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CNN NEWSROOM

Bradley Manning Verdict; House Buying Increases; Mideast Peace Talks Under Way; "Real Housewives" Star, Husband Indicted.

Aired July 30, 2013 - 13:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Chris Lawrence is standing by, our Pentagon correspondent. He was inside the courtroom when Bradley Manning heard the word. Good news for him, not guilty as far as the most serious charge as far as aiding the enemy.

What was it like inside?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The courtroom was extremely quiet. I saw Private Manning basically fumbling with his buttons, talking to his attorneys before the decision was read. As he heard the words "not guilty," there was little to no reaction to him. But after the hearing was completed -- and it was very quick, about five minutes at the most -- there was a slight smile from Bradley Manning as he turned to his attorney and said a few words. Very quiet. I couldn't hear what they were saying. But there was a slight smile as everything came to a close. Some of the people, his supporters, who gathered in the back of the courtroom to witness this, some of them gasped and covered their mouths as that not-guilty verdict was read. After that not-guilty verdict was read, he was then subsequently found guilty on about 20 other counts ranging from theft of State Department cables, theft of battlefield reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, and disseminating the records, names, e-mail addresses, ranks of tens of thousands of troops who served in Iraq -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Many of those other charges where he's guilty, he pleaded guilty. That was months ago. He pleaded guilty in the hopes that would end it. That didn't end it. He's relieved that he didn't get guilty on the most serious charge of aiding an enemy, which I said earlier, carries that maximum sentence of life in prison.

So walk us through what happens next, Chris, because the second part of this begins tomorrow.

LAWRENCE: That's right. In this military, there's no gap. The sentencing begins almost immediately. That will be 9:30 in the morning tomorrow.

Now that they have the sentence, the government will say, "Here is what we think is an acceptable sentence. You have all the guilty verdicts and these 10-year charges. Here is what we think Bradley Manning should serve." They will argue that. The defense will come back and say, "Here is what we believe would be an acceptable sentence." The judge has the discretion to then issue a sentence up to the maximum, so therefore if there were 10 counts of 10 years, she couldn't go beyond that but she can go anywhere up to that. The judge does have some discretion. But the bottom line, Wolf, is Bradley Manning is likely to go to jail and go to prison for many years.

BLITZER: A lot of people think about 20 years. We shall see. It's up to this colonel now, Colonel Denise Lind, the judge. She will review the arguments from both sides over the course of the next several days and make the decision how many years Bradley Manning will spend in prison.

Chris, thanks very much.

Chris will have a lot more on the story coming up on CNN throughout the day.

Meanwhile, good news for the housing market and good news for the economy. People are buying again. That's driving housing prices up, way up, 12 percent from this time last year.

Christine Romans joins us from New York.

Christine, everyone who saw the value of their home drop since the crisis began in 2007, 2008, is this strong enough to restore a lot of that lost value?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's a good question. Nationwide, values are still well below the peak in 2006, 20 or 30 percent below. In places like Dallas and Denver, prices are above their housing-bubble high. It's more evidence of a strong housing recovery. Home prices jumped in may by the most in seven years, up 12 percent compared to a year ago in the biggest metro areas. That's according to S&P's Case Shiller. Prices up around 20 percent in the past year. 20 percent, Wolf, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Atlanta. The rise in home prices means it's a good time to be selling a house. Should you be buying a house? There's not a lot of supply out there. There's tight inventories. Some zip codes support bidding wars because of all that. It's a good time to buy. Hedge fund manager, Keith McCullough tells me, yes, buy now.

BLITZER: What does this mean for people who --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH MCCULLOUGH, CEO, HEDGEYE RISK MANAGEMENT: -- even as a percentage of your income. It's at a historical low. That's affordable. Prices, as you pointed out multiple times, are rising, which is a great time to buy a house.

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ROMANS: The recovery is impressive looking but it's not broad, Wolf. Only 30 percent of home sales are first-time homebuyers. There's a high number of all-cash deals. A lot of overseas investors swooping up real estate in this country.

One analyst from Zillo says these price spikes, these 10-percent every month, 10-percent price spikes, quote, "are not normal, not sustainable and frankly not very believable." There's the cold water, I guess the dark cloud to go with your silver lining. But overall, we've seen very good home numbers here -Wolf?

