developments. nbc news has confirmed that a third woman accusing cain of, quote, unwanted sexual advances has come forward. cain then pointed the finger at rick perry campaign saying consultant kurt anderson was behind the leaks. he said he personally witnessed cain's inappropriate behavior saying, quote, it was only a matter of time because so many people were aware of what took place, so many people were aware of her situation, the fact she left, everybody knew with the campaign that this would eventually come up. and another new wrinkle just in. politico just reporting that one of herman cain's acureses is asking the national restaurant association to let her issue a public statement about these allegations. joining me is douglas wilder and michael steele. gentlemen, good morning, it's nice to have you with me. governor, i want to start with you. from a purely political standpoint, this is staining cain's reputation and his brand. he can't focus on the message

that truly republicans were attracted to from the beginning. are we going to be seeing more anger and frustration like we saw from candidate cain yesterday, basically bringing it on himself? >> well, he shouldn't be expressing that degree of anger. quite frankly he has not handled it well at all. i think that the 11-day advance notice that he got to let his campaign know just what was there that politico had, what they were going to deal with, and he hasn't handled it well. now, having said that, the real question is what was said by him or what did he do or what were the actual allegations. the settlement is one thing. settle what? was it something that you spoke improperly to the people about? did you touch anybody? did you say anything? let it all hang out. the finger pointing doesn't help it either because you'll have point and counterpoint going on

forever. it damages the republican party in the process as well, because when these candidates start accusing themselves of things, getting off message, that takes the party off message. and i think that cain needs to say, look, let's get this thing out. whomever made the settlement agreement, whether it was the national restaurant association or whomever, let it out. speak to it and get it over with. >> michael, this story broke on sunday and the cain campaign is saying they pulled in $400,000 on monday and now they're saying tuesday's haul was $600,000. in your opinion what does this say about his campaign, his supporters and what republicans in general think about their options come 2012? >> well, there's a great groundswell of support out there for herman cain. it's been bubbling, it's now growing. it's manifesting itself in terms of donations right now. i think a lot of folks as you've heard and reported on, thomas, you've made the parallel to the clarence thomas hearings of 1991. and so there are all these

little things that you're setting up this straw dog argument between the campaign and the media, the left in the media who are coming after him. but the herman cain campaign is focused the attack not outward but inward at other republican campaigns. and so, you know, that will also stir the party even further for those who are against the establishment. and that will generate money. i think all of this, quite frankly, has gotten out of control. i think the fact that we are now sitting here in day four talking about this and it's only escalating says that the campaign needs to stop what it's doing, get off the media, get out of the limelight, sit down, figure out the strategy going forward, get the message focused, as the governor said, and then come back out with a clear timeline of what happened, what was said, what was done, what was the result of that and put this behind them and get back on the message of, you know, 9-9-9 or whatever it happens to be. if this is still going when the

next debate comes up, i believe on the 9th of this month, guess what's going to be the topic of conversation, not just for herman cain but for every other candidate standing on that stage is going to have to opine on whether or not they have a view on sexual harassment, what they think about the herman cain situation. this is becoming a royal mess for the republican party. the leadership at the national level needs to get these campaigns in the room and get this thing under control. herman cain needs to get it under control within his organization so that they can move forward talking about how they're going to defeat obama next year. >> governor, cain has given a recent interview ironically with jenny thomas, the wife of clarence thomas, saying in washington you are guilty until proven innocent. do you agree with that? >> i think, first of all, his appearing with mrs. thomas wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. i certainly wouldn't have done that. anita hill is a fixture in american politics in terms of what went on during that period of time. cain needs to stand on his own

