-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com this is cnn breaking news. i'm don lemon. breaking news, president barack obama speaks out on the cia torture report, listen to what he said on univision. >> we engaged in some brutal activity after 9/11. >> who knew and when did they know about the agency's so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. is all of this playing into the hands of terrorists? plus, in the wake of massive protests over police killings of black men, some people are asking, where is the president? not in ferguson, not on the front lines of protests. but should he be? is it his job to speak out on race or is president obama getting a bum rap? we've got a debate on that tonight. bill cosby staying silent in

the face of more and more accusations of sexual abuse. you heard some of the women speaking out against him right here last night. their stories are shocking. do any of them have a case against him? how hard is it to prosecute a powerful celebrity? plus, an american couple in prison in the middle east. charged with starving their adopted daughter to death. tonight they tell their incredible story of their fight for freedom and justice. i want to begin with breaking news. protests in the streets of new york city tonight. nick, i understand you're downtown, they're headed to one police plaza, is that correct? >> reporter: yeah, according to one of the leaders in the demonstration, they started at grand central terminal, and they're moving their way slowly toward new york police department headquarters. this is certainly one of the more intimate groups of demonstrators we've seen in the last couple of days. nevertheless, they're still walking in the middle of the street, shutting down traffic, sort of walking against traffic. what we've seen is a peaceful demonstration so far.

they continue the chants on this sort of -- i'll stop so you can listen. talking about taking back their streets, talking about accountability. what they say they want is police reform. they say not so much about race, a black or white thing, they say this is a systemic problem within the new york police department. for the police department's sake, they allowed the demonstrators to fluidly move through the street. everybody has been calm. but as you see here, there's only about 40 or 50 people out in the streets so far. flanked by police officers. they are making their way slowly towards new york police department headquarters. >> nick, thank you very much. we want to turn to the debate over president obama and race. is the commander in chief taking the lead on racial justice in america? should he be? joining me now to talk about this, political commentator, mark lamont hill, and the contributor from the blaze tv. thank you very much for joining us. the president talked to b.e.t.

about race. about the eric garner problem, michael brown case. it's putting the conversation front and center. let's listen, and then we'll talk about it. >> the eric garner video, they're troubled. even if they haven't had that same experience themselves. even if they're not african-american or latino. i think there are probably a lot of police officers who might have looked at that and said that is a tragedy what happened and we've got to figure out how to bring it in to these kinds of tragedies. and the value of peaceful protests, activism, organizing, it reminds the society this is not yet done. >> do you agree with the president, tara? is he striking a new tone on racial issues? >> it's very interesting, if you listen to his entire interview, there's a lot of double speak going on there. i think he's been trying to tread lightly on this issue. i don't think he particularly wants to have this conversation. he's avoided it for most of his

presidency. he's got black politicians that say he hasn't done enough. butt on t but on the other side of it, he says there's this, and then there's that. i think you have to be very careful. he is the president of the united states. that means everyone. he's not the black president of the united states, or a black american. he has to walk a fine line. >> black america is part of america. >> that's true. but he has to be careful that he's not taking sides on something like this, that can divide the country further. >> you have to take a shid. >> no, you can't. you have to think about is what you're saying going to be more divisive or not. >> would it be inappropriate to take a side on gay marriage, inappropriate to take a side -- you know what i'm saying? politicians take positions all

the time. he doesn't have to go out and put every police officer in america on blast. that's my job to do. but what he can say is eric garner dying in the street is wrong, michael brown dying in the street is wrong. we need a systemic change. and i as president will have a -- >> it's the race element of it. you can have a conversation about police brutality. there are plenty of police officers -- >> there's a connection between race and police brutality? >> the bad apples are just jerks, and abuse their power. but there are a lot more police officers that do not do that. that's more important. >> it's not more important than black people dying in the street. >> police officers shooting them. >> they are actually. >> mark, they're -- there are more blacks dies in the street because they're shooting each other. we have to have a balanced debate about this. it's not necessarily about race. >> it is about race.

