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O.J. Simpson Arrested; Richard Branson Donates Money for McCann Legal Defense Fund; Deadly Plane Crash in Thailand

Aired September 16, 2007 - 19:00   ET

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

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
NICHOLS: I'm sorry? Yes, we'll provide that information to you.

QUESTION: O.J. Simpson and the other suspects - just met kind of thing, or was this an arranged?

NICHOLS: There is a social relationship between the individuals that we identified and O.J. Simpson.

QUESTION: Did he say anything other than invoking his Fifth Amendment rights?

NICHOLS: He has, but because he's also invoked his right to have an attorney present, I can't discuss what it is he's said.

QUESTION: Has his attorney shown up yet?

NICHOLS: I'm not certain at this point.

QUESTION: Do you know who he is?

NICHOLS: I have no idea, no.

QUESTION: Were they residents that were searched or are any of these people that you're looking for local?

NICHOLS: Yes, they are.

QUESTION: Would you call them friends of O.J.?

NICHOLS: I can't call them friends of O.J. We do know there was a social relationship. What that relationship is, I don't know.

QUESTION: There was a rumor for a while they were off-duty police. Is there any truth to that?

NICHOLS: No, there is no truth to that whatsoever. That was also one of the initial reports that we've had, and we also looked into, and that came as a result of some language that was used when the individuals burst into the room that led our victims to believe that that they may have been police.

QUESTION: Why was Mr. Simpson --

QUESTION: Why was Mr. Alexander released on his own recognizance?

NICHOLS: That's an arrangement between his attorney and the district attorney's office.

QUESTION: Did he have an attorney present?

NICHOLS: No, he did not.

QUESTION: Was there anybody roughed up in this? Was there any indication that people were actually harmed or was it just the threat of guns and do this or do that or you'll be harmed?

NICHOLS: We don't believe that anybody was roughed up, but there were firearms involved in the commission of the robbery.

QUESTION: Pointed at the people.

NICHOLS: That's correct.

And I'll take one more question before I move on.

QUESTION: It was said that he felt justified in all of this. He said publicly because he was just trying to get his own stuff back. Now if you can't talk specifically about your discussions with him, can you characterize how that fits into your investigation and the possible crimes that you're charging him with in?

NICHOLS: Whether or not the property belonged to Mr. Simpson or not is still in debate. Obviously I'm sure everyone here is aware of the Goldmans right to his valuables. We are still in the process of sorting that out and determining if the properties that were taken were on the turnover agreement that the courts issued in California.

That is still in the process of being worked out. Having said that, the manner in which these -- this property was taken, we have a responsibility to look into that irregardless of who the property belonged to. We also have some information that the property that Mr. Simpson allegedly took was not his property, that there was some other property taken as well. One more.

QUESTION: What is the penalty for this? Assuming that he is charged and found guilty, what is the max he can face on this? Any idea?

NICHOLS: I'll let Captain Dillon answer those questions. I believe he has that information.

QUESTION: Later on, can you give us a list of exactly the items that were in there?

NICHOLS: The items that were taken or the items recovered?

QUESTION: The items taken, can you give us an accounting of what they were?

NICHOLS: We're still -- again, we are still in the process and we have not recovered all of the property, so we will have to go through that and determine through the course of our search warrants if someone had property in there or if it was not because it was an extensive list?

QUESTION: Can you give us exactly what --

NICHOLS: It was a lot of sports memorabilia and most of it had been signed by Mr. Simpson himself along with some other property that I believe there were some Joe Montana cleats and some signed baseballs and some other stuff.

QUESTION: Can you tell us more specifically about Walter Alexander, what his history is and his role may be in this?

NICHOLS: All we know about Mr. Alexander is that we received a tip, as the captain mentioned. We went out and met with him at the airport. The information was validated that had he gave us. We do know he's from Mesa, Arizona, and I believe he went back to Mesa, Arizona.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You are watching a live news conference out of Las Vegas. Las Vegas police there recapping the latest developments in this O.J. Simpson case, the headline being O.J. Simpson under arrest, charged at this hour with robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts, assault with a deadly weapon, two counts, conspiracy to commit burglary and burglary with a firearm.

Presumably what will happen next is that he will be transported and booked. Once bail is set, it has been said that within 48 hours there will be an arraignment.

Police there in Las Vegas also announced that there are four outstanding suspects, three named, one unnamed white male adult but, again, the headline if you're just joining us O.J. Simpson under arrest in connection with an alleged armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel casino of sports memorabilia. Simpson has said in many conversations that he was simply taking back what was rightfully his.

I'm Alino Cho at the CNN Center in Atlanta. CNN NEWSROOM with Suzanne Malveaux continues after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The juice is in another legal jam, slapped with handcuffs to be charged with robbery. Now once again everyone is asking, did he do it? Well, we'll take you live to Vegas.

Plus, the Madeleine McCann mystery. Did out-of-control kids turn Kate McCann into a frazzled mom? We'll talk to the family's closest friends.

And the rate of interest rises in Alan Greenspan's new book, along with a few eyebrows. The former head of the Fed puts in his two cents about the war, blaming his own party for going to Iraq for oil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is very remarkable that it took Alan Greenspan all these many years and being out of office for stating the obvious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And all the who's who are out tonight at the Emmys. Will "Ugly Betty" come out pretty? Will "The Sopranos" end on a high note? We'll take you live to the red carpet in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, acquitted once of double murder, O.J. Simpson faces felony charges again, and the prospect of prison. The football hall star famer arrested today in Las Vegas for that alleged armed robbery at a hotel. Standing by live with the very latest is our own CNN's Ted Rowlands and what are the details now? We've learned so much just within the last couple of minutes.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We actually just heard from the Las Vegas police, and they confirmed that O.J. Simpson is under arrest. He's in the building behind us. They said they will be moving him momentarily, so I will step out of way. If he does, we'll expect him to come out of the back door here. And if he does in the next few minutes, we'll show that to you.

Basically what we've learned is that O.J. Simpson is facing two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and burglary with a firearm.

This is very, very -- these are very, very serious charges, as you know. He's looking at the potential of possibly spending years in jail, if indeed he is convicted. That's a long ways down the road right now. He is in custody. He will be transported to another facility here in Las Vegas where he'll have an opportunity to try to come up with the money for bail.

It's unclear how much money he has. Of course, there's a huge civil judgment against him. He lost a court case to the family of Ron Goldman and the Brown family, so he owes some $30 plus million so how much money he can come up remains to be seen. He may be send spending the night here in jail in Las Vegas.

MALVEAUX: O.J. Simpson consistently for the last couple of days, ever since this -

ROWLANDS: We don't know yet. They are determining that, as we speak, inside the building we were just told that they haven't put a figure on that yet, and that will be hashed out in the coming hours as he is transported to the other facility and processed through the legal system.

This all stems, to remind everybody, from an incident that happened last Thursday evening at a hotel casino here in Las Vegas where O.J. Simpson and four other men were accused of armed robbery because they say the alleged victims say O.J. and four others stormed into a hotel room and took upwards of $75,000 worth of sports memorabilia, much of it with Simpson's name on it.

Simpson himself, we've had repeated phone conversations with Simpson. In fact, I talked to him 90 minutes before he was arrested today. He maintained this was his stuff. He did nothing wrong. There were no guns involved and he said, quote, this morning when I talked to him, "the truth will come out in the end." Right now though he is in jail in custody here in Las Vegas facing some very, very serious charges.

MALVEAUX: And Ted, I found it interesting that the police officers were saying that they had no evidence that he was actually the one with a weapon or a gun, and they had mentioned Walter Alexander. Can you tell us the relationship between O.J. Simpson and Walter Alexander?

We seem to have lost Ted Rowlands. As we were mentioning before, Ted Rowlands has been having numerous conversations with O.J. Simpson ever since the story broke on Thursday about whether or not he in fact had a weapon, if he knew there were weapons involved, that of course being one of the key issues in this case is whether or not there was simply a misunderstanding as O.J. Simpson said trying to get back, retrieve some lost property, sports memorabilia or whether or not he went in with other individuals who had guns and forced their way into retrieving some of that property.

Joining us now from Washington, we want to go to criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor Pamela Bethel. What do you know about looking at these charges here? It was interesting because they said that they didn't believe -- Lieutenant Nichols said they didn't believe that he had a gun, but obviously looking at the charges, two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, did he have to have a gun? Why face these charges?

PAMELA BETHEL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, he doesn't have to have a gun to be charged with those offenses. Look, he was part of a group. If you also noticed they also charged a conspiracy charge. He is part of a group that went into the room, allegedly, with the guns with the intent to take something out of that room and in fact that they did.

The fact that he doesn't have a gun is not that important, but the most important thing that I heard in the last few minutes was the fact that there may be some waffling by one of the victims. If that is true and one victim is saying this is a great misunderstanding and that becomes that person's story, then O.J. has a very good chance of taking this to trial and winning or having the prosecutor have to say, you know, we jumped the gun here and maybe we didn't have all the facts at the time we arrested O.J.

