Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20171027

Were learning later on. Not all of them, we should point out, have been released and well talk about that as well. In the meantime, welcome back to the 2016 president ial election. At least it feels that way tonight with just a couple weeks to the anniversary of the most surprising Election Night in generation. Two Campaign Stories are dominating the headlines. Each an opportunity to refight the battle. Each away for some to cast doubt on the outcome. All the familiar names are present with a single question happening overall of them and all of it. Who is not telling the truth here. Are playing in the Trump Campaign being less than honest about the role a Campaign Data outfit played in their effort to elect President Trump. And on the democratic side are former Clinton Campaign poe des at that and Wasserman Schultz being less than honest about their connection to the russia dossier. When in fact their respective organizations did. We have new reporting on this tonight and on the wikileaks outreach as well as a larger discussion of how both stories have given the two sides of campaign 2016 the fuel to drag it nearly to the end of 2017. William talk ner is right. The past isnt dead. It isnt even past. Were going to take you through both stories, lay out the time lines so you can decide for yourselves what to make of them and who to believe. You probably heard each story described. Were going to try to did he tangle them starting with a beat by beat our justice correspondent pamela brown reports. Reporter 11 days after trumps gop nomination on july 18th, 2016. For the presidency of the united states. Reporter and two days after this now infamous moment. Russia, if youre listening, i hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. Reporter Donald Trumps campaign made his first payment to controversial Data Firm Cambridge Analytica on july 29th. Were now learning that same month, according the wall street journal another infamous moment occurred. Cambridge analyticas ceo reached out to wikileaks founder Julian Assange seeking access to Hillary Clinton related emails. Also that same month, wikileaks began releasing hacked emails from the dnc. We have more material related to the hillary Clinton Campaign. Came bij analytica was founded by wealthy republican donors mercer in 2014. They began Backing Trump after the gop primaries in june of 2016. That same month Jared Kushner took overall data operations for the Trump Campaign. Kushner said once his fatherinlaw won the gop nomination, the campaign used both Cambridge Analytica and the rncs voter data saying, quote, we kept both data operations going simultaneously and a lot shared between them. And bay that we could scale to a pretty good operation. They had a team of cambridge data scientists embedded in the trump headquarters who were doing very sophisticated models wok that helped to in which where the campaign was going to send donald trump. In august 2016 steve bannon became ceo of the Trump Campaign. Before that he feels the Vice President of Cambridge Analytica. While working for the firm, bannon had urged the Trump Campaign to fire them as far back as april, according to the new yorker. In september 2016 the Trump Campaign made its biggest payment to Cambridge Analytica, 5 million. Thats according to fec filings. Those payments eventually totaled nearly 6 million. The the payments listed by the fec as being for Data Management services. The firm has offices in london, new york and right here in washington, d. C. Just three blocks away from the white house. Cnn has reached out to Cambridge Analytica for a response in the wake of the revelations about wikileaks, but despite our repeated attempts, we have not heard back. But in november just before the election, Cambridge Analyticas ceo alexander knicks did speak to cnn about his data operation and the newly reopened fbi investigation into, you guessed it, Hillary Clintons emails. Clearly there are unknown nns. You know, such as whats recently happened in the case of the democrats candidate with the release of the or the reopening of the email inquiry. We cant predict that. As far as the Trump Campaign, it released a statement distancing itself from the firm saying, quote, we as a campaign made the choice to rely on the voter data of the Republican National committee to help elect president donald j. Trump. Any claims that voter data from any other source played a key role in the victory are false. Pam, would this be of interest to investigators for collusion . Sources ive spoken to say yes. They say that the idea that the data firm reached out to wikileaks alone does not mean a crime occurred at face value, but as one fbi official told me today, what it shows is an intent to go beyond normal proactive campaign tactics. And investigators would use this bit of information to see if there was any coordination, whether there was anyone from the Trump Campaign who was intimately involved. As i said, the intent and mindset and whether there was any sort of conspiracy. You include this piece of a puzzle to roger stone, an advisory telling the hill he had an intermediary who connected him with as sang. He also was briefly in touch with an intelligence offer online. And then according to the wall street jurm there was an effort by Opposition Research working for the with people on the Trump Campaign searching on the dark web for raurnz who may have had clib tons missing emails. All of this would be taken into account. But we should note there have been no accusations of wrongdoing, anderson. Joining us now, senator risch ard blumenthal. To you, senator, what if