BLITZER: Very good numbers. Good for a lot of people who own homes and want to sell. These numbers are encouraging.

Christine, thanks very much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

A real New Jersey housewife in real trouble with the law. So is her husband. We're taking a closer look at the serious federal charges they face. That's coming up.

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BLITZER: The first direct Mideast peace talks in three years happening right now here in Washington. It's encouraging. The secretary of state, John Kerry, meeting with the chief Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. There they are at the State Department a while ago. Nobody thinks this will be easy but Secretary Kerry is setting his sights high.

I'm joined by Aaron David Miller, the vice president for New Initiatives, a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, and was a peace-process negotiator for the U.S. over many years.

The secretary, Aaron, is setting his sights pretty high. Listen to the objective he put forward today.

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JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Our objective will be to achieve a final status agreement over the course of the next nine months.

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BLITZER: As soon as I heard that, nine months, I said that's pretty fast, given the differences on both sides. Is that doable?

AARON DAVID MILLER, SCHOLAR, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER: The reality is, you know, Wolf, as well as I, negotiates have two speeds, slow and slower. If these negotiations get traction then they will probably violate the deadline but that will be OK. If it turns out there aren't adequate turns of reference, deep mistrust that separate Abbas and Netanyahu continues, then I suspect it will be a much shorter movie.

But in any vent, the notion of a conflict-ending agreement, which is what the secretary has identified, is an extraordinary bridge to even begin to imagine crossing. On issues like borders and security, the gaps may, may be bridgeable. But on refugees in Jerusalem now, think about the Grand Canyon. BLITZER: I assume they start where some of the earlier negotiations -- they got close at the end of the Clinton administration. You were involved then. They got close during the Bush administration at one point when Ehud Olmert was the prime minister of Israel. Don't they start these negotiations, these final status negotiations now from where they left off in recent years?

MILLER: If we could have started at various moments in these negotiations over the last 20-plus years from the last point of departure, I think you and I would have been drinking champagne already and celebrating. The problem is that with each new government on the Israeli side, you're going to have a different point of departure. Benjamin Netanyahu, next year, the longest surviving prime minister in Israel's history, will want be put his on mark on these negotiations. I suspect that will involve walking back considerably on the territory issue that Olmert was prepared to offer.

BLITZER: I heard John Kerry say only he will talk to the media about what's going on over the next nine months of these negotiations. The Israelis won't talk about it. The Palestinians won't talk about. Only he will be authorized to release information. Is that realistic?

MILLER: It's one of the most intriguing things about this process. I've never seen the kind of radio silence that the Americans have managed to impose on these two sides. I asked my friend to do a conference call and he said he wouldn't do it because he promised Kerry he wouldn't talk. Imagine an Israeli government filled with so many parties, some of whom are at odds with Netanyahu, would respect this kind of radio silence. It's a mark of real seriousness, on one hand, and respect for Kerry on the other.

BLITZER: Yeah. It's encouraging if it happens.

You wrote a piece in "The Washington Post" over the weekend in which you said, you know what, it's going to be tough but it's doable. Explain why you think there's a moment right now where the Israelis and the Palestinians could achieve a piece agreement, ending this conflict once and for all.

MILLER: What I said was not to pre-judge the secretary's effort. I think there are some new factors. Number one is John Kerry himself. Whether Obama will own this process in the end remains to be seen. But Kerry has been willful. He's been relentless. That's unique actually for a secretary of state to take these, second. As the Middle East falls apart everywhere else -- Egypt's in perennial dysfunction, massive violence. Syria's got civil war -- strangely enough, the one arena that appears to be quiet is the Israeli- Palestinian issue. I think both sides, Abbas and Netanyahu, want to keep it that way. And they may see a moment.

Finally, the question I cannot answer is the one about Benjamin Netanyahu. Peacemaking on the Israeli side is not a story about the left. It's a story about transformed hawks. Hard men, who in response to many different situations, took all kinds of risks. Is Netanyahu the latest member of that chain -- Begin, Rabin, Sharon? That's the factor. Is B.B. Netanyahu changed or is this just another maneuver related to Iran or in order to keep the Americans happy. That's the thing to watch because as Israel's policies go on this process, so will the success or failure of this negotiation.

BLITZER: Aaron David Miller, good analyst. Thanks very much. Let's hope they succeed. It would be great for the Israelis, the Palestinians, indeed, the entire region.