MALVEAUX: What are the next steps here? We've been told that he's going to be booked and he'll be taken to Clark County detention center? Bail has not yet been determined. Obviously there will be a hearing. What kind of things will they take into consideration whether or not they will hold him or he'll be released?

BETHEL: Well, the prosecutors may or may not be asking for bail, but the things that work against O.J. in this scenario is that he doesn't live in Nevada, but this was a fairly serious crime.

Now the things that work O.J. is the fact that this happened Thursday night. Apparently other people have been talking about it. It has been known that the police may be looking into it, and he didn't even leave Nevada. That's what I would say. The second thing is that O.J. is such an infamous or famous person that it would be very difficult for him to flee so that making -- letting him out on bail would be the appropriate thing to do.

MALVEAUX: Now O.J. Simpson has been having numerous conversations with members of the media including our own CNN's Ted Rowlands talking with him over the last couple of days, sometimes three or four times, the last occasion being this morning. How much of that is a problem for him?

BETHEL: All of it. Every word that he said, and I understand he wasn't just talking to the CNN reporter. He's talked to other reporters a lot of times. We don't know if those stories are all consistent, but even if they are consistent, he's already said he was fair. He already said he went in and took things.

Now he claimed they were his things, but that's subject to great many and varied legal interpretations. O.J. Simpson should not be saying a word to anybody. He should have consulted a lawyer and hopefully -- I mean, I would suspect that he didn't if he's in this circumstance, but he should not be saying anything. The only person or persons he should be talking to are his lawyers.

MALVEAUX: Pamela Bethel, thank you so much. We'll obviously be joining you as we get more details about this case. It's fascinating and really just within the last couple of minutes getting a lot of new information.

Now when this story first broke, we were told that Simpson was in Las Vegas for a friend's wedding. Well now we have pictures to show you. This is just new video that is just coming into CNN, and there you see Simpson standing on the second to the left of the screen wearing a tuxedo at what does appear to be a wedding ceremony. And it's an interesting development and, of course, it comes -- word of the alleged robbery came on the same day as Simpson's controversial book that landed in stores.

It is supposed to be fiction but the reality is that it is already No. 1 on Amazon.com. It is generating plenty of interest, and there is good reason for that. Simpson offers up fictional details of the night of his ex-wife's murder. More on that at the half hour.

And the White House not commenting on "Associated Press" report that says President Bush has decided to replace Alberto Gonzales with Michael Mukasey. He is a retired federal judge from New York. We reported yesterday that Mukasey was a leading candidate on the president's short list. Sixty-six-year-old Mukasey served as a federal prosecutor under then U.S. attorney Rudy Giuliani and he served as an advisor to the Giuliani campaign. Now sources tell CNN that President Bush likely to make an announcement on the decision this week.

And let's switch gears to another big story of interest of global proportions. This is the mystery surrounding the missing 4- year-old Madeleine McCann, and her embattled parents who have been named as suspects in her disappearance by police in Portugal. Here's Gerry and Kate McCann as they went to church this morning. The couple getting word today that British billionaire Richard Branson is putting up $200,000 for a legal defense fund on their behalf and lobbying others to do the same.

CNN's Randi Kaye joining us live now from London, the London Bureau. And Randi, you've been there for quite some time. You're getting a much better picture of this family that is in question. What have you found?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRSEPONDENT: Well Suzanne, we came here to try to find out more about Kate and Gerry McCann and what we have been able to find is that they really are just an ordinary family. Both parents are doctors. They spend a lot of time with their children. Gerry apparently is a big golfer. The McCanns themselves aren't talking about their lifestyle, but some of their close friends are and I had a chance yesterday to sit down in Liverpool where Kate McCann grew up with two of her very close friends, one who has known her since she was in the fourth grade, the other since she was just six- months-old.

And despite all of the allegations against their friend, they paint a very rosy picture of her. They say that she's a very caring woman, they say she desperately wanted a family. In fact, they tell me that she wanted five children in all. It was a real struggle for her though, according to them, to have children.

In fact, she had to go through several rounds of in vitro fertilization to have both Madeleine and the twins. He also talked quite a bit about the bond between Kate and Madeleine. They say it was a very special bond, and we also touched on the tabloid reports that have come out in recent days, tabloid newspapers around the world reporting bits and pieces they claim about Kate's diary.

CNN has not been able to confirm these reports, but according to the papers, Kate McCann apparently wrote in her diary that her children are hysterical and hyperactive, extremely difficult to deal with. Madeleine's excessive activity exhausts her, and so we talked quite a bit about that, and here's what the two friends had to say about the most recent allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Was Kate overwhelmed by the children as this report about the diary suggests?

LINDA MCQUEEN, KATE MCCANN'S FRIEND: No.