two legs, on his own merits, on his own character. he needs to put his own message out. he doesn't need anyone else out there but herman cain. i agree with my friend, michael steele, when he says that if these campaigns don't get their acts together, and he particularly doesn't get his act together, it doesn't make any difference who he appears with. he needs to be able to look the american people in the eye and say this is who i am, this is what i am about. this is what happened whatever few years ago it was. this is what they are saying, but this is the actual fact. you make your own judgment. he hasn't done that. they have got to do it quickly, though. >> meanwhile, michael, as we're watching this, the perry campaign, who has been accused by herman cain's campaign is flatly denying this involvement, now pointing the finger at the romney campaign. it's so confusing, you don't know which way to look. it all harkens back to the man at the top was herman cain and this is basically a story about him but basically they want to look at each other about who put

this out there. >> of course the perry folks are going to pivot to romney because romney is sitting there going, okay, why don't you children go and play on that side of the playground. i'm going to move forward in my campaign to become president of the united states. and so he's the beneficiary right now of all of this noise that's going on within. so, you know, they're going to find a little bit of mud somewhere to toss his way and say, oh, yeah, no, we think it was him. this is my point. this thing is spiraling out of control very quickly. the base is going to lose interest in it because all of a sudden it's going to become like such a circus it's going to look like nobody can beat the president. they need to focus on putting their best message forward and then let people judge on the facts and move on. but this right now is just becoming a royal mess. >> governor wilder, chairman steele, great to see you this morning. thanks for your time. >> thank you very much, thomas. president obama and other world leaders are gathering they g-20 summit in france trying to hammer out a solution to save the global economy from falling back into a recession. the priority is keeping greece's

economy afloat after years of reckless spending that have left the small country nearly bankrupt. greece is one of 17 nations sharing the same currency and there's a very real threat of a domino effect that financial troubles there could spread right here to the u.s. >> the most important aspect of our task over the next two days is to resolve the financial crisis here in europe. the eu has made some important steps towards a comprehensive solution, but here at the g-20 we're going to have to flesh out more of the details about how the plan will be fully and decisively implemented. >> i'm joined now by nbc news political director chuck todd, who is traveling with the president and is also the host of "the daily rundown" right here on msnbc. chuck, it's good to see you. the success of these meetings heavily dependent on decisions made by european leaders. so how much sway does the president actually have in a situation to effect a positive outcome there? >> reporter: well, in many ways

he's on the sidelines in this one. the other g-20s were very much about, okay, the united states has to get its house in order. the global community has to get together, figure out how to help these global banks, many of them headquarters in new york. this time this issue is about europe and european banks. let me sort of explain what's happening here. what the europeans are trying to come up with is their version of t.a.r.p., if you will. in this case it would be approximately a trillion dollar fund that would not just help stabilize the banks, remember t.a.r.p. was only for the banks, but also help stabilize certain governments. the first is greece. and of course if greece -- if the deal with greece falls apart, the domino effect could then be italy, spain, portugal, ireland, four other countries that there is some concern that they have too much debt, that they can't pay their bills. greece is the first one. and that's why there is so much concern that they have got to get that one right, use it as the model for the other four cup

tre -- countries here. remember t.a.r.p. was unpopular politically but the things that were attached, the idea of this firewall that they're developing. the strings attached in greece, not popular in greece, not popular in germany or france, so all of the same domestic political problems that t.a.r.p. created in our country, we're seeing play itself out here. and remember these aren't states, these are countries trying to act as a collective financially, that's what makes this tricky. so the president is very much sort of a cheercheerleader, if will, an adviser, a mediator, but he's not playing a central role because this is about the europeans, bailing out europeans. >> when it comes to what's taking place in greek last week, they thought they had a deal to save greece from bankruptcy. now greece's prime minister who is in political turmoil himself says he's going to put this deal up for a nationwide vote, so how do we expect that to play out? >> reporter: it's funny, thomas. as literally as you're saying

this idea that the prime minister of greece is going to put it up for a vote, now the prime minister is saying he's going to pull back on that plan, which of course would make the european leaders in particular french president sarkozy, german chancellor merkel, happier, they didn't want to see this on a referendum, the idea that it could just up-end everything, leave it into the hands of the voters of greece, which then could cause all of this con tagion spreading around. three hours ago there were rumors that the prime minister was going to resign or offer resignation. you know, that confusion is leading, i think, to a lot of hand wringing here at the g-20. >> nbc news political director chuck todd, thank you so much. also host of "the daily rundown." i want to bring in gray gipp. greg, how is it that groseece,

