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O.J. Simpson Granted Parole; Chris Christie, Rand Paul Feud Heats Up; Congress Not Accomplishing Much; Girl Hospitalized with Brain-Eating Amoeba; San Diego Denying Money to Filner to Fight Allegations; Documentary on Bruce Springsteen Fans.

Aired July 31, 2013 - 13:30   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's now the bottom of the hour. We're following the breaking news on O.J. Simpson. He's just been granted parole but that doesn't mean he's walking out of jail today or necessarily any time soon. As you know, he was convicted of kidnappings, armed robbery for bursting into a hotel room in Las Vegas at a casino. He said he was trying to reclaim items he declared was rightfully his. He spent five years in jail in Nevada. He's 66 years old.

Just moments ago, the Nevada Parole Board granted him parole. They said he would be eligible for parole October 2nd of this year. That's in a few months, October 2nd, 2013. But they also said after that date, he would begin serving the 12 month minimum term on four concurrent 12 to 72 months sentences in prison. He might still have to spend as much as four years in prison. He still could get parole earlier. Meanwhile, they're waiting to see if he gets a new trial. If he does, he'll be out much sooner. We'll have a lot more on what's going on with O.J. Simpson this hour.

We're also following other news. They're not even officially in the 2016 race but Chris Christie and Rand Paul are taking bacon, pork, and about each other. Choice words from both of them, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The feud between Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie sizzling now, like bacon on the stove. The latest is salvo between the two Republicans is about who brings home more pork from Washington. Senator Paul defended himself against Christie's allegation that he was bringing home too much money for his state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY: This is the king of bacon talking about bacon. We have two military bases in Kentucky, and is Governor Christie recommending that we shut down military bases? He wants to be this great champion of national events. What does he want to do, shut down the military bases in Kentucky?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's bring in John King.

John, what do you make of this feud going on between Christie and Paul? What does it mean as a prelude to 2016?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a lot of fun. You have two of the most colorful and combative and two of the most interesting figures in the Republican Party going directly at it. Some Democrats are celebrating saying, here go the 2016 Republicans already into the mud pit.

Remember, just five years ago Senators name Obama, Clinton, Biden, Senator John Edwards were going at it pretty good, too. Sometimes this can impact a party generatively. Some times it's part of a good- spirited debate. The Republicans are out of power. They've lost two presidential elections in a row and they're having debates about who should lead the party but what the party is about. You have a fight over bacon, pork, that's government, taxes and spending, and the size and the role of government.

They have also been fighting about the NSA surveillance program. Again, Rand Paul doesn't like that program. He thinks it's too much government, too much Big Brother. Part of it is personal. Part of it is philosophy. It's what happens when a party is out of power, you get a big debate like this. It's just beginning, it's not going to slow down. It's going to intensify.

BLITZER: As you know, John, a new Pew poll just out, asked about the favorability of some of these possibly GOP contenders for 2016. Look at this. Paul Ryan, the congressman from Wisconsin, the vice presidential nominee, he does a lot better than Rand Paul, Marco Rubio or Chris Christie. What do you make of that?

KING: Name identity, familiarity with the voters. Remember, Paul Ryan was the vice presidential nominee, even though they lost. He's been at the forefront of the big budget battles. He is better known nationally to Republican and Republican leaning voters.

But as you know, you have Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, all with relatively strong poll numbers. Chris Christie less strong than the others. He's the more moderate of the group, more northeastern. Might not fit in with your traditional think of who the Republicans would nominate for president. But those are roughly good numbers. It tells you the party likes these guys but that doesn't mean it likes them as president. Of those four, they are all possible, some would say likely contenders, which means the Republicans will have a good spirited race between some very interesting characters.

BLITZER: One of those numbers -- let me put that poll back up on the screen. And, remember, these are Republican-leaning voters. The unfavorable number for Chris Christie, 30 percent, a pretty decent number. If I were Chris Christie, I'd look at that 30 percent and wonder what's going on.

I assume, John, that's the result of what some Republicans think was his overly warm welcome to President Obama just before the election.

KING: Right, and right after Superstorm Sandy when President Obama, Chris Christie says, did everything he could to help New Jersey. He was up there several times and Chris Christies has had only had praise for the president and the federal response. And a lot of people think that's what hurt Romney in the final days of election. They think it hurts Chris Christie since. That's what makes it so interesting, Wolf, that he doesn't apologize. He says, he helped me, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, I'm going to keep saying it. We'll see if he does run whether he pays a price for that.

BLITZER: Switching gears, let's talk about the new information you're getting on Benghazi. A bunch of GOP Senators want answers from the new FBI director who was just confirmed this week. What are you learning?

