Transcripts For CNNW At This Hour With Berman And Michaela 20141216

Hello, everyone, im john berman. Michaela pereira is on assignment today and we have breaking news at this hour. A bloodbath at a school in pakistan. The taliban gunned down children, they murdered teachers, they killed at least 137 people. So many of them children. The armyrun school in peshawar was a scene of sheer terror. Pakistani troops launched a huge operation to try and rescue hundreds of students trapped inside. President obama has been quick to condemn this attack. The white house issued a statement saying by targeting students and teachers in this heinous attack, terrorists have once again shown their depravity. Mow knee that tank has the details of this attack. What are we learning . We are getting latest numbers, 137 dead. We also have more than 180 injured. And the really horrifying aspect of those numbers is that at one stage as we were beginning to get figures on the number of fatalities from this horrific attack, we also knew that between 300 and 400 students and teachers were still stuck inside in effectively what was a hostage situation that was later acted upon by the paramilitary services. They ended up killing all six assailants. They now say the operation is over, but they are continuing with a sweep of the area. There were apparently devices planted that made it very difficult for them to actually get to students, for them to actually clear the area so a really, really terrible and tragic scene that unfolded there, john. My big worry, this is as weve seen these numbers tick up over the course of the day, is that we will hear of more fatalities. We have children in hospital, in peshawar who have just terrible injuries. There were accounts from at least one young boy, for example, who said the attackers came in to the hall where he was studying, the kids came in firing guns, the kids ducked underneath the benches and the attackers saw them and said theyre under the benches, kill them. Kids. Remember we are talking about children here. The hospitals in the area are pleading for assistance, pleading for blood donation, the carnage so great they simply cant keep up with it. Not that there could be any justification for an attack like this, but why is the Pakistani Taliban saying they did this . Well, who are these people and why did they do this in the first place . This is what is known colloquially as the Pakistani Taliban. Theyve been very active in this area. In fact, perhaps too active. Theres been a big military offensive by the Pakistani Military against them. The Pakistani Taliban say the act today, this atrocious act, was a response to that. Its retaliation for this military offensive that has been pushed on by the military over the last six months. This was after peace talks with the pakistanis between Pakistani Taliban and the government broke down and the military pushed ahead with this. So theyre saying this was in somehow some way justified because it was a school that was frequented by the sons and daughters of military personnel in an army compound, its called the army public school. But innocent civilians have been affected by this, innocent children have been affected by this. I just want to point out, its a coeducational school, girls and boys. Most of those were hearing so far are boys that have been killed and wounded. Im you know, it will be traj if i can we see those numbers and fatalities tick up, john. All we can do is hope. Killing children, nothing justifies that. Ma knee that tank, thank you. We want to talk about this group behind the terror attack that m mannisha was talking about. This group has a long history of targeting the United States and u. S. Interests so following this heinous act in peshawar, how much of a direct threat is this group seeing against the United States . Well, principally the ttp, the Pakistani Taliban, their focus has been the pakistani government. And this is retaliation for massive offensive that the pakistani government has been under way in their stronghold in the northwestern part of the country. That said, its had a very direct affect on the u. S. Interests. The 2010 failed times square bombing was inspired by this group. Youve had a number of attacks on American Forces in afghanistan certainly as well as an attack in 2009 that killed seven cia agents there that was traced back to the Pakistani Taliban. After the bin laden raid, the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden you had the ttp, the Pakistani Taliban leader calling for retaliatory attacks against americans, including overseas. So they have, while theyre focused very much in pakistan, they have expanded their ambitions somewhat to attack overseas but, john, i have spoken to intelligence officials who say that, for instance, when that attack happened in 2010, the failed attack in times square, u. S. Officials were frankly surprised that the ttp was behind it because it had been their impression that they were focused solely in pakistan. Thats generally been the case. But weeszith these groups, theyw that when they expand the reach of terror that their profile rises and its something to keep in mind. This group has shown great capability and remember, the u. S. Also has taken out two of its leaders in the past four years, mullah mehsud in 2013 and his predecessor in 2009 with drone strikes up there. Jim, i want to take a step back if i can because this broke overnight as i was on tv here and i thought of you because this was reminiscent of the attack on the school in beslan nearly ten years ago where hundreds and hundreds of kids were killed. You covered that atrocity and it just makes you wonder how could a group, no matter what group, think theres some kind of strategic advantage to a massacre like this . John, you and i have covered a lot of difficult horrible stories and terror a, tax. That one is perhaps the most difficult assignment i had because the victims were principally more than 300 of them children. I can still remember seeing the tiny body bags lined up outside that school. You know, its sickening. It shows the depravity of these groups and this there really are no limits to the kinds of attacks they will carry out. Now, when you look at that attack in beslan, its interesting. What was the effect of it . Did it go too far . These were chechen terrorists, a Different Group behind the attack in beslan. Whats interesting about that attack, it always struck me, was that a lot of anger after beslan was not directed at the group, although certainly there was, but at the russian government because people felt that the government, the security forces, had not protected them. There were allegations, you know never proven that the government knew about the tae tack before but there were substantial allegations that the deaths took place when Russian Security forces went in. That they were responsible for killing the kids, not just the terrorists. So its something to think about going forward. Certainly pakistanis will be angry at the Pakistani Taliban but the loss will be disappointed in their government that they werent able to prevent this attack. This is a real question for the government going forward. There will be questions today, though, a day to grieve for all those lost. Jim sciutto, thanks for being with me, i appreciate it. You can see more of jims terrific reporting on situation room at 5 00 p. M. Eastern time. Ahead for us at this hour, have you seen this man . An alleged masked killer on the loose in pennsylvania. The latest information on this active man hunt just ahead. And a Surprising Development in the bill cosby saga. His wife jumps to her defense. Her new attacks on the media and questions from her about the women accusing her husband of sexual assault. So you can see like right here i can just. You know, check my policy here, add a car, ah speak to customer service, check on a claim. You know, all with the ah, tap of my geico app. Oh, thats so cool. Well, i would disagree with you but, ah, that would make me a liar. No dude, youre on the jumbotron whoa. Ah. Yeah, pretty much walked into that one. Geico anywhere anytime. Just a tap away on the geico app. And cialis for daily useor you. Helps you be Ready Anytime the moment is right. 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To be clear, he is on the loose this morning. Police say 35yearold Bradley William stone, an iran war veteran, went on a shooting spree in three different towns near philadelphia. The youngest victim was his 14yearold niece. There will be a press conference from officials in just a few minutes to give us new information about this search. We will cover that when it happens. Meanwhile, Miguel Marquez has been covering this story. He joins us by phone. Also with us is Philadelphia Police commissioner Charles Ramsey. Tlangs for being with us. I want to check in with miguel to get the latest on this search. John, theyve moved the entire operation for the media to the Montgomery County Emergency Operations center where we expect to hear from the District Attorney who is the point person on all of this. It sounded like there might be a Major Development in this case but now it sounds like there probably isnt. This is more of a routine briefing on how they will continue to search this area. Some schools have been shut down today, others are on modified schedule. There is great concern across a statewide swath of this area northwest of philadelphia because this individual is still on the loose. Police telling us they will be going house to house looking through basements trying to figure out if he is hiding somewhere or perhaps has committed suicide somewhere and they need to find his body. All of that against the backdrop of what happened starting yesterday at 4 30 in the morning. Police got a hangup 911 call then this gruesome horror story unfolds. Three different scenes, six people dead. The exwife of mr. Stone, bradley stone, his exgrand motherinlaw. Exmotherinlaw, exsisterinlaw, her husband and their 14yearold daughter, their 17yearold son is in hospital. They believe that possibly there was a siting last night with someone trying to steal a car and he may be dressed in fatigues as he was an iraq war veteran. John . Miguel, the details are just chilling. You laid out some of them right there. But its interesting, he spared his own two young daughters. The District Attorney says he took the girls from his exwifes home after killing the exwife and left the children with a neighbor. Its one of the issues that has to be ratting that area. Hows the community reacting. How are they doing . This is not the first time pennsylvania has been through