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Erin Burnett Outfront
News Conference On School Shooting; "Nobody Is More Frustrated Than I Am"; U.S. Spying On One Of Its Closer Allies; Special Prosecutor Appointed in Teen Rape Case; Two Boeing 747s Almost Crash Midair; Is the Republican Party Dead?
Aired October 21, 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 HOST (voice-over): "OUTFRONT" next, a student opens fire at school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One down on the playground. They have one in the cafeteria, one in the hall.
BURNETT: We're live at the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Plus a woman nearly faints, standing behind the president today.
OBAMA: You're OK. This happens when I talk too long.
BURNETT: But is it Obama care itself that needs medical attention?
And this man says he's disabled. And he's suing for big money. This video has put him between a rock and a hard place.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, everyone. You are looking at a press conference at the shooting in Sparks, Nevada. A teacher killed two students, wounded one in critical condition tonight. I want to listen in to this press conference.
TOM MILLER, ACTING CHIEF OF SPARKS POLICE DEPARTMENT: The Coroner's Office has not confirmed the identities of the deceased at this time. We hope later on today perhaps. The two male student victims were transported to local hospitals. They were both 12 years old. One was shot through the shoulder. The other shot in the abdomen. Both sustained non-life threatening injuries and are currently in stable condition. At this time, I'm going to call in Chief Mike Mieras with the Washoe County School District Police.
MIKE MIERAS, WASHOE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT POLICE CHIEF: Mike Mieras, Chief of Police for the Washoe County School District Police Department. I want to talk to you. When the initial call came out, the law enforcement officers were on scene in less than 3 minutes from the initial 911 call to the agencies arriving. We had agencies from Reno Police Department, Sparks Police Department, Nevada Highway Patrol, I believe even the marshal's unit responded. So when the first 911 call came in, the response was less than 3 minutes. Another part that's really crucial about this is the outstanding job that the staff did at Sparks Middle School. There's been some reports out there initially that there was some chaos going on. I've got to tell you this, though, the staff at Sparks Middle School before law enforcement arrived had the students -- this was before the bell even rang at 7:30 in the morning.
Those staff members got out, got students into any classroom and put that school into a lockdown, almost instantaneously, outstanding job by the staff by doing that. So I'd like to commend them. The school will be closed for the remainder of this week. Sparks Middle School will be closed. The adjacent elementary school, Agnes Grisley will be closed as well.
The Superintendent Martinez will be up here shortly after me to discuss about the counseling sessions that will be set place for the students and the staff and parents of the Sparks Middle School. So with that, I bring out Superintendent Pedro Martinez.
BURNETT: All right, obviously that's the press conference going on in Sparks, Nevada. Let me just tell you what we know obviously important there just an upgrade. One of the students had been in critical condition, now as you heard, upgraded to stable condition. This happened at a middle school and you heard that those victims were 12 years old.
We don't yet know their names. But we are able to tell you about one other person who was killed, a teacher, Mike Lansbury, was killed when that boy opened fire. You're looking at Mike there. He was said to have served a couple tours in Afghanistan as you can see from that picture, a horrific tragedy, another school shooting in this country. Let me just play for you how this happened this morning when the first call went in to dispatch at 911.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Active shooter, Sparks Middle School, 2275 18th Street. They have at least two down, one down in the drop off area for the buses. Suspect is described as wearing khaki pants. Teacher down in the playground and they have one victim in the cafeteria, one in the hall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're inside the cafeteria where the students have been huddled. We're looking for the shooter now.
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: The suspect is wearing a red shirt, khaki pants, two to four victims at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's looking like our shooter's probably down. Let's operate on that premise for now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And here's what I can tell you about the shooter. The latest understanding that we have, which was not just updated there by police is that the shooter was a student, believed 14 years old, used a handgun that he had taken from his parents after he shot the teacher and two other students. Those boys were 12 years old. He then used the handgun to turn on himself and killed himself. As we get more information on the story we're going to update you on it tonight.
I want to get to the other top story that we are following on this Monday now, the president defending the Obamacare web site fiasco. So today, the president downplayed the problems plaguing his signature achievement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There's no sugar coating it. The web site has been too slow. People have been getting stuck during the application process and I think it's fair to say that nobody's more frustrated by that than I am precisely because the product is good. I want the cash registers to work. I want the checkout lines to be smooth -- so I want people to be able to get this great product.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That was the sell there although at one point during the press conference he did frankly using his word say that the web site had, quote/unquote "stank" so far. Casey Wian has been investigating what exactly went so very wrong? He filed this special report OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Way more glitches than I think are acceptable.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Glitches?
