Lee Brice: Garth Brooks is my hero | Kurt's Country
Neil A. Carousso produces NewsNation original “Kurt’s Country” – a celebration of country music and a slice of Americana with host Kurt Bardella.
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Super Tuesday 2020: Sanders Wins Prized California Primary As Biden Surges Nationwide
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Super Tuesday seemed to turn into a two-man battle between former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders early in the night, despite five candidates vying for delegates from 14 states and one U.S. territory.
About one-third (1,344) of all delegates were up for grabs and it takes 1,991 pledged delegates to win the nomination.
Biden saw a surge of support Tuesday after gaining endorsements from Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg on Monday night.
RELATED: What You Need To Know On Super Tuesday
Early in the night, Biden scored a series of wins taking Alabama, Oklahoma and the battleground states of North Carolina and Virginia. CBS News then projected the former Vice President to win the Tennessee primary and the Associated Press projected him to win Minnesota and Arkansas. He also took Massachusetts, upsetting Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her home state.
It is increasingly looking like a two-man race between @JoeBiden and @BernieSanders. @LeeMiringoff of @maristpoll reflects on what we learned tonight about the race for the Democratic nomination with @KevRincon and @SteveScottNEWS. #SuperTuesday https://t.co/gmdL8Ckq8n pic.twitter.com/mwh8OanUqx
— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) March 4, 2020
Meanwhile, Sanders claimed the biggest Super Tuesday prize with the Associated Press projecting he would take California, which has 415 delegates up for grabs. Sanders also pulled off an expected home-state win in Vermont and took another victory in Colorado, which has 67 delegates at stake, as well as Utah.
Bernie Sanders tells supporters in Vermont: "Tonight, I tell you with absolute confidence, we are going to win the Democratic nomination and we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of this country" https://t.co/dejxP1swQq pic.twitter.com/5J8h5dXuFa
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 4, 2020
About 1.3 million people voted in the Virginia Primary today whereas 780,000 people voted in the 2016 Democratic Primary. That’s a drastic contrast in voter enthusiasm. @JoeBiden easily wins The Old Dominion State. #SuperTuesday @KevRincon @SteveScottNEWS @peterhaskell880 https://t.co/AdjFrxBbb1
— Neil A. Carousso (@NeilACarousso) March 4, 2020
Maine and Texas were too close to call after midnight, with Biden holding a slim lead in Maine (about 2,000 votes) and a growing lead in Texas (about 25,000 votes).
Votes were still being called early Wednesday, but the Associated Press allocated 362 delegates to Biden, 285 to Sanders, 30 to Bloomberg, 20 to Warren and one for Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, appeared on the ballots for the first time on Super Tuesday, but saw a poor performance overall.
How is @MikeBloomberg's #SuperTuesday investment? @peterhaskell880 explores as the former New York City mayor was declared the winner of the American Samoa caucuses.
Tune into our special coverage anchored by @KevRincon and @SteveScottNEWS: https://t.co/gmdL8CC1wX. pic.twitter.com/fTQ6HSEhMM
— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) March 4, 2020
While he took at least five delegates from American Samoa, according to the Associated Press, the former New York City mayor will reassess whether he will continue his bid for president on Wednesday.
Hawaii Sen. Tulsi Gabbard remains in the race but has not reached double-digits – nor has any other candidate that has since dropped out.
California poll numbers suggest Sanders also has the most support among potential voters with 35%. He is followed by Warren at 14%, Biden at 13% and Bloomberg at 12% support.
Despite struggling in the polls, Warren vowed to remain in the race. Early results showed her polling in third in her home state, and that could be a bad look for her campaign.
“Symbolically it’s bad. It hurts her narrative. The question then is if you can’t win in your home state where can you win?” CBS News reporter Zak Hudak told WCBS 880. “It’s embarrassing for her if that happens. Does it threaten her Senate seat in the future? I don’t know, maybe? At the very least it’s really embarrassing and it kind of creates this mentality of her own people, her own constituents, don’t want her to be president.”
Neil A. Carousso is the 2020 Elections Producer for WCBS Newsradio 880, producing all multi-media content of WCBS’ Election Night special coverage.
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New Hampshire Primary 2020: Sanders Declares Victory
CONCORD, N.H. (WCBS 880) — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has won the New Hampshire primary.
