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Accused Killer Bride Leaves Jail; N.J. Governor Update on Boardwalk Fire; Manning Bowl III

Aired September 13, 2013 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. In just a few minutes, the New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will be speaking out about that huge, massive fire along the Boardwalk in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. When the New Jersey Governor arrives behind the podium, we'll take you back to New Jersey live for his remarks.

Good morning again. I'm Carol Costello.

The bride accused of murdering her husband by shoving him face first off a cliff is now out of jail. Today Jordan Graham is under house arrest and that has some of her husband's friends and family absolutely outraged.

CNN's Kyung Lah is in Missoula, Montana. And she has some new information to share. Good morning.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Carol. We actually just got this court docket, in addition to the court docket. There's being -- there's a meeting that's being called another hearing by a new judge, this judge calling all the attorneys back into his courtroom, saying they need to re-argue. He's going to decide -- we don't know the timing of it but decide whether or not she should come back into custody before this trial begins. This is just adding to the outrage of people, friends and family, who say they can't believe she was released last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice-over): Jordan Graham, out of jail, returned home, crouching in her parent's car. Probation officers papers in hand spoke with the now infamous bride as she began home confinement as ordered by the judge -- a slap in the face to friends of Cody Johnson.

MAXIMO ROCHA, VICTIM'S FRIEND: I want them to do the right thing. I want justice for Cody.

LAH: But the judge released Graham, ordering her to electronic monitoring in her parent's home before her second degree murder case goes to trial saying she has no criminal history whatsoever and never exhibited tendencies for violence or even anger except for the charge that she pushed her husband of just eight days off the sheer cliff, face first in Glacier National Park, killing him. ROCHA: He didn't deserve whatever end she gave him. He never earned anything that Jordan did to him. And I disagree with all of my heart at what the justice system is saying is fair.

LAH: It was just a short time ago that the couple appeared happy and in love in their first dance at their wedding. While the groom's friends describe the bride as having cold feet, Elizabeth Shea remembers her as a normal bride, excited about her life with Johnson. Shea is a custom songwriter. She says the bride hired her to write the lyrics to a song honoring the couple based on interviews she did with them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone wants a safe place to fall --

ELIZABETH SHEA, CUSTOM SONGWRITER, OURSTORYOURSONG.COM: I used words like "You helped me to climb higher for a better view. You're my safe place to fall. You never let me go." And so now when I hear those words, it's a little creepy.

LAH: Eight days later, Johnson fell to his death, allegedly pushed by the very bride who danced this prophetic song with him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. Kyung Lah reporting there.

We're going to take you live to New Jersey. As you can see, Governor Chris Christie, talking about that big fire on the boardwalk. Let's listen.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: The damage extends from Lincoln to Stockton, about a four-block radius of the Boardwalk. Businesses have been destroyed. But the damage has been contained to commercial properties only. Only exception was a fire that started on a roof of a condominium complex that was very quickly put out. While today the most important part of the job is done and that is the containment of the fire, it is not finished. The team on the ground is tackling this one step at a time to ensure that this site is secured and safe.

Today's job is focused solely on putting out the smoldering that is taking place in small pockets along the Boardwalk. And that may continue for days as these buildings collapse, it sometimes hide what they call hot pockets underneath the debris. And as that debris begins to remove, to remove those hot spots can flair. So for the next number of days we're going to have to be vigilant on that. It's a slow and deliberate process as a result. The objective is to make sure that no one is put in harm's way and that we methodically put out these smoldering pockets. And that's the job for today.

As part of the process, the folks on the ground are working side-by- side with the fire investigation team to ensure that evidence is preserved. To that point, I know there are a lot of questions about how this fire started. We don't know yet. And it would be irresponsible for any of us to speculate. We need to let the fire investigation team do their job.

This team is being headed by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office. They are the lead investigative agency, working in conjunction with the Ocean County Fire Marshall, the Ocean County Sheriff, the state police arson bomb unit, the New Jersey State Fire Marshall, and the Camden County prosecutor's office and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The investigation will likely take days, at which point the scene can then be turned over to the property owners. Then there will be more work to do and decisions to be made. To that end, I have directed the commissioners of the Department of Community Affairs, Banking and insurance, environmental protection and the chief executive officer of the economic development authority to have people from their departments on the scene this weekend to assist businesses and local officials on the beginning of the task of demolition, removal and rebuilding.

We have endured and begun to come back from the devastation of Sandy, we will not let these fires destroy those efforts. The state of New Jersey will stand with the local governments and the business owners to restart the rebuilding as soon as possible.

Yesterday, as I said before, there were over 400 firefighters in Seaside. Today there are still nearly 100 firefighters on site doing what needs to be done. Yesterday, there were nearly 70 fire engines on the ground coming from Ocean, Monmouth, Burlington, Cape May, Union, Mercer and Atlantic counties. Police officers from Seaside Park, Seaside Heights, Tom's River, Berkeley and Manchester were here as well. The New Jersey state police is on the ground and air support was provided by the state of New Jersey's forest firefighters. The New Jersey EMS Task Force was here. And heavy equipment support was given by Ocean County.

