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@THISHOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

White House Intrusion Prompts Review; Crisis at Ebola Epicenter; Special Needs Teen Used at Bait to Catch Rapist

Aired September 22, 2014 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER KING, (R), NEW YORK: There can be a lot of conspiracies against a president and a lot of complex assassination plots. This is the most basic, the most simple type of procedure. And how anyone, especially in these days of ISIS, and we're concerned about terrorist attacks, someone could get into the White House without being stopped is inexcusable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The always bashful Congressman Peter King.

Really, @THISHOUR there are so many questions about White House security after this shocking incident on Friday where a man with a knife got over the fence, across the lawn, in the door -- that's right, in the door -- and within a flight of stairs to the Obamas' living quarters before he was stopped. This is the interesting part of the video here. Well, the suspect is an Iraq war vet, Omar Gonzalez, of Texas. He might have had post traumatic stress disorder. He will face a judge today. This is simply not supposed to happen at the White House.

David Wilkinson is the president of the Atlanta Police Foundation and former Secret Service agent.

David, so many questions here. How did the man get so far before he was stopped? Through the door. Why wasn't the door locked? Why weren't the dogs unleashed? Why wasn't he shot? Explain the breakdown here?

DAVID WILKINSON, PRESIDENT, ATLANTA POLICE FOUNDATION & FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Good morning, John. As you can imagine the Secret Service has a lot of fence jumpers throughout the year jumping over the north side of the White House onto the White House grounds and they respond to them everyday. They spend a lot of time training for this event as well as any other conceivable emergency. So you can imagine the disconcerting thing here is the fact the individual made it to the building and made it inside.

You ask why the dogs weren't deployed. These agents are very highly trained to provide the amount of force necessary, basically, to stop the intruder. And quite honestly, John, the vast majority of these cases, the individual is mentally unstable. The Secret Service saw immediately that this individual was not armed. This individual basically was running around the south -- the north grounds. So basically, it ends up being a situation like on a Sunday football game, basically. You have officers basically chasing them around trying to corral them in. But ultimately, the answer here is the fact that there was no weapon there. The officer --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: But there was -- there was a three-inch serrated knife. Obviously they couldn't see it and they don't know what's under his shirt or vest at the time. I suppose there is a legitimate question here, the Obama family was not there. They had left minutes before. Is it possible that agents were treating the situation much differently because they knew the first family was not there?

WILKINSON: No, that's not true. There's clearly protocols for protecting the White House at all times. And when the president there, of course, the security is heightened even more. But even though the individual made it through the door, there are several levels of security between the front door and the living area where the president and the first family would have been.

But the reality is, it is unacceptable the individual made it to the door. This is seen as a security breach by the Secret Service. And having spent over 22 years there myself, I can tell you, they will do a very thorough assessment and they'll make sure this doesn't happen again.

But, again, I have to say that you asked why the individual wasn't shot, snipers are on the roof, basically. They were -- they had this individual trained in their sights from the moment he came over the fence. He had -- uniform special response officers were all surrounding him. Any of them could have shot him at any given time or released a dog on him. The reality of it is, basically, there was no weapon in sight basically and it wasn't seen appropriate at that time to take that type of action. And I think if they had, we'd have a very different story right now.

BERMAN: You bring up a fair point right now. But it is cause to reassess the security protocols, maybe at a minimum, lock the door.

Dave Wilkinson, great to have you with us. Appreciate your insight and experience on this matter.

WILKINSON: My pleasure.

BERMAN: Ahead @THISHOUR, debt and desperation at the epicenter of the Ebola crisis. We will take you there.

What happened inside this school is going to shock you. A special needs teenager allegedly used as bait by teachers trying to catch a rapist. Now the feds are getting involved. We'll break down the case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: A new deployment of U.S. troops has arrived in Liberia for the fight against Ebola. They're part of an eventual mission of about 3,000 American troops set to battle the deadly outbreak that is spreading exponentially across West Africa at this moment. The epicenter is in Liberia.

Our chief (ph) medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is there -- Elizabeth?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: John, when I first arrived, a diplomat said to me, "This is a nightmare." And after having been here for a few days I understand why the shis that way.

(voice-over): An international health crisis unprecedented in modern times, Ebola. Ground zero, Liberia. This city, as a Sunday service comes to an end, parishioners washing up with chlorine. The threat of the virus ever present.

UNIDENTIFIED LIBERIAN: They're afraid because it is a threatening disease.

COHEN: This young parishioner lost 13 of his relatives to Ebola, including his parents. The pastor tells this is congregation no shaking hands, no hugging.

UNIDENTIFIED LIBERIAN: Are you afraid of death? No, I will die, but I don't want to die from Ebola.

COHEN: In the capitol of Monrovia, a prayer before the Dead Body Management Team winds its way through the city slums to retrieve cadavers. But even these suits can't protect their hearts from what they see on the job -- like a baby hungry for his dead mother's milk.

FRIDAY KIYEE, DEAD BODY MANAGEMENT TEAM: I took the key, I opened the door and I went in, I saw six-month-old child licking on the mother, when the mother died she died on her stomach and he was licking on the mother. Right away I started shedding tears.

COHEN: The woman inside this bag one of nearly 1500 people suspected of dying from Ebola.

The number of cases here up 52 percent in just three weeks. One major reason, many hospitals have closed down, afraid their staff will contract Ebola. So the sick, forced the stay at home, where they can infect others.

This new clinic opened just Sunday but when we arrive no one comes outside to bring these patients in. Too weak, they fall to the ground. Inside this ambulance, three people make a seven-hour trip to get here and die outside the hospital.

Back in the city, Father King does his part. He stopped giving everyone communion from the same cup.

(on camera): By stopping this practice, have you saved lives?

FATHER KING: Yes, absolutely.

COHEN (voice-over): His congregation awaiting the help promised by President Obama.

ANTHONY KALLAH, SCHOOL TEACHER: The news that America was coming here with a huge number of personnel and materiel, that is a relief to Liberia and Liberians.

COHEN: They know relief won't come quickly. For now, Ebola is here to stay.

(on camera): John, there's a severe need for these isolation beds. In Monrovia alone they need 700. Now, the U.S. government is coming and they say they're going to build 17 hospitals, 100 beds each. However, they're not staffing the hospitals, so people here in Liberia are concerned who will take care of the Ebola patients -- John?

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BERMAN: Such an incredible view of such an outrageous tragedy at this point.

Our thanks to Elizabeth Cohen on the front lines at the Ebola outbreak in Liberia.

Ahead @THISHOUR, a story that really will surprise you. A lawsuit claims a teacher's aide used a special needs student to try to catch a rapist at a school. But the attempted sting left her a rape victim, they say. We'll explain how in the world this happened next.

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BERMAN: We have a story right now that might very well shock you. A lawsuit says a 14-year-old special needs girl was used as bait to try to catch an alleged school rapist and she ended up being raped herself. Let's see if you can follow this. The suit says a teacher's aide encouraged her to meet a 16-year-old boy in a bathroom where teachers would intervene in a sting, but it all went wrong when the boy asked to meet in a different bathroom than the one that was expected, and that's when the alleged rape occurred. No one stopped it. No one was there to stop it. Now the federal government is supporting the girl's family in a suit against the school board in the Alabama county where this all happened.

Joining me now to discuss this is Wendy Murphy, a former prosecutor and law professor at New England School of law in Boston.

I want to break this down piece by piece. If this went down as the suit alleges how risky would bit for a school official to try to set up some kind of sting with no law enforcement participation at all? Have you ever heard of anything like this?

WENDY MURPHY, LAW PROFESSOR, NEW ENGLAND SCHOOL OF LAW & FORMER PROSECUTOR: No. No, John. And you know using the word "risky," I really want to use such strong language, and I think you'll probably be fined if I do that. It's not just that it's risky to this poor girl. It's risky to the school in terms of liability. And, make no mistake, they will pay dearly, dearly for what they did. It is absurd. It is not remotely the correct way to respond to concerns about a repeat offender on campus, whether you're in middle school, high school or college, it's all the same. Title IX covers this is kind of behavior. Schools are required to be pro active, but under no definition of pro active, are they required to set up a sting. This is so silly. It's crazy.

BERMAN: The local district attorney investigated this incident, didn't pursue the rape claim after the victim was unwilling or unable to discuss it? Is that a separate issue than in the idea of this alleged sting?

MURPHY: It is a separate question to some extent. Holding prosecutors accountable for responding correctly to rape on campus requires a different approach, both legally and politically, than holding schools accountable when they do the wrong thing. Remember, we're talking about a civil rights violation when it happens on campus. But in the real world, the very same incident is a crime and they are treated in very different ways and venues, but they are both critically important and both should proceed.

What I don't like about this story is it appears both in the real world legal system and on campus, officials were looking for videotape proof of the incident. I think the NFL knows better than to do that ever again and I hope this case sends a very different message. You don't need proof.

BERMAN: No.

MURPHY: The word of a girl or a woman is sufficient to require responsible authorities to proceed.

