tv Anderson Cooper 360 CNN March 11, 2015 5:00pm-6:01pm PDT
5:00 pm
ey at infrastructure. and this isn't what causes potholes. jeanne moos cnn, new york. >> she stole my pothole joke. i had that earlier. thank you so much for joining us. "ac360" starts right now. hey, good evening. thanks for joining us. a very full night ahead starting with four words: secret service and not again. yep. another embarrassing incident from the outfit that let the guy jump the fence and allow someone else to take shots and someone else fly a drone on the grounds of the white house. another incident from the agency that just replaced its director and appeared to be cleaning house. this latest chapter involves two agents their car wreck at the white house allegedly booze. michelle kosinski not far from the white house. it's pretty incredible the details emerging. >> reporter: the secret service isn't confirming any of these
5:01 pm
details that have come out. they broke the story. but the secret service isn't disputing any of these facts either. what the article is saying about a week ago on march 4th these two top agents i mean one of them was the number two agent in the president's protective detail and the other was the supervisor. they were coming back from a party, a work party. the theretirement of the spokesperson of the secret service. they were drinking at the party and there was an investigation going on a suspicious package. inexplicably they showed their badges but then drove right through the tape and crashed their government car into a temporary barricade that had been set up. to make this even stranger, the allegation is also that officers at the scene there did not only want to arrest these agents or test them if they're sober or not but the supervisor ordered them to be allowed to go on. >> so uniformed officers at the scene were the ones who wanted
5:02 pm
to give them an alcohol test? >> reporter: yeah exactly. it's unclear if those officers were within the secret service, were they park service? i mean both of these are patrolling around the white house but that's what the article alleges. the secret service isn't confirming anything or giving any more detail. they're only saying as of now, these have been named publicly in the "washington post" article have been reassigned. it's a non-operational capacity as the secret service puts it and they're not saying it's temporary, pending the outcome of the investigation. they say not to say that but not confirming this is a permanent reassignment either. what it is it seems like another embarrassment, possibly another full blown scandal for the secret service, anderson. >> in the past, when something happened often, we did not, the public did not get statements from the secret service or the full account of the secret service until much later on. the guy ran into the white house, turns out he made it into
5:03 pm
the east room as i remember. >> reporter: that's the worry. it's only coming out now where this incident happened on march 4th. this is the first we're hearing any detail. why the secret service doesn't put out some kind of press release, fyi, this has been sent to investigation. the department of homeland security is now handling this. this is a pretty high level incident. it's bearing a high level investigation but we're still not getting much information at all from the secret service, unfortunately. >> fascinating. michelle kosinski appreciate it. joining us now of the "washington post" that broke this story and former fbi director tom fentes and former secret agent, jonathan wakro. he knows the two agents involved, but we're not naming. carol, what additional details do you have on the sequence of events? have the agents finished their shift at the white house and then gone to this party? do we know? >> we don't know if they were on
5:04 pm
duty or not, but you would presume that people going to a retirement party at a bar in downtown washington were pretty much done for the night. my information from sources is that they were returning from this party fairly late somewhere around 10:00, 10:30 at night. went back to get one of the government cars. i believe one of them mr. ovalbee, is driving out of the white house compound kind of near 15th street according to the sources that have talked to us about this when he comes across a barrier where secret service officers and the metropolitan police department are canvassing and securing a scene because of a suspicious package that they're worried about. and again, according to the sources, the allegations that are under investigation are that these two gentlemen appeared intoxicated, were behaving in an erratic fashion. that's not known at this point whether they were or they
5:05 pm
weren't, but the reports from the scene were that they were behaving strangely enough that officers both from the secret service and the metropolitan police department were sort of scratching their heads saying this looks funny bhastwhat's going on here? >> and michelle was saying it's not clear who wanted to give a breathalyzer. is that your understanding, was it secret service agents that wanted to give their fell secret service agents a breathalyzer or was it a uniformed officer? >> keep in mind the secret service officers that are sort of the pad list guards if you will for the white house, they don't necessarily view themselves as the brethren of the secret service agents, agents special agents often, and the officers are sort of officers feel they're a second redheaded stepsister stepchild, in the agency and they often view the agents as an elite group that view themselves a little bit more high and mighty. so that's an issue for the
