The Biggest Scandals of 2013
FEYERICK: Well, what can we say about a year that gave us Anthony Weiner, aka, Carlos Danger? Also Paula Deen and Rob Ford. I'm going to say that one twice. Frankly, he deserves it. Rob Ford.</s>BLACKWELL: And of course that bogus South African sign language guy. Well, it's safe to say it's been a huge year for scandal. Joe Johns narrows the list of the top 10.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Number 10 beam me up, baby. It's seldom you get the crack question of the year and the crack answer of the year in the same place. But it happened to the now notorious star of his own crack-smoking video.</s>ROB FORD, MAYOR OF TORONTO: Am I an addict? No.</s>JOHNS: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford when he got put on the spot in an open forum with the whole world watching.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you purchased illegal drugs in the last two years.</s>FORD: Yes, I have.</s>JOHNS: Ford was a trendsetter in 2013, leader of the pack in the category of mayors gone wild with honorable mention to number nine, San Diego's Mr. Smooth himself, Bob Filner, who resigned as mayor facing a tidal wave of sexual harassment allegations. Charges of unwanted advances including a former female employee who filed suit, Irene McCormick Jackson, alleging that Filner asked her, "Wouldn't it be great if you took off your panties and worked without them on?" He was eventually sentenced to 90 days home confinement and three years' probation for assaulting women. Number eight, also in the runoff for worst mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, the former hip-hop mayor of Detroit, convicted of racketeering and extortion so pervasive that prosecutors said it helped pushed the Motor City into the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history. Kilpatrick finally got the term he wasn't elected to serve -- 28 years in federal prison. And speaking of elections, number seven on our list isn't a mayor, but he could have been. New York's former Congressman, Anthony Weiner, a hit performer on the list from past years for the sexting controversy that made him leave Capitol Hill. Weiner made an encore running for the Big Apple's top job. But when more explicit pictures surfaced that were sent to a 22-year- old woman under the alias "Carlos Danger", Weiner, who is married, lost the primary with less than 5 percent of the vote. Magnanimous as always Weiner gave the media the universal, "We're number one" hand signal as a parting shot. While we're on the subject of popularity, number six on our list is that agency everybody loves to hate -- the Internal Revenue Service. And in keeping with the season what might be described as one of the most notorious naughty list in recent U.S. history. It seems somebody at the IRS got the bright the idea of singling out conservative groups, especially Tea Partiers, for extra special attention. The practice attracted outrage from coast to coast. And an investigation by the other federal agency that gins up fear and anxiety everywhere, the Justice Department. And speaking of spilling the goodies, there are some non-government players that must be mentioned for outstanding performances in 2013. Number five on our list is the former "Man of Steel," Lance Armstrong. Here is a guy who was master of the cycling world and the big lie, winning the Tour de France seven times, claiming repeatedly that he wasn't doping to enhance his athletic performance. But after being banned from the sport, he gave a tell-all, sort of, interview with Oprah, where else? He confessed and offered what may be remembered as the biggest understatement in the history of sport.</s>LANCE ARMSTRONG, CYCLIST: I'm not the most believable guy in the world right now.</s>JOHNS: Number four on our list, with another kind of credibility problem, that phony sign language interpreter who crashed the Nelson Mandela memorial service. It would be funnier if it weren't so creepy. This guy got within arm's length of the president of the United States, making meaningless gestures. It later came to light that he had once been accused of rape and murder but was found not guilty. Number three is Paula Deen.</s>PAULA DEEN, CELEBRITY CHEF: My goodness.</s>JOHNS: What would possess a host of a popular cooking show to get herself embroiled in a lawsuit where somebody was actually going to ask her under oath whether she ever used the "N" word when she knew she did? Can you say settle the case already? And speaking of legal problems, number two on our list is the not-so- secretive-anymore NSA, the National Security Agency. Who would have thought that one government outfit that was supposed to be stealth city could manage to embarrass or anger just about everybody in the U.S., by letting a rogue former contractor named Edward Snowden download a busload of secrets, so-called signal intelligence, from its computer system. Splash some of it to the media, then run off to Russia, of all places, while the goodies continue to be spilled item by item for maximum effect. And finally on our list coming in dead even, tied for first place for the broken government award of the year, Congress, for the absolutely inexplicable government shutdown crisis of 2013 that featured an absurdist dramatic reading of a Dr. Seuss classic in the midst of a 21-hour Senate talk-a-thon.</s>SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam I am.</s>JOHNS: And not to be overlooked, the Obama administration for the utterly disastrous bungled rollout of the healthcare.gov Web site. Which debacle was worst is entirely in the eye of the beholder. The futile attempts by a congressional minority to dismantle a law of the land upheld by the Supreme Court with the stated aim of getting rid of the president's signature achievement or the video replays of the leader of the free world promising that his signature achievement would allow anyone to keep the status quo, only to find out, that, well, it just wasn't true.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.</s>JOHNS: Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.</s>BLACKWELL: Tomorrow night at 6:30 Eastern, be sure to watch CNN's "Top 10 of 2013." It's a look back at the many stories that captured our attention and yours this year. We're counting them all down with CNN's Don Lemon, Sunday, 6:30 Eastern, right here on</s>CNN. FEYERICK: And then on Monday night at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, online and on TV, we are going to reveal the top 10 stories of 2013 as you voted on. We voted on them, too. That doesn't sound right, actually, but the stories that you voted on. The voting has ended online but we will have your results Monday morning at 9:00 Eastern.</s>BLACKWELL: And "Duck Dynasty" is back in full strength. Phil Robertson's indefinite suspension lasted nine days. And he's back. So what is he saying now? Plus, Britney Spears is bringing her musical empire to Las Vegas. We'll have everything you ever needed to know about the business of being Britney.