herman cain. what happened. a man who has known him for 27 years comes out front, so let's go "outfront." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i'm erin i'm erin burnett, and "outfront" tonight, caingate. not only that, he's pointing the finger. here he is on sean hannity's radio show just a couple of hours ago. >> we knew we were going to be attacked. we just never thought that we were going to be attacked, based upon a planted story coming from another one of the campaigns. never imagined that. >> as for that, rick perry fought back just a couple of moments ago on "john king, usa." >> we found out about this the same time that i suppose the rest of america found out about it, both on the internet or next day in the news, so, you know, i don't know how to tell any other way except knew nothing about it, sir. >> "outfront" tonight, a person who has known herman cain for 27 years. he was recruited to work as his vp. cain is also the godfather to his children. thanks so much for coming out tonight. we with really appreciate it. so much of this comes down to character. there's so many fingers pointing. is he still a friend of yours, herman cain? >> yes, he is, very much so. >> and have you talked to him at all during this situation that's going on right now, or when's the most recent time you've about had a chance to talk? >> i talked to him about three weeks ago. i have not had a chance to talk to him since this has taken place. i've texted him a couple of times, and i told him at that time to be strong and to hang in there. >> all right. so -- and we've laid out you're his friend, you've known him for a long time. he's godfather to your children. you've got a strong point of view here, so let me ask you this. you've run his h.r. departments. did you ever get a complaint of sexual harassment against herman cain? >> no, ma'am, nothing whatsoever. i never had anyone come to me and say herman cain did anything inappropriate. i never heard or saw anything of any type of misbehavior of his part. he's always been the ee pit in i of what you'd call a gentleman. >> you would have known, am i right, at burger king when he brought you there and godfather's pizza, there's no way any kind of complaint would have come in that you would have known about? >> i would say if somebody would have come in, especially if he was the chief executive officer of godfather's pizza as well as vice president of burger king corporation, if anything would have come up, i would have been told about it and we would have had to follow up and investigate. >> so are you surprised by what's happening right now? >> yes, i am. yes, i am. when i heard about this on monday, i was very surprised knowing her man as i do. i've worked for him for 10 years. i've known him for 27 years, and this came as a complete surprise to me. >> so what can you tell us as someone who is a friend of herman cain? what would you describe as the man's character since that really is what is being discussed right now? >> one of the things i always found about her man from the first time i met him, he's all been very straightforward, very outgoing, very humbling when he wanted to be. also he made everybody feel comfortable. he made you feel like he had known you all your life. the first time i had met herman i had reluctantly became a recruit for him at burker king corporation, and when i walked into his office. he came from behind his desk and he greeted me like he'd known me all my life. he comes across as someone very genuine, and one of the things that surprised me by all of this is the fact that someone would say he did something leak this, because i've never seen him betray himself in this way, shape, manner, or form. >> all right, well spencer wiggins, thank you very much. we appreciate your taking the the time to come on "outfront" tonight and tell his story. let's bring in david gerg ger and gloria borger. david, let me start with you. there's this story of character. there's revelations about what's going to come out, what's not going to come out. first, what's your take on what spencer wigness had to say? >> i think it's an important piece of the story. there are people who believe he's innocent of all this. i talked with someone who's been with him on many, many public occasions. he's got a reputation for a great motivational speaker. he's a large figure, very gregarious, and he could easily have said things that he thought were -- you know, sweetheart, the first time he met you that you would take offense at and he would say he was being friendly and put his arm around you. i think there's that element of the story and you have to give him the benefit of the doubt. having said that, i think he's been terribly hand-fisted in dealing with these allegations. i think he has a deeper hole today than he had yesterday and deeper today than three days ago. he's got to stop digging a hole and get the facts out. >> gloria, i want to ask you about that. because you have people like spencer wiggins coming out, i've gnome herman cain for 27 years, i ran his h.r., i never got a complaint, but as david points out, herman cain has been reluctant to give more detail which you would think he would because it appears the woman may be coming out, one of the women, with her side of the story. >> it's not that he's been reluctant. it's that he's had different recollections about the details of these events. so we've been talking to joel bennett, who's the attorney for one of herman cain's accusers. what he and his client want to do tomorrow is release a statement under his name, not her name, that generally says she stands by her charges of sexual harassment and i don't know how much detail it would go into, presumably not too much. but i think she's clearly been angered by what she's heard from mr. cain. but they have to get clearance from the restaurant association because they clearly signed a confidentiality pledge, and so they have to be released from that in order to do it. so we'll hear more on that. the attorney tells us by tomorrow. >> david, will it me ask you. i hesitate to say nra