[Unidentified Female:] I knew something was going on, I would start asking questions and he'd say you know what, you don't trust me. You got to trust me. By the way, you were drunk.
[Paul:] Rape allegations continuing to haunt Bill Cosby this morning.
[Johns:] Why women are coming forward now, and when will the comedy legend respond? Bottom of the hour.
[Paul:] Yes. I'm Christi Paul. Glad to have you with us.
[Johns:] I'm Joe Johns.
[Paul:] So we'll talk about these decade old rape allegations against iconic comedian, Bill Cosby, because they just will not go away.
[Johns:] So Cosby's had repeated denials, alleged victims continue to come forward with horrifying tales of being drugged and sexually molested. This week the whole thing blew up again after Cosby unwittingly re-ignited the allegations by inviting fans to reach out to him on Twitter. And this morning Cosby is set to speak on NPR. Alexandra Field is following that story for us. She joins us now live from New York Alexandra.
[Alexandra Field, Cnn Correspondent:] Hey there Joe. This is a much anticipated interview people waiting to hear what Bill Cosby has to say after a week when he has been widely attacked on the Internet. Here's what we know. Scott Simon the journalist for NPR who has conducted this interview is saying that he asks Bill Cosby directly about the rape allegations that continue plague him. He says that people should listen in and decide for themselves whether or not Bill Cosby says yes or no to that question. This debate these allegations have been re-ignited since Monday when Cosby or his social media team put a post on Twitter asking people to mean him and that unleashed the flood gates, people accusing him of rape and going so far as to call him a rapist. There are women out there who say that they were victimized by Bill Cosby among them Barbara Bowman. As a young actress she was mentored by Bill Cosby. She says after she turned 18 he attacked her. And she talked to CNN about why she decided to come forward with the allegations.
[Barbara Bowman, Claims Cosby Sexually Assaulted Her:] So after going to my agent and going to the lawyer, and getting smacked down both time I just said let me just get on with my life, move on with my life and let it go. And in 2004, finally when one woman did have the courage to come forward and file a lawsuit, I said I will not sit in silence any more and I believe this woman. They were dragging her through the mud, calling her a liar and I said I believe her because it happened to me.
[Field:] That lawsuit that Barbara Bowman was talking about was filed by a woman who says that she was drugged and raped by Bill Cosby. Police investigated at the time. They said there was a lack of evidence to charge Cosby with the crime. The suit was settled confidentially and through the years Christi and Joe, Bill Cosby and his attorneys have repeatedly denied any and all allegations. He has never been prosecuted. He's never been charged with a crime yet these allegations continue to crop up.
[Paul:] Do we now how they are affecting him at all?
[Field:] I think we're going to hear a little bit more when we hear this interview on NPR when he is asked again, we'll hear from him, you know, what he is feeling right now, what he has to say. But we know that as these allegations continue to be repeated that they are becoming attached to his name. Look, when you see articles about him in the "New York Times" or the "Washington Post" these allegations are attached to it. He does still have a sitcom that is set to air next year on NBC. It seems that that's going forward. But there have been reports of some appearances being canceled including some conflicting reports about why an appearance on Queen Latifah's show was canceled. That came after a fellow comedian Hannibal Buress really skewered and attacked Cosby, calling him a rapist back in October. Certainly these allegations they continue to come forward, they continue to be talked about and when Bill Cosby's name is mentioned people are bringing this up.
[Johns:] Alexandra Field, thanks so much for that.
[Paul:] We want to talk about this a little more with our legal analyst Joey Jackson because Joey, people see this and I'm sure that a lot of them are wondering because these accusations go back ten years, some of them plus, what legal action could somebody take?
[Joey Jackson, Cnn Legal Analyst:] You know, it's interesting Christi because rape especially in New York, if you look at the op-ed piece that Miss Bowman wrote when she was mentioning exactly what had happened to her and how he took advantage of her she mentioned that in his brownstone in New York apparently he drugged her, allegedly, and that there was some activity that he engaged in with her that was unwelcome. So in New York there is no statute of limitations on rape particularly when it's either A, forcible compulsion, or as Miss Bowman alleged, Christi, when it relates to a victim who is helpless so. And so theoretically, in theory a prosecutor can look at it, examine it and see whether or not they can go forward. But a prosecutor only takes a case if they can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. And if there is only her allegations then of course you run the risk of well, he says then she says. The other piece to that Christi, though, is sometimes a prosecutor will look and they'll say ok, there is no physical evidence and it's so long ago, but is there what we call a recent outcry witness, someone, a friend, a relative, that you went to and said someone's doing this to me and this is what they did. And of course that would be evidence that would be admissible in a court of law. So could she be prosecuted, excuse me, could Bill Cosby be prosecuted, yes. Would he be, it's a stretch in the event the prosecutor wants to take the case, they can.
[Paul:] All right. Hey Joey Jackson, thanks for laying that out for us. We appreciate it.
[Jackson:] Of course. Thank you.
[Johns:] As Republicans are set to take over Congress, President Obama is trying to stand his ground. It may be cold outside but tensions are hot in Washington, D.C. We'll get an inside perspective from Democratic representative Sheila Jackson Lee coming up next.
[Paul:] But first, according to a Veterans Administration report, on average 22 veterans commit suicide daily. In this week's "Impact Your World" a former marine is changing that using a film and a book about his experiences at war. Meet Mike Scotty.
[Mike Scotty, Former Marine:] My name is Mike Scotty and I'm a former marine who fought as part of the initial invasion in Iraq independent 2003. I just happen to have a video camera with me and I just videotaped kind of what was going on. The car ran the road block and the marines had no choice but to light it up turned out to be a father and his baby girl. When I first got home I just went down a hole. I started spiraling down and went almost all the way. The first couple of months was garden variety depression. And then you know I started to become angry. You are angry that your friends are getting killed or wounded over there and angry that the country you sacrificed for sometimes seems to forget that it's fighting a war. Then you start having thoughts of, you know, what are you going to do? Am I going to kill myself? Am I going to join up and go on active duty and go back to the war try to get myself killed? When it started to come together as a film and it was a rough cut and I saw other veterans see it, and I watched, I would watch them watch, it really, really started to click for me was that this wasn't just my story. This was, you know, everybody's story, every veteran's story. Sorting out what you experienced over there can feel like it's impossible. You live in a sort of limbo where everything gravitates toward uncertainty, chaos and disorder. I realized that there was a lot of people who were sad or suffering or keeping these feelings inside of them. The advice that I would give to veterans, call your buddies, write about it. Do something creative. If you think you need help, ask for it.