country roughly the size of louisiana, could bring down potentially the expire world economy? >> well, it's very analogous to what we saw with the subprime mortgage prices three years ago. the total dollars at stake weren't that large but they were so dangerously distributed throughout our banking system that every dollar lost crippled the banks. greek debt, portuguese debt, italian debt, spanish debt are a significant portion of the holdings of a lot of the banks in europe. if that debt goes bad, as seems increasingly likely the case with greece and possibly other countries, the whole banking system is crippled. but it goes beyond that. the mere suspicion that italy or spain will go the way of greece is forcing them to pay punitive interest rates. if those rates keep going up and are sustained, eventually insolvency will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. >> and we don't have much confidence in what's taking place. mean while while everyone is with the g-20 talking about

this, the prime minister of greece is talking about throwing his hands in or throwing the towel in the ring saying ooii'm just going to resign, talking about the fact they want to put this up for a referendum style vote but no one is sure about that. how can the leaders that are all aligned know which way greece even wants to go? >> it's very tough and that's exactly why angela merkel and nicolas sarkozy basically read greece the riot act. this will be on whether you continue to be a member of the euro zone and possibly the european union. that may be why the greeks are pulling back. especially the package they agreed to last week that was put in jeopardy by the possibility of a referendum, it was always kind of a muddled through, buy-time kind of thing. everybody knows that greece is going to eventually default either in an orderly fashion or disorderly fashion. the challenge to the global community is to put firewalls up around greece to protect other countries. italy, spain and to a certain

extent the united states, because our banking system is also vulnerable. if we can buy that time, if the meeting in cannes today and tomorrow buys that time, perhaps we'll be okay. >> we were looking at pictures of the g-20 summit that's being coordinated right now. germany's shoulders, are they broad enough to handle this continually? >> no, they're not essentially. but germany, it is like 30% of the euro zone. the netherlands, they have problems with it and france. but the main thing that's missing in europe is not the money, they have got the money, it's the confidence. it's the willingness of the germans and even more important of the european central bank to prevent what is really just a crisis of confidence, transforming itself into a much more serious crisis of solvency. >> greg, great to see you this morning. thanks for your time. >> thank you. they have heard the witnesses, seen some gruesome photos, that of michael jackson, heard the king of pop at one of his lowest moments and now lawyers in the conrad murray trial are getting ready to make their last case to the jury.

and disturbing video of a judge beating his daughter with a belt as she screams. it's already been viewed nearly two million times online. i'm going to have a chance to talk to the young daughter in that video as well as her mother. and what do you think about it? send me a tweet @thomasaroberts and let me know what you think about this video that's gone viral. then she found them. she loved them, so i washed them in tide with downy and they're still soft and fresh. right? i'm blogging. really. i'm talking. that's my tide. what's yours? you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance.

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more developing news this hour, this time on the occupy wall street movement. what began as mostly a peaceful protest in downtown oakland yesterday erupted into a violent and nasty display of anger overnight. police arrested dozens of protesters who broke into a vacant building, smashed windows and set fires. one protester needed stitches after fighting with an officer. two others were even hit by a car. long-time residents say a demonstration this large has not been seen in this area since the

vietnam war. >> reporter: just a few short hours ago the occupy oakland protest took a dramatic twist. police in riot gear confronted protesters at 1:00 a.m. after officers say they overtook an abandoned or foreclosed building and started a large bonfire in the middle of downtown oakland. officers say they true tear gas and flash grenades at protesters and made several arrests, although the exact number is unclear. there are reports that up to 100 people were arrested. this came just a few short hours after an estimated 7,000 protesters took to the street of oakland and later in the evening shut down the port of oakland, the fifth largest port in the country. they are protesting what they called capital greed and the undistribution of wealth and power in this country. for the most part it was a quiet and peaceful day in oakland. demonstrators certainly making their voice heard, but there were no major arrests, although there were some incidents of