Union County sent over the Neptune system, a state-of-the-art water delivery system that drew lines of water from the bay at 5,000 to 6,000 gallons a minute and was very helpful in the containment of the fire.

So to all the men and women, some of whom are behind me, who were here on ground last night, on behalf of the people of New Jersey, I say thank you. Yesterday we saw what it means to be from our state. We are tough and we stand together in a crisis.

To the firefighters, police officers, EMTs, the volunteers who showed up with coffee and food to help to feed those who were fighting the fires, I want to thank you, too. You once again showed what a resilient community Seaside Park and Seaside Heights are. You came to help those who were helping you. And you showed your toughness and I appreciate seeing that again.

We honor the courage and the service of those people who fought the fire last night. You didn't hesitate when the call went out throughout the entire state to step up and help. When New Jerseyians call New Jerseyians, they don't think twice. They come to help. That's what it means to be from our state, which is why I know that we lost a place that has provided generations of memories to our citizens, we will rebuild, we'll make new memories for our families because that's what we do.

So we stand ready as the state of New Jersey to assist in every way possible and available to take a few questions.

(inaudible)

CHRISTIE: Well, as I said yesterday, when I first was advised at what was going on, I was in a -- actually in my weekly Sandy rebuilding meeting with members of the Sandy rebuilding team when I got passed the information about the fire.

And I said to my staff, I really feel like I'm going to throw up. And just you know how much more are people going to be expected to take? And it's an emotional toll that it puts on everyone, the people who live here, the business owners, the local officials and those of us in the state government who have dedicated most of our lives over the last ten months to the rebuilding of the Jersey Shore.

You know, I was asked this last night by another reporter about the emotional toll. And it takes an emotional toll but last night I went home, you know, I showered, I went to sleep for a few hours and I don't have the luxury of getting tired. This is a job that people gave me to do and I'm here to do it. And so you feel it and then you have to just dismiss it, because we have no choice. We have to rebuild this place.

(inaudible)

CHRISTIE: Again I'm not going to speculate and there's no -- nothing -- no import that should be drawn from the identities of the investigators or the number. This is typical. For any fire we had a fire up another part of the state over Labor Day weekend, same type of approach.

So you should not read anything into that. And we honestly have no idea. You know, it's not even 24 hours since the fire started. We have spent most of our time and all of our resources in stopping the fire. And now we turn it over, we turn the scene over -- it's always treated as a crime scene because we don't know what happened. So we're going to preserve evidence, we're going to let the Ocean County prosecutor's office lead the investigation what the others we spoke about. And when they've got something to say, they'll be ready to say it. But we don't have any reason to know anything about why it started.

(inaudible)

CHRISTIE: We understand that they were riding one of the higher -- higher vehicles and that for some reason they fell out of those vehicles and have sustained some head injuries. They've been taken to a trauma unit. And as soon as we have more information on them we'll share that with you. But they -- two of them, of the three, from what I'm told so far have sustained head injuries.

(END LIVE FEED)

COSTELLO: All right we're going to jump out of this. Because as you can hear, lots more work to be done in Seaside Park, New Jersey and in Seaside Heights, there are still hot spots along that Boardwalk that caught fire yesterday. You can see the raging flames and how difficult it was for firefighters to put these flames out.

In fact, they're still working on it this after -- or this morning rather. That was the Governor, Chris Christie of New Jersey talking about you know assessing the damage. He doesn't have any damage estimate just yet. And he just mentioned there were injuries and we're going to find out more about that incident a little later on CNN.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back with more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 48 minutes past the hour.

The Taliban is claiming responsibility for an attack outside a U.S. Consulate in Afghanistan. This morning, a huge explosion went off and U.S. security forces fought off at least seven armed militants. A truck also blew up near the consulate gates causing major damage. There were no U.S. casualties.

Just one day after 9/11, the leader of al Qaeda issued new threats to the United States. The group's leader, Ayman al Zawahiri issued an audio message to rally terrorists. He asked them to attack on American soil and pointed to the Boston Marathon bombings as an example. He also told followers to keep up the threats so the U.S. spends more on security.

A rare ameba blamed for the death last month of a four-year-old has been detected in a Louisiana community's water supply. State officials say the ameba which can cause a fatal brain infection was found in tests of water for St. Bernard Parish outside of New Orleans. They say the water is safe to drink but are still warning people not to get the water into their noses.

Twitter says it plans to go public. Fittingly enough, the company made the announcement via tweet. But unlike traditional initial public offering filings, Twitter can keep some of its financial information private. That's because it's currently valued at under $1 billion. Some analysts think Twitter shares could be available for purchase as soon as December.

