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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
New Details on Schwarzenegger Confession; Sex, Lies and Power; Al Qaeda with Bin Laden; New Details on Rape Charges against IMF Chief; Keeping Traffic Moving
Aired May 17, 2011 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone.
We begin tonight with the latest on the stunning news about Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the most recognizable faces on the planet, a superstar actor and former governor of California.
Today we learned that Schwarzenegger, who once called family the basic foundation of everything, had a child out of wedlock and hid that child for years not just from voters, but from his own family, his own wife, his other children.
We learned today it was perhaps the central reason why Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver -- seen here in better times -- announced their separation last week after a quarter of century of marriage. Schwarzenegger today admitting he fathered a child with a member of the household staff.
Quote, "After leaving the governor's office" he said in a statement, "I told my wife about this event which occurred over a decade ago." He went on to say, "There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry."
Later, this statement from his wife -- "This is a painful and heartbreaking time," she said. "As a mother my concern is for the children. I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal."
There are additional details tonight. "The New York Times" reporting tonight the child is a boy. He's now 14 and his mother, again, according to "The times," was pregnant with him at the same time as Maria Shriver was pregnant with their youngest child. "The Times" also reporting that the boy was an occasional presence at the Schwarzenegger/Shriver home.
There have, of course, have been rumors about Schwarzenegger for years, stories of infidelity and inappropriate behavior. During his first campaign for governor he was accused of groping women. This is how he responded back then.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FORMER GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA: I always say that wherever there's smoke, there's fire. That is true. And so what I want to say to you is -- is that yes, that I have behaved badly sometimes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, two days after he made that statement, Maria Shriver launched a public campaign of her own supporting her husband in the crucial final days of the campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA SHRIVER, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S WIFE: So in the end, in these final 48, 72 hours, you can make a decision. You can listen to all the negativity and you can listen to people who have never met Arnold or who met him for five seconds 30 years ago; or you can listen to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that was in October nearly eight years ago.
What she apparently did not know then and that we just learned today is that the child her husband fathered was someone in the household staff would have already been a toddler at the time or older if "The New York Times" version is correct.
Two years before that, he was railing -- Schwarzenegger was railing against single parenthood to Salon.com saying, "I think the situation with single parenting is disastrous." He was talking mainly but not exclusively about poor inner city parents and kids. He also said regardless of wealth and parental resources, single parenting is bad for kids.
We'll talk about that tonight as well as why women stick with men despite some warning signs. First though, how we got here, what we know.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It's like a bomb in the state of California in this morning's "Los Angeles Times". Schwarzenegger fathered a child with long-time member of the household staff. The woman who had the affair and the child with Schwarzenegger had worked for his family for about a decade at the time of the affair and only recently retired. A source told CNN that Schwarzenegger had financially supported the child since birth.
When the "L.A. Times" began asking questions about the child, the mother told the paper as late as yesterday that another man, her husband at the time, was the father. She also said she was leaving her long-time job with the family because quote, "I wanted to achieve my 20 years and I asked to retire."
The staffer's cover story about the father fell apart when Schwarzenegger claimed paternity. The woman who has not been identified has had no further comment.
Allegations of affairs occasionally surfaced throughout Schwarzenegger's eight years in office, but none seem to threaten his seemingly storied marriage with wife Maria Shriver.
They married in 1986 and as a couple have four children. Schwarzenegger told his wife about the child after leaving office in January. And since then he and Shriver have effectively lived separate lives, according to "The L.A. Times." He's been trying to revive his film career; interested in making sequels to "The Terminator". And he's globe trotted to Brazil with James Cameron, to Cannes to be honored by France's culture minister and to Washington to participate in the conference on immigration with President Obama. Trips he took all reportedly without his wife.
Three weeks ago, the couple marked a milestone; 25 years of marriage. Normally a call for celebration; but then last Monday, they announced they were amicably separating. She was moving out of their Brentwood home and they released a joint statement that read in part -- "This has been a time of great personal and professional transition for each of us. After a great deal of thought, reflection, discussion and prayer, we came to this decision together. At this time, we're living apart while we work on the future of our relationship."
Just a day after that announcement on Tuesday, Schwarzenegger seemed to suggest the couple was trying to work through issues that led to the separation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHWARZENEGGER: We both love each other very much. We are very fortunate that we have four extraordinary children and we're taking one day at a time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: "The L.A. Times" reports Shriver was less optimistic. She had been unhappy in the marriage for years "The Times" reports and was simply waiting for her husband's term to end before splitting.