this. They went through it for months with eric frein. Not too far from where we are right now. People are in shock, its a little depressing and hard to believe its happening again here. They are hoping this is less thought out as this person will be brought into custody very, very soon but certainly people are concerned and shocked because of what happened this close to the frein incident a few months zblag me geshlgs thanks so much. I want to bring in commissioner Charles Ramsey. This is happening not far from you. How do you handle a situation like this . This is the second manhunt, high publicity manhunt, in that area in just a few months. Well, listen, its very, very difficult and the authorities in Montgomery County are doing a good job of trying to control the scene and deal with trying to find the person responsible for those horrible murders and at the same time keep the public informed. I was police chief in washington, d. C. In 2002 during the d. C. Sniper situation. This is a very, very tough position to be in. You want to pass along information thats helpful in finding the individual and kind of alleviate some fear but at the same time you dont want to compromise the investigation so theyll stay focused and keep at it until they locate this guy. Do you think they have learned anything the eric frein man hunt about how to go about this . Because as you say its hard to tell people to remain calm and go about their lives when theres a killer on the loose. Well, you learn something every time an incident occurs, whether its in your jurisdiction and elsewhere. But those are different situations. Eric frein was in a very, very rural area of pennsylvania. A lot of the searching took place, most of the searching took place in heavily wooded areas. This is a more urban setting trying to find this particular individual you have to do everything you can to locate this person before hes able to hurt anyone else. The people hes alleged to have killed are people that he knows. Family members. Does that change how you go about searching for him . Does that make you perhaps less worried that he would therefore go after people in the public at large . No, you dont know exactly what t length this is person will go to in order to avoid capture if he has not already taken his life. Often times when you have situation where you have multiple murders, especially a domestic situation a person winds up taking their own life. At this point in time you dont know whether or not this person is alive, is dead, whether or not sightings of individuals that may resemble this person, if this is actually the person or not the bottom line is until you have him in custody or find a body you have to assume the worst and that means he could hurt others beyond his own family. Commissioner Charles Ramsey please stay with us. We have an important discussion we want to have with you just ahead, thanks so much. Just ahead, shocking video of a police interrogation. Did they go too far, questioning the girlfriend of a man killed by police . There are new questions this morn morning about race and justice. But that hasnt stopped me from modeling. My doctor told me about stelara®. It helps keep my skin clearer. With only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. Stelara® helps me be in season. Stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. Some serious infections require hospitalization. Before starting stelara®. Your doctor should test for tuberculosis. Stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. Always tell your doctor if you have any sign of infection, have had cancer, or if you develop any new skin growths. Do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. Alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. Serious allergic reactions can occur. Tell your doctor if you or anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. In a medical study, most stelara® patients saw at least 75 clearer skin. And the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. Stelara® helps keep my skin clearer. Ask your doctor about stelara®. New questions swirling about an africanamerican man killed by police. This happened in ohio. John crawford was holding an air rifle he picked up from a shelf inside a walmart when he was shot by a white Police Officer. A grand jury did not indict the officer who killed him. Now the crawford family is announcing plans to file a federal lawsuit. He came in and shot mr. Crawford on sight. How about the timing of it now, three months of the grand jury and before the department of justice is done. Why now . Well, were still hoping that the department of justice will get involved and indict the officers for shooting and killing mr. Crawford. That lawsuit announced just moments ago. Ana cabrera is covering this story. Ana, whats the latest . Hey there, john, so this is a federal civil suit that is being filed against the Police Department, against the officers involved in the shooting, against their police chief as well as walmart and basically their attorneys are saying that they believe John Crawford, iii, was shot unjustifiably. That these officers responded to the scene and that in their minds this man was dangerous in part because he was africanamerican so they never gave him the benefit of the doubt and didnt do their Due Diligence to really justify