vandalism. however, as i mentioned, it came to a bad end at the end of the night when police and protesters had a dramatic confrontation. police in riot gear had to use tear gas and there were several arrests. thomas, back to you. >> nbc's miguel almaguer for us now. we stay on the west coast and head south to los angeles where after nearly six weeks of trial testimony from 49 witnesses, the fate of michael jackson's former daughter doctor is about to fall into the hands. jury, they could receive the case after both sides finish their closing argument. joining me is former prosecutor rikki cleman. we're rounding third base coming into the home stretch. the prosecution has set up conrad murray to be criminally nebl negligent. meanwhile the defense has set up michael jackson to be a drug addict, even playing his voice during this trial, at least from the prosecution side, setting it up to let everybody know exactly

the state of meeind that he was in. who's done a better job bringing this case to the finish line? >> i think the prosecution certainly has done the better job because they had the better facts. that's not to take away from the talent of the defense team. but facts are facts. and when we deal with what we are seeing here, it is much easier to show 17 deviations from the standard of care of a doctor than it is for the defense. but remember, thomas, the defense only needs one juror to have a hung jury. >> when we talk about the witnesses, 49 who testified basically from both sides, which made the biggest impact in this case to you? >> well, for me i would certainly say for the prosecution, dr. schaefer. he was on and off the stand for a matter of about 11 days when you look at it. he was a solid, solid expert for the prosecution. >> one of the most unforgettable pieces of evidence came from michael jackson himself. take a listen.

>> people believe it's true, people believe -- i want them to say -- we have never seen nothing like this in my life. >> how does the jury process hearing something like that, a man that they know, michael jackson, the king of pop, but then hear him like that. >> i think you can't negate the subcase of this. michael jackson is the king of pop, he is an icon. there are jurors that can't help themselves no matter what the evidence is that they want someone to pay for this death. on the other side of that, thomas, what we see here, if the evidence can show it for the defense to push it in closing argument is clearly a person who was an addict and who was desperate to sleep, and that is the defense of this case. >> again, the jury could be getting this maybe today, possibly tomorrow.

we shall see as the closing arguments are going to begin coming up shortly later this morning. great to see you, rikki, as always. >> thanks, thomas. >> absolutely. moving on this morning to what's coming up next, that is the repeal of doma. the senate judiciary committee begins debate on a bill to repeal just that. i'll talk with senator dianne feinstein, the sponsor of the bill. plus a look at the cleanest and dirtiest cities in the u.s. i'm going to give you a hint. new york doesn't make the top five for either side. back in a moment. [ male announcer ] succeeding in today's market

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within 5 to 10 minutes after injection to avoid low blood sugar. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions, including if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. the most common side effect of novolog is low blood sugar. other possible side effects include reactions at the injection site. get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat or sweating. ask your healthcare provider about novolog flexpen today. learn more about the different insulins available in flexpen at myflexpen.com. flexpen, insulin delivery that goewith you. good morning, everybody. welcome back to msnbc. i'm thomas roberts. we're keeping a close eye on a developing story right now, just learning that the house energy and commerce oversight subcommittee just voted to subpoena internal white house documents on solyndra. the solar company filed for bankruptcy protection after receiving over $500 million in federal loans. well, the senate will vote

on part of the president's jobs act around 3:00 today. a $60 billion infrastructure bill. president obama says infrastructure repair and construction is a necessity in this country. 60 votes are needed to move that bill forward. and the senate judiciary committee begins debate today on a proposal to repeal the federal defensive marriage act, otherwise known as doma. the law defiance marriage as being between one man and one woman. now a group of 30 senators have prepared the respect for marriage act which would require the federal government to provide benefits to couples in same-sex marriages. dianne feinstein serves on the senate judiciary committee and joins me now this morning. senator, it's nice to see you. >> good morning, thomas. >> so all indications are that your bill might get through the committee but it probably won't pass the senate, definitely won't pass the house. do you have the votes to repeal doma? >> oh, i don't think we have the votes right now. but this is a changing picture. you know, when doma was passed

