Return to Transcripts main page

ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES

U.S. Special Ops in Iraq Mission; Interview with Brett McGurk; ISIS Holding 100 Women and Children; Protests Under Way in Ferguson, Missouri; Interview with Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson; Lessons and Hope in Williams Tragedy; New Williams Movies Coming to Theaters; Remembering Lauren Bacall

Aired August 13, 2014 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The operation has just wrapped up. We're just learning new details now of what was uncovered, some crucial intelligence.

Jim Sciutto is working the story for us. He's joining us now.

What are you learning, Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, a pretty remarkable turnaround in just half a day, really, earlier in the day, administration officials talking about a potential genocide on top of Mountain Sinjar where thousands of Yazidis have been taking refuge. But we're just learning now, the Pentagon said that after this team of special forces visited the mountain today, they spent 24 hours there, they have left and made a couple of conclusions.

One, there are far fewer refugees on that mountain than believed, I'm told, several thousand. There have been estimates of 10,000 to 20,000 and that makes, in the judgment of the Pentagon now, a mass either air or ground evacuation much less likely. Now after the Pentagon released that statement, I managed to get Admiral John Kirby on the phone -- he's the Pentagon spokesperson -- just to get some of the backstory as to what happened here.

He said listen, they got to the mountain, they found that there were several thousands, as opposed to tens of thousands, of refugees still there and he said that many of them actually will want to stay, that their homes are on the mountain and for those who want to go, go to safer ground, that they are comfortable.

The Pentagon is comfortable with the ability of local Peshmerga forces, these are the Kurdish militia forces who've been able to ferry some of these refugees off in recent days. They are comfortable that those forces in conjunction with U.S. airstrikes can get the people who want to get off the mountain safely.

And I'm told that over the last several days, they have been able to get off about 1,000 per night, so pretty fast clip there and this now takes away, you know, just something we've been talking about, Wolf. You and I, you know, less than an hour ago, this possibility of a mass evacuation, largely takes that off the table for now. BLITZER: Yes. That's a dramatic development. What is the

administration, Jim, saying about humanitarian air drops to the folks who are still there? Should we expect to see a lot more of those?

SCIUTTO: That will continue. Another judgment of these assessment teams was that the refugees are getting that food, they're getting that water, that these air drops are working and that as a result of that, they are not in as dire straits as they thought. They are not starving, they are not dying of thirst anymore, so that the -- in addition to the evacuations that have taken place by Kurdish forces in conjunction with U.S. airstrikes, in addition to those working, if the judgment of the teams on the ground that these humanitarian airdrops are working as well.

BLITZER: So where does the U.S. mission go from here, Jim?

SCIUTTO: Well, it's a question. You know, first of all, a big turn. So the idea of an imminent mass evacuation in the north of the Yazidis, far less likely. That appears to be off the table. But you have some open questions. You have Christians under threat, Iraqi Christians as well as other minority groups.

If they find themselves in a similar predicament as to what happened to these minority, the Yazidis, what does the U.S. do? Does it mount airstrikes? Does it work in conjunction with Kurdish forces? That's an open question. Then, of course, you have this longer term question that you and I have talked a lot about, you know, the challenge of actually pushing back ISIS as opposed to just stopping its advance.

So far Kurdish forces with U.S. airstrikes, they've been able to stop the advance of ISIS on cities like Irbil but now that you have a new Iraqi government, you have U.S. officials including the president, Secretary of State John Kerry saying that they're going to offer this new Iraqi government more American help, does that help include airstrikes to help them push back the ISIS forces down the line? Still an open question.

BLITZER: Jim Sciutto, thanks very much for that report.

Let's get some more now on the situation on the ground off the mountain, which included ISIS boasting of kidnapping more than 100 Yazidi women and children.

Joining us now from northern Iraq, Ivan Watson.

Ivan, the U.N. has declared its highest level of emergency for this humanitarian crisis. What resources are going to be needed to rescue these people and a lot of other people who are off that mountain right now?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, when it comes to people who have been reportedly kidnapped anecdotally in talking to the refugees who fled family after family, many people describe the capture of large numbers of civilians as they were trying to flee the ISIS advance saying that hundreds of people were grabbed. We've even spoken to people who've communicated with loved ones who are being held at some kind of a prison outside the ISIS controlled city of Mosul. So I don't know how the United Nations can help with that.