Today's bombshell has likely only deepened the divide between the couple. Shriver issued a statement today calling the latest news heartbreaking. In addition to the separate statements from Shriver and Schwarzenegger the couple's children also are speaking out on Twitter.
Out of all the doubts and questions Schwarzenegger's family must have had, one of the biggest is also on the mind of a nation, how could he keep this secret for so long?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, joining us now is former L.A. Times writer Joe Matthews, he is the author of "The People's Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of the Blockbuster Democracy"; also joining us, Jessica Yellin who's been covering Schwarzenegger for years; and on the phone, Candy Crowley who was on the Schwarzenegger campaign bus back in 2003 when those multiple grope allegations came to light. Jessica, obviously long-standing rumors of womanizing are one thing; a secret out-of-wedlock child is something else entirely. How big of a surprise was this revelation? You've covered him for a long time.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So I've spoken to a lot of politicos and Hollywood insiders today who, to a person say, not that surprised. I'm sort of shocked by that. They say look, the fact that it was a housekeeper, the fact that there is a child; that is startling and was well covered up.
But that it was a general understanding that he had a problem with womanizing and that it was sort of baked into his image and what people know about him, especially in his community in L.A.
Now, there are even people who are saying this is not going to hurt his movie career going forward. Men behaving badly seem to do ok. It will hurt any political aspirations he should have. But he left office with a terrible approval rating in the mid-20s. So any further aspirations would have been pretty slim anyway.
COOPER: Yes. Joe, you covered Schwarzenegger for a long time. How -- I mean did it surprise you, and how did he -- how did manage to keep this under wraps so long?
JOE MATTHEWS, FORMER LA TIMES WRITER: Well, you know, you had a situation where -- but the woman was married at the time. He was married. They'd both had a reason not to tell anyone and they would have been the people to know. I don't think it's terribly surprising this was a secret for a long time. Politicians -- while we reporters love to think that we know all, we don't. We often know very little. And this was the case here.
I think in this -- in this particular case, I was surprised by the announcement of a separation. These are two people who are both -- very invested in this marriage. Not just for all the personal reasons but because the narrative of the marriage, this marriage between two very different people who despite their struggles and problems and differences, managed to make it work. That narrative of marriage is something they both sold and prospered from in their professional lives.
So they have a lot of reasons not to -- to get to -- not to get divorced, not to split. But the news that he was involved with a woman who was not his wife was not surprising. And this is not someone who has run as a public moralist, this is not someone who -- whoever promised in politics to be faithful to his wife and -- or was faithful in the past or would be in the future. This was not a Bill Clinton who wagged his finger.
This is someone who actually -- whose public persona and political persona was someone who was a little bit naughty. And you know, even in that 2003 campaign, you know, we saw that.
COOPER: Right.
Candy, you -- you were there. I mean, you covered the campaign at the time of those multiple groping allegations. A, does this surprise you? And does this surprise you that it was kept secret for so long time?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Well, it doesn't, and I think for reasons just talked about, which is that if you have people that are vested in keeping quiet, then they can keep it quiet. And so if you have a woman who is married to someone else, who is having his baby, she's apparently was getting child support all of this time, perhaps there was an accountant involved somewhere along the line.
But he also has a vested interest in staying quiet. And there's a difference between the aggrieved women that "The L.A. Times" reported in great detail. Like five, six days or it was less than a week before the recall vote in California. And he had started a huge big bus tour that day that we were on with lots of Hollywood folderol and stopping in several cities.
And this story just came up that morning on the front page of "The Times," but the camera was all over because there was a story after that, as well. I think there were like 20 women or something and it was pretty disgusting behavior. And he said no, he didn't do it. And then he said, well, you know, it's Hollywood and it's gyms and I was sort of bawdy. And so I apologize if people were offended.
But the difference between those women and the mother of this child is that they were aggrieved and angry, and she obviously didn't even want to talk as late as yesterday. So, you know, again, it's not surprising. If people don't want to talk it's hard to find out.
COOPER: Yes. Jessica, how -- do we know how Maria Shriver is doing?
YELLIN: I've been in touch with somebody who is very close to her and says basically that she -- has said she's not adrift. That this was an act -- leaving him was an act of an empowered woman who knows what she wants and the kind of life she wants to lead. And the basic bottom -- the bottom line there is look, this woman didn't stand by her man, but I should add as a caveat, once this latest revelation happened and only after he left the governor's office.
COOPER: All right. Jessica, Candy, I appreciate your time and Joe Matthews, as well. Thank you.