After a tight race, Sanders came out on top with over 69,000 votes in the first-in-the-nation Democratic primary. In second place was former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg followed by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Shortly after a number of outlets began to call the race, Sanders took to Twitter to declare his victory.
We just won the New Hampshire primary. What we have done together here is nothing short of the beginning of a political revolution. Join us live at our primary night rally in Manchester! https://t.co/OmKd1xIumv
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 12, 2020
“We are going to unite together and defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country,” he told a cheering crowd of supporters in Manchester. “The reason I believe we are going to win is that we have an unprecedented grassroots movement from coast to coast of millions of people. The reason that we are going to win is that we are putting together an unprecedented multi-generational, multi-racial political movement. And this is a movement from coast to coast, which is demanding that we finally have an economy and a government that works for all of us, not wealthy campaign contributors.”
CBS News estimates Sanders will walk away with at least 8 delegates, Buttigieg at least 7, and Klobuchar at least 4.
JUST IN: CBS News estimates the three leaders in New Hampshire will walk away with delegates tonight. Sanders will have at least 8, Buttigieg at least 7, and Klobuchar at least 4. https://t.co/Y8wAV74KxV pic.twitter.com/K0U6tB02Tk
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 12, 2020
A total of eight candidates had been vying for votes: Sanders, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former hedge fund investor Tom Steyer and former tech executive Andrew Yang — who decided to drop out of the race as polls closed.
WATCH: @KevRincon and @peterhaskell880 break the news on-air and ponder where @AndrewYang's support goes. #NHPrimary2020 #MoreThanJustTheHeadlines
Listen live: https://t.co/1YViQiKH5A
Follow along with the newsroom: https://t.co/nN5KIYTfti pic.twitter.com/T5XZuRLo3N— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) February 12, 2020
Michael Bennet, a 55-year-old senator from Colorado who entered the race in late April, also dropped out during the evening, after failing to stand out in the crowded Democratic field.
I love our country. I love the idea of democracy. And I want to pass it on to the next generation.
I feel nothing but joy tonight as we conclude this campaign and this chapter.
Tonight wasn’t our night. But New Hampshire, you may see me once again.
— Michael Bennet (@MichaelBennet) February 12, 2020
Despite falling short, Klobuchar sounded confident when she addressed supporters as results continued to come in.
“I came back and we delivered,” she said. “America deserves a president who is as resilient as her people.”
She firmly stated that she would be the person to defeat President Donald Trump in the general election.
.@ewarren emphasizes unity with supporters: "We cannot afford to fall into factions. We can't afford to squander our collective power. We win when we come together." @KevRincon and @peterhaskell880 analyze her underperforming campaign. #NHPrimary2020 https://t.co/1YViQiKH5A pic.twitter.com/iiMTHJOxpx
— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) February 12, 2020
Meanwhile, Warren vowed to continue her efforts in other states.
“The fight we’re in, the fight to save our democracy, is an uphill battle, but our campaign is built for the long haul and we’re just getting started,” Warren said.
.@PeteButtigieg is in a close second behind @BernieSanders where his supporters are chanting "We are unstoppable. Another world is possible." @StvBurns joins @KevRincon live from Sanders' headquarters at @SNHU in Manchester. https://t.co/1YViQiKH5A pic.twitter.com/6ZiJfjZuqT
— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) February 12, 2020
At his election night event, Buttigieg didn’t seem too upset by the loss and said he “admired” Sanders as a teenager.
“I respect him greatly to this day, and I congratulate him on his strong showing tonight,” Buttigieg said.
Meanwhile, the night proved to be slightly disappointing for Biden, who did not attend any events in New Hampshire. Instead, the 77-year-old had gone to South Carolina to get a head start on campaigning in the state before it holds the second primary in a number of days.
“We just heard from the first two of the states … where I come from, that’s just the opening bell, not the closing bell,” Biden said.
.@JoeBiden left New Hampshire early for South Carolina where he addressed supporters. @KevRincon and @peterhaskell880 look at the former vice president's road ahead. #NHPrimary2020
Listen live: https://t.co/1YViQiKH5A
Live updates: https://t.co/nN5KIYTfti pic.twitter.com/NRnSz7btm5— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) February 12, 2020
Klobuchar surged in the race following a strong showing in the most recent debate.
“This is a state that Bernie Sanders won last time over Hillary Clinton,” Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said. “What we’re seeing is people like Peter Buttigieg and tonight Amy Klobuchar as clearly gotten into the top tier she’s broken away from the pack where Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden are dropping almost out of sight.”
The first votes in the race were cast in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, where residents often take part in a tradition of casting their votes at midnight. There was one confirmed vote for Buttigieg, one vote for Sanders and two write-in votes for Mike Bloomberg, who received an extra vote from a Republican, even though he does not appear in the New Hampshire ballot.
A new Quinnipiac University national poll had Bloomberg just a couple of points behind Biden, whose support among Democrats and independents has plummeted in the past two weeks.
Earlier, exit polling from CBS News found almost half of Democratic primary voters decided on the candidate in the last few days, with many saying the most recent debate was an important factor in making their choice.
Meanwhile, there seemed to be division among New Hampshire voters as to what kind of policies they want to adopt. About 40% say they want to return to Barack Obama’s policies, while 38% want to change to more liberal policies.
The most unifying factor seemed to be the desire to vote President Donald Trump out of office. More than 9 in 10 voters in the New Hampshire Democrats primary said they were unhappy with the Trump administration – including 81% who are angry.
Many also said they prefer a nominee who can beat Trump, a sentiment that was often observed by WCBS 880’s Steve Burns on the road in the state.
Voters in New Hampshire say the most important issue is health care, followed by climate change, income inequality and foreign policy.
President Donald Trump also made a stop in the Granite State on Monday night to rally supporters, and possibly sway some undecided Democrats to vote red.
During the rally, the president focused on his goals should he be elected again in 2020 and took time to criticize House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for ripping up her copy of the State of the Union speech last week.
The crowd responded with chants of “Lock her up.”
Trump easily won New Hampshire’s Republican primary against minimal opposition.
Neil A. Carousso is the 2020 elections producer for WCBS Newsradio 880, including producing and editing all video content.
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Iowa Caucus 2020: Caucus Results Delayed By Mobile App Issues
DES MOINES, Iowa (WCBS 880) — Problems with a mobile app appeared to force a delay in reporting the results of the Iowa caucuses Monday, as the campaigns, voters and the media pressed party officials for an explanation and got few answers.
"Quality control" issues have delayed results at the #IowaCaucuses with questions mounting about the wisdom of the caucus system. @KevRincon and @peterhaskell880 report the Democratic candidates are scheduled to travel to New Hampshire tomorrow. https://t.co/t8m7HqdakA pic.twitter.com/NbD8B7b0Sg
— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) February 4, 2020
An Iowa Democratic Party official pointed to “quality control” as the source of the delays — but noted that about a quarter of the state’s nearly 1,700 precincts have reported their data already. The party also said the delay was not caused by a “hack or an intrusion.”
But other officials blamed technology. Des Moines County Democratic Chair Tom Courtney said he heard that in precincts across his county, including his own, a mobile app created for caucus organizers to report results to the party was “a mess.”
The Iowa Democratic Party says they are doing “quality control,” resulting in a delay in results of the #IowaCaucuses. Producer @NeilACarousso asks Anchor @KevRincon what’s different this year.
Listen live: https://t.co/gmdL8CC1wX pic.twitter.com/NWzfIBW8An
— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) February 4, 2020
RELATED: Everything You Need To Know About The Iowa Caucus
How do the #IowaCaucuses work? Candidates will spin tonight's results to claim victory, reports @peterhaskell880. @KevRincon #MoreThanJustTheHeadlines https://t.co/t8m7HqdakA pic.twitter.com/Ea42nAfXZV
— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) February 4, 2020
The statement came as Iowa voters packed caucus sites across the state as Democrats balanced a strong preference for fundamental change with an overwhelming desire to defeat President Donald Trump in the opening contest of the 2020 presidential primary season.
Anchoring special coverage of the Iowa Caucus with @peterhaskell880 in-house and @StvBurns in New Hampshire. Ask Siri to play WCBS 880 and take a listen! pic.twitter.com/SkUsCUUtbV
— Kevin Rincon (@KevRincon) February 4, 2020
Precinct leaders were instead calling in their results to the Democratic Party headquarters, and “they weren’t answering the phones in Des Moines” because, Courtney speculated, they were mobbed with calls.