because every time i do because there's a bit of confusion. but they're deciding to make a decision whether she can comment. she may want to comment through her lawyer anonymously. is that fair? >> not really. on the other hand, has she been treated fairly in all of this? i don't think so. there was expectation of confidentiality on everybody's part, and so i think there's a reason for this, but, look. i think that he, herman cain, ought to ask the national restaurant association to release her and get all the facts out and get this behind him. he has -- richard land -- a major evangelical, he needs to listen to that, listen to the voices and say, herman, this is going into its fifth day, this is going to destroy your campaign unless you step up and deal with it and get it behind you. >> gloria, before we go, herman cain's campaign had to know this would come out. whatever he thought, right? >> sure. >> this is one of those things where if it's in your past, whether the allegations are in your view substantiated, you know they're going to come out. >> sure. >> why weren't they prepared? >> you know what? i asked them that. they say the charges are baseless. they say -- i'm losing my voice. the charges are baseless and there was no reason to be prepared. but we've seen this changing story. sorry. >> it's okay, it's okay. >> so much tv. >> she's been working too hard today. bless your heart. >> all right. we'll release you on that notice, but gloria borger has been talking with everybody in the campaigns. get some water. >> sorry about that. thank you. >> and david, thank you as well. >> good to see you again, erin. >> all right. we've just learned some breaking news. closing arguments have just concluded in the trial of michael jackson's doctor, conrad murray. we're told the jury is going to start deliberating but the formal deliberations won't begin until tomorrow morning. we'll have more coming up later this hour. "outfront" next, what would you do if you were told your college costs would quinn up thele just because of who your parents are. and the indication of a texas judge whipping his daughter. we hear from the victim. and this case of brazilian. akas, cars driving into planes. we'll deliver the number [ man ] i got this citi thank you card and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes, i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ keep on going in this direction. take this bridge over here. there it is. 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[ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro. the number tonight, 37.7. that's how many billions of dollars are wasted each year waiting for in-home services such as the cable guy or furniture delivery. but this averages out to $243 a person a year. most of that comes from lost wages because they give you that long window where you're sitting waiting and the guy comes in the last 15 minutes? the new study from toa technology studies finds the average american waits 4.5 hours, 2.5 hours longer than they're supposed to. this is why americans still hate the cable guy. okay, a new attack ad has been launched against republican hopeful mitt romney. they blast him for what they say is his support of a very controversial abortion amendment. here it is. >> would you have supported the constitutional amendment that would establish that? >> absolutely. >> they'll not only vote for candidates -- >> all right. joining us to talk about the take on the ad, democratic analyst bob zimmerman. j.c. watts from washington. thanks to all of you. john ave a lon, let me start with you with what you make of this video. this person would define life at the beginning of it. rape, even right to life organizations have come out against this. that ad says mitt romney is for it. >> that ad also is a general election ad. they're counting this position is so extreme that it will alienate swing voters, walmart moms, it's not just rape and incest but raises questions about contra exception, birth control, if you believe it really is after conception. >> this is also an ad that motivates the democratic base and it puts a reality check. compared to rand, paul, and the others. the bottom line is mitt romney makes hypocrites look sincere and that's going to be a factor that motivates democrats in this election. >> perhaps as a politician, you've got to listen and learn. you could call it flip flopping. you could call it that. let me ask you this. j.c. watts, let me ask you about this. the way that this add is put together, i want to make sure for the record to our knowledge mitt romney has not commented on the mississippi amendment at all directly. >> well, i agree with john, erin. this is a general election ad, and mitt romney should take some comfort because they didn't run it against herman cain or newt gingrich or rick santorum or anybody else on the republican side. they ran it against him. and so they evidently think that he's going to be the nominee, and he should take some comfort in that. i think most -- i have not seen the language in -- i didn't -- without my glasses, i couldn't even read what you had on the screen, but i hadn't read the language, the legislation, but i think most prolife folks do believe that life begins at conception. now, if you say that pro-life groups are against this, i would want to take look at the language and see why are they opposing this? the national church, the national right to life, et cetera. >> but do you see, to put it in perspective, don't take too much comfort in that ad, knows mitt romney's record, he'll flip it in a week. >> to be quite frank, i said this before, i was on the show ten days ago. i said i think that's one of the reasons that mitt romney has not gotten beyond 23%, 25%, considering the fact that he's run two presidential campaigns, they've been well funded and well organized. so i do think it presents some challenges, but be that as it may, i think the pro-life community and looking at that ad, you know, that's not going to hurt mitt romney with his base. >> well, i guess the more vicious and nasty people are to