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Jared Fogle Pleading Guilty; Fogle Victimized 14 Children; Traveled Multiple Times to NYC to Have Sex With Minors; Prison Time Up to 13 Years; Wife Shocked and Plans to Divorce; New Poll Numbers with Trump Gaining Ground on Clinton. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 19, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So, there you have it. There's the news, the breaking news coming out of Indianapolis, Indiana. Jared Fogle, this former Subway pitchman pleading guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography.

We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington.

We're following the breaking news. I want to get right to Ashleigh Banfield who's been listening in on all the details from the very start. Ashleigh, this is an individual who is obviously very well known here in the United States, indeed, traveled for Subway around the world trying to promote Subway. And now, all of a sudden, this. Tell our viewers what just happened.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, what was interesting is that he emerged from the federal courthouse in Indianapolis and has not actually made that plea yet. The intention is there. The admission is there. The recommendations are there for sentencing which the prosecutors want to be as high as 13 month -- 13 years in prison. His attorneys are recommending closer to five. It will probably fall somewhere in the middle.

But some really interesting revelations that just came from the U.S. attorney's press conference, Wolf, in that this all started as a tip from a private citizen. The investigation that has now spanned the better part of a decade actually started with that genesis. And it involved now upwards of 47,000 images that were investigated, 3,000 videos, 14 different victims in two different states.

I'm also hearing, repeatedly, the words, child prostitution, not just child pornography. Clearly, many of this -- or many of the details and the charge relating to images and child pornography. But there are also these extraordinarily serious charges of traveling to a different state to engage in child prostitution, soliciting other child victims. I mean, this is remarkably serious stuff, Wolf.

The prosecutors also said that there's a $1.4 million restitution payment that Jared Fogle will be paying to those 14 victims. Do the math, that's $100,000 per victim. And then, just, you know, sequentially speaking, what happens now? He is obviously not in custody. Prosecutors would not talk about whether he's being electronically monitored but they said something very telling, Wolf. There's, you know, not many places where Jared Fogle could go or travel without being recognized. That alludes to the notion that they don't expect him to be a flight risk, at this time.

There are a couple of things that have to happen before actual sentencing. And that is there have to be arguments regarding these sentences. The judge has to listen to those arguments and then come up with a sentence. There has to be a pre-sentencing hearing and then, ultimately, that sentence will be levied against Jared Fogle.

But I think you know, as many of our viewers know, we're talking about the federal system in the United States of America. Those sentences are pretty much to the day. Maybe about 90 percent of a sentence will be actually served but you don't get a lot of time for good behavior.

So, if Jared Fogle is going behind bars for upwards of, say, seven to 10 years, he will likely spend almost all of that time behind bars. And there will not be a very lengthy process between right now where you watched him walking out of that federal courthouse just within the last hour to when you see him being marched right back into a federal facility where he will stay for a long time.

BLITZER: And just to be precise, the recommendation is at least five years in prison as long as, what, 12 and a half years? That's the recommendation, --

BANFIELD: So, --

BLITZER: -- the leeway that the --

BANFIELD: -- tricky.

BLITZER: -- federal judge will have in deciding whether he goes with the five years or closer --

BANFIELD: Yes.

BLITZER: -- to twelve and a half, 13 years?

BANFIELD: Pretty much. They have -- there is two recommendations that come from the defense and then that come from the prosecutors. The prosecutors want that 151 months. They want the big long 13-year sentence. The defense has said how about closer to five? We think that would be better. So, they don't you have been split the difference. It really depends on who your federal judge is.

This is an extraordinarily egregious case, Wolf, involving so many victims and an extraordinarily long period of time. We're not talking about being embroiled in someone else's issues and then turning a blind eye. We're talking about child prostitution, two victims in another state. We're talking about 14 other victims and 10s of thousands of images, surreptitious cameras that were placed in his colleague's house to videotape and photograph children as young as six years old bathing, showering, changing. They had no idea they were even victimized until they were made aware of it, sometimes by the Internet, sometimes by the investigators. [13:05:26] So, it could be as high as 13 years, make no mistake. Federal judges can be real tough and they can issue anything that comes from a defense attorney.