15 years ago, not a single state supported same-sex marriage. now you have six states, plus the district of columbia. that changes the argument. because family law and marriage is a preserve of the state. so you have a legal marriage. and what doma does is deny federal benefits. federal social security benefits, family leave, estate tax protections, those kinds of things to same-sex couples. so it discriminates against one class of what is a legal class, and that is the state determines who is legally married. so i think there are very good grounds to eventually get doma repealed. it may take time, people have to understand it, they have to see it, but i think we can get it done. >> senator, for the defenders of doma, the welfare of children is often cited as the reason why marriage should be maintained as, quote, unquote, traditional

but recent studies have shown as long as the home is loving and stable, the kids grow up to be just fine and census figures showing there are two million kids being raised by same-sex parents. what's at stake for those kids if the federal government continues to reject their families as being legitimate? >> well, what's at stake for those children is really a sense of illegitimate see. that the adoption isn't enough and the family they live in isn't a legal family. these are children, many of whom would not have had other adopted families. so the ability, and i know gay families who raise children and do a very good job of it, so i think it's really counterproductive to wage that argument. we should be delighted that there are people that want to adopt children who otherwise for the most part may not have had an adoptive home. >> senator, doma was passed and

signed into law. the voters of california voted not to recognize same-sex marriage. your critics say it's not the place of the federal government to buck state and local governments, force them to recognize same-sex unions as legal. so what do you say to them? >> well, what i say to them is california is changing. i think the polls in california now say that a majority of californians would support same-sex marriage. so that's the good thing. additionally, as you know, there is a legal case being brought saying that proposition 8 is illegal. that will likely go up to the supreme court. there have been different appellate court decisions on it. so that argument is going on in terms of the court. but i think as more individuals know people who are gay, understand that marriage brings about a certainty, brings about economic stability, brings about

really a very positive and stable situation for people, i think more people come to accept it. >> senator, last month i got to attend the hrc dinner in san francisco where you were the keynote speaker. you said that you were going to be in this fight for the long haul. can you put a definitive timetable on what "long haul" means? >> however long it takes, i am there. and i believe our 31 co-sponsors are there as well. so i think we will gain co-sponsors. i think more states are going to legalize same-sex marriage. and i think the knowledge that the federal government stepping into this area and denying some 1100 rights and benefits that are afforded to every other married couple is not the right thing to do. in fact it is a kind of pernicious discrimination. >> senator dianne feinstein, always a pleasure to talk with you, senator. thanks for your time this morning. >> thanks. herman cain's campaign

blaming the perry camp for trying to destroy his presidential bid by dig up old dirt. now new sexual allegations come to light. plus a daughter posts a disturbing video of a father beating her with a belt years after it happened. her father, a judge. now he's the subject of a police investigation. and some very outraged americans. tell me what you think about this, i'm going to have a chance to speak with the daughter as well as her mom. tweet me @thomasaroberts. we're back right after this. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. a sony tv with media player. ♪ ♪ ♪ how did it fit down the chimney?

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two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. welcome back, everybody. herman cain is getting support from a former first lady of south carolina, jenny sanford penned an op-ed saying the media has overfocused on the story and what she calls the controversial and sensational parts. herman cain's campaign is making it clear who they blame for the scandal coming to light. take a listen. >> the perry campaign needs to apologize to herman cain and his family and america for this

despicable actions. >> the perry team has denied having any link to this scandal, even going as far as indicting mitt romney as being part of this. meantime a new politico report out this morning saying one of the accusers is asking the national restaurant association f permission to let her make a public statement about the allegations. there is a commuter mess in chicago in a suburb after three derailed freight cars caught fire. there were initial concerns about hazardous chemicals, but police say all materials were contained in the cars and not spilled. nearby residents, though, have been evacuated. no injuries to report. nevada police released new video showing the gunman who went on a shooting rampage inside a carson city ihop nearly two months ago. we want to warn you, these images are graphic. there you can see, though, when it comes up the man moments after opening fire with an assault rifle. he killed four and wounded seven others before taking his own