KING: James Comey, Wolf, just on the job for a couple of days here. He's right in the middle of the Benghazi politics and the Benghazi investigation fight. Eight Republicans in Congress, I'm told, four in the House, four in the Senate. It's led by Jason Chaffetz of Utah in the House, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina in the Senate. They have others, calling now, eight told, signing onto a letter to Mr. Comey, saying this. Let me read this. This is draft of letter. It hasn't been sent yet but we've obtained it at CNN. "It's been more than 10 months since the attacks. We appear to be no closer to knowing who is responsible today than we were in the early weeks following the attacks. This is simply unacceptable."

They are demanding Mr. Comey find out what's going on and report back to Congress to answer their questions within 30 days.

Here's what makes it so interesting, Wolf. There's a lot of politics in Benghazi. Let's be clear about that. A lot of Republican criticism of the administration. It has been almost a year. Four Americans, including the ambassador, were killed. The FBI has posted photographs on its website of suspects but no one has been arrested.

One of the likely suspects, any administration source will tell you, is a guy named Ahmed Abdul Metallub (ph), one of the founding members of Ansar al Sharia (ph), an Islamic group in Libya. He's a leading suspect.

Arwa went back to Benghazi to do some reporting. She sat down with him for two hours. He had coffee with him. He says he was at the site at the consulate that night. He said he had nothing to do with the attack. But he said no one in the Libyan government and no one in the FBI has asked to interview him. That's why a lot of these members of Congress, the Republicans are out front talking about it, but even in private, when it comes to the investigation, many Democrats will tell you are exasperated with the lack of progress.

BLITZER: Yeah, one of those congressmen, Jason Chaffetz, will be joining me in "The Situation Room" and Arwa will be joining us as. She'll tell us what she discovered when she went back

John, thanks very much. Much more on this story coming up in "The Situation Room" later today. Also, Congressman Peter King will join us on the latest internal GOP fighting. He's also suggested he might be interested in running for that Republican presidential race.

Congress has two more days of left of work before going on a month- long vacation. The truth is legislators haven't got much to show for it.

Dana Bash takes a closer look at what they have left to do, from the farm bill to immigration reform.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Let's start with the positive. A recent burst of bipartisan. A deal to make sure student loan rates don't double. A rare meeting of all Senators that led to confirmation of several Obama nominees.

SEN. BOB CORKER, (R), TENNESSEE: The Senate certainly has functioned better over the last six weeks than it has in some time.

BASH: Perhaps, but elementary school civics taught us a bill can't be law without the House and Senate agreeing.

SEN. JOHN TESTER, (D), MONTANA: This is functionality real. I don't know who the 9 percent are that thinks things are working well.

BASH: Still unfinished, the farm bill. Immigration reform, it passed the Senate but the House is developing its own plans with no path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. And Congress is way behind on its basic function, funding the government, which runs out of money September 30th or the government shuts down.

Conservatives like Ted Cruz says that may be necessary if they can't cut money for Obama-care.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS: Under no circumstance will I support a continuing resolution that funds even one penny of Obama-care.

BASH: Some Republicans oppose that tactic.

SEN. CORKER: That's a very self-defeating effort.

BASH: Bob Corker will spend August continuing bipartisan talks with the White House on a spending plan.

CORKER: During august recess, most of us work harder than we do here.

BASH: Also looming, the debt ceiling. The U.S. risks defaulting on loans as soon as Labor Day.

TESTER: We could put the economy back into a tail spin and it's not the thing you want to do in Washington, D.C.

BASH (voice-over): Even though they're elected to be here and legislate, many lawmakers say they are most useful to their constituents back home.

And being home for the entire month of August tends to really shape how big legislation turns out in the fall. Remember those angry health care town halls? This year, lawmakers are bracing for the issue to be immigration, which could seal its fate.

Dana Bash, CNN, capital hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It was supposed to be a fun afternoon swim. Soon, one teen was in the hospital, put in a coma, and her parents were told she may only have days left to live. The brain-eating bacteria she got from that summer swim.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Doctors in Arkansas are holding out hope for a 12-year-old girl infected by a brain-eating parasite. No one is known to have survived the infection in the past decade. She remains in critical condition in an Arkansas hospital.

Elizabeth Cohen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Kali Hardig arrived she was so exhausted she couldn't answer the questions.

TRACI HARDIG, KALI'S MOTHER: DIAGNOSED WITH BRAIN-EATING AMOEBA: He asked me if Kali could be like a hypochondriac.

COHEN: But Kali's mom insists she's no drama queen. The doctor listened and ran tests that showed Kali had a rare and almost always deadly infection. Swimming around in her spinal fluid, this brain- eating amoeba. Her parents were told she might only have days to live.

HARDIG: I hung on by my husband and asked him, what are we going to do. He would tell me that we're going to pray and help her fight. We're going to tell her to fight and she would be OK.

COHEN: To preserve brain tissue, her doctors induced a coma and cooled her body to 93 degrees. Doctors turned to the Centers for Disease Control for help. It has worked. There's no trace of the parasite in her spinal fluid.

