Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Victor Blackwell And

Company this morning, im christi paul. And im victor blackwell. A big announcement coming this hour. Any moment. Former Maryland Governor Martin Omalley is announcing hes running for the democratic nomination for president. Yes, taking on Hillary Clinton. Lets take you live to baltimore where omalley was mayor. Here youre looking at federal hill. Well bring the announcements to you live as soon as it happens. Protests are expected there. Cnn senior washington correspondent jed zeleny is there with more. Theres a lot of people who dont know Martin Omalley. Hes got a lot of work to do. Theres no question that Martin Omalley has an uphill battle ahead of him. Not only running against Hillary Clinton and introducing himself to voters in those early states of iowa. New hampshire. I learned a few moments ago that governor omalley called secretary clinton late yesterday to tell her that he was going to jump into the democratic president ial campaign. Saying he was going to run against her. But sort of an interesting element here. He is presenting himself as a new generation saying hes a new face of the democratic party. Also presenting himself as not only a politician, but a musician. The man strumming hail to the chief is Martin Omalley. He wants to be president. Hi. Hes a musician and former Maryland Governor. Ready to go head to head with Hillary Clinton. Right now our countrys in a fight, for the very future of the American Dream. On a recent visit to New Hampshire, he acknowledged hes hardly a household name. I start this race as as a new face to a lot of people and somebody totally unknown. And which is the same way i started when i ran for city council or state senate. Or mayor. His time as mayor of baltimore is now in the spotlight. Giving the violence and protests in the city. He talked about it with cnns jake tapper. Do you shoulder any of the blame here . Are you responsible at all . Well were all responsible. I was responsible when i decided do run for mayor in 1999 and i told people all across our city vote for me. And together we will not only improve the policing of our streets, well improve the policing of our police. His record will be seen in a new light in his uphill bat toll knock off the democratic frontrunner. History is full of examples where the inevitable frontrunner was inevitable right up until they were no longer inevitable. The presidency of the United States is not some crown to be passed between two families. Its a different tune from eight years ago. When he was one of her biggest fans. It is with great pride and enthusiasm that i endorse my friend senator Hillary Clinton to be the next president of the United States. I could not be prouder than to have this endorsement. Those old bonds now broken as he seeks to stop her president ial bid. Now were going to see a different sidebyside view of omalley and clinton later this year when they appear on the same debate stage. Hes presenting himself as a new generation democrat. Even his super pac is called generation forward. A not so subtle nod that he is 52. Secretary clinton is 67 years old. So an interesting democratic race ahead. Vikt center. Jeff there are protests planned this morning at the time when the governor will make this announcement. What do the numbers look like . What can you tell us about these protests . As of now, the protests have not materialized. We are here on federal hill just outside downtown baltimore. A lot of supporters are gathering here in the crowd as you can see. Heavy security presence but no protesters yet. Cnns bonnie calf who is out looking for protesters says shes seeing nothing around baltimore right now. So well see if the protests actually develop. Right now the crowd is obviously supporters obviously an invited crowd. So governor omalley going to give a speech here and travel on to iowa and New Hampshire over the weekend. Jed zeleny reporting live in baltimore. Were awaiting the announcement from former Maryland Governor former baltimore mayor, Martin Omalley announcing his candidacy for president of the United States. As jed reported he already called secretary of state Hillary Clinton to alert her that hes entering the race. Well bring the announcement live. Were expecting it in about 25 minutes. Indicted former speaker of the house, Dennis Hastert could be arraigned as early as next week. 73yearold exrepublican congressman accused of lying to the fbi and skirting bank laws so he could give millions of dollars in hush money to an unidentified person who apparently knew about alleged misconduct. Now a Law Enforcement source tells cnn hastert was paying a former male student, to keep quiet about allegations of sexual abuse. Hastert used to be a high school teacher. And a history teach anywhere fact and a wrestling coach in illinois back in 1965. And continued until 1981. He allegedly paid nearly 2 million in this hush money. But agreed to pay 3. 