When it comes to helping people on the ground, some of the hundreds of thousands who have fled, they do need help. There are no camps set up for these people. The -- some of the tens of thousands who have settled in this city after fleeing Sinjar Mountain and the town of Sinjar, when they managed to escape, they show up and quite literally start to camp on roadsides. They are surviving, basically. They are eating and drinking based on the generosity of their Kurdish neighbors here, who we see coming forward helping them out, offering them a mattress or a bowl of soup.

I don't know how these people are going to survive if this situation persists for weeks or months to come. These people are not going to be able to earn money in this corner of Kurdistan in northern Iraq -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And you are on top of that mountain. How dangerous is it the journey to get down the mountain because it's not as easy as it sounds?

WATSON: Not at all. We've been talking to some of the people who made the over land trip off the mountain. They described walking for 12 to 15 hours through a desert to the nearby Syrian border. And the people that made this journey are elderly. They are children.

I don't know how physically some of these people could continue under this August heat and make that journey and what is really horrifying is that every family I talked to, every person who made that journey, described seeing people who collapsed and did not make the journey. They described putting a loved one, burying a loved one on the side of the trail out of there.

If you can just imagine that in this day and age, people dropping dead of dehydration, having -- somebody having to leave their child on the side of the trail as they try to hike out to safety. So it is a terrible situation that these people have -- an ordeal that they've had to go to. When you ask them how they're physically capable of doing it, they say we are basically running for our lives. If you're in that position, you'll do it -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ivan Watson, reporting for us -- Ivan, thanks very much. Whether you're talking about boots on the ground, drones and fighters overhead, rearming the Kurds, refugees, hostages, you name it, it's a whole new world right now in Iraq.

Let's talk about it with Brett McGurk. He's the State Department's deputy assistance secretary of state for Iraq and Iran. As the senior White House advisor, he helped craft the transition from a military to a civilian mission there five years ago.

Brett, thanks very much for joining us. First of all, the special forces assessment team, about a dozen guys who just concluded there are, what, far fewer Yazidis trapped on top of that mountain than previously thought. How many are we talking about based on what you know? Originally the numbers were in the tens of thousands.

BRETT MCGURK, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR IRAQ AND IRAN: Thank you, Wolf. It's not in the low thousands and there is a reason for that. The president said, when he spoke to the American people that we're going to break the siege of this mountain and we broke the siege of the mountain. In the meantime, we kept people alive with humanitarian air drops delivering tens of thousands of meals, tens of thousands of gallons of water every night. There will be another tonight. And so we managed to keep people alive.

And on the north side of the mountain, we've conducted between the past five and six days, about a dozen airstrikes, which have been extremely effective. So the USO formations that were there and checkpoints and other columns, they're no longer there. They have been killed. And these are columns have not come back. This has opened up a corridor, which has allowed thousands of people to escape from the reports that I've seen from the assessment team which is just back.

We have seen indications of that happening. We had to get eyes on the mountain to see what was happening and that is why the president ordered this team, U.S. military assessment team together accompanied by my colleagues in USAID to go to the mountain with the firsthand look. They linked up with Peshmerga forces on the mountain. They saw the situation. The entire mountain. They went from north to south and discuss the situation with people there, determined that vehicles are able from the north side to get on to the mountain then get off.

And so the siege has been broken but we are going to remain vigilant. As Ivan said, this remains a major humanitarian catastrophe. The people getting off the mountain are now moving to safety, but there are tens of thousands of them. We had an outpouring of international support to help those people and we're going to be working through the U.N. and our international partners to make sure that they have the help that they need.

BLITZER: So you -- what you're saying is those U.S. airstrikes destroyed those ISIS or ISIL positions at the bottom of the mountain on the north side of that mountain, opening up this corridor for people to evacuate?

MCGURK: The airstrikes, Wolf, have been extremely, extremely effective on the north side of that mountain, yes.

BLITZER: What about the other sides of the mountain? Are ISIS fighters still surrounding the other parts of the area below that mountain?

