You know the nice thing, you dont need a punch line. Good to have you with us. Thank you for watching. We start tonight with a bombshell interview with the duggar parents, breaking their silence, speaking out about the molestation scandal involving their oldest son, josh. For the first time being their Reality Tv Show 19 kids and counting has been taken off the air. Jim bob and Michelle Duggar said the victims included four of their daughters and one person outside the family. They told megyn kelly of fox news about the first time josh confessed to them. Our son, josh came to us on his own, and he was crying. He had just turned 14. And he said that he had actually improperly touched some of our daughters. We were shocked. I mean we were just devastated. I dont think any parent is prepared for a trauma like that. The duggars say they spoke to josh and their daughters about the improper touching. They took measures to protect the girls but the problems didnt stop. According to the parents, josh duggar confessed three times to improperly touching his sisters. After a third time the duggar parents said they took action. They sent josh away to a private christian based facility where he got help. We were weeping. I was like whats wrong . Where is why is daddy and josh leaving . As were all leaving the next day and for days and dareys, i was saying, josh has done some very bad things. And hes very sorry. When josh got back his parents took him to speak with a state trooper, but no charges were ever filed. Jim bob addressed why he didnt go to the police from the start. I talked to somebody that worked at one of the juvenile youth sex offender facilities. And he described how they actually take care of these situations down there. And the success rate is not very good. So we felt like going from a perspective of really reaching his heart first would be important. The duggars spoke about why they decided to go ahead with the Reality Tv Show after these problems. We had nothing to hide. We had taken care of all that years ago. When they asked to do the Reality Tv Show all of this had been taken care of five years before and we had a clean bill of health from the state. You had counselling. Told the police. Did the girls or josh say hold on, mom or dad . We had no fear because everything was taken care of. That was a sealed juvenile record. The duggar family says they feel like they have been wronged by joshs juvenile record being made public. They are speaking to attorneys about the possibility of legal action. But we should point out these records became public after a freedom of information act request by in touch magazine. Two of joshs sisters also spoke to fox news and extremely upset the records were made public. This isnt, they cant do this to us. And yet they did. They did. It was a system set up to protect kids both those who make stupid mistakes or have problems like this in their life and the ones affected by those choices. Its just greatly failed. For more let me bring in erin marin, the author of an unimaginable act and founder of erins law. Shes been in contact with the duggar family. Good to have you with us on the ed show. Thanks for having me. You bet. There just seems to be a thousand questions here. Whats wrong here . As you see this story, what did the duggar parents, well start with them. What did they do wrong, if anything, in your eyes . I believe the one thing that could have been different was going to the authorities immediately. You know ive told michelle and Jim Bob Duggar im not going to throw stones at you and judge you like society is but i do agree you should have goneimmediately ly. If you find out your kid is doing this you go to the police immediately. And as you notice from your interview, one time a second time. Waited too long. There was more victims there. So i believe the first and foremost go to the police immediately and then i dont think josh should have ever been allowed back into the home. Any parent i tell them do not allow the perpetrator back into the home. Its too dangerous. Too much of a risk. So you think theres a lot of fault here with the parents. They clearly could have and should have handled this differently. Yeah. And i try to tell people put yourself in their shoes. No parent in their mind plans or prepares to find out their kid is abusing another family member. So i think that they were just how do i handle this . What do i do . So i dont think they were prepared on how to properly handle it. When they did go to the authorities, look what we hear now. This guy, the Police Officer is now spending 56 years behind bars for child pornography. As i tell people these are often people we know and trust that are doing this to children. The stranger danger we warn so many people about. Its the Police Officer, the coach, the pastor its not these strangers we put so much emphasis on. Which is why we need to talk to kids about personal body safety. And thats how i got to know the duggars. A year and a half ago, they brought me into my home after hearing me speak on sexual abuse. They said, erin will you come into our home it was 9 00 at night, and talk about erins law. Educating them on personal body safety. If youve been sexually abuse, speak up and tell. Dont keep it a secret. They didnt tell me anything about what happened with josh. So i spent two hours in their family room that evening talking to all of their kids well not all, but nine of them about erins law. What it does. You dont keep these secrets. And then they went on to tell me erin we want to get you in touch with home schoolers. Get you out there and getting this message. Because my law requires personal body safety, to be taught in kids in preschool. This doesnt reach the home schooling community. They wanted to help get my message at national conferences, home schooling, at the same time i had no idea that their older son had done this. So maybe what is your reaction . They were trying to prevent this. Erin, what is your reaction to the victims reaction defending josh . You know what . Im not surprised. Every victim reacts differently. I wasnt there. If the girls were really asleep not, did they wake up in i dont know all the circumstances. But this is, after all, their parents. Their