if black people are dying in the street and white people aren't, it's a race issue. >> there's not a disproportion dying in the streets. >> yes, there are. >> this goes beyond just, we're talking about police brutality, you mentioned, tafis was on last night. he said, blatant disrespect for black life on obama's watch. what will it take for him to step into this moment. he and i had a heated debate last night. it was very heated. listen to it. >> the president goes on b.e.t. to once again to some extent lecture black folks. i frankly don't fancy that. i'm just saying, step into your moment and provide the kind of moral leadership, not a one off here and there on b.e.t. or colbert. provide the kind of conversation, the kind of

leadership, the focus on social justice agenda. >> it sounds you're being extremely hard on the president, because -- >> o come on, don't start that nonsense again, don. >> no, this is not nonsense. as i sit here, we spent three or four minutes, and you haven't said hardly anything positive about what the president is doing. maybe he didn't do it properly in the past. maybe he is stepping into his moment. i hear you saying that, but it sounds like a whole lot of complaining about the president of the united states -- >> don -- >> you don't know the pressures that he's dealing with. >> with all due -- >> that's what you can say -- you can say anything you want. be honest. >> i will be honest with you. that's easy for you to score some points. don got a couple points for playing to a particular audience. >> i'm not sure who i'm playing to there. >> you know what -- >> i thought he said i was playing to the white house.

there are plenty of people in washington the president will speak to. >> i do think there is a space and a need for legitimate principled critique of president obama. sometimes when it comes, people say, you're being too hard on the president. i don't think our job is to be nice. i think our job is to question him and challenge him. >> he said stepping into the moment. when someone says that, i want to hear concrete ideas. i want to hear what you think from the president. what should the president be doing? i think tavis has every right to constructively criticize the president. but don't you think he's stepping into the moment now? don't you think many times we put -- >> no. >> hang on. don't you think many times we have too high of an expectation of what he can do? he talked about it in the b.e.t. interview. he said i cannot look like it is my justice department doing these investigations, i cannot look like i'm putting my thumb on the scales of justice because

it may affect the actual outcome of the investigation. >> that's true. i don't think the president has stepped into the moment. i disagree with tavis on this one point. i don't think b.e.t. is an example of him not stepping into the moment. him saying racism is a deeply entrenched problem in america is like saying the sky is blue and the grass is green. great job, president. but let's change that on a policy front. what he has done is use the really problematic intellectually challenged language. black people feel like this, and white people feel like this. >> that's what i say, i wrote this morning for my editorial, that he's walking a racial tight rope without a net, really. >> you can't do that. >> well, he doesn't have a choice. but that's part of the problem with being president of the united states, that's the challenge. not really a problem, that's the challenge here. what i find interesting about

this discussion is there's absolutely zero self-reflection, 50/50, you know, i don't think this is a national -- the police brutality aspect of this isn't necessarily a nationalized issue. i think it's a community issue and should be addressed from a community per speck tich. you don't want the federal reserve coming in and taking over policing in one feld swoop. >> would you support defunding law enforcement agencies that don't comply with basic rules of protecting people? >> that's what the president said. >> i think that's something that can be looked art. >> that's a federal responsibility. >> but it's not cookie cutter. >> i want to move on. quickly, do you have a problem with the president going on colbert? >> i think he needs -- enough is enough with that. he seems to enjoy that more than being president. >> see? and you were doing so good, and you had to throw that in. >> come on, there are serious issues going on in the world and

he's running around cracking jokes on colbert. >> i had four kids here last night, their father just died, they were laughing and smiling with me. you're not serious all the time. >> i hear you. he's done it a little bit too much. they're doing it as a pr thing -- >> a president doing pr? oh, my god. >> there needs to be more seriousness when it comes to these things. i agree with tavis that the juxtaposition of it wasn't appropriate. >> we look at these students and people marching, young people mostly, of all ethnicities, marching all over the country when it comes to the response of the nypd death, and decision in ferguson. students marched in boston. 123 days since michael brown was shot. almost a week since the decision on garner was released. do you think these protests are going to continue? will this be a tipping point one way or another? >> i hope it will.

these young people are courageous. they have an intellectual and moral and political vision that i haven't seen from this generation organized on the ground up to this point. i'm inspired by it. the key is not just to march, shut things down, to link it to a policy agenda. we want community-based policing. >> i think you have it open-ended, it's to what end. if you see policy prescriptions coming out of it, they're doing a good thing if they're not going violent. when we come back, shocking details from the cia torture report. president obama calls the agency's post-9/11 tactics brutal. is all of this playing into the hands of terrorists? plus you heard bill cosby's accusers here last night. do they have a legal case against him? i'm going to ask my expert. an american couple in the prison in the middle east falsely accused of starving their daughter to death. denver international is one of the busiest airports

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the senate's explosive cia torture report is full of shocking details. mock executions, sleep deprivation, and one occasion in which frigid temperatures apparently led to the death of a chained half naked detainee. thousands of marines at diplomatic posts around the world are on high alert amid fears of graphic details of how the detainees were treated, could spark a violent backlash. joining me now is michael, political commentator.

the torture was brutal, the detainees were waterboarded, and others were fed rectally. it didn't even produce intelligence. they strongly disagree with these assessments. do you believe that these tactics were needed? >> i think there are two sides to this. i think tomorrow, for example, in the "washington post," you're going to read from john mclauk lan, the acting director of the cia in 2004 and deputy director for a four-year time period at the critical sequence, and he will make the case that indeed they did work. jose rodriguez was in charge of the harsh interrogation methods. he's been a frequent guest on my radio program. he makes a compelling argument they did provide actionable intelligence.

this is what it looks like when sausage is made, but i'm willing to listen to both sides and not write off the tactics that are utilized. >> you sound a bit like john mccain. he's saying, listen, it's tough, but the american public should know. >> i think i'd go a step further than john mccain. i say to myself, what if it were september 10th, and what if there were actionable intelligence, someone possessed information that there was a catastrophe coming to the united states the following day. who among us would say, stop after you can't peacefully coerce the information from them. i can tell you, don, i would be saying any means necessary, whatever it takes to avert a september 11th-like activity, you've got to do it. >> president obama had an interview with univision tonight. he had this to say about releasing the report to the public. >> we've taken precautionary measures in our embassies and around the world. there's never a perfect time to release a report like this.

but it was important for us, i think, to recognize that part of what sets us apart is when we do something wrong, we acknowledge it. >> so do you think that, number one, the report should have been released at this point, because some people are concerned about the timing. but you don't see these practices as mistakes. >> i think there were plenty of mistakes made. i spent the entire afternoon getting through as much of the 500 pages as i possibly could do. but look, i find it difficult to believe that there was this cell within the cia of masochists who saw september 11th as their opportunity to repurpose the agency. i'm inclined to believe these are good people thrown into an untenable situation for which there was no blueprint. they had no experience. but they were the only game in town. and i also say, don, i don't think they would have used these methods unless they really believed that they were working. what else would be the justification for doing so?

i can't find one. >> the brutality, michael, is shocking. it was all information kept from congress. the bush white house, even george w. bush's own secretary of state talked about that. let's listen to diane feinstein. >> there are cia records stating that colin powell wasn't told about the program at first. because there were concerns that, and i quote, powell would blow his stack if he were briefed. >> shouldn't people at the top know what's going on? how can they be left in the dark, michael? >> don, i don't think they wanted to be in the loop on this. in reading the report today, one of the lines that jumped off the page at me was a line that said that president bush specifically asked not to be made aware of the locations of the so-called dark sides. the justification that he offered is he didn't want to inadvertently give up that information. and when i read it, i said to

myself, well, how convenient. i'm sure they all wanted to stay as far removed as possible. some described this as a rogue operation. i think it was, this is pure speculation on my part, but i think it was rogue by design. nasty stuff needed to take place in the aftermath of september 11th. people at the top, frankly, didn't want to be aware of the specifics. >> interesting. you know, this report also named some of the interrogators. do you think their names should have been kept private or does the public have a right to know? >> i was really surprised. that was something that took me aback that i tweeted about today. because i expected to see a whole host of redactions. and there were some. i think only about 15% of the report. but man, there were names in that report. there were names that i recognized in that report. there are names of individuals that come on this network and offer commentary. >> right. >> i am fearful for them. i'm very worried about those individuals. and yes, i am questioning why that needed to be the case. >> michael, thank you. we'll be watching this weekend.

