Bill Cosby Admits Plant to Use Drugs to Get Sex; Final Senate Vote to Remove Flag in South Carolina
ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Carol Costello. Thanks for being here on this Tuesday. First up, the Bill Cosby bombshell. The man who starred in that long running top TV series "The Cosby Show" admitting under oath that he acquired drugs to give to women with whom he wanted to have sex but he did not actually admit to drugging any of them. This all coming from newly revealed court documents from about 10 years ago when the comedian was facing a civil lawsuit for sexual assault. Since then more than 25 women have now publicly accused the 77-year-old of assault or rape, but the comedian has never faced criminal charges. He's strongly and repeatedly denied all the allegations. I spoke last hour to attorney Gloria Allred who represents more than a dozen Cosby accusers.</s>GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIM'S RIGHTS ATTORNEY: I think it's very important because there have been many allegations that he used Quaaludes to drug women and then his words are to have sex with them. I would say if he's -- if he's using this as a plan, which is what is so startling about what he said, that he actually had a plan to do this with a number of women, if he's doing that, then that -- and then he has sex with them afterwards, that is rape. That is sexual assault.</s>CABRERA: Well, Sara -- CNN's Sara Ganim, that is, joining me now with more. Sara, for months we've heard denials, denials, denials from his lawyers. They've even accused some of these women of lying but now an admission from Cosby. In his own words.</s>SARA GANIM, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: This is the first time we're hearing any kind of his side of the story. Right? I mean, he's been denying for years, forget about months, you know, anything related to this. This is the first kind of admission of anything, and what he says basically is that he got ahold of Quaaludes, he's got a prescription for Quaaludes in the 1970s with the intention of giving them to women he wanted to have sex with. He says that he gave them to several people. He only actually admits giving them to one woman that he did have sex with. I want to show you some of this deposition. He's very careful and obviously specific with his words. I want to read some of it to you. He's asked this question, "When you got the Quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these Quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with? Cosby answering, yes. Then later on he talks about a time that he met a woman in Las Vegas, and he says she meets me backstage. I give her Quaaludes. We then have sex. Now, later on, Ana, he's asked this question which was a really important question in the context of these allegations of rape. He's asked, quote, "Did you ever give any of those young women the Quaaludes without their knowledge?" And before he answers, his lawyer jumps in, he objects, he interrupts, he does not allow Cosby to answer that question, which, of course, is so important in the context of all of this. You know, many of these women don't just say that they were allegedly assaulted by Cosby, they also say that they believe that they were drugged, that they remember him --</s>CABRERA: So many with the same kind of story.</s>GANIM: Right. That they remember him making him or making them a drink, and then feeling incapacitated before they realized that they had been assaulted. Now Cosby's attorney is giving a statement. He gave it to ABC this morning. He said, quote, "The only reason Mr. Cosby settled was because it would have been embarrassing in those days to put all of those women on the stand, and his family had no clue. That would have been very hurtful." So he seems to be, you can surmise from that, addressing this --</s>CABRERA: Worried about his reputation.</s>GANIM: Well, addressing this -- well, addressing this and maybe, you know, he's admitting to having affairs with these women but not necessarily to any of the allegations against him. That's what you could potentially take from the statement, that he didn't want this to come out because he did fight it for many years. Remember, this is a 10-year-old lawsuit. He did fight to be the documents --</s>CABRERA: Tried to keep the documents sealed.</s>GANIM: He wanted these to remain sealed.</s>CABRERA: Settled.</s>GANIM: For a lot of time, and his lawyer is explaining that away this morning.</s>CABRERA: All right, Sara Ganim, thanks for the update on this. And for many of Bill Cosby's accusers this news comes as vindication of sorts. More than 25 women, as we mentioned, have publicly accused the TV star of raping or assaulting them over a span of about 40 years. Now Kristina Ruehli is one of the 13 Jane Doe's in that civil lawsuit we mentioned from 10 years ago. But her story is one of the oldest allegations against the 77-year-old, dating all the way back to 1965. Christina is joining me now from Boston. Thanks so much for being with us, Christina. How are you feeling this morning?</s>KRISTINA RUEHLI, COSBY ACCUSER: Pretty good and pretty relieved. Pretty relieved that this is finally coming forward.</s>CABRERA: I know your story, as we mentioned, marks perhaps the earliest case of alleged sexual misconduct by Cosby that has been made public. Take us back to what happened to you. This was back in 1965, right?