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Ex-FBI Official Debunks 'Terror Babies' Conspiracy Theory On CNN (VIDEO)

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Anderson Cooper did a fun takedown last night of the latest right-wing meme against birthright citizenship -- that according to anonymous former FBI officials, there is a long-running plot to have "terror babies" born here as U.S. citizens, then flown overseas and trained to come back and attack the United States 20 to 30 years later. Last night, Cooper brought on an actual former FBI official to debunk it.

The "terror babies" plot has previously been discussed on the House floor by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX). On Tuesday night, Cooper hosted Texas state Rep. Debbie Riddle, who also pushed the great danger of the terrorist babies -- though she said she would not reveal her sources and did not have the evidence on hand. So on Wednesday night, Cooper hosted Tom Fuentes, who served as the FBI's assistant director in the office of international operations from 2004 to 2008.

"The FBI has 75 offices overseas, including offices in Jordan, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan," explained Fuentes. "There was never a credible report -- or any report, for that matter -- coming across through all the various mechanisms of communication to indicate that there was such a plan for these terror babies to be born.

"Also, I'd like to add, there seems to be a lot of former FBI agents lurking in the halls of Congress and in the legislature in the state of Texas, so I'm kind of curious about that issue as well."

"I think -- in this case, I think the FBI has knocked this story down completely, officially or unofficially," Fuentes also added. "I think at first they didn't want to comment on it just because they didn't want to lend any credence to the people spreading it, but realized that there has to be some comment or else the no comment, you know, means there might be some secret classified information out there, but -- but there is no credible information about this particular aspect.

"And something else I caught in your interview of Debbie Riddle where she says a former FBI agent informed her office. What does that mean? They talked to a receptionist? They talked to the janitor? You don't talk to an office. If an FBI agent was going to brief someone that's a public official about a sensitive matter of potential terrorism, they're not going to talk to anybody but the elected official himself or herself."

Here is Riddle's appearance Tuesday:

The money exchange:

Riddle: That is information that is coming to my office from former FBI officials.

Cooper: What former FBI officials -- I mean, what evidence is there of some sort of long-term plot to have American babies born here and then raised as terrorists overseas and then come back here?

Riddle: Well, at this point, I don't have the hard evidence right here in front of me. However, this is something that is being talked about by various members of Congress. This is being looked into.

This is an issue with not only folks coming across our southern border, with what is called anchor babies and coming over for the entitlement programs, and for that sort of thing, but I think that this is a lot more sinister issue.

All of these issues we need to look at because this is a critical, critical issue for all of the American -- American public.

Cooper: But -- but you have no actual evidence?

Riddle: Other than that coming from former FBI folks.

Cooper: Can you tell us who these former FBI folks are? What evidence they have or what evidence they've shown you?

Riddle: At this point, I'm not going to reveal that.

Comments (63) | Join the Conversation!

Recommend Recommend (1)

August 12, 2010 1:24 PM   

I wish Cooper would debunk a serious issue. Nobody except the absolute looniest of loons believes this. Why not tackle the phony meme that border crime is skyrocketing and Mexican Cartels are leaving headless bodies in the Arizona desert? Where was the debunking of the "death panels"?

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August 12, 2010 2:37 PM    in reply to Walter Mitty

Don't be silly. Debunking a Republican and attacking a Republican unfairly are considered identical acts by right-wing authoritarians, who then attack the network for being liberally biased. Since networks are machines for making money, not journalistic outlets, the networks inevitably back down and try to avoid offending potential ad-viewers. It has been pretty well established that liberals don't take legitimate criticism as a personal attack on their in-group, so you don't need to walk on eggshells in the same way when dealing with liberals or Democrats. It's only when dealing with something or someone on the right that you have to be overly deferential and dishonest equivalences.

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kss

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August 12, 2010 4:41 PM    in reply to Walter Mitty

Both Cooper and CNN correspondents and contributors on his show have stated plenty of times that death panels are complete nonsense. When the Arizona immigration law controversy happened AC360 established with facts that the violent crime rate in Arizona has been falling despite the impression that a couple of high profile crimes have caused in the state. They've also attacked the birther foolishness.

It's good to have people in the news debunking the crazy theories because crazy republican theories have had a habit of spreading and sticking, especially when they aren't hit immediately with factual attack. Even if the public aren't exactly embracing the theory, the lingering possibility of it being true puts fear into people and that's what republicans want.