anything, is the significance of Cambridge Analytica reaching out to wikileaks. It is significant because it demonstrates evidence of potential collusion between the Trump Campaign and the russian interference. Theres no question according to the intelligence community, that there was russian interference. The president has called the special counsels investigation and the investigation of the Judiciary Committee into that alleged collusion with it as a hoax, but here we have more evidence of a pattern that has been established of collusion and perhaps of obstruction of justice. The statement put out by the Trump Campaign saying basically distancing themselves from Cambridge Analytica saying, look, any suggestion that it was anything about rnc data, thats what we relied on most heavily. Does that pass the smell test given that theyre spending 6 million. Not in the least because they have spent 6 million to hire Cambridge Analytica as a consultant, as an agent, in that capacity. It was reaching out to wikileaks. In fact, reaching down into the gutter because remember, wikileaks Business Model is to take information, stolen often by Foreign Governments like the russians, and then publicly size it without any regard to the harm done to men and women in uniform or others who are cooperating with us abroad. And Cambridge Analytica well knew that Business Model. Its very possible, though, that it was just coincidence. Just coincidence that candidate trump,up, said this that press conference russia, if youre listening, you know, if ufr got the 33,000 emails, wed love to see them or release them or whatever the actual words he said. Two days later they start paying Cambridge Analytica and later that much analytica makes the outreach to wikileaks. When you put out a timeline it looks like its all one piece. It could be a coincidence. Theres no evidence that President Trump said reach out to wikileaks. Point number one, it could be all coincidence, but it has to be coupled Trump Campaign welcoming the outreach from rob goldstone, saying he had russian sources of dirt on Hillary Clinton. And donald trump jr. Saying i love it. The meeting on june 9th, the a of the united states. There is a series of circumstantial evidence. No conclusion reached out but certainly a basis to investigate. I want to turn to the trump dossier story. I asked you if it pass the smell test, the statement made by the Trump Campaign. Does it pass the smell test to you that the head of the dnc, the head of the Clinton Campaign are now saying they had no idea money was going through this law firm to pay for this dossier . I mean, if they didnt know, who would have known . Well, the lawyer working for them was the one who actually began paying for this Opposition Research. Isnt that a little too cute . I mean, if youre paying millions of dollars to a law firm, you probably want to know examine will know what the law firm the reason you do it through a law firm is to have deny ability, i assume. Regardless of whether that claim passes the smell test or not, remember what the key distinction is. Here the money was coming from the dnc and it was going to Opposition Research. It was not supported by a Foreign Government, not by the russians. Thats the key distinction. Isnt it possible, though, that Christopher Steele, who was getting information, possibly buying information from russian sources who may have been duped by the russian government or in collusion with the russian government to give i mean, thats the argument a lot of republicans are making. The russian government may have given disinformation about candidate trump through Christopher Steele that was essentially being paid for ultimately by the Clinton Campaign. And it never had an impact on the campaign, another key distinction. If it doesnt pass the smell test and its worthy of investigation, the special kounlsz, robert mueller, will look into it. And bottom line the collusion between the Trump Campaign and russian interference, as well as obstruction of justice is under investigation and if there are other similar actions, they should be investigated as well. Senator blumenthal. Appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Staying on the subject of the dossier that we just talked about, what are you learning about what clintons former campaign chief john podesta told the intelligence committee. Yeah. In september behind closed doors john podesta actually met with the Senate Intelligence Committee Investigators and towards the end of an interview that focused a lot on his hacked emails a question was posed to him whether or not the Clinton Campaign had any sort of contractual relationship with fusion gps, the Opposition Research firm that did produce the trump russia dossier, and he said he had no knowledge of it. Podesta saying i didnt know. I dont know if we have any relationship. Nothing like that at all. And this is significant, anderson, because this is the first time that we have learned someone this high up in the clinton universe sitting down behind closed doors with investigators on capitol hill skising their knowledge about the ties with fusion gps ties that dossier. And even though he was not sworn in to formally go under oath, you cannot lie to congress in an investigation. So his testimony or his interview had to be truthful because otherwise congress will look into this further. I understand the one person who claims to know about this research is the attorney, mark elias and he actually was at this hearing as John Podestas lawyer s is that right. Yeah, thats right. In fact rs he was sitting right next to him. He was representing john podesta. Even though he knew at the time that