you, i guess it's a form of flattery. now i want to talk about her man cape. j.c., i wanted to ask this question to you. herman cain today came out with husband fund raising efforts. he says they haven't been hurt, it's been the opposite extreme. he's been very successful at raising money in the last few days. he said the american people are sick of what he calls, quote, gutter politics, and he's also said that perhaps this is racially motivated. you're a conservative african-american politician. what do you think about the role race is playing in herman cain's case right now? is it playing a role or is that fair? >> you know, airplane, i can't judge what i can't see, and people doing this, you know, it's tough to judge their motives. but i can tell you, you know, the -- where rick perry hunt said, you know, his hunting lodge didn't get this kind of attention and, you know, didn't rally the kind of questions at its rally. i think the bottom line is this. you know, when you ore on defense in politics, you're losing. and over the last four or five days, herman has been on defense, and i -- as someone that loves the guy, he's a friend, i think he's a good man. i think we would like to see him, you know, figure out how you deal with this, deal with it once and for all and get over it. he didn't handle it right in the early stages, and it's put him on defense over the last four or five days. >> one more topic i want to squeeze in because this is getting some coverage and i found it pretty fascinating. this is about the state of florida, immigration. a group of students were born to illegal immigrants. they were born to parents who came here illegally. children are born here and are citizens but they're being denied in-state tuition. >> this is unbelievable. this is a simple issue of law. if they're born in the united states and are citizens, they deserve the same as any other citizen. this is dynamite politics. florida, 29 electoral votes with the third largest immigration population of any state. it's highly unfair. >> it's part of the national politics. you see citizens, young people who are legal american citizens trying to be denied this instate tuition. you see the law in alabama which is targeting children of illegal immigrants and ultimately where this is going is to try to reverse the supreme court decision. buy 5-4, the supreme court upheld the right for illegal immigrants to go to public schools. the goal here ultimately is to reverse that decision with this very right-winged court. that is a possibility. so if they can deny legal citizens tuition breaks they can go after illegal ones too. >> j.c., is there anyone who can make a case on the right for a law like this, where someone born in the united states with citizen "showbiz flashpoint" in the state of florida kept get instate tuition because their parents are illegal? >> well, erin, i -- it might shock and amaze you, but to my panelists, you're going to see a lot of demagoguing and a lot of manipulation over the next 12 months from both sides. but be that as it may, i'm for securing the borders. i'm for having some comprehensive legal or immigration reform in the country. but to say that you should take legal immigrants and until we change the law, if you're born here in the united states, it makes you an american citizen. so, you know, regardless of what side of the aisle you're on, let's say let's defend the law until the law is changed. >> hey, we all agree. let's leave it there. we didn't agree on everything. thanks to all three. we appreciate it. robert, john, and j.c., great to see you. well, we brought you this disturbing story last night on "outfront." it was a graphic video of a disabled 16-year-old being beaten with a belt by her father. the video was taken in 2004 by hillary adams and posted on the internet a few days ago. her father is a family judge and has been suspended for two weeks while police investigate if he will be charged. he says there's more to the story. anderson cooper sat down with hillary and her mother earlier today. what did they tell you? >> hillary is very clear on why she said she's released the tape. her father has come forward and said he cut her off financial support for her, that she dropped out of school, and the hold her not only was he going to cut off her financial support, that he was going to take away the car he had given her. hillary says that is categorically not the reason she released the tape. she says she wants her father to get help. i want to play just a little bit from the actual tape, just for you to get a sense of how severe this beating was. >> bend over that bed. >> dad. >> bend over the bed. bend over the bed. bend over the bed. >> stop, stop. stop. stop. >> bend over the bed. i'm [ bleep ] your face. roll over. >> dad, stop. >> that's just a few seconds. it goes on for some seven minutes. she reported it herself seven years ago. i asked her how bad that beating ended up being. >> did you have bruises after that? >> oh, yes. the bruises were the worst i'd ever had. i had had other lashings like that, but this one produced the most bruising. and the next day it was all up and down my legs and he'd also hit my arms when he couldn't get to my legs. >> he was saying it's not as bad as it looked in the tape. >> i think he's in serious denial because i told him it hurt to walk the next day and his response was one word. he said "good." >> hillary also joined me with her mom who's snow divorced from her father. her mom also took part in this beating and has apologized to hillary for it. i asked hillary about some of the things her dad was now saying in a statement that he just released. let's listen. >> hillary warned her father if he reduced her financial support and took away her mercedes automobile which her father had provided it, he would live to regret it. the post was then uploaded. is that accurate? >> wow. thank's a perfect example of the way he would always twist story os to our community to make him come out as the good guy. it's stunning the way that his behavior continues in the exact same pattern. and even as