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Chen Can Apply to Study Abroad; Romney Rips Obama's Economy; Concussion and Brain Studies; Super Moon Looms Large; Romney, Santorum Meet Today; Facebook Plans $75B IPO; Angers Grows at Government's Botched Gun Sting; Kutcher's Chip Ad Causes Controversy; : Following the Edwards Money Trail

Aired May 04, 2012 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to all you. Welcome to NEWSROOM. NEWSROOM starts right now. I'm Carol Costello.

Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM, the jobless numbers just out. Basically nothing has changed, but political spin has already started.

The Indian community waiting for Ashton Kutcher to apologize, but so far nothing but cricket. Well, the controversy rages on over that (INAUDIBLE) commercial.

Mountains of flowers and condolences for Junior Seau and news his family will allow his brain to be studied for signs of concussions.

And it's the biggest full moon of the year and it's almost upon us. But what makes this moon so super?

And we begin this morning with breaking news out of China. The diplomatic quagmire may be over. According to the State Department, quote, "Mr. Chen has been offered a fellowship from an American university where he can be accompanied by his wife and two children." The Chinese government has indicated that it will accept Mr. Chen's applications for appropriate travel documents.

That means Mr. Chen will soon be on his way to the United States with his family, but then again, you never know with China.

Stan Grant is live in Beijing.

So, Stan, tell us what happens now.

STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've seen a lot of movement, haven't we, Carol, on this, twists and turns every single hour it has seemed over the past week -- past week. The latest is that the Chinese government have opened the door now for Chen Guangcheng to get a passport for himself and his family. The U.S. has said they would then expedite any visa process so that he could travel to the United States and study there, perhaps even indefinitely, on a student visa.

There's also the possibility of work there, as you just mentioned, once he gets to the United States. Now there is still, there's still a very tense situation here diplomatically. We heard from Hillary Clinton just about an hour ago where she was saying that they are determined to do all they can to try to allow Chen to have the sort of life that he's expressed that he'd like to have.

They said at every stage the U.S. is working to meet Chen's interest. And also to reflect U.S. values. China, though, while it's opening the door in one way is also playing hard ball. They're still demanding an apology from the United States about harboring Chen at the U.S. embassy. They are also saying that the U.S. needs to do more in its actions to make sure that events like this don't continue to occur and possibly damage U.S./China relations -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Stan Grant reporting live from Beijing this morning. We'll check back with you.

Also just minutes ago, we learned the nation's jobless rate fell last month from 8.2 percent to 8.1 percent, 115,000 jobs were created. That's still some pretty sluggish growth. But not surprisingly, the presumptive Republican nominee was quick to pounce on this latest sign of a lukewarm recovery. He appeared on FOX News right after the jobs report was released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should be seeing numbers in the 500,000 jobs created per month. This is way, way, way off from what should happen in a normal recovery. The reason that you're seeing the unemployment rate go down is because you have more people dropping out of the workforce than you have getting jobs.

It's a -- it's a terrible and very disappointing report this morning. Clearly the American people are wondering why this recovery isn't happening faster, why it's taken years and years for the recovery to occur. And we seem to be slowing down, not speeding up. This is not progress. This is very, very disappointing. And a lot of American people are having very hard times and this is not good news this morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Christine Romans is our business guru. She's in New York.

So, Christine, is Mr. Romney right?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: He is right that more people dropped out of the labor market than got new jobs, net new jobs in the month. He is right on that. I mean the fact check on that is pretty clear. You had about 350,000 people simply drop out of the labor market and 115,000 net new jobs created.

Let's take a look overall at what it looks like here. Hundred and 15,000 jobs created, 8.1 percent employment rate. Don't get too excited about this drop, slight, slight drop in the unemployment rate because that is because those people dropped out of the labor market that we've been talking about. And the numbers show, Carol, that the labor force participation, the participation rate of people in the labor force, it's the lowest it's been since the early 1980s, Carol. So that's really important here to watch.