NICKY GILL, KATE MCCANN'S FRIEND: Not at all. MCQUEEN: No.

GILL: She just loves the children. As I said before, she's a mom that goes and takes it all in stride. She would listen with them and she's so calm. Yes, it's fine. There's no air of anything negative about it.

KAYE: Are Kate and Gerry McCann negligent when it comes to their children?

GILL: Not at all, no.

MCQUEEN: No. Not at all. That couldn't be further from the truth. It really couldn't. They are really strong, caring parents who are doing what nobody has done in trying to find their child who has been taken.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Now the reason that Nikki Gill and Linda McQueen are talking, they tell me, is because they are tired of their good friend being beaten up by the media and in the press and they want to start defending her. They tell us that she really is the most caring person they know, that she and Gerry have a very strong relationship. They don't have any secrets between the two of them, they tell each other everything.

They say that neither one of them would harm a hair on their children's head. One thing they wouldn't talk about are these other tabloid reports about the sedatives. Again, CNN not being able to independently confirm these reports, but they have been reported that Kate McCann apparently used sedatives to calm her children and that Madeleine may have overdosed on those sedatives. Again, we have not been able to confirm that independently. Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: OK, Randi Kaye, thank you very much. And CNN's Anderson Cooper will have a look into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann on a special edition of "A.C. 360" tomorrow night at 10:00 Eastern here on CNN.

At least 87 people die in a plane crash in Thailand, but dozens of others survive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plane was landing. You could tell it was in trouble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: It was definitely in trouble. The crash, the victims, the survivors next in the NEWSROOM.

Plus, wildfires rage in California chasing thousands of people from their homes.

And we're rolling out the red carpet for you, giving you a bird's eye view of all the celebrities at the Emmys. Well, who is wearing what and who is going to win? A live report straight ahead. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We want to go back to Ted Rowlands who is in Las Vegas for the very latest on the O.J. Simpson, the charges that have been leveled against him. You are right outside where that press conference took place. Have you seen O.J. Simpson? Can you give us a sense of what the scene is there?

ROWLANDS: Well, right now, Suzanne, we're expecting O.J. Simpson to be transported from this building to the main jail Clark County correctional facility in downtown Las Vegas really at any moment.

We were told in a press conference that just wrapped up a short time ago that Simpson was first brought here and will be transported for the complete booking process.

We were also told in that press conference that O.J. Simpson is facing two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and burglary with a firearm.

There was one other arrest so far in this case. They say there are four outstanding suspects that they are trying to round up. One of them they don't have a name on. He's an unidentified white male. Police say they took -- police did take Simpson into custody this morning about 11:00 here in Las Vegas at the Palms Hotel without incident. Here is some more of the press conference that just wrapped up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. JAMES DILLON, LAS VEGAS METRO POLICE: This morning after a careful review of all that information the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department decided to affect the arrest of O.J. Simpson. In consultation with David Roger, the Clark County district attorney, robbery detectives were dispatched to the hotel where Mr. Simpson was saying.

He was taken into custody. He cooperated, and it was without incident. He immediately invoked his rights to have an attorney with him, and he was transported to the robbery section where he is here at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: And he remains here in this building, and we do expect, as we said, for him to be moved from this facility downtown to Las Vegas.

Now O.J. Simpson has maintained that he is innocent in this case. He says this has been blown out of proportion. It's a misunderstanding, that he was not involved in anything that had to do with weapons.

If there were weapons in the hotel room, he didn't see them and didn't know about them, and he says in the end, quote, "the truth will come out."

I talked to Simpson about 90 minutes before he was arrested by phone, asked him if he was worried he would be arrested because one of his associates had been arrested and he said, no, because I'm in contact with the police and I have nothing to hide. Obviously he didn't see it coming. But he was put in cuffs about 11:00 and right now, he is incarcerated here in Las Vegas facing some very, very serious charges. Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Ted, thank you. And we've got some news as well that Kim Goldman is going to be calling in to us very shortly. She is the sister of the late Ron Goldman. As you may recall, he was a friend of Nicole Brown Simpson who was murdered with Nicole Brown Simpson back in 1994, which started the whole murder trial of O.J. Simpson.

He was acquitted of that murder, but then later a jury held him liable for the killings in a wrongful death suit. So we expect to hear from Kim Goldman fairly soon about her family's position on all of this. They have been watching this very, very closely as you can imagine.