life. his family says he suffered from schizophrenia and was on medication for it. a september listeria outbreak from infected cantaloupe in colorado is had deadliest listeria outbreak for children and adults in the u.s. since 1973. the death count rose to 29 on wednesday. according to a report from the centers for disease control, in addition to these deaths, at least 139 people in 28 different states have been affected by this disease. now to this disturbing story that's making headlines out of texas. it involves a video that is both graphic, disturbing and very difficult to watch. since being posted to the internet, it has been viewed now more than two million times. it shows a father repeatedly beating his screaming daughter with a leather belt. her father, a judge, admits that it is him. with more on that story, here is nbc's janet shamlian. >> get over here. >> reporter: the man in this video is texas judge william adams, and the girl is his then 16-year-old daughter, who has cerebral paulz see.

>> bend over that bed. bend over the bed. bend over the bed! >> stop! stop! >> reporter: the beating continues unabated for most of the seven-minute video that has swept the internet and pro smoked an online outcry. again and again hillary adams cries out after being lashed by her father's belt on her legs, her arms and her buttocks, once at the hands of her mother. >> you turn over, i'm going to spank on your butt. you turn over like a 16-year-old and take it! like a grown woman. turn over! >> reporter: the disturbing scene was captured seven years ago in her bedroom, hillary says. after her dad found out she had downloaded music from an illegal website. >> are you happy? huh? disobeying your parents? >> reporter: after holding on to the video since 2004, hillary, now 23 and living on her own, uploaded it to youtube after she says her father continued to harass her and she finally had enough.

>> the disputes and harassment were escalating and finally it just was kind of the straw that broke the sam el's back. i told him i had the video and he brushed it off. >> reporter: william adams isn't just hillary's father. he's a judge in south texas where he routinely rules on cases involving children. he also sits on a county board overseeing the juvenile system. he admits that's him in the video. >> no, in my mind i haven't done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing, and i did lose my temper. but i've since appaologizeapolo. it looks worse than it is. there is a story. it will come down in due time. >> and it's because she downloaded a game on to your computer? >> no, she was stealing -- i don't want to get into it. there was a reason she was being disciplined. >> but as a family's private feud went public and viral, outrage has boiled over. facebook pages have sprung up decrying judge adams. the texas commission on judicial conduct has been flooded with demands he be removed from the

bench. and in tiny rockport, police have been swamped by calls from all over the world. the chief has opened an investigation at the district attorney's request to determine whether the beating was criminal. >> reporter: when does it cross the line? when does discipline within a family become assault? >> frequently that's a difficult thing to determine because by state law a person has a right to discipline their children to a point, but not to the point that you cause serious bodily injury to a child. >> reporter: hillary's mother has since divorced adams and apologized for her role in the beating. for his part, judge adams insists his daughter wasn't hurt. >> i lost my temper, i spanked her. her mother was there. she wasn't hurt. it was a long time ago. >> do you acknowledge that the beating was excessive, the spanking, the discipline? >> no, i'm not going to get into any of that, okay. >> reporter: police say judge adams has left rockport and a note outside the court house informs his hearings have been cancelled. >> i ought to keep beating you and beating you.

>> stop, stop! >> reporter: a daughter's disclosure as a family's private troubles go public. >> so if the judge were to be charged with felony child abuse, the statute of limitations is ten years. the video was made seven years ago. now, as for judge adams' seat on the bench, county officials tell nbc news that when the judge does return, a visiting judge will be handling any cases involving children, at least for now. joining me in studio is hillary adams and her mom, hallee. we appreciate both of you being here today. i know that this is certainly hard for both of you to come forward with and expose what happened in your family life but it could help a lot of people. hillary, let's talk about why you wanted to bring this tape to light now seven years after the fact. some people might see this as you trying to get and exact revenge on your father for some reason, but explain your motivation for this. >> well, i think my main motivation was i just wanted to seek validation from a few people by showing it to some