The apps were barely working, forcing party aides to record results from the precincts via phone and enter them manually into a database, according to a person involved in processing the data who requested anonymity to discuss the party’s internal process.
The slowdown came as the party attempted to report more data about the caucus than in years past — promising to release both a headcount of each candidates’ supporters and the delegate winners from each site.
Quiz: See Which Democratic Frontrunner You Align With Most (in Their Own Words)
“The integrity of the results is paramount,” Iowa Democratic Party spokeswoman Mandy McClure said in a statement. “We have experienced a delay in the results due to quality checks and the fact that the IDP is reporting out three data sets for the first time. What we know right now is that around 25% of precincts have reported, and early data indicates turnout is on pace for 2016.”
The #IowaCaucuses set the tone for the election year. As @KevRincon and @peterhaskell880 ponder on-air, @CBSNews entrance polling indicates a more liberal Democratic electorate with healthcare and climate change topping the issues for voters. 32% first-time caucus-goers. @wcbs880 https://t.co/9Fegmx7104
— Neil A. Carousso (@NeilACarousso) February 4, 2020
The problems were an embarrassment for a state party that has long sought to protect its prized status as the first contest in the primary race. The delay was certain to become fodder for caucus critics who call the process antiquated and exclusionary.
Who is the most electable? @peterhaskell880 looks at what Democratic voters say during the #IowaCaucuses. @KevRincon #MoreThanJustTheHeadlines
Listen live on-air and on the @Radiodotcom app: https://t.co/gmdL8Ckq8n
Live election results: https://t.co/b6KZEoAcOo pic.twitter.com/QqfYydNG9m
— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) February 4, 2020
President Donald Trump’s campaign quickly seized on the issue to sow doubt about the validity of the results.
“Quality control = rigged?” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted Monday evening, adding a emoji with furrowed brows.
Linn County Auditor Joel Miller, who ran a precinct in the Cedar Rapids suburb of Robins, said some app users may not have gotten the instructions on how to log into the system.
“If people didn’t know where to look for the PIN numbers or the precinct numbers, that could slow them down,” said Miller, who said he had no problem using the system to report his precinct’s figures and it worked fine.
Helen Grunewald, a precinct caucus chairwoman in Benton County, said she had been on hold with the party trying to report her results for a significant amount of time.
Earlier in the night, however, Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price said while there were some reports from precinct officials that they couldn’t log into the mobile app, a team of trouble-shooters was working to address any technical issues.
“We’ve had an app before but we’ve also had a hotline before, and folks have had the option to do that, and so we expect that we’ll be able to report the results in a timely manner this evening,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Neil A. Carousso is the WCBS Newsradio 880 2020 Elections Producer.
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‘It’s Not My Flag, It’s Ours’
An Unsung 9/11 Hero and the Journey of an American Flag
from Ground Zero to Iraq and Afghanistan to The White House
By Neil A. Carousso, Special to ConnectingVets.com and WCBS Newsradio 880
PATCHOGUE, N.Y. — A hero-maker serves heroes.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Donato Panico watched in horror as al-Qaeda hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center.
He felt he had to do something right away, and as the owner of a Smithtown deli for more than three decades, Panico knew he could provide a needed service.
“(My friend) was telling me that all kinds of commanding officers were killed down there and that they had no food system and it was in total chaos,” said Panico.
He then prepared his catering trucks with sandwiches and drove to Ground Zero the next morning. He got through most of the tight security checkpoints in Manhattan, but he was still far away from the Trade Center when commanding officer Louis Pacheco recognized Panico from his Long Island deli and ushered him into site so he could fill a void serving starving, dehydrated, weary, angry and saddened First Responders.
“A couple months later, (Pacheco) presented me with a flag that they hung in front of the Millennium Hotel,” Panico said. The hotel, which is adjacent to One World Trade Center, suffered significant damage in the terrorist attacks.
Heros 4 Our Heroes, via Facebook 
Heros 4 Our Heroes, via Facebook “He presented it to me and I presented it to a friend of mine in the store whose son was getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan. He hung it over his camp,” said Panico, continuing, “He had the flag commissioned by President (George W.) Bush and he returned it to me 4 years later.”