A fiery plane crash today in Thailand. At least 88 people were killed, but more than 50 others survived. The plane was carrying mostly foreign tourists to the vacation resort of Phuket in southern Thailand. It skidded off the runway in a driving rain and hit a retaining wall, caught fire and split in two. One survivor, battered bruised and bandaged described his escape in the chaos, smoke and fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERARD O'DONNELL, TOURIST FROM IRELAND: The plane was landing. You could tell it was in trouble because it kind of landed and came up again and the second time just smashed and it tumbled. The next thing I know everything is on fire and I was loose in my strap. I couldn't find my friend and got out from the wing. My friend was on the outside. He's in surgery now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Wildfires have chased about 2,000 people from their homes and cancelled Monday cases for some school kids in southern California. This is the scene today near Big Bear in the San Bernardino National Forest, this is just east of Los Angeles. The blaze has charred more than 15,000 acres, and was only 12 percent contained. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for the county.

To the south, a second blaze is burning in San Diego County. The wildfire broke out yesterday and grew to a thousand acres overnight.

Alan Greenspan is blasting the White House. Clinton is leading Obama and Fred Thompson is catching up to Rudy Giuliani in the polls. Our political bloggers hash it all out coming up next.

And later, O.J. Simpson's book, explicit details of how he would have killed his ex-wife. It is No. 1 on Amazon. Well, we will read you some of those pages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Well, the man who was Fed chairman for 18 years is sharing his candid thoughts in a new memoir that pulls no punches, even when it comes to the party with which he most closely identifies. Our Kathleen Koch having details and the reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN GREENSPAN, FORMER FED CHAIRMAN: The economy appeared to have considerable momentum.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While chairman of the federal reserve Alan Greenspan's words moved markets, now in his new memoir he's traded cautious cryptic comments for blunt criticism and Washington is dissecting his conclusions. One of Greenspan's most explosive charges, "everyone knows the Iraq war is largely about oil."

REP. TOM LANTOS (D), CALIFORNIA: it is very remarkable that it took Alan Greenspan all these many years and being out of office for stating the obvious.

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I know the same allegation was made about the Gulf war in 1991, and I just don't believe it's true.

KOCH: Greenspan blasts President Bush for not vetoing a single spending bill until nearly six years into his presidency. "...Bush's collaborate-don't-confront approach was a major mistake. 'Deficits don't matter,' to my chagrin became a part of the Republicans' rhetoric." White House's Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto fired back, "We had veto threats, which were used to good effect to keep spending within the President's numbers. Because Congress worked with us, vetoes weren't necessary."

Greenspan blames Republicans' lack of fiscal discipline for their 2006 loss of power in Congress, saying "They lost their way. They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose."

SEN. JOHN CORWYN (R), TEXAS: I agree that Republicans have, unfortunately, been guilty of too much spending in Washington, wasteful Washington spending, and we need to do better.

KOCH: In the book and in an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes," Greenspan defends his 2003 decision to keep short-term interest rates at 1% for a year, a move some say helped create the housing bubble that has now burst. GREENSPAN: It was our job to infringe the American banking system if we wanted the economy to function. This required that we keep rates modestly low.

KOCH: Greenspan's criticism of President Bush and his party are particularly biting because it comes from a self-described libertarian Republican. Still, Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto in a statement said "at any rate, where we ended up on economic policy was right as our records show." Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Well, this week President Bush made the case for more time in Iraq and made it clear that our troops will be there for years to come, but his former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan came out with his new book slamming the president and the Republican Party, and in it he says, and I'm quoting here, "I am saddened that is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows, the Iraq war is largely about oil."

Let's bring in our political bloggers on the left Morra Aarons from blogher.com, and on the right Jim Geraghty from the National Review Online. Let's start with you, Jim. I mean, just how damaging is this? We're talking about Greenspan saying that is a war about oil?

JIM GERAGHTY, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: I don't know how terribly shocking it is, particularly his comments about the criticism of the president's lack of a veto. This is something that many conservatives have said for a while. This is kind of a gathering storm throughout the Republican-controlled Congress. The comment about, you know, the war being over for oil, I'm sure he just suddenly gained a great deal of fans on the left and I think a great deal of anti-war protesters who are outside the White House this week, and we're probably saying, 'yes, Greenspan agrees with us.'

MALVEAUX: Yes, but, I mean, how damaging is this? I mean, you've got Greenspan who describes himself as a libertarian Republican. We're not talking about moveon.org here.

GERAGHTY: Oh absolutely but like is said fiscal conservatives and libertarian Republicans were not happy with the spending records of the Republicans.

MALVEAUX: Iraq war... we're talking about the Iraq war and oil specifically.

GERAGHTY: Look, Iraq is an oil-rich country and if it had grape jelly in the ground we wouldn't be having the same geopolitical reports.