third party strangers that could tell me, hillary, this really isn't normal but at least you're okay now. and then it started getting out to more and more people and the outrage just escalated so much. i won't say that it wasn't completely for revenge, but i just -- i really wanted my father to see exactly what he did and how it looks to other people. it just spiraled out of control. i honestly didn't expect it. >> you see your dad being confronted in the interview, being asked and saying he just disciplined his child because she had downloaded music illegally or downloaded games illegally. what had you done? >> if you remember the old program kazaa, it was an old file-sharing program and the media i was after was from overseas, mainly japan. back in 2004, which i'm pretty sure the video was shot, there was -- i couldn't have purchased that media if i wanted to. it was mostly music and things that were not available in the united states at all, so if that is something wrong that i did,

i'm sorry and i admit that. but whether or not i downloaded music files i shouldn't have, i do not think that punishment fit the crime. and i think that definitely -- i mean the way he spun that is a perfect example of who he really is, because he had me convinced that that kind of environment was normal, that was a normal punishment for such a thing that i did. >> this wasn't an isolated incident then. you set up this video camera in your room, turned it on, covering the red light with a scarf. what were these beatings -- were they for something like that? and as intense as this would be for all of us to watch, what were the other ones like that aren't on video? >> the other ones were not as bad. this is one of the worst that ever happened and i'm -- it's just amazing that i was able to capture this one on video. yeah, they were mainly related to he didn't want me to use the internet, play video games or anything, which is a real shame

because some of the things that i enjoy most. >> for everyone out there that heard that you have cerebral palsy, you have a toxic cerebral palsy, which is? >> well, the correct term is ataxic cerebral paulz see. >> excuse me. >> no, it's okay. a lot of people don't even know that it exists. it's pretty rare. i've only -- i've actually never met anybody else with it and most people have never heard of it. it's basically cerebral palsy that only affects -- it only affects your body. the brain is left pretty much intact. but your motor functions are basically rendered permanently drunk, so as far as i understand it, there's not that much research on it out there, but i think the cerebellum is affected to where my motor functions, my balance are -- it's very difficult to go downstairs, for example, and my left hand still does not have a lot of function as my right hand does. >> as you watch this explained to all of us because you're seen in this video, you're saying take it like a 16-year-old,

you're a part of all of this. as you watch this seven years later, how do you feel as a parent? >> as a parent, i feel like a failure when i see that. and hillary just showed me the video this past weekend and i cried all weekend and i really thought seriously about maybe it would just be better just to take my own life for that. but i realize that -- i realize that i was a victim too and i suffered a lot too. and so -- i'm sorry. >> that's okay. >> i've suffered a lot too. what i was suffering was a lot of emotional abuse. my husband was severely addicted to pain killers and opiates. i was being forced to discipline hillary. and when he would finally not be happy with the way that i was doing it, that's when he would go in and do things like this to hillary. and in that video, i am just trying to tell him i've already

spanked her, you know, i'm trying to do in a dysfunctional way, a wife who's been married to somebody, you know, 22 years, i'm just trying in my own dysfunctional way to get him to stop. >> you also have a 10-year-old child, though. >> yes. >> that would have been 3 at the time of this incident. how are you co-patienting now that you've brought this national attention to your family life. >> we have a divorce decree that he wrote and i was not able to get a lawyer really because i was pressured, so he wrote the decree and i've abided by that decree. i tell him all the time when he wants to switch things, let's just stick with the decree because i don't want to talk to him. and probably within the last six months, eight months, i will get messages from him that he's filing the modification tomorrow and he'll threaten me with that sort of thing. so i have tried to stay out of court with him, but the abuse