Let us know what you think. We're on Facebook or follow me on Twitter @AndersonCooper. I'll also be tweeting tonight during the program.
Up next: politics, power and fame, why so often it's linked to infidelity. Dr. Drew Pinsky weighs in on the reason why. Is it that the power leads to this kind of behavior or is it something else as the drive that propels some men to seek fame and power; that same drive does that lead them to cheat? It's an interesting idea from Dr. Pinsky. We'll talk to him.
And later, breaking news, the man on the right now believed to be bin Laden's successor. We'll tell you who he is and whether the new acting boss could be as dangerous or maybe even more dangerous as the old one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We have breaking news tonight. New details on top of the stunning news that Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered a child out of wedlock with a member of the household staff; "The New York Times" reporting tonight the boy is about 14 years old. Several friends telling the paper the mother was working around the house while pregnant at the same time that Maria Shriver was pregnant with her own youngest.
Now, we've seen a lot of politicians, of course, caught cheating and lying about it, but Arnold Schwarzenegger's deception of his own family over the course of many years is nevertheless pretty surprising.
Dr. Drew Pinsky believes that it's not the power and fame that leads some men to cheat as a lot of people think, but it's more complex than that. He believes the thing that drives some men to become famous or powerful is an impulse which also drives them to cheat sometimes. He'll explain that in a minute.
But first, Tom Foreman with some of the other politicians we've seen who've done this as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even in the midst of this sex scandal, the former California governor has plenty of company.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
FOREMAN: Ever since President Clinton was caught fooling around 13 years ago, Internet rumors, cameras everywhere, and the public appetite for dirt have outed dozens of public figures for indiscretions.
Among Republicans, such scandals have had particular impact. Former House Speaker, now presidential contender, Newt Gingrich led the charge against Clinton, but twice had affairs of his own. Senators David Vitter and then Senator John Ensign likewise have defended conservative family values but Vitter was linked to prostitutes and Ensign cheated on his wife.
And when the governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, was found with his Argentine mistress, not on the Appalachian Trail --
MARK SANFORD (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA: I -- I've been unfaithful to my wife.
FOREMAN: His wife suggested he take a hike.
ELIZABETH SANFORD, MARK SANFORD'S EX-WIFE: And I frankly didn't know where he was. FOREMAN: And it's not as if Republicans have cornered the market on indiscretion.
JOHN EDWARDS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because I did not want the public to know what I had done -- very simple.
FOREMAN: Former vice presidential candidate John Edwards talked to "Nightline" about his affair with this woman, Rielle Hunter. She claimed they had a love child, something at first Edwards denied.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you were running for president, you flat out defined having a relationship with Rielle Hunter, is -- did you give me a truthful answer? Were you telling me the truth then?
EDWARDS: Yes.
FOREMAN: He later came clean and his wife, Elizabeth, now deceased, left him and took their kids with her.
Other Democrats, former New York governor, now CNN host, Eliot Spitzer paid for escorts. Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey cheated with another man.
But it's not just politics.
In sports, quarterbacks Brett Favre and Ben Roethlisberger were accused of but never charged with misconduct. Tiger Woods went into the rough over extramarital playing partners.
TIGER WOODS, GOLFER: I was unfaithful. I had affairs.
FOREMAN: And in entertainment, scandals have enveloped David Letterman, Hugh Grant, George Michael and Jesse James, just to name a few.
(on camera): So the former California governor can take consolation knowing as a politician, an athlete, and an entertainer, he is not alone. But then, when you think about it that was the whole problem.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Right, that's the what. For a closer look at the why, I spoke earlier with addiction specialist and HLN host, Dr. Drew Pinsky.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So Dr. Drew, I've read some psychologists who say that -- that men with great power and status are in fact more prone to affairs than the average person. Do you think that -- is that really true?
DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN HOST: I think it probably is true, Anderson, but it doesn't mean A, it's ok. And it doesn't mean the high profile or status -- power status necessarily causes this. In fact, the research I've -- that I've done on celebrities and people in positions of power show something quite different.
What it shows is the kind of person that strives to get themselves in those positions may have certain character liabilities that make them the kind of person that is prone to these sorts of transgressions.
COOPER: What's the correlation, the drive to achieve something and -- and the impulse or whatever to cheat or to do stuff that's high risk?
PINSKY: Well, it's a topic you and I have talked about over the years. It's narcissism. It's the need to get pumped up from the environment, to feel ok about yourself, and so you have to keep achieving and to achieve and get positions of power in order to feel ok when you sort of don't feel so good on the inside.