his firm had retained fusion gps as its client to research these allegations and podesta said he had no knowledge of it, elias did not offer any information there at that interview that he was aware of this. But he was there, just to be clear, he was not a witness during this interview. He was just there serving his client. But he very well could come back as a witness now that we do know that the Clinton Campaign and the dnc were helping fund this research. But, anderson, in the aftermath of us learning about this, eliass firm put out a letter saying that their clients only knew that they had this arrangement with fusion gps only recently, suggesting last month john podesta did not know at that time. What about former dnc chairwoman debbie Wasserman Schultz . What did she tell the Senate Intelligence committee. Were learning for the first time she did meet earlier this month and she made a similar case. She was asked directly about whether or not the dnc had these similar ties to fusion gps. She said she had no knowledge of that either. She said pretty clearly that she did not. First time were learning that she even met with the investigators let alone saying that there was no dnc connection. But i can tell you now that we do there is some, theres a very good chance that she could come back for further questions because at that point that was not a big bulk of the interview but it could be if investigators want to call her back for further questioning. Appreciate that. Coming up next well hear directly from the former breaking news thats a quarter century in the making. The government releasing documents from the kennedy assassination files. The the president holding back some of them. The question is why and will that fuel conspiracy theories that have been out there for decades . More on that ahead. Is helpink rise higher than ever. As the world leader in unmanned aerial systems, were attracting the worlds best talent to central new york. And turning the airport into a firstclass transportation hub. All while growing urban areas into vibrant places to live and work. Across new york state, were building the new new york. 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Before the break we laid out the two Campaign Stories that are driving the latest skimmerish in the Election Campaign that seemingly will not end. The daily beast had reported reached out to wikileaks and on the democratic side denying knowledge of paying the firm behind the trump dossier. Joining us now brian fallon. Also jeffrey tu been. So, brian, i know you said you did not know about these payments. If john podesta didnt know and debbie Wasserman Schultz didnt know, who possibly would have known within the dnc and the Clinton Campaign because millions of dollars are being dpin to a law firm. Well, but given to a law firm to perform everyday legal work. They would do things like our fec compliance and internal vetting of people they werent asked to do Opposition Research. Well, they were, i guess. I see people going around saying that there were millions of dollars spent on this. Those are line items from these fec reports that capture all of the right. But if millions of dollars are being spent and this firm is doing Opposition Research someone has got to be saying where is it. Right. And i dont know who was part of those conversations in april when the firm, the Research Firm fusion gp a came to mark elias apparently and said hey, a republican had been funding this workup until now, we think you might be interested in it. Im not sure who had the conversation that gave the green light someone clearly had to know. Yes. And whoever that person is i would shake their hand and offer to take them out to a steak dinner. Im glad there was somebody who was trying to get to the bottom of Donald Trumps web of opaque business connections. Ed, its sort of the colonel clinic defense i see nothing it doesnt pass the smell test. You know, anderson, one of the things the late phyllis slaply used to say is run for office and lose because you learn how campaigns work. In campaigns Opposition Research especially of the kind that was being sought is not something thats not on the radar screen of the top level people. Maybe podesta didnt know. Somebody knew. Somebody had to know. You dont spend that kind of money without the word coming back on what youve got frankly because if youve got nothing you stop spending it. By the way, its been sort of covered up for months now. If it was such a straightforward issue, why not come out and say here is what we have. That is the other issue. If it is a great idea when the dossier came out in january i said at the time i had never heard of fusion gps prior to after the election and never heard of Christopher Steele. If i had known at that point that we had paid for it, that was the work product of research that the campaign had sponsored, i would have been happy to admit to it. There is no shame in this. This is campaign Opposition Research is Campaign Work 101. Can i just draw a distinction here. As i understand it, gps did a lot of work, not just the dossier, for the Clinton Campaign. The dossier, the last date on the dossier is december of 2016. A month after the election. You know, everyone in the Clinton Campaign at that point was curled up in a fetal position on the sophia. I mean, they were not involved in doing that. So i think it at that point it might have been the fbi. Well, its not clear who was funding or why they were doing the research at that time. But its not surprising that brian and all of his colleagues didnt know what was going on in december. I dont think they were too involved. But before there was a dossier