MCGURK: The president -- the mission now, as authorized by the president was to break the siege of the mountain and therefore ISIL targets around that mountain who were threatening that civilian population remain targets for our military forces.

BLITZER: So how much longer do you think it will take to remove everyone who wants to leave that mountain? How much more of that operation will there be? MCGURK: Well, as I understand it, as I'm told from the initial

assessment reports which have come in from this very heroic team which went to the mountain and spent 24 hours there and has just returned to safety about two hours ago, they are in Irbil now. From their initial reports, it will take another couple of days to get down to the level of the people who want to leave to get them out.

We evacuated tonight with this team a number of people who were sick and had to get out immediately. We now took those people to safety. They are now getting treatment. So this has been a very, very successful operation, the siege of the mountain has been broken but we're going to remain vigilant both on the military side around the mountain and also, most importantly, I want to stress this.

These people need international help. They need the entire international community to help get the support that they need. We'll be establishing with our international partners camps, humanitarian subsistence, mobile hospitals where they're necessary. So this is an ongoing effort, Wolf.

Fortunately, the major military operation that we thought we might have to do, as of a couple of days ago, we will not have to do because the airstrikes were very successful and the people now who are on the mountain, there are far fewer numbers than we have feared.

BLITZER: And one final question, those 100 women and children who were kidnapped by these ISIS forces, the men were all slaughtered apparently. What do we know about them?

MCGURK: Well, Wolf, it remains a very tragic situation and I think it should focus the entire world's attention on ISIS and what ISIS is. It is a terrorist army. They are genocidal killers and this is what they do when they take territory. And it is a very tragic situation. We are very heroic personnel at our consulate in Irbil and our military personnel of the joint operations center in Irbil and also the joint operations center in Baghdad are working this every day.

We're in touch with people. We're trying to get the best handle on the situation that we possibly can. But again, Wolf, this is going to remain a very long-term effort as the president said and we're going to do everything we possibly can but most importantly right now, we're relieved that the siege of this mountain was broken. The people are getting to safety, although it remains a very difficult journey as Ivan said.

And once we're going to make sure that they have a place to go, a place to eat, and a place to again prepare for the next phase of their lives. We want to keep these people alive. We've been keeping them alive for the past week and now we're going to make sure that they can get to safety together with our international partners and the region all around the world.

BLITZER: That's encouraging news. The breaking news we're getting from Brett McGurk, the deputy assistant secretary of state.

Brett, thanks very much for joining us. And just ahead, in Ferguson, Missouri, that's just outside St. Louis,

two starkly different accounts of the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, one from police, the other from witnesses. Coming up you're going to hear from both sides.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In Ferguson, Missouri, sundown is about an hour or so away. Police are in position with dogs and armored vehicles. They're bracing for another possible night of unrest. You can see behind the people standing there, sit down strike underway at the moment, protesters blocking the street.

It's been four days since Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, was shot dead by a police officer in broad daylight. Four days and the officer's name has not been released.

Ferguson is a town awash in outrage and allegations of a cover-up. Today the school district cancelled classes until Monday to allow, quote, "the situation to stabilize."

Authorities say Michael Brown, 18 years old, days away from starting college, assaulted the officer, tried to take his weapon. Witness accounts are starkly different. Dorian Johnson was only feet away when his friend was shot, says the officer was the aggressor. Last night I talked to him and his attorney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORIAN JOHNSON, WITNESSED MICHAEL BROWN SHOOTING: When he fired his weapon, I moved seconds before he pulled the trigger. I saw the fire come out the barrel, and I instantly knew that it was a gun. I looked at my friend Big Mike and I saw that he was struck in the chest or upper region because I saw blood splatter down his side, his right area, and at that time we both took off running.

And I was able to hide myself behind the first vehicle that was up on the scene and the officer then got out his car, my friend Big Mike was still running. He ran past me and saw me in plain sight. He said to me verbatim that -- he said, keep running, bro, and he kept running and almost in an instant, my body start rising and I see the officer proceeding after my friend Big Mike with his gun drawn and he fired a second shot and that struck my friend Big Mike and at that time he turned around with his hands up.