5:06 pm
service to deal with and for director clancy to deal with too, but our information is that officers on the scene, secret service officers were the ones wondering, should we be testing these guys and arresting them for what's happened here? keep in mind as many readers and viewers have mentioned to me that in 2013 when a civilian ran a temporary barricade, a very different situation, much more aggressive situation and worrisome one, but when a civilian did that she was chased by police and shot at. >> hmm. and jonathan you were on the president's secret service detail i understand you know the two agents in question again, who we're not naming at this time. what do you make of all this? >> first of all, the two agents and i just want to go back to what michelle stated these are not facts. i hope rumor is not preceding the facts in this case. but in what's been reported it
5:07 pm
looks like these agents made a fatal error in judgment, if the facts are true. >> jonathan why wouldn't the secret service release some facts? i mean it's been now quite a while and, you know, nothing is wrong with transparency. >> no absolutely nothing is wrong with transparency and i think that's what a lot of people have been calling for with joe clancy now installed as the new director but facts take a little while to develop and they're not always as clear as black and white. there's a totality of circumstances that go on. you have to look at what was going on at that time. at the time the white house was in an elevated state, they were in an elevated condition because of an incident that was ongoing, so the attention by the officers whether it was the uniform division or the metropolitan police was focused on the initial incident not
5:08 pm
these two agents at the time. so separating the facts in this case may take a little bit of time. >> tom fentes what about that? to the point that carol made somebody else a civilian running a barricade, you know, gets shot and killed and from my memory police are relatively quick to release details on what they knew and what exactly happened. why is it different for law enforcement? >> well one reason it's different is that the people involved in this are not killed and they're still alive and under investigation. and, you know, the transparency could have been that the secret service announced that they had an incident, who was involved they're placed on leave, reassigned temporarily for now, while the department of homeland security office and inspector general conducts the investigation. then you would have no real transparency during the course of the investigation, and that will probably include finding every person that was at the
5:09 pm
original party to try and determine what they were drinking how much they drank, take signed and sworn statements there from the party and the white house, the entire incident that happened the driving through the barricade, the witness statements of each of the officers. so it's going to be a little bit of an involved investigation and probably during that time, you know there won't be a lot of transparency. and i'd like to add. the inspector general's office will not be under the control in any way, shape, or form of the director of the secret service. so that's, you know they're under the control of the department of homeland security and congress and it will be an independent investigation to look into this misconduct. >> tom fuentes, i appreciate you being on and carol, and jonathan wakro. before this report on racism in the department the report after first firing police chief thomas jackson has today resigned.
5:10 pm
he's leaving next thursday walks away with severance money and health benefits in the d.o.j. report as working with the local to separate people mainly african-american people from their money. chief jackson was not on hand for a news conference at city hall late today. ferguson mayor, james knowles, had this to say. >> to ferguson residents, business owners and to the entire country, the city of ferguson looks to become an example of how a community can move forward in the face of adversity. we are committed to keeping our police department and having one that exhibits the highest degree of professionalism and fairness. >> joining us now, sara sidner who spent long hours trying to get answers from chief jackson very recently as a matter of fact. it certainly seems like this was a long time coming. >> you know, for a lot of people they've been asking for his resignation. not everyone in the community, there are those who want him to stay but those out on a daily
5:11 pm