MORRA AARONS, BLOGHER.COM: Jim, I have to say that I think you're ducking here. Sorry, Suzanne but I have to...

MALVEAUX: Well, jump in, Laura.

AARONS: I think that, you know, Alan Greenspan is just another angry American at this point. What we saw this week was political theater during the Petraeus hearings. The American people are angry. There is no solution to the war in Iraq which apparently even Alan Greenspan agrees was a dodgy war to begin with.

GERAGHTY: He didn't say it was a dodgy war. He said it was a war for, you know, oil.

AARONS: A war for oil... I don't know that he would say that that's the best reason to invade a country and stay there for what seems to be the next ten years.

MALVEAUX: And more, it's interesting, Jim just said we wouldn't go there for grape jelly. Are you guys actually agreeing here that this is a war for oil?

AARONS: OK.

GERAGHTY: Go ahead Morra and I'll jump in afterwards.

AARONS: No, Jim, you go ahead. You're probably on sleep- deprived week. You're a new dad.

GERAGHTY: Thank you, Morra. No, it's one of those things, look, if we said oil was not a factor at all in the geopolitical importance of the Middle East, you know, no one would believe us. You know, the significance of oil reserves in Iraq is important. It's the same reason we intervened in the first Persian Gulf War was the risk to the Saudi oil reserves. I mean, it's not shocking that the U.S. would want to have a certain level of order and a certain level of peace in this region So that the, you know, the lifeblood of our economy can keep coming to our world to the global economy.

AARONS: But Jim, it seems that the later we get into the war the more reasons we get for having gotten into it and the other thing that's interesting is that this week you have Hagel. You have Senator John Warner, people who are leaving public life who seems to be finally speaking truth about the situation in Iraq. I wish people would have spoken the truth when they were in office and maybe we wouldn't be in this situation we're in now.

MALVEAUX: Now, let's talk about the, on the Republican side some of the developments there, Fred Thompson jumping into the race and quite late but latest CNN polls really showing he's doing quite a good job. He's really neck in neck with Rudy Giuliani at this time, and it looks like there is danger that perhaps he's going to pull away from some of those evangelical Republicans, the conservatives and Giuliani may be falling by the wayside here. Jim?

GERAGHTY: Yes. I talked to the Fred Thompson folks this week during the sleep-deprived week and they are absolutely convinced they have the best communicator in the race. And so he's not a guy running on his resume. He doesn't have this iconic moment the way Rudy Giuliani does. What he has is a down-the-line conservative record that doesn't irritate any member of the conservative base of the party, and, look, the man has been a successful actor over the past couple of decades and he's a man who knows how to make a point. He knows how to make an effective argument, and that's something that a lot of conservatives kind of feel like they would like to see more out of White House these days.

AARONS: Yes, absolutely. I think it's interesting that he really focused on the domestic situation when he was down in Florida this week although he did fudge a little bit on Terri Schiavo which, I don't know, Jim, may have angered some of his core conservative base. Made me happy that he said it wasn't necessarily appropriate for Congress to get involved in the Schiavo situation, but I do think it's interesting that during this pivotal Iraq week Thompson hasn't been really speaking much about Iraq.

GERAGHTY: I don't think that too many people other than people who are senators on Capitol Hill were talking about Iraq because I think anyone who makes a case in contrast to Petraeus is going to pale in comparison. I think Petraeus went out there and just basically, you know, came out with a just-the-facts style report, looked very impressive and I think any political figure who comes out and tries to refute it or even tries to back it, is just going to look as well. They are going to look like politicians.

AARONS: I'm sorry, I have a lot of respect for General Petraeus but I can't honestly believe that he said that he presented just the facts this week.

MALVEAUX: We're going to have to leave it at that, just the facts. OK. Thank you so much, Jim Geraghty and Morra Aarons.

AARONS: Thank you, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Thank you.

From politics to entertainment, it is a big night in Hollywood, and CNN's Brooke Anderson is there for the 59th Annual Emmy Awards. We're going to go live to the red carpet straight ahead in THE NEWSROOM.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, I'm Brooke Anderson live on the red carpet. The stars are making their way into the Shrine Auditorium. We're going to have a report on the top contenders who could take home Emmy gold after the break. Stay with us.

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MALVEAUX: Well, it's the big stars and the high fashion. It's the red carpet. If you haven't figured out by now, it is Emmy night and the annual awards show kicks off in just a few minutes. I am so jealous. Brooke Anderson in the thick of it all. I got to go last year, now I'm here but you're live from the red carpet. Tell me all about it.