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no reaction today from bill cosby to the mounting allegations of sexual assault. last night right here, six women accused the comic legend of that. so where does it all go from here? for cosby? or his accusers as a matter of fact? joining me is lisa bloom, the legal analyst, and founder of the bloom firm. andev and jeffrey toobin. i spoke to a number of bill cosby accusers yesterday. i want to play part of that interview and then i'll talk about it. >> how many of you, show of hands, have tried to get money out of bill cosby? none of you. how many of you would ever take money from bill cosby? >> interesting. >> people claim they are in it

for money. they've never tried to get money from him. >> he gave me 20 bucks to call a cab. and gave me 20 bucks for the cab. >> to me, it would be a form of contempt from him. >> and it's not about sex, it's about power. >> he's a predator. he goes after women. >> lisa, you know, they say they don't want money from him. but do they have any legal recourse at this point? >> they only have legal recourse in california, if they were sexually assaulted, under the age of 18. if that's the case, they can go to the police. the police can take a report at any age, and then they have one year to prosecute. that's california law. and you can bring a civil case for child sexual abuse within three years of the time you connect the dots between the abuse and the injury. so one of bill cosby's accusers have done just that, she's brought a civil case 40 years later. we'll see how that shakes out in the court system. >> does he have any legal

recourse, jeffrey? >> he? if i were him, i'd stay away from every courtroom i could possibly go to. you know, i don't think he is going to -- the idea is he could sue some of these women for defamation. forget it. he's not going to do that. i think he's got no choice but to continue what he's doing now. which is saying nothing. because if he responds to one woman, he's got to respond to 15. and there's no way he's going to address each of their allegations individually. so i think he's just got to brazen it out. and be the discredited figure that he is. >> because if he responds to one, he opens a pandora's box. many of these women have lawyered up. your mother, gloria allred, representing one of the victims. if the statute of limitations is over, what can they accomplish? i know part of your mom's lawsuit is that they remove, or the statute of limitations, or

forgo it in some way. what happens if ethe statute of limitations has run out? >> jeffrey mentions defamation, cosby could sue for lef mags. his lawyers have threatened that a number of times, but it's never happened. those accusers that cosby has called liars, now have fresh claims against him for defamation. if they want to go to court and say, truth is an absolute defense. he's defamed me by calling me a lawyer. i know janice dickinson has been called a liar by them. and others have as well. so they could bring claims for defamation. but the bigger picture is probably most of these women do have time barred claims. i don't speak for my mother. we have separate law firms. she's more than capable of speaking for herself. i think what most of the accusers want is an apology, get out from under gag orders.

gag orders are destructive to rape victims. >> i was very struck by your interview last night. in all these women saying, oh, i wouldn't take money. >> why get a lawyer? >> you know what, no, it's like, what's so terrible about suing someone if they do something horrible to you? you know, if someone i knew or loved was assaulted by bill cosby, i'd want to take him for every last dime he has. so this idea that there is something noble, or to put it a different way, something seedy about trying to be compensated when someone has done something horrible to you, i just think that's a kind of form of argument that i don't buy. >> i thought the same thing as it was going on. >> that's all the system gives them at this point. >> these are all claims, right? and bill cosby has denied those claims. but if the claims are true, jeffrey, i was thinking the same thing, i wouldn't think any less of anyone who was trying to get compensation for these women, if they were trying to get compensation. that speaks to the next sound

byte that we have here. listen to this, and then we'll talk about it. >> we suffered hundreds, collectively, hundreds of years of horrible intestinal, emotional strife because of what this man put all of us through. and the hundreds that haven't come forward yet. i want him to suffer, suffer like we've all suffered all these years. you can ask any of these women, how were your relationships? how were your marriages? how were your jobs? how was your psyche? >> that's a very compelling -- i mean, if it ever got to a court of law, that would be very compelling. lisa, what's your reaction? >> yes, that would be part of their damages in a civil case. look, i think we can all agree that real justice for someone who is a rapist would be going to prison. especially for a serial rapist. the real problem here in my view is, the statute of limitations, there should not be a statute of limitations for rape.

