it's the church known for its glamorous membership, from tom cruise to john travolta. but tonight, in a "nightline" exclusive, one former church official is making shocking allegations about what she says she saw and heard behind the scenes. >>> plus, secret or lies? she said she was held against her will and physically humiliated. >> people are screaming at you. sometimes, water's poured over you. >> the church denies it. an explosive battle between the church of scientology, against a woman who says she's fighting to save her religion. >>> and chow time. behind the scenes at tonight's white house state dinner. how do you throw the pitch-perfect party for the leader of the free world and 78 heroes? >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city. this is "nightline." february 29th, 2012. >>> good evening. i'm terry moran. while the church of scientology is one of the world's newest religions and growing. opening dozens of new churches around the world. and making high-profile converts in places lik

>> i do, well, when i was a kid, my favorite movie was "cocktail" with tom cruise. jimmy: oh yeah, yeah, yeah. >> you know, pre '98, so -- >> jimmy: no -- [ laughter ] he's still the man, he's still the man. >> so, you know, i was watching the movie and i was like man, i need to get my tom cruise on. so, i, you know, i flip the bottles and get the -- you know what i mean. >> jimmy: yeah, yeah, yeah. >> nah. >> jimmy: "kokomo" -- "kokomo" plays at your bar nonstop. >> nonstop! i mean, i clipped somebody once. [ light laughter ] so they got their drink for free. but other than that -- >> jimmy: it's a tough neighborhood, yeah. >> i hear you. i mean it's -- >> jimmy: but the one cool thing about you, about your bar is that you build the, you built some of the tables yourself. >> i built all the tables. i built everything but the pool tables and the chairs. >> jimmy: wow. >> i built the floors. i was on broadway doing "a behanding in spokane," and i realized -- >> jimmy: that's right, you toured. >> --actors, when we have free time we get in trouble. so i try to occupy

unless tom cruise was there and i missed him. >> tom hanks, tom cruise, it is the same thing. >> hbo the film. >> and again they go away talking about that woman that we came in with, sarah palin. and i heard it again last night. a lot of people have a lot more respect for her especially the fight that she has. people just didn't realize that before she was going into debates. she was giving off the fun with her son hearing gun fire in the background and all that she went through. almost superhuman. >> one reason hbo was so attracted to the story was because she had those pressures. when people see the film tomorrow night i think they will see a pretty compelling portrait of somebody fighting back and dealing with a lot of adversity in a spot light. >> the irony of that clip is she is talking about the vetting process. when nicole wallace cornered woody harrellson and said did you guys not vet her? it was a rush. and another thing that you find in looking add this film, she was put in an untenable position. she could have said, no. when it hit her it was too late to jump out. >> i al

and cracked.com saying your odds of winning are worse than being tom cruise, 150 million to run one. or picking a name out after hat with every russian on earth and having it come up with vladimir puttin. >> there is almost 4 million possibilities with the white balls and the mega ball, there are millions of possibilities. it's almost 176 million possible. >> reporter: and yet, it does happen. often enough, that tlc has a show about winners, called "lottery changed my life." and this grandmother who went sky diving. >> i always wanted to do that. >> reporter: joe from fredericksburg, virginia, won $48 million and bought a nascar team. >> i are not longer outside. i'm in the box looking at my team. >> reporter: and this man from okeechobee, florida, he bought a bait and tackle shop and gave away most of the money. this is dream come true stuff, obviously. but when the tickets are flying, it might have more to do with believing that the american dream may be in reach with the frightening time. >> it's a way to give a control. >> reporter: steven goldberg advices people who have come in

ago biometrics robotics spies and state surveillance grew the makings of a spy i flick starring tom cruise sort of from the trailer of the day many scenes from the hollywood blockbuster minority report arguably a calm and reality with life ominously imitating art your walking down the street and the camera takes a picture of you as able to compare it through facial is able to compare it to your driver's license photo or some other photo of your mug shot maybe a surveillance photo and say all right marina was on the corner of forty second and . three o'clock last saturday in addition to facial recognition in new york city's police department is just one of many law enforcement agencies that also require citizens to undergo an iris scan before being released from police custody. in the past six months iris scans have been taken from hundreds of occupy wall street activists placed under arrest by christine i've been solace they really don't so you why they just say it's another form of identification and it's really creepy to have someone holding up the machines in your phrase and you have no