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: The web site launch was rockier than we would have liked.
WIAN: Rockier?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: We're working out the kinks in the system.
WIAN: By now it's clear that stronger words are needed to describe the web launch of Obamacare.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: It's been a fiasco.
WIAN: The White House struggled to answer questions about what many have said was inadequate testing prior to the launch of the web site.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know whether the web site was beta tested?
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: In terms of the types of testing and I just don't want to pretend to be an expert. What I can say is that the system has not worked as effectively and efficiently, obviously, as we wanted it to, the president, the secretary, anybody wanted to.
WIAN: The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius says the online insurance market place needed five years of construction. In reality she said, quote, "We had two years and almost no testing." Katherine is an executive of Navigant Consulting, a contractor hired to help set up the health care exchanges.
CATHERINE SRECKOVICH, MANAGING DIRECTOR, NAVIGANT: I think it's not so much a surprise initially. I think the fact that there seems to be so much ongoing problems noted as more of the surprise.
WIAN: The largest Obamacare contractor is CGI Group, a Canadian firm that developed much of the website's architecture. In a statement, CGI said it and other contractors, quote, "are working round the clock toward the improvement of health care.gov, a system that is complex ambitious and unprecedented. We remain confident in our ability to deliver continuous improvement in system performance and a more positive user experience." But that's not enough for some critics.
MCCAIN: Send Air Force Out to Silicon Valley, load it up with some smart people, bring it back to Washington and fix this problem.
WIAN: Matt Mullenweg is one of those smart people from Silicon Valley who founded "Word Press," which hosts one in five websites.
MATT MULLENWEG, FOUNDER, WORDPRESS: It sounds like they went for the fast and cheaper. The launch date was probably picked politically and the software and everything else was backed into that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: We may find out if that's truly what happened beginning Thursday. Congress is beginning to hold hearings and then several contractors are scheduled to testify and Secretary Sebelius is expected to testify next week -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Casey, thank you very much and obviously that testimony's such a crucial thing. I want to bring in John Avlon, the executive editor of the "Daily Beast."
John, I want to ask you about the people signing up, but before I do that, let me just ask you about the news late today that Kathleen Sebelius is going to testify next week. When they asked her to testify this week, but she is going to be at the JFK Library event up in Boston so she can't. Does that send the wrong signal? Sure, I'll do it, but when I get around to it next week.
JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You're darn right. It sends the wrong signal. Look, as fancy as that gala might be, it's not more than testifying in Congress on the president's signature legislation.
BURNETT: I like you say screwed up. He said stank. At least people are being honest without limp. But let me ask you about this, John, because this is what it all comes to, right? The administration needed 7 million people to sign up for Obamacare and 2.7 million of them needed to be young and healthy in order for the whole system to work financially, right.
But the people spending all this time to sign up right now, who are doing all these waits and waits, I am going to bet that they are not the young, healthy people, right, that they are probably people with pre-existing conditions or problems and that's why they're waiting.
A lot of young people are now saying, look, paying the penalty is cheaper than paying for a plan with $5,000 or $6,000 of deductibles. If young people don't sign up and do it quickly, isn't the president going to be forced to delay the formal beginning of Obamacare, which is what a lot of Republicans wanted him to do in the first place?
AVLON: I don't know that he'll be force to delay it, but you raise a really fundamentally important point. The way these markets, these exchanges work is if enough young people sign up to lower the overall burden because what everyone likes about this legislation in terms of popularity is pre-existing conditions being covered, but that only happens if you have a broad enough market place.
So you're right. These tech glitches, the hassle factor, which is a significant dynamic in any new technology roll out. If the hassle factor is too high, the young and healthy won't sign up then you have a fundamental problem in the market. So it could cause a fundamental problem. Now whether the administration will conceive that and be forced to delay, that's several chess moves out. But it is a problem and you can see it coming a mile away as you just pointed out.
BURNETT: Yes, it's going to be fascinating to see what happens. The very people who, you know, the president today said well, you can go in, in person. You can make a call, but the people that you need the most are the people who go in the lab and do something quickly, the young and healthy. But we shall see.
Still to come, the NSA spying on the French in a major way and the French are raising a big brouhaha about it. Do they have a reason?
Plus America's latest high octane sport, the running of the bulls taking this country by storm.