many years later, if a woman gets healthy, she gets strong, she's able to come forward and speak out, she should be entitled to her day in court. yes, it's more difficult to prove ten years, 20 years, 30 years later. but let her try. let her have her day in court. if we as a culture take rape seriously. >> i disagree with that. i think the statute of limitations exists to protect the innocent. and the idea that you can be hauled into court 30 years later and have a trial about like, where were you on the night of september 3rd, 1980? who the heck knows where anybody was on september 3rd, 1980. i think, you know, i don't mean to defend rapists or defend bill cosby if he's guilty, but the idea that there should be no statute of limitations seems to me too far. >> and speaking of -- >> she still has to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. >> speaking of wanting someone to suffer, right? you heard one of the ladies say that. listen to this next sound byte.

many believe the suffering is now. here it is. >> what i want to happen to bill cosby is happening. >> and what is that? >> for him to lose face with the public. i had said that i'd lost my anger towards the man, and the resentment towards the man, but i wonder if that's really because of what's happening to him now. because this is what i dreamt. this is what i dreamt of for years. >> they call that karma. >> that's right. >> we're being restored, lives are being restored. >> we're being validated for the first time. we're validated. >> lisa, you said clearly, you know, justice or punishment for anyone who is guilty of rape would be going to prison. but if you're someone who is in the public eye, and high stature and respect as bill cosby to have this, isn't this a fate worse than prison or death? >> no, it's not worse than prison. still being a multimillionaire, surrounded by a life of luxury,

no its it's not. some of these women did go to the police at the time and were discouraged by lawyers, agents, managers. shame on them. but this is a very common story for women, when it's not involved with a celebrity. many people tell women, don't go to the police in a rape case. this is the result. women never forget about being raped. 40 years later, it's still with them. hopefully many can move on and still have productive lives. i think these women tell very compelling stories. >> i want to put this in here. his tv projects were canceled, universities cut ties with him. we've seen many celebrities from, you know, back in the day coming out and saying, we didn't know. you know, this was happening and backing away from him. on to the point about being a fate worse than prison or death, you say no? >> don, you've obviously never been in an american prison. >> no. that's just a phrase. >> the idea that, you know, people saying mean things about

you on twitter isn't in any way comparable to going to an american prison. i mean, lisa's right. if he is guilty of rape, every day he has been free is a disgrace over these past decades. that's what he deserves if he's guilty. he deserves to be in prison. sure, it's unpleasant to have people say bad things. he's had some dates canceled. but he's 77 years old. he's not going to be performing that much longer anyway. to say this fate is at all deserving of -- if he's guilty of these huge number of crimes, is really, really off base here. >> you understand that's just an expression that i'm using. >> i know. >> okay. good. i'm glad you know that. how difficult is it, i want to get to that, to prosecute someone like bill cosby? lisa, quickly? >> it's very difficult. because they have all the money and the resources in the world. they're going to put the victim

through the wringer. that's why women are discouraged. they shouldn't be. they should go to the police, they should, frankly, get a lawyer and go to the police. they shouldn't have to tell their story over and over again because the defense will look for inconsistencies. they should get their story together so they can tell it in a cogent way. they're shocked and horrified. the last thing they want to do is go to the police and tell their story. but going up against a celebrity, it's very difficult. it's why people get lawyers like gloria allred or like me because they want to equal the playing field. >> they should do it as soon as possible. i know that's very difficult, because the closer to the event, the more traumatized victims are. but unfortunately, doing it 10, 20, 30 years later, it's just -- the legal system is not set up to deal with those sort of late discoveries. >> but it can be done. i've brought those cases. >> these are different times. back then it was -- those were different times. bill cosby, a huge celebrity.

many people were intimidated by him, as you heard from the ladies there. thank you very much. appreciate that. california couple convicted and imprisoned in the middle east in the death of their child. freed tonight. matthew and grace wong. they'll talk to me about their ordeal in an exclusive primetime interview. that's next. ♪ ah, push it. ♪ ♪ push it. ♪ p...push it real good! ♪ ♪ ow! ♪ oooh baby baby...baby baby. if you're salt-n-pepa, you tell people to push it. ♪ push it real good. it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. i'm pushing. i'm pushing it real good! [ male announcer ] you wouldn't ignore signs of damage in your home. are you sure you're not ignoring them in your body? even if you're treating your crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis,