basis protesting they asked him to step down. he was the number one target. >> it was really his handling in those early days which received so much criticism. >> absolutely. so mistakes were made. later he come back and say, i probably shouldn't have done this this way. this might have been wrong, when for example, the department at his behest put out the video of michael brown. at the same time they released to the officer. no one knew that name for almost a week and everyone was saying with everything justified, why aren't you releasing the name of the officer? they did that and then they put out pictures of michael brown at the convenience store taking the cigarillos and pushing the clerk. all that happened at once. wait a minute you're victimizing the victim here. >> it was interesting though. when that d.o.j. report came out, the mayor, who's a part-time official he had to go out and get the press conference and the police chief, you would
5:12 pm
think anybody who has some questions to answer about what's in that report it would be the chief of police and the car, tried to get him to talk. he basically said i'm still analyzing it. >> right. i'm still analyzing it and i'll let you know. he has let us know. he has now resigned. but what's interesting anderson the chief, the city manager, two officers a captain and a sergeant a county clerk, the clerk of the courts all are gone. all of them by the way, are mentioned in that report. the mayor is not mentioned in that report. the city manager and chief were expressly mentioned because their e-mails were mentioned in the report. so what you're seeing now is that one by one, those whose names and e-mails in that report are going whether it's resigning, four resigned and one was fired. >> severance for a year? >> he gets severance and insurance for a year. so does the city manager. the city manager, we heard in that press conference from the mayor he also gets severance for one year. >> and they say they're now going to have a nationwide hunt
5:13 pm
for a new police chief. we'll see what happens and whether there is fundamental change in an overwhelming white department in 67% african-american community. set your dvr. watch "360" whenever you want. will more get expelled for this racist chant? i asked david bourne in his first national interview since kicking two of these kids out. and what could be next for aaron schock the one with the downton abbey inspired office and private trips? taxpayers, by the way, footed the bill. see what happened when we tried to ask the congressman to account for it all. fact. fast-acting advil is designed with an ultra-thin coating and fast absorbing advil ion core technology stopping headaches and other tough pain. fast. relief doesn't get any better than this. advil.
5:14 pm
meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. supporting millions of new jobs. billions in tax revenue... and a new century of american energy security. the new energy superpower? it's red, white and blue. log on to learn more.
5:16 pm
5:17 pm
sooners, in duct tape with unheard written on them. symbolic protesters say, of long standing silence at ou of racism on campus. in a moment the university president says the silence is not an option. but sigma alpha epsilon said the racist chant that got the local chapter closed it was nothing new. it was sung by sae brothers for three or four years. >> there will never be a [ bleep ] at sae. >> as you know, two frat brothers have been expelled from ou. more expulsions could be coming. we spoke with the man who ordered them david bor. so president bourne, saying that racist chant has been used at their chapter at your university for three to four years.
5:18 pm
i'm wondering what your reaction to that is. >> i'm really shocked about that and we're hearing rumors that it's been used at other chapters as well. it might have been sung at national conventions and national meetings at the fraternity. you know it's very hard in this day and time because the outside world on us. when ferguson happens, it upsets our students. when things happen in other places they bring it from the rest of society in here. it makes it even harder to deal with these types of situations. but we've been hearing rumors that it's been here. we haven't known about it at all. i guess it's been kept under wraps and that it's been other places as well. that's deeply disturbing. >> do you expect there will be more disciplinary action beyond the two young man so far? >> yes, i do. we're collecting names and information. the video is a little hard to see, but we're going to get the names of the other individuals
5:19 pm
from sae who were on the bus. we're looking at the responsibility of chapter leaders, officers of the fraternity to see if they're responsible for teaching it to new students in the fraternity. and once we get all of that information together and we analyze it and also look at the law, i do anticipate that we will be taking additional appropriate action at the right time. >> perhaps more expulsion? >> it could be more expulsions, there could be suspensions. in a case like this we have to be very careful and look at the individual rights of every person involved. i really think we have to show in the strongest possible terms, even in our social conversations, we're not going to put up with racist comments racist jokes. we've got to stop. it's an epidemic in this country and we celebrate selma and we think those kind of things are over with. and yet we see it. they may be more subtle. they may be in different forms.