5 million overall. Well joining us on the phone now is katherine skiba, a washington correspondent for the chicago tribune. Were looking for clarity here. Good morning. There is this report from another tribune paper about a second person who has come out now, with similar allegations that corroborate what the first person is alleging. Clarify this for us. Is this a second person alleging a second instance or example of abuse . Or just corroborating the first allegation . Actually its the second person Law Enforcement tells us is a man who has raised similar allegations about Dennis Hasterts conduct. But this individual has not been paid. And were also told by Law Enforcement that the probe is ongoing. Hastert was not only a teacher, he was a wrestling coach, a Boy Scout Troop leader and i dont think that the sevenpage allegation that we have the indictment is the last well hear of this case by any means. Katherine, i dont want to belabor this point, but i think its important to find out, if the second person is saying that there are separate allegations in addition to the allegations that are made by the first person that whatever this misconduct is that one person the first individual a is referring to the second person is now talking about a separate instance . Yes, our understanding is theres a separate victim a separate set of circumstances involving Dennis Hasterts misconduct. But again this person has not been paid. The indictment focuses on a person who has lived in yorkville, illinois. Far west suburban chicago. The indictment says hes known hastert nearly all his life. They met in 2010 and they got together the 3. 5 million that was agreed to was to compensate for and conceal past misconduct from years earlier. And this individual a, this is the alleged person this misconduct occurred with or this is someone who had knowledge of no a is the victim. A is our understanding is the victim here. Okay. Lets talk about the federal pension for former spooch speaker hastert. Does he receive that even if hes convicted . Well thats a story that is now at chicktribune. Com. I spoke yesterday to the National Taxpayers union which looks at congressional pensions. Hastert at age 73 is now eligible for three separate pensions totaling 116,000. His federal pension is 73,000. He looks like hell keep that. Hes got a pension from his years as a state legislator in illinois 27,000. It looks like hell keep that he has a teaching pension of 16,000 a year and thats the one that at this early stage appears to be in jeopardy. Because if convicted, and the alleged misconduct is traced to his days as an educator then that pension could be pulled away from him. When i spoke to the National Taxpayers union, the president told me yesterday with respect to the federal law regarding federal congressional pensions if theres a loophole it will be exploited. Saying two Things Congress has taken steps in recent years in 2007 and 2012 to tighten the statutes. With respect to what triggers a pension loss. And so now theres 30plus felonies that can trigger a lawmaker a congressional lawmaker to lose his pension. But there are two criteria that have to be met. The misconduct has to have occurred while the person was a member of congress and the misconduct has to directly relate to the performance of that individuals officials duties. What is is known about the hastert case so far suggests that even though lying to the fbi is one of these 30 felonies that will trigger a pension. Because the lie allegedly occurred last december when he told the fbi he was stockpiling this cash because he didnt feel safe with the Banking System that happened seven years and change after he left the congress. All right. Katherine skiba from the chicago tribune. The latest reporting is on your website. Thank you so much for speaking with us katherine. Thank you viktsor. We are just a short while afrom Martin Omalleys big announcement that hes joining the democratic race for the white house. The announcement will come from baltimore where he started his political career. Well bring you there, live. Also when we come back the deadline is fast approaching for particular key component of the patriot act. The senate however, isnt returning until tomorrow. So a lot of people are wondering, is the security of the United States at risk here . Color is a beautiful thing, i know, i know. Color is a beautiful thing, i know, oh yes i know. Color is the i ching ching for sure ding dang. Color is a beautiful thing, i know, i know. If you feel it, you can find it. All new color by behr. Exclusively at the home depot. In just this one moment, your baby is getting even more than clean. The scent, the lather, even the tiny bubbles of a johnsons® bath are helping to enhance the experience. The touch of your hands is stimulating her senses. Nurturing her mind. And helping her development. So why just clean your baby when you can give her. So much more™ . Johnsons®. So much more™. President obama is warning of grave consequences without resolution on the National Security agencys massive Data Collection program. He says if lawmakers dont scramble and you know make a deal by midnight tomorrow a terrorist could slip past u. S. Intelligence. Sunlen serfaty is following the story for us from the white house. Sunland, what are you hearing there today . Well christi, theres no sign of a resolution yet. One day as you noted before the deadline. The white house is really been ratcheting up their rhetoric saying it would be irresponsible and reckless for congress if they let the surveillance programs expire. President obama called for the senate to act. I dont want us to be in a situation in which for a certain period of time those authorities go away. And suddenly were dark and heaven forbid weve got a problem. Where we could have prevented a terrorist attack or apprehended someone who was engaged in dangerous activity. But we didnt do so simply because of inaction in the senate. Administration Officials Say the only viable option here is for the senate to tomorrow to take up pass the house bill would extend the revisions, but makes changes to the controversial bulk forward Data Collection. Basically moving it from the hands of the government into the hands of phone companies. Senator rand paul, republican he has