I want to move over quickly and show you some of the areas where we saw job creation. Retail jobs, 29,000 jobs created there. Remember last month I told you there was a big disappointment in retail? It reversed itself this month and now you had -- 29,000 jobs. Wholesale and trade employment, here you had 7400 jobs here. Professional and business services, Carol, if you move up on my graphic, you can see 62,000 jobs were created there.

And again, health care, we saw jobs created in health care. Overall though, Carol, 115,000 jobs, not enough to absorb new entrants into the labor market so that's why you use the word lukewarm, that's a perfect analysis of this jobs report. Lukewarm, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Christine Romans reporting for us from New York.

Also sometime today the family of Junior Seau will announce his funeral plans. It comes just a day after the coroner ruled Seau's death a suicide with a single gunshot to the chest.

The former football star had told friends he wanted his brain to be studied to learn more about the damage caused by concussions.

Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been investigating this topic, well, it seems like forever.

And -- so, Sanjay, there are reports that Seau's brain will be examined in Boston. So what will medical examiners look for first?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a lab that's been in existence for some time although it's still relatively new science. What they're looking for is something known as CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It's a mouthful, but basically it's sort of an amazing thing and I've seen this myself, Carol.

They're looking for plaques and tangles in the brain. And those are things you typically see associated with Alzheimer's disease, except they're looking for it in a 43-year-old man. Same story, as you remember last year, you and I talked about Dave Duerson.

COSTELLO: Yes.

GUPTA: Who also -- you know, it's tough to talk about but killed himself in this rare way, shot himself in the chest and said he wanted his brain studied. In Duerson's case they found evidence of exactly what he had been concerned about.

COSTELLO: So explain to us how damage in the brain could cause someone to commit suicide.

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's -- and I preface again by saying what we're talking about is brand new so this isn't even in the textbooks yet. What -- the work going out the Sports Legacy Institute is sort of arriving at this conclusion that these blows to the head, and not just concussions, but also what are known as subconcussive blows. The kind of blow a football player gets right back up, thinks nothing of it, that's just the game of football.

But the idea now is that these subconcussive hits are cumulative. They add up and cause this damage. The clinical -- you know, when someone is living with the symptoms they have are three classic symptoms. Memory loss, anger and depression. And so when you put those three things together, it's not a -- necessarily a prescription for someone to take their own life but obviously we're hearing about it more and more.

COSTELLO: So if the doctors, medical examiners in Boston determined that there was damage to Seau's brain, will this prove once and for all that these kinds of injuries cause this kind of outcome?

GUPTA: I think if you were to ask the doctors there, they'd say probably we already know that now. That has -- that has essentially been determined. It's early still, as I mentioned, but 19 NFL players' brains have already been examined. Eighteen of them showed evidence of this.

I saw this evidence in a player as young as 17 years old, a high school player, football player. So it can start early, the symptoms can manifest later in life. But 18 out of 19, almost assuredly, these repeated blows to the head, as they told me, causes damage.

COSTELLO: Wow. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

GUPTA: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Don't miss your appointment with Sanjay this weekend. "SANJAY GUPTA, MD" airs tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 Eastern and on Sunday morning at 7:30 Eastern.

Thanks, Sanjay.

John Edwards' trial resumes this morning with an interior designer retaking the stand. Bryan Huffman was the conduit for hundreds of thousands of dollars of alleged cover-up money. Huffman says he signed several checks made out to him by a doctor. Instead of -- or a donor rather, instead of cashing them, Huffman handed the checks over to the family of Edwards' aide, Andrew Young.

Huffman says he never took any of the money and -- and testified neither he nor the donor knew the money was to be used to hide Edwards' affair with his mistress.