5:20 pm
but we see the same kind of racism in our current society and i don't think it's going to stop until all of us, individually and collectively say, not with us. not my presence. not here you're not going to do things like that. >> you're in a difficult spot. as abhorrent as what these students said it's protected by the first amendment and that by being expelled these students are essentially having their constitutional rights violated. to that what do you say? >> anderson i don't think so at all. we were very careful from the very beginning and section 6, title of the civil rights act of 1964 provides that when you create a hostile learning environment, that's a misuse of your free speech. and aclu representatives indicated strong support for our actions. we provided due process in the expulsion letters, for example, that i sent to the two students
5:21 pm
that have already received them. we've provided a process. you are hereby notified you're expelled. you come to the office and they contact that office within a certain number of days and if you want it to be heard and want to bring your attorney and want to tell us why your action is contested by you, or deemed inappropriate, you'll have due process opportunity to do that. so i'm a great believer in free speech even at times when you abuse free speech and then i think we have to use our own free speech to condemn it. but in this case you're creating a very hostile educational environment that's right on all fours with the civil rights act. and i think we've struck the appropriate balance here. >> even though the speech itself took place off campus, on a bus, not in an educational setting, per se? >> i think so because it's chartered by the university in other words, we charter that chapter and it has an affiliation with the university.
5:22 pm
so i think that we can't close our eyes and say, well it's not officially on the campus, and so therefore we can't do anything about it because it greatly impacts every student and obviously kids on the bus. every kid on the campus all of the faculty read it all of us affected by it and i think that does create a hostile environment. if you can see the tears that have been shed by those who really suffered pain because of those expressions, hang somebody by a tree. i mean i thought we wouldn't hear that again in america ever and then we'll never sign them we're going to exclude them. those are things we just can't allow and i don't think that's constitutionally protecting speech. we give due process, but at the same time we can't put up with it. we have to take action to snuff it out right away. >> president borodin, i appreciate your time. >> thank you so much anderson.
5:23 pm
>> one final note. we wanted to get sae's reaction to the rumors of other chapters around the country using that racist chant and sung at the national convention. the president's use of the word rumors is problematic because rumors and stories change as they are told one minute to the next. regardless we continue to investigate where and how this racist chant from the video made its way into our fraternity statement. yeah denial? not exactly. ahead, the search for wreckage and remains after a military chopper goes down with foggy conditions in the florida panhandle and a cnn exclusive tonight. osama bin laden before the 9/11 attacks. this is secrets revealed, adopted by seal team six.
5:24 pm
financial noise financial noise financial noise financial noise the real question that needs to be asked is "what is it that we can do that is impactful?" what the cloud enables is computing to empower cancer researchers. it used to take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome; with the microsoft cloud we can analyze 100 per day. whatever i can do to help compute
5:25 pm
a cure for cancer, that's what i'd like to do. the garden is the story of our lives... told and retold. it's as old as our time on earth. and as new as tomorrow. you can have a yard. or slightly less. gardening isn't about where we choose to live. it's about how we choose to live. miracle-gro. life starts here.
5:27 pm
5:28 pm
it was watchshed up with human remains. obviously, an incredibly difficult day. what's the latest on the search? >> reporter: oh anderson it has been a very difficult day. talking to members of the military you can just see it on their faces. it's been 23 hours since the black hawk helicopter went down and unfortunately, they've had to suspend the helicopter part of the search and rescue. they have three coast guard vessels in the water actively doing search and rescue. and meanwhile, the louisiana national guard and the marines have been out there informing families that their loved ones are missing. we do know these men were very experienced at what they did, that they do these kind of training exercises all the time one after another here in elgin. so it's not clear what went wrong. what thing is clear, the training exercise involved taking men from the helicopter on the boat and lifting them back up to the helicopter. so these helicopters were quite
5:29 pm