Panico continued to lend the gifted flag to local police, fire and veterans organizations on Long Island.
“You can’t hold onto something if you don’t give it away,” said Panico when asked why he felt so strongly about imparting such a meaningful and emotional souvenir to patriotic organizations. “It’s not my flag, it’s ours.”
His foundation Heros 4 Our Heroes was born from tragedy. Today, Panico aims to keep a “constant awareness” for the need to take care of police officers, firefighters and our veterans who make sacrifices to keep us safe and free. He is currently undertaking a project to re-build the patio at the Department of Veterans Affairs facility in Northport, Long Island.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) was the only local politician to show up at Donato’s fist Heros 4 Heroes Foundation event after 9/11; Panico said his first impression of Zeldin was he’s “special.”
The Republican congressman was deployed to Iraq in 2006 with the 82nd Airborne Division and is currently in the Army Reserves. In a sit-down interview with him, Donato and this reporter, he praised Donato as a selfless patriot while he engaged in the same type of organic camaraderie he has with fellow soldiers. Zeldin said Panico has the “type of character, values, ethics and beliefs” that guided his selfless actions on 9/11.
“If he was on the first floor of the Trade Center that day, he would have went straight up and started rendering first-aid to people even though he wasn’t NYPD or FDNY,” Congressman Zeldin said. “That’s his character.”
Recently, Panico had one particular person he wanted to lend “our” Old Glory that flew in front of the Millennium Hotel on September 11 to: The President of the United States.
Congressman Zeldin invited Panico to President Donald J. Trump’s first State of the Union Address in January. Panico brought the flag to Washington with him in hopes to give it to the President. That’s when Rep. Zeldin learned of the sentimental history of that American Flag. Donato did not get to meet Mr. Trump that day, but Mr. Zeldin held onto the flag for the right time, and on June 20, the Congressman received a phone call from The White House for a last minute policy meeting with President Trump and several representatives.
Zeldin recalled, “All I was thinking of was ‘where’s the flag?’”
After the meeting, Congressman Zeldin told President Trump about the flag.
“You could tell the story was impacting him, he was deeply moved by it, he was moved by Donato’s story, the first responders, the journey of that flag from the Trade Center, overseas being flown over a base to back home,” said Mr. Zeldin, adding that the President brought him into the Oval Office where he had an aide write down Panico’s story for a museum, and posed for a picture behind his Resolute Desk to send home to Donato.
Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead Congressman Zeldin says when he meets with the President like he did when he rode in his motorcade with him to a GOP fundraiser in Southampton last month, President Trump asked about Donato.
Donato feels an unspoken bond with the current Commander-In-Chief, a man he has never met, but respects as a patriot, as he does his fellow New Yorkers and Americans who still suffer pain, sorrow, and illness from 9/11.
Panico still shakes when the calendar turns to September. He and we will Never Forget.
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A Look Back at Steve Scott’s Interviews With James Earl Ray, The Man Who Pleaded Guilty To Killing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — James Earl Ray pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison in the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which happened 50 years ago Wednesday.
But until his death at the age of 70 in 1998, Ray maintained that the guilty plea notwithstanding, he was not the one who killed Dr. King.
WCBS 880’s Steve Scott interviewed Ray several times – including two radio interviews in the prison where Ray was serving his sentence, first in 1992 and again shortly before Ray died in 1998.
Ray was a footnote in the grand scheme of history, Scott noted. But in 1992, Ray published a book, “Who Killed Martin Luther King? The True Story by the Alleged Assassin.” Upon seeing the book, Scott thought Ray might be an interesting person to talk to.
Scott went through Ray’s publisher to get in contact with him, and not long afterward, Ray called him at home.
“I was taking a nap one day, and got a collect call from a maximum security prison in Nashville, Tennessee, and there was James Earl Ray on the other end of the phone,” Scott said. “And I interviewed him, and then I asked him, I said, ‘Hey listen, if I can get myself down to Nashville, would you be willing to sit down in a room with me and record a radio interview face-to-face talking about the King assassination?’”
Scott said Ray responded, “Well, you know, they don’t like me a whole lot,” but said Scott could ask prison authorities. The prison authorities in turn said there were no rules against an interview, so Scott could come down to talk to Ray if he so desired.