And narcissism has this liability of emphatic failure, which is people with narcissism don't really perceive the consequences of their actions on other people because they don't really perceive other people's feelings very well. So particularly in those moments where they have a very powerful impulse, it's hard for them to predict the effects it's going to have on other people.
COOPER: But that drive could apply to basically everybody who has a TV show. So not everybody who's on TV you know acts out in this way, though. What's --
(CROSSTALK)
PINSKY: That's absolutely correct. Well, the difference is that liability. And my point is, and the part that I find most disturbing is that the public at large will often rather be dismissive about this and say oh, guess what, somebody who's in a position of authority -- some male who makes a lot of money is acting out sexually. Yes, we get that.
But does it make it ok? It is not ok for many reasons. It says something deep about their -- about their personality functioning, about their value system. But also this has such a rippling effect on everybody else in and around the people they love are shattered by this. And we've heard so much of this these days, it's almost becoming normative and that background noise affects our kids.
This is the warning I want to keep putting out to people right now is they need to discuss this with their children, this behavior is not ok. If they want to behave like this, they shouldn't take a vow and they should do all this before they get married or not get married.
COOPER: What I don't understand, though, I mean, I understand a famous person doing this, look, the behavior of somebody like Charlie Sheen or something. But somebody who is running for office, whose entire livelihood depends on, you know, being seen as being honest and making promises with the voters and a compact with voters, to do this while you're running for office, I mean we've seen it with John Edwards, we've seen it with, you know, look when Eliot Spitzer was governor, obviously he had -- he had the problem that he had.
Why would -- would somebody in political life, of all places, when you're under that microscope, do this?
PINSKY: It boggles the mind, doesn't it, Anderson? And I would have basically two answers. One is sometimes its sexual addiction. I mean sometimes people, just like with any other addiction, they're in denial. They don't really -- they don't really perceive again in a moment the consequences of their actions.
But more often than not, it is a sense of entitlement, of being special, of being -- of being sort of -- sort of being entitled to this sort of thing and some of the reasons why they're in the position they're in makes them feel like they are entitled to this. And the fact is they're just not. And for those of us not to discuss this, and not to dismiss it, further enhances their sense of entitlement.
COOPER: Is there a sense though of -- I mean, does the danger of it, does the forbidden-ness (ph)of it add to the appeal of it or the attraction of it for -- for some of these people?
PINSKY: For some time, to some -- some of my patients it is in fact the intensity. We know with sex and love addicts, like if you remember the South Carolina governor that left, you know, had the woman down in South America.
COOPER: Right.
PINSKY: That was classic love addiction. And yes, it's the intensity of the experience more often than not that some of these guys are attracted to.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: You call it love addiction, love addiction. Isn't that just being in love?
(CROSSTALK)
PINSKY: No, this is -- listen, think -- think about -- think about how wild that was. He had never met her before. Je developed this wild sort of fantasy about who they were together. That -- that's sort of -- if you read about love addiction, that's a pretty classic case of that.
COOPER: We got a text 360 question from a viewer in Michigan. They asked, "What I want to know is why do smart, successful women put up with it?" Which is obviously a good point and we've seen this time and again.
PINSKY: The fact is, Anderson -- this is what I was talking about it on my show today -- which was A, the women that put it with up who was the spouse that got cheated upon and how about the women who do the cheating. I mean, we need to hold them accountable a little bit for this as well. And they often play a very strong role in this little dance we call -- we call infidelity.
But I will tell you this, that the women that stand by the men, we should not be critical of them. In my world, I deal with quite a bit with sexual addiction. And in reality a majority, a significant majority of the partners with the sex addict will stay with that person and in treatment. That relationship can be restored.
Now, the situation with the Schwarzeneggers is such a sad story. I would wish and hope that they would stay together and get treatment and look to restitution of their relationship and their marriage. The problem here in their case, though, it sounds like this has been going on for some time and things have just hit their last straw.
COOPER: Interesting stuff, Dr. Drew, I appreciate it. Thank you.
PINSKY: My pleasure. Thanks, Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, coming up tonight more breaking news.
Will this man, the man on the right be the new leader of al Qaeda? That is the word we're getting tonight. And in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death, he's been chosen caretaker leader of al Qaeda. What we know about him, next.