In just about an hour, former police sergeant, Drew Peterson, will be in a Chicago area courtroom. Remember him? It will be Peterson's first such appearance in two years. He's the man accused of killing his third wife in 2004. He's also under investigation for the 2007 disappearance of wife number four, Stacy Peterson. Today's hearing could assign a new judge to Peterson's upcoming murder trial. In Louisiana, a federal judge pushes back the first trial over the BP oil spill. It promises to be one of the biggest legal fights in U.S. history. A massive group of Gulf Coast interests from beach towels to condo owners are suing the oil giant for damages from the 2010 disaster. They refuse to accept final claims in the $20 billion settlement that BP has already shelled out. The liability trial, now set to begin in January.

OK. Let's talk about something that's going to hit you in the eye like a big pizza pie.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's amore.

COSTELLO: You got it. Dean Martin said it much better though, right? So queue the moon movies because the moon, as you know, Rob, will be the star tonight.

MARCIANO: A full moon is happening --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Harry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a full moon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beware of the moon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And stick to the road.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: The moon --

MARCIANO: Look, queue the howl.

COSTELLO: I know. The moon has many meanings in our culture, doesn't it? So the moon is really going to be -- I mean is it a star because of course it's a planet but it will win the Oscar tonight.

MARCIANO: And this entire weekend. As a matter of fact, hair on the back of my hand is starting to get thicker in response to it. Not only is it a full moon tomorrow night but it's what we call a super moon. What happens during the month, the orbit of the moon is not perfect so there are certain times of the month that it's closer to the earth than it is other times of the month.

Well, tomorrow it's as close as it gets during the month, during the entire year, as a matter of fact, and it also happens to be a full moon, that's tomorrow night at 11:30. So basically it's going to look even bigger by, you know, 10 or 15 percent and it will be even brighter by about 20 percent. So your eyes don't deceive you.

Here's a couple of graphics. And you'll see these pictures going -- by the way, snap them and tweet them to us or send them in. So basically again, it's going to be a brighter moon tomorrow night and bigger. And to break it down scientifically, we're closer to the earth. It's about 221,000 miles up there and it will be about 16 percent brighter. But of course you need clear skies to see it.

Forget about that little outlier, right? I think the northeast -- basically the northeast corner and the southwest corner of the U.S. are pretty good bet that it will clear. Other areas, it will be a little bit more soupy and that means, you know, kind of hit and miss. But the best time to see it all night long. But when the -- when the sun sets, it's right over the horizon, just look to the east and if you're an early bird when the sun is rising, just look to the west and the moon will be setting as well and it will look fantastic.

COSTELLO: I can't wait. Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: You got it.

COSTELLO: Two Republican foes who slammed each other in the primary season are coming together today. So how's this meeting going to go given Mitt Romney's drift from the right?

Plus a dream come true for investors and techies. Facebook now one step closer to becoming a publicly traded company. Want to buy? We'll tell you how much you'll have to fork over.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Just about 15 minutes past the hour, checking our top stories now.

The nation's unemployment rate edged lower in April, dipping to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent in March. I know, you're going, wow.

One hundred fifteen jobs were created last month, missing forecasts of 160,000 new jobs. Retail and health care among the sectors adding jobs, while jobs were lost in the transportation and warehousing industries.

The family of Junior Seau will allow researchers to study his brain. That's according to the "L.A. Times" and "Sports Illustrated" which says the family want to know if damage from concussions led the NFL star to take his life. Seau died from a gunshot wound to his chest.

Human rights activist Chen Guangcheng can apply to study abroad. China's decision came after Chen told U.S. lawmakers he and his family want to come to America. The State Department says Chen has been offered a fellowship from a U.S. university.

Now that Mitt Romney has fended off rivals on his right flank, like Rick Santorum, he can shift more to the middle. Mitt in the middle. He kind of has to do that, that's where those crucial independent voters are.

We're already seeing evidence of his voyage to the center on issues like immigration, student loans and the auto industry. Remember this op-ed Romney wrote for "The New York Times" during the height of the auto crisis? He said, "Let Detroit go bankrupt," and he caught a lot of flak for it given the auto industry's rebound.