there were memos being written by Christopher Steele that must i mean, were circulating somewhere, whether to the attorney or someone else. I mean, it wasnt as if they were let me jump in here. It is definitely true during the mogs of the fall, september and october, and i was aware and other members of the campaign were aware of many of the rumors that were circulating about donald trump and meetings that, say, carter page, who was a Foreign Policy advisory in the campaign may have taken in europe. This was all swirling out there. We had multiple conversations about it. Largely based on reporters calling us up saying have you heard this . Were trying to run this down. Now connecting the dots, i suspect that it was fusion gps that was briefing those reporters which in turn was calling us. So we were familiar with this information. There are a multitude of democratic organizations on the outside, whether its priorities usa which is an entity i happen to work for now or american bridge, any number of which, you know, if you very well may have thought it was helping and tipping off those reporters. But if Christopher Steele and fusion gps are briefing reporters, certainly theyre giving memos to the lawyer who is paying them all this someone knows. And by the way, the point here now is that steele at least before this moment steele was talked about as someone who was getting information from the russiansful this is all a russia push, right. So now we have to find out who in the campaign knew or should have known and were they actively being told by steele, hey, ive got source in russia that are pushing this story. I dont see how steele could have been paid by the russians. Steel was investigating the russians. My understanding is the allegation was he was paying sources in russia and the russian government ostensibly, this is what were hearing were feeding stories and pushing things this. Steele was hired because of his expertise in russia. He did not go to russia, bt he still had contacts, we assume, with connections to the kremlin or knowledge of, which is why some of the information in the dossier has turned out to be true. Other, you know, information has not been verified and seems pretty outlandish. Right. But the allegation is is it possible that the kremlin was giving disinformation, negative information about candidate trump to steele that hes paying for and that essentially ultimately the dnc this that case hed be the victim of a wildgoose chase. On the other hand, you have a set of actions that we know that the russian government undertook, illegal acts that they committed in service or in furtherance of trying to help elect donald trump. There were no actions taken by the russian government that helped Hillary Clinton. All we know that the russian how do we know . Maybe there were some. Maybe what was the the russia feeding to steele after the election after Hillary Clinton had lost . You just said steele was talking to reporters trying to put you know how opposition works. You get something theres no evidence of this, but everyone is dpg it when people are lying, theyre usually lying as trump said today its like watergate in modern times. Theres a coverup of some kind. What is it . Now lets get to the bottom of it. If the russians were trying to hack into election rolls in certain states but then leaving all this to Christopher Steele to carry out lets get to the bottom of it. Lets get to the bottom of why no one in the Campaign Says they knew and whether they knew that they were getting information from russians. Lets get to the bottom of it all. Jeff, the fact that no one in the campaign seems to have any idea about this, does that raise well, someone has to have an idea. Weve only heard from john podesta and debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was completely on the outside and had nothing to do with anything. Robby mook is the person you would want to ask who was the campaign manager. He would certainly know if the campaign was spending this kind of money. John podesta was out raising money. He was not involved in day to day. Someone has to know. And the problem that the Clinton Campaign has here, i mean, i think brian, you know, alluded to it, which is they i mean, they would admit to it. This is what we do. Campaigns do Opposition Research. Theres nothing to feel guilty about but the problem is they havent said what the story really is. Just a fundamental difference between the two stories that cnn is giving proper attention to both stories, but theyre characteristically different. Here even when we find out the whodunit and approved it in april of 2016 it still wont amount to much because theres no criminal activity. For the purpose of trying thats not the campaign, right . We agree on that. Just like the law firm. The point is that you have a contractor hired i bt campaign in this instance that didnt engage in any illegal activity and the instance regarding donald trump, Cambridge Analytica was trying to make themselves to a party to a criminal conspiracy to illegally hack Hillary Clintons emails. 