And later, the head of the International Monetary Fund on suicide watch tonight at New York's Riker's Island jail accused of trying to rape a hotel maid. Tonight we have new details about his alleged victim and how Dominique Strauss-Kahn's lawyers are trying to get him out from behind bars. Details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We have got breaking news tonight on al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has appointed an acting leader following the death of Osama bin Laden. He's an Egyptian named Saif al-Adel, a one-time Egyptian special forces officer who has long played a prominent role in al Qaeda.
I want to get more details from CNN national security analyst Fran Townsend, who's a member of the homeland security and CIA external advisory committees; and in Washington, Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence, who has new details tonight on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Fran, let's start with you. This guy Saif al-Adel appointed interim leader of al Qaeda. What do we actually know about him?
FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: He's a well- established senior person within the ranks of al Qaeda. He goes back to pre-9/11 being with bin Laden in Afghanistan. He was a trainer in training camps in both Afghanistan and Somalia. He was behind -- he's indicted here in New York in federal court for his role in planning the East Africa Embassy bombings in 1998. Because he was with bin Laden in Afghanistan, he probably had knowledge of the Cole bombing in 2000 in Yemen.
This is a guy who goes back to the Egyptian Islamic jihad, which was responsible for the assassination of Sadat. He's got -- his sort of his whole -- COOPER: Was he one of these guys who also ended up in prison with Zawahiri? Because a lot of people say it's sort of where Zawahiri formed a network.
TOWNSEND: You know, I don't know if they were in jail together. They were certainly part of the same organization. And it's likely that they served in jail together. But I don't know for certain, Anderson.
COOPER: Right.
TOWNSEND: And so this is a guy who has spent a good deal of time, after Americans started bombing in Afghanistan, he fled to Iran with two of bin Laden's sons. He was there with his wife and family for a number of years. It wasn't until the last year and a half or so that he got out of Iran where he was held in sort of house arrest and then went back to Pakistan. So he's been a member of the military council, the Shura, their ruling council. And he's got a lot of sort of military experience.
COOPER: Is it still a possibility that Zawahiri might actually assume the reigns of al Qaeda?
TOWNSEND: Absolutely. You know, we talk about bin Laden. Members of al Qaeda would swear "bay'ah", that is, allegiance, if you will, to bin Laden himself personally. So the new leader will have to have those senior members of the Shura, ruling council, and other members swear allegiance to him.
The question is, he doesn't have bin Laden's charisma. He's known to be a difficult personality. This allows him basically time to shore up his political base inside al Qaeda.
COOPER: Chris, I want to turn to these new details that you were getting tonight about the raid that killed bin Laden. What new details do you have? What have you found out?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anderson, we have now learned that for every one of the about two dozen SEALs that assaulted that compound, there was another SEAL close by as backup. Remember when we heard that President Obama had to update the plan because he wanted the SEALs to be able to fight their way out of that compound, if necessary. Now we know how many backups there were.
Well, we also know that the helos, both of those Blackhawks were never meant to touch the ground. One was supposed to fast rope some SEALs into the compound, the other was going to drop the other SEALs on the roof and outside. But because they were so concerned about Pakistan finding out about this mission, they used these stealth helicopters. One of them ran into trouble and clipped the edge of the wall. That's when they had to scramble the plan.
Originally, neither one of those helicopters was supposed to touch ground. It was only supposed to take two minutes to get the SEALs on the ground. And they were counting on the fact that because it's so close to a Pakistan military base, people would just think whatever sounds they heard were just the normal comings and goings of Pakistani helicopters.
Also finding out that there were more than a dozen children all throughout this compound and that it only took about 15 minutes to get to bin Laden. The rest of that time was spent trying to blow up that downed helicopter.
COOPER: Chris Lawrence, appreciate the new details; and Fran Townsend as well. Thanks, Fran.
TOWNSEND: Sure.
COOPER: Just ahead, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund, the IMF, a guy who was -- people said he was the likely next president of France, on suicide watch tonight at New York's Riker's Island jail. We're going to have the latest on the sexual assault allegations against him.
Still ahead though tonight, new details about the woman attacked by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, a man "Forbes" calls one of the world's most powerful people.
Plus what he's facing inside New York's Riker's Island jail tonight. He's on suicide watch awaiting his next court date; confined to an 11 x 13 foot cell. More details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: On "Crime and Punishment" tonight, the International Monetary Fund, the IMF says its chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, does not have diplomatic immunity in the sexual assault case against him in America. And tonight there is growing pressure on him to step down from the IMF.
The former French finance minister is accused of sexually assaulting and trying to rape a maid in his New York hotel suite over the weekend. He was denied bail. He's being held in jail at Riker's Island where he's been placed on suicide watch as a precaution.