Now, listen to what his top adviser is now saying about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC FEHRNSTROM, SENIOR ADVISER, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN: The fact that these car companies are profitable today is because they got rid of those excess costs. Their employee costs are lower. That is not because of some check they got from government. That's because of the reorganization that was carried out under the protection of the bankruptcy law, which is what Mitt Romney advocated and it's eventually the course that Barack Obama followed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So we're beginning to see Romney shift away from the extreme right, which is no big surprise because he can't go to far and alienate conservatives.

Jim Acosta is with us now -- because Mitt Romney is going to meet with Rick Santorum today. Mr. Santorum is about to put Mitt Romney in a delicate spot. What will the two men talk about, Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Boy, I tell you, carol, they have kept this very under wraps. We've been trying to reach out to the Romney campaign and the Santorum campaign. Come on, just give us the information, where are these guys meeting? Give us a little bit of information. I've even tweeted out an offer to buy a sandwich to anybody who can get us a shot of these two men going into this undisclosed location in Pittsburgh.

But I will tell you that I did talk to a Santorum source recently who said that one thing that Rick Santorum wants to hear from Mitt Romney at this meeting this morning, he wants an assurance from Romney that he will go out and try to repeal the president's health care law once he gets into office or if he gets into office. He wants a promise on that. And so that will be one of the things that will be discussed.

But, you know, there's a lot of fence-mending that needs to go on. Remember, Mitt Romney once referred to Rick Santorum as an economic lightweight during that primary battle. Rick Santorum once said about Mitt Romney that he would be the worst person to go up against President Obama on the issue of health care reform.

So I've got to think a little fence mending has got to be at the top of the agenda first.

COSTELLO: Yes, it won't be enough for the Democrats. They are already capitalizing on the previous disagreements between the two men.

ACOSTA: That's right. Earlier, this week, we had the DNC video -- excuse me, the Obama re-election campaign video featuring Newt Gingrich. Well, he's a new one featuring Rick Santorum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If Mitt Romney is an economic heavyweight, we're in trouble, because he was 47th out of 50 in job creation in the state of Massachusetts when he was governor.

He never talks about his public sector career. He was governor of Massachusetts and they were 47th out of 50 in job creation.

As governor of Massachusetts, he had a job creation record. It wasn't the worst, it was third from the worst, 47 out of 50. You hear him talk about, oh, I created jobs in the private sector. But he didn't do anything in Massachusetts.

He supported the folks on Wall Street and bailed out Wall Street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, Mitt Romney for his part I will tell you he was on another channel earlier this morning saying that he does not expect an endorsement from Rick Santorum this morning. Some of this bad blood that was going on during the primary battle may explain that.

But the Romney campaign has its own messaging offensive that's going to be happening today. Mitt Romney has an op-ed that is out in the "Cleveland Plain Dealer" this morning, asking President Obama where are the jobs, right in line with that jobless report that came out this morning. Expect to hear the Republican contender all day long talking about that unemployment report. A lot of people are saying it's very disappointing news -- and expect the Romney campaign to go right after it all day long, Carol.

COSTELLO: Jim Acosta reporting live for us from Washington.

Later today, President Obama will talk more about student loans. He holds a round table discussion with a group of high school seniors and their parents at a high school right outside of Washington.

Later, he'll welcome the NCAA champion University of Kentucky men's basketball team to the White House. And, of course, tomorrow, the president holds a big rally at the Ohio State University.

He is the nation's top law enforcement officer, but now, Attorney General Eric Holder could face charges of contempt. We'll fill you in.

Plus, Ashton Kutcher finds himself in the middle of another controversy, and it's all over his latest starring role. The potato chip ad some say are racist.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, will Julia win the battle for women voters? Oh, the war for women voters is raging.

The Obama's campaign's latest weapon, Julia. She's not flesh and blood. Julia is actually a cartoon figure created by the Obama campaign for its Web site.