ANDERSON: There's always next year, Suzanne. You can be right out here with me. It really is the night that primetime's top talent has been waiting for all year long. The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards and everybody tonight is buzzing about "The Sopranos" nominated for 15 Emmys, including best drama, James Gandolfini and Edie Falco also looking for their fourth individual Emmy win. A lot of Emmy prognosticators say they should look out though for the freshman drama "Heroes" as well as the medical primetime soap "Grey's Anatomy." "Grey's Anatomy" has nominations also for best supporting actress, three of those and T.R. Knight picked up a best supporting actor nod after a very tumultuous year following co-star Isaiah Washington's use of a homophobic slur.

If I keep looking to my right "House" star Hugh Laurie is nominated for best actor in a drama. "House" is also nominated for best drama series and he's making his way down the line. I was hoping to snag him during our brief live time here, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen so I'll move now to comedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

"30 Rock" is a really strong contender here. Alec Baldwin is nominated as well as Edie Falco, but they have formidable competition in "Ugly Betty," the very lovable show and America Ferrera is also nominated, 11 nominations total for "Ugly Betty," and Suzanne, I do want to mention Al Gore was here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Really.

ANDERSON: His cable network Current-TV, here he is, right here, Hugh. Hi, I'm from CNN. Very quickly, very quickly, we're live. Congratulations.

HUGH LAURIE, STAR OF TV HOSPITAL DRAMA "HOUSE": Thank you, thank you.

ANDERSON: A lot of people felt you that were snubbed last year because you weren't nominated, and that it is vindication that you're here this year.

LAURIE: Well, it's very, very exciting, and we're all very, very, you know, flattered to be included in the sort of front-runners. It's a huge thrill because it took a while. You know, the first year or first two years, the show was sort of, you know, slow to catch on and people gradually found it and gradually realized what it was about and they caught on and it's a very, very exciting thing.

ANDERSON: You think they are understanding the complexity of the show and the complexity of your character?

LAURIE: I hope so. I hope so, and it makes me like -- the people who spotted it in the first year, makes me like them an awful lot. They were so great. They were so great.

ANDERSON: And what does an Emmy nomination and possibly be a Emmy win, not just the individual nomination, but for best drama mean for you as an actor, mean for the show, the morale, the future?

LAURIE: Well, whatever it means we've already had it which is to say the nomination is the thing, and we had that weeks ago when we heard that we were nominated and that definitely does have an effect. People are -- I think people are proud anyway to make the show we're making, but it was -- there's an extra spring in the step, definitely, yes.

ANDERSON: Well, let me see that spring in the step. Your publicist says you've got to get on in there. Good to see you, so she's stopping me. Good to see you, Hugh. Congratulations. And oh back to Al Gore, very quickly Suzanne. His cable network Current-TV nominated for an interactive television Emmy. Back to you.

MALVEAUX: OK. Great. That was great work, Brooke. All right.

And back to our top story -- O.J. Simpson under arrest. Next in the NEWSROOM, reaction from Kim Goldman, the sister of the late Ron Goldman. She is on the phone line, and we're going to talk to her right after this quick break.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts; assault with a deadly weapon, two counts; conspiracy to commit burglary and burglary with a firearm...

MALVEAUX: Well, those are the charges leveled against O.J. Simpson. On the phone with us now is Kim Goldman, the sister of the late Ron Goldman who was murdered back in 1994 with O.J. Simpson's ex-wife. Kim, what do you make of this, justice? Is it surprising given the situation?

KIM GOLDMAN, RON GOLDMAN'S SISTER (over the phone): I would say to be honest it's a little bit of both. It's a little bit of karma. I don't believe that I'm entirely shocked by it. You know, he's lived the better part of his life thinking he's above the law, but I'm -- I am pleased that if in fact that he is, you know, guilty of all those things that he's going to be hopefully held accountable for it.

MALVEAUX: Do you think it says anything about his character?

GOLDMAN: Absolutely. We've been saying that for as much as, as long as we've been part of his life. You know, he believes he's above it all. He's got the god complex. He's out to demonstrate it again that he could just storm somebody's room and do what he wants and thinks he can get away with it. I mean, that's what we've been saying about why we published the book so people could see and have an insight into him.

MALVEAUX: What do you make of that that it's number one on amazon.com now?

GOLDMAN: I don't know. I haven't entirely been able to process it. It's been such a journey to get her and such a struggle to get here to actually feel a little bit of victory and success from it feels a little strange because it was such a tough road, but I appreciate that people I think in some ways are supportive and understand why we did it, and I'm also very aware that people have a complete morbid curiosity about him and what he does.

MALVEAUX: What do you make of the fact that so many people, their eyes are glued to this story, to him once again, that there is that curiosity and it just doesn't seem to go away?