BERMAN: You made up a good point I didn't make clear before. This girl had come forward and said that she had been approached by this boy. She was nervous about it, which is why then, allegedly, the school set up this sting to catch him in the act. Because the school said they didn't have enough to go after him unless they caught him in the act of a rape. That does seem outrageous.

MURPHY: That's where the school is wrong. And this young man apparently had multiple prior offenses. So you don't have to have 14 different girls come forward before you do something, and you certainly don't have to then prove it with yet another girl before you step up and take effective action. I actually wrote the first article in the nation on this issue connecting the dots between Title IX and sexual assault on campus, and shockingly, at the time I wrote the article, which was in 2006, very few schools had anything in place to deal with the problem of sexual harassment and assault on campus. As a result of which you do have situations like this, where schools do nothing until something extreme happens, and then they do it wrong.

BERMAN: We've got a whole lot of questions about this one.

Wendy Murphy, thank you for joining us.

Our Victor Blackwell is in Alabama digging more into this. What we've heard so far raises so many questions.

Here's how the school board is it responding. "School officials are confident the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will rule in favor of the board and the administrators. Our attorneys recommend that we not discuss ongoing litigation". Much more on this ahead.

Ahead @THISHOUR, the former first family talking about world problems at the Clinton Global Initiative. But is it world problems that the political world is thinking about while they look at this picture, and could the big news be about a baby? That's next.

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BERMAN: So the United Nations General Assembly is meeting in New York City with tons of leaders. But they have competition in terms of being the biggest star-studded event in the city. The Clinton Global Initiative kicks off in just a few minutes. It's the charitable initiative of the Clinton family. And this year, it could have added significance because, you know, some people think that Hillary Clinton might run for president.

I'm joined by Cheri Jacobus, a Republican strategist and president of the Capitol Strategies P.R.; and Robert Zimmerman, a Democratic strategist who is founder and partner of Zimmerman, Edelson, Inc.

Guys, I want to start with the headline here, which is that our Fareed Zakaria has already broken major news that people have been watching very closely, and that's the imminent arrival of a possible Clinton grandchild. So look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't wait. And we're on watch now. I hope by the first of October, I'll be a grandfather. I -- I

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you care if it's a boy or a girl?

CLINTON: No. And I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I hope to be a grandfather by October 1st. We have a potential due date.

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Nobody has gotten that much news out about the grandchild.

That's good news, indeed.

Cheri, I'm resisting the urge to talk about the political implications of this grandchild because I hope this baby is born happy and healthy and she has a great childhood. But let's talk about the Clinton Global Initiative because you have

both Clintons will be setting up on stage with all of the world leaders. When we look at it this year, what will people be looking for in terms of the former secretary of state?

CHERI JACOBUS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, look. I think the problem Hillary Clinton has always had is that she needs what her husband brings to the table, he kind of overshadows her and even now, running for president in her primary race, a very controversial ten years Barack Obama's secretary of state and she always looks "less than" when she sits next to her husband. But this is a great political boost for her.

ZIMMERMAN: Who have you been hanging out with when you think that she's overshadowed by her husband?

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ZIMMERMAN: A lot of people are referring to him as Hillary Clinton's husband.

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ZIMMERMAN: It's not about being the base. It's the fact that for ten years people have wondered what does this mean for Hillary in terms of her political aspirations. It's really critical to political pundits and then people with real lives want to focus on what matters which is the achievements which are worth focusing on, too.

BERMAN: You know, I joked that I wasn't going to talk much about the grandchild but, if this child is born October 1st, you would think that they will be active, involved grandparents.

JACOBUS: Just like the Bushes.

BERMAN: Sure, just like anybody. Just like my parents.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: But it may keep the Clintons from the campaign trail in October. Do you think -- Robert, I'll ask you this, too. Do you think they want to be out there?

ZIMMERMAN: Are you kidding? They are most sought after in midterm elections. When I was with them over the summer, people asked me, what did you talk about? They were excited about their grandchild. They are truly as excited as any grandparents I've encountered.

(CROSSTALK)

JACOBUS: Our high-profile celebrities, be it political or entertainment industry, when they have children and grandchildren, we all pay attention. We were happy for the Bushes when they became grandparents for the first time. And we'll be happy for the Clintons. It's fun to watch. It doesn't affect a single vote, though, we know that. ZIMMERMAN: And we both agree on something.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Bringing you guys together, that's an accomplishment.

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you, Professor Zimmerman.

Cheri, thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: And thank you for joining us @THISHOUR.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.