the shooting, to know what the circumstances were. This all happened on august 5 and we have Surveillance Video inside the walmart on that day where you see John Crawford talking on his phone, walking around, carrying what appears to be a rifle. But we now know that that was not an actual rifle, it was a bb gun that looked like a rifle that he had picked up off one of the store shelves inside the store. Now, police say they responded to a 911 call in which the caller said that somebody was carrying a rival and apparently pointing it at customers in store so they say that was their mindset going in and they opened fire only after crawford failed to comply with their commands to drop the weapon. The family says he never had a chance to come bligh those commands so they want accountability, thats why they have filed this lawsuit. And its also worth noting, john, that there is a federal investigation. The Justice Department is also looking into this case. Ana, this is not the only news surfacing this week because a video, a new video is out there, surprised a lot of people that shows police interrogating crawfords girlfriend for 90 minutes, just a short time after he was killed they didnt even tell her that he was dead. Thats right. In fact, you look at the video and you mentioned 90 minutes and she doesnt know hes dead. They whisked her away from the scene shortly after the shooting and immediately started asking her questions about why John Crawford had the gun, why did he bring it into the store . You look at the video and this detective hammer this is woman tasha thomas, asking her over and over and over again as if shes lying timetohim in response when she said i didnt know he had a gun. He never brought it into the store. Listen to this. That man had a weapon when you picked him up. He had in the your car or something. You understand that were investigating a serious incident. You lie to me and you might be on your way to jail. I swear to god, i swear to god on my kids, on my job and my family, on everything i love where did he get the gun . Sir, i dont know. I swear to god. Now, the detective in his report says he was asking her these questions over and over again and not believing her because at the time he did not know crawford picked up 2 gun inside the store, nor did he know that it was actually a bb gun. However the family attorney on crawfords side says they believe this is evidence that the detective and that the Police Department was trying to coerce John Crawfords girlfriend into telling them a reason, to justify the killing. John . All right, ana cabrera, thanks so much. Of course this does raise new questions about race and justice. Over the weekend, tens of thousands of people crowded the streets of cities across the country calling for justice for Michael Brown, tamir race, eric garner, other africanamerican men and boys killed by police. I want to bring back in commissioner Charles Ramsey, the commissioner of the Philadelphia Police department, former washington, d. C. Police chief and perhaps most importantly now one of the cochairs at the task force. To build trust between police and the community commissioner, i know youre just Getting Started with this report but can you give us details about where you are right now . Well, im not at liberty to say who that will be but weve give an great deal of thought of some of the areas we need to look into. Establishing trust, rebuilding trust if we had it to begin with and lost it. Training and education of Police Officers, use of force policies, a lot of the things that have been highlighted with recent events stemming from Michael Brown, garner, this case now that you just talked about in ohio but there are numerous others as well. Clearly theres an issue that has to be addressed. Change needs to happen, has to happen and we actually think this is an opportunity to really put forward some ideas and recommendations for implement nation will improve relationships greatly. Its interesting because it appears so much needs to change from the street level all the way up. You look at the case of John Crawford, also tamir rice, both in ohio, and it was a splitsecond decision. In this case, both the now dead men and boy in the case of tamir rice were carrying pellet guns or air guns or bb guns and the officers did not know it, it seems, and they shot and killed these men. How do you change or how do you train officers to approach these situations differently . Well, i mean, realitybased training but i think theres one important thing to keep in mind, these replica firearms look very, very real and youve only got split seconds to make a decision. Now im not defending one way or another because i dont know enough about the facts in either of those cases but these weapons look very, very real. And, in fact, when you show it on television, unless you know hindsight that its a pellet gun and what have you, in reality you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. So i cant say theres any training that will help you make that distinction but i think theres a lot of training that can take place, that officers can take advantage of to improve tactics to try to buy more time to find more out about whats going on before they resort to deadly force and well be focusing on that kind of training, judgment, decision making, use of