Beginning to tell the officer that he was unarmed and to tell him to stop shooting but at that time the officer was firing several more shots into my friend and he hit the ground and died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Earlier I spoke to Thomas Jackson, the chief of police in Ferguson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Chief Jackson, I know the investigation is ongoing, but do you believe you've got a clear understanding of the encounter between your officer and Michael Brown, and if you do, help us appreciate what it is. Walk us through it.

CHIEF THOMAS JACKSON, FERGUSON POLICE: Actually, Wolf, I don't have a clear understanding. There are so many witnesses that are coming forward and we're trying to get them to come in and be interviewed, so that we can actually get that clear picture. And that's really what is holding things up is the witness testimony. So once we get everybody's statement, everybody's angle, what they saw and what they heard, then we're going to have a clear picture, because what I don't want to do is say something that I don't know for sure. We only want to say what we know. And so when we know it, certainly it will be available.

BLITZER: Which makes sense, Chief. I know you say the officer involved was taken to the hospital for treatment of bruises, some injuries to his face after the shooting. Will you make photos of that evidence of his injuries public? Is that a normal situation?

JACKSON: No, no, not right away. That's all going to be part of the evidence and of the package presented to the prosecuting attorney. Everything that St. Louis County homicide puts together, they're going to give the prosecuting attorney and he's going to make his determination based on the totality of the evidence.

BLITZER: Can you explain why you haven't released the officer's name yet? I know authorities say it's because of concerns for his safety but there are officers involved in shootings all the time in the country where the police officer's name -- names are made public.

JACKSON: I understand that and I'm confident that we'll do that but there is a very serious safety concern because of the social media aspect of the threats and some of the phone-in threats. Now the prosecuting attorney's office, as they stated last night at a town hall meeting we had, he stated that his office policy to not release a name until someone is formally charged.

But I'm sure there is a -- somewhere in the middle there is a happy medium where we can -- we can provide the information that the press and the public is entitled to and still make sure we're acting in a safe manner.

BLITZER: I interviewed a young man named Dorian Johnson last night. He was with Michael Brown when he was shot and killed. And he said there was no struggle for a weapon, that the officer was the aggressor, grabbed Michael Brown by the throat, he says. Shot him several times even as he had his hands up in surrender.

I don't know if you've heard about that interview and this eyewitness' account, but what do you say about that?

JACKSON: I don't know. He was -- I think he went into the prosecuting -- or to the homicide office and was interviewed yesterday. And I don't know what his witness statement is. I'm sorry I didn't see it on your show. But that's -- his statement is, you know, going to be put together with all the other witnesses' statements. And, you know, what we want is the truth of what happened. That's all we want.

BLITZER: As of last night, he told me they had -- his lawyer had said basically that they had asked for interview. It hadn't happened yesterday. Maybe it happened today. We'll find out. He did tell me that the officer in question is a Caucasian male. Can you confirm that?

JACKSON: No, I can't.

BLITZER: The reason being?

JACKSON: Well, just -- we're not going to release any information about him personally, you know, until we've determined that it's safe and that the prosecuting attorney determines that it's OK to do.

BLITZER: Because, you know, there's been a lot of speculation out there, a lot of criticism that maybe there is a race issue within your police department since the town is predominantly African-American, about 65 percent, they say the police force only three African- American officers out of 53. So I want to give you a chance to respond to that criticism. I'm sure you've heard it.

JACKSON: I've heard it, Wolf, and I have to tell you, since I got here, increasing the diversity of the police department has been one of my top priorities. I promoted the first two African-American supervisors in the history of the department and we've been recruiting African-Americans. We tend to lose people sometimes if they are able to find a higher paying position, so because of the retention problem, what we're trying to do and what we've tried to do over the last few years is to increase the quality of life in the police department so that people want to stay here.

We're going to redouble our efforts to increase the diversity in the police department. It's always been a goal of mine and it will continue to be and we're going to work really hard at that.

BLITZER: Chief Jackson, thanks very much.

JACKSON: Pleasure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Again, with more protests now underway on the streets of Ferguson, federal officials have launched the civil rights investigation into the shooting. The FBI is also on the case.