The Julia info-graphic shows how one woman can be helped by government programs and the president's policies throughout her lifetime, beginning at 3 years old with Head Start, in college with Pell Grants and affordable student loans, covered under her parents' health plan with Obama care, getting a Small Business Administration loan for her web design company, then getting Medicare and Social Security to retire. The Julia timeline also describes how those benefits would be cut under a Romney administration.

Well, wouldn't you know it, it didn't take long for conservatives to fire back, blasting cartoon Julia for promoting a big government nanny state.

CNN contributor Dana Loesch said this on Twitter, she tweeted, "I have no idea how I or other women survived this long without the government making al of our decisions for us."

And Joann Shields tweeted, "Julia is hot in the summer. Who will fan her?"

The whole Julia thing actually could back fire. As Michael Scherer of "The New York Times" says, why have a fictional Julia, couldn't you find a real one?

So the talk back question for you, will Julia win the battle for women voters? Facebook.com/CarolCNN, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comment later this hour.

He earns $1 a year in salary as the CEO of Facebook. But Mark Zuckerberg could make $1 billion when his social networking site goes public. We'll head to the New York Stock Exchange for details on the Facebook IPO.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Twenty-eight minutes past the hour. Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello.

Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM:

The nation's unemployment rate dropped last month, dipping to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent in March, 115,000 jobs were created in April. That's fewer new jobs than what economists had predicted. Retail and health care are among the areas adding jobs, but the transportation and warehousing industries lost jobs.

In the next hour, in just about, oh, 60 minutes or so, Drew Peterson will be in court in Illinois for a hearing about his upcoming murder trial. The former police sergeant is accused of killing his third wife Kathleen Savio in 2004. Her death was originally ruled an accident, but the case was reopened after Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared in 2007. Peterson has pleaded not guilty.

This massive sinkhole in someone's backyard in Florida, they have finally stopped getting bigger. It forced the homeowners and some neighbors to move out. It's swallowed four trees. It may be caused by a drought in the area causing underground water levels to drop.

It promises to be the biggest tech IPO on Wall Street, and now, we're getting more details about Facebook.

Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange with the numbers.

Hi, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

So, when Facebook goes public in a couple of weeks, guess what their shares will be listed at, anywhere from $28 to $35. What that means is that Facebook will be valued, meaning its worth, at at least $75 billion. That's huge.

Now, keep in mind that share price is not set in stone. It could change quite a bit before the day it does step out onto the public stage of trading. It really depends on how their road show goes, which begins next week. That's when Facebook executives go out and pitch the company to big investors and try to get investors to buy into these shares.

Now, a lot of interest once again could push the price higher. Don't expect a final price until the day before, if not hours before that IPO makes its debut around May 18th -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm distracted by the guy in the hat ringing the bell.

KOSIK: Yes. Pretty color, isn't it?

COSTELLO: Yes, very colorful. Lots of character.

But let's talk about Mark Zuckerberg because he's going to be a very wealthy man. He is already, but --

KOSIK: I know. You know, who cares? Another couple billion here, couple billion there, add to it. Yes, Zuckerberg is looking like he's going to sell 30 million Facebook shares. He's going to earn more than $1 billion.

But there's a big but here. Most of the money he's going to make is going to pay taxes, going to the IRS and state of California to pay taxes. Analysts say he's still going to net just under $150 million after taxes.

But don't shed any tears for him, carol. Take away that hanky. On paper, he's still going to be a billionaire because Mark Zuckerberg's remaining shares will be worth almost $18 billion. He's one of the 50 richest people on the planet? He's only 27 years old. If you want to send him a birthday gift, he turns 28 on May 14th.

What do you think you'd get for him? What do you get a guy who has everything?

COSTELLO: I don't know. I guess you just take him out to dinner but even that would not be enough. I don't know.

Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

Indian Americans are waiting for an apology from Ashton Kutcher but it ain't coming. They have reached their boiling point after seeing his latest ad. You've heard about this. Some say it's racist because Kutcher is in brown face portraying an Indian character.