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August 12, 2010 4:49 PM    in reply to Walter Mitty

How many crazy loons do we have in this country?
20 to 25 %
These are the birthers, the US is a Christian nation, No separation between church and state etc.

I'm glad he did.

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August 13, 2010 10:06 AM    in reply to mgardener

I often wonder about that percentage figure. It's the same as those who still supported Nixon after he resigned, supported the boy king at the end of his reign ...

Did everyone who still loved Tricky Dick also remain faithful to Cheney's appointee? What is the overlap among those who believe in terror babies and every other crazy birther-like theory polling at the same 20-25% figure?

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August 12, 2010 6:05 PM    in reply to Walter Mitty

I than most others...including calling out birthers and showing how the death panels crap is nonsense. This was a decent job too. However, his show so far only seems to pick the easy, undeniable issues that require little in the way of deep research. Advertising revenue is at stake after all.

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August 12, 2010 6:07 PM    in reply to Sniffit

wierd...the post got cut off. I said "I have to admit that AC is doing a better job of it than most others..."

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August 12, 2010 2:01 PM   

Ugg sure glad he froze and got defrosted now. Never had such laughs in his day. Too busy hunt, skin, boinky boinky, hide from animals want to eat Ugg. Har har har. Cave loonies just trip and fall far off cliffs, wander into tigers and snakes. The end. Har har har. Yours stick around and try outloon each other. And half your tribe believe them. Har har har har har.

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August 12, 2010 2:19 PM    in reply to Ugg the Repug

Yup, our society needs far more tar pits.

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August 12, 2010 2:36 PM    in reply to GBHeron

Har har har. Yes, loonie wander into tar pit stick around, but not in good way. Har har har.

Call me Ug for short. Har har har.

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August 12, 2010 2:56 PM    in reply to GBHeron

How timely!

BP has been creating one in the Gulf of Mexico.

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August 12, 2010 5:16 PM    in reply to GBHeron

The gene pool could use some chlorine.

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August 12, 2010 2:29 PM    in reply to Ugg the Repug

where's the facebook-inspired "like" button?
lol, always look on the bright side, right, ugg?

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August 12, 2010 2:38 PM    in reply to candychicken

Har har har. Call me Ug for short.

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August 12, 2010 8:21 PM    in reply to Ugg the Repug

Is it okay to bring an AeroBed too? Chammy not used to "roughin it".Har har.

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August 12, 2010 8:39 PM    in reply to chameleon

Oops. Whatever blow skirt up. Bring it! Har har har.

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August 12, 2010 6:35 PM    in reply to Ugg the Repug

Makes me want to go back to live in a cave if this is the kind of pure crap we have to look forward to. Do you have an extra room in the cave Ug?

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August 12, 2010 7:42 PM    in reply to chameleon

Anytime, Chammy. But bring pillow. Ugg only have bags of gravel. Har har har.

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August 12, 2010 8:36 PM    in reply to Ugg the Repug

Whatever blow skirt up. Bring it! Har har har.

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August 12, 2010 8:54 PM    in reply to Ugg the Repug

LMAO!!! That was funny. I love Ug. Gotta run now., Talk to you later.

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August 12, 2010 2:37 PM   

Here's a funny quote from Rep. Debbie Riddle. It's in my Texas government textbook, as an example of crazy bullshit.

"Where did this idea come from that everybody deserves free education, free medical care, free whatever? It comes from Moscow, from Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell."

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August 13, 2010 3:22 AM    in reply to lada sue

Free education for all was Thomas Jefferson's idea, one that he said was closest to his heart.

Commie.

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August 13, 2010 10:42 AM    in reply to lada sue

You mean the taxes we all pay aren't going to public education?

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August 12, 2010 2:37 PM   

Come on! Everyone knows that it's not muslims that are coming to the US to have "anchor babies"...it's gay prostitutes...check it out: http://www.rumromanismrebellion.net/2008/07/21/theyre-building-landing-strips-for-gay-martians/

NB- Kidding aside: I find the term "anchor baby" pretty friggin' offensive and would like to see the mainstream media stop using it.

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August 12, 2010 4:49 PM    in reply to tedski

But really, he's partly right -- don't you remember that part of the traditional wedding vows? I mean the part that says, "I will love, honor, obey and bridle my genital drives ..."

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August 12, 2010 2:37 PM   

Cooper: What former FBI officials -- I mean, what evidence is there of some sort of long-term plot to have American babies born here and then raised as terrorists overseas and then come back here?