So Scott, who was working in Chicago at the time, headed to Nashville and met with Ray at the Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville in 1992. Ray laughed as Scott played him a clip of CBS News’ Walter Cronkite from the night Dr. King was assassinated.
“Dr. Martin Luther King, the apostle of nonviolence in the civil rights movement, has been shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee. Police have issued an all-points bulletin for a well-dressed young white man seen running from the scene,” Cronkite said in the clip.
Ray said: “Well-dressed? That couldn’t have been me.”
Ray had been a fugitive from a Missouri prison at the time of the King assassination. He had a long criminal record that included armed robbery, burglary, forgery and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, CBS News reported.
Speaking to Scott, Ray said he was a low-level crook who ran guns over the Canadian and Mexican borders. He said he was duped into being in Memphis when Dr. King was killed on April 4, 1968.
Ray fled the city shortly after the shooting and was captured in London two months afterward, CBS News recalled. He signed a confession with a detailed description of how investigators claimed the crime happened, and went on to plead guilty, CBS News recalled.
CBS News reported the prosecutor in the case, Phil M. Canale Jr., maintained there was no evidence of a conspiracy in the King assassination. Canale did not outline a motive for the killing, nor did he accuse Ray, who was white, of being racist, CBS News reported.
Ray tried to withdraw the guilty plea three days after issuing it even though he had told the judge he understood the plea could not be appealed, CBS News reported. He claimed at the time that he was set up by a shadowy gun dealer he had met in Montreal and whom he knew only as Raoul, and said he himself was changing a tire at the time King was killed, CBS News reported.
Authorities never found a connection between the man identified as Raoul and the slaying, and several courts said there was never evidence of anyone else’s involvement, CBS News reported.
Ray told Scott in the 1992 interview that he was not involved in any way with the King assassination, and he said he pleaded guilty out of concern that his brother and father – the latter also a prison escapee who had been on the lam for more than four decades – might also face charges otherwise.
Scott: “James, I’ll ask you again, did you kill Martin Luther King?”
Ray: “No, I had nothing to do with the shooting of Martin Luther King, and I had no advance knowledge of it. But having said that, I had been, you know, committing criminal offenses. But I wouldn’t have got no 99 years for what I was doing.”
Scott: “You confessed to the King murder.”
Ray: “Yes… I didn’t really confess to it. I entered a guilty plea. There’s a difference between, you know, a confession and a guilty plea.”
Scott: “But why plead guilty to one of the most notorious murders of the 20th century if you didn’t do it?
Ray: “If I didn’t enter a guilty plea, they might charge my brother Jerry Ray for as a conspirator in the Martin Luther King murder.”
Scott: “Who had nothing to do with it?”
Ray: “He was working. They knew he was working at the time. He was working in Chicago at the time, six days a week. They also said they might arrest my father, and my father, he’d escaped from prison in 1925, and he’d been a fugitive ever since. So apparently, the Justice Department found out about it, and they told my attorney, Percy Foreman, and he came and told me that if I didn’t enter a guilty plea, that you know, they might put him back in jail. And so I agreed to enter a guilty plea on those conditions.”
In the interview, Ray suggested that the FBI was behind the King assassination, because then-Director J. Edgar Hoover was terrified of King’s influence over black America.
Ray also reminded Scott that he was a prison escapee himself in 1968, and said, “What better way to stay under the radar than to kill Martin Luther King?”
The U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1978 that Ray was the man who killed Dr. King. But the committee concluded that a group of racial bigots in St. Louis – with a reported $50,000 bounty on King’s head, might have been involved too, CBS News reported in 1998.
As to whether he believes Ray was King’s assassination, Scott said: “He maintained until the day he died that he didn’t do it. Do I believe him? I’m not a big conspiracy guy. I’m really not. But there is a lot of compelling evidence – and the King family buys into this as well – that points, perhaps, to the fact that James Earl Ray at least did not act alone or didn’t do it at all. But you know what? If you give me 99 years in prison, I’m going to come up with some pretty good stories too. So the bottom line – I just don’t know.”
Neil A. Carousso produced and edited the backstory video with WCBS Newsradio 880 afternoon anchor Steve Scott.
