laws are on the books and make sure the dispensary
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owners are abiding by all the rules. so they are taking things slow. >> it's probably really good for that one own near seattle, though, right? the supply and demand -- >> absolutely. you can imagine that. you think of a doctor trying to prescribe it. being able to guarantee the quality from dispensary to dispensary at this point doesn't seem there is a regulatory frame work to do that. >> you're absolutely right. that's an issue. as this becomes more main stream, there will be some kind of system in place. you think about the fda, right? we have something to help protect food and drug here in this country but you don't have any of those protections when it comes to marijuana. so the more legit it becomes, hopefully, the more regulation you'll see in place. >> all right, trish thanks very much. when it comes to medical marijuana, the stakes are higher. dr. sanjay gupta is back with a look at the families making
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difficult choices, "weed 2" here on cnn. drivers blasting pedestrians with black smoke. a harmless prank or aggressive sieve protest. jeanne moos investigates. so prepare your car for any road trip by taking it to an expert ford technician. because no matter your destination good maintenance helps you save at the pump. get our multi-point inspection with a synthetic blend oil change, tire rotation, brake inspection and more for $29.95 or less. get a complete vehicle checkup only at your ford dealer.
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drivers paying thousands of dollars to shoot black smoke on the road. what is rolling coal? sounds crazy. for the answer we turn to jeanne moos, of course. >> reporter: holy smoke, there is nothing holy about it. >> do you smoke? >> yeah. >> stand by. >> if you're the one covered in it, volunteer, modifying a truck so it spews exhaust is called rolling coal and there is it's jokingly or not so joking
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recalled. have you ever rolled coal on a prius? >> yes, not purposely because it was a prius, mostly because they were riding my tail. >> reporter: diesel tech seth purr r murray seems to be a good coal roller. he does not blow smoke on motorcycles or bikes. it looks down ride mean. >> i try not to do it to pedestrians standing. >> reporter: that's thoughtful. in the words of the website, rolling coal is pollution porn for dudes with pickup trucks. there are videos posted on youtube blowing smoke on a ferrara and even a police car, this can't be legal. you can't just blow smoke on people, can you? the environmental protection agency says tampering with vehicle pollution controls is against the law. police agencies in virginia were
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totally unaware of rolling coal, though virginia law prohibits installing anything that emits smoke. prius owners like this woman tend to be fed up with idling trucks. >> what's the matter with you? you got to make that much pollution? is it your right? >> reporter: she would blow her stack if the prius was smoke bombed. >> just passed some fine honeys, see if we can't pick them up. y'all want a ride? get on in here. >> reporter: seth likes to roll coal on back roads when nobody is around. his advice to other coal rollers. >> try and do it in good manners. >> reporter: and say excuse me if you accidently belch on another motorists. remember, these are dude who make jokes like i love my truck so much, when i have sex in it, i consider it a three some. this must be an orgy. >> do you smoke?
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you do? enjoy. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. i don't know where to begin with that one. i guess if you're alone on the country road you can roll some coal. wow. i don't know. all right. thanks for watching. we'll see you back here same time, same place tomorrow night. time, same place tomorrow night. "anderson 360" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com president obama unveils his plan for the immigrants coming into the country tonight and this. this is ris sirens as the top cs in iraq come under palestinian targets and later, their son died in a hot car and cooper harris' parents are facing questions about what they said and did afterwards. we'll have full details tonight. we begin with the obama administration's answer to a humanitari
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