Aaron David Miller, thank you.

MILLER: Thank you.

BLITZER: We're going to have more, by the way, on the Middle East process later today in "The Situation Room," at 5:00 p.m. eastern.

We'll take a quick break. More news right after this.

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BLITZER: The drama may be getting a little too real for one of the "Real Housewives of New Jersey." "Theresa Giudice and her husband, Joe, appear in federal court in Newark this morning on mortgage fraud charges. A 39-count indictment charges them with conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and bank fraud. They're accused of lying on loan applications.

Details now from our entertainment correspondent, Nischelle Turner.

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THERESA GIUDICE, ACTRESS: Why did you have to go there?

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NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a real-life legal saga for two stars in Bravo's "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," a reality series that famous for bringing drama.

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(CROSSTALK)

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TURNER: A U.S. district court has indicted table-flipping housewife, Theresa Giudice, and her husband, Joe, on 39 counts of fraud and tax charges. The Giudices are accused of exaggerating their income while applying for loans before "Housewives" debuted in 2009, then hiding their fortunes in a bankruptcy filing after the first season aired.

The federal indictment alleges, "The Giudices lied to the bankruptcy court, to the IRS, and to a number of banks." The pair faces pretty stiff penalties on the most serious charges, up to 30 years in prison and a million dollar fine if convicted.

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JOE GIUDICE, ACTOR: (INAUDIBLE).

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TURNER: Joe Giudice was also charged with failure to file tax returns between 2004 and 2008, a time when he earned nearly $1 million, added to an already checkered legal past.

MAGGIE FURLONG, WEST COAST EDITOR, HUFFPOST TV: We've been hearing rumblings of in the news for years now and it's all kind of come to a head with these latest charges.

TURNER: Joe's lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Theresa's attorney told CNN she will plead not guilty, releasing a statement saying she supports her husband and adding, quote, "I am committed to my family and intend to maintain our lives in the best way possible, which includes continuing my career. As a result, I am hopeful that we will resolve this matter with the government as quickly as possible."

With "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" in its fifth season on Bravo, Theresa's future with the show is potentially in jeopardy.

FURLONG: You can't really shoot the level of glamour behind bars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Nischelle Turner reporting for us.

Giudice and her husband did not enter pleas in today's court appearance. They were released on bond.

Coming up, debris flying everywhere, trees bending like sticks, alarms sounding. We'll have a look at what it's like inside a tornado.

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BLITZER: Video from inside a tornado. Watch this.

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(BANGING)

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BLITZER: Wow. This is in Italy. It happened yesterday in an industrial neighborhood near Milan.

Chad Myers is joining us.

Chad, obviously tornadoes are awful. These pictures, very dramatic.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Very dramatic because what we saw in those pictures, I looked at them for four minutes now. The wind came from one direction, then all of a sudden there was very little wind, then the wind came from the other direction. The people inside that building were literally inside the tornado proper and the winds spun all around it. About eight to 12 people did get some injuries with this system but most of them were inside. That is a very large tornado for Italy. Now if Italy or if all of the countries of Europe were actually one country, called the European Union, then they would have the second number of tornadoes of any country in the world behind, of course, the U.S. But not quite in front of Canada. So no more weather for them today. Just about done. That severe weather has moved over towards Bucharest and into the eastern parts of Europe at this hour.

BLITZER: All right. Quiet in Europe.

Thanks, Chad.

We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: President Obama is on the road once again today. He's pushing his economic plan. He's in Chattanooga, Tennessee, getting ready to offer what the White House calls a new proposal to cut corporate taxes while investing in programs that can put more Americans in well-paying, full-time jobs. The president speaking at the amazon.com warehouse. The grand bargain is being announced. Amazon.com announced plans to hire 7,000 workers for its U.S. operations with most of the jobs offering plans and pay far above typical retail wages. Stay with us for coverage of what the president has to say.

Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Be back here at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

Brooke Baldwin picks up our coverage right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: The Army private accused of revealing American secrets to WikiLeaks learns his fate. What Bradley Manning's verdict means to leakers in the future.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see that?

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BALDWIN: What caused a blue rhino propane plant to explode in the dark of night?

Jail break. This inmate on the run after crawling out a window to his get-away car.