promised to block this bill tomorrow and the senate heres what he said on the campaign trail. I think its a fight worth having. I have some detractors who say we shouldnt be having this fight. Well have this fight again. They arent real happy with it because i made them work on their vacation weekend last week and im making them come back on sunday because i still object 0 to this thing passing. I may not win the battle but at the least i want to draw attention. Mitch mcconnell says his office will pass some version of the nsa bill. But the question christi is of course what version will it be . And will it allow the provisions to lapse . Sunlen serfaty, thank you so much for the update. Lieutenant colonel james reese joins us with more a cnn Global Affairs analyst. Does the white houses rhetoric match the reality . Does the u. S. Do americans face grave consequences if these programs go away . Good morning, victor. Grave . No. Critical . Yes. Our politicians need to stop playing politics and give the people on our front line who is do this give them the authority to do what they need to do. Weve got to keep our technology up. Especially intelligence world. Because we dont want to have friction points into our intelligence do allow our threats and our enemies to get into the homeland. The argument is there has to be some balance between security and civil liberties, thats not a new one, it goes back centuries. This is the central question for people who are opposing this. Victor no question. But we also have to realize that technology and Everything Else continues to move and if we do this just trancesnationally here and sometimes these programs have become revolutionary, to protect our homeland especially after 9 11. My concern is we have politicians, playing politician. Through 2016. Through the president ial aspects and we need to give our intelligence folks everything they need to do their jobs to protect us. All right, Lieutenant Colonel james reese, thank you so much. Have a great day. You know the race for the white house is getting a little bit larger this hour as former Maryland Governor Martin Omalley is getting ready to jump in his announcement is ahead. Well bring it to you live. Plus a College Student from kansas now being called a hero. Killed in a suicide bombing in saudi arabia, what he did to try to stop that. Well be back in a moment. A Wichita State student was killed in a terror attack. Now his friends and family say this guy was a hero. 22yearold Electrical Engineering student died when he tried to stop a suicide bomber from killing hundreds of people at a mosque in saudi arabia yesterday. The bomber did not get inside. But he did blow himself up. Killing the student and several other people. Cnns nick valencia is covering this for us. Youre getting new details this morning . Yes, we just heard from the ministry of interior for the government of saudi arabia. Theyre talking about the details of friday afternoons attack at that shia mosque in saudi arabia saying in part security men suspected a car when it was heading to the car parking adjacent to the mosque when the security men approached the car it exploded killing four people where one of them is believed to be the driver and spreading fire to a number of cars. Now the government of saudi arabia has not officially named 22yearold Abdul Jalil Al arbash as one of the victims, but his family is saying he was a hero. That there were hundreds of people inside the mosque at the time of the attack and if it were not for him, more would be dead. He was 22 years old, he was taking Electrical Engineering classes at Wichita State university. His family says he was in saudi arabia to get married. He talked about him at a Memorial Service held this week. His move in saudi arabia was bravery. Because of the bravery and heroism he saved a lot of people. Hes like a brother or more than a brother. For everybody. If you can see right now, youre going to see a smile on his face. That young man was volunteering as a Security Guard there were heightened tensions in the region because of another separate attack on a different shia mosque in the region. Victor christi . Nick have the people from Wichita State, the university there, made mention of this or given any public statements . They have an theyre offering their condolences. Theyre calling him a good kid, a good student and did release a statement to the media. Part of that saying the Wichita State university is saddened by the death of one of our students condolences go out to the students friends, family and colleagues. Saying he was always smiling. You see a photo of him there smiling. Nick thank you so much. Its been ten years and still no trace of natalee holloway. The teenager vanished during a trip to aruba and now on the anniversary of her disappearance, one man claims he knows what happened to her. Were waiting for Martin Omalley former governor of maryland and mayor of baltimore, to take the stage to announce his candidacy for the presidency. Were take you there live. A lot of our parents grew up listening to you know sort of motown or african jazz you know, Classical Music wasnt isnt really something that a lot of people listen to. And i think its quite extraordinary that a lot of black kids are going into classical. Watch the full show at cnn. Com onestowatch. Big day . Ah, the usual. Moved some new cars. Hauled a bunch of steel. Kept the supermarket shelves stocked. Made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. Whats up for the next shift . Ah, nothing much. Just keeping the lights on. laugh nice. Doing the big things that move an economy. See you t