Christie Annual Address; Christie's Popularity
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Was it a visa problem or because he was critical of President Vladimir Putin? We're going to hear from that journalist up next. And New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's state of the state speech isn't usually followed so closely, but today the eyes of the nation are fixed on the likely presidential hopeful after his administration's bridge scandal. And French President Francois Hollande faces reporters for the first time since he claims he had an affair -- or rather that claims that he had an affair with a French actress. We're going to tell you what he said from Paris. Welcome to AROUND THE WORLD. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. We are following another school shooting in the United States. It's unbelievable when you think that this could happen again, but it has. This time it's at a middle school in Roswell, New Mexico. Two children taken to a hospital after a report of a shooting at Berrendo Middle School. Now, state public safety officials, they say it started just after 8:00 local time. We don't know the extent of the injuries yet, but authorities do have a suspect in custody. Now, officials released this statement just moments ago saying, "currently, the threat has been alleviated and this incident is being investigated. There are many resources and law enforcement officers on scene securing the area." We certainly wish them the best and hope that those students are safe. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey going back now into the national spotlight. He is delivering his state of the state speech. It comes at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. We are told that he will address some of the controversies surrounding him and his office. These type of speeches, you might imagine, they don't ordinarily capture national attention, but Christie, he's no ordinary governor. He is considered a front- runner for the GOP nomination in 2016 presidential race. Well, he is in the middle of a scandal involving his former top aides. People are still talking about that. And he's also facing a federal investigation over how he spent Superstorm Sandy relief money. Our CNN's Erin McPike, she is in Trenton, New Jersey, and is going to set the scene for us.</s>ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the midst of weathering a full-blown political super storm, Chris Christie will discuss the bridge closure scandal when he delivers his annual state of the state address this afternoon. This will be the first time the popular New Jersey governor is in front of cameras since his marathon apology last week.</s>GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I am soul-searching on this. But what I also want the people of New Jersey to know is that this is the exception, not the rule.</s>MCPIKE: But it's not just bridge-gate anymore. On Monday, CNN revealed the new storm clouds forming over the brightest spot in his governorship, his response to Superstorm Sandy.</s>CHRISTIE: Because we're stronger than the storm.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You bet we are.</s>MCPIKE: Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone thinks these tourism ads that promote the whole Christie family might be a misuse of the federal relief funds given to help New Jersey recover from Sandy.</s>REP. FRANK PALLONE (D), NEW JERSEY: I think this extra money that was spent on the ads to put him on the air during the campaign, that could be used for other purposes for Sandy relief.</s>MCPIKE: Federal auditors are probing those allegations, though Christie's office dismissed the revelation as conveniently timed and added the Obama administration approved the effort. Another possible incident of retribution, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, a Democrat, considered endorsing Christie for re-election last year but then declined to do so on July 18th.</s>CHRISTIE: Well, good morning, everybody.</s>MCPIKE: Over the next two days, Christie appointees canceled upcoming meetings with him, leading Fulop to write an e-mail to former Port Authority official Bill Baroni, who has since resigned. In the e-mail obtained by CNN he wrote, in part, "I am not sure if it is a coincidence that your office canceled a meeting several weeks back that seemed to be simultaneous to other political conversations elsewhere that were happening. Prior to that, you were always very responsive, and I sincerely hope the two issues are not related." And there's more in the scandal that started it all. The lane closures to the George Washington Bridge last fall.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do think laws have been broken.</s>MCPIKE: New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski will lead a brand-new special committee forming today that will utilize a special counsel to investigate Christie's key staffers, and the governor himself. That committee will have subpoena power and intends to call on fired Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Stepien, Christie's longtime trusted political adviser.</s>MALVEAUX: And we bring in Erin here. So, Erin, let's talk a little bit about this because we have not seen the governor since his news conference on Thursday. Is this part of a larger strategy in terms of controlling the message at this point going forward?</s>MCPIKE: Well, Suzanne, certainty the Christie staff wanted that big apology press conference last week to stand on its own. I would point out to you that Chris Christie is very active on Twitter, but he hasn't said anything on Twitter since Wednesday when he started tweeting some of the clips of that apology press conference. Now, on top of that, Suzanne, he had to get ready for this big state of the state address today. He's unveiling a couple of proposals, both on education reform and on property tax relief. And then on top of that, Suzanne, just one week from today, he will deliver his second inaugural address. So a lot is keeping him busy here in New Jersey.