Jetblue says it's been experiencing flight delays this morning and blames a system that allows pilots to talk with gate workers as that's what they say is to blame. The airline says flyers should expect delays and be sure to check their flight status online. United Airlines also dealing with technical problems but this time flyers may benefit. For 15 minutes on Thursday, the airline site was selling nearly free tickets. News of the glitch spread and eventually United caught on and shut down its online site to fix the problem. No word yet on whether United will honor the free tickets.

We're back after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's one of the marquee match-ups at week two of the NFL season -- the Manning bowl, Peyton's Denver Broncos and Eli's New York Giants will meet Sunday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. It is the third time the Manning brothers have faced each other in an NFL game and it's likely to be their last regular season meeting.

Rachel Nichols sat down with Eli. She joins us with more. Good morning.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: You know, you are more likely to be struck by lightning than to play quarterback in the NFL and face your brother in an NFL game. So these guys know how rare an opportunity they have especially since a couple of years ago, Peyton Manning had several neck surgeries that seemed briefly that he might not be able to play again. So the fact that he's back on the field and playing well and Eli gets to face his big brother once more time, well, the family knows that's special.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLS: So you grew up in New Orleans, you're playing football with your big brother Peyton in the front yard, you look up 20 years later and you're playing against him in the NFL -- it's the biggest stage of all.

What's going to be the most special for you?

ELI MANNING, NEW YORK GIANTS: I'm proud of Peyton. And I think he's proud of me. And we've worked hard to get to this point in playing NFL and we support each other. We want each other to play well each year. I think, you know, just seeing him before the game and shaking his hand and just talking for those few minutes are special moments. That's what you'll remember down the road.

Hi I'm Eli Manning and I'm a proud ambassador to the Little Brothers program.

NICHOLS: Now, you did this great "Saturday Night Live" sketch where you were, you know, part of a gang, the Little Brothers of the world getting revenge.

MANNING: Maybe now you'll learn to treat your younger brother with some respect, Peyton.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name's not Peyton.

MANNING: Whatever.

NICHOLS: I know it was a joke but is there any revenge. Maybe you can get out in this game for all the little beatings and teasings you got as a kid.

MANNING: Well, you know, I'm not playing defense. I don't get to go hit on him. I won't get a free shot at him in anyway.

You know, Peyton has been a great big brother. He's been very supportive. He's helped me in many ways.

NICHOLS: What's the strategy that your mom and dad are going to use to get through this game?

MANNING: I think it's a pretty easy strategy. I think they just root for the offense, a high-scoring game, maybe a missed extra point loses the game, something like that, where both quarterbacks did everything they could to lead a victory and then, you know, something happens where one team loses but it's some sort of a moral victory if that really exists.

NICHOLS: Exactly.

Now, I will say, you and Peyton are going to meet on the field on Sunday. But you've already met on the very grand stage already this season performing a rap video.

MANNING: Let me ask you a question what do you get when a football gets down with your phone.

NICHOLS: Who came out on top of that one? Because we're going to have to see who comes out on top Sunday.

MANNING: I think we both lost on that one. And hopefully years from now our play will -- playing football will be more viewed than that rap video.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOL: You know, Carol, Eli has the lead in Super Bowls. He has two. Peyton's only got one. But Peyton has beaten him both times that they played. And it's going to be a little of an adjustment for these guys.

They're not used to being so competitive. They're a tight-knit family. They try to help each other out with football. They even have a special once a week phone call between the two brothers to share strategy. They look at films for each other.

None of that is happening this week as you can imagine.

COSTELLO: You know what will be really cool if they both hosted "Saturday Night Live" to see them both on stage. That would be awesome. NICHOLS: They've certainly both done well on the show. Peyton is a favorite over at "SNL". So maybe we'll see a little brothers combining there after their careers are over. You never know.

COSTELLO: That's true. Rachel Nichols, I enjoyed that. Thanks so much.

NICHOLS: Right.

COSTELLO: Remember that old jingle "we wear short shorts"? Well, one Utah man put his own spin on that. He took a pair of jeans and cut them into Daisy Dukes and you see what he did with the man. The reason he did this. Well, his daughter refused to change out of her own short shorts before the family went out to dinner.

Well, the daughter snapped a photo which as you probably guessed went viral. Here's what she told CNN earlier about that experience.

MYLEY MACKINTOSH: Well, it definitely showed me that my dad cares a lot more than I thought he had, if he would go to those lengths to look like that out in public and embarrass himself a little bit just to prove a point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: For his part, her dad wrote on the family blog, that some may call him old-fashioned but he's just a dad who really loves his daughter.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone, I'm Ashleigh Banfield and welcome to the "LEGAL VIEW". It is Friday, September 13th.

And we're going to start with this, the breaking news, the images astounding, happening right now in Colorado. You might just say flood-ravaged Colorado. The town of Lyons is under evacuation. Little surprise when you look at what's on your television screen, the National Guard is now transporting about 2,000 people from this town.

If you check a map it's about 30 miles north of Boulder. Boulder is also struggling. This entire area has been overwhelmed. 15 inches of rain has fallen in just four days -- 15 inches of rain. The situation is becoming increasingly desperate.