covers, things 60 that nature, deescalation techniques in order to avoid resorting to deadly force if we can avoid. It commissioner Charles Ramsey, we appreciate your time and wish you the best of luck as you go forward this report. Its important work and i think the country is waiting to hear what you have to say, so thanks. Thank you. Thank you. After the death of Michael Brown and the judges decision not to indict the Police Officer who shot him, some of the protests in ferguson did become violent. Some of the protesters set fires to cars and businesses. You can help restore that community. To find out how you can help, visit cnn. Com impact. Ahead for us, big news, jeb bush announces, yes he announces he is getting in getting into exploring running for president. This is a huge political development. We will explain. Get ready for some german engineered holiday excitement. At the volkswagen signthendrive event. Right now, for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a new volkswagen. Like the sporty, advanced new jetta and the precisely engineered passat tdi. Ah, the gift of clean diesel. For the new volkswagen on your list this year, just about all you need, is a pen. Festive, isnt it . Get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first months payment on select new volkswagen models. Ive had moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis most my life. But that hasnt stopped me from modeling. My doctor told me about stelara®. It helps keep my skin clearer. With only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. Stelara® helps me be in season. 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Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Everybody knows that. Well, did you know genies can be really literal . No. What is your wish . No. Ok. A million bucks oh no. Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. A new development on the attack in pakistan, an attack on the a school in peshawar by the Pakistani Taliban, the death toll is rising. We can now report 141 people have been killed in this attack and 132 of those killed were students at the school. The nine others were stabbed. 132 were students. They were kids killed in this barbaric attack in pakistan and i think theres every reason to think that its possible this death toll will only go up. A tragedy. Shifting gears now, some very big news in the political world. In fact, i venture to say the biggest news yet in the race for 2016. Jeb bush sent out a tweet and a facebook posting that changes everything. Let me read you what it says, it says i have decided to actively explore the possibility of running for president of the United States. Yes, its a little bit of a hedge, still its a Major Development creating shock waves all through the political world. I want to bring in our chief political analyst gloria borger. Gloria, we knew this was likely. Hed been doing things the last few days that you only do if youre thinking about running for president. Nevertheless, to me, at least, this is the first big move of the 2016 race. If youve watched the evolution of jeb bush, its been the evolution of someone who, i would say last summer most people were saying even folks close to him were saying its 5050 at best jeb would run and now as hes inched closer to this over the weekend releasing 250,000 emails from when he was governor saying he was going to write an ebook, now saying hes going to establish a leadership pac. I think hes looked at the field deciding he could beat anybody who might run. Hes also decided this is his moment that he f he doesnt do it now he wont do it. I think he figures that this time bush might actually be able to be a clinton. Hes not officially running, officially exploring. Of course, but still, this has to make make things different for people like mitt romney. For people like christie. Socalled Establishment Republicans who are considering at Different Levels whether to get into the race. This throws down a big marker. You know what it does . It says to people who says the fundraisers, the fat cats out there, okay, folks, i might be getting in this so before you start writing your checks or bundling that money for someone else here i am. What that means for mitt romney, for example, lots of funders saying maybe i think romney is more likely to hold off. I always thought he was going to hold off. Much more likely to hang back and see how jeb does, how christie does. If they falter, hed be happy to be a white knight and come in and rescue the party, right . Who wouldnt. True confessions, yeah. I never thought jeb bush was going to run so who knows . Me, neither, until the last month. What weve seen jeb do is in his public speeches he was muse z publicly which is a, i know im out of step with the Tea Party Wing of the party but so what . I believe in immigration reform, i believe in education reform. They dont like what i think but i am going to be willing to lose the primary as a way to win the general. Im not going to become ma what mitt romney did people dont believe i actually have any core set of believes. He says hes running about his ideas to the people who are close to him he thinks he can do it by. The way he has the support of his family, i think even his mother at this point. There is big must be there and a big name that helps in a crowded