[Brianna Keilar, Cnn Anchor:] Good afternoon. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Brooke Baldwin. And I want to begin with breaking news coming to us out of the nation's capital. Right now there are widespread power outages across the D.C. metropolitan area. At this point, Pepco, the power provider there, is reporting that about 2,000 customers are affected by this outage. This does include, though, some very important customers, for instance, the White House and the U.S. Capitol. In fact, check out what happened just a few moments ago during today's State Department briefing.
[Unidentified Female:] There's no reason. It's the same thing. Same kind.
[Unidentified Male:] Ask it's the same thing. So you still expect them to ratify it?
[Unidentified Female:] Same thing. And they've agreed to do so, correct, yes.
[Unidentified Male:] Great. And then second thing
[Keilar:] All right, so some lights went out there at the State Department and actually Marie Harf, the spokeswoman, had to go ahead and use a phone light to take questions. Let's bring in CNN's aviation and government regulation correspondent, Rene Marsh. She is in Washington. Do we have a sense of what happened, Rene, and how widespread this is?
[Rene Marsh, Cnn Aviation & Govt. Regulation Correspondent:] Well, we are getting some reporting into CNN. The power outage in the Washington area was caused by a small explosion at a power transfer line in southern Maryland. That's according to a U.S. official from CNN's Jim Sciutto. CNN has been told that the Department of Transportation the Department of Homeland Security, I should say, is very closely monitoring the situation. But what we have here, Brianna, as you mentioned off the top, is something that's very widespread. Not just the White House, but reports that the Capitol building, brief power outages here at the D.C. bureau of CNN, the Smithsonian Museum saying that they had to evacuate many of their museums because they lost power. Department of Justice also reports that they lost power as well. So this is very widespread. Also, we saw mass transit being affected. Metro, the train service here in Washington, D.C., many of those stations reporting that they were operating on backup power as a result of this. But the information that we are getting into CNN, that the root of this looks like it is a power outage that was caused by a small explosion, again, Brianna, at a power transfer line in southern Maryland.
[Keilar:] All right. And do we have a sense what about airports? You have Reagan Airport, Rene, which is right there outside of Washington, D.C., in northern Virginia. Are there any effects there?
[Marsh:] Yes, we did a check of all of the airports. At this point, no impact to any of the airports. I also spoke with TSA. Their screening, that's up and running. So we're not seeing any issues. We're seeing flights going in and out of Reagan and Dulles. So not seeing any problems there. Looks like most of the power problems are concentrated within the D.C. area as well as Maryland. Of course, those two airports in Virginia. So at this point, no reports of any problems at the airports here.
[Keilar:] OK. We'll be keeping an eye on this. Rene Marsh, this developing just in the last few moments there in Washington, D.C., keep us posted. And any moment now, a Massachusetts jury will begin to decide the fate of former NFL star Aaron Hernandez. Hernandez is accused of the June 2013 killing of semi-pro player Odin Lloyd, who was dating his fiance's sister. Lloyd was found shot to death in an industrial park less than a mile from Hernandez's home. This is a trial that's taken months. One hundred and thirty-one witnesses have taken the stand. This includes New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft, as well as Hernandez's own fiance. But it all comes down to this, did the state prof beyond a reasonable doubt that Hernandez killed Lloyd? The prosecutor asked jurors to consider the evidence and Hernandez's behavior.
[William Mccauley, Prosecutor:] Something's been taken, something's been left. The car, that leaves. The tire. The shell casing. And guess what? When they go and they speak to Killy Smith and she talks about the car, oh, yes, they brought the car back and told me about the mirror, the broken mirror. They go and they collect that tire. And guess what? His tire at that scene, his DNA at that scene. That shell casing, the same markings to that same gun, the same gun that he's waltzing around the house with that disappears. Why did it disappear? Because he made it disappear. When you talk about control, who's in control? Who's in control of Wallace? Who's in control of Carlos Ortiz? Who's in control of Shayanna Jenkins, right? The fact that she's going to say, I put up with this, that's a choice apparently she makes, but he is controlling it.
[Keilar:] The defense, today for the first time acknowledged Hernandez was at the scene of the killing and saw it happen.
[James Sultan, Hernandez Defense Attorney:] So what are you to make of Aaron's conduct after the killing of Odin Lloyd? Did he make all the right decisions? No. Did he make all the right choices? No. He was a 23-year-old kid who had witnessed something, a shocking killing, committed by somebody he knew. He really didn't know what to do. So he just put one foot in front of the other. Keep in mind, he's not charged with being an accessory after the fact. You couldn't find him guilty of that charge even if you wanted to. They didn't charge him with that. He's charged with murder. And that he did not do.
[Keilar:] I want to bring in former prosecutor and CNN legal analyst Paul Callen and criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor B.J. Bernstein. So, B.J., why would the defense use this tactic in their closing argument, this admitting here at the last minute that Hernandez was present for the murder?
[B.j. Bernstein, Former Prosecutor:] Well, because it tracks the total defense, which is that they don't have anything but gray suspicion that he actually committed the murder itself. The defense throughout the trial really attacked the circumstantial evidence that was presented by the state. They went after the expert, for instance, with regard to the shoe treads, saying that, you know, he was there. They kept using it, attacking each thing that there's just no direct evidence that Aaron Hernandez was there and the only thing lurking was this idea that perhaps he wasn't there at all. And by admitting that, they took that out of the province of the jury and let the jury focus on whether the state proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
[Keilar:] Was this a smart move then, Paul?
[Paul Callan, Cnn Legal Analyst:] No, I don't think it was in terms of the overall strategy and trying the case. Remember, they opened to the jury, suggesting that this was a weak circumstantial case, suggesting that there was no proof that he was actually involved in the murder. They fought tooth and nail throughout. And now, to close to the jury and say, oh, yes, he was there, but he didn't pull the trigger, I think that's a major shift in the strategy of defense in the middle of a trial and it's kind of unusual for the defense to do that. Usually they follow the same strategy throughout. And I think that's going to backfire on them.
[Keilar:] Yes, it's this tacit admission that they had to give up something that they weren't alleging in the beginning of this. What about we heard the defense hammering over and over today reasonable doubt, reasonable doubt. And the key here being that they want the jury to believe that it wasn't Hernandez, that he was there, but it was these one of these other men that was with him. B.J., do you think that they really have a chance at this, creating this reasonable doubt, or does it seem like a Hail Mary?
[Bernstein:] There's always a chance. You know, when you have more than one person there, when you have especially when they're not on trial with you right in the room, it is easier and should be you know, lot of times done to say, wait a minute, it's not me, it's these other people. You have the wrong person. And it's the natural way to be able to defend yourself from this that he was there but that they don't have any direct evidence. And again, we're going back to that circumstantial versus direct evidence of whether he actually was the murder. And that's what the defense is relying on that the jury will reject it.
[Keilar:] Paul, you're seeing these countless pictures of Aaron Hernandez in the courtroom. He might as well be on a football field, all of these smiles. We saw him sort of smiling, kind of laughing, chewing gum at times. What do you make of that behavior? What does the jury make of that behavior?
[Callan:] Well, I think that it's a big mistake to have a client behave like that as if these lawyers could control it. They really can't control it. I mean it looks like he doesn't take the charges seriously. I mean, what is more serious than being on trial for murder? And to be laughing and joking, I mean, it's just I think it makes him look terrible. It makes him look like he has no respect for the process or the life of the person who was killed. So I think that's going to that's going to hurt him when the jury deliberations occur.
[Keilar:] And, B.J., you look at this and you see his lawyer is not laughing the way he is. He's laughing, and his lawyer is trying to kind of keep a straight face and maybe discourage him from behaving that way. What do you think?
[Bernstein:] And, you know, it's difficult, but at the same time, honestly, as I walk the hallways even here at CNN talking to different people here, a lot of people are saying, you know, I like Aaron Hernandez. He's handsome. He's charismatic. I'm still going to keep my jersey. That is a very strong factor here that almost no other defendant has is this likability. And although the circumstances are serious, when you look at the video even right now, not knowing what's there, you say, wow, he you know, he's likable, he can't be a murder. And that may be a subliminal message that's being sent to that jury.
[Keilar:] Yes, good points, both of you. Thanks so much. Paul Callan, B.J. Bernstein, thanks guys.
[Bernstein:] Thank you.
[Callan:] Thank you.
[Keilar:] All eyes now on Boston. We are awaiting the jury's decision on the fate of the accused Boston bomber. The verdict is expected at any moment. Plus, he's one of the political world's biggest characters, and today Rand Paul announcing he wants the White House. Hear why the focus of his speech surprised some pundits today. And developing right now, ISIS is storming the streets of a refugee camp on the doorstep of Syria's Bashar al Assad. There are 18,000 civilians caught in the middle of this standoff. We will take you there. This is CNN.