I found it!
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I sat there with my producer, and we listened to it. He said he couldn't hear it. And I said, "You can't hear it right after he says, 'You know, you're pretty.' Listen."*
And then finally, he says, "Oh, my gosh, yes, I can hear it."*
And we immediately called, because we got that tape from a source, and so we immediately tried to find the attorney. And we got in touch with the attorney.*
And what's interesting about that, Wolf, is that I called the attorney and got the -- someone in our office on the phone at the exact time that they were being interviewed by the FBI.*
-snip discussion about delay, false info, etc -
FUENTES: Absolutely. That would be a crime. But the other question here is that, if this witness just now is coming forward to the FBI with the tape, you know, you would think that the person would be aware of everything that's happened in Ferguson for the last two weeks...*
LEMON: I can explain that.*
BLITZER: All right. Go ahead, Don.*
LEMON: I can explain that. So here's what happened.*
So the person had seen us out in the field, CNN. And they gave the tape to a CNN producer, thinking that it was my producer. And somehow it did not get to me. But -- but he was concerned about his -- about his identity being out there. He did not want people to know who he was.*
So after I didn't contact him, because I didn't get the tape, he went to a friend -- I think it was a roommate -- who is an attorney, who happens to be that attorney.
And they explained what happened, and the guy said, "I don't want to be identified. I'm concerned about my safety. And I'm concerned about my identity being out there."*
And so it was this sort of just weird confluence of events that led me to them and then them coming on to do it.
But listen, the guy did not want to be identified. He does not want publicity. He was involved in a chat, which many red-blooded American men do with their sweethearts or women, with their sweethearts. "How are you, honey?" You send a selfie. You do whatever. So he was a little bit embarrassed about that. I don't see why he was embarrassed, because any -- everybody -- not everybody but many people do that.*
So that's what happened. He was trying to get in touch with someone who he thought was an authority figure. But not -- most people don't just know how to pick up the phone and call the FBI. And so once he got in touch with the attorney, then the ball started to roll.*
ETA link:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1408/26/sitroom.02.html
ETA 2- underlined... So the guy gave it to CNN first, then after waiting and getting no response from CNN, he got a lawyer friend, and she took it to the FBI.
Lemon finally got the tape, and by the time he called, the FBI was interviewing with the attorney.
Whew. And all for something I'm kind of ho-hum about. :silly: