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ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT
House Deal Collapses; No House Vote Tonight; Lack Of A Deal Sends Stocks Lower; Second Dry Ice Explosion at LAX; A Marriage Ends in Murder?; Interview with Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia; Call For Investigation Into Alleged Rape
Aired October 15, 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: Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. Tonight, we begin with breaking news. There will be no vote. A House deal on the debt ceiling and the government shutdown has collapsed.
Republican leadership cannot find the votes to support the latest plan that would reopen the government and raise that debt ceiling. Of course, we're about 48 hours away from hitting it. The clock is ticking at this moment. Of course, this would be the country's first- ever default on the nation's debt if it were happen.
I want to get straight to Dana Bash on Capitol Hill. Dana, what's the latest? Obviously there was a deal this morning in the Senate and then a deal in the House and that got rejected. Now another deal. Now there's not even going to be a vote. How significant?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's hugely significant for so many reasons. Let's start with the latest, the decision which was made official just moments ago after a meeting down the hall from me in the House speaker's office with members of his leadership deciding formally that they are going to need not to have this vote tonight. Not just pull the bill from the House floor, but I'm told this bill is now dead.
And this is significant first and foremost because this was supposed to be the last olive branch, Erin, to conservatives. The last olive branch that House Speaker John Boehner was going to give to them to say look we're going to try one last time to pass something in the House before the Senate works its deal over there. And he couldn't get the votes needed from conservatives here in the House in order to do that.
And he has been working -- we've watched members of his caucus go in and out of his office all late afternoon early evening as he clearly and probably other members of the leadership are clearly trying to twist arms get the vote, but if you do the math it means they lost about 17 House Republicans. They clearly couldn't rely on the fact that they would get any Democratic votes.
So House Speaker John Boehner is once again frankly in an embarrassing state and also in a state where he just doesn't know what's going to be next. More importantly the Congress doesn't know what's going to be next. We assume it will be the Senate, but it's really fluid and really up in the air right now. BURNETT: So what is next, Dana? Because at this point, I mean, October 17th is the date we all cite. There is a little bit more time than that, but is there any way that this would to be done in time? Because it sounds like from what you're saying the answer to that question is no.
BASH: It's not necessarily definitively no, but this makes it a lot harder to not bust through that October 17th deadline. Assuming that the next move, the only move right now is for the Senate to retake up the framework of the deal that we talked about last night that Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, the Democratic and Republican leader had worked together on, assuming that is revived, then they are going to have to work through the process and find a process to expedite that.
The assumption is they can get the votes, but we were told, Erin, late today, that deal wasn't even finalized and there were still questions about whether or not they could finalize that and that's why they were hoping the house would do its job, work its will and move like a fast train over there. But this train has stopped and literally off tracks right now.
BURNETT: Off the tracks. All right, Dana Bash, thank you very much, reporting and breaking that news from Capitol Hill.
Our second story out front is what does this mean for John Boehner? Is the deal just done? Is his speakership over? A Republican calling on his party to, quote, "stand firm" and not capitulate to the left. Congressman Tim Huelskamp joins me now. Good to see you, Congressman. We appreciate it.
Obviously just heard Dana reporting, there isn't going to be a vote tonight. That this was the speaker's last olive branch to people like you. Did you reject it? Were you going to vote against John Boehner?
REP. TIM HUELSKAMP (R), KANSAS: I was going to vote against the bill. It raised the debt ceiling again with absolutely no spending cuts, which has been par for course in Washington, D.C. But also the real issue is we heard starting 24 hours ago that Harry Reid was going to send a bill out. That's, of course, not happened. They hadn't sent anything out for 14 days.
The president doesn't have any proposal on the table, but I just think most be folks understand October 17th is not the drop dead date. There are no payments due for a couple of weeks. It's time to get our act together and move forward on facing the fundamental problem of spending too much money.
BURNETT: So do you think Speaker Boehner doesn't deserve to be speaker anymore? What happens to him?
HUELSKAMP: He is speaker and we'll probably come in tomorrow and continue to discuss. But Harry Reid cannot pass anything through the Senate. The president is not proposing anything. The president has a great opportunity. He said no, no, no, no for 14 days. He's had months to get ready for October 17th. He has no plan. I'm guessing we'll sit down tomorrow in the House and come up with a plan that hopefully will be a short term debt ceiling and give us a little more time to address these issues. But at the end of the day, Obamacare is a massive drain on the economy and going create massive deficits we have to face that as well.
BURNETT: What I don't understand it sounds like you're saying the same thing that you were saying a couple of weeks ago, five days ago that you want to extend the debt ceiling, but Obamacare has got to go. We all know Obamacare isn't going to go. At any point you have to vote for or get out voted on a deal that doesn't include getting rid of Obamacare. That's the reality, right?
HUELSKAMP: Well, I don't know if that's the reality. Most Americans agree with me and the House Republicans that members of Congress shouldn't have special exemptions from Obamacare. That should be a done deal.
BURNETT: But John Boehner put that in the bill that you said you were going to vote no to. Got rid of those exemptions is our reporting and understanding.
HUELSKAMP: That was part of that bill. There were many parts of that as well, but this idea that Harry Reid and the president liked to talk about Obamacare as the law of the land. They provide exemption after exemption and so we agree Obamacare has to be changed. The question is the president willing to treat the rest of Americans as he's trying to treat big businesses. It's a fairness issue and we've been discussing that for two weeks. We looked forward to Harry Reid actually having a vote on that issue putting his red states Democrats on the line for special privileges for members of Congress.
BURNETT: I'm just trying to understand why you vote against the bill that the speaker had on the table because obviously that no vote and this getting shot down tonight could be hugely significant. If it had that fairness issue on the table, that the White House, that members of your staff would all be treated the same as other Americans, dealt with the fairness issue, why would you vote against it?
HUELSKAMP: It would raise the debt ceiling -- hundreds of billions of dollars.
BURNETT: But any deal is going to have to raise the debt ceiling, sir.
HUELSKAMP: The deal we tried to offer a few weeks ago suggested no we can raise it for a few weeks but not to raise it until next year and another $300 billion, $400 billion of debt. That's unacceptable. Americans want to face this problem and the problem is not that we can't come together. It's a problem we have folks that don't want to ever cut spending, which is why you have to raise the debt ceiling. That's real issue. President has no proposal. He does not want to reduce spending. We're at logger heads until he's ready to negotiate.
HUELSKAMP: So you're saying you'll vote for a bill that extends the debt ceiling for a few weeks, but not for a couple of months? That's really all it came down to?
HUELSKAMP: In exchange for some significant changes in reduction in spending. The C.R. debate is about Obamacare. It's a huge hole in our spending. It's going to great massive deficits about 50 billion more dollars of spending in the next year alone. It's $800 billion in the next decade and you can't balance the budget, Mr. President, unless you deal with your brand new entitlement that's unfunded.
BURNETT: I mean, there are people who say it would cut spending and I know look --
HUELSKAMP: The CBO disagrees with that. I won't let that pass. The CBO disagrees with that. The only way it would cut spending is if you raid Medicare. The president and Harry Reid and the House are not going to raid Medicare, which means the budget deficits over those 10 years will be increased $800 billion because of Obamacare. That's a fact. Let's not --
BURNETT: But you would be willing to make cuts, I want to make it clear to those entitlements, things like Medicare. That's what you are asking for.
HUELSKAMP: We have had those votes. I've had those votes on numerous things. Yes, I will. We have to make some changes nine order to start looking to balance our budget. Again, the debt ceiling is not the problem. The problem is the spending that continues to attempt to exceed our ability to borrow. At the end of the day, folks not only in America, but around the world should be worried about out of control too much spending going on in Washington. That didn't start yesterday or five years ago it's been going on for decades. Now it's time to solve the problem instead of pushing it off until February.
BURNETT: Just as a tweet coming out from your office, I'm assuming you sent it yourself. You sent it to Senator Ted Cruz just coming out about 16 minutes ago. Senator Ted Cruz, where are we having dinner tonight? I guess two questions for you, one, you're going to dinner with Ted Cruz. And two, do you agree with people who say that Ted Cruz has been the cancer at the center of all of these negotiations? Whether you agree with his principle or not that the strategy has been a big mistake?
HUELSKAMP: Well, there seems to always be interest in Washington, D.C. and the chattering class about who eats supper with whom and that's a little joke that apparently is inside the beltway media might get and rest of America misses. Ted Cruz and folks like myself represent average Americans that are worried about their future. They don't like Obamacare. They know what it's going to do. It's getting between them and their doctor.
We're talking about millions of Americans don't like Obamacare and they should be represented here. They should have their say and they are demanding members of Congress, the president of the United States and big businesses should face the same Obamacare requirements that they face and that's a basic fairness principle most Americans do agree with.
BURNETT: All right, thank you very much. We appreciate you taking the time, Representative Huelskamp. Thank you.
HUELSKAMP: Thank you.
BURNETT: And we're going to be joined by Senator Joe Manchin later on in the program tonight on the Democratic side. Part of the group trying to make a deal and get a deal done that got totally shutdown today. We're going to have him coming up later in the program.
Our money and power tonight is what's going to happen in the market because it seems to me at this point the only thing that will get people like Representative Huelskamp to get a deal done is when Wall Street forces them to. Stocks did fall today on the failure to get a deal done, but it was only the first drop in five days.
After markets formally closed the credit rating agency Fitch put the United States credit rating on watch for a downgrade. Now I want to emphasize it was not the same thing as an actual downgrade and it is two years behind the big downgrade from S&P, which was truly significant. But still tomorrow is a day before the deadline and there is going to come a day when markets may move and dramatically so.
Bryan Piskorowski of Wells Fargo joins me now. Brian, let me ask you this question, right. I mean, markets understand all the nuance here, right, out of Capitol Hill you get a huge drama on one side or the other. But the fact is this when that big bill to bail out the economy during the financial crisis people may remember it by TARP. When it got voted down the market sold off nearly 800 points. Could we be in for a quote/unquote "capitulation like that?"
BRYAN PISKOROWSKI, MANAGING DIRECTOR, WELLS FARGO ADVISORS: Well, Erin, I think first remember it's kind of hard to use the TARP analogy just given the fact that our economy is in a different setting now than we were back five years ago. That being said, though, you know, looking at markets, could we have a pull back. Sure. Is that a possibility, absolutely, Erin. I mean, look at the fact, the S&P is up 19 percent year-to-date.
You know, what I'm looking at though and I'm a market watcher. I'm not a politico and from that perspective though what you have here is a market that is pricing it as it stands right now, some sort of kick the can, some sort of deal strategy getting done to avoid a potential default on debt.
Now that being said we are, obviously, in for some turmoil. I mean, clearly we've looked at no less than five or six headlines over the past couple of days that's rattled averaging intraday. You look at the front end of the treasury market, you know, four week notes --
BURNETT: The government would have to pay right away.
PISKOROWSKI: Right. They were negative at the end of September. They were high as 51 basis points last week. They are 46 today. So yes, you have the short term treasury market obviously showing a little bit of stress there. But right now the market mood is really still considering a deal potentially on the table and it doesn't have to be by the 17th deadline as many people have pointed out.
BURNETT: Which is an important point, 46 means point 4.6 percent, obviously still incredibly cheap for the U.S. government to borrow. But Brian, I mean, to your point that the 17th may not be the real day. Do you think that there is going to be a day when the market sells off dramatically or will Washington not be given that signal? That's the bottom line question.
PISKOROWSKI: Well, I think there's definitely possibility for that should things really come to a head. Let's hope we don't get there. I think from an investor perspective though, Erin, as you look down this path, the key thing here as a long term investor and we advise our clients is looking at this, trying basically set up for the most likely scenario not the worst case scenario.
So from that perspective looking at your long term strategies -- you have parts of your portfolio done exceedingly well. To rebalance at this point in time wouldn't be such a bad idea, but you know, if there is turmoil our viewpoint is if there were to be some it would most likely be short-lived and if anything we don't think it would do long lasting damage to the economy.
And so from that perspective I would want to be looking at that as a potential opportunity for a lot of people from our viewpoint still sitting on the sidelines with fair amount of cash that hadn't really, you know, averaged in or worked in given the upside scene over the past few years.
BURNETT: All right, Bryan, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Interesting from so many in the markets we hear this sort of push and pull. They are really worried about a crisis some sort of a catastrophe and yet also there's a calmness. There's a sense that this is the United States and there is a sense that these deadlines are perhaps not all they are cracked up to be. We will only see as the next two trading days happen what really is the case.
Still to come, the war of words continues in Washington. Democrats say the Republicans latest plan to end the shutdown is sabotage. We're going to speak to a Democratic senator trying make a deal because the headline out right now is after this House failure we just reported that the Senate GOP staffers are telling us they are rolling up their sleeves. The Senate expects to get back to work tonight. We are going to go to the Senate.
Plus a story we first brought you yesterday, a teenage girl accuses another student of rape. Then authorities drop the charges. Tonight, we continue our coverage. This town sheriff comes on to talk about why.
We play a secret recording for the first time recorded by the girl's mother. For the second day in a row an explosion at LAX, Los Angeles airport, when does a prank become a threat.
And bizarre story out of Asia where a politician has lost his job because he got a piggyback.
BURNETT: Our third story OUTFRONT security scare at Los Angeles' airport. The LAX airport, the sixth busiest in the world, is on edge tonight. A second dry ice bomb exploded there in two days. Now officials have found four of these bombs at the airport, all of them in restricted areas. No injuries are reported but detectives are investigating how they could have gotten so close to airplanes.
Casey Wian is OUTFRONT.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Security at Los Angeles International Airport is tight after two bombs made from dry ice and plastic soda bottles exploded in restricted areas of two different terminals Sunday. A third was found undetonated on Monday.
The first blew up in a men's room accessible only to employees. The second on the tarmac near a passenger gate at the airport. No damage was done but the potential was there.
MIKE DOWNING, LAPD DEPUTY CHIEF: I think the message is that we treat this as seriously and it carries the same weight as a pipe bomb with shrapnel. It's a destructive device. The detonation or possession of a destructive device is a felony.
WIAN: This is what can happen when a dry ice bomb is placed in a cinder block. Dry ice can be easily found in airports. Vendors use it for refrigeration and the soda bottles can be found at almost any store. The LAPD is operating under the assumption the bombs were left by an employee.
At the Bradley International Terminal, the location of the second and third bombs, extra security is in place including heavily armed federal agents. Investigators say they do not suspect a link to terrorism. Flights impacted only briefly.
(On camera): By Tuesday morning operations at LAX were back to normal and most travelers we spoke either weren't aware of the dry ice bombs or weren't worried about it at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was it supposed to do some damage or what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doesn't sound that bad. Besides we've got a big vacation planned so we've got to do what we've got to do, you know.
WIAN: Complicating the investigation there aren't as many security cameras in restricted areas of the airport as there are in public places.
DOWNING: I think it does reveal a vulnerability that we're going to shore up and that is that you have cameras in public access areas. We should also have cameras in restricted access areas to maintain the integrity of the security system.
WIAN: The deputy chief says he's confident those responsible will be caught, adding the LAPD will seek jail time.
For OUTFRONT, Casey Wian, Los Angeles.
BURNETT: Our thanks to Casey.
Still to come, did this marriage end in murder? Why prosecutors believe a prominent doctor and lawyer murdered his wife.
Plus the latest from the government shutdown. Right now the very latest we have is a Senate source saying they are rolling up their sleeves and getting to work tonight. We are going to be joined by Senator Joe Manchin, who's on that core group of senators trying to work on a bipartisan deal. He's going to be our guest coming up OUTFRONT.
BURNETT: Our fourth story OUTFRONT a marriage allegedly ends with murder. Jury selection began today in the trial of Martin MacNeill, a prominent Utah doctor and lawyer accused of killing his wife. Prosecutors say MacNeill gave his wife Michelle a deadly mixture of prescription drugs so he could continue an affair.
Jean Casarez is OUTFRONT.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The MacNeills lived what seemed to be a charmed life yet their almost 30-year marriage came to a tragic end one April night in 2007.
MARTIN MACNEILL, DEFENDANT: My wife's fallen in the bathtub.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: Who's in the bathtub? Who's in the bathtub?
MACNEILL: My wife.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: OK. Is she conscious?
MACNEILL: She's not. She hasn't gotten -- I'm a physician. I need help
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: Sir, I can't understand you. OK? Can you calm down just a little bit?
MACNEILL: I need help. She's under the water, and I need an ambulance.
CASAREZ: Michelle was found dead in her bathtub in their homes in Pleasant Grove, Utah, by their youngest daughter Ada who was 6 years old at the time. MacNeill allegedly killed his wife so he could be with his mistress. He says she accidentally died. Prosecutors say they will show evidence that he poisoned her with an overdose of medication when she was recovering from a face-lift. A face-lift prosecutors say he forced her to have.
Medical examiners found a powerful cocktail of drugs including Valium, Percocet and Ambien in her system.
CHAD GRUNADER, PROSECUTOR: I will say that we're aware of the challenges that we face in this case but we make no excuses.
CASAREZ: Since her mysterious death, Michelle's two oldest daughters have been showing up for pretrial hearings in support of their mother and accusing their father of the unthinkable.
RACHEL MACNEILL, DAUGHTER: My mother is just a wonderful human being. She deserves justice. She should never have trusted my father.
CASAREZ: Among the state's star witnesses will be at least one of his daughters. Part of the effort to send him away for life.
Prosecutors say MacNeill was carrying on a yearlong affair with Gypsy Willis, who moved into MacNeill home as a nanny shortly after Michelle's death.
MICHELLE MACNEILL, DAUGHTER: My mom deserves this. She deserves justice. My father orchestrated this whole plan in how to murder my mother.
CASAREZ: MacNeill has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and obstruction of justice. He insists his wife's death was an accident. And that he was at work the morning she died.
BURNETT: All right. Jean, you spent all day in court today. What kind of jury are we looking at?
CASAREZ: Well, Erin, I want to tell you they are still in there, all the prospective jurors are being individually questioned. And that's taking a long time. You know, when I asked the attorneys what kind of juror do you want, they give me the answer, we want an impartial and a fair jury. But if you look a layer deeper this is about a mother, a mother who loved her children. Prosecutors will look to mothers.
This is also a man who says I didn't do this. So anybody who's been accused in their life of something that they didn't do the defense may look in that direction. But this case also involves surgery. It involves prescription drugs. It involves infidelity, a defendant that has cheated on his spouse. And so both sides are going to have to weigh and that's partly what this individual questioning is all about to find out how they feel about those issues more or less, how much they know about this very high-profile case.
BURNETT: Jean, thank you very much. Jean Casarez reporting on that tonight.
And still to come tensions running high in the Middle East. United States and Iran meeting to discuss the country's nuclear program. Israel holding major air force drills.
Plus a story we first brought you last night. A teenage girl accuses a popular football player of rape. The charges are dropped. The girl's family said they were run out of town. The alleged victim, the town's sheriff are OUTFRONT tonight.
And one of the strangest stories today with a politician losing his job because of a piggyback, plus breaking news on the deal in Washington, or the no deal in Washington heading to the Senate floor. Joe Manchin is going to be our guest right after this.
BURNETT: And our fifth story OUTFRONT is the breaking news tonight: no deal. There will be no vote on a deal to extend the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown in the House tonight. A Republican plan to do that collapsed.
John Boehner not able to get the votes and it was the conservative arm of his party that turned him down.
Now, sources in both parties tell our Dana Bash that the ball is back in the Senate court, just two days before the United States could possibly default on the nation's debt for the first time.
A spokesman for majority leader, Senator Harry Reid, tells CNN and I want to quote him. "Senator Reid and Senator McConnell have re- engaged in negotiations and are optimistic an agreement is within reach."
This is important. This statement happened just in the past half hour as it fell apart in the House. We have seen it move quickly back to the Senate.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin was an integral part of the deal making in the Senate this week, part of a small bipartisan group that was trying to get a deal done.
Good to have you with me, Senator. I really appreciate your taking the time.
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Thank you, Erin.
BURNETT: Obviously, this reporting now, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell re-engaging in negotiations. Is that the case? Are we going to get now the next deal out of the Senate?
MANCHIN: I think so, Erin. It's the right place for it to be. I think they let the House, you know, financial matters come from the House first since they weren't able to move anything, it's the Senate's job right now to make sure we step in to do the job that we're supposed to do.
We've got to quit being Democrats and Republicans and start being Americans first, and put our country first, again, Erin. We're at a crisis. We're at a difficult position right now. We got to make that happen. And tomorrow is the day to make that happen.
BURNETT: And you say tomorrow. Let me ask you this question. I had a market guest on earlier on the program, saying, well, we don't really believe October 17th is the be all and end all deadline. But at the same time, Senator, you and I both know the market could suddenly sell off at any point at this time, and that would force your hand and others in Washington.
How quickly can you get a deal?
MANCHIN: Let me tell you.
MANCHIN: First of all, it's very clear -- you're not going to have the extremes the right or left. You're just not going to have extremes on either side. Democrat, Republican, whatever. If people can't become Americans first and do what's good for our country and come back to the middle that's where we got to be tomorrow.
We can get this done if we don't have people going to the procedural, if it doesn't run out the clock in 30 hours procedural votes. We're hoping that doesn't happen. We're hoping that people can say, listen, vote your conscience. If you're not with it, that's fine.
Let those of us who are willing to move our country forward and to put our country first step forward, let's do it. Let us have that vote. And I'm hoping that will happen tomorrow. I'm really am hopeful for that.
BURNETT: But let me ask you because we just had Representative Huelskamp as you know, a conservative member of the House he was going to vote against John Boehner tonight, and John Boehner had a little bit of Obamacare on the table, right? He was going to say people in Washington on Capitol Hill and in the White House have to play by the same rules on health care as everybody else in the country.
And for Representative Huelskamp that wasn't enough. That wasn't even close to enough and he was perfectly happy they say he would vote against that. John Boehner didn't have the votes.
So, how you could get a deal in the Senate that you think can pass the House?
MANCHIN: Well, the bottom line is, I think basically the leaders of both the House and Senate are going to have to lead and come to the middle. You're not going to get the right and left. People that are basically putting all their special interest ahead of the good of this country we're work about keeping our government open, and fixing the finances of our country. That's what this is about. There's things I don't like about Obamacare. There's things I don't like about our energy policy. But I'm not going to hold this country hostage and have millions of people suffering because of what I like and don't like.
I came here to represent the people, to do the best I can for my country and my state of West Virginia. And I'm going to do that. I hope that our leaders will move ahead.
You can't worry about those who are looking for a reason to be against something. You better find those of us who are willing to be for something.
BURNETT: And you think there's going to be enough of you. I mean , in the Senate --
MANCHIN: I do.
BURNETT: But also in the House, sir, also in the House, where John Boehner couldn't get the votes tonight. That could change?
MANCHIN: I've been told, Erin, that, basically, if they had a clean C.R. vote two weeks ago, we would never shut down the government. It's gotten to the point now we've got to move. And you just got to move in that middle direction and find out who is on board. You can't be worrying about the Hastert Rule and this and that and everything else.
This is about our country. And people are sick and tired of the politics being played here. I tell people back home, if you think the view is ugly from where you're sitting in your living, you ought to try from the front row seat where I am at.
This is not what we signed up for, Erin. We didn't come here to invoke pain upon citizens, you know, that we take an oath to represent. We came here to make their lives better and create opportunities and we better start doing our job.
BURNETT: But aren't we back where we were two weeks ago?
MANCHIN: Well, no, not really. No.
BURNETT: So -- OK.
MANCHIN: You got Reid and McConnell, OK?
MANCHIN: They started moving. I understood that stopped today, and I guess Senator McConnell wanted to see if John Boehner and the House could do something. They couldn't. They started their talks again.
They use the template. There's 14 of us. Susan Collins, myself and we have really seven Republicans, six Democrats and one independent.
We have been working very, very strong and very good together. We're ready to go. And we stay together. And we're going to continue to be together.
So there's a nucleus to work off of. I understand basically what I've seen from Reid/McConnell, it's pretty much the same template we've been using. So, I praise them for that. Let's just move and get it done tomorrow. That's all I'm saying.
BURNETT: And when you say get it done tomorrow, before we go, I want to understand exactly what you're saying. You're saying out of the Senate.
MANCHIN: I like to get a vote. I'd like to get some votes and spend --
BURNETT: We have to accept it doesn't seem like anything even if there were a miracle is going to get a presidential signature in time for the October 17th deadline.
MANCHIN: I think that can be worked out. I truly do. I'm very hopeful that can still be work out. There's no way -- there's no way conscionable that we can default.
Anybody think that's not a big thing or don't worry about it that's ridiculous. This is a big thing and it's going to harm not just this economy but economies all over the world, and we're not going to do that. If we do, I think they should all ask for our resignation. They should ask for all of our resignations if we can't come together for the good of our country.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thank you very much, Senator Manchin. I think a lot of people will want to take you up on that if it does fail. And I say that only with a slight smile because it is so frustrating.
OUTFRONT next, the story we first brought you yesterday -- a girl accuses an older boy of rape. The charges then are dropped. She and her family say politics played a role and they were ostracized by the community. Every angle covered the alleged victim, her mother, a friend who was with her that night and the town sheriff are all OUTFRONT.
BURNETT: Our sixth story tonight breaking news. Tonight, Missouri's lieutenant governor calling for a grand jury to investigate an alleged rape of 14-year-old girl by a popular high school football player who was 17. This is a story we first brought you last night.
The charges against the football player were dropped after a few months even though the town sheriff says there was a sexual assault. Then, the girl and her family say they became outcasts. They claim they were forced out of the small Missouri town they had made their home.
We begin our coverage tonight with Ana Cabrera who is in Maryville. She's OUTFRONT.
DAISY COLEMAN, ALLEGED RAPE VICTIM: It still feels like a dream sometimes like maybe it didn't happen.
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After nearly two years of torment, 16-year-old Daisy Coleman is trying to move forward.
D. COLEMAN: First, it really started with moving to Albany, and getting back with my old friends and my roots and that helped a lot.
CABRERA: Her brother says she's come a long way.
CHARLIE COLEMAN, DAISY COLEMAN'S BROTHER: After the event, I rarely saw her. I was nervous about saying certain things to her. Just in fear that something would just happen like she would freak out. And recently after getting help, she's been a lot better.
CABRERA: But she can't forget what happened. She says she was raped by a 17-year-old football player from Maryville high school, about 40 miles away from Albany. Maryville is a quaint, all American town that her family once loved, but a town they felt turned it back on them.
SHERIFF DARREN WHITE, NODAWAY COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT: Was Daisy Coleman a victim? Absolutely. Did Daisy Coleman deserve justice? Absolutely.
CABRERA: Sheriff Darren White made arrests, but prosecuting attorney Robert Rice dropped all the charges, citing insufficient evidence. In a statement, he claims the victim would not agree to testify.
MELINDA COLEMAN, DAISY COLEMAN'S MOTHER: That's a lie.
CABRERA (on camera): Why would he -- why would he say that?
M. COLEMAN: I don't know. We thought we had done everything. He never said anything else. Nobody ever asked us for anything else.
CABRERA: The accused walked free while Daisy said she was punished. At school and online, Daisy says people hurled hateful words.
D. COLEMAN: Like the W-word, the B-word. The S-word. Just basically throwing out anything they could.
CABRERA: The family felt their only option was to move. But then this happened -- fire broke out at the home they were trying to sell. Investigators never found the origin.
But whether it was arson or just an accident, it was a sign the Coleman family couldn't ignore.
Now, social media is burning up with outrage over the Coleman story. The group Anonymous has taken up the family's cause. People around the country calling for justice for Daisy, a protest planned in Maryville next week. (END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: Now, Erin, you mentioned that the lieutenant governor has called for a grand jury to convene. What we understand that's really intended to apply pressure for another look at this case, but he doesn't have the authority to make that happen. He says that would require the attorney general and the prosecuting attorney in this case to get involved and neither of them are talking tonight. In fact, the attorney general issued a statement today saying that he doesn't have the authority to override or even review the prosecuting attorney's ruling.
And the prosecuting attorney we've been trying to talk to for the past two days, prosecuting attorney Robert White refuses to answer our questions, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Ana Cabrera, who is on the scene tonight.
And now, I want to bring in Daisy Coleman and her mother Melinda. You may remember we spoke with them yesterday.
But also joining them tonight is Paige. She was with Daisy that night and also the victim of sexual assault. Her attacker was a different boy, from the one who allegedly raped Daisy. He was prosecuted in juvenile court. She joins us here along with her mother, Robin Bourland.
Thanks very much to both of you. I appreciate you taking the time.
And, Daisy, I know we spoke last night. There's been a big development. The lieutenant governor of your state now calling for a grand jury to determine whether a criminal charge should be filed now in your case and something you told me you hoped would happen and here's what he said.
He said, "Since Sunday I've read with growing dismay the media accounts of the Daisy Coleman case in Nodaway County. The appalling facts and the public record shock the conscience and cry out that responsible authorities must take another look."
Daisy, this is the highest levels of your state government now involved. How does that make you feel?
D. COLEMAN: I feel great once I found out. We were all standing in the hallway and we all jumped up and we were excited and we hugged. We were all happy about it.
BURNETT: And, Paige, let me ask you and thank you for coming on because I know and I said this to Daisy last night, I can't imagine how hard it is for you as a teenager to talk about this. So, I appreciate that you're willing to do it.
The police report about what happened to you that night was very graphic. I know that you do remember a lot of what happened. Can you tell us about it? PAIGE, RAPED BY ANOTHER TEEN: It was just kind of a normal day. And I went over to see Daisy in Maryville and we had been having fun just catching up and she had texted Matt Barnett because Matt Barnett wanted to see her.
So, we snuck out and we went with them and we got there and I was immediately separated from her and taken into another room and sexually assaulted after I had said no and pushed him away.
BURNETT: And you weren't drinking, right?
PAIGE: After he was done -- what?
BURNETT: You weren't drinking, were you, hon?
PAIGE: We had been drinking before we got to the house.
BURNETT: Right. But not at the house, I know because I know Daisy talked about how she had been.
PAIGE: No, I did drink at the house.
BURNETT: So, you really remember that horrible encounter?
BURNETT: Robin -- go ahead, Paige.
PAIGE: Well, after he was done and we went out to the living room, we sat and waited for matt to come out with Daisy and he opened the door, and I saw Daisy and she was incoherent, couldn't talk, couldn't walk, couldn't do anything.
BURNETT: And you could tell something had happened, something like what happened to you?
PAIGE: Yes, I could immediately tell.
BURNETT: Robin, I know that I can't imagine what it's like, honestly, to have to be in your position and hear your child talk about this, but the prosecutor has released a statement, and here is what he's saying.
He's saying, "There was insufficient evidence to prove a criminal charge beyond a reasonable doubt. The state's witnesses refused to cooperate, invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege to not testify."
I talked about this last night with Melinda and Daisy, but let me put the question to you. Did you and your daughter refuse to testify?
ROBIN BOURLAND, DAUGHTER WAS RAPED BY ANOTHER TEEN: We did not refuse to testify with the felony case. We absolutely did not. We were not given any information about it, and we were not asked to testify.
BURNETT: And, Daisy, you know, I talked to a lawyer today and they said the only way they could think of that you wouldn't have wanted to testify would be maybe you feared being charged yourself, that you could have been afraid of charged with under age drinking. Is that possible? Did that ever go through your mind?
D. COLEMAN: At one point it did, but by the time that everything came around, I thought it was worth it, that maybe if I did get charged, it would be OK because he would get something, also.
BURNETT: And, Melinda, an attorney for Matt Barnett did release a statement, and I want to read it to you. Here's part of it. It says, "Since a legal conviction was not possible, it appears some would like to try the case in the court of public opinion."
Obviously, an aggressive statement and damming statement -- what is your response when you hear that?
M. COLEMAN: I think they just didn't do their job, and they are trying to cover. I think there is a lot of physical evidence, and I don't see how they can say that.
BURNETT: All right. Well thank you very much. All of you, Daisy and Paige, thank you both again for talking about this and, of course, Melinda and Robin, your mothers, thanks very much to you, as well.
I want to bring in the Nodaway Darren White now.
And, Sheriff, of course, now you had a chance to listen to those families and the pain they are clearly still going through. I want to get your reaction to what the lieutenant governor said as I asked Daisy who was then 14 and was allegedly raped. The lieutenant governor says responsible authorities must take another look, that he wants a grand jury investigation.
What's your reaction to that?
WHITE: Well, my initial reaction would be apparently the lieutenant governor has chosen to simply, also, get involved in the hype and the social media because at no point in time has lieutenant governor's office made any requests to see any actual reports from the Nodaway County sheriff's office and I know that the prosecuting attorney has not been contacted by his office, either.
That being said, I would welcome someone from the outside coming in and taking a look at this case, because there is no doubt in my mind that everyone would be vindicated from all of these absolutely outrageous acquisitions that have been made by people.
I can only say the sheriff's office handled this case flawlessly, as I've said before. We did our job. We responded, and we put people in jail, which is what we do.
BURNETT: But let me ask you, when you saw flawlessly, you know, the police report, which I have here says there was an iPhone video, on that night had video of Matt Barnett and Daisy kissing with their pants down and Melinda asked you about that during a call which she recorded and I wanted to play that for you. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP
M. COLEMAN: As far as the cell phone, the video is not retrievable, you guys couldn't get anything out of that at all?
WHITE: No, nothing at all.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, first of all, was that you? I want to make sure.
WHITE: It sounded like me.
BURNETT: So --
WHITE: So, yes, I would say that was me.
BURNETT: So I just want to follow-up on that because she asked that question and recording to a report from the office, an iPhone was examined and on that iPhone they found text messages, images and videos all saved to a CD.
Do you still have those? Do you remember what they showed? I'm just trying to understand where that video might have gone.
WHITE: Well, I personally never saw anything that came off of that iPhone, and evidence as far as phones, computers, anything along that line, we send to the RCFL in Kansas City which is a forensic laboratory that examines all of these electronic devices and their report came back there was no video of that nature on that phone.
Now, as far as any specific photographs, any other videos, I personally was not privy to any of that.
BURNETT: All right. Sheriff, thank you very much for taking the time. I'll look forward to talking to you again, sir, and thank you again for coming on and talking about this.
We appreciate it and continue to cover that story, and, of course, CNN continues to cover the breaking news out of Washington on the debt ceiling break down. Anderson Cooper has that, next.