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Clock Ticks Toward U.S. Default; U.S. Soldier Suspected of Plotting Terrorism; Still No Debt Deal in Congress; Tabloid May have Hacked 9/11 Victims' Families Phones; Former Motocross Champion Paralyzed; President Urges Congress to Compromise on Debt Deal

Aired July 29, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Same to you, Ms. K. Safe travel to the airport.

And hello to you. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Here we go.

Let me explain this really as best as I can. We are four days away now, four days from potentially a U.S. default.

And at this late stage in the game here, hard line House Republicans ramped up demands for raising the debt limit. New demands beyond those deemed nonstarters by House and Senate Democrats and the president. Hard-line House Republicans, they are the ones demanding that Congress agree to pass a balanced budget amendment, not just vote on the thing, but approve it by the end of the year or shortly thereafter.

So, late this afternoon or this evening, we will get a vote on a debt reduction plan that includes that demand. It's a redraft of the Boehner plan that failed last night.

But here's something else I have to tell you right now here, and this has to do with the president. He reemerged this morning into the spotlight. And believe it or not, he is saying that the two sides here really aren't too terribly far apart and a deal can be done by that August 2, by that Tuesday deadline.

Let's listen to the president. This is when he spoke right around 10:30 this morning. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good morning, everybody.

I want to speak about the ongoing and increasingly urgent efforts to avoid default and reduce our deficit. Right now, the House of Representatives is still trying to pass a bill that the majority of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have already said they won't vote for.

It's a plan that would force us to relive this crisis in just a few short months, holding our economy captive to Washington politics once again. In other words, it does not solve the problem, and it has no chance of becoming law.

What's clear now is that any solution to avoid default must be bipartisan. It must have the support of both parties that were sent here to represent the American people, not just one faction. It will have to have the support of both the House and the Senate.

And there are multiple ways to resolve this problem.

Senator Reid, a Democrat, has introduced a plan in the Senate that contains cuts agreed upon by both parties.

Senator McConnell, a Republican, offered a solution that could get us through this.

There are plenty of modifications we can make to either of these plans in order to get them passed through both the House and the Senate and would allow me to sign them into law.

And today, I urge Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to find common ground on a plan they can get support -- that can get support from both parties in the House, a plan that I can sign by Tuesday.

Now, keep in mind, this is not a situation where the two parties are miles apart.

We're in rough agreement about how much spending can be cut responsibly as a first step toward reducing our deficit. We agree on a process where the next step is a debate in the coming months on tax reform and entitlement reform, and I'm ready and willing to have that debate.

And if we need to put in place some kind of enforcement mechanism to hold us all accountable for making these reforms, I will support that too if it's done in a smart and balanced way.

So there are plenty of ways out of this mess, but we are almost out of time. We need to reach a compromise by Tuesday so that our country will have the ability to pay its bills on time, as we always have; bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans' benefits, and the government contracts we've signed with thousands of businesses.

Keep in mind, if we don't do that, if we don't come to an agreement, we could lose our country's AAA credit rating. Not because we didn't have the capacity to pay our bills; we do. But because we didn't have a AAA political system to match our AAA credit rating.

And make no mistake: For those who say they oppose tax increases on anyone, a lower credit rating would result potentially in a tax increase on everyone in the form of higher interest rates on their mortgages, their car loans, their credit cards. And that's inexcusable.

There are a lot of crises in the world that we can't always predict or avoid: hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorist attacks.

This isn't one of these crises. The power to solve this is in our hands. And on a day when we've been reminded how fragile the economy already is, this is one burden we can lift ourselves.

We can end it with a simple vote, a vote that Democrats and Republicans have been taking for decades, a vote that the leaders in Congress have taken for decades.

It's not a vote that allows Congress to spend more money. Raising the debt ceiling simply gives our country the ability to pay the bills that Congress has already racked up.

I want to emphasize that: The debt ceiling does not determine how much more money we can spend, it simply authorizes us to pay the bills we already have racked up.

It gives the United States of America the ability to keep its word.

Now, on Monday night I asked the American people to make their voice heard in this debate, and the response was overwhelming. So please, to all the American people, keep it up. If you want to see a bipartisan compromise, a bill that can pass both houses of Congress and that I can sign, let your members of Congress know. Make a phone call, send an e-mail, tweet, keep the pressure on Washington and we can get past this.

And for my part, our administration will be continuing to work with Democrats and Republicans all weekend long until we find a solution.

The time for putting party first is over. The time for compromise on behalf of the American people is now. And I'm confident that we can solve this problem. I'm confident that we will solve this problem.

For all the intrigue and all the drama that's taking place on Capitol Hill right now, I'm confident that common sense and cooler heads will prevail. But, as I said earlier, we are now running out of time. It's important for everybody to step up and show the leadership that the American people expect.

Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So there you have it. That was President Obama speaking just this morning.

And I want to update you now. Just down the road from the White House along Pennsylvania Avenue, you have Capitol Hill. And here's the latest move there. We told you about the vote in the House and the redraft of the Boehner plan that failed last night. Well, over in the Senate, Democratic Leader Harry Reid now has scheduled a vote to take place Sunday morning, 1:00 a.m., on his plan to resolve the crisis. So we have a lot to tell you.

And I want to get straight to Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida.

Senator Nelson, good to see you. I hope you have had some good sleep, because it sounds like you have got a long weekend, late nights ahead of you, sir.

Let me begin here with what we heard from the president this morning. He talks about common ground. And I'm sure you heard him say that the two sides here are not far apart as they seem. A, Senator Nelson, is that your take, is that your read? And, B, what would the bare-bones basics of a plan that could pass both houses by Tuesday, what would that look like?

SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: The answer to the first question is yes, and the answer to the second question is it's right under our nose. You take a combination of the House Boehner plan, the Senate majority Reid plan and the Senate Minority Leader McConnell plan, and you put them together, and at the end of the day, that's what's going to end up passing.

And in it, it's going to have that commission or committee that will comprise the big grand bargain, which is ultimately a $4 trillion plan that will come back to each house, not amendable, an up-or-down vote. And I hope that we can pass something like that, so we can get not only the debt ceiling increased, which we have to right now, but that we can really do some serious deficit reduction.

BALDWIN: But, quickly, if that's what would happen, would it then not have in it the two vote -- the two votes that Speaker Boehner has in his plan?

NELSON: That's probably, at the end of the day, what is going to be the clincher.

BALDWIN: OK.

NELSON: But it's going to be a clincher that will have the Senator McConnell provision, which is there's a resolution of disapproval, so, in effect, when the president raised the debt ceiling, it's not going to be disapproved.

BALDWIN: OK.

NELSON: And that's the parliamentary machinations that go on.

BALDWIN: The machinations on Capitol Hill.

Now, the Democratic plan being offered by Senator Reid, as near as I can tell here, would give the Republicans the two things that they have demanded all along.

You have, one, you know, spending cuts equal to or greater to any increase in the debt limit, and, number two, no new taxes on anyone. Has your side, Senator Nelson, given away the store and still can't get a deal here thus far?

NELSON: Well, that's Harry Reid's first step. His second step, which is a part of his plan as well, is a overall committee that is bipartisan that then their work product comes back to the Senate and the House for an up-or-down vote.

And that is when you get the serious deficit reduction that you get, not only in spending cuts, but you get revenue increases, which probably is going to be done in the way of taking away tax preferences, revising the entire tax code by lowering the tax rate and making the tax code simpler. And that's a win-win for everybody.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Here's what Americans want to know. They want to know, will this thing get done in time, will it be done by Tuesday?

NELSON: And the answer's yes.

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes, it will be finished.

NELSON: Yes.

BALDWIN: Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, thank you so much. We will be watching all the machinations and votes through the weekend on Capitol Hill.

Senator, thank you.

And now this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you come in here and do something that's kind of out of the ordinary, I'm going to key on that, and that's pretty much what I did with this kid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This kid is this guy, an AWOL Muslim-American soldier. And what he's accused of doing and wanting to do is frightening. Coming up, we're learning more about the sordid plans investigators say he had to kill his fellow troops. Ed Lavandera standing by for me in Waco, Texas, where Naser Jason Abdo has just made his appearance in federal court.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Fort Hood, Texas, averting a potential attack and catastrophe just this week. An AWOL Army private who authorities say admits plotting an attack on Fort Hood soldiers was charged in federal court just this afternoon, but not before causing quite a scene.