I talked earlier with Deb Feyerick and CNN legal analyst and "In Session" host, Sunny Hostin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So Deb, you've been following the case all day. What is the latest that we know about the alleged victim?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that she has a 15- year-old daughter. She's been working at the hotel, the Sofitel, for about two, two-and-a-half years. She was there legally. The lawyer describes her as a woman who is dignified, intelligent, somebody who really has no agenda, no pretense; somebody who got along well with supervisors and her co-workers.
The lawyer also says, you know, when I asked was this consensual; could this have been consensual as the defense attorneys seem to suggest, saying that this was not a forced encounter. The lawyers said no, absolutely not. That this event has traumatized her; that' she's afraid to go home, afraid to go to work and just her future is uncertain right now -- Anderson.
COOPER: And she comes from Guinea in West Africa, correct, and she has a good employment record at the hotel, correct?
FEYERICK: Exactly, exactly.
COOPER: Sunny, yesterday the defense seemed to suggest that the assault maybe never happened; that he had an alibi. In court they imply that the sex did occur but that it was consensual. What do you make of that kind of morphing of the defense strategy?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: This is a very fluid situation. Just as the prosecution is continuing its investigation, so is the defense. In a case like this, Anderson, where only two people were in the room, there are no other witnesses to what happened, the only two defenses are: one, it's consensual; or two, there's an alibi and it never happened. So it's not unusual for the defense strategy to be morphing, to be evolving, to be changing.
COOPER: Deb, do we know anything about forensic evidence? That would obviously -- in a case where there's just two people -- that would actually, it will obviously be incredibly important. Do we know if there is forensic evidence?
FEYERICK: There is forensic evidence. One prosecutor I spoke to said what's interesting about this is while the presence of semen is important it's not necessarily a slam dunk. For example, it doesn't show that there was a forced encounter of any kind. Forensics were sent out -- forensics both of the woman, but also of Mr. Strauss-Kahn. Those have not come back yet, but they will be presented to a grand jury.
We're being told that the grand jury is going to be listening to this case and deciding whether to vote by Friday as to whether this should go forward, Anderson.
COOPER: And what do we now know about this young journalist in France who has accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of assaulting her? Is she considering pressing charges?
FEYERICK: She has connected with a lawyer. She's looking into the charges. She has been quoted as saying that she really should have gone forward with this at the time it occurred. The big question now, everybody is sort of watching to see whether other women step forward to say something similar happened to them. Obviously when you have something that's high profile like this, there's always a possibility that it could trigger some sort of a waterfall almost -- Anderson.
COOPER: Sunny, what's the next step in terms of the legal process?
HOSTIN: Well, as Deb mentioned, I'm hearing also that the grand jury has been convened and is determining whether or not they will indict him. May 20th, this Friday, is the control date, and that means if he has been indicted, the charges will be read and he will enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. If he has not been indicted, they will set another date.
But the bottom line is, there's no question this Friday that the defense will reapply for bail. They're going to try to come up with a situation that is palatable for the prosecution, palatable for the court so that he is no longer being held at Riker's Island. That may include maybe a $1 million to $2 million bail. That may include an ankle monitoring bracelet; some sort of situation that gets him out of Riker's. That is certainly going to be their top priority.
COOPER: Deb, he has a daughter I think who lives in New York. So it could be that he has to stay in the city. Would that be a possibility?
FEYERICK: Absolutely. He could stay in the city. Right now we are told -- obviously he's at Riker's. He did have one visitor, but the Department of Corrections would not say specifically who that was.
We are also told, Anderson, that he was put on a suicide watch; doesn't mean he's suicidal, but because he's such high profile. I mean this is a guy who is used to meeting with prime ministers and power brokers and presidents. He's isolated now by himself. So as a precaution, they have put him on suicide watch and they're checking on him about every 15 minutes.
COOPER: It's unbelievable. Deb Feyerick, appreciate it; Sunny Hostin as well. Thanks very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, as Sunny said, getting Dominique Strauss-Kahn out of jail would be a top priority for his lawyers on Friday. Now remember, this is a man "Forbes" magazine named one of the most powerful people. To say that his life has changed dramatically in just the last 72 hours barely begins to capture it.
Mary Snow has a look tonight; new details of what he's facing right now at Riker's.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Inside these walls, Dominique Strauss-Kahn now spends his day in an 11 x 13 foot cell. Most prisoners share barracks with about 50 beds in them. Because of his high profile, a prison spokesman says he's separated from other inmates.