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matthew and grace wong are a los angeles couple who have been living a nightmare. they just returned to the u.s. after being convicted in the death of their adopted daughter and spending nearly a year in prison in qatar. cnn's stephanie elam has their story tonight. >> reporter: for matthew and grace wong, the two-year ordeal is finally over. >> the situation this past two years has been extremely difficult. but it's taught us a lot about patience and trusting in god. >> reporter: the huangs are home in california with family and friends. but the pain of losing a child is still fresh. >> we do not know how she died. >> reporter: grief made worse by an international legal nightmare.

while living in qatar for matthew's job, the couple's 8-year-old adopted daughter gloria dies in january of 2013. matthew recounts to cbs the last moments of their daughter's life. >> gloria was on the floor, foaming at the mouth. so i took her immediately to the emergency room. they did about 40 minutes of cpr. then they told me that gloria had passed away. >> reporter: they were arrested, charged with starving gloria to death. the couple spends almost a year in prison before being released on bail in november of last year. fired from his job, the huangs survive on donations from family and friends. they said gloria had an eating disorder before they adopted her from ghana. but they said they're nothing more than human traffickers who bought her cheaply from her poverty stricken birth parents. they were sentenced to three

years in prison. matthew releasing this statement. quote, we have just been wrongfully convicted and we feel as if we are being kidnapped by the qatar judicial system. the couple's other two children, boys also adopted from africa, are put in an orphanage after their parents 'aarrest, before eventually moving to live with grace's mother in the united states. the couple files an appeal. on november 30th, a break. an appeals judge in qatar clears matthew and grace of gloria's death. citing weak forensic reports, and testimony from witnesses who say the child was not deprived. yet the parents face another hurdle. in a phone interview with cnn, matthew speaks of their freedom deferred. >> we were declared innocent by the judge this morning, and told that we may leave the country. however, we came to the airport. they would not allow us to go through immigration. they confiscated our passports. we were told the attorney

general's office issued a warrant for our arrest. >> reporter: the delay proves temporary, and three days later, the huangs leave qatar. family spokesman tweeting this picture on the plane and this message, quote, thank you to all the silent heroes on this one. wheels are up. stephanie elam, cnn, los angeles. >> what a moment that must have been. joining me now in an exclusive primetime interview, grace and matthew and the spokesman for the family who's managing director of david house agency and international crisis resource agency. thank you for joining us here in new york. also, thank you guys from joining us from l.a. how are you both doing tonight? >> we're glad to be here. we're glad to be back in the u.s. with our family, with our sons. >> grace, why do you think your daughter grace passed away? >> we still don't know.

we did not ever get a proper autopsy from the hospital. and they made so many mistakes on the autopsy. and accused of us of crimes. even to this day we don't know the cause of her death. >> it is an unbelievable story to listen to how it unfolded. grace, you really had a hard time convincing the officials in qatar that your children were indeed yours, because they are adopted. tell us what that was like for you. >> when the investigator came in and talked to me, he wanted to know how i was related to these children, and i said, i'm their mom. and he said, no, they're not. they're not your children. i said, yes, i'm their mom. he said, no, you're not. because you're different colors. and that happened again in court.

i get asked, are you the real mom? i would say yes. and that's just not believable to them. >> matthew, being in a qatari prison, you were separated from each other. that must have been extremely traumatic for you. >> it was very difficult. we were unable to see each other. we were unable to communicate. my wife and i were unable to pass letters. and i think prison was probably one of the hardest experiences of my life. >> grace, how about you. >> it was just so hard to be separated from my whole family, my husband, and the kids. just being unable to do anything about it. >> grace, matthew, eric, stand by. i know there's much, much more to this story that we want to talk about. when we come back, i want to talk about how you guys are putting your lives back together, and i want to talk to eric about what kind of people

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nightmare, falsely accused of

killing their daughter and imprisoned in the middle east. joining me now is grace and matthew huang and eric voles. grace, do you feel like you were able to properly grieve your daughter, gloria? >> no. we took her to the hospital, and then we did not -- then we were directly put into prison right after that. and all this -- and then there's this legal battle. no, we haven't really been able to grieve gloria. and to just remember -- remember how special she was to all of us. instead, we're facing all these -- we have a case to deal with. >> do you feel like the government, either one of you, the government -- the u.s. government did enough to help you?