field. Well see what happens next. Gloria borgia, always great to have you with us. Thanks so much. Thanks, john. Ahead for us. The final moments inside that cafe in australia. One hostage now being called a hero as new details surface about the man behind the terror. Stay with us. Alright, so this tylenol arthritis lasts 8 hours but aleve can last 12 hours. And aleve is proven to work better on pain than tylenol arthritis. So why am i still thinking about this . How are ya . Good. Aleve. Proven better on pain. When i didnt worry about the hepatitis c in my blood. When i didnt think twice about where i left my razor. [ male announcer ] hep c is a serious disease. Take action now. Go to hepc. Com or call 1844444hepc to find out how you and your doctor can take the next step towards a cure. Because the answers you need, may be closer than they appear. Because the answers you need, may be closer than they appear. Wellllll. Earlyfit latefit risefit fallfit ballfit wallfit pingfit pongfit pingfit pongfit rowfit throwfit slowfit olliefit oopsfit otisfit thiswayfit thatwayfit daddyfit pappyfit datefit weightfit goalfit gooooooalfit stepfit stairfit smartfit heartfit spinfit bikefit hikefit yikesfit wheeeeefit wowfit whoafit findyourfit its all fitbit the shock is giving way to grief in sydney, so many people finding it hard to keep their emotions in check, including reporters in the story. Katrina dowson was the sister of sandy dawson whos done some work with us for who a sister of one of our channel 7 staff. Sandy dawson who i know and i have friends who know her. Shes a mother of three children. Reporter journalist natalie barr crying as she learns one of the cafe standoff victims, Katrina Dawson is the sister of a colleague. So sydney this morning is on alert after mondays 16hour ordeal. There are questions at this hour that so many people are asking that really need answers. Should the man responsible for the chaos and the carnage, should he have been free in the first place . 50yearold Man Haron Monis had a toxic history with what many people consider red flags. That as police try to prevent copycat crimes. Sydney is in mourning as we said. For more now, lets go to andrew stevens. Throughout the day, people came to show their respect and mark their grief in flowers as an impromptu flower memorial grew in the heart of the city in recognition of what has been a traumatic 36 hours in the life of this city. We still dont know what happened in those final few moments inside the lindt cafe, but the police went in after hearing a gunshot and moments later two hostages were dead as well as the gunman. Theres been reports that one of the hostages, the lindt cafe manager tori johnson, tried to wrestle the gun from the gunman and lost his life during that struggle. Another hostage, a brilliant lawyer by the name of Katrina Dawson, the mother of three young children, also died. No details surrounding what happened to her. The Prime Minister of australia, tony abbot, today saying this was the mark of a lone wolf gunman. Its pretty obvious that the perpetrator was a deeply disturbed individual, a long history of crime, a long history of mental instability and infatuation with extremism. This city is now starting to return to normal. Most of the roads have been reopened but you see the mark of this tragedy so very clearly and none more clearly than the flower memorial that throughout the night continued to grow. Andrew stevens, cnn, sydney. Ahead for us at this hour, bill cosbys wife speaks out. A new statement going after the press and the women accusing her husband of misconduct. So what does this mean for all the allegations against bill cosby . Stay with us. vo nourished. Rescued. Protected. Given new hope. 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Switch to comcast business and get the fastest wifi with the most coverage. Comcast business. Built for business. A Surprising New statement from the wife of bill cosby addressing the parade of accusations against her husband, the allegations of sexual assault. This is part of the statement. It says a different man has been portrayed in the media over the last two months. Its the portrait of a man i do not know. Its also a portrait painted by individuals and organizations whom many in the media have given a pass. There appears to be no vetting of my husbands accusers before stories are published or aired. An accusation is published and immediately goes viral. She also compared whats happening to her husband to the uva story, the Rolling Stone article that theres so many questions about now. Were joined by mo ivory along with legal analyst mel robbins. Mo, generally speaking when youve run out of other options you attack the press. Is that simply whats going on here . What do you make of this statement from mrs. Cosby . Well, first i want to say im not really sure its her statement. You know, we dont know those are her words or the words that were made up by the lawyers that, you know, wanted to put something out for a response. But i really think that that is a woman whos been married to a man standing by her husband. Shes been married to him for 50 years and those are, to me, statements that say i dont necessarily know this person that everybody is talking about. I think hes receiving unfair treatment in the media. Which many people have said they