And stuck between a rock and a hard place, does this guy look disabled to you? He says he is. He's suing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Our second story, OUTFRONT, touche, so America is spying on one of its closest ally. President Obama spoke to French President Francoise Holland today after the U.S. ambassador to France was summoned to meet with French officials about new allegations that the NSA intercepted more than 70 million phone calls in France last December.
This comes on the heels of reports the U.S. was hacking into the e- mail account of a former Mexican president. OUTFRONT tonight, Bob Baer, CNN national security analyst, former CIA operative. Bob, first of all, you've been in this kind of situation, CIA agent. This goes both ways, doesn't it? BOB BAER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: Absolutely. I was assigned to Paris in the '80s. And the French at the time were breaking into American business men's hotel rooms, copying their briefcases, downloading their computers and the rest of it. We confronted the French on this. We kept it quiet. So it does go both ways, absolutely.
BURNETT: Yes, I mean, that's just pretty amazing. A CEO once was saying, you know, they get training actually particularly about Paris because they think this still happens. So it seems crucial and I want to ask you this, Bob. Sources in the French government recently told me that when Germany was upset about America collecting German calls this summer, the German government uproar was manufactured.
And the French told me that was because the German government knew the United States was doing it. In fact, they were actually helping the United States to do it. But the outrage was kind of for PR, you know, wow, this was terrible this would happen. Are the French now doing the same thing as sort of, you know, ooh la, la?
BAER: Absolutely. This, you know, in the cold war, they started listening to phone calls. They sort of knew a turned, you know, turned a blind eye.
But Erin, remember, that 9/11 was a plot hatched in Europe between -- in Germany, in particular but also France. It is so-called 20th hijacker as acronym was Salie (ph). It was French. And what did the French tell us? Nothing. So, you have to look at the National Security Agency's point of view, and we have a reason to listen to phone calls there, period.
BURNETT: And do you think it still happens, all that about the hotel rooms when they come in and still take everything that an American might bring in?
BAER: Absolutely, I mean, you just don't want to leave anything out. I know American business men do it all the time. But if you're going to Paris and a lot of countries in Europe, and in particular China, you're going to have your stuff searched and copied.
BURNETT: That is a word to the wise, certainly putting this whole story in perspective.
Thank you Bob Baer. He's actually been there in those hotel rooms.
For out third story OUTFRONT, move over NASCAR, there is a new sports searching in the United States. Thousands turned out for the great Bull Run in Conyers, Georgia, on Saturday, the second event of its kind in the United States. You'd think it was Spain, but no. Two people were injured in the first event in late August, but with more runs already planned, this is actually proving to be a major draw for adrenaline junkies across the country. It is something we are all going to be watching.
Alina Machado has a special report OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's billed at the ultimate experience for those looking for a thrill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have the instant few moments of just sheer terror.
MACHADO: This is the running of the bulls, not to the streets of Pamplona, Spain, but at a horse park just outside of Atlanta. It's the second Bull Run in the U.S. this year, organized by a group called the Great Bull Run. At least seven more are planned through 2014, and they're sparking controversy. Around 7,000 people signed a waiver and paid a fee up to $75 for the first two events to come face-to-face with the possibility of injury or worse.
JIM LOVELL, BULL RUNNER: I could be at home laying in the bed angry and bitter. I had a brush with death this morning, that's fun.
MACHADO (on camera): These bulls aren't like the ones in Spain. The ones used in Spain are bread to fight in the ring. They are more aggressive. These are rodeo bulls. Their horns are also not sharpened. But that doesn't mean you can't get hurt.
There's inherent danger.
ROB DICKENS, CO-FOUNDER, THE GREAT BULL RUN: Of course. Of course. This is a dangerous event.
MACHADO: Event co-founder, Rob Dickens, says one person was seriously hurt at this event, a broken pelvis, but he says the bulls have not been harmed.
DICKENS: These bulls are, you know, quite athletes in their own rights. We do not want to injury them in any way whatsoever and we don't -- .
MACHADO: So you're not prodding them. You're not torturing them. You are not doing anything to make them angry so that they chase humans.
DICKENS: No. Not at all. They run because their stampede instinct kicks in.
MACHADO: But several petition on change.org want future event canceled. The animal legal defense fund says forcing the bull to participate is inhumane.
JESSICA BLOME, ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND: The only people who really benefit from this event are thrill seekers and the company sponsors who earn thousands of dollars off of profiteering from animal cruelty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
MACHADO: Preston Fowlkes owns the 36 bulls used in The Great Bull Run. He says the animals are divided into two groups to make sure they get breaks between runs. When they're not running, Fools (ph) say the bulls are resting at his ranch. PRESTON FOWLKES, OWNER: We have been on rodeo being (INAUDIBLE). I make my living with animals, so I'm not going to abuse them. Why would I?