54 years after john f. Kennedy was killed some of the papers on the investigation are public. Why not all the records were relead as the president said he would. Details on that ahead. [voiceover] you hope nobody knows its you, but you know its you, so know this. The activated charcoal in charco caps absorbs gas for fast gas relief without passing the gas. Charco caps, put less boom in the room. For fast gas relief without passing the gas. When it comes to reducing the evsugar in your familys dietom. Coke, dr. Pepper, and pepsi hear you and were working together to do just that. Bringing you more great tasting beverages with less sugar or no sugar at all. Smaller portion sizes, clear calorie labels, and reminders to think balance. Because we know mom wants whats best. More beverage choices, smaller portions, less sugar. Balanceus. Org theres breaking news tonight. As we mentioned, formerly top secret documents about the assassination of john f. Kennedy are now public. It is just a fraction of the documents. President trump delayed the release of many of the files following concerns from National Security agencies of what should be made public. They were all supposed to be redeesd today although there is a loophole to allow the president to delay. Tom for man has been going through the files. Tom, what have you and your team found . Well, we have a lot of people looking at all this, anderson. And ill tell you, their a lot to look at. Almost 2,900 documents were released. This is just one of them. 14 pages of handwritten notes. Very hard to get through all of this. What we have found so far, though, is intriguing. For example, there is a record of oswald calling a kgb agent while he was in mexico city a few weeks before the assassination, asking about something going on in washington, d. C. This seems to have been tied to his attempt to get a russian visa or a could you ban visa, neither of which he obtained, but nonetheless, this is some proof of something weve long suspected. Theres also a conversation we found with j. Edgar hoover saying after oswald was killed by jack ruby, hes saying that the fbi was directly warned. Somebody called and in a calm voice said that he was part of a group that was going to kill oswald. Roux by said he was part of no group out there, but this is the first evidence weve had that the fbi was directly warned about that. And one other interesting note, there is a conversation there, a message that was sent to robert kenne kennedy warning him that a bong was coming out alleging they had a an affair with marilyn monroe. Through these thousands and thousands of pages thats what weve found so far. There will be a great deal more to be found. Can you just explain why all the material was not released. It was not all released because at the Eleventh Hour here it appears that the cia and fbi said there were concerns about National Security and it seems in a more pointed way to have been concerns about people who have been cited somewhere in here who could either be known by name or could be susd out based on information about what was gathered that somehow this might put their families or any survivors in some kind of bad position out here. We dont lael know what thats about but that seems to be what the situation is. Im telling you, if anything is going to raise the concerns of conspiracy theyre risz out here, here is go thats been on the books for more than 25 years, this release of documents. Weve known its coming. Everyone knew it was coming and with less than six hours left all of a sudden theres a nuisance of we need to look at this further. We havent had enough time to look at it. Ill guarantee you conspiracy theorists are going crazy over that. Joining us now cnn president ial historian and cnn senior political analyst david gergen. David, does it make sense to you now that at the Eleventh Hour essentially it turns out theyre not going to release everything . Well, its a surprise, certainly. The tweets coming out of the president over the last few days have certainly suggested it was going to be all. But in fairness to donald trump, he did say it may not be all. But i think the fact that were getting down to 300 pages does give more weight to what most experts i had a chance to talk to, a Pulitzer Prize winning history other yap. Hes now writing a biography of john f. Kennedy and his basic conclusion is the big story theres not likely to be anything big, major, dramatic, bombshell that would change the basic story line that Lee Harvey Oswald was acting alone. Where the information may be new and revealing could be out of mexico city where oswald spent about six days, two months before the assassination talking to cubans, talking to russians. And thats where the professor may be the new story coming out of the documents released tonight. Tim, does it surprise you that they held back some documents . No, actually. Im not surprised. Part of this story is that this is a product of the conspiracy theories of the 90s when people were saying things like kennedy might have been culled by the mob, the cubans, might have been killed by the cia. And the assassination records review board pulled in all possible documents that might shed light on any of those possible theories. As a result they put together 5 million pages. When the act was put together, i am sure that the congress didnt expect that there would be blanket declassification of 5 million pages in 2017. And to some extent they kept kicking the can down the road. Some of the materials they pulled together have nothing to do with Lee Harvey Oswald but have to do with u. S. Covert action against cuba, congo, the Dominican Republic. And those involve informants. And i was waiting to see whether we would get those names. Now, what were getting so far are some very interesting details. I share freds view that weapon werent going to learn very much, if anything, about the Lee Harvey Oswald issue because there was a very serious none partisan board in 1998 that saw all of this material and they pushed for release of anything that really bore on the question of whether there was a conspiracy behind oswald. There are other details. For example, we now have materials regarding u. S. Activities against cuba that show that the u. S. Government