your average to win is worse than any american male's chances of being tom cruise.at statistically near impossible thing does happen. [ creaming ] >> reporter: often enough that tlc could make a series about the winners called "lottery changed my life." this is dream come true stuff, like sipt ya stafford. she was take ig care of five kids and won 112 million in 2007. five years later, she's still wealthy on the winnings, living well, not insanely well. big house, not a huge house. making investments and movies, too. >> i have a few films. i did parlay some of my money into a production company. >> buying the ticket is buying a ticket of hope. >> reporter: that's just it. that's not rational at all. that's magic, backed up by the fact that somebody in the end

i don't miss him about the greek debt right tom cruise premature stuff and suffers a fresh candidate from fitch ratings agency with moody's going even further declaring priests in default. more news stories in fifteen it's not the mean time and joins me with the latest in sports. hello and welcome to sport on r.g.p. with me among cos read plenty up ahead including the following story. perfect record church incitec increase their playoff win streak to six out of six against brussels are after latest three one away victory. and the blistering bubba watson leads the cadillac championship after just missing out on the course record in miami. and stars of tomorrow so you thought i saw the talent showcase their skills and make n.h.l. speed versus west. let's say kick off with football and in the russian premier league ten man said they have transcripts of there are three one so move further away from the drop zone and just a reminder both teams are in the boston half of the league or the so-called really gauging group crossed the dark top that line but so got off to an awful start in this

tom cruise, john travolta. a former top official in the church is speaking out.rch denies her explosive allegations and has taken her to court. but she is undeterred. and she sat down with abc's dan harris. >> reporter: scientology, a church known for celebrity and controversy. and now, a new uproar involving this woman, debbie cook, who has gone from running the church's spiritual mecca. >> welcome to the mecca of scientology. >> reporter: to being a vocal critic. >> it needs to get exposed. it needs to get confronted. >> reporter: cook and her husband left the church in the fall of 2007, signing confidentiality agreements, and receiving checks for $50,000 apiece. but just weeks ago, cook wrote an e-mail criticizing the church leadership. the e-mail went viral and the church sued her for breach of contract. cook is now fighting back. leveling new allegations in open court, many involving the leader of the church, david miscavige. >> one quality that has always set us apart is that we are unselfish. >> i have never met a more competent, a more intelligent, a more

tom cruise did it. anne hathaway too. their performances were nothing compared to what really happened on wall street today. one high-profile resignation goes viral. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline." march 14th, 2012. >>> and good evening. i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin with a crime that still haunts after 16 years. jonbenet ramsey, the 6-year-old beauty queen, found murdered in her basement. tonight, with the child pageant scene bigger than ever, jonbenet's father, john ramsey, isn't mincing words. here's abc's juju chang. >> jonbenet ramsey. >> reporter: if jonbenet ramsey were alive today, she'd be 21 years old. what do you think she would have been like? >> i can't visualize jonbenet at that age. my image of her in my mind, is as a 6-year-old little girl. >> reporter: john ramsey remembers his daughter as fresh-faced and sporty. not as the tragic child beauty queen with glamorous curls and full makeup, hot world

is this oral legend a porn version of a bad tom cruise movie? secondly, i don't believe any of this. i think adrian is cursed to only play adrian. the guy needs work. the "entourage" movie is the only thing happening. he probably got a picture of obama at a stupid celebrity thing. he put it on his facebook page for one reason and one reason only. adrian needs to get laid. >> his come on-line is, i am the guy from "entourage" and now it is, i am the guy that used to be on" entourage." this came from a long line of presidents who made cameos. zachary taylor made a cameo on " golden girls." james polk played the younger brother in "wild, wild west." >> you are absolutely right. one time i walked into a best buy and opened a microwave and bush was staring and spinning around the little thing saying, this is amazing. >> it is a joke you can return to. >> i feel like i physicalled it. like i fixed it. it could set off further culture are whats. "entourage" celebrates a lifestyle in which you want to go out and have sex or smoke a dubie. should a presi

>>gary: tom cruise looks good. see was scientology can do for you?because the season is 66 games, this may have been the only window to get it in. no one interested in lebron james will be worried about the oscars. 60 million were watching the oscars and 7 million or 8 million watching the nba game. >> you are the last man standing. forecasters today are like factory workers, the same side of this material. >>gary: he heard me saying that the other night but i was kidding. >> tony, i concur. >> tony, i concur. getting ready to plant? chances are your sl is like this: compacted, drained of nutrients. it'll hold your plants... but it'll also hold 'emk. the solution: miracle-gro gardenoil. thperfect mix of rich, organic ingredients, and miracle-gro plant food. just mix it in. and turn bad soil into great soil. helps plants grow twice as big. they'll leap ahead. miracle-gro garden soi start right. finish big. >> was davy jone monkees band mate, sudd death. our tearful new interview. >>> fallout over the high schoolteacher who lftis family for his student