So, is it time to layoff the jokes on ethnicities or are we getting a bit too sensitive? We'll talk about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Thirty-five minutes past the hour.

Actor and comedian Ashton Kutcher probably thought it was just a great day at work after he filmed his latest ad for PopChips. If he did, boy, was he wrong?

His impression of an Indian man named Raj, with the face to match, but Indian Americans so upset they went on Facebook and Twitter and they complained, calling the ad racist. And that eventually got the ad pulled with PopChips issuing an apology to anyone it might have offended. Now apology from Ashton Kutcher yet.

But we were wondering, was this the final straw for Indian Americans? Because we've seen the stereotypes joked about for decades, like Apu on "The Simpsons."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

APU, THE SIMPSONS: I'd like to leave this store. But for the next five minutes, I'm going to party like it's on sale for $19.99.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And remember the movie and TV series, "Outsourced"? Controversial in their own right. The sitcom ended up getting cancelled because it was so offensive.

And to top it off, even Vice President Joe Biden made what some viewed as offensive comments about Indians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joining me now, comedians Dean Obeidallah and Vidur Kapur.

Welcome, gentlemen.

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, COMEDIAN: Thanks, Carol.

VIDUR KAPUR, COMEDIAN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here.

So, Vidur, what's with the jokes about Indians?

KAPUR: Well, I mean there are a lot of jokes about us, and they always are stereotypical. I always get, like, for example, even in auditions, I always get called for the 7-Eleven worker or the cab driver and that's about it.

I mean, I could be a cheerleader. People don't think of that. And I would be great at that. But, you know, I think it's -- people need to be a little more sensitive. I mean, it is a joke. I don't think it was intended to be racist.

COSTELLO: You're talking about the Ashton Kutcher ad now, because a lot of people thought it was because he had brown face. I mean was that the thing that took it over the line?

KAPUR: I think so. I think when a white guy does a brown face. I mean, he should have known better than that in this day and age. A white guy can't get away with that.

We can get away with more, but a white guy can't do that. You know, I think he's going to become very popular in Bollywood because they love white guys in Bollywood movies.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: The interesting thing in that ad, Dean, was that Ashton Kutcher was also portraying a guy with long dreadlocks but he had a white face.

KAPUR: Yes, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Dean, go ahead.

OBEIDALLAH: Carol, I think that you can make fun of white people in our society and there's no backlash. That's life. You know, they're the majority race. I'm an Arab American, we fight against this.

And look at PopChips, they are getting all this free publicity. And I think part of it is to do with this. And PopChips, I'm not getting into it, but they're all white, so maybe there's a little racism going on in the chip color. Why not a brown chip? I want to see an Arab-flavored chip like --

(CROSSTALK)

OBEIDALLAH: At least an Indian flavored chip.

KAPUR: Yes, exactly.

COSTELLO: Seriously though, Dean, we talked about this before via e-mail and you said the reason that Ashton Kutcher's joke in this ad kind of back fired was because it just was dumb. It wasn't smart.

OBEIDALLAH: It's also buffoonish and it's too easy to imitate an Indian guy. Can you imagine if he put black face on and played a black man as a buffoon? Of course, there'd be outrage. Asian guy with big buck tooth and doing those cliche Asian accents.

Yu know, Ashton Kutcher has got to think when he's putting makeup on, perhaps there's something wrong. Maybe Ashton thought that was a funny thing. I don't think it's hateful or demonizing.

I agree with Vidur completely. I don't think it's hateful or demonizing. I think just offensive and insensitive. There should be free chips for all brown people across America to make up for this. That's what they should be doing.

KAPUR: I agree.

COSTELLO: Let me ask you this, Vidur. Have we become too sensitive, though? Why can't we joke about it because every race has their stereotypes, right, and every race has joked about?

KAPUR: I agree with you. I think we are becoming a little too sensitive, but I totally agree with Dean that this was sort of like low brow humor. I looked at it and I wasn't laughing. And I'm the first one to say, okay, there are no limits as far as comedy is concerned, do anything you want to do.