low down to the water. >> is it clear, i mean, whether the conditions were very foggy, do we know if that in any way contributed to the crash? >> reporter: they haven't said what they think caused the crash. it's hard to believe though that the fog wasn't a part of it. it was heavy last night. it continues to be heavy. you can see it here today. we had difficulty flying down here today because of the fog. it's hard to believe that it didn't play a role. >> just horrible for their families and friends. tonight, an exclusive new look at osama bin laden and the months leading up to his death by seal team six. paint a picture of a man in fear in stark contrast to never before seen photos of bin laden from 1996 which have been exclusively obtained by cnn. here's our justice correspondent, pamela brown. >> reporter: these remarkable pictures have never been seen until now, obtained by cnn, show
5:30 pm
a smiling osama bin laden in the mountains of afghanistan, five years before launching the biggest terror attack in american history. >> when i met him, when i introduced him, yes, he hated america, he hated american policies and the middle east. but never occurred to me that he would be planning for 11th of september attacks. >> reporter: altwan the first person to interview osama bin laden, took many of these exclusive pictures seen here with a high-ranking al qaeda jihadist who was there during the interview. after a harrowing journey through the mountains, altwan arrived at the retreat under heavy security. >> i remember there was a military maneuver half an hour after i arrived there and why is that? because we were scared the american could follow you and that they could actually bomb us. >> reporter: cnn has obtained these photos at the same time
5:31 pm
the world is learning more about the al qaeda mastermind from letters and documents found in his compound by seal team six the night he was killed. those documents were released in a federal terror trial paint the man increasingly fearful of drone strikes and concern about his crumbling organization but altwan said he saw a very different young man in the '90s. >> he is very humble and he is like everybody else around him, despite being a very wealthy man, his clothes were very modest. his food was actually very very primitive food. it was just the fried eggs and some rotten cheese. >> reporter: despite his modesty, bin laden liked to show off his prized possessions like the rifle he was carrying in this picture. >> he showed me his rifle, actually. he said he's proud of this rifle because he captured it from a soviet general he killed. >> reporter: this picture
5:32 pm
captures bin laden giving altwan a tour of the land he was so proud of. that would later become his safe haven right after 9/11. >> in the mountains of turabura and he was very active. >> reporter: he spent two sleepless nights in a cave with the terror leader. >> a very very old and very stiff mattress so i really couldn't sleep. i discovered that i was sleeping an arsenal with the hand grenades the rifles so i couldn't sleep. i thought maybe any mistake, i would be blown up completely. >> reporter: pamela brown, cnn, washington. >> peter bergen is one of the few who met face to face with osama bin laden. he joins us now. peter, i'm curious. the new pictures we're seeing how do they compare to the bin laden you met and interviewed just a year later? >> i think they're very different, anderson because this is a much more sort of relaxed bin laden. we met him in the middle of the
5:33 pm
night. they were very concerned about representatives of an american news organization interviewing him. he spent two days with at least bin laden's company, and they sent these series of pictures we're seeing for the first time. as far as i can tell the first time that we've actually seen the hideout where bin laden lived in such detail. the hideout, of course was destroyed by u.s. bombs a few weeks after 9/11. i had gone after that area all of that bin laden compound was completely bombed out. so it's a different picture, and of course at the time anderson when he was, you know, these pictures were taken, there was a lot of stuff in the future we didn't know. 9/11 the embassy attacks, et cetera. >> and how much of that was already being planned by him? >> you know, what's interesting is the embassy attacks were being planned three years before this picture was first taken. >> wow. >> the 9/11 attacks were at
5:34 pm
least at the time percolating already. so, you know he was already down this path. >> and the documents that were released in a separate trial, they seem to make it clear that bin laden and his team i mean they knew how close the cia was. >> yeah. they were very paranoid. you have so many of bin laden's closest leaders in al qaeda are being killed. they're very detailed discussions about one leader who was killed and the circumstances of that. and people outside of al qaeda were saying that bin laden stopped communicating, cia really on your trail and he didn't really take that advice and of course very soon thereafter was found by the cia and then we know what happened. >> and in terms of drone strikes, and obviously we're talking about much later than these pictures but in terms of drone strikes, documents show they're not only effective in killing top al qaeda operatives but also in hindering them in general from traveling, from communicating. >> yeah. i think they did exactly what