MACHADO: Dickens says he was asked to runners that they increase the number of bulls in each run to add to the thrills. He hopes this will be the beginning of a new American tradition.
For OUTFRONT, Alina Machado, Conyers, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: All right, still to come, a mystery captivating the world. A gypsy couple found with a girl who is not their daughter. Blonde, green eyes, who is she and where did she come from?
Plus, a dramatic near miss in the sky, 747s almost hit in mid-air. A thousand people almost lose their lives. What happened?
And, this man already in trouble for pushing over this boulder. Meanwhile, he claimed to be disabled not long ago, suing for a boatload of money. We have the story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Our fourth story OUTFRONT, lawsuits gone wild, is the man who toppled a 2000 pound inch in boulder suing for disability at the same time. This video went viral last week showing scout leader Glen Taylor knocking a rock formation from its place in Utah. That boulder had stood there for 170 million years and that is what the celebration.
But CNN has learned that Taylor file a personal injury lawsuit last month over a car crash saying he suffered quote, "disability from the accident."
Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wiggle it. Just a little bit.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The wiggle and the topple echoing across the worldwide web, the man doing the pushing is Glen Taylor.
ALAN MACDONALD, LAWSUIT DEFENDANT: It's just, you know, highly offended to see that somebody would act that way.
LAH: Not just because Taylor toppled what is known as a goblin, this unusual looking nearly 200 million year old rock formation in a Utah state park, but because Taylor is suing Alan MacDonald and his daughter for a car accident four years ago. According to this personal aid to the lawsuit, Taylor claims after the accident he has serious permanent and debilitating injuries and has endured great pain and suffering, disability, impairment, loss of joys of life. Taylor filed this lawsuit last month. This is Taylor last week.
MACDONALD: Somebody with a bad back who's disabled, who can't enjoy life, to me, doesn't step up and push a rock that big right off its base.
LAH: Taylor's lawyer did not return CNN's calls for comment. Taylor did say this to a CNN affiliate about the lawsuit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: You don't look very debilitated in that video.
GLEN TAYLOR, FILED LAWSUIT TO MACDONALD: You didn't see how hard I pushed.
LAH: Why would a plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit post his own video tipping over an ancient rock formation? People do the darnedest things with cell phones.
DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It is a strange thing that people would file these claims and you think they would avoid the camera like the plague. But instead, they don't seem to think anyone will ever see it or any repercussions will ever come of it.
LAH: Or hear their excuses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some little kid was about ready to walk down here and die. Glen saved his life by getting the boulder out of the way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: All right, Kyung, obviously kind of bizarre to just watch that. But what is the status of the criminal investigation and the fact that this guy was a Boy Scout leader on top of everything else, right? Supposed to be a paragon, a guy you look up to.
LAH: Someone you look up to, well, he is going to be a target of a criminal investigation. We can tell you that there is one in place. The district attorney has been contacted bit state park. There is a potential for felony charges.
As far as this whole Boy Scout leader thing, the boy scouts are announcing they're being booted, both him and his friend. We got this statement from Boy Scout of America today. Statement saying quote, "we were shocked and saddened by this irresponsible display of behavior and apparent disregard for our natural surroundings. The isolated actions of these volunteers are absolutely counter to our beliefs and what we teach." The Boy Scouts saying, you know, we have a leave no trace policy behind obviously violated here, Erin.
BURNETT: That's for sure.
Kyung Lah, thank you so much. This is so outrageous to see people milking the system.
Still to come, everything you have been told about the Republican Party post shutdown may be wrong.
Plus, an update on a story they have been following for more than a week, a 14-year-old girls says she was raped, but the charges were dropped. Her appearance on this program got the case reopens. We're going to ask her about some -- with some say are inconsistencies in her story.
And one of the biggest music superstar is in court today. We are going to what charges see low green faces.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Welcome back to the second half of OUTFRONT.
A special prosecutor has been appointed to reinvestigate allegations that a 17 year old high school football player raped a 14-year-old girl after getting her drunk. The original prosecutor said Daisy Coleman's appearance when she said she was willing to testify on this program caused him to reopen the case. Daisy claims charges against Matt Barnett were originally dropped because of political pressure. The prosecutor says the reason was a lack of evidence.
I spoke to Daisy Friday and asked her how she felt about the fact that Matt Barnett's testimony was inconsistent when questioned by authorities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAISY COLEMAN, CLAIMS SHE WAS RAPED BY HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATE: It's just kind of annoying because I feel that my story in general did stay very consistent throughout this entire ordeal. And when it's over something so small, like whether or not I rang a doorbell and you're literally drilling me over it for 30 minutes, it's really aggravating.
BURNETT: If you had a chance to talk to Matt Barnett now, what would you say?
COLEMAN: I would actually like to know what happened that night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: About 2,000 people are expected to march in protest tomorrow, according to Missouri's Maryville Daily Forum.
Well, authorities in Florida are looking into whether two murders paid someone outside jail to produce bogus court documents that enabled them to escape. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement tells CNN that fake court papers like these are a, quote-unquote, "cottage industry", and that inmates pay upward of $8,000 to get them. The two inmates were captured at a Florida motel over the weekend. This is footage captured by another guest at the motel showing U.S. Marshals storming the rooms with the guns drawn.
And singer Cee Lo Green is facing the music in court over a felony drug charge. "The Voice" judge is accused of slipping ecstasy to a 33-year-old woman while they were eating at a Los Angeles restaurant. The two then went back to woman's hotel. She later accused Green of spiking her drink. The district attorney says there wasn't sufficient evidence to support a rape charge.
In a statement, Green's attorney says that, quote, "Any relations were consensual." He faces up to four years in prison.
One unscripted moment during the president's Obamacare speech this morning, there was a woman standing behind the president. I always like looking at who's standing behind and how they're watching him. But this time something happened. She almost fainted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I got you. You're OK.
This happens when I talk too long.
You'll be OK.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: Good catch, by the way, whoever was here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The woman, her name was Karmel Allison. And she's OK, and she spoke after that happened to CNN.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
KARMEL ALLISON: I'm 20 weeks pregnant at this point. And I hadn't had much to drink that morning because I was worried about possibly needing to go to the bathroom during the speech. So, I wanted to avoid that. And as the sun hit me, I got a little bit light-headed, but everything is OK now and back to normal.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: Allison is a type 1 diabetic and was at the speech representing the American Diabetes Association.
Well, our fifth story OUTFRONT was a terrifying near-miss in the sky. These are the things when you're in the air and you take off and you get right up near cruising altitude and you think everything is fine? Well, this almost happened. A horrific midair crash.
A new report details how two 747 jumbo jets came close to crashing while flying over Scotland. They had taken off from the U.K. heading across the Atlantic, 1,000 passengers were aboard those two planes and they came close to losing their lives in a horrific midair crash.
It turns out the pilots confuse the air traffic controller's instructions.
Chris Lawrence is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two jumbo jets came close to a catastrophic collision over Scotland, with up to 1,000 passengers on board. Somehow the pilots got so confused, they nearly steered their planes right into each other.
STEVEN WALLACE, FORMER FAA CHIEF OF ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION: This is very hard to explain because it appears that two airplanes with two pilots in each airplane, everybody got it wrong initially.
LAWRENCE: Both 747s were about to cross the Atlantic. One climbed to a cruising altitude which put them on a path to converge. An air traffic controller immediately told the plane on the left, turn left. The plane on the right, turn right.
But the pilots misinterpreted the orders and did the opposite. They turned toward each other. The 747s got within three miles when the emergency order is given for one to go up, the other down.
(on camera): So, were the pilots told one thing and all four of them heard the complete opposite? Is that possible?
WALLACE: The conclusion of the British investigators was that each pilot did what the other pilot was instructed to do.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Even though they were miles away, at one point, one plane was just 100 feet above the other.
WALLACE: The report said in this airspace they're supposed to be 1,000 feet vertical and 5 nautical miles horizontal. So, they were clearly not separated by that much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: They found that the instructions those pilots got were clear. And the pilots confirmed they heard the instructions. Also, their call signs were so different, it's hard to see how they could have gotten those call signs mixed up.
Now, as scary as all that was, one thing that may make American fliers rest a little easier tonight is that no U.S. airlines have had that sort of collision since 1978 -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Chris Lawrence. Terrifying, though.
Our sixth story OUTFRONT: is the GOP dead? That has been the theme of countless editorial headlines lately. You've seen them no doubt.
For the GOP, the damage, undeniable. The Tea Party and GOP crackup, and Republicans devastating defeat. And as you can see, "The Wall Street Journal" on that list. So, this isn't just coming from the left. This is coming from the center and the right and from everywhere.
But is it really time to write an obituary for the Grand Old Party? OUTFRONT tonight, former spokesman for the House Speaker John Boehner, Terry Holt, and CNN political commentator, Ben Ferguson.
Great to have you with us.
Ben, editorial headlines are consistent and I wanted to make that point obviously coming from "The Wall Street Journal." I didn't put "The New York Times", because I know you'd say, well, of course, right? And they were nasty. But is "The Journal".
Why are all those headlines wrong?
BEN FERGUSON, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, because I think, first of all, there's always this narrative any time there's a debate or a fight within the GOP that it's the end of the world. And it's not yet, again, the end of the world.
We saw this when John McCain got the nomination. We saw this when Mitt Romney was pulling ahead of Rick Santorum and oh, my gosh the divide is massive.
In this situation, you do have a changing of the guard going on. I said this the other day, took a lot of heat for it.
But I think the days of Mitch McConnell and John McCain are being numbered now. And part of it, because for five years, they've been consistently good at losing to Barack Obama. They have nothing that they can say they've done independently to actually grow the GOP.
And my point about this is this. When the Republicans took back --
BURNETT: They got the sequester. They got the sequester.
FERGUSON: They got the sequester. But part of the reason why they got it was conservative and Tea Party members took back the House. John McCain wasn't picking candidates. John McCain was not taking back the House after they lost it. In fact, they lost it partly because of the establishment's leadership.
The conservative Tea Party people got out there. They put on their boots. They worked hard, they got back the House.
So, you know, when they say, well, the Tea Party's ruining us -- remember, John McCain was the one that picked Sarah Palin. So, he created the monster he now hates.
BURNETT: Well, you do have a point there that he did create. That is an interesting point.
Terry, let me ask you, one thing matters to the GOP more than anything. Well, actually, that's not true. One thing matters to some people in the GOP and that is winning next year. Right at the end of the summer, all the talk was Republicans are going to keep the House and they might actually win the Senate. Now, it's the opposite. People are saying Democrats could sweep, that will enable the president actually to push forward his agenda significantly before leaving office.
Poll today that we had here at CNN, 54 percent of the people polled say the GOP controlling the House is bad for the United States. That is down 11 points. That is a huge move.
So, Terry, I ask you this question. Do we need more Mitch McConnells? Or is the Tea Party going to cost Republicans the House?
TERRY HOLT, FORMER SPOKESMAN FOR REP. JOHN BOEHNER: It's been a tough couple of weeks. When we shut down the government in the '90s, the Republicans still retained control of the House of Representatives, albeit by a narrower margin.
I think for establishment Republicans, you know, there's a difference between being right and winning. And in this, in this day and age, we have a group of people in our party that are dead set on being right, but if they think it's tough now running against Barack Obama or trying to compete with his policies, try doing it with a third of the electorate. We might find ourselves out of power if we can't find a way to unite.
And let's look at the last couple of years. Over the last two years, there has been a tremendous reduction in federal spending. Debt is still skyrocketing. But because of a unified GOP, we've been able to stand up and hold Barack Obama's policies to something less than the huge increases that he wanted to make.
So, a unified party is better. When I was running campaigns, I knew the math. It was 50 percent plus 1. And you can't win an election with less than a majority of the vote.
And I think that is what is causing some Republicans some concern.
BURNETT: And, Ben, let me ask you this question. Ted Cruz was asked about this by our Dana Bash this weekend.
FERGUSON: Yes.
BURNETT: You know, who's to blame if the GOP loses the House? Now, he pointed the finger at somebody, but let me play for you at whom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: The single most damaging thing that has happened to Republicans for 2014 is all of the Senate Republicans coming out, attacking the House Republicans, attacking those pushing the effort to defund Obamacare and lining themselves up opposite the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: How is that helpful, Ben? I mean, I understand you've got fights in your family, right? But isn't it better to have those fights when the door is closed, not out on the street?
FERGUSON: Well, I think if you look at the fights, Ted Cruz was standing up to Obamacare and the Republicans were the ones that were attacking him more than even the Democrats were.
And so, for him to fight back, I would say that's probably going to happen. I mean, this is politics. And this is how it works.
But, you know, you look at what Ted Cruz and other conservatives have done. They have given John Boehner the ability to even stand up to Barack Obama. Remember, Obamacare became law because the Republicans did not have control of the House. And without the Tea Party they still wouldn't have control of the House.
So I wouldn't hate on these guys too much because they actually came in and saved your rear end.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thanks very much to both of you. We appreciate it.
America's biggest bank, meanwhile, has settled with the Feds. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon agreed on a phone call with Eric Holder to pay $13 billion in fines and penalties.
This is all related to mortgage-backed securities and bad mortgages. It's a hell of a lot of money, but JPMorgan can afford it, which brings me tonight's number: $26 billion. That's how much JPMorgan made last year. So, the fine will take about half what they make.
If that makes you feel better, maybe it shouldn't, just because they can afford it doesn't make it right. Going after companies, of course, should be based on wrongdoing, not on who has the money. And the truth in the case of JPMorgan's $13 million fine is that many of the problem mortgages that they're paying for now stem from two acquisitions the bank made during the depth of the financial crisis.
Five years ago, JPMorgan bought Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual. These were hastily arranged deals brokered by Uncle Sam. In fact, many would say the fair word to use is "forced by Uncle Sam." Jamie Dimon was told, if you don't buy these, which are in death spirals, you're going to jeopardize the financial system. It's a patriotic duty, got to do it.
JPMorgan didn't have the luxury of time to do due diligence at the time. They didn't have the luxury of saying, no, I don't want to buy this company because we're worried (INAUDIBLE). Jaime Dimon got the banks cheap. They also had to take on those banks bad loans and now they're paying for it.
So, yes, JPMorgan has stumbled well on its own, most notably and recently, with the massive trade gone wrong, which caused nearly a billion dollars in fines. But there is irony in the federal government fining the bank that it asked to help bailout the financial systems under terms set by none other than Uncle Sam.
Still to come, a mystery that's captivating the entire world. A Greek couple living with a girl who's not their daughter. They were, quote- unquote, "gypsies" and she's a blonde, green eyed -- well, who is she?
Plus, a shocking statistic. There is a place in the United States where the feds say rape occurs, and it's rampant, and they don't seem to do anything about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And we are back with tonight's "Outer Circle".
We begin in Greece, where a gypsy couple stand accused of abducting a mysterious young girl.
Eric McLaughlin is OUTFRONT, and I asked her what we know about where this girl came from.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erin, the couple's lawyer says this is the case of an illegal adoption not illegal abduction. The couple say that Maria was given to them by a Bulgarian woman who could no longer take care of the child.
Members of their own community have rallied around them. They released a home video that shows Maria dancing, saying that she was a much loved member of the family. Now, authorities do not seem to be buying this version of events. Police say the couple has changed their story many times and questions are swirling around the identities of the other 13 children. The ages of six of them are within 10 months of each other. The couple remains in police custody -- Erin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Thanks very much, Erin McLaughlin.
And now, our seventh story OUTFRONT: Rampant rape on Native American reservations.
According to the Department of Justice: one in three Native American women is raped in her life. U.S. government apparently doing almost nothing to stop it. I fact, federal prosecutors have declined to prosecute 67 percent of sexual abuse cases on reservations, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Ted Rowlands has this OUTFRONT investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN POOR BEAR, VICTIM: My innocent was stolen throughout my childhood.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Robin Poor Bear is reading a poem she wrote about being raped as a child on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
ROBIN POOR BEAR: Me, I either gave it up or it was taken from me, being raped.
ROWLANDS (on camera): How old were you? ROBIN POOR BEAR: The first time I was raped was when I was 3. After that, I was raped again when I was 10 and beaten.
ROWLANDS (voice-over): Child rape and sexual assault is an epidemic at Spirit Lake. In this house in May 2011, 9-year-old Destiny Shaw Dubois and her 6-year-old brother were viciously raped and murdered. While there was a conviction, in that case, most victims here never see justice.
BETTY JOE KRENZ, FORMER RESERVATION FOSTER CARE MANAGER: What bothers me is what is okay.
ROWLANDS: Betty Joe Krenz was fired as a foster care manager at Spirit Lake she says for speaking out. In the year and a half she was in the system, she says the stories she heard from children were horrifying.
KRENZ: The young lady, she was 6 years old, she looked across the table at me and just as matter as factually as you talk about the weather, she informed me that her grandpa put his thing in her mouth and it tasted salty.
ROWLANDS (on camera): People here in the reservation say there are several reasons that things are so bad. There's pressure on victims to keep things quiet, drug and alcohol addiction is also a problem, they say.
But there's an issue with the way that the law enforcement is structured on the reservation. The federal government is responsible for investigating and prosecuting major crimes like rape.
(voice-over): But the federal government by all accounts only prosecute is a tiny fraction of reported cases.
Thomas Sullivan is a regional administrator with the Department of Health and Human Services. He's filed 12 separate scathing reports about abuse at Spirit Lake, citing dozens of examples of inaction including a case of a 13-year-old girl raped in her home by a 37-year- old man. The girl contracted gonorrhea, but because the sex was supposedly consensual, no charges were filed.