through e-mails and texts and that sort of thing is just really taken a toll on me. it's taken a toll on my daughter, allison. we're tired of it. >> hillary, if you can forgive your mom, and as you have, she's here with you now, can you forgive your dad? >> i'm willing to forgive him, but i think first he needs to take the step to realizing the extent of his behavior. and as his response to the video shows, i don't think he really understands. so we have a lot of work to do still. >> does that mean criminal prosecution, since the statute of limitations has not run out for this type of abuse in the state of texas? >> well, i really don't want to see him prosecuted. i don't want to press charges or anything like that. i think he's been punished enough already. and just -- the damage has already been done, and i don't think it needs to be pushed any further, because i still care about my father. he did provide a lot for me. i don't want to condemn him. i want to give him an opportunity to become a better

person by offering counseling and rehabilitation. i think we can eventually -- we can use this to give him the tools to become a better person and overcome all of this. >> well, we appreciate you ladies coming in and sharing your story today. hillary adams, hallee adams, thank you so much again. this will probably help a lot of people, opening up a lot of dialogue in this country. we did ask for your twitter responses earlier. aaron says yes, hi actions are abusive, referring to the judge, the dad. no person whatever age merits that treatment. and new lipstick says of course it crossed the line and he handles child cases. that makes it disturbing. we're back with much more after. this. nina is using high-tech marketing to engage customers at her new york-based garnett wines and lishs. scanning the qr codes with their

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sentd a letter urging them to go big. $4 trillion in savings over ten years, slightly more than the gang of six's proposal and allen simpson and bowles say it is necessary. there has been a high level of partisanship in washington. were you surprised that 40 republicans and 60 democrats could unite like this? have you heard any response from the committee members? >> it's pretty good response, not so much from the committee members because we haven't talked to them directly but a lot of our colleagues. here's something america knows that congress has got to figure out. if we're going to succeed, we'll only succeed if we do it together. bev a serious long-term fiscal challenge. the only way to succeed on that is democrats got to make some concessions on spending and republicans have to make concessions on revenue. the reason we're ambitious on

this 4 trillion is that if fact it will make it easier to succeed. all of us will have skin in the game. >> congressman, when we talk about what the country feels about congress, there's a new poll showing skepticism from the american people, two thirds thinking they will feel to reach a deal. how much it will hurt the image of the already tarnished image? >> it would hurt it but i'm less worried about the bad image congress has than the damage it would do to america. this debt ceiling debacle where we had a credit downgrade would be compounded philadelphif we fe a long-term resolution. it would hurt the markets and threaten people's 401(k)s so the concern is what do we have to do to provide confidence in the economy and have long-term fiscal stability? if we fail, that's going to harm that prospect very much. >> bipartisan support from 100,

at least is in the right direction. great to see you, thank you. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back after this. [ rattling ] jason... really buddy, wow. samantha jane. ♪ guys, christmas dinner and you're bringing toys to the table? ♪ that, that's not a toy... let's eat! [ male announcer ] get low prices on the gifts they love. and layaway is back, so you can pay a little at a time. save money. live better. walmart.

thanks, everybody, i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. craig melvin picks things up next. is this a chevy volt? [ stu ] yeah. it's electric. i don't think so. it's got a gas tank right here. electric tank, right over here. an electric tank? really, stu? is that what you pour the electricity in? it's actually both, guys. i can plug in and go 35 miles gas free, or i can fill up and go a whole lot farther. is that my burger? oh. i just got bun. i didn't even bite any burger.

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cou e about his chevy volt? ishat that new... is tt the electric car? yeah. but it takes gas too. ask him how much he spends on gas. how much does he spend on gas? how much do you spend on gas? how much do i spend on gas?

if i charge regularly, i fill up like once a month. he only has to fill up about once a month. [ woman ] wow. that's amazing. good thursday, i'm craig melvin. can it get any worse for herman cain? a third woman comes forward and says the gop candidate harassed her. first it was accusers, then the media, then democrats and liberals, now it is his republican rival, rick perry. the perry camp has suggested it could be mitt romney. it's enough to make you say -- >> excuse me. excuse me. >> to see a polite phrase like excuse me become such a weapon. >> excuse me! excuse me! >> the tone in which he