5:35 pm
they were intended to do. they really interrupted the ability of al qaeda to plan these attacks in the west. didn't really pan out. sent people to britain that didn't pan out, denmark. bin laden was conscious of the fact he hadn't had a attack in a long time and died knowing the organization didn't achieve its goals in attacking america again. >> in terms of the document of the raid that killed bin laden, all the information has not been released obviously. there must be a lot that is still secret. >> and i hope that the administration four years now, a lot of secret stuff is dated. for historians journalists, anybody interested in this subject, there's a lot more we should find out and the government is sitting on it. tens of thousands of documents i hope get released. >> that many? tens of thousands? >> i've seen figures up to a million. we don't really know but it's a
5:36 pm
very substantial cash of documents. we've just seen a tiny tiny sliver. >> wow. fascinating stuff there i bet. u.s. marshal killed in the line of duty a day before learning the wife they're expecting is a boy. plus drew griffin, aaron schock about who exactly is pinning for his lifestyle. see what happened when he tracked the congressman down. [ r&b slow jam playing ] ♪ yeah, girl ♪ ♪ you know, i've been thinking about us ♪ ♪ and, uh, i just can't fight it anymore
5:37 pm
5:40 pm
in madison, wisconsin, demonstrators took the streets for a fiftyh day to protest the unarmed biracial teenager. in another news program, we report on police coverage and that's warranted. but sometimes it's police officers who don't come home to their families. family of josie wells is living through that nightmare. wells was killed bravely doing his job. tracks law enforcement deaths 50 officers shot and killed in the line of duty last year. randi kaye has deputy wells' story. >> reporter: the elk grove hotel
5:41 pm
outside of baton rouge, josie wells in the line of fire. on tuesday, wells arrived here hoping to serve a warrant to a man suspected of a double murder. >> during that apprehension one of our deputy united states marshals was gravely wounded. >> reporter: before wells could arrest suspect jamie crum he was hit multiple times. it was 11:00 a.m. a woman who asked not to be identified heard the shots and saw the bloodshed. >> he had a vest on but it looked like the wounds were to his neck. they took his vest off and they were pretty much trying to put pressure to the wounds and, you know, they put him in the trunk and truck and tried to get him help immediately. >> reporter: in baton rouge, he later died. >> this must be gut wrench figure for you guys having to alert the marshal's family today.
5:42 pm
>> yeah. it is. >> reporter: the double murder suspect jamie crum was wanted in the february shooting death of two siblings. older sister said he'd rather be dead than go back to jail. in the shootout with the u.s. marshal, krooum was also wounded. he died at the hospital shortly after being charged in the murder of the u.s. marshal. in a tragic twist of fate deputy marshal, joesie wells, was in baton rouge on temporary assignment. >> that's terrible. that should not happen. he's doing his job. >> reporter: josie wells was a deputy marshal since 2011. his daughter retired law enforcement and his brother a police officer in jackson, mississippi. one of his professors from jackson state university told us wells was focused and disciplined and always dreamed of becoming u.s. marshal. the professor said wells never thought of it as a dangerous
5:43 pm
job, he just knew he wanted to do it. >> these guys are going out several times a day, serving out warrants for violent crimes, they're prepared and ready for it. but you can't be ready for every scenario. >> reporter: especially when a cold-blooded killer breaks out fire. and josie learned the day after his murder she's having a baby boy. randi kaye cnn, new york. >> our thoughts are with his family his friends, and all the colleagues in the marshal service. let's get the latest on some of the other stories we're following. amara walker has a "360" bulletin. amara? >> marcho rubio made sure it clinches a nuclear deal with iran. kerry denied the strategy to defeat isis. at the boston bombing trial,
5:44 pm
sean collier in blood in the squad car three days after the bombings. prosecutors say dzhokhar tsarnaev and his older brother murdered collier during an unsuccessful attempt to steal his gun. and in south africa mugged at gunpoint while waiting to a live report and minutes from going on the air. assailants got away with cell phone and thankfully no one was hurt. incredibly brazen crime. >> unbelievable. amara, thank you very much. coming up his instagram pictures are full life of the jet set but with taxpayer money? drew griffin caught up. >> looking back do you think you made a mistake? can you understand why people are concerned? >> i hope you enjoy your time in the 18th district.