In his report, Sullivan blames both tribal leaders and federal agencies, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the FBI and the Department of Justice, for not doing enough to prosecute abusers.
We asked to interview Sullivan, but were told no by his bosses at HHS.
(on camera): We want to chat with you for a little bit.
JOEL REDFOX, SPIRIT LAKE TRIBAL LEADER: No, maybe later, sometime.
ROWLANDS (voice-over): We also tried talking to Joel Redfox, a tribal leader who was convicted of misdemeanor sexual assault himself in 2006, after he told us to wait an hour.
REDFOX: No comment. ROWLANDS (on camera): No comment?
REDFOX: No.
ROWLANDS (voice-over): He changed his mind and walked away.
(on camera): You said you were going to talk to us in an hour now, you changed?
(voice-over): Russ McDonald has been the tribal chairman. For eight weeks, he acknowledges there is a major child abuse problem at Spirit Lake and on other Indian re reservations.
RUSS MCDONALD, SPIRIT LAKE TRIBAL CHAIRMAN: But I think it has to be tore down all the way. I think we have to build up from the bottom up.
TONY DELORME, SPIRIT LAKE MEMBER: It's unbelievable.
ROWLANDS: Spirit Lake member Tony Delorme blames tribal corruption and a weak federal government.
DELORME: And I'm saying we need help immediately. That's my message to the federal government. Please come, you do have absolute plenary power when it comes to heinous crimes.
ROBIN POOR BEAR: My spirit is strong and cannot be broken or beat because --
ROWLANDS: Three years ago, Robin Poor Bear found out her 12-year-old daughter was sexually abused by a family member, continuing a cycle that sadly many here are forced to endure.
For OUTFRONT, Ted Rowlands, Spirit Lake, North Dakota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: A spokeswoman for the Department of the Interior tells us and I want to quote, "All the allegations that have been raised by Sullivan about crimes against children at Spirit Lake have been turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Indian Affairs Law Enforcement and they have been investigated." Note they use the past tense.
OUTFRONT next, how you can own a piece of the NFL.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Would you like own a piece of the NFL or at least a player.
Zain Asher is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the field, Arian Foster is explosive. Off of it, charming. UNIDENTIFIED BOY: What is your favorite food?
ARIAN FOSTER, ATHLETE: My mama cooked some bomb enchiladas.
ASHER: And thanks to a new idea, he'll soon be a publicly traded asset.
BUCK FRENCH, FANTEX CEO: We're interested in working with Arian because he has attributes that are beyond just being a pro-bowl running back. His approach to life and things off the fields makes him an attractive candidate for us.
ASHER: The Houston Texas star running back is the first athlete to sign up with Fantex, a San Francisco based start-up that will allow fans to buy and sell shares of their favorite athletes.
Fantex will pay Foster $10 million up front. In exchange, Fantex and investors get 20 percent of the running back's future income.
Fans can buy a stake of Foster at $10 a share. Investors profit when Foster's income from contracts, endorsements, and appearance fees rises. And Fantex says it hopes to pay investors in dividends in the future, but there is no guarantee.
But veteran sports consultant Robert Tuchman is punting the Foster stock.
ROBERT TUCHMAN, PRESIDENT, GOVIVA: It's very difficult to monetize athlete's brands post-playing days. It's very difficult to monetize athlete's brands while they're playing.
ASHER: Fantex is offering 1 million shares of Fantex series Arian Foster convertible tracking stock in essentially an IPO and says it's looking for more talented athletes just like Foster.
FRENCH: How you play or the performance of you play gives you a platform in which you have a voice and a marketplace which impacts your brand.
ASHER: Investors though, should trade carefully. Fantex lists 84 risk factors on its Web site, including the risk of athletes getting injured and unforeseen issues with its trading platform.
And if Fantex doesn't raise enough money in the initial offering, it says it's scrapping the deal.
Still, the company is bullish about bringing sports investing to the average Joe. Once the exclusive domain of big money.
FRENCH: We really embrace this concept of him being a trail blazer. And it fits his brand and how we see him. And we think that there is a desire for that out in the marketplace.
ASHER: For OUTFRONT, Zain Asher, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BURNETT: Now, if you were watching the games yesterday, you saw Foster aggravated his hamstring. We talked to Fantex about it, they said his injury has no bearing on their plans to move ahead with the IPO.
Let's send it off to Anderson.