More on that in just a minute here, but first, let me just tell you this. A federal magistrate ordered Naser Abdo to be held without bond. He's charged with one federal count of possession of a destructive device. The 21-year-old Muslim-America was arrested yesterday near the same Texas military base where another Muslim- American soldier went on that deadly shooting spree back in 2009.

Now, a very alert gun store clerk called police after Abdo set off some red flags in that gun store. And while this story was breaking right around this time yesterday, I spoke with that very clerk. Here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG EBERT, GUN STORE SALES CLERK: After the young man left the store, we discussed the purchase amongst ourselves, and the manager, who is a wonderful woman, was just concerned that something might be afoot.

She was uncomfortable with it, so I told her, if it would help put her mind at ease, that I would call one of the lieutenants that I know at the P.D.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's Ed Lavandera in Waco, Texas, for me.

Eddie, I know you talked to Mr. Ebert as well. We will get to that in a minute. But I do want to talk about you were inside the federal courthouse when Abdo made his appearance. And you were tweeting up a storm this afternoon, all of these details how there were, what, nine U.S. Marshals in there, and it took two of them to sort of get this guy to stand up when he wouldn't stand when the judge walked in.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we, quite honestly, weren't expecting much outside of a simple initial appearance, kind of a routine thing that happens when someone is arrested and brought into a criminal court.

So I was expecting something rather routine. We saw, Abdo walked in. He was wearing a solid white jumpsuit. He was shackled around the arms and the waist. His feet were shackled as well. There was heavy law enforcement presence inside that courtroom today, a little more than I have seen perhaps in the past, but given the nature of these charges, not altogether surprising, nine U.S. Marshals.

Abdo sat down. Before the judge walked in, he was reading over some paperwork. And when they knocked on the door -- and everyone stands up when the judge is about to walk in. Abdo refused. Two U.S. Marshals stood next to him. They told him repeatedly, stand up, stand up. He continued to refuse. At that point, those U.S. Marshals just grabbed him by the arms and yanked him up, forced him to stand up.

BALDWIN: Isn't he, Ed -- we mentioned, he's facing one count of possession of a destructive device. Isn't he already facing a charge back from when he was at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and is he still sitting in Killeen City jail? LAVANDERA: Right. He is. And he was whisked out of here in a small little caravan. He was carried out of here in a dark van.

He is facing those charges. Remember, he had gone through that conscientious objector issues that he had gone through with court. And he was granted that. But then authorities had discovered child pornography on his computer.

He was being court-martialed for that. That's when he went AWOL and turned up here in the Killeen, Texas, area several weeks later. So he's being held without bond because of those issues. And we asked a federal official here in Texas today if more charges or other charges would be filed against him related to the case here in Killeen, and we were told that that would be a safe assumption to make.

BALDWIN: OK, we will look for that.

Meantime, I have to get to this astute gun store clerk who I know you actually got to meet today. Let's just play this piece of sound, and then we will talk about him. This is Greg Ebert here who really kind of saved the day. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EBERT: He selects these six canisters, brings them to the counter, sets them down, and that's when he asks Kathy (ph), what's smokeless powder? Well, hello? Why are you buying this if you don't know what it is?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Ed Lavandera, thank goodness he picked up the phone eventually and called police.

LAVANDERA: You know, and what I found amazing -- and obviously, a lot more questions and authorities aren't really kind of opening everything up to us here at this point, but Mr. Ebert told me that he never actually got Abdo's name. So he didn't give the -- he said, I didn't really give the police much to go on. He essentially gave a description, he had shown up in a cab, the name of the cab company, that sort of thing.

And within 24 hours, they were able to track Abdo down. Exactly how that came about is something we haven't been able to get a whole lot of answers to. But when they showed up in his hotel room just about a mile-and-a-half or so away from that gun shop, that's where authorities say they discovered these bomb-making devices, the pressure cookers, and they say in the affidavit that was released here just a short while ago in Texas that he had plans of taking those pressure cookers, the shrapnel, and the gunpowder that he had bought at that gun shop and wanted to take that to an unspecified restaurant where soldiers around Fort Hood like to hang out.

And according to authorities, Abdo has told them that his intention was to explode those two pressure cookers, made them bombs, and explode them in that restaurant.