BLITZER: I want you to stand by, Ashleigh, because while the news conference, which we just aired live here on CNN, was happening. The prosecutor explaining what was going on. One of the attorneys for Jared Fogle spoke to reporters outside the courthouse where the -- where his client agreed to plead to these child pornography charges. Here's what the attorney, Jeremy Margolis, had to say just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY MARGOLIS, ATTORNEY: Jared Fogle is going to plead guilty to the charges that were filed earlier today in the southern district of Indiana. In so doing, he will fully and completely acknowledge his responsibility for his wrongdoing and his acts and his conduct. He has already volunteered to make restitution to those individuals who have been impacted by his behavior. He knows that restitution can't undo the damage that he's done but he will do all in his power to try to make it right.

Jared also knows that he has a medical problem. He has already sought evaluation by a world-class psychiatrist experienced in these matters and he will seek appropriate treatment.

Jared Fogle expects to go to prison. He will do his time. He expects to get well. He expects to continue to make amends to those people whose lives he has affected, both family and non-family members. And he, at some point, hopes to become, once again, a productive member of society.

Hang on. Hang on. Hang on one second.

I'm sorry to tell you, that's all that I am going to say. It's in the process now. It's in the courts. I do not yet have a date for a next appearance for the actual change of plea to guilty. I don't have a date for sentencing. We'll have no other comments whatsoever. I'll do no interviews. I'll do no side pieces. I'm not going to take phone calls. I just can't do it -- I can't do it properly while the process is ongoing. So, please respect that and understand that. I know the phone will ring off the hook but I'm not going to be able to return the calls until we speak in court at the time of disposition and we'll speak after court after that disposition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What type of GPS is he wearing?

MARGOLIS: Beyond that, that's all I can say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

MARGOLIS: So, thank you and have a good day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: All right, that's Jeremy Margolis, one of the attorneys for Jared Fogle explaining his client's perspective.

We also just received a statement from Fogle's wife through her attorney. Katie Fogle saying this, quote, "Obviously I'm extremely shocked and disappointed by the recent developments involving Jared. I am in the process of seeking a disillusion of the marriage. My focus is exclusively on the well-being of my children. Neither I nor my family will have any further comment on the matter." She adds, "I appreciate respect for my family's privacy during this difficult time."

Let's get some analysis on what's going on. Jean Casarez is joining us from New York our Legal -- our Legal Analyst and CNN Correspondent. Jean, he pleads guilty, could get as little as five years, maybe as much as 13 years. Had he gone to trial, though, and let's say he lost, he could have gotten a much longer sentence given the charge of abusing 14 children.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're talking about 50 years because count one, the maximum is 20 years; count two, the maximum is 30 years. And, thus, we see the benefit of him entering into this plea agreement here because the federal prosecutors are saying that they will argue and ask for no more than 12 and a half years in prison. He is saying he will agree to five years in prison.

But, remember, it is all up to the judge in the end, Wolf. And today was just the initial hearing. Today is when he was actually charged, formally, with these federal crimes. And, now, he has agreed that he will agree to a plea deal. He will accept that but he has not pled guilty yet. He has not been sentenced yet.

But some of these facts, Wolf, are so particular. He will admit, too, that he traveled to New York City, staying at the Plaza Hotel, and this would be in 2012, engaging in sexual relations with a 17-year-old and giving her money for that.

She, then, told authorities that when she was 16 years old, so a year before, he had come to New York several occasions engaging in sex with her, telling her, at the same time, if you can find me other minor young girls, I will give you a finder's fee.

[13:10:07] And there was another, this is victim 14, a 16-year-old victim right here in New York City. At that time, he stayed at the Ritz-Carlton hotel. Authorities are saying they found audio recordings where he called people in Florida, Georgia, Washington State asking if they could find young female minor victims for him.