>> i feel like the u.s. government took a long time to respo respond, a little bit, but way too late. they could have done a lot more a lot earlier. we know that there are individuals in the u.s. government who worked very hard on our behalf. but i feel like the u.s. government was trying to play political games in order to protect their relationship with the country of qatar rather than actually focusing on and doing the right thing to support their citizens in prison abroad. >> this is a real-life nightmare, eric. i can't even imagine. i can't fathom everything they went through. >> yeah, this is happening all over. families are thrust to the forefront of these cases, forced to deal with negotiations, politics, media. there's proof of innocence in the huang's case. also the u.s. state department.

and one of the things that their story really highlights is that when the state department doesn't take the right steps, and doesn't send the right message, they're actually giving permission for rogue prosecutors to institutionally kidnap americans and use them for political bargaining chips like they did with the huangs. >> i asked them if they thought the u.s. government had done enough to get them out of prison, so what needs to be done to rectify, to keep this from happening again? as you say, it's happening more than we know. >> let me give you a quick example. the day that the huangs were evicted, the u.s. announced a $1 billion arms deal. while they were telling the huang family they were doing everything they could to secure their release, president obama thanked the qatar government for the bergdahl swap. what that does is tells governments there won't be any

cons fence for mistreating americans and having them wrongfully imprisoned. there really wasn't a cost. so that's why this took so long for it to be resolved. >> let's talk about your own story. because you know this all too well. >> absolutely. well, i came into this work, it happened to me. i was wrongfully imprisoned in central america many years ago. but like many americans who are traveling, investing, studying abroad, falling in love overseas, i found myself accused of a crime i didn't commit. a legal system that didn't make sense. the u.s. government wasn't giving me really good advice. big washington law firms didn't understand the nuances culturally. it really ended up being my family having to go through a learning curve. and that's what we do at the davis houd agency. we help shorten the learning curve for families. >> who worked behind the scenes? >> about 80 people. >> you could use more help.

>> absolutely. a tremendous amount of support from the innocence community and human rights and private specialists. >> before i went to break i said i wanted to talk to you about what kind of people they are. >> i have never worked for a family like this. everyone who's worked on this case has been filled with a spirit of just, you know, deep passion for them. they really have woven their lives into the needs of others. that's why they adopted. and the irany is they were accused of being human traffickers. >> matthew and grace, this is the season for family now. as you know, you don't have your daughter gloria, but you have your other children. what will you do over -- how will you handle the next couple of weeks? and your lives moving forward? >> we're just going a day at a time right now. we're enjoying being with our sons. we're just spending time hanging out right now. and enjoying board games and

reading together, and just giving lots of hugs. >> matthew? >> we're just enjoying our time as a family. as grace said, this is just the time for us to renew our family, rebuild our family again. and we don't know what the future holds. but we know that god holds the future. and we're just excited to be back together again. >> matthew, grace, wish you the best of luck. eric, thank you. appreciate it. >> thank you. we'll be right back. so many gifts to buy at so many stores. too bad some cash back cards only let you earn bonus cash back at a few places. then those categories change every few months. sometimes it's drug stores, then it's hardware stores. nothing says "happy holidays" like a shovel. fortunately there's the quicksilver card from capital one. with quicksilver you earn unlimited 1.5% cash back

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thanks for watching. see you back here tomorrow night. "ac 360" starts right now. good evening. thanks for joining us. we begin with a stunning new report on the use of torture, not by some middle east dictator, but by the united states government. published after years of research and accounts by many in the government and a scathing review of interrogation techniques used after 9/11. the senate intelligence committee concluding the methods of torture were far more extensive than previously known, more brutal than officials have said, and that they didn't work. also detailed today how high-levelff