Joining us now, our legal team, former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin and criminal defense attorneys Mark Geragos and Mark O'Mara. Mr. O'Mara defended George Zimmerman in the racially charged death of Trayvon Martin.

Sunny, first to you, what do you make of the fact that the police chief in Ferguson says he still doesn't have a clear idea of what happened?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, I think they've basically relinquished the investigation at this point to the St. Louis County Homicide Unit. And in all fairness, he shouldn't know what's really going on. And I think that was very smart on the part of the Ferguson Police Department because I think it's very difficult and there is always sort of this feeling that things are not being done appropriately when you have officers investigating their own.

And so perhaps, Wolf, that is why he really doesn't know much about what is going on. I suspect, though, from what you can gleam from what he's saying is that the homicide unit is investigating, that the prosecutor's office is also looking at it, waiting for the investigators to give them what they have, and I think this is sort of following the path that these cases generally do follow.

It's only been four days, and I know people are saying that's a really long time, but it is young in an investigation.

BLITZER: Mark Geragos, is it fair to fault the police chief for wanting to let this investigation finish before he draws any conclusions in public?

MARK GERAGOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I would love for you or CNN to play his first statements and juxtapose it by what he just said. His first statements, he went out there and he gave this whole explanation, basically portraying the young man who was killed as the aggressor and reaching in and grabbing for the gun and everything else, subsequently he's walked that back.

In fact, I was going to say his statement today to you, Wolf, four days later, should have been his statement on day one. The fact that they haven't released the name of the officer because of social media is frankly laughable. Every police department around the country, whenever they have a suspicion that somebody is even remotely connected to a crime and it's not a murder, will identify that person as a person of interest, even when that person's safety may be (INAUDIBLE), and they wonder why the community doesn't -- is reacting violently?

Of course this community is reacting the way they are because this has been anything but a transparent investigation. In fact, it's -- what you're seeing here, frankly, is what goes on around the country all the time where officers concocts these stories where somebody grabbed for my weapon or somebody attacked me as he's sitting in the car here and these ludicrous ideas and then they expect that -- or hope that nobody is going to have video and it becomes the officer's word versus either the dead person who can't speak or somebody else who is a civilian who they are not going to believe.

I think he came around four days later to the right statement but too little too late.

BLITZER: Mark O'Mara, the attorney for Trayvon Martin's family, as you well know, Ben Crump, he's now representing Michael Brown's family. In both cases an unarmed black teen shot dead. What similarities do you see beyond that?

MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I mean, there are a lot of similarities because we look at the way the Zimmerman case was handled. And one thing that Sunny said is very true. This is a very young investigation. And I think we've learned a lot of lessons from the Zimmerman case that -- in the public and in law enforcement that they do have to be transparent and they do have to do it very quickly, but they still have to do it completely.

I have to disagree with Mark Geragos a little bit by suggesting that this is not transparent. We do not need it. It is not appropriate for law enforcement to let out every bit of information as they gleam it. There is a lot of investigation going on. We know that the federal agencies that are looking at the case in St. Louis County, they have the officer's name, they have his background, they have his disciplinary history, they have his medical records.

So the work is being done, but we all know in the system that what you don't do is let out information before it is crystallized so that we know because you let out one bit of information in an investigation now, it will impact and it will affect another witnesses' testimony.

(CROSSTALK)

GERAGOS: Well, then, Mark --

O'MARA: So the idea this is -- yes.

GERAGOS: If I could -- Mark, if I could just jump in, then why was the chief making all of those statements that were clearly coming from the officer the first day, and why, in fact, is -- are they keeping his name? How is the name going to compromise the investigation? Where's -- what's the First Amendment about?

O'MARA: Answer to one, he shouldn't have come out without knowing it, and you're right. He should have said, it's under investigation. We're going to do the right job. He covered his cop and he shouldn't have done that. He stepped back. You're right.

As for number two, my opinion is that having the officer's information or identification held private now is only because of the enormous threats to this officer. The whole reason for the civil unrest that's happening right now is because this officer is alleged to have shot somebody without reason.

If it was to infect the investigation, then I would say we need to disclose it. The only reason why that name needs to be disclosed to those people who want to hear it, is so they can focus their anger. Let's --

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: No, well, I --

GERAGOS: No, Mark. Mark, wait a second.

BLITZER: Hold on. One at a -- one at a time. One at a time.

GERAGOS: I was just going to say --

BLITZER: Hold on. Hold on.

HOSTIN: I think it's --

GERAGOS: All the time --

HOSTIN: I got to agree with Mark Geragos on this, because I do think it's very unusual -- I know, you're shocked, Mark.

GERAGOS: Yes.

HOSTIN: I think it's very unusual that the officer's name is being kept from the media, kept from the public. That's generally public information that anyone can have when you have an officer-related shooting and the excuse that somehow because of some social media threat that they are not providing that information is very odd.

GERAGOS: And Sunny -- Sunny, could I ask you one thing?

O'MARA: OK. Let's see -- let's be --

GERAGOS: Why -- wait, Mark. Wait, one question. If -- why wouldn't -- you hear police all the time say if the public has any information about this individual, please phone in. CNN has got "THE HUNT" where they use the media in order to get information on people. What if this officer has got a history of doing this with other youths? What if he's got a history of pulling people over and hassling them?

O'MARA: And I think -- and Mark, I think --

GERAGOS: Wouldn't you want the public to know that?

HOSTIN: It is odd. It is odd.

O'MARA: Mark, I think on day four of an investigation, maintaining that identification as private for now is OK.

BLITZER: All right.

O'MARA: If we're 10 days into it, 12 days into it, I might agree. But you cannot deny the fact that the focus of anger is on that officer and if he's disclosed his information would be found out that much quicker and you cannot deny that he's going to be at risk.

BLITZER: Mark, hold on, hold on --

GERAGOS: Mark, you and I represent guys who they identify who have the entire nation against them.

BLITZER: We unfortunately have to leave it there. We'll this conversation in the days to come. Sunny Hostin, Mark Geragos, Mark O'Mara, thanks very, very much. Solid discussion. Coming up, Robin Williams' trials and triumphs. We're looking at his struggle with depression and addiction, but also his joy as a father and actor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Robin Williams' tragic suicide came after years of struggle and treatment for both addiction and depression. Cocaine he once told "People Magazine" was a place for him to hide.

Joining me is Dr. Drew Pinsky, addiction medicine specialist and host of HLN's "Dr. Drew On Call."

Dr. Drew, there's reportedly been a rise in calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline since Robin Williams' death. I read some saying this could be the result of that contagion effect. Explain what that is. Does it make sense to you?

DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN HOST, "DR. DREW ON CALL": It makes sense, it means a copycat. Basically people copycat other people behavior and it has been known for a long time whether it's violence or suicide, these things tend to get copy catted.

Wolf, I think there is a different phenomenon here. I don't think this is contagion. Robin Williams has left us with an extraordinary gift. I don't mean to diminish the tragedy of what's happened here, but I've seen people stepping forward.

Someone on my program that never spoken about his depression before, spoke about it suddenly and spontaneously on television. I'm hearing all day, people are stepping up and saying, you know, I have symptoms like that, too, should I be careful?

I think people are contemplating that they may need help and are reaching out now. I think he's given us permission, Robin has given us permission to de-stigmatize this problem and deal with it head on and to deal with it like any other medical problem.

Yes, I'm sure there is some contagion because there always is, but I've seen an extraordinary phenomenon in the last 48 hours in terms of people talking about mood disturbances and not being ashamed and being willing to come forward and talk about the consequences of their experience.

BLITZER: That's pretty significant, I must say. In retrospect, Dr. Drew, it did seem like Robin Williams took a lot of right steps, he did go to rehab several times and had an awareness of his addictions problems. So how much mental health treatment goes along with substance abuse treatment or is there something that needs to be dealt with separately. It looked like he was trying to deal with his problems.

PINSKY: He did get the separate care both his psychiatric problem and his addiction problem. The mood disturbance and the addiction were both treated. He was treated in excellent centers. One issue is in spite of the best efforts, any medical problem, when it's potentially fatal could still end up with a fatality.

Whether you're talking about heart disease or cancer or depression and the confounding factors of substance abuse. I spoke to Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, the head of the psychiatric department of Columbia University Medical School last night.

He said, you know, Robin Williams was a marked man. He had four extreme risk factors, a history of depression and probably the genetics of depression. He had addiction and a terribly complex relationship and not only that had long periods of sobriety with a relapse, which makes people often very depressed.

He had cardiac surgery and heart disease. People don't often think, but it typically can worsen or cause depression. Finally, his a late middle age Caucasian white male that is the category most likely to complete a suicide.

He had four extreme risk factors and he had some sort of rapid decline. I think we should stop thinking of psychology to what happened to poor Robin. I have a feeling that something medical happened. Something caused a sudden, severe symptomatology.

When people suddenly hang themselves, it's usually in an altered state where they can't even think about things like their family. They just have to get out now. I'm suspicious the autopsy may inform us what happened, not the psychology what was going on in his life.

BLITZER: Dr. Drew, thanks so much.

PINSKY: You bet, Wolf.

BLITZER: Williams' legacy is not only as a comedian and actor but also as a father. Poppy Harlow has a closer look back at Robin Williams, the family man.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN WILLIAMS, ACTOR: Once I have a child, you know, once you have a kid you got to try and at least pay attention.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Robin Williams in 2007 telling Larry King it's his children to drive him to stay plugged into the world around him. Williams left behind three children, Zackery 31, Zelda 25 and Cody 22.

WILLIAMS: They have always been there to be my reality check.

HARLOW: Williams was married three times, first to Valerie, Zackery's mother and then in 1989, then he married the family's nanny, Marsha Garzett who is the mother of their children Zelda and Cody. And finally, his third marriage to Susan Snider who he married in 2011.

Williams kept much of his personal life personal, although he worked with middle child, Zelda in the 2004 film "House of Deed."

WILLIAMS: Can I finish your soda? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have as many as you want.

HARLOW: And there was this appearance together in 2011 promoting the videogame "Legend of Zelda." Father and daughter explain how Zelda got her name.

WILLIAMS: We were playing the game "Legend of Zelda" at the time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think both my parents really liked the name so it stuck.

WILLIAMS: You're lucky you're not named Mario or Luigi.

HARLOW: There are few private moments shared online, but just four months ago, Williams posted this birthday message to Zack, a proud father indeed and in an Instagram post just two weeks ago, Williams marked Zelda's birthday, the picture showing father and daughter from a time when Zelda was just a child.

With it Williams wrote quarter of a century old today, but always my baby girl. Happy birthday at Zelda Williams, love you. That would be his final post. Zelda Williams saying while I'll never ever understand how he could be loved so deeply and not find it in his heart to stay, there is minor comfort in knowing our grief and loss in some small way is shared with millions.

From little brother, Cody, the world will never be the same without him. I will miss him and take him with me everywhere I go for the rest of my life. From his eldest child Zack, I lost my father and a best friend and the world got a little grayer. Seek to bring joy to the world as he sought.

Williams' wife, Susan Snider, releasing a statement, saying in part, I am utterly heart broken. As he is remembered, it is our hope that the focus will not be on Robin's death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions.

Williams' love for his family was clear throughout. In a 2009 CNN interview, Williams spoke about his children and legacy, a legacy he hoped would stretch behind the indelible mark he left on all of us.

WILLIAMS: Give you a chance at your legacy, and they are the thing that carries on beyond you. You get to see the joy that you have. That's ageless, that's the good part.

HARLOW: Poppy Harlow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Even though he's tragically gone, you haven't seen your last Robin Williams movie. We'll have more on that. That's coming up, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Robin Williams' legacy will live forever on film and not just the ones you've already seen. Williams acted in several movies that will be coming out in the future. Ted Rowlands reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Robin Williams may be gone, but movie fans haven't seen the last of him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why are there shotgun pellets in my chicken? Dad?

ROBIN WILLIAMS: Because it's squirrel.

ROWLANDS: "Merry Frigging Christmas" in which Williams plays an eccentric father spending awkward holiday time with his son is due out in November, one of four yet to be released films starring the late Oscar winner.

In December, Williams will be back as Teddy Roosevelt in "Night at the Museum: Secret of The Tomb." "Boulevard," which debut at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and absolutely anything.

Which is in post-production also featured Williams who joins a list of actors like Heath Ledger, James Gandolfini and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who all tragically died before their final films premiered in theaters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a real interest among fans to see him on screen one last time. I think that it could also hurt these movies. There is a segment of the audience that may feel sad, but the prospect of going to see a movie of someone who recently died.

ROWLANDS: Since his death, gossip sites like Radar Online have speculated about Williams' financial situation. His 640-acre Napa Valley Ranch, which is listed for $30 million has been on the market since April, but people close to Williams tell CNN that any suggestion he had financial trouble is completely unfounded.

In addition to his comedy and television work, Robin Williams appeared in nearly 50 movies that according to boxofficemojo.com grossed more than $5 billion. Sadly, his next ones will be his last.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: Wolf, today, people around Robin Williams really want to make it clear that he did not have financial issues. His publicist sent us a statement that's clear and short, it says Robin had absolutely no financial issues, period -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Ted, thanks very much. Ted Rowlands reporting.

Up next, remembering Lauren Bacall, the legendary actress and one half of Hollywood's most alluring couples. Lauren Bacall in her own words and that iconic voice, that is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: One of the most distinctive voices of the golden age of Hollywood has fallen silent. Silver screen legend Lauren Bacall died yesterday in New York at the age of 89. Now a look back at her life in her own words.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAUREN BACALL: You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve. Put your lips together and blow.

LARRY KING: Did you see yourself the way you were described? Did you see yourself as sultry, sexual?

BACALL: No.

KING: You were a little Jewish girl from New York?

BACALL: I don't see myself. I don't understand that kind -- I don't think that way. I really do have not put myself in a category. God knows enough other people put us all in categories and I hate that. I was playing a game. You know, it's play acting, anyway.

When you're a kid and starting and I was very young, and I just -- I don't think of myself as anything I would like to be thought of as an actress. That's all I wanted to be thought of, was a good one.

Next thing you got to remember, a gentleman you meet on the cold cuts isn't as attractive as you meet in the meat department.

I try not to look too closely actually because it doesn't interest me to go back into the past. I really don't live in the past at all, and I just think that I've had a very lucky life in many ways and a hard life and very up and down life.

KING: You have no intention of not working?

BACALL: You are correct.

KING: Why?

BACALL: I love to work. Look, I live alone.

KING: In New York.

BACALL: In New York. I have three grown children who have their own lives. I have got to have a life of my own. I cannot depend on my children. I'm not your typical one. I do not baby sit. That's not --

KING: You're not doing those?

BACALL: I don't do those.

KING: You don't take the little ones home?

BACALL: Please, I've done that with my own three kids.

KING: So forget it.

BACALL: I was not put on earth for that. KING: Are you a good mother-in-law?

BACALL: I don't know. I hope so. It's not a profession.

KING: Do you interfere?

BACALL: I interfere sometimes because I have opinions.

KING: So you want to keep working?

BACALL: I have to keep working because I love to work and I think one must use one's self-and it keeps my brain going. It keeps me physically functions and keep in some kind of shape and it's what I train to do and I don't believe in retiring.

It's an awful thing to do to a woman my age, leave her alone with her thoughts. I don't like legend. I don't like the category and -- to begin with, to me, a legend is something that is not on the earth that is dead.

KING: You have to be dead to be a legend.

BACALL: I think so because legends are built and evolved in the past, they are not the present and I don't like categories, either, in any event. I prefer individual, I mean, if people have respect for you or admire your work or whatever, you know, it's like they say this one is the second garbo, that one is the second Bogart. There are no seconds. You are what you are. Everyone is an individual.

KING: How about the term living legend?

BACALL: I don't like legend, current.

KING: No matter what.

BACALL: I don't like legends. I don't know what it means.

KING: What part of your life, of a star's life is my business?

BACALL: I think my work is your business, and I think perhaps what I do in public, but nothing that I do in private is your business.

KING: Nothing?

BACALL: Nothing. We have no protection in this country when it comes to invasion of privacy and I think that is a horror.

KING: And you are an angel.

BACALL: And you're almost one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Amazing woman. We'll be right back with another live hour of 360. We'll have the latest from Iraq. That the next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)