Also, text messages saying that he interacted and had discussions with prostitutes. It seems to be adult prostitutes saying that he would give them a finder's fee if they could find him minor victims. And, according to the plea agreement, he engaged in sex with the -- with the prostitutes first to make sure they were not part of law enforcement before he asked them to find him minor female victims.

BLITZER: Stand by for a moment. I want to bring in Danny Savalos, our CNN Legal Analyst, CNN Criminal Defense Attorney, himself. Danny, you heard the prosecutors say they're treating him, Jared Fogle, who's obviously well known, as a pitch man for Subway, at least he used to be a pitchman for Subway. They're treating him exactly as the same as they would treat somebody who isn't well known, no harsher, no lighter. Is that your sense as well? Is he getting normal treatment for charges like this or is he being treated more harshly or less harshly as a result of his fame?

DANNY SAVALOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: No, I think you can fairly say the federal government treats all defendants with the same level of harshness in that they prosecute very harshly all child pornography charges, irrespective of the wealth or fame of the defendant. His wealth, his notoriety, his fame, it may come into -- it may come into factor when you're talking about bail because that can affect whether or not he's a risk of flight.

And, of course, either side can use the same fact to argue their point. Prosecutors will often say, because he has so much money, he has the resources to flee. And on the other hand, as defense attorneys, we frequently argue that here is somebody that everybody recognizes everywhere. He's a part of the community. He's not going anywhere. So, that may change, at least considerations of bail or electronic monitoring.

But I think it's fair to say -- both defense attorneys and federal prosecutors alike, would say they prosecute child pornography and similar crimes with an equal level of harshness across the board -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And each of these 14 victims, these children, these young girls who were abused, according to this affidavit, they'll get $100,000 each. Here's the question. What about Subway? Are they liable? Are they going to be charged with anything? Have they done something wrong as well? Well, now we're talking about tort liability, civil liability. If Subway had some knowledge, and that's sort of a remote possibility. If Subway had some knowledge or somehow facilitated any of these acts, then, of course, a creative plaintiff could find a way to at least charge them in civil court with monetary liability for these wrongs.

But at least when it comes to criminal liability, you're going to need a stronger nexus and some more actual involvement before the federal prosecutors try to bring in other employees of Subway. And, so far, that's not something we've heard. It doesn't preclude it. It doesn't mean that, in their investigation, if they find that Subway employees were somehow involved. And by involved, that means facilitated, encouraged, assisted, any of those would bring a criminal prosecution from the federal government.

But on the civil side, a creative plaintiff could find even an attenuated relationship between Subway and Jared and at least file a complaint in court. Whether or not that complaint or the lawsuit would be thrown out, depends on the quantum of evidence against Subway, if any even exists.

BLITZER: Danny Savalos, thanks very much.

Once again, the headline, Jared Fogle, the former Subway pitchman, will plead guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography and crossing state lines to pay for sex with minors, 14 young girls, specifically.

We'll stay on top of this story but there is other news that we're following as well, including Hillary Clinton. She's still leading but Donald Trump is gaining. We're going to tell you how they do in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup. Results from our brand new CNN-ORC poll. That's coming up.

[13:14:30]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:38] BLITZER: Hillary Clinton hanging on to her front-runner status overall, but Donald Trump, he is certainly gaining ground on her. If the election were held today, our brand knew CNN/ORC poll shows Hillary Clinton with a six percentage point lead over Donald Trump. But in July, she was ahead by 16 points and in June she led 59 to 35 percent. That's a 24-point margin.

Clinton tops the field of democratic candidates, but that lead is also shrinking. She's ahead of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, 47 to 29 percent. That's an 18-point margin. In July, only a month ago, she was ahead of Sanders by 24 points. Vice President Joe Biden remains in third place, even though he hasn't said whether he's running.

Let's bring in our panel, our CNN political director David Chalian is here, along with senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny, and senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson.

Guys, thanks very much.

So what's your take on Trump right now specifically in this new poll? What's the message the respondents are giving the American public?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: He's in an entirely new position as a candidate now because now he is as competitive as any other Republican against Hillary Clinton, and that was not the case, as you showed. She was beating him by 24 points. So he has made a tremendous amount of progress among Republican, which has now allowed him to be seen as an actual contender for the presidency and now he's in the ball game with his fellow Republican competitors.

[13:20:01] BLITZER: Because it's almost within the margin of error if you think -- what's the margin of error, like four or five points, right?

CHALIAN: Right. There you go.

BLITZER: So that's almost within a margin of error.

Nia, the numbers for Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, they're moving in opposite directions, as we noted. Hillary Clinton, she's now ahead 47-29 over Bernie Sanders, but a month ago she was ahead 56-19. That's not a good trend for her. NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right.

She's going down. He's going up. You know, listen, now Sanders has had the political summer of his life. I talked to folks who've known him for years and years in Vermont. They say even he's surprised at how well he's been able to catch on, drawing these huge, huge clouds.

The Clinton campaign very much watching his next move, which is to go down to South Carolina over these next days. He'll be in Columbia. He'll be in Greenville. They want to see what kind of crowd he draws down there. And this would be a test of whether or not he can do well with African-American voters, with women voters and the more kind of Democratic base that he hasn't really been able to draw so far, even though he's drawn these big crowds. So that's what they're watching at this point.

BLITZER: And you're going down to South Carolina as well.

HENDERSON: I'm going down to South Carolina. I am.

BLITZER: And a big chunk of that Democratic vote in South Carolina, people who show up for the Democratic primaries, are African- Americans.

HENDERSON: That's right. Over half will be African-American in that Democratic primary. This is why Barack Obama was able to do so well in 2008 and obviously Hillary Clinton trying to replicate that and Sanders trying to steal some of her thunder, meeting with Black Lives Matters protesters and trying to gain an edge there.

BLITZER: Jeff, let's talk about the e-mail controversy that's been chasing Hillary Clinton. We asked this question, was she wrong to use personal e-mail during her four years as the secretary of state. In March, 51 percent said she was wrong, now 56 percent. It's not a huge change, but it's up right now. I suspect that a lot of Democrats are not as concerned as a lot of Republicans out there are. The Republicans are pretty furious about this.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Right, and that is an overall number of registered voters. So certainly Republicans are more -- more concerned about this. But Democrats are concerned about this as well. You know how you can tell? You can see by the reaction of their campaign. Always watch what a campaign is doing to see.

So she has changed her strategy over the last couple days and she is doubling down on this as another partisan attack. We've seen this movie before. So she's trying to rally Democrats to her defense. But she had a moment in Las Vegas yesterday, in Nevada, after a town meeting, a pretty testy exchange with a reporter on this and now her campaign is out trying to say that she's answered enough of these questions, they're trying to move this on. But it is one of the reasons that Joe Biden is still being discussed in this race. So Democrats are not as concerned as Republicans, but it would be wrong to say they're not concerned at all.

BLITZER: David, let me play a little clip. One of those awkward exchanges she had with reporters yesterday in north Las Vegas. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My personal e-mails are my personal business, right? So that's all I can say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But did you try -- did you try to wipe the whole server? You didn't answer my question.

CLINTON: I -- I'm -- you know, I don't -- I have no idea. That's why we turned it over --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought you said you were in charge of it. You were the official in charge. Did you wipe the server?

CLINTON: Well, like with a cloth or something?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. You know how it works digitally. Did you try to wipe the whole thing?

CLINTON: I -- I don't know how it works digitally at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That was a little awkward. She told a joke about it the other night as well, Snapchat and all of that, which automatically deletes what goes on. But let's take a look at -- and I want you to respond to that, but look at these favorability numbers that she now has in our brand new CNN/ORC poll. Favorable, 44 percent, unfavorable 53 percent. That's not necessarily encouraging.

CHALIAN: No. And, obviously, since March, she's become a presidential candidate, so you would expect some of that to happen as she gets into the daily combat of politics. But clearly this ongoing story is having a drag on her as well. Listen, at the end of that news conference last night in north Las Vegas there she basically threw her hands up. She said, you know, nobody's asking me about this except you guys and it was this level of exhaustion.