considered using chemical weapons and biological weapons as part of its operations to undermine the fidel castro regime. And to know that this is new, youll notice on these documents in some cases there are these marks on the side. And that shows you what used to be classified. So you can get a sense of what our government considered highly classified up to now. Thats a very big deal. I have not seen that kind of thing before, actually. David, is it possible that president nixon, other pliksz from the era essentially took secrets to their graves about jfk . Absolutely. Absolutely. Im sure they did. You know, after all, they had a lot of access to j. Edgar hoovers files and there are all sorts of details there, both governmental as well as salacious. And so i am sure that they knew a lot more. In fact, i think donald trump knows a lot more than hes let on. He has access, no doubt, to these documents that are still hidden or at least that hes been given summaries. Well have to see what happens on this. But i do think this go back to it, the Warren Commission did apparently have access or at least some members of the commission to all the documents. And that was before they issued their basic report. So thats what gives some credence to the notion that theres unlikely to be a major change in the story. But we may learn important elements. What if the cubans or the soviets told oswald there in mexico city that they want him to go in or unleashed him, going to help him. We still think its a lone gunman, but maybe he had encouragement. Maybe there was money. I want to if i can disagree respectfully with david. The reason we have so much conspiracy thinking about the kennedy assassination is the Warren Commission was not shown all the documents. They were not told about the assassination attempts against castro. There were a be in of things they were not told which is a reason many people raised the issue. It was in the 70 that the congress, senate and house got that information and now were seeing much of it. Yeah. Good thing for us. Appreciate it. When we come back, the president s decision to release only a fracture of the documents certainly wont help put the conspiracy theories around the assassination next. Next details from the white house on how the president made this decision. Easier. Except when it comes to retirement. At fidelity, you get a retirement score in just 60 seconds. And well help you make decisions for your plan. To keep you on track. Its your retirement. Know where you stand. To keep you on track. A trip back to the dthe doctors office, mean just for a shot. But why go back there, when you can stay home. With Neulasta Onpro . Strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. Neulasta helps reduce infection risk by boosting your white blood cell count, which strengthens your immune system. In a key study, neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17 to 1 . A 94 decrease. Applied the day of chemo, Neulasta Onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the next day. Neulasta is for certain Cancer Patients receiving strong chemotherapy. Do not take neulasta if youre allergic to neulasta or Neupogen Filgrastim . Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries, and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. Report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. In patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. The most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. So why go back there . If youd rather be home, ask your doctor about Neulasta Onpro. On our breaking news tonight, thousands of Jfk Assassination files are public. But citing National Security concerns the president decided to hold some files back. Jim, why did the president change his mind . Reporter well, basically, anderson, what happened was and were learning this from talking to our sources, this was a bit of a messy process. They were trying to get authorization and approval and a green light from these various National Security agencies that this information thats coming out of these jfk files would not compromise them in any way. And there were objections that came back from those various National Security agencies. And so what the president decided to do and were hearing that this was a decision that was made in the last several hours was essentially punt this off to six months from now. So 2,800 files were released this evening, but the vast majority of those files are still undergoing an enter agency review. So were not going to see those files potentially six months from now. And around sop, i think the question has to be asked will the agencies raise the same objections six months from now and were not going to get to the bottom of these files. I tried to ask the question on a Conference Call with the Administration Officials earlier this evening. They had a Conference Call with reporters on this. Is there any evidence of a conspiracy behind the assassination of president kennedy . And they said well, we just cant comment on the content of these records. And so you get the sense when you talk to officials, anderson, that as they are releasing these records to the public for the first time, keep in mind not all of them are being released, they dont even know what is in these files at this point. Obviously theyre going to be reviewing that in the months ahead. Appreciate it of the as we mentioned, holding some of these documents back is only going to fuel the fire for some conspiracy theorists. Our randi kaye has a look at some of the theories that are out there. Several thousand enthusiastic nearly 54 years since the day president john f. Kennedy died and conspiracy