whole family is literally being thrown under the bus, judged by so many people in society, their faces all over every news magazine to every news outlet. I just think they really just want this to go away and in reality, were putting so much focus on, you know josh. What josh did. Josh this josh that. We need to focus on is how we are victimizing the girls. How weve reopened this wound to what happened 12 years ago. And how theyve tried to move on with their life and suddenly faced with it all over again. I want to bring in wendy, a former prosecutor and a veteran prosecutor and legal analyst. Great to have all of you with us tonight. Wendy, your thoughts. How do you think the police handled this case . They did nothing. I looked through the reports very carefully and what struck me is not only the inexplicable cavalier dismissal by the cops of the seriousness of what was going on. Were talking about abuse, not only of five different kids. One was four or five years old, but also over the course of a long period of time from a guy who was told not to do it again and kept doing it again. Thats predatory. Thats super dangerous. I tell you what else. When the cops dont intervene, the message goes to the bad guy, this is something i can get away with. Nobody cares. The cop doesnt care. Why dont i keep doing it . I did not like the statements from the girls i read. Sounded prepared parented puppetlike. Every single one of them soft peddled in my opinion what happened. They had the same story. I dont buy it. Ive prosecuted these cases for 30 years. I dont buy it. That they all had the exact same story to tell the cops . I think that whole family should have been investigated. And i dont give a damn while judging them. Of course were judging them. This is what you do when people do bad things to children and its hidden behind closed doors and the family allows it . We should be judging them harshly. Thats exactly the right reason to judge people harshly. I agree with that. Paul can the person outside the family that was improperly touched file charges . That seems to be somewhat the odd thing in all of this in this scenario. Someone outside of the family was vooiltediolated and yet no charges. What do you think of that . Its really unfortunate. Again, i think the biggest travesty is the ongoing pattern and behavior of the legal conduct, both within the family and outside of the family when notice was not given to the proper authorities until the statute of limitations had run both with the offender and with the parents in terms of their own liability and they keep saying, and i think we all heard that in their interview when we said there was no mandatory reporting. But thats not the issue. This isnt about whether or not youre a mandatory reporter. These are your children you have a duty and an obligation to protect and they werent protected in this way. They werent protected until we see this release and this information and again, they are outside of the statute of limitations for prosecution as well but that doesnt speak to the dire need to protect our most vulnerable citizens and those children. That includes the babysitter that was touched or that was offended as well. Even though thats outside of the statute of limitations again. I think as this story continues to unfold what the focus is going to be on is the legal analysis on the actual release of the information and the foia request that was released from the chief of police. In my opinion, there were so many exceptions with foia to juvenile records, both in the Supreme Court and in state courts for that state that relate to Law Enforcement access and even when they turned over that information in a redakctive form it did not include the names or addresses. It was clear the family they were talking about but that will be an issue with a defamation or libel suit. I think thats where the story will go next. Wendy, whats your analysis of the parents that they decided to move forward with this reality show and said oh everything is taken care of. This is all in the past. Do you accept that answer as someone who has prosecuted these cases for years that they just decided the move forward with a Television Career after going through all of this . Well i dont know. Michael jackson had a career after god knows what he was doing. What i can say is their attitude is so disturbing because theyre just so unconcerned about the severity of what happened. And when youre on tv showcasing yourself in a particular way and hoping the public sees you in a certain light, what i worry about is that they were hoping the public would see them for something that theyre not and that kind of cover insulates them from suspicion in a way that could have kept the kids at even greater risk because we think those types of people dont molest children. Oh, yes, they do erin your response to what wendy is saying about the way the parents handled this about how they move forward, and how they should be held up to a standard. What about that . I mean, erin, you seem to be giving them almost somewhat of an alibi. Its not that im giving them an alibi. I just dont feel in the place i should be judging them. Like i said do i agree on how they handled this . No. Ive made it clear to them. Ive been in contact every day with them since last week. And i made it very clear with them. I said the media has been reaching out with me. Youve had me in your home talking with your kids about this. I had no idea nor did i feel you had to tell me this but i feel usual have gone to the authorities immediately. That allowing josh to continue to stay in the home wasnt the proper way of how to handle this. And that i hope moving forward, they can do something positive with it. Okay. Paul, the duggars say theyre considering legal actions for the juvenile records being released. Do they have a case . Theres an analysis that goes both criminally and civilly. So criminally in order to go after the chief of police that released the records, they have to prove that she was acting outside of the scope of her duties. I dont believe theyll be able to prove that especially given the fact she brought the records to the City Attorney to have it analyzed and made the release and then the release