It's a far cry from the luxury suite at New York's Sofitel Hotel where he stayed before his arrest, with some rooms going for as much as $3,000. While hotel guests there were offered a breakfast choice of a five-ounce Black Angus sirloin steak with eggs, or maybe eggs Benedict along with a morning cocktail such as a $20 glass of champagne Pommery, breakfast at Riker's consists of one apple and banana, a box of mini wheat cereal, two pieces of toast, milk, coffee or tea.
Strauss-Kahn will be eating alone and won't have contact with other prisoners who number 13,000 to 14,000 on any given day. Attorney Ron Kuby who's been visiting clients at Riker's for decades says things have changed since violence dominated the jail in the early '90s.
RON KUBY, ATTORNEY: Its name is synonymous in popular culture with brutality, with corruption, with jailbreaks, with people banging cups on bars. None of which is true anymore. But it still exercises a very powerful hold on the imagination.
SNOW: Most of the inmates there are waiting to go on trial and can range from low level drug dealers to murderers. Mark David Chapman, who killed John Lennon, was once held there. So was David Berkowitz, a.k.a. the "Son of Sam" serial killer. In recent years, rapper Lil Wayne spent time there on a weapons charge.
Strauss-Kahn is able to leave his jail cell says a prison spokesman and can go outside for an hour a day. But he will be escorted by a corrections officer. Inside, he's allowed to periodically walk around his housing area corridor where he can watch TV.
KUBY: Everything is difficult. And the most difficult thing I think for any particular person is to deal with the dehumanization, because you're just one of 13,000 people, and to deal with being cut off from the outside world.
SNOW (on camera): In his first day at Riker's, a Corrections Department spokesman says Strauss-Kahn had one visitor but declined to say who it was. Inmates here can have three visits per week, up to three people per visit. And that's not including attorneys who are given access to their clients on any given day.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, still ahead tonight, Bernie Madoff is locked up, serving more than 100 years in prison, but his liquids assets are out and up on the auction block. We'll show you some of them ahead.
And don't you hate it when people talk loudly on their cell phones in a restaurant or on a plane? Well, tonight, this story winds up one woman on the "RidicuList"; a 16-hour cell phone conversation. We'll tell you where she was chatting it up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Coming up, the "RidicuList": the lady who was arrested after talking for 16 hours non-stop on her cell phone on an Amtrak train. That's tonight's "RidicuList".
But first some of the other stories we're following. Isha Sesay is back with a "360 News and Business Bulletin" -- Isha.
ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a U.S. official says more sanctions will be announced against Syria in the next 48 hours; doesn't matter if the new pressure will get Syria to stop its violent crackdown on peaceful protests.
Millionaire hedge fund manager, George Soros dumped nearly $800 million in gold during the first quarter as the precious metal soared to record highs. The sale suggests Soros doesn't expect prices to rise much higher.
And Anderson, here's a story for you. It's your chance to get a bottle from Bernie Madoff's booze collection. Online bidding begins tomorrow on nearly 300 bottles of wine and liquor from his former mansion in Palm Beach Florida. Now, the live auction will be held in Miami on June 4th with proceeds going to a fund for victims of his Ponzi scheme.
Do you like your wine, Mr. Cooper?
COOPER: I mean a glass now and then. But I know nothing about wine. I get so nervous in the restaurant when like you're supposed to know and I have no idea.
SESAY: That's all right.
COOPER: I just -- I sort of leave it up to the waiter.
SESAY: That's all right. There's a fine batch here they tell me, 1996 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, lot 450 --
COOPER: Oh, yes?
SESAY: Yes, great starting price.
COOPER: Lot 450, la-di-da. How much is that?
SESAY: $3,200 -- between $3,200 and $3,800 for the lot. But you get six bottles for that, they tell me.
COOPER: Six bottles for $3,000?
SESAY: Look, don't shoot the messenger. I'm only passing on the information to you.
COOPER: I'm going to go with hanging out with Kathy Griffin's mom and drink some wine by the box like she does. She's got the right idea.
SESAY: Tip it. That's what I say.
COOPER: Exactly. She wrote a book about that.
Time now for the "RidicuList", and tonight, we're adding a woman named Lakeysha Beard. But you can just call her the cell phone lady. That's because, according to authorities, she talked loudly on her cell phone while on an Amtrak train nonstop for 16 hours. Police say cell phone lady started talking on her phone when she got on the train in Oakland, California, and did not stop until she was escorted off said train in Salem, Oregon, 16 hours later.