GOLDMAN: You know, we're all part responsible for that. We continue to glorify people that don't technically, you know, deservedly be, you know, to deserve to be glorified into a celebrity status and I think he pulled a train wreck and you know, people are constantly curious as to what he's doing. He himself loves to put himself in the media. Every couple of months he's doing something to cause the cameras to turn on him. I don't know. I guess for me I'm thrilled that people still are so obsessed with him because they think it makes him -- it turns him into a pariah.

MALVEAUX: Well, do you believe the charges? Do you believe that it's possible that if he did in fact go in there with individuals who are armed to gets sports memorabilia, do you think that he's in a desperate situation? Why do you suppose he would be even in that situation?

GOLDMAN: Well, you used a great word, I think that desperation. You know, I mean, we know he's capable of stabbing people to death. So I think robbery is, you know, nothing surprising. I don't know what drove him to do it. Obviously that stuff that was there, it has some value and worth to him and, again, he just thinks he can do no wrong. I mean normal logical civil-minded law-abiding people don't storm a room with guns demanding stuff back. You call the police like everybody else does, but he obviously dances to a different beat.

MALVEAUX: Obviously allegations still, not proven, but I want to ask you, do you think that it's even possible looking much further down the road that there could be a jury. I think sit in a jury and try O.J. Simpson with a jury of people who didn't know about the murder trial, do you think that's even possible that he can get a fair hearing?

GOLDMAN: What? Do I think it's possible for him to be tried for this? I think it's possible. Do I think it's possible for him to be tried with people who never hear heard of him and what he did, I doubt it and there are certainly people that still has, you know, reservations about whether he's guilty or innocent. I think also that it's been 13 years and that's born a whole new generation of young people that didn't, you know, weren't around when it first happened.

MALVEAUX: I there a sense of satisfaction in his arrest today?

GOLDMAN: Absolutely. I mean, my father left me a message teary- eyed. I was shaking. I'm not really sure why. I think that, you know, it's -- if there's any part of us keeping the pressure on him and letting him know we weren't going away, have any impact on it and I will rule the day.

MALVEAUX: Kim Goldman. Thank you so much for talking with us.

GOLDMAN: Thank you. MALVEAUX: And O.J. Simpson is the focal point of yet another police investigation while Las Vegas Police wonder if he stole it. Since, his book about the double murder goes on sale. "If I did it: Confessions of a killer," is stacked under fiction. Since then, he was acquitted of killing Nicole Brown and her friend, Ron Goldman. But in the book he describes how he would have done it and how he would have felt afterwards. Just listen to this excerpt -- He says and I'm quoting, "I look down at myself. For several moments, I couldn't get my mind around what I was seeing. The whole front of me was covered in blood, but it didn't compute. Is this really blood? I wondered. And whose blood is it? Is it mine? Am I hurt?"

Several stores, including Target and Wal-mart, have decided not to carry the book. A bankruptcy judge awarded Ron Goldman's family the right to the book sales.

And the little town of Jena, Louisiana, has captured the nation's attention in a very big way. Michael Bell, one of six African American students charged and the first one convicted in a school fight, has won a huge legal victory. An appeals judge has overturned Bell's conviction. Now the future of the case against Bell is up to the district attorney who must decide whether to re-file the charges in juvenile court. Attempt to charge him again as an adult or drop the charges all together.

Meanwhile, there will be a march for justice in Jena this week. Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, will be among those who will be marching and I will have a chance to talk with both of them here live tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern in our Sunday Spotlight.

And check it out, a racecar driver crashes his car and it bursts into flames. Well, do you think he's a goner? Think again. This unbelievable story of survival next in the NEWSROOM.

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MALVEAUX: Well, a drag racer walks away from a spectacular 300- mile-an-hour crash. He was competing in the Australian national championships last night when this happened. His dragster snapped in two, lifted into the air and burst into flames. He spent the night in a hospital but went home this morning amazingly with nothing more than a cut finger.

And two Canadian border guards pulled the driver out of this tanker from his burning rig. The U.S.-bound tractor-trailer flipped on its side overnight as it approached the Peace Bridge border crossing in southern Ontario. The guards pulled the driver out just before an entire truck was engulfed in flames. The driver is in the hospital with severe injuries.

And sometimes hopeful. sometimes horrible. Coming up next at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, CNN's special investigation unit exposes the truth about life for women in post-Taliban Afghanistan. How have things really changed since 9/11? We will now go to John King who has some news about the pick for attorney general. John. JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: CNN has learned that the President has picked retired federal judge Mike Mukasey as his next attorney general to replace Alberto Gonzales.

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