5:45 pm
nobody told us to expect it... intercourse that's painful due to menopausal changes it's not likely to go away on its own. so let's do something about it. premarin vaginal cream can help it provides estrogens to help rebuild vaginal tissue and make intercourse more comfortable. premarin vaginal cream treats vaginal changes due to menopause and moderate-to-severe painful intercourse caused by these changes. don't use it if you've had unusual bleeding breast or uterine cancer blood clots, liver problems, stroke or heart attack, are allergic to any of its ingredients or think you're pregnant. side effects may include headache pelvic pain, breast pain vaginal bleeding and vaginitis. estrogens may increase your chances of getting cancer of the uterus, strokes, blood clots or dementia so use it for the shortest time based on goals and risks. estrogen should not be used to prevent heart disease
5:46 pm
heart attack, stroke or dementia. ask your doctor about premarin vaginal cream. so,as my personal financial psychic, i'm sure you know what this meeting is about. yes, a raise. i'm letting you go. i knew that. you see, this is my amerivest managed... balances. no. portfolio. and if doesn't perform well for two consecutive gold. quarters. quarters...yup. then amerivest gives me back their advisory... stocks. fees. fees. fees for those quarters. yeah. so, i'm confident i'm in good hands. for all the confidence you need. td ameritrade. you got this. well, a mortgage shouldn't be a problem your credit is in pretty good shape. >>pretty good? i know i have a 798 fico score thanks to the tools and help on experian.com. kaboom... well, i just have a few other questions. >>chuck, the only other question you need to ask is, "what else can you do for me?" i'll just take a water... get your credit swagger on. become a member of experian credit tracker and find out
5:47 pm
your fico score powered by experian. fico scores are used in 90% of credit decisions. there's nothing more romantic than a spontaneous moment. so why pause to take a pill? and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? with cialis for daily use, you don't have to plan around either. it's the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision or any symptoms of an allergic reaction stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. why pause the moment? ask your doctor about cialis for daily
5:48 pm
use. for a free 30-tablet trial go to cialis.com illinois congressman aaron schock is one of the most colorful characters. he poses without a shirt, goes zip lining, parasailing. all the fun aside, taken a serious turn. whether he's using taxpayer money to fund some of these adventures. cnn senior correspondent drew griffin caught up with him in his home state trying to get some answers.
5:49 pm
>> reporter: a smiling congressman aaron schock is trying to keep up the appearance nothing is wrong. a few questions from you? >> i'm headed the a school assembly but you're welcome to join me. >> reporter: can we ask on the way out? but questions had been getting tougher to deal with. schock has been under fire for a string of questionable spending. not the least of which is the $40,000 reportedly in taxpayer funds he spent overhauling his congressional office to look like an english manor, inspired by the tv show "downton abbey." the decor fits in with the congressman's glamorous persona, known for posting pictures on instagram, meeting with the pope parasailing in argentina and parted his shirt to post for men's health. odd for the typical u.s. congressman. as he told nbc news he's
5:50 pm
anything but one of those common old men. >> as taylor swift said haters are going to hate. >> reporter: with sudden attraction to the high life the congressional watchdog and media outlets are all asking one question. where is all the money coming from? according to the congressman's own sloppy finance records, a lot of it is coming from none other than you. reports reveal aaron schock using taxpayer and campaign money to buy tickets to rock concerts travel on board private donor airplanes. he spent $10,000 splurging his staff on a weekend trip to new york reportedly even a $29,000 bill for a professional photographer and that downton abbey office makeover included a $15,000 payment to an interior decorator. last week the congressman from conservative rural illinois admitted it doesn't look good. >> i know that when i take a trip and i post photos online
5:51 pm
it can create the misimpression of being out of touch or an image that is not worthy of my constituents. >> reporter: today after speaking to a high school class about his humble beginnings congressman schock first dodged cnn's questions about all of this. >> can you explain the -- >> reporter: and then decided to answer the question without explaining any of it. can you explain the lavish lifestyle you've been leading? >> as i said before i take the law and my compliance very seriously and based on the team of professionals that i've hired to review my offices, processes and procedures including the former head of the federal election commission and that review is ongoing. and i'm not going to comment further until that review is complete and i would just say in the meantime as you saw today, i'm focused on doing what i've done best delivering for people of the 18th district. people elected me. so thank you.
5:52 pm
>> spend $27,000 on a professional photographer or katy perry tickets? do you think it's appropriate to spend political donations in private plane tickets? do you have any explanation, legal or not, is it right, is the question? looking back do you think you made a mistake? can you understand why people are concerned? >> i hope you enjoy your time in the 18th district. >> reporter: sir, come on. i've been polite to you. >> drew griffin joins us now with more in how this is playing in peoria. i know you're at an outside event where the congressman is speaking now. the congressman could be in real trouble. i don't know why he needs to hire outsiders to look at how he's spending money. >> reporter: well anderson if he misspent taxpayer money and more importantly, next year in some of these cases, if he actually tried to cover up that
5:53 pm
spending he could be in real trouble. in one case there was a reported $3,000 purchase of software for his office. now that's looking more and more like it was a $3,000 plane ride on yet another private donor's private plane. so that could get him in trouble. we do know this. he has paid back $40,000 to the government for that downton abbey redo of his office and has hired a very high profile lawyer that is specializing in white collar crimes. >> i guess we've got to give him the benefit of the doubt. sloppy or not, the spending especially from his political donors could be legal, right? >> reporter: yeah it could be legal. as we've been reporting on your show the donations, the taxpayer money is one thing. the political action committees almost come with no rules. corporations lobbyists, give these congressmen money, these senators money, they spend it on golf trips, ski trips, whatever.
5:54 pm
it's so few rules that it pretty much is legal. >> we'll keep on it. drew griffin, thank you very much. the ridiculist is next. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis like me and you're talking to your rheumatologist about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira giving me new perspective. doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers including lymphoma have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. talk to your doctor and visit humira.com
5:55 pm
this is humira at work sometimes the present looked bright. sometimes romantic. there were tears in my eyes. and tears in my eyes. and so many little things that we learned were really the biggest things. through it all, we saved and had a retirement plan. and someone who listened and helped us along the way. because we always knew that someday the future would be the present. every someday needs a plan. talk with us about your retirement today.
5:57 pm
5:58 pm
could have the clarification from you as to the validity of a vote from a member who leaves his seat during the vote and then returns to it in order to vote. >> the member in question did have an explanation as to why he left his seat during the middle of the debate. here's what he said. >> i can blame it on a sale down at the hudson. they had men's underwear off for half price. i bought a bunch that was clearly too small for me and i find it difficult to fit for any length of time mr. speaker. so i apologize if it was necessary for me to leave my seat briefly but i did not mean to forfeit my right to vote. >> i love canada. i just want to say that. i really like canada. i'm not 100% sure but that may be an unprecedented. even the presiding officer wasn't quite sure how to proceed. >> i had no briefing on this type of --
5:59 pm
[ laughter ] >> he did step out of his chair for a very short time and was directed by me to sit down again. didn't understand the explanation at the time that he subsequently gave. can't say i really understand it at this point, but -- [ laughter ] >> it's like a night at the laugh shack. in the end, the vote stood and the parliament members thought the opposing party member who brought up the issue of him leaving his seat because of his underwear for a few seconds was overreacting to gave a cheeky answer to a cheeky question but said a lot of grumpyinessgrumpiness, buying nickers too small. if you think we're throwing stones we've had our underwear problems in our house as well. underwear problems of a somewhat different nature but underwear problems nonetheless. >> we want to resolve it once and for all. you would know this is your underpants. >> the question is i appreciate you continuing to flash that at
6:00 pm
me. look i've said the best i can we're going to try to get to the bottom of what happened. >> there's puns all around. when you think about it tight underwear is more of a common political issue than it would seem at first glance. it's just each politician puts its own position on it as they jockey for it. that's it for the ridiculist.
225 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
CNN (San Francisco) Television Archive The Chin Grimes TV News Archive Television Archive News Search ServiceUploaded by TV Archive on