What can someone possibly talk about for 16 hours? Even if I had been held captive for 20 years and was just seeing my family for the first time, I could maybe fill an hour, maybe two hours. But 16? She was taken off the train and cell phone lady with charged with disorderly contact. That's right, she got charged, just like her cell phone. And the best part of all, cell phone lady was riding in one of Amtrak's designated quiet cars. Sure, if you're going to be yapping on your flip phone, who wants to be surrounded by others yapping away with all their stupid talk; head to the quiet car so you can talk in peace.
And get this; when other passengers complained to cell phone lady, she got into a verbal altercation with them and kept talking on her phone. Portland News station KATU wanted to interview cell phone lady after she got arrested. She wouldn't go on camera because she said she didn't feel well and I'm guessing she had a sore throat but she did talk to one of their reporters briefly on the phone.
Cell phone lady told the reporter that she felt, quote, "disrespected by the entire incident". She felt disrespected. Look, maybe she's innocent and the whole train was just ganging up on her, I don't know. But am I the only one who has no sympathy for people who talk on their cell phones around other people loudly?
How many times have you been in a situation like this? You're on a plane or a bus or a train or a restaurant or a line or in a taxi or in the street or an escalator, in the gym or just about anywhere these days and someone is yammering into their phone loudly and completely oblivious to those around them?
I've heard lawyers talking about their clients. I've heard women revealing details about the date they had the night before while I and numerous others are forced to listen. The idea of being trapped on a train for 16 hours with someone talking on a cell phone, to me it's much more disturbing and creepy than anything Alfred Hitchcock himself could imagine. If there were cell phones in his day, "Strangers on a Train" would have been a much different movie.
Think about that, she was on the phone for 16 hours. In 16 hours, you could watch the movie "Throw Momma from the Train" 10.9 times in a row. You wouldn't, of course, be able to pay any attention to it, because cell phone lady would have been talking the whole way through it.
But still, in 16 hours, you could watch 32 episodes of "Soul Train", or you can listen to the clash song "Train in Vein" approximately 320 times back-to-back. All of which I would rather do than sit on a train with someone talking loudly into their cell phone for 16 hours.
It would almost be impressive being able to talk in the phone that long, if I could just set aside the whole Fifth Circle of Hell aspect to it.
The way I see it there are only a few viable reasons to disturb everyone around you by talking on this phone and it certainly doesn't take 16 hours to make those kind of calls. Calls like: "My flight's delayed," "Send an ambulance," "Do you have bail money?"
So please, people, stay off the phone when you're in public. It's rude and it's a sure-fire way to get you a ringing endorsement on the "RidicuList".
Up next, "Building up America"; see how they keep traffic moving in one city and you could see a lot more of this nationwide.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Nearly 90 years ago one of the country's first automatic traffic lights was installed in Carmel, Indiana north of Indianapolis. Now drivers in Carmel rarely faced a red light. That's because traffic lights are being replaced by roundabouts. Not just one or two of them; more than 60 roundabouts in the city keep drivers moving and costs down for everyone.
Here's Tom Foreman with tonight's "Building up America" report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): North of Indianapolis in the suburb of Carmel, Mayor James Brainard has been going around in circles for years over traffic jams.
MAYOR JAMES BRAINARD, CARMEL, INDIANA: Roundabouts work everywhere.
FOREMAN: He has done away with traffic lights at 80 percent of his town's major intersections, replacing them with roundabouts, whirlpools of traffic that keep people moving.
BRAINARD: It's made a huge difference in the way our city looks and feels and the way people get around.
FOREMAN: Roundabouts -- not to be confused with bigger more intimidating rotaries on the East Coast -- are designed to smoothly sweep drivers in from any direction, slowly guide them around, and just as easily let them out and on their way.
Since cars don't stop, commuters save time and officials say use 30 percent less gas at intersections.
BRAINARD: A roundabout can handle about four to five times the amount of traffic in the same amount of time than a stop light intersection can have.
FOREMAN: The mayor says intersection accidents are also way down, improving insurance rates and the city saves money, too.
BRAINARD: We don't have to buy a $150,000 signal. We don't have to buy electricity every year. We don't have to replace it after 15 years when all that mechanical equipment wears out.
FOREMAN: Some drivers and pedestrians don't like roundabouts, but local officials insist this simple idea is building up the quality of life here, and that's building up the business climate all around.
Tom Foreman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, that does it for this edition of 360. Thanks for watching.
Piers Morgan starts now.
I'll see you tomorrow.