theories difficult abound. The truth is oswald killed the president. Os wal, as in Lee Harvey Os wal of the the federal government says he shot the president and only him. Despite that, conspiracy theorists just dont buy it. They point to people like the man who came to be known as umbrella man. He was seen opening and closing his umbrella on the grassy noel on a perfectly sunny day. Some have argued that the man was either signaling a shooter or shooting a poison dart at the president. The umbrella man came forward. He testified before congress. There was never any credible evidence. Could bring down the most powerful man in the world. There must have been a more grand owes scream. Perhaps even one that involved former could you ban leader fidel castro, who was often connected to kennedys assassination. Oswalds trip to mexico city just weeks before the assassination has long raised eyebrows. While there previously released government documents revealed he met with could you ban and soviet spies. It appears that he actually made the statement in the could you ban embassy in mexico city i want to kill president kennedy, im going to kill president kennedy. And what about the cia or the mob, who was angry at kennedy for his crack down on organized crime . Theories abound on their involvement too. Even president kennedys own Vice President , lyndon johnson, could he have ordered a hit on his boss . Some conspiracy theorists say yes. Remember, it was johnson who set up the Warren Commission to put an end to the chatter that he was responsible for the assassination. Still, the chatter continues. Much of it focused on the number of bullets fired that terrible day. The warrens commission official 888 page report concluded that in all three shots were fire, all from oswalds rifle perched on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book deposition to her. One bullet struck president kennedy and another known as the magic bullet struck president kennedy and Texas Governor john connelly, who survived the shooting. Governor said he believed he was struck by a second bullet which only fueled talk of a second shooter. Skeptics wonder how was oswald able to fire fast enough to hit kennedy and connelly given that connelly was seated right in front of the president in the car. Despite all the intrigue both the Warren Commissions final report from 196 had and a review by the Justice Department in 1987 agreed, Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Randi kaye, cnn new york. Joining me again, cnn president alhistorian. It is obviously the fact that these documents now have been delayed, it is just going to spur further conspiracy theories. Yes. But as ive tried to lay out, the 5 million pages include things that are interesting to certainly to people like me about covert ak, but theyre not directly related to the Lee Harvey Oswald story. Ive always found it interesting, around son, that Many Americans on the left and the right consider their government to be inefficient. Thats one thing both sides of the aisle agree on. And yet Many Americans also at the same time belief that the government is so efficient that it could have murdered a president and kept it secret for so long. So sink theres a disoh nance there. In 1998 we got the best information that the u. S. Government had apparently on the oswald issue. There are new details to come out and there are some leads that may not lead anywhere, but theyre worth looking at. What i believe this release is about, though, is that era. That era of secrecy i, that era of covert action. And thats what well see more details of of the and whats being held back, i believe, are materials regarding Foreign Government assistance to us, materials about code bricking. Materials regarding sources that are not directly related to what happened in dallas but are people run by the cia elsewhere who might have provided a detail or two about oswalds time in russia or japan. I think those are the details. You were talking before about cia covert operations in congo i guess with la amonga in Dominican Republic and elsewhere. There might be information there. No doubt about it. I mean, ill give you an example. Still secret, maybe, i havent been tlu all the documents. Ive only started going through them. Secret was the cia man who brought the poison to congo to kill mum ba the leader. Ultimately the u. S. Didnt kill him but the fact of the matter the cia person prout some poison to kill him. The name of the cia person was secret. The cia and maybe its open today, but the cia tries to protect those names. Thats the argument theyre making to President Trump. Right. Makes sense. I suspect. Appreciate it. Up next, the other big moment today, the white house, President Trump declared our nations Opioid Crisis a health emergency. His comments as well as what the first lady said at todays gathering and how the epidemic is unfolding on mechanics streets when we continue. And he does it with dr. Scholls. Only dr. Scholls has massaging gel insoles that provide allday comfort to keep him feeling more energized. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. Youre more than just a bathroom disease. Youre a life of unpredictable symptoms. Crohns, youve tried to own us. But now its our turn to take control with stelara® stelara® works differently for adults with moderately to severely active crohns disease. Studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. Stelara® may lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. Some serious infections require hospitalization. Before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. 