</s>MALVEAUX: And, Erin, I imagine we'll hear from the Democrats, as well?</s>MCPIKE: We will. And the man who is the assembly speaker-elect, Vincent Prieto, he and the assembly majority leader, Lou Greenwald, will hold a press conference immediately after Christie finishes his address today.</s>MALVEAUX: All right, Erin McPike, we'll be watching. Appreciate it. One thing's for sure, Chris Christie has never been a shrinking violet. So we're going to watch. We're going to see what his demeanor is when he delivers his state of the state address this afternoon. And Wolf Blitzer is joining us to talk a little bit about that. So, Wolf, we've seen the scandals play out here over the last couple of weeks and it seems, at least, that he's taken somewhat of a hit in the popularity if you take a look at the polls here. So the approval rating with New Jersey registered voters has dropped somewhat. Before the scandal broke he had 65 percent approval rating. Well now that's 58, first time since Superstorm Sandy hit back in 2012 that it's actually been below the 60 percent mark, telling here. It's 46 percent of registered voters in New Jersey now have a favorable impression of Christie personally. More than a year ago, about a year ago, it was a whopping 71 percent that really had a good regard of him. So what do we make of the demeanor? When we've got to watch him here today, does he need to be kind of a kindler, gentler Christie, if that's possible?</s>WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": Yes, I think he does. He tried to demonstrate that at his news conference, nearly a two-hour news conference, on Thursday. He's got to come across as sincere. So far, let's keep this in perspective, there's no smoking gun directly linking him to either the decision to go ahead and shut down those traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge separating New Jersey and New York. No smoking gun suggesting that -- directly linking him to some sort of cover-up. But there are a lot of investigations underway right now, some special investigations that are about to be launched in New Jersey, some federal probes, as well. So he's got a lot of problems, potentially, down the road. As long as he told us all the truth last Thursday and there's no evidence that -- so far to show that he didn't tell us the truth, as long as he said -- he didn't mislead us, he'll be -- he'll probably be OK, although his stature clearly reflecting in those polls has been diminished.</s>MALVEAUX: Wolf, you bring up a really good point, which is he -- so far, when there's no evidence that he broke any laws here, do you think that people or voters -- particularly people in New Jersey -- are going to look at this and say, OK, this is politics as usual. And then, if you take it on the national stage, do you think that that's also the way voters are going to see it before 2016?</s>BLITZER: Yes, a lot of people will see this as politics. It's - there's, you know, a lot of tough politics, especially in New Jersey, but a lot of other states as well. The notion, for example, in Jersey City, when the Democratic mayor was toying with the idea of endorsing him, had all these meetings scheduled to try to benefit the residents, the people of Jersey City, and then, of course, he decided to endorse the Democratic challenger to Chris Christie. All of a sudden, within a few days, all of those meetings are basically canceled. Is that appropriate, inappropriate, is it just a coincidence or is it tough -- tough politics in New Jersey? It's tough politics. Is it illegal, something that was going on? What they're going to be looking for to see if what happened with the - with the transit lanes going to the bridge, was that just an aberration or was this part of a bigger political shenanigan strategy?</s>MALVEAUX: Yes, and you've got a lot of investigations coming up, so they're obviously going to try to get to the bottom of all of that. It's not going away any time soon. Wolf, we're going to be watching, of course. Thank you, as always. You can see the governor's speech live here on CNN. Our coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. And the House could vote as soon as tomorrow on a bipartisan spending bill to keep the government running through September. Also prevent another government shutdown. Total cost, more than $1 trillion. It covers all kinds of things here. For instance, like protecting disabled veterans from a pension cut. Also, a 1 percent raise for federal workers and military personnel. And getting low-risk passengers through airport security more quickly. Also says that the Libyan government must prove that it's looking for the people responsible for the Benghazi attack before it can get any more aid from the United States. New revelations now about that deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. That happening, of course, on September 11th of 2012. Newly declassified documents from the House Armed Services Committee shows that while the U.S. military was worried about terrorist attacks around the world on that day, there were no discussions related to any specific threat in Libya. That was despite growing concern that the country was becoming a hot bed for extremism. As you know, four Americans were killed in the attack, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Here's more of what we're working on for AROUND THE WORLD. Russia kicks an American reporter out of the country, and he says the whole experience is like a return to the Cold War days. Could it be punishment for his critical reporting before the Olympics? And with the deadly daily bombings in Iraq, my friend, my co-anchor, Michael Holmes, he is back in the country where the U.S. troops left two years ago. Eight thousand people were killed in Iraq last year alone. Well, today, Michael spoke to Iraq's former prime minister about what he thinks is behind the terrible violence. And a huge crackdown against gay people in Nigeria. Not only is same- sex marriage banned with prison time for those found guilty, but now gay people can get in trouble just for gathering together in public places.