</s>RUEHLI: Yes, it is. I wasn't supposed to be there actually. Cosby invited an actress and some other people from the agency where I worked in the legal department, but the actress asked me to drive her there because there was something wrong with her car, and when we got there, there was no one there, but he certainly was not interested in me. I had a second drink that he fixed while I was looking away, and lights out. I can't remember anything other than that about four hours later when the sun was starting to come up I was lying in bed mostly naked with Cosby, and he was attempting to force me into oral sex. Fortunately, I got really sick, and I ran into the bathroom and threw up, and when I came out, he was gone. I guess a woman who has thrown up a lot has -- is not a good candidate for oral sex, but the other actress was still there, met me in the entryway, and we drove home in silence. I think both of us making the wrong assumption about the other because what happened while I was out for four hours? That's the question I have to the other woman.</s>CABRERA: Wow. And you know what happened to you, but you don't know what happened to her at that time then.</s>RUEHLI: Right. But there was --</s>CABRERA: You never talked about it.</s>RUEHLI: There was a four-hour gap. I told someone about this contemporaneously, a boyfriend that I had, and he still remembers my telling him about it, so there's actually something that I couldn't possibly have made up that far ago. The other thing is that Quaaludes hadn't been invented to the best of my knowledge, so he must have used some other drug on me, something that made me very sick, but I had no hangover the next day.</s>CABRERA: Interesting. I know you did reach out to Constand's attorney back in 2005 after you learned about her story.</s>RUEHLI: Yes, I did.</s>CABRERA: That's really when you came forward publicly, and now hearing this admission through the deposition that was part of these court documents, what goes through your mind?</s>RUEHLI: Well, I had a saying in the beginning of the interviewing when I came forward, which was that by his silence, Cosby has ceded his power to the press and to the media, and that turns out to have been pretty correct. I think that more will be coming forward. I think for one thing we haven't seen the full deposition, only the petition by the lawyer to force him to answer questions, so I am relieved that this may be the punch to the gut of this liar that may choke up other things to validate, to vindicate the stories of there are actually, if you're keeping a list, more than four dozen of us.</s>CABRERA: Kristina Ruehli, we appreciate you sharing your story with us and for spending some time today with us. Thanks.</s>RUEHLI: Thank you.</s>CABRERA: The third and final vote in South Carolina's Senate to remove the Confederate flag from state house grounds there is getting under way this hour, and in Monday's preliminary vote lawmakers chose very overwhelmingly to remove the flag. It was 37 who voted yes, three against it, but, remember, a two-thirds majority vote is still needed in both the Senate and the House to get this bill on Governor Nikki Haley's desk. And of course the House is the big question mark here. Last hour I spoke to South Carolina State Representative Jonathan Hill. He wants the flag to stay where it is.</s>REP. JONATHAN HILL (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I think that it is appropriate and that it's very important that we remember our state's history precisely because there's much to learn about the value of life, both from how slaves were treated as well as all the lives that were lost in an unnecessary war.</s>CABRERA: CNN's Nick Valencia is joining us live now in Columbia, South Carolina, with the latest there -- Nick.</s>NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ana. A major hurdle overcome for opponents of Confederate flag, those who want to see it permanently removed from state capitol grounds as senators voted 37-3 in favor of removing it. Another special session expected today and in my conversation with senators, they believe they have enough votes to send this bill to the House. One of those lawmakers I spoke to, Senator Gerald Malloy, whose best friend was the late Senator Clementa Pinckney. Malloy spoke to me about how the murder of his best friend led to the debate that's happening right now.</s>GERALD MALLOY (D), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE SENATE: I think that if Senator Pinckney was here, you know, he would say in that great booming voice, well done, well done, and that he would be very hopeful. I had a quote yesterday that he said that life should be prosperous and it's our charge basically to make certain that we leave this world better than we found it, and I think that what we'd be able to say with him is that you leaving this state and this world is a better place, and the good news is that his legacy will continue to live on because we'll continue to end up talking about the impact that he had not only on his church and his family and those victims' families as being the shepherd, but also on all of us over in the Senate. And so what we've done is we've decided to hang his portrait in the Senate, which is very unique, not done very often, so his spirit and his face will live on in the Senate chambers.</s>VALENCIA: After this bill gets passed the Senate, it goes to the House where it will need a two-thirds majority vote in order to become official. What we're hearing from lawmakers is that a final vote could come as soon as Thursday or Friday -- Ana.</s>CABRERA: All right. Nick Valencia reporting live in Columbia, South Carolina. Our thanks to you. And still to come here, in for the long haul. President Obama warns the fight against ISIS won't be over anytime soon, but is the president's strategy working? Why some say the U.S. is battling a game of whack-a-mole.