was redact redacted redacted. That would be a Defamation Case or a slanderous case where theyre going to have to prove what damages they have from the release and keep in mind this is a true statement. So its not a false statement thats being made. Its a true statement that was de desem di sim nated. Its sus penned. We dont know if its going to come back. Because they took the steps to redact the information, they followed the law followed the advice of their counsel, i think moving forward with the case would be very very difficult and that obscures the bigger issue as to what happened to these kids because thats what we need to focus on. We need to be concerned with our vulnerable victims and families like this that are having problems and face charges. And should face charges. Erin merryn i appreciate your time on the ed show. Give me a minute. Get my video podcast at wegoted. Com. Rick perry joins the race with what could be his biggest challenger. Later, the president hints at another partner for the Transpacific Partnership. Look at how it could impact the trade deal negotiation. Stay with us. Were right back. If you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution thats right for you. With easy stepbystep guidance, were here to help you turn your dream into a reality. Start your Business Today with legalzoom. If you take multiple medications, a dry mouth can be a common side effect. Thats why theres biotene. It comes in oral rinse spray or gel so theres moisturizing relief for everyone. Biotene, for people who suffer from a dry mouth. Coming up on the ed show, the republican field hits double digits. Rick perry joins the republican race. But he brings a lot of legal baggage. Thats all coming up on the ed show. Stay with us. Were right back. Go roam sleep in sleep out star gaze dream big wander more care less beat sunrise chase sunset do it all. On us. Get your first months payment plus five years wear and tear coverage. Make the most of summer. With volvo. We have the power to make things new again. To project americas strength again and to get our economy going again. And that is exactly why today i am running for the presidency of the United States of america. And we are back on the ed show. Former Texas Governor rick perry is looking for redemption. His biggest hurdle isnt a failed 2012 president ial campaign. Its a criminal indictment for abuse of power. If you remember back in august a grand jury indicted perry on two felony charges. The indictment says perry, quote, intentionally or knowingly misused Government Property and he influenced or attempted to influence a publicer is vanltpublic er is servant. Perry and lawyers denied any wrongdoing. The third gop hopeful to join the crowd of second timers running but the first one with a felony indictment against him. Joining me tonight, jim moore, investigative journalist and author of bushs brain. Harold cook, Democratic Political strategist. I guess you can give perry credit for one thing. He just wont give up. Lets start with this. Jim, do republicans see a felony indictment for abuse of power as a qualification for the presidency . I think the way theyre looking at this ed is theyre thinking on the far right, its like a badge of honor. You know, remember, we are the center of the hippie universe in texas. Austin is 35 square miles of real estate surrounded by texas. They think it came from the democrats in texas. But the truth is what they have to confront is the very real fact that this has been appealed three times and it has not gone away. One of the judges in a court that is presently facing the criminal court of appeals is a perry appointee, i expect motions there to try to get him dismissed. Dont think thats going to happen. Its probably going to get hurt and even if perry should lose the state will then appeal. The truth is hes going to go all the way through this nominating process, ed. And he could end up being the nominee with an indictment. Do the republicans want to take a chance on picking a guy who is still going to be under indictment when they choose the nominee . I think probably not. Harold cook it looks to me like perry is just acting like oh, this is just some chatter in the background i dont have to worry about. Whats your analysis of how hes handling all of is this . Moving forward, it doesnt seem to bother him. That is my analysis. I think the perry team has diluted themselves and spun themselves into believing that this is no big deal. And you know what they might be able the get away with being a president ial campaign under criminal indictment in maybe iowa maybe new hampshire. Look theres a certain subset of republican primary voters who probably think this is some democratic plot even though theres not a democrat in sight in this indictment but i could see where theyd delude themselves. Probably fairly early in the nominating process, certainly by South Carolina electability comes into play. It always has and i assume it always will. Thats why the republicans have elected or nominated electable people after hearing for a bunch of tea party people. Rick perry is just too easy to run against because if he starts gaining in the polls his republican opponents cant just say, yeah the guy under felony indictment and i just dont think he can overcome it. I dont think anybody could. I agree with that. I just think that if they have to, theyre going to throw it at him in a big way. The question is whats his answer going to be . He had a notorious flub during a debate in 2011. Here it is. I will tell you. Its three agencies of government when i get there that are gone. Commerce education, and the, whats the third one there, lets see. Cant name the third one . The third agency of government i would do away with education, the commerce and lets see, i cant, the third one i cant. Sorry. Oops. You know jim, some things just follow a guy. Is that something thats always going to follow rick perry, never going to be taken really serious as a guy whos got a core and know exactly what he wants to do . Its going to be very very hard. He said hes taken off his boots. Put on some glasses and trying to reinvent and rebrand himself. But the fact is you cant. Its not like going to college to become the president