The Shocking Murder of Leiby Kletzky; Clock Ticks Toward Default; Alleged Rapist Can Watch Child Porn
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: But right now, watch this:</s>HOLMES (voice-over): A boy is brutally murdered walking home from day camp alone.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is like a horror story in your own backyard.</s>HOLMES: Raising America's credit limit.</s>ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: High drama and high stakes.</s>HOLMES: The talks are tense.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The pressure is building. Tempers are flaring.</s>HOLMES: The clock is ticking.</s>KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Tensions are soaring.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Toe to toe with the president.</s>HOLMES: And lawmakers are moments away from meeting again. We're all over it. This man is accused of luring young boys to his home, raping them and videotaping the attacks. Now he's allowed to watch those videos behind bars.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This makes me grind my teeth.</s>HOLMES: All because of a shocking loophole. Sunny Hostin is on the case. Plus, anger.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Name the day.</s>HOLMES: Accusations</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Illegal activity.</s>HOLMES: And outrage.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order! Order!</s>HOLMES: The investigation into Rupert Murdoch's empire could soon reach the U.S.</s>HOLMES: And hello to you all, top of the hour here now in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm T.J. Holmes. Brooke Baldwin is off today. And just moments from right now, we're expecting congressional leaders to walk into that place, the White House, and once again face President Obama and each other and negotiate over the nation's debt ceiling. Meanwhile, the treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, made a rare appearance a little bit ago, warning Congress to act now or this economy will face severe consequences. We are live outside the White House just minutes from now. But first we are getting still more disturbing details of that 8- year-old boy's gruesome murder. You're seeing his picture there, Leiby Kletzky -- or Kleztky -- excuse me. The 35-year-old, the suspect in this case, 35-year-old Levi Aron made his first court appearance this afternoon. You're seeing him there. He is charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree murder. Aron allegedly suffocated Leiby Kleztky. And we're learning that the boy may have fought back for his life. The boy's neighbors and friends devastated by this crime.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is like a horror story in your own backyard. It's crazy.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all about submission to the will of God. We accept what comes, but there is a strong, palpable sense of anger.</s>HOLMES: Well, Dov Hikind is an assemblyman from New York. He helped with the massive search for the little boy after he disappeared on Monday. Sir, we appreciate you giving us some time. And given all that the community poured into trying to find this young man, what has the reaction been not just to his death, but some of these gruesome details about what happened to this young man?</s>DOV HIKIND, NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN: Well, the reaction in my community and way beyond my community has been total shock. People are walking around like zombies. They can't believe what happened to this very innocent 8-year-old coming home from day camp, like millions of children, coming home from day camp. Hoping to see their parents. You know, he walks to meet his mother two blocks away from the day camp, never meets his mother, and ends up meeting this individual who ends up murdering him in the most gruesome way. People just can't believe it. And I think there's a recognition by everything that this 8-year-old boy, this is not a story just about Brooklyn, New York, Borough Park, New York. This is a story about every single family in America and throughout the world. It's about protecting our children, doing whatever we can to make sure that they safe, not scaring them, not being overly protective, but it is a message for everybody.</s>HOLMES: Sir, would there ever -- this is an issue that parents deal with all the time. At what point, at what age do you let them out a little bit on their own and walk to school on their own and walk back home on their own? And would a parent -- besides that fear all parents will have, was there anything about the neighborhood that would have given a parent pause, and say, you know what, I don't want my child walking alone in this neighborhood? Or was this a neighborhood you would have felt comfortable and completely safe with your children walking down the streets?</s>HIKIND: This is a neighborhood that is one of the safest neighborhoods in New York. There would be no reason to think twice. Crime is almost nonexistent in our neighborhood. Violent crime, forget it. So there would have been no reason to -- give the child a little bit of independence. In fact, that's what he wanted. He was waiting for the moment to be a little bit free, to meet his mother two or three blocks away. There were people in the street. This was 5:00 in the afternoon on a sunny, warm summer day. People were out in the streets everywhere. So, there would have been no reason to be afraid. And, look, we don't want to scare people. We don't want to tell people don't let your kid out of house. Don't let him -- don't let your child walk more than 25 feet from the house. I think every parent has to make those kinds of decisions, but in this particular case, there is no crime. There would have been no reason to be concerned with regard to this child walking a block or two. Needless to say, the mother, you know, who now has lost her child, the child would come home with the bus every single day, every single morning, go with the bus, come with the bus, now she obviously feels like, God, what did I do, letting my child walk even those two or three blocks?</s>HOLMES: Yes, it's a tough part of this story. You can't imagine what she's going through because of that decision. Like you said, he just wanted a little independence. And hopefully this won't change -- or maybe it should. I will let you go on this, sir. Do you think it will change people's attitudes in the neighborhood? Maybe they will start to look at some people in the neighborhood they don't know as well with a little more suspicion? Maybe people won't be letting their kids out and the neighborhoods won't look the same? Are you concerned that the neighborhood will change in some way and not be that community it used to be?</s>HIKIND: Well, I think it will remain the beautiful and wonderful community that it is, but there's no question that this is a wakeup call for every single family. This is the only thing people are talking about. This is the only thing people are living. People are not sleeping. I can tell you that my own daughter, who has five kids, her daughter who is 8 years old came home yesterday and asked her, mother, mommy, I -- I heard these different stories about this child. You know, how do parents deal with their own children in terms of explaining what happened here? Children know everything. They're smart. And I think one of the things that's definitely happen in my neighborhood and it should happen everywhere to protect our children, and kids have to be street-smart. And we have to teach them, we have to talk to them. When you meet someone -- Borough Park is a largely Hasidic orthodox neighborhood.</s>HOLMES: Yes.</s>HIKIND: Most people have beards and side curls. Often kids will trust someone who looks like their father or like their friends or like their teachers, and say, oh, this guy must be safe. He looks like my father.</s>HOLMES: Yes.</s>HIKIND: I think that is not the case, never should have been the case. You have got to be very, very careful. You have got to teach your kids. You have got to talk to your kids.</s>HOLMES: Boy, it's a good -- I mean, it's an unfortunate, unfortunate reminder here, but still for a lot of parents a reminder. Like you said, make kids a little street-smart sometimes and teach them best you can. And Dov Hikind, assemblyman from New York, sir, we appreciate you taking the time out. Know it's a tough time your community is going through right now, but we appreciate your time.</s>HIKIND: Thank you very much.</s>HOLMES: All right, we're 11 minutes past the hour now, another live look at the White House, where, at any moment, supposed to be just within the next four minutes, President Obama expected to host once against the congressional leaders for another round of negotiations over whether to extend America's credit line. But, suddenly, the White House is now saying the focus may need to shift in these negotiations. We are all over this story. Stay with me -- next.