look how young tom cruise looked there. a clip from "top gun", filmed award the u.s.s.. leaving ports in virginia for a seven month mission to the middle east. u.s. navy commissioned the ship in 1961, only supposed to run for 25 years, it's been in service for 51. and it's 50 years of the carrier and i'm on it. and probably going to get it somewhere. >> and this is business as issue, and this will be a combat deployment just as the other 21 deployments have been prior to. >> 51 years at the end of this year, and the enterprise the navy's second oldest in commission next to the u.s.s. constitution that dates back to the 1700, for our injured soldiers returning from the month lines, on the road to recovery, more than 150 hospitals treat more than 6 million people each year and the department of veterans affairs, predicts that number will skyrocket this year. and so, what is the va doing to handle the increase? casey stegall looking into it for us. casey? >> yeah, harris, the demand has never been greater, so a lot of changes are now being made to the system to ensure that

. >> you know what's interesting to watch tom cruise in "born on the 4th of july" starting as that characterame a crusader. >> julianna margo lease "the good wife." let's take a look. >> tardiff diskinny,ia. if you look at me long enough, you just get used to it. feel free to look. i don't mind. the good news is pills. i take these every few hours and they don't make the symptoms disappear completely but they diminish. >> objection. >> i'm going to give you a new title, actorvist. is there a role that's going to turn you on that doesn't somehow move the needle for parkinson's? >> yeah. acting for me is really fun. i'm kind of ramped it up in the last few years. i didn't for a long time. believe it or not with the medication, like the care terk was saying there, it's much more predictable for me now. i know i can maintain a proscribe course of action for a character. i know can i fill out certain beats. but it's interesting, i have to in some way acknowledge that the physicality of my condition. >> of course. >> so there's a broad umbrella of things i can use to explain it and hopefully i can

the goose was alive, he would be telling tom cruise, no no, mav, this is not a good idea. that's all for us tonight. ac 360 starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> good morning from cnn london i'm nina dos santos. >> and a very good afternoon to you from cnn hong kong, i'm a niece sha tank. these are our top stories fridays. brous are furrowed in brussels as european heads of government talk high unemployment and low economic growth. >> an unconfirmed blast could affect the u.s. economic recovery with higher prices. >> more compensations cost for costa cruises. the costa allegra ship are offered full reimbursement. >> first off though, greece has made a lot of sacrifices to try and secure its second big bailout from the eu and the imf. unfortunately though, it seems as though it still hasn't made enough. eurozone members holding a meeting in brussels decided to withhold more than half of the $175 billion that athens so badly needs to stay afloat. that's the portion due to go straight into the government bank. while greece struggles, another aspect has been se

. >> it's interesting to watch tom cruise and "born on the fourth of july." out based on the character, and by the end, the character you were and a crusader. julianne margolis. huge show. >> tar dives diskinesia. it makes me do this. and this, and ahhh. >> uh-oh. >> if you look at me long enough, you get used to it. so feel free to look, and i won't mind. now, the good news is these pills, i take these every few hours and they don't make the symptoms disappear completely -- >> objection. >> i'm going to give a new title to actorvist. is that a role that's not going to turn you on now, forget the physical challenges, is it not going to turn you on that somehow doesn't move the needle for disability or for parkinson's? >> sure, acting for me has been really fun. i've kind of amped it up in the last few years. believe it or not, with the medication, just like the character was saying there, it's much more predictable for me now, and i can know that i can maintain a proscribed course of action for a character. i know i can fill out certain beats. but it's intere

. >> this is the tom cruise scientology video. >> it's something you have to earn. >> friends are notis man at nbc which included a critique of a certain musical guest on "saturday night live." denton sent it to the editor in chief of gawker, who promptly posted it. let's talk about brian williams. he sent you a private e-mail. >> yeah. >> and you burned him. why did you do it? >> i messed up. >> this is a personal e-mail. what kind of person does this? >> we publish stuff -- we publish stories ahead of maintaining relationships with people without access, favor or discretion. >> so you really don't apologize for it? >> for that? >> yeah. >> it was a mess-up internally, but no, i don't. >> anything for a story, especially one that gets a lot of clicks. do you care whether people respect you? >> i don't need it in the short term. i'm prepared to wait for years. i like nothing better than to be proven right, and i can wait quite a long time for that. >> what would like your legacy to be? >> told the truth, the whole truth. >> what would be the snarky nick denton want to see as the headl