When I compared that news conference to the one she had a couple weeks ago, I think you were at in New Hampshire, where she was talking about Donald Trump and on offense, it's a totally different Hillary Clinton. And she has been on defense on this story from the very beginning of her campaign and only in moments has she been able to change and be on offense. But, once again, she's going to answer questions like this because it's impossible to put to rest with ongoing --

ZELENY: It's gotten under her skin. You could tell it by the tone of her voice.

HENDERSON: Yes.

BLITZER: But let's not forget, she's overwhelmingly still the front- runner among Democrats and on key issues in our new poll, Nia, on whether the economy, race relations, income gap, foreign policy, she's still does a lot better than any of the other Democratic candidates. HENDERSON: That's right, leaps and bounds ahead of Bernie Sanders on

most of these fronts. He does a little better in term of who would be able to handle the income gap between rich and poor. But she's got to like these numbers. But, as well, she's got to be worried that there is some fraying at the edges at least in terms of how people view her, those trustworthy numbers not so good. Their bet is that, you know, maybe this e-mail problem will be a problem, but ultimately that voters will say they trust her to do the right thing on all of these other issues.

[13:25:00] ZELENY: There's not a single candidate in the race on the Republican side who wouldn't trade places with her in a heartbeat.

HENDERSON: That's right. Yes.

ZELENY: She's over 50 percent in all the theoretical head-to-head matchups. So we have to judge her against the context of this field. But there are some warning signs. But, overall, you know, not a bad place to be as a candidate.

HENDERSON: Right.

BLITZER: And (INAUDIBLE) some perspective, when she does give a speech before a crowd, whether in Iowa, New Hampshire or anyplace else, it's usually very well received and the Democrats who show up a very excited by her at this point. Although she's got some, obviously, significant political issues she's got to deal with as well. Any indications she's going to be doing any more serious, substantive issues? Brianna Keilar of CNN interviewed her a couple of weeks ago. I know she's going to be on the "Ellen DeGeneres Show." That's coming up. But any indications she's going to start doing some substantive one-on-one interviews with journalists?

ZELENY: She will be doing more substantive speeches after -- she's taking a bit of a break this week and next week as the summer winds to a close, but in September she will be ramping all that up. I'm not sure about interviews with journalists, but she will be doing more substantive speeches. And look for her to keep defining herself against this Republican field. The best way to get Democrats enthused about her is to go after these Republicans hard and she seemed to enjoy it on immigration yesterday with Donald Trump. She'll continue doing that.

BLITZER: Yes.

CHALIAN: Circle next Friday on your calendar because she's going to be addressing the Democratic National Committee as they meet in Minneapolis, and it's exactly that kind of crowd, those establishment Democrats, that is a Clinton crowd that she can take that whole sort of bashing the Republicans to great enthusiasm.

BLITZER: Joe Biden was thinking of going to that meeting too but apparently --

CHALIAN: I don't know that we have --

BLITZER: Is he going to go? Not going to go?

CHALIAN: I don't know that we have that locked down yet. (INAUDIBLE).

HENDERSON: Yes.

BLITZER: Yes, because I know he's even -- if he shows up, people will interpret it one way. If he doesn't show up, people will interpret it another way.

HENDERSON: That's right. Yes.

BLITZER: All right, guys, thanks very, very much.

Donald Trump also weighing in on the Hillary Clinton e-mail controversy. He says it's not -- and I'm quoting him now, "like Watergate on steroids." Our own Chris Cuomo sat down with Donald Trump today. They talked about Hillary Clinton, a wide range of important topics. You can watch the full interview, a special CNN report coming up later tonight 9:00 p.m. Eastern. The Donald Trump interview with Chris Cuomo.

Up next, we turn to that deadly bombing in Bangkok. There are now significant new developments in the search for the chief suspect and his possible accomplices. We're going there live.

And first it was the U.S. Army Rangers, now the U.S. Navy SEALs. A Navy admiral says there's no reason women shouldn't be accepted into the SEALs program as long as they meet the requirements. But when? We have details. Stand by.

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