DR. SANJIV PASALA, PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE PHYSICIAN, ARKANSAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: Day by day, she's showing improvement. We're all very optimistic.

COHEN: She remains in intensive care in critical condition.

PASALA: Killing the amoebas is one thing but managing brain swelling and the aftermath is the critical part of having her survive. COHEN: If Kali does pull through, she'll beat the odds. Only one person in the U.S. has beat this in the past 50 years.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, reporting

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Let's hope she does.

Facing numerous accusations of sexual assault, the San Diego mayor is asking the taxpayers to pick up the tab for his sexual harassment lawsuit. What the city council is saying about that. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The San Diego City Council is telling its embattled mayor he's not getting a dime of taxpayer money to pay for his defense in the sexual harassment lawsuits.

Casey Wian is joining us from Los Angeles right now.

Even though the city council rejected the mayor's request, could taxpayers still be on the hook for Filner's defense?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly seems to be a possibility, Wolf. The city council is trying to make sure it doesn't happen. He asked the city to pay for his legal fees in the lawsuit against him. City council saying it will not pay those bills. They've also filed a lawsuit against Filner just in case they are forced to cover his legal costs. They're suing him to get that money back for the taxpayers.

Meanwhile, an eighth accuser has come forward. She's another very highly respected woman, another college administrator. She talks about a meeting she had with Filner where he asked to meet her in private. Where he remarked about her wedding ring, asked her if it was real, and twisted it on her finger.

Here's what else she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIA CURTIN, ADMINISTRATOR, SAN DIEGO CITY COLLEGE: He then asked me if it could come off while I was in D.C. and if I would go out with him. I said I really didn't think so. At that point, he pulled my hand closer to him and he reached over to kiss me. I turned my head at that moment, and on the side of my face I got a very wet, saliva- filled kiss, including feeling his tongue on my cheek.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: She said she got out of that room as quickly as possible. Told her staff about what happened. No one ever reported it, though.

It is an eerily familiar story. Wolf, I should point out, we have reached out to the mayor's office for comment and they have not responded.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Casey.

Casey Wian.

If you're a fan of Bruce Springsteen, you may love this documentary about his followers. We're going to show you a little of it when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's another good reason why it's good to be the boss, also good to be a fan of the boss. We're talking about Bruce Springsteen. Die-hard followers are part of a new -- brand-new documentary.

Jake Tapper has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Born in the USA" and raised in the arms of his fans, for more than four decades --

(SINGING)

TAPPER: -- Bruce Springsteen is not just loved, he's the boss.

(SINGING)

TAPPER: But it's the legions of fans, young and old, corporate and blue collar, who are the heart of the Springsteen empire. And this month, that empire expands to film.

(SINGING)

TAPPER: The documentary "Springsteen & I" had just one screening worldwide July 22nd. It flashes to life for a second showing today in U.S. theaters.

The documentary is marketed more like an event, like a concert itself, with specific dates and online ticket sales. But this Springsteen event is not so much about the man on stage as it is about the scores of us who sing along with him.

(SINGING)

TAPPER: About the Facebook and YouTube devotees.

UNIDENTIFIED FAN: I used to hold this picture up to my son and say, daddy.

TAPPER: And about the proud owners of more than 120 million Springsteen albums sold worldwide.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

TAPPER: That's because for this documentary, British director, Bailey Walsh, asked fans to submit their own material and to explain to us all what this man means to them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Passion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Togetherness.

TAPPER: Among the first of its kind, the film weaves together more than 2,000 submissions, all relaying the story of real fans and their real connection to the music. The end result is a film that "the New York Daily News" described as having "the specificity, humor and unashamed earnestness of one of Springsteen's own songs."

(SINGING)

TAPPER: And the Springsteen team has funneled this fandomanium into Spring-stream, a one-stop shop for all things Bruce, from videos, pictures to tweets. It's where the boss brings all together online.

If you're skeptical that Springsteen enthusiasts can fill two hours successfully, remember they filled the Oval Office.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the most important forces in American music --

TAPPER: More than once.

(CHEERING)

TAPPER: A die-hard fan leads Springsteen's home state of New Jersey.

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY: If go on hold in the Christie administration, you're going to hear Bruce Springsteen while you're on hold.

TAPPER: And another host, "The Daily Show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: Would you sign this?

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So it seems fans are --

(SINGING)

TAPPER: -- everywhere. In theaters across the country tonight, they will be the stars.

(MUSIC)

TAPPER (on camera): The 2,000 submissions added up to 300 hours of footage. That was melted down into 83 minutes of documentary gold.

Jake Tapper, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Good reporting.

Jake is a huge, huge Springsteen fan. Rob Brownstein, our political analyst, another huge Springsteen fan. Of course, we know, Brooke Baldwin, she loves Bruce Springsteen as well.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back later today, 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

Brooke, getting ready to pick it up from here.