By the way, I was born in India, I grew up in India, and he did not look like a Bollywood producer. Bollywood producers look like Harvey Weinstein, OK? So he really did not look like a Bollywood producer to me. This was like some gimmick and so stupidly over the top that it was ridiculous, and I think that's why Indians found it offensive.

COSTELLO: OK. Quickly, should Ashton Kutcher apologize, Vidur?

KAPUR: I think it's always worth an apology. I'm very forthcoming with apologies. I think Ashton should apologize because it may have offended the sentiments of some people. And as Dean said, brown chips for everyone, PopChips should apologize, too.

COSTELLO: Dean and Vidur, thank you for the interesting discussion and for making it funny too. We appreciate it.

OBEIDALLAH: Thanks, Carol.

KAPUR: Thank you.

COSTELLO: House Republicans have their eye on Attorney General Eric Holder. Why one congressman is considering contempt charges against the head of the Justice Department.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Forty-three minutes past the hour.

It's called Fast and Furious -- the government's controversial weapons sting already sparked some heated clashes between the Justice Department and Congress.

Well, now it could also lead to a contempt of Congress charge for the Attorney General, Eric Holder.

Dana Bash tells us why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): December 2010, Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot dead on the Mexican border. Weapons found at the scene were traced back to an ATF sting operation known as "Fast and Furious". It allowed illegal guns to be purchased in order to track them to senior drug cartel members.

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: We don't get cooperation.

BASH: GOP House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa has been tussling with the Justice Department for months demanding information about the program he says Obama officials are withholding.

Now, Issa drafted a resolution holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failure to comply with the congressional subpoena, not cooperating with the House GOP investigation.

ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: This should never have happened.

BASH: Issa primarily wants documents explaining the administration's about-face on the "Fast and Furious" operation. After Agent Terry's death, the Justice Department denied it was illegally allowing the flow of weapons to members of the Mexican drug rings, but 10 months later, an acknowledgement that the program was fundamentally flawed.

House Republicans want to know why the reversal. They want information about what senior Justice Department officials knew about the gun tracking operation. They say Justice is stonewalling.

HOLDER: We have sent thousands of pages of documents up to the Hill with subpoenas, and I'm sure we will undoubtedly comply with them.

BASH: A senior Justice official responded that they've sent 7,600 documents to Congress and points out Holder has testified more than half a dozen times -- a heated exchange earlier this year.

REP. ANN MARIE BUERKLE (R), NEW YORK: -- this way how many more Border Patrol agents would have had to die as a part of "Operation Fast and Furious" for you to take responsibility.

HOLDER: I'm not claiming to be a perfect person or a perfect attorney general. I get up every day and try to do the best job that I can.

BASH: In his lengthy memo supporting the contempt resolution, Issa says the ill-conceived Fast and Furious program allowed 2,000 guns to illegally walk out of Phoenix gun stores into the hands of drug smugglers.

He also gives historical examples of administration officials held in contempt of Congress, most recently in 2008 when the House voted to hold top Bush aides in contempt for refusing to testify. In an effort to paint Issa's efforts as politically motivated, a Democratic government source flagged this video showing back in 2008, Issa and other GOP lawmakers protested when the House voted to hold Republican administration officials in contempt of Congress.

(on camera): An Issa aide responded that these are completely different issues saying in 2008 Bush officials worked in the White House and claimed executive privilege.

Now Issa is trying to get information from the Justice Department, a government agency, and Congress has clear oversight authority.

Now, even though Issa drafted this contempt resolution, he has no firm plans yet to hold a committee vote. I'm told his hope is that this new threat will pressure Holder to give congressional Republicans the documents they want.

Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

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COSTELLO: Forty-six minutes past the hour, time to check our top stories.

A mixed report on the U.S. job market for the month of April. Hiring slowed from a strong pace earlier this year; 115,000 jobs created. And while the unemployment rate dipped to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent in March, it was likely because more workers dropped out of the labor force.