BALDWIN: He said he had enough materials to make not just one, but two bombs. Unbelievable.

LAVANDERA: Right.

BALDWIN: Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

And coming up, we're actually going to stay in Texas for this one. Wow, the Lone Star State starving for rain. In fact, the drought in Texas not only the worst on record. Folks, this is worse than the dust bowl back in the '30s. But there is some hope on the horizon in this tropical storm. There he is, Chad Myers keeping a close eye on Don. We are going to check in with Chad here in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Want to share some more pictures we have rounded up for you. This is from the drought in Texas. And it is so hot, it is so dry across every inch of this state, conditions are worse right now than they were during the dust bowl years. Chad was talking about that just yesterday.

In fact, you can see these pictures. It shows the devastation. I don't even know what that's a skeleton of, but it just shows you how dry and horrible it is. Much of the corn crop in Texas lost. The wheat crop is threatened as well. Farmers usually plant wheat at the end of the summer, but the ground is so dry, that's looking unlikely.

Fish, they need water. They can't swim. They are dying. And ponds evaporate, ranchers are selling their cattle early at a loss. And this is likely to translate into higher food prices all of us.

Now to these pictures. In Austin and across Texas, many houses are shifting on their foundations because the soil is so dry, and, in fact, in some cases, foundations have sunk more than five inches. Listen to this homeowner's story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF MARSDEN, HOMEOWNER: It sank even more since the drought. It's cracked. The front door locks I had changed out a month-and-a- half ago, and now the front door wouldn't lock again because it's sunk down.

There's big cracks in the ground where there were just little cracks. And it's just getting worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Crunching along there. If that isn't enough, the drought has fueled a grasshopper invasion. Texas farmers have repeatedly sprayed, but the pests keep coming back according to this farmer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY WALDEN, TEXAS FARMER: About 10 days ago, we sprayed, and probably the crop of grasshoppers that are here hatched out since then.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So I guess the farmers are saying if there is any good news, it's that there is not much left for the grasshoppers to eat. But any rain, you know this, is very much so welcome in Texas.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: And quick reminder to you, do not forget.

Come on over here, Mark Abernathy (ph), and get a good close-up of this. Forgive me. There we go.

It's on a little bit of a delay, but you kind of get it. The point is, you have no excuse not to watch CNN, not to get caught up on the news 24/7 here. We are the first to do this, to stream CNN online. Both you can watch CNN, you can watch HLN, which means, obviously, if you're not in front of a TV, you're at work, want to get caught up, you can have if you have an iPod, iPad, and also hop online. The link is CNN.com/video.

Coming up next here, I will tell you about this beautiful little girl right here. What happened to her should never happen to any child ever. In fact, this story and several others we have told recently, it's got me very angry. And it's going to make you angry as well.

Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now I have to tell you about something that just makes me -- it makes me angry. I'm angry because of what happened to this little girl over my shoulder.

Her name is Ame Deal. And, well, this could have probably been prevented. Ame was found dead in a box, and the day after this 10- year-old was found, her aunt said she was living -- the aunt she was living with told a TV station that a game of hide-and-seek may be the reason Ame climbed inside this plastic storage bin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CYNTHIA STOLTZMANN, AUNT: She was an awesome hider, let me tell you. You know, there's places that she would squeeze into that I wouldn't think my dog could squeeze into.

I spent last night crying most of the night. I don't break down well in front of other people, but when I'm by myself, I can lose it real easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, that aunt and Ame's grandmother are now charged with child abuse.

Ame's cousin and the cousin's husband are charged with first degree murder, because Ame wasn't playing hide and seek. Police say she was forced into that box, a padlock placed on it, they believe, because she took a popsicle from the fridge, a popsicle.

Investigators describe Ame as a child who suffered from a lot of unusual punishments, forced to sleep on the shower floor after bedwetting, forced to eat hot sauce for lying. There were even punishments reportedly involving dog feces.

After Ame's death, some neighbors say they knew it wasn't an accident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We knew right away it wasn't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because the way they used to punish the other girl, make her walk up and down the street barefooted and stuff. Oh, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So four adults will face charges related to Ame's abuse after she died.

When something bad happens to a child and the adults in her life are held responsible, it should make all of us mad, but also it should make us a little bit introspective, do you act, think about this, do you act when you see something amiss at your neighborhood's house, your grocery start, parking lot? Or do you simply dismiss it, saying "none of my business." Your answer could make the difference in the life of a child.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Four days away from a potential default of the U.S. treasury, and at this hour the House of Representatives and the Senate appear to be working at cross purposes, each working on legislation the other says it won't pass.

So then the president today at the White House saying this, that the two sides really aren't that far apart. But other observers, they are actually stepping forward and saying that as well. Let's listen now to this sobering assessment, this is from Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN's "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": The tragedy is the damage may already have been done. From now on, every time the debt ceiling needs to be raised, the world will wonder will the United States stand by its promises, or will it break them? Something that was taken for granted, the credibility of the United States is now surrounded by uncertainty. Global markets have always had confidence in America. That confidence has been shaken, perhaps forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Perhaps forever, Rick Newman, chief business correspondent of "U.S. News and World Report." Rick, we just heard from Fareed, potentially the world questioning our credibility when we talk debt ceiling down the road. Also Senator Reid saying Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told him today that some businesses are already having trouble borrowing because of uncertainty now over these interest rates. Is the fall out, Rick, being felt already?

RICK NEWMAN, CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT: I think it is, not necessarily in the way they are talking about in Washington. In fact, I feel that Washington feels oblivious of what's going on in the real economy or business community, if you will. We got a jobs report three weeks ago that was absolutely terrible. Companies basically have stopped hiring.

And if you listen to what CEOs are saying, they are saying we're worried about uncertainty in the economy and coming out of Washington. So it's not surprising companies are not hiring anybody, because they want to know if the U.S. Congress is going to send the economy into another recession or not.

I mean, everybody keeps looking for these sort of like sharp signals from the financial markets, which were really not seeing yet, but I think the way this is being felt, we will see it if we really get into a draconian situation next week, but subtler ways, harder to measure in real time, but real nonetheless.

BALDWIN: When we hear the president talk he does try to give examples and make it more palatable for the American, saying today treasury default would be a tax on Americans in the form of higher interest rates, trying to connect it maybe to a car loan or 401(k). Do you see that, Rick, as an apt analogy?

NEWMAN: Yes, it is an apt analogy. The difficulty here is this is all of these scare scenarios are hypothetical and won't happen in a tangible way until we have that terrible situation, which is suddenly the government runs out of money and can't borrow and pay its bills anymore.

So you have some skeptics in Congress saying this is overblown, we don't think this would be that much of a big deal, and they are basically saying prove it to me, which is to say I want to see the markets tank. I want to see interest rates spike before I'm willing to sign off on anything.

And as Fareed said, if you get to that point, the damage is already done. You can undo some of it, but not all of it, and he's right to say global markets are losing confidence in the United States and the stability of the political system in the United States, not really in the economy of the United States. But they are obviously linked.

BALDWIN: To your point, I'm sneaking looking at CNNmoney.com. It hasn't lost its nerve yet, we're not seeing -- we're not seeing the manifestation of big jitters yet. Why not?

NEWMAN: I think the reason is there is still this belief that Washington is going to pull out some kind of deal at the last minute. And if you go back three or four weeks ago to the smart analysts trying to predict what's likely to happen. Many of them said then, look, this is going to be really ugly the next three weeks and is probably going to go to the next minute and beyond the last minute. You have to have fortitude and hang in there.

And I think there's also this back-up belief if we get to August 2nd, the government can't pay its bills, there will be a severe reaction to markets, so there is this assumption that one way or another something gets done in Washington.

BALDWIN: There is that assumption. It's never been done before. Here's hoping it doesn't happen. Rick Newman with "U.S. New and World Report." Thanks so much. Fingers crossed. Thanks.

And it's hard to imagine the grief the families of September 11 victims felt on that day just about 10 years ago now. Perhaps, harder to imagine, why a tabloid would possibly want to hack into those victims' phones. But that is the charge against news of the world tabloid, and the FBI, they're not looking for answers.

Coming up, the victims' families, were their loved ones phones among the phones hacked? Coming up I talk to retired New York deputy fire chief Jim Riches, who, by the way, lost his son on 9/11. He's going to join me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Families of just about 3,000 people murdered on 9/11 are concerned that their loved ones may have been victimized twice, once by terrorists, and then the second time by the tabloid now shut down by Britain's phone hacking scandal.

The FBI has been looking into a rival tabloid's report that the "News of the World" reporters tried to hack into voice mails of victims of 9/11. And 9/11 families will be briefed soon by Attorney General Eric Holder and retired deputy chief Jim Riches will be attending that meeting. Mr. Riches, thank you for coming on. I know you lost your son, Jim, who was also a firefighter. Here's a photograph of your family. You lost him in the world trade center on 9/11. When you first heard of these initial reports of possible hacking, Jim, what was your first thought?

JIM RICHES, FDNY DEPUTY CHIEF (RET.): You know, I thought it was outrageous that anybody could possibly do this -- unprofessional, unethical. The families are suffering, we have to relive these painful memories, and for someone to go in and take last messages or whatever they were going to take and cause such pain so they could sell newspapers, it's horrible.

And we were outraged. We called for an investigation by the FBI and Department of Justice. And we commend Eric Holder because he's going to meet with the families now and hopefully give us the results of this investigation and let us know whose phones were hacked into and if they did actually hack into them, and who's going to be accountable, because we have want to go to the top, the editors, the owners, because otherwise this is going to continue and go on to affect other families the way we are affected.

BALDWIN: Let's get back to the meeting, I tried to talk to guests during the commercial, you said that meeting is August 24th, 3:00 p.m., precisely when you're meeting with Eric Holder, 20 to 30 families, I'm hearing, may be there. What do you hope he says to you?

RICHES: Well, you know, I would hope that these allegations are not true, but I mean with the widespread hacking we had in the U.K., it only goes that it probably did happen here in the United States. And, you know, we want the -- actually, the facts, what happened, my son's phone hacked into, did they hack into the families phones. We were talking after 9/11 we were getting phone calls that were horrible, whether they recovered a piece of my son or the whole body. These are things we were talking about.

BALDWIN: People were calling you up and asking you about that or telling you this?

RICHES: No, you would get calls from the medical examiner's office in the body was recovered. They told you what was recovered. Only 100 families got a full body. So basically 1,000 families got nothing and the other families you didn't get the whole body. You got half a body or a bone, a piece, and you were glad to get what you got. These are the things we were talking about. These are the painful memories we have to relive. For somebody to stoop so low and hack into a phone and get that, if these allegations are true, I think they should be punished severely.

BALDWIN: Describe the punishment they should face if they are true.

RICHES: If they are true, well, I don't think they should be working in that field anymore, because, I mean, right now, if they get the low level guys, the owners and editors and everybody, it's going to continue, they'll do it again. For someone to do that like they did in England, go into murdered families, go into phones, there's no place in that business for them. Take them outside the business, put them in another industry, but they don't belong in the press corps, or media corps. If they are hurting people like that. You know, we suffered enough, and if it calls for jail time, let them, so be it.

BALDWIN: Has the Department of Justice, has the FBI, I don't know who would be -- at least kept you in the loop thus far in the investigation, and is there any indication at all that this is happening?

RICHES: We haven't been kept in the loop, we called for an investigation, we called for a meeting. They granted us this meeting, we are very thankful for it, and hopefully they'll fill us in of the facts. We don't know of hacking as of now, we'll find out then. But they have been congenial with us, but right now we're waiting to get information, on the 24th hopefully we'll have more information and we'll know one way or another whether we were hacked into. And I feel we want accountability and we deserve it.

BALDWIN: Mr. Riches, you said the meeting is 3:00 p.m. on August 24th. So perhaps the next day you could come on and tell me whatever it is legally you're allowed to tell me. A lot of Americans want to know. Jim Riches, thank you very much.

RICHES: Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, motocross is a sport known for its spectacular wipeouts, but even a crash that almost killed this championship racer cannot keep him off a bike. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has his story after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Each week here, our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things despite the setbacks perhaps life throws their way. And today Sanjay is introducing us to a motocross racer who had to learn a new way to live his dreams.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Four-time national motocross champion Doug Henry's racing career has taken him to incredible heights and devastating lows. He's been inducted into the American Motorcycle Association's hall of fame and won dozens of medals and trophies over the years.

But look closely. You'll see this bike is modified with a bar and a strap that help him stay on. That's because four years ago the unthinkable happened. And he was paralyzed.

DOUG HENRY, MOTOCROSS CHAMPION: When I hit the wall between the bike, you know, I was stuck between the bike. You know, it was the end. It was the end for me. It was all over.

GUPTA: Henry's love affair with racing began when he was four. At 15, he entered his first race, had a midair collision and broke his arm. After turning pro at the age of 20, Henry had another bad accident and broke his back for the first time. But he recovered. Two years later, he was back on the track. There were more injuries, over 200 serious crashes, but he always walked away until March 4th, 2007. He lost control on a corner during practice.

HENRY: I knew it was over. I just -- everything just -- dancing. I wasn't much of a dancer, but I knew I wasn't going to be. I thought about all the things that we couldn't do or wouldn't be able to do together. GUPTA: It got worse. Two weeks later, his wife, Stacy, was diagnosed with breast cancer. But together, they got through it. Henry is partially paralyzed from the waist down. But it hasn't stopped him from competing. He's modified a snowmobile and a dirt bike to race in x-game competitions designed for disabled athletes. And he's running races in his new sport. Henry hopes he can motivate others, whose lives have suddenly taken a detour and help them back to doing what they love.

HENRY: I try to do as much as I can now and enjoy the day, just try to get the most out of my life.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Four days from default, still no deal. Democrats, they've given in on taxes. Are Republicans ready to come to the table too? Coming up at the top of the hour, I'll ask one, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio. Don't miss that interview.

But coming up a little sooner than that, Wolf Blitzer, he's up with your political ticker. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Let's go to Washington now for your "CNN Equals Politics" update with my colleague, Wolf Blitzer.

Wolf, before you get to the Ticker, quickly here, I have just noticed on President Barack Obama's Twitter page, I don't know if you've seen this, but whoever it is that's tweeting for him, they're going line by line, tweeting to these different Republicans. And each and every time, at the end of the tweet, it says "hash tag, compromise." Social media, taking social media trying to get compromise done on the debt deal.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": If you were listening to his speech, and I know you were, because you were tweeting earlier, @brookebCNN, that's your handle, right?

BALDWIN: You got it.

BLITZER: If you were listening right at the very end, he said, you know what, if you agree with me, get in touch with members of congress, call their offices, e-mail them, tweet them. He really wants to put the pressure on other Republicans, especially to come around and make some sort of compromise. That was one of the messages he had.

He also pointed out that if you take a look objectively at what Boehner is proposing in the House, what Harry Reid is proposing in the Senate, there are some similarities. There are not all that many great differences.

But one of the most serious differences that they must overcome by Tuesday, if whether there's going to be a second vote next year or they're going to delay any serious debate, another vote until after the elections in November 2012. I haven't seen a resolution of that. They're going to have to come up with some resolution of that if they're going to reach an agreement.

The public at large, and you've seen this, the polls have reflected it. A new Gallup poll shows that the public at large is pretty depressed about the whole thing. They're pretty irritated with the way the Democrats are handling it, the Republicans are handling it. They're not very happy.

Take a look over there, President Obama's approval on how he's handling this debt crisis, only 41 percent, Boehner's 31 percent. Harry Reid's is even worse, 23 percent. So no one is all that happy right now with any of these leaders on how they're handling this crisis.

I did have a chance to sit down earlier in the day with Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor, the ambassador to China, who's now one of the Republican presidential candidates, and he's not very happy with the way some of his Republican rivals are dealing with this debt ceiling crisis. He's rather blunt in criticizing Mitt Romney, arguably the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. Right now he's suggesting it's time for people to stand up and show real leadership, suggesting that Mitt Romney's not necessarily standing up and showing real leadership.

He was also critical of Michele Bachmann for saying the country doesn't have to raise the debt ceiling at all. Jon Huntsman saying, you know, that would be a huge blunder for America's economic recovery, for the AAA rating that the U.S. government currently has.

The interview, we are going to run the interview in "THE SITUATION ROOM" later today 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I think you will be interested, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I will look forward to it. And speaking of the AAA rating, I think one of the favorite lines from the president I heard today, he was talking about how we may lose that AAA system, and he said, essentially, paraphrasing, too bad our political system is not the same AAA. Ouch.

Wolf Blitzer, we will be looking for you in an hour. Thank you so much.