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This afternoon President Trump declared americas Opioid Crisis a Public Health emergency. Last year more than 64,000 americans died of Drug Overdose largely due to opioids. At todays white house event, both the president and the first lady spoke about the epidemic. What i found to be the common theme with all these stories is that this can happen to any of us. Drug addiction can take your friends, neighbors, or your family. No state has been spared. And no demographic has been untouched. It is time to liberate our communities from the scourge of drug addiction. Its never been this way. We can be the generation that ends the Opioid Epidemic. We can do it. For the president this was an effort to deliver on a campaign promise. And as you heard, this is a crisis you can find in any city or town. Tonight we show you its grip near boston this evening. Our gary tuckman talked with some addicts walking the streets. We want to warn you this may be tough to watch, but we think its important to see how the Opioid Epidemic is unfolding in the u. S. Heres garys report. Neighborhood south of downtown boston. To others, its a living hell. Im a junkie, ive been shooting heroin for 16 years. Im homeless, i live on the sidewalk. This is my life. I didnt grow up thinking i was going to be a heroin addict. Like this isnt exactly what i want to be. What are your hopes and dreams . To get sober, to have a family. At one point i thought i was going to and i lost the love of my life. We both overdosed and when i woke up he was dead. Billy is 31 years old, he has a 5yearold son. He wants to be a tattoo artist some day. But even while we talked, he was looking for a vein. Is it possible for you to stop shooting the heroin while we talk . If i had gotten it in me it would be, but. That whats im wondering. Like you feel such a strong urge that you cant stop while we talk . Yeah. Theres nothing that would stop me. And thats how bad it gets. Megan also lives on the streets and the sidewalks. Youre about to reach your 30th birthday. How long have you been addicted to heroin . Since 19. How did you start the first time . It was pills. Then pills became expensive, hard to get. And heroin was just extremely easy to get and a lot cheaper. Like megan, the gateway to heroin for billy was also pain pills. He was 13 years old when he started. I was already using prescription pills. I liked the way it felt. I found out heroin was cheaper than pills. It was more intense. So i began sniffing heroin. And then i found out shooting it was the next step from there and i would save money, and i went right to shooting. The first time i shot it i fell in love with it. It was like the only way i can explain it is i met god. Billy and megan are joined in their opioid devotion by scores of other people who gather on the street, that happens to be near a hospital, methadone clinics, and shelters, people who want to help. 40 miles up the road, in the small city of gloucester, massachusetts, police will not arrest you if you come to the Police Station with opioids looking for help. The strategy of help, not handcuffs started here and spread throughout the country. But after a much publicized and encouraging start, the police chief here is facing a stark reality. Things are not getting better. Weve seen an increase in fentanyl. Fentanyl is a drug that is 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin. Like heroin, fentanyl is an opioid. Even a tiny dose of it can be lethal. Craig uses that. Like everyone we met on the street, he wants to stop, but says he cant. Im addicted to opiates. What do you do here on the street . What kind of opiates . The thing is, every all the opiates right now is fentanyl. So everybody is dieing. Its about to start powering here in boston. These people who cant live without their pills and their needles will be sleeping in dirt that will turn into mud. Are you afraid youre going to die from this . I know im going to die from this. Are you afraid youre going to die from this . Not really afraid. Honestly, sometimes it just death seems easier. Gary joins me now. You were able to talk to some of these people. What did they have to say about did they talk about the announcement today . Is that on their radar at all . Anderson, the people on the streets, some of them have heard a little about President Trumps declaration, no ones heard any specifics. We filled them in a little bit. The consensus seems to be if this results in more Treatment Centers and better Treatment Centers that would be good, but theres a lot of skepticism. I must tell you, ive interviewed many opioid addicts over the years. Ive never interviewed one who enjoys doing this. They want to be cured, they want to be made better. They hope that this could work. Anderson. Gary, appreciate you doing that. Thank you very much. Our Team Continues to look through the Jfk Assassination files. More than 2,800 records no longer a secret. Well have more on what our team has uncovered and why President Trump decided to hold others back and not release them when we continue. Tech so you think this chip is nothing to worry about . Well at safelite, we know sooner or later every chip will crack. These friends were on a trip when their windshield got chipped. So they scheduled at safelite. Com. They didnt have to change their plans or worry about a thing. Ill see you all in a little bit. And i fixed it right away with a strong repair they can trust. Plus, with most insurance a safelite repair is no cost to you. Customer really . tech being there whenever you need us thats another safelite advantage. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. 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