The family of Junior Seau will allow researchers to study his brain. That's according to the "L.A. Times" and "Sports Illustrated" who say the family wants to know if damage from concussions led the NFL star to take his life. Seau died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

More twists in a case for Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng who has now been offered a fellowship at an American university; the State Department making that announcement. It comes as China says Chen can apply to study abroad.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: An interior designer who helped the John Edwards' campaign get money from a wealthy donor will be back on the stand today. Joe Johns has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Interior Designer Brian Huffman returns to the stand in the John Edwards' trial. He's a very colorful character and has had a lot of people in the courtroom laughing, including even John Edwards.

Huffman is also a very important witness because he's a close friend of Edwards' Norland, Virginia benefactor, Bunny Mellon and Huffman was the conduit for hundreds of thousands of dollars of under the table money going from Mellon to Edwards' mistress Rielle Hunter or to the fixers who are trying to cover up the affair.

Huffman called the money arrangement a furniture business because Ms. Mellon would write big checks to him, which were supposedly for furniture, chairs, tables a bookcase. Huffman didn't actually cash the checks but passed them along to the Edwards people Sherry and Andrew Young.

All very hush, hush, Huffman said, he didn't take any money and it wasn't supposed to be for the Edwards presidential campaign. Meanwhile the parade of former Edwards' staffers continues here in Greensboro, there was testimony from Edwards' body man, John Davis, who described a bizarre conversation he had with Edwards' mistress Rielle Hunter.

He said she saw him in a hotel in Detroit and knock on his door and sort of announced she and John Edwards were in love. But when he talked to Edwards the former Senator told him Rielle Hunter was crazy.

(on camera): Wrapping up the second week of the trial, prosecutors charged Edwards used illegal campaign money to try to cover up the affair, but his defense attorneys say the money wasn't for the campaign.

Joe Johns, CNN, Greensboro, North Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The "Talk Back" question for you, "Will Julia win the battle for women voters?"

This from Julie, "From one Julia to a fake one, I will be voting for Mitt. I'll be pinching my nose but he's better than the one in the White House making up women."

This from Tessa, "I might not be Julia but I have taken advantage of some of these programs. Without a Pell Grant I would not have been able to finished college. Without Obamacare my son could be at risk to be an adult without health insurance, but with serious medical conditions."

This from Maria, "So what happens to Julia when she's diagnosed with MS, loses her job, and isn't wealthy enough to afford insurance? "

And this from Paige, "Do they really think we're that stupid? Oh, wait, yes, they do, fictional Julia is from the entitlement generation, give me, give me a break".

Please keep the conversation going, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read more of your comment in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

In fact, we're following a lot of developments in the next hour -- Stan.

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes looking at the situation here in China at the moment, this firestorm between the United States and China may be abating; the blind activist Chen Guangcheng a step closer to his dream of living in the United States -- Carol.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange where a new report shows job growth slowed every month this year. And even though the unemployment rate fell last month it's not a good sign for the economy, I'll explain next hour.

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": I'm A.J. Hammer in New York. George Clooney is inviting 150 high rollers from Hollywood to his house for dinner with President Obama. It just might go down in the record books, I've got the details at the top of the hour.

COSTELLO: Also in one hour a zoo gives back five exotic animals to an Ohio farmer's widow and that is stirring a whole lot of controversy. This is the same farm where that owner let loose 50 other wild animals before shooting himself.

For live in the next hour in about ten minutes actually from Zanesville (ph), Ohio with an update.

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COSTELLO: Baseball's best closer probably out for the season. The Yankees Mariano Rivera was doing his pre-game ritual. He was shagging fly balls out in the outfield when -- oh you see that, he just crumpled to the ground, holding his knee. Rivera was taken to a Kansas City hospital where a test showed he has a torn ACL.

Afterwards the 42-year-old reliever was asked if the injury might end his career.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIANO RIVERA, NEