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Erin Burnett Outfront

U.S. Files First Charges In Benghazi Attack; "Specific, Immediate" Terror Threat In Yemen; Massive Manhunt Under Way In California; Interview With RNC Chairman Reince Priebus

Aired August 06, 2013 - 19:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: "OUTFRONT" next, breaking news. The Justice Department has filed criminal charges in the deadly attack on Benghazi.

Plus, manhunt in California. A murder suspect on the run tonight. It's believed he has two children with him.

And the GOP has threatened CNN. The man who made those threats, Reince Priebus, head of the Republican Committee, is "OUTFRONT" tonight.

Let's go "OUTFRONT."

Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, I want to begin with the breaking news. The Justice Department has filed its first criminal charges in the deadly attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi. Federal authorities have charged several people including militia leader, Ahmed Abu Khattalah. It is important to note that the suspects have been charged, but they have not been arrested.

In fact, our Arwa Damon sat down with Khattalah a few months ago and interviewed him about his potential involvement. He told CNN that at that time he had not ever been approached or questioned by the FBI. CNN's Evan Perez broke the story and he is OUTFRONT tonight. Evan, you know, you broke the story about the charges. What can you tell us about these charges?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, the charges were filed under seal in New York, which is not an uncommon thing. The FBI and the Justice Department has been working on this case as you said for 11 months and they have been interviewing hundreds of witnesses and have been trying to build the case against these men.

We are told that the case has been filed under seal and right now, they're still working on trying to figure out how to bring these men to justice. As you mentioned, Arwa Damon from CNN just interviewed Ahmed Khattalah, Abu Khattalah, who is believed to be one of the people involved. And so we're hoping to see, you know, what happens next.

BURNETT: And Evan, you know, Arwa did speak to him and I just wanted to play for our viewers. You will see more in our extensive documentary about the "Truth About Benghazi," which airs tonight. Here's a little bit about what Arwa Damon asked the man, the Justice Department charged today, but the FBI has not spoken to. Here's that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMED ABU KHATTALAH (through translator): I didn't know where the place was. When I heard, we went to examine the situation. When we withdrew and there was shooting with medium guns and there were RPG's in the air and people panicked, we tried to control traffic.

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Did anyone from the American or the Libyan government side try to get in touch with you?

KHATTALAH: Never.

DAMON: Never. And if they tried, are you ready to meet with them?

KHATTALAH: Yes, no problem, but not as an interrogation. As a conversation like the one we are having with you now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Now, obviously, Evan, when you think about this, you know, this was nine months, ten months after the attack and someone who was a person of interest was just walking around on the streets. Reporters were able to speak to him. It doesn't seem like there was a lot of urgency at that time. So what are authorities saying about questioning potential suspects? It is easy to charge somebody but you know, these people could be anywhere. It has been almost a year. It might be impossible to ever bring them to justice.

PEREZ: Well, you know, that is exactly one of the problems with this case. Obviously, the FBI would have loved to have gotten in there much quicker than they were able to. The security situation in Benghazi is not like any other place. Even in previous terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, for instance, they had a host government, which is able to bring you to interview witnesses.

They don't have that in Benghazi. They don't have that in Libya. So we believe that the -- that they've done according to people who have talked to me. They've done hundreds of interviews. The question is, as you've raised it, whether or not the Libyan government can bring or help the Americans bring these people to justice.

BURNETT: All right, Evan, thank you very much. We appreciate it. And of course, Evan Perez breaking that news about these charges, of course, this news about the charges coming after CNN has widely been publicizing this interview with Abu Khattalah, which is in our documentary on Benghazi tonight, which you can see at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific.

I want the get now to the other developing story tonight, the terror threat against the United States. Nineteen U.S. embassies and consulates are still closed in the Middle East and Africa. In Yemen, fears of what the State Department is calling a quote, "specific immediate terror threat" has prompted the United States to order all nonemergency personnel staff to leave the country. Chris Lawrence is at the Pentagon. And Chris, you know, we obviously saw the C-17 taking off. The U.S. government was trying to say this isn't really an evacuation although that's of course what it certainly seemed to be. Is the threat in Yemen separate from the threat that has prompted the now extended closings of so many diplomatic posts?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: No. The State Department says while they are constantly evaluating new information, this is based off that original threat by al Qaeda. Defense officials tell us that an Air Force transport plane took out between 50 and 100 people and flew them to Germany. Now, there are still U.S. troops still on the ground there in Yemen fewer than 100. And they're split between Marines who are still there protecting the U.S. embassy and down south near Ayden where U.S. Special Forces are still training the Yemeni forces on counterterrorism.

BURNETT: And let me ask you, we also, of course, have reports about a pair of suspected U.S. drone strikes killing four al Qaeda militants in Yemen. So are we going to see more of these? And my understanding is there is up to 25 high profile targets in the country. None of whom were struck today. Do you know if that's the case?

LAWRENCE: That's right. I mean, Erin, this is the fourth drone strike in just the last ten days alone. It is coming just a month after Said Alshiri, a deputy commander of AQAP in Yemen was killed in a drone strike. He was a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay that was release asked went back to al Qaeda. And this is all coming as the U.S. steps up its aerial surveillance over Yemen as well as pouring over Jihadist web sites and those NSA intercepts trying to figure out exactly where this plan may be going next.

BURNETT: All right, thank you very much. Chris Lawrence is reporting on the latest that we know from the Pentagon tonight. I want to bring in Tim Clemente now, former FBI counterterrorism agent, OUTFRONT tonight. Tim, obviously we have that intercepted communication from the leader of al Qaeda ordering an attack, evacuation of personnel in Yemen, drone strikes, closure of nearly two dozen embassies, all of this unprecedented, but all of this is overseas. So what about at home, could this be a situation where there is an incredible amount of chatter and the U.S. actually is looking in the wrong place?

TIM CLEMENTE, FORMER FBI COUNTERTERRORISM AGENT: I don't think we're looking in the wrong place. I don't think we ever lay down and don't look at what's going on here in the homeland, but it is certainly a threat. I mean, the possibility as they said, lone wolf style attacks like Boston marathon. That's very real. These are people that want to be allied with al Qaeda.

And if al Qaeda the greater organization is pushing for major attacks on American assets overseas, there is no reason why these individuals that want to ally themselves with al Qaeda here in the United States wouldn't consider doing their own lone wolf type attacks. So it could be very threatening for us and I think absolute vigilance is necessary by not only law enforcement and the intelligence community but the American public.

BURNETT: So in the United States, are we safer from al Qaeda threats than we were prior to 9/11? And obviously you're talking about different kinds of threats. Threats that are threats to parades, public places and marathons, that's a terrifying thing.

CLEMENTE: Well, you know, those are what we would call soft targets. They're not hardened facilities. They're not hardened events. I mean, trying to attack the White House, we've seen a couple movies come out in the last few months. Those are very difficult. Those are hard targets and other than using some kind of an air attack, nearly impossible to execute.

But soft targets, targets where people are gathered either in transportation facilities, airports, buses, train depots or at sporting events, entertainment venues. Those have security but they're not as protected as hardened sites would be like our embassies abroad would be. So those kind of soft targets are always vulnerable.

And the security apparatus that I was a part of in the FBI and with the special event venues is always trying to improve what they do and try to stay ahead of the curve. So I'm sure there will be increased security measures at any events coming up in the very near future throughout the United States.

BURNETT: Tim Clemente, thank you very much. Of course, Tim, you will see a lot more of him and his expertise on what happened in Benghazi in our documentary on the truth of what really happened there, which debuts tonight at 10:00 Eastern.

Still to come, a massive manhunt in California, a murder suspect on the run, a 16-year-old girl missing.

Plus, Jerry Sandusky, he says he's getting better. Is that possible? We're going to find out. Is it possible for a pedophile to ever not be a pedophile?

And later in the show, the world's most unfriendly city, we're going to tell you which American city was given that dishonor and why it is a load of horse manure.

And former President George W. Bush, he is in the hospital tonight, but we have an update.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Our second story tonight, a manhunt in Southern California. Murder suspect James Lee Dimaggio is on the run. An amber alert has been issued for the two children you see here, 16- year-old Hannah Anderson and her 8-year-old brother, Ethan. Authorities believe that they could be with Dimaggio. Now, those children's mother, Christina Anderson, was found dead Sunday in a burned home that belonged to Dimaggio. Along with the body of a child who has not been identified.

Paul Vercammen is OUTFRONT at the San Diego Sheriff's Office, I want to find out how this could have happen, Paul. First of all, we're talking about these bodies that this happened on Sunday. Do police have any leads about where Dimaggio and Hannah and Ethan might be?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, they do not. That's why now, Erin, as we speak, this has been expanded to a nationwide search. Federal authorities involved including the FBI and U.S. marshals and of course, San Diego County detectives. One thing at play here, the Mexican border, extremely close to the town where Dimaggio lived so they've expanded it well beyond just this county and are looking for him all over the United States.

If you think about the time line, if they found his house burning at about 6:00 Sunday night, he now has had two days to drive away in what they describe as a blue Nissan Versa with California plates. As you pointed out, they issued an amber alert for that vehicle -- Erin.

BURNETT: So Paul, I guess if they don't have any idea where they are, but if you tell me -- I mean, found dead Sunday, the mother in a burned home that the suspect owned, right? And now these children have disappeared, one of them, of course, a 16-year-old girl, a beautiful girl. What do you know about the relationship between James Lee Dimaggio and this family, these people? Is there a link? What could have motivated this?

VERCAMMEN: Well, let's start with what detectives say. They say that the mother and Dimaggio had a very close platonic relationship. Other relatives and authorities have said, it would not be uncommon to see this family with Dimaggio. He apparently had known the children since they were very little. So again it would not be uncommon for them to be at the house.

I do have to tell you this and this requires some reading between the lines, but one law enforcement source said to me, quote, "That the remains found inside the house were not inconsistent with those of an 8-year-old child." So it may just be, Erin, that indeed, they're looking for the 16-year-old girl right now, again, a very desperate urgent search to try to find Dimaggio and to find Hanna Anderson.

BURNETT: All right, so let me just make sure -- so the == obviously one of the bodies could be the eight-year-old boy that may also be missing right now with DiMaggio. That child could also, of course, have horribly perished. But any sense of what might have motivated him to take this 16-year-old? Any sort of bizarre situation there?

VERCAMMEN: So far, no one is saying anything on the record. Speculation, of course, that perhaps in some way, and we'll leave this to some other people who might want to second-guess. There might have been some sort of a link between DiMaggio and the 16-year-old girl, Hannah. She is 5'7, about 115 pounds. They're looking for her. No sign of either of them, though, right now, Erin.

BURNETT: Paul Vercammen, thank you very much. And of course, as Paul said, this is now a nationwide search. Now, letters from Jerry Sandusky. So, the former Penn State football coach who, as you all are aware, was convicted last June of 45 counts of child sex abuse, has been writing to friends from behind bars. In the handwritten letters, which were obtain by TMZ, Sandusky writes in part, "I must fight my personal battles to learn from, grow from and endure the circumstances. I am trying to get better."

Trying to get better. Can a convicted pedophile get better? Clinical psychologist Jeff Gardere is OUTFRONT. Jeff, you know, when we were having this conversation today in our show meeting, the question I had was, if you are a pedophile, can you ever not be a pedophile?

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: You're always a pedophile. It is an impulse control disorder. It's a paraphilia. And what we do as treating specialists is to make sure that you stay in recovery, but you're always mindful that you have this impulse control disorder that you have to be on top of all the time.

BURNETT: So, is it more like an addiction as opposed to a sexual orientation?

GARDERE: It is much more like an addiction, absolutely.

BURNETT: Now, in another excerpt from the letter, Sandusky writes, "I have written and continue to write my account of what has happened. God's light has warmed me with many letters of support and motivation. My plan is to continue the battle until the last whistle blows."

All right. So this sounds to me, you know, that he is going ahead with, I'm going to keep fighting this. He is obviously fighting an appeal to overturn the conviction. This is not a person who's saying, I admit I'm a pedophile. This is a person saying I'm going to fight to get out of here.

GARDERE: That's right. He never admits that he's a pedophile. Doesn't take any responsibility. Still keep pointing fingers at everyone else. Holds other people complicit, and we see this in the mind of a pedophile. We saw with it Ariel Castro. So, the threat continues here. He says he wants to get better, but we're not sure what he wants to get better from.

BURNETT: Right. Because he doesn't admit.

And let me ask you this question again because this is obviously so important to so many people around the country when you have people who have been convicted of crimes against children who then go and live back in neighborhoods. But you're saying that it is something you fight every day. If you are a pedophile, it's - it's not that you're suddenly not going to have an attraction to a child.

GARDERE: Even the healthiest people who try to get through being a pedophile, those are the ones who are smart enough to know, they've got to be on guard at all times. And it is about people, places and things. So to not place themselves in any situations where they're around children because they can't even trust themselves. That's why we monitor and that's why we say they need life-long treatment.

BURNETT: Jeff Gardere, thank you very much.

GARDERE: Pleasure.

BURNETT: Still to come, a man who shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood Army base in court today. Why the judge is actually allowing him, the man who said today that he killed these people, to question the survivors of his attack.

Plus, Bill Clinton in a very tough position. What did he say about what he really thinks of Anthony Weiner when he was asked today in Africa?

And dramatic video of a newspaper delivery truck flying off a highway. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Our third story OUTFRONT: murder confession. Major Nidal Hasan admitted to a jury this morning that he shot and killed 13 people at the Fort Hood Army base in Fort Hood, Texas. And because the former Army psychiatrist is representing himself, he is also now crossexaming his own victims.

Ed Lavandera is in the courtroom. He's OUTFRONT with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dress in an army combat uniform and an American flag decorating his sleeve, Major Nidal Hasan quickly admitted to killing defenseless fellow soldiers. "The evidence will clearly show I am the shooter," he declared in opening statements.

Prosecutors are fighting for the death penalty, but Major Hasan is waging his own war. He is on a mission to justify killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others in the horrific Fort Hood massacre four years ago. Hasan went on to say, "I was on the wrong side, and I switched sides." Prosecutors say Hasan felt a jihad duty to kill as many soldiers as possible, and that he was targeting soldiers preparing to deploy to fight the war in Afghanistan.

Heavy security is in place for Major Hasan's court martial. The courthouse is blocked by stacks of sand baskets and rows of massive steel containers. Major Hasan is flown in by helicopter from the nearby county jail where he is being held. Hasan is acting as his own attorney and will likely question his own victims as the trial continues.

CHRISTOPHER ROYAL, FORT HOOD MASSACRE VICTIM: I got shot twice in the lower back.

LAVANDERA: Forty-one-year-old Christopher Royal is one of those victims preparing to stare down Hasan in court. The chief warrant officer is still recovering from his wounds, nerve damage down his arm, back and legs. But the trauma is more mental for this married father of a young boy.

ROYAL: I can't go to crowded places anymore. I don't even really go to the mall anymore. I can't take my child to Disneyland because I can't deal with it. I can't take my child to Six Flags because I can't deal with it.

LAVANDERA: Royal has found solace and healing in the gym. Since the attack, he works out twice a day for a total of four hours. While the government classifies the Fort Hood massacre as an outbreak of workplace violence, Royal said he considers Nidal Hasan a terrorist but has forgiven him. Every day he goes by the Fort Hood Memorial, honoring his fallen comrades.

ROYAL: I talk to the soldiers out there. I mean, I don't know if that makes sense. But I see that I can go on because they can't. So that's what helped me throughout my day to keep going. And then when I go by the site, it continues to help me go on because it was 13 that did not make it past that site. So that kind of pushes me through.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Erin, with Nidal Hasan representing himself, a lot of people looking very closely at every move in the courtroom, and many people worried, quite frankly, about the fact that Nidal Hasan would be cross-examining his very own victims. He had the chance to do that once today. One of the witnesses that was called was one of the first people who identified Nidal Hasan as the shooter. And oddly enough, Nidal Hasan, when he had a chance to cross examine that witness, that soldier, chose not to.

So it was interesting. Nidal Hasan had very few questions for very few of the witnesses after prosecutors were done with him. But that is something we'll continue to watch closely as this trial goes on.

BURNETT: Absolutely. All right, thanks very much to Ed Lavandera, who's covering that for us in Killen, Texas.

Still to come, the Republican Party has threatened CNN. They say kill a planned Hillary Clinton document that will air on this network or else. Well, the man behind that threat is OUTFRONT next.

Plus, is Anthony Weiner hurting the Clintons? The former president was asked about the serial sexter today, and you'll hear his response.

And the latest from a python attack in a residential neighborhood and how this could have been avoided.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Welcome back to the second half of OUTFRONT.

We start the second half of our show with stories from the front line. I want to begin with the man who allegedly drove his car into a crowd of people walking along Venice Beach's boardwalk. We reported on this last night and tonight, we can tell you, he has now formally been charged with murder.

He is 38 years old. His name is Nathan Lewis Campbell. He was charged in the death of an Italian woman who was on her honeymoon when she was killed. Sixteen others were injured.

Campbell has pleaded not guilty to murder and 33 other charges. If he is convicted, he faces a possible life sentence.

We are learning more tonight about the circumstances that led a snake to kill two young boys, brothers, ages 4 and 6, during a sleepover in Canada. Sometime before dawn on Monday, a 100-pound African rock python came crashing through ceiling apartment where they were staying and likely squeezed them on death. Now, there had been confusion as to where this snake came from. There have been some reports it may have come from a pet store. Other reports that it could have come from an aquarium in that very apartment.

Steve Bento (ph) of the Department of Natural Resources tells OUTFRONT, African rock pythons are not only illegal in New Brunswick, but the pet store was not licensed as we try to figure out where that snake came from.

Well, former President Bill Clinton speaks out about the New York mayoral race. During a trip to Rwanda, our Nima Elbagir asked Clinton whether he has advice for candidate Anthony Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin. Now, Clinton, after all, officiated at their wedding. So, in Africa, on a trip, here's what he had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Everyone understands that we won't be involved as long as our personal friends and people whom we feel obligations are involved. So the feelings I have are all personal. And since they are, I shouldn't talk about them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Two takeaways. Clinton has feelings about the Weiner scandal and he won't say, but don't expect Clinton to pit one friend against the other. Here in New York, they have three friends in the race for mayor, including the owner of a supermarket chain and former campaign manager for Hillary Clinton. They are friends with many of them and it says something pretty significant that they are unwilling to endorse and have not been willing to endorse the husband of the woman they call their second daughter.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is on the roll. Yesterday, it was the "Washington Post" and today, it's Amazon Art. A new online fine art store that features more than 40,000 art works from 150 galleries. It's a huge project.

And I'm not talking about, you know, art you put on your college dorm wall. We're about Monets, Warhols and Norman Rockwells, that are listed for more than a million dollars and as high as $4.9 million on Amazon.

You can get something for as low as $25. Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Muster tells us no segment of retail is safe from Amazon. He says investors are giving Bezos a blank check to spend the competition into the ground.

It has been 731 days since the United States lost its top credit rating. What are we doing to get it back?

Well, now, the anniversary, the two-year anniversary of losing that rating is behind us. Stocks fell over talk that the Federal Reserve thinks the economy is getting better and it's going to stop just pumping money and to save the economy. Two Fed officials hinted that the Fed could dial back all those spending as early as next month.

Our fourth story OUTFRONT: the GOP versus CNN and NBC. You heard me right. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus is threatening both networks, saying his party won't participate in a 2016 primary debate on either network if the networks don't drop plan for programs about possible Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Joining me now is Reince Priebus.

Good to see you as always, Reince.

You know, and let me just start, obviously, this is CNN. So, you know, you're on CNN. I work for CNN.

Here at CNN, the program that we're talking about come from the CNN Films division. Not the news arm that I'm an employee of, and obviously at NBC, I know it's a similar idea. What's your specific problem with the films?

REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIRMAN: Well, you know, I just think that groups like NBC and CNN that are in the business of news ought to take into consideration the fact that if you want to actually moderate and produce a debate that chooses a nominee for president on the Republican side of the aisle, that it would be reasonable to have the chairman of the party say hang on a second. You ought not be doing feature films or documentaries and mini-series about what we know to be a very likely candidate that is running on the Democratic side of the aisle.

Look, CNN and NBC can do what they want to do. That's their right. But it is also my right, Erin, as chairman of the party to say if you go forward with this, then I'm going to choose not to include you in the debate process and the moderating of our primary debates in our party.

I think this is a reasonable thing for me to be doing. And I think it is actually something that a chairman of a national party ought to be doing given the situation. BURNETT: So, let me ask you this, because here's what I know about the CNN documentary. And, of course, again, I'm not going to talk for NBC because I don't know, and I don't work for CNN Films either.

But I know that they commissioned a feature length documentary. An important word on Hillary Rodham Clinton and the director of it is an Academy Award-winning director. I know, Reince, you're well-aware of this, Charles Ferguson.

Now, Ferguson also made the film, "Inside Job", some of our viewers maybe familiar with. And a review of that film in the nation, which as you're well aware as a liberal magazine said, his film attacks the Bush administration and offers an equally scathing evaluation of President Obama.

So, a liberal man said the man who made Hillary doc slammed a Democratic president. I know you've called the CNN Film though an in kind donation to the campaign.

How do you know, though, this documentary by CNN Films might not actually be really nasty about Hillary and therefore helpful for the RNC?

PRIEBUS: Actually, Erin, I don't think it matters. I don't think it matters if it's really negative or positive. I think presidential elections are largely elections that go to the point of popularity. I think it's a cult of personality that's being built.

And if Hillary Clinton runs, if it looks like she's gearing up to, then she will just build up her campaign, use the fact news networks are building up her name, even if it's negative. Unless you're an idiot like Anthony Weiner, generally, I will tell you, generally, Erin, these are positive developments for candidates. It builds up that cult of personality.

BURNETT: All right.

PRIEBUS: And CNN is going to play a role in it.

I don't think you should. I don't think your network should be playing a role in building up Hillary Clinton. If Hillary doesn't run, then they'll have plenty of time to run all the documentaries in the world about Hillary Clinton. So, you -- CNN doesn't have to proceed right now.

BURNETT: What about, though, the bigger issue that you're facing, because there is context here, Reince. Some people might say, look, what you're saying makes a lot of sense. Then there's this. In 2012 the GOP had 20 televised primary debates. By the way, that was kind of insane.

PRIEBUS: Ridiculous.

BURNETT: It was too many. Your candidates had some horrific moments, I'll just play a couple of them. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: I would do away with the Education -- Commerce, and let's see -- I can't. The third one, I can't, sorry. Oops!

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rick, I'll tell you what, 10,000 bucks? Ten thousand dollar bet?

PERRY: I'm not in the betting business.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BURNETT: Obviously, those were not good moments, right? We all know that. But you don't want as many debates next time. So, a critic might say, look, you're getting a nice way to feed your base going out against liberal media, when what you're really accomplishing is cutting out 20 debates that, you know -- I mean, more than half would go away if you cut out CNN and NBC.

PRIEBUS: Well, look. There's plenty of people and groups that would love to host our debates. The fact is, what you're showing here is making our case. That we ought not have moderators that are in the business of making news at the expense of our party and our candidates moderate our debates.

And moreover, we ought not have moderators and companies that are in the business of promoting a Democratic opponent three years before an election.

So, I mean, you're making our case, which is number one, NBC and CNN ought to halt their promotional movies of Hillary Clinton. If they don't want to do that --

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: Because you're saying if we air anything on Hillary Clinton, even if it is nasty, it is promoting her, right?

PRIEBUS: It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The fact is, if your company is so interested in spending million of dollars in promoting Hillary Clinton when they know darn well that Hillary Clinton and the people around her are gearing up for a presidential election, then that is a choice as a news agency that's trying to be, at least claims to be fair, ought to stop in their tracks and start to think about what the effects of that are.

If you don't care, if CNN doesn't care, that's fine. Then, I don't care either. We move on without CNN and without NBC. It's pretty simple.

BURNETT: All right.

PRIEBUS: There's plenty of media out there for us to work with.

BURNETT: There are, and of course if you got rid of CNN and NBC, that would leave you with -- when it come to the primaries, obviously, the vast majority are on cable so you'd have a lot on FOX. That's why I wanted to ask you about that.

PRIEBUS: You have FOX, you have PBS, you have ABC, you have CBS, you have a lot of other channels on cable.

We can do Salem Communications. We can do radio. We can do town halls. We can do Lincoln Douglas debates. The sun doesn't rise and set with CNN and NBC.

Erin, I like you. I don't have a problem with you. But this is easy to understand.

BURNETT: But what about in 2005? A&E ran an adaptation of John McCain. He was widely seen as a candidate. He then ran. You didn't boycott then. And A&E is owned by ABC.

PRIEBUS: Listen, I can't, I was a candidate for state senate, I think back then.

Listen, I can't speak to the past. What I can speak to is that we had, number one, a 23-debate traveling circus in our party a year and a half ago. Number one, we had moderators that did not have the best interests of our party and our nominees at heart. And number three, we've got two major networks that are spending million of dollars and pretty high level actresses to be part of these movies.

And I'm not going to sit around as party chairman and just act like nothing is wrong. I mean, this is not right, Erin. And I'm saying I've had it with this stuff and I'm going to try to do something about it.

BURNETT: Final question. In the 2008 primary season, the candidates decided to skip a debate held by FOX News, the Democrats. So, then the debate was canceled. And FOX News chairman and CEO said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER AILES, FOX NEWS CHAIRMAN: Any candidate for high office of either party who believes he can black list any news organization is making a terrible mistake about journalists. And any candidate of either party who can not answer direct, simple, even tough questions from any journalist runs a real risk of losing the voters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: I don't know what my boss Jeff Zucker would say it, but it sounds like he might say exactly what Roger Ailes is saying.

PRIEBUS: Not at all. He did not say any candidate that doesn't appear before CNN or NBC isn't fit to serve. They can come on your show every night if they want. And they can take all the tough questions in the world.

The question is, if the party is going to spend time and money and resources and organizing an intelligent and reasonable debate calendar, should we have networks and moderators that are promoting Hillary Clinton depose our candidates? And I say no way.

BURNETT: Thanks very much to Reince Priebus.

Well, former President George W. Bush is recovering from heart surgery tonight. He is 67 years old. Earlier today, he was fitted with a stent because he went in for a routine physical and that revealed blockage in one of his arteries.

Now, the surgery was performed without any complication. The former president is reportedly in high spirits. He is going home tomorrow.

Every year though, nearly a million stents are inserted into Americans, 1 million. We looked into this. That brings me to tonight's number, which is $7 billion. That is the estimated value of the world's stent market, 37 percent of that money is generated right here in the United States.

Now, do you think we have a health care spending problem? The three major players of this country are Boston Scientific, Abbott and Medtronic. It is a huge business. The biggest of the big boys, Boston Scientific, is looking at 70 percent gross margins.

Can you imagine? You could cut that by just a little bit and save us all hundreds of millions of dollars. To put it in perspective, a grocery store is lucky to pull 3 percent margins.

Still to come, a black college student threatened by his white classmates. The victim, though, has asked to spend more time with his attackers.

Plus, the most friendly city in the world is an America. Is it yours?

And $136 million worth of jewels grabbed in Cannes last month, a major development in the case tonight.

And the shout-out, tonight: a jaw-dropping crash. Take a look at this video. We have it highlighted. Just a car swerving on the freeway. Look at it flying over. Look at how that crash is running into a "Boston Globe" delivery truck.

Now, the truck was send over a guardrail and on to an exit ramp.

According to our CNN affiliate, WCVB, the driver of the swerving car was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. But the shout-out tonight goes to the truck driver who has survived that crash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Welcome back.

We're back with our "Outer Circle", where we reach out to our sources around the world.

And tonight, big news on the major jewelry heist that we've been talking about. Insurer Lloyd's of London is offering a reward of up to $1.3 million for information that will lead to recovery of the jewels stolen from Cannes last month. Now, the jewels are worth $136 million, but still, $1.3 would be a lot of money.

In other heist news, arts expert say it's likely three pieces of stolen art from the National History Museum of Romania were burned in an oven. They were priceless pieces of art. It's almost impossible to comprehend this happen.

So, I asked Dan Rivers more about the heist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, talk about money going up in smoke, it appears that three of the seven paintings stolen from a museum in Rotterdam last October may have been burned by the mother of one of the men suspected of having stolen them. The authorities in Romania have already charged six Romanians.

Now, they've done analysis on ashes found in a stove and they believe that special pigments found in those ashes indicate that the paintings may have been burned. They don't know which ones. But they could include paintings by Matisse, Monet and Picasso. Suffice to say, the mother has also been arrested -- Erin.

(END VIDEO CLIP

BURNETT: Thanks to Dan.

And now our fifth story OUTFRONT taunted with the N-word. A black student at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington says he was threatened with several white students who used the slur against him. But instead of punishment for his abusers, this victim wants something incredibly different.

David Mattingly is OUTFRONT with the story. We want to warn you -- some of the language you will hear is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Staying in shape for the track team, Brent Campbell of University of North Carolina-Wilmington says he was in the middle of a summer workout when it happened.

BRENT CAMPBELL, UNCW STUDENT: So I'm looking down just catching a breath and I start hearing shouting.

MATTINGLY: Campbell claims he looked up to find young white men driving by in a pickup truck. They were shouting threats, profanity and racial slurs, calling Campbell the N-word.

(on camera): Did you think they would get out of the truck and come after you?

CAMPBELL: I felt had I made any type of return gestures, comments, that it would have gotten physical extremely quickly.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): And it didn't stop there.

(on camera): This is where the pickup truck was?

CAMPBELL: Yes.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Campbell took me to the very sport where he says all the ugliness played out. He says the truck came back a second time. The driver looked directly at him and angrily threatened him again.

CAMPBELL: That was probably one of the few times I've been called a nigger and really felt like a nigger.

MATTINGLY: There were no other witnesses, no one to back up his story. The men drove off, he says, leaving Campbell with little to do but call the campus police and try to sort out what happened.

(on camera): But one thing Brent Campbell did not do through this was get angry. He decided almost immediately that if these men are caught, and if they are students, he does not want to see them expelled.

Campbell says he's got something else in mind.

If you sit down and talk to any of these young men.

CAMPBELL: Yes.

MATTINGLY: What do you say to them?

CAMPBELL: The first thing is I forgive you and I mean that. I mean that.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Calling on his faith, Campbell wants to meet the alleged tormentors face-to-face. He spells out his plan in a letter to campus administrators, asking that the men be required to get to know him.

CAMPBELL: If you could get a glimpse of the person that I am, he would find in all of that the solution. That is how you change a heart.

MATTINGLY: It is a message of compassion, Campbell wrote about the men somewhere in their homes, in their schools, in their churches even, they were taught to hate. But it was a line about knowledge and love have the power to change a heart.

GARY MILLER, CHANCELLOR, UNCW: I remember reading that several times and I believe that.

MATTINGLY: So, Miller sent his own letter to the entire campus about a deplorable racial incident and a student who responded with grace and openness.

CAMPBELL: Hate, bitterness, anger like this, that grows in the dark. And so the hope is that I get to shed some light on that.

MATTINGLY: The men have not been found and the investigation continues. Campbell prepares to return to classes for his senior year with a life lesson he plans to share with others.

David Mattingly, CNN, Wilmington, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: An incredibly powerful story from our David Mattingly.

Well, every night, we take a look outside the day's top stories for what we call the OUTFRONT "Outtake." If you live in Newark, New Jersey, "Conde Nast Traveler" thinks you're a jerk.

The travel magazine has released its annual list of friendly and unfriendly cities and it's voted on by its readers. New York was named as the most unfriendly not in the United States, people, but on the planet. Beating out Islamabad, Oakland, Luanda in Angola, and Kuwait City.

Half of the top ten unfriendly cities are located in the United States be two of them Newark and Atlantic City in the state of New Jersey, pretty poor showing by America and by New Jersey.

And guess what? The friendly list is pretty bad for the U.S., too. Florianopolis, Brazil, is ranked number one, and one American city, Charleston, South Carolina, even got in the top 10. All told, only four American cities were even considered friendly enough for the list and to give you some prospective, Ireland and New Zealand each had three.

So, when I saw this list, I thought it was a little miff, maybe there something we can learn from it. But I bet must of the "Conde Nast Travelers" who reviewed these cities -- well, when it comes to Newark, have a visit Newark Airport, I'm sure -- I'm sure they've driven past Newark. I'm sure they have read horrible things about Newark.

Have they been to a Red Bulls game? Have they eaten dinner at one of Newark's amazing Portuguese restaurants? Or is it possible they voted without actually ever visiting the city of Newark itself?

Look, no one is denying Newark doesn't have serious problems, but the number one unfriendliest city on the planet Earth? This vote, as we'd like to say in this show, doesn't seem to add up.

Still to come, "The Truth about Benghazi," a sneak preview of our documentary, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: So we've been talking a lot about Benghazi this week, leading up to our special report tonight. It's an important story and we want to make sure we tell it fairly.

Some have made this investigation about politics, of course. But tonight, we're focusing on the facts because we believe that's have the victims deserve. During the production of this documentary, we had the opportunity to speak with the families of all four of the Americans who lost their lives during the attack. They spoke with emotion and candor about the sons and brothers they lost.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHERYL BENNETT, MOTHER OF TYRONE WOODS: Ty perished doing what he loved to do and doing it well. My son did the right thing at the right time for the right reasons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: The people at the center of this investigation do not want politics, name-calling or conspiracy theories. They want justice. They want the truth, and they want the nation to know that their loved ones died doing what they love and fighting to save the lives of others.

These men saved many American lives that night. Without them, so many would have died.

For more information about the foundation started in the victim's names, we hope that you will go to our Web site CNN.com/OutFront so you can learn more about these men and the foundation started in their honor.

"The Truth about Benghazi" airs tonight at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, right here on CNN. Thank you for joining us. We hope to see you then.

"ANDERSON COOPER 360" starts now.