thought people who do not believe the allegations say they think bill cosby is being attacked in the media. So i wouldnt expect her as the wife of bill cosby to say much else. But i think its important to point out that she did not say he did not do it. And i think if you read the statement really get into it i think theres no admission or denial that these allegations are true or false but merely a statement by her saying that, you know, she thinks her husband is being treated unfairly. Mel, you like mo are a lawyer. Should she have said somewhere in that note or how would it will v changed things if she said he didnt do this, he didnt do any of this . John, good morning. Good morning, mo. Its an excellent question. I think this is a very benign statement and from a legal standpoint theres no allegation that she was a witness or had any knowledge to the allegations that bill cosby raped over 20 women. So her opinion about the entire thing as far as im concerned is immaterial from a legal standpoint. What i find fascinating, john, and im sure everybody at home is kind of thinking the same thing, and this is what would make a wife actually want to Say Something at all . And so ive taken a step back and ive thought, okay, this reminds me a little bit of sanduskys wife, remember, the guy in the penn state scandal whos serving time behind bars. She still thinks her husband is innocent. She still thinks that all of those victims that came forward and testified were lying. And so if you are in a relationship with somebody who turns out to be a monster, youve got one of two choices. You either continue to live in a state of denial in which case your only choice is to defend the person or you do the much harder and courageous things which to face the truth. And you know the truth is we dont know whats going on behind closed doors in their marriage. They might have a very transactional relationship like the sterlings said, remember, mrs. Sterling said theyve been married for 30 years, hadnt shared a bedroom, it wasnt emotional it was business. Theres a lot of money involved in this relationship. And what we do i think that is such an important point because what we do know about the cosby marriage is that camille was aware that there were sexual allegations brought against him in 2006 when he settled with a woman in court and there were other women who came to support those allegations that that temple basketball coach alleged against him and she received a settlement. So this is not brand new to camille and camille has also said in many interviews that she has lived with a man who has cheated on her before, has not always been true to their marriage hand an she has chosen as a wife, as a so i dont think we can discount that shes not a woman that has in the past acknowledged that her marriage to bill cosby has had its share of problems. No. Its safe to say we do not know what is going on in their marriage behind closed doors and whatever relationship they truly have or conversations they truly have. We can suspect, though, a point that mo brought up in the beginning that this statement didnt go out without the full knowledge and approval and vetting of lawyers, probably the full knowledge and approval and vetting of Public Relations officials. So what end does it serve, mel . I think it serves to try to address this consistent outcry, john, of a statement from bill cosby. Im actually frankly surprised they released this. First of all, shes the wife. Nobody has any reason to believe her. Secondly, to say the uva this is like the uva case with the Rolling Stone theres a difference here. Rolling stone never reached out to the alleged attackers. The media has been asking bill cosby every day to make a statement and hes refusing to talk about it. So i dont think that this is a good legal move. I dont think anybody buys what she has to say. And i think if i were bill cosbys lawyer, i would tell them both to keep their mouths shut. Mel robbins, mo ivory, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate your comments. On a side note, it was a very busy year here in the news. Cnn wants to know what you think the top story was this year. So tell us. Go to cnn. Com and vote. There will be snacks. Ahead at this hour, hackers cracking into sony entertainment, stealing Social Security numbers, leaking movie secrets, leaking celebrity tems. Its salacious stuff. Sony says its being blackmailed and wants us, the press, to ignore all this material. Should people back off . Tweet us what you think. Hello. Im an idaho potato farmer and our big idaho potato truck is still missing. So my buddy here is going to help me find it. Here we go. Woo who, woah, woah, woah. Its out there somewhere spreading the word about americas favorite potatoes heart healthy idaho potatoes and the american heart associations go red for women campaign. If you see it i hope youll let us know. Always look for the grown in idaho seal. The ultimate arena for business. Hour after hour of diving deep, touching base, and putting ducks in rows. The only problem with Conference Calls eventually they have to end. Unless you have the comcast business voiceedge mobile app. It lets you switch seamlessly from your desk phone to your mobile with no interruptions. Ive never felt so alive. Get the future of phone and the phones are free. Comcast business. Built for business. New developments this morning in a onesided battle thats getting downright nasty. Hollywood versuses the hackers or more accurately, hackers versus hollywood. Right now, seems like the hackers are scoring all the points and making all the threats after the deluge of secrets from sony have spilled out into the public domain. There are fears a new round could be coming any day. Our senior media correspondent Brian Stelter has the very latest. You want us to kill the leader of north korea . Reporter mounting pressure from the hackers, raising the question, will sony give in to their demands and pull what they call the movie of terrorism. There are growing suspicions that north korea is behind the cyberattack, prompting concerns over political pressure. According to the new york times, even before the movie was finished, sonys ceo asked for certain scenes in the movie to be toned down. Or not shown outside the United States. I dont think this is a good time to withdraw. I think its a good time to stand your ground. Reporter while the sony hackers promise a Christmas Gift of yet another juicy and possibly worse data bump, sony is asking news organizations to ignore the leaked emails. The studio now hiring a highprofile litigator to demand that news organizations not reveal any further hacked material. In a letter that cnn received, boyes writes, if you do not comply with this request and the stolen information is used or disseminated by you in any manner, sony will have no choice but to hold you responsible. Essentially, weve done their bidding, maximumed the exposure to this content. I dont do that lightly. But on the other hand it was going to get out there anyway, we have to be part of the conversation. Reporter in the letter, sony strongly suggests they are being blackmailed not to release the interview because the comedy pokes fun at a plot to assassinate kim jongun. You want us to kill kim jongun . Reporter this just weeks after hackers broke into the studios Computer Systems and published millions of controversial and inflammatory emails. I would hope we would not stand in judgment, in such harsh judgment of a moment in time where somebody was hacked and their private conversations were put before the world. Brian stelter joins me now. The big question is what are we supposed to do with all this now, all this information thats been leaked out . There is one man who has a very, very strong opinion, its a man who has a strong opinion on the media a lot of things. Aaron sorkin, the screenwriter. Listen to what he told nbc earlier today. There are certainly times when the press has an obligation to publish things that were stolen. The pentagon papers, but you dont even have to use that as your standard. Loosen the standards a little bit. Is there anything in these emails at all thats in the Public Interest that points to wrongdoing at the company . That helps anyone in any way . There isnt. Theres just gossip there. You can loosen the standards even more. But ultimately you have to dispense with standards entirely in order to be okay with publishing these emails. Hes in a bunch of this stuff. He is. Hes not an impartial observer. There are embarrassing emails involving him, as there are lots and lots of other people. Its not that he didnt know how he talks. Its that now were learning about it. I hear what hes saying, were not exposing corporate wrongdoing. But there are lots of other measurements of newsworthiness. But these emails are newsworthy. Its hard. Its a slippery slope and shadow here. What about Donald Sterling . Some of them belong in both sites like tmz and the new york times. And some say the same thing about julian assange. The distinction between state secrets and corporate secrets. But its the journalists looking at the information already in public view. I think we need to use restraint. Brad pitt said recently his wife, angelina jolie, was caught a spoiled brat in one of these emails. Heres what he said. We shouldnt be participated and the sites disseminating them, should stop but they dont. And we should stop reading them. We wont. Its more of an indictment on us, i think. These are celebrities and executives that people want to know about. I often confuse you with brad pitt thats not the first time ive heard that. Is sony talking about what its going to do with this film that may have spawned this whole mess . Its still coming out on christmas day. No plans to scrap that. Theyve already had the premiere in hollywood. We havent seen as many press interviews. Maybe theyll be careful about what they say on the red carpet. But the movie is coming ut. I learned today it is not being released in japan. Thats interesting. Brian, always great to have you with us. Check out cnnmoney. Com. A thats all for us. Legal view with pamela brown starts right now. Hello, everyone. Im pamela brown in for Ashleigh Banfield on this tuesday. We begin with breaking news. The firefights are over, the terrorists apparently dead. But the civilized world can barely contain its revulsion over what pakistan is calling a, quote, ghostly act of cowardice against the very heart of the nation. It happened near peshawar. The Pakistani Taliban are blamed for the deaths of at least 141 people, almost all of them students, children age 12 to 16. Many more students are wounded