Riddle: Well, at this point, I don't have the hard evidence right here in front of me. However, this is something that is being talked about by various members of Congress. This is being looked into.

At which point she drew out of her purse a slip of paper and announced:

Riddle: I do, however, have here in my hand a list of names of known terrorists right here in the United States, whose sole objective is to create terroristic anchor babies. That the veracity of this claim I cannot at this juncture justify is problematic, but believe me it is a valid list.

[/mccarthyistic fetish fantasy]

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August 12, 2010 2:41 PM    in reply to Sir Craig

There are 57 card-carrying Communists in the State Department!! Sounds oddly familiar...

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August 12, 2010 2:43 PM   

I love seeing bats$%t crazy theories getting debunked.

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August 12, 2010 2:45 PM   

Riddle: Oh you're talking about the Federal Bureau of Investigation! I was talking about an ex-agent of the Fake Babies Initiative. Silly Andersen.

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August 12, 2010 3:17 PM    in reply to ohyeathatsright

Priceless!

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August 12, 2010 3:02 PM   

Does her US flag lapel pin come with batteries? Couldn't she find a bigger one to demonstrate her intense patriotism.

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August 12, 2010 3:12 PM    in reply to TheBigRagu

The whole thing is so over the top I was laughing out loud. The giant flag lapel pin, the Fire Marshall Bill look, and the crazy theory of terror babies. It reminded me of an SNL skit but it wasn't, which makes it even funnier.

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August 12, 2010 3:08 PM   

Does she remind anybody of Fire Marshall Bill?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdR2T6YKAUc

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August 12, 2010 5:17 PM    in reply to expat46

Where I grew up, we would say of Ms. Riddle: "She can eat corn-on-the-cob through a picket fence."

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August 12, 2010 6:29 PM    in reply to expat46

She has a serious overbite. Yikes.

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August 12, 2010 6:33 PM    in reply to chameleon

It's not so much an overbite, I think her upper lip is paralyzed or something.

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August 12, 2010 6:43 PM    in reply to expat46

Her top lip may be paralyzed from botox but she has a serious overbite besides the fact she is out of her fucking mind.

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August 12, 2010 3:09 PM   

I was so distracted by her ill fitting dentures (waiting for them to fly out while she was in full pique mode) that I had to watch the video a number of times.

I guess that's what you get with free dental care.

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August 12, 2010 3:13 PM   

Riddle: That is information that is coming to my office from former FBI officials.

My guess? Email forwards that say "THIS COMES FROM A FORMER FBI AGENT."

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August 12, 2010 3:17 PM   

Anyone who's looked into this knows that it's not about the supposed substance of the issue; for most of the proponents, this has already happened and the "terror baby" in question just got elected President. It's essentially a hyper-paranoid offshoot of the birther movement.

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August 12, 2010 3:19 PM   

I love how the resident Teabaggers here cowardly hide when one of their wackos comes up with absurd fear-mongering such as this!

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August 12, 2010 3:31 PM   

Won't matter - the crowd that pushes this stuff and and the crowd that believes it will keep going. It will get mentioned over and over as proof regardless of lack of evidence. How many times have we seen this show?

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August 12, 2010 5:26 PM    in reply to Powkat

Exactly.

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August 12, 2010 9:16 PM    in reply to Powkat

Yep. It becomes part of the rightwing's warped reality, much like the story of Mexican drug lords taking over the ranches in Texas a few weeks ago, or the death panels, or the creeping socialism.

A lot of people laugh at these rightwing loons, but the sad fact is that each of their votes counts as much as each vote cast by a sane person. Democrats/liberals/progressives can ridicule and/or try to educate them, but the only thing that will really work, I think, is to have whatever moderately sane Republicans who are left in the country gently toss the crazies off the bus.

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August 12, 2010 3:32 PM   

"i don't have the hard evidence right here in front of me."

TRANSLATION: Fuck you and your elitist evidence. I believe this to be true and that's all any real, red-blooded American needs.

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August 12, 2010 3:39 PM   

Like Denzel Washington said in training day: "It's not what you know, its what you can PROVE."

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August 12, 2010 4:41 PM   

The anchor baby is the welfare Cadillac of our times.

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August 12, 2010 4:45 PM   

Jesus was a terror baby. Herod was worried enough that he ordered all the little dark children killed. Jesus came back, though. A couple of times, in fact.

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August 12, 2010 5:16 PM   

Ja! Und Vhat about der boyz in Brazil? Das proves it could be done! Just because you are not paranoid, it does not mean they are not out to get you! Quite!

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August 12, 2010 5:34 PM   

Obviously ones credibility in inversely related to the size of ones flag lapel pin...which BTW is in violation of the US Flag Code. This woman, like Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Kay Bailey Hutchison, etc. improve the Democrats chances the more they are shown on the airwaves. I say give them a show of their own, I'll sell the popcorn!

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August 12, 2010 5:45 PM   

This kind of stuff is a bit over the top; just today, on npr, I heard the crazies in VA claim that illegal (Hispancs) are involved in drug trafficking and growing marijuana (I guess, what do you expect agricultural workers to do) In Assizona, those same illegals are kidnapping and beheading Assizonans. And across the country, these same people, when they are not committing these heinous crimes, are TAKING YOUR JOBS. GIVE ME A BREAK; WHY DON"T YA?
Be afraid, Be very afraid, if these BOGEYMEN don't getcha, then the GAYS will destroy your otherwise blessed christian union, and corrupt kids they are hankering to adopt (unlike priests and ministers who sexually molest and rape them for fun and pleasure). The tin hat, teabagging insanity that is taking over the political discourse must stop, I CAN"TSTAND LISTENING TO THIS CRAP ANYMORE. TURN OFF THE FUCKING TV!!!!!

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Ann

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August 12, 2010 5:45 PM   

Hard to follow Riddle's argument, I was totally distracted by the amount of Botox they must have shot into her upper lip. I never moves.

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August 12, 2010 5:59 PM   

bin Laden: "I will destroy the US by having people fly these planes into these buildings..."

GOPers: "OH NOES! bin Laden had people fly these planes into these buildings!! We must now start dismantling every single thing this country stands for and every core principle and belief upon which it was founded or we won't be safe and secure!!!"

bin Laden 1: GOP 0

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August 12, 2010 6:00 PM   

BTW, I have to laugh...was using a real live former FBI agent named FUENTES an attempt to bate the rightwing loons?

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August 12, 2010 7:34 PM   

While it is nice that Anderson shows the lie that is behind this BS, why did he not invite the FBI spokesman on the SAME night as the looney Congresswoman to refute her crap as she was making it? By doing it over consecutive nights, many people who saw her BS on the first night may never have seen the FBI refutation the following night, so the story stays alive. Lousy journalism or on purpose?

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August 13, 2010 11:43 AM    in reply to marvc

This was a great piece of journalism/entertainment. It was sorely needed. Speaking as a Texan, I think the Dems would do well to make Louie Gohmert "The Face" of the GOP.

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August 13, 2010 1:10 AM   

Republicans are COMPLETELY INSANE.

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August 13, 2010 12:42 PM   

Riddle says the Emperor has no clothes, a strange analogy considering the topic. I say the Texas lawmaker has no Dog or Pony, just the show. Or maybe an anchor fell & hit her on the noggin' when she was a Baby. AKA, "Anchor Baby"!! Voila!
Oh yeah, it may have permanently damaged her lip, also.
Oh yeah, Oh yeah, when a "lapel pin" is to friggin' big to fit on a lapel, it's called a stain blocker.

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August 13, 2010 1:01 PM   

Rep. Riddle and Orly Taitz. Crazy twins separated a birth.

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August 13, 2010 1:43 PM   

A. Mentally challenged
B. Paranoid Schizophrenia
C. Pathological liar
D All of the above

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August 13, 2010 3:02 PM   

Good gawd a-mighty, she is out of her f**king mind.

The good news is Riddle and Louie Gohmert are two R-TeXans that are as dumb-looking as they are dumb, so you can't say you weren't forewarned.

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August 14, 2010 5:35 PM   

Dang! Mrs. Riddle’s speech was tangential, and she offered nothing substantial on the topic of ‘terror babies.’ She made at least two statements that are known not to be true. The implied message of ‘be afraid’ seemed clear, though.

Representative Anchia sounded knowledgeable and intelligent, but Riddle’s looniness made him look even better.

This kind of nonsense drives me nuts. I agree that she and folks like Gohmert should be featured, then taken apart, as often as possible on national television in the coming months.

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August 15, 2010 3:02 AM   

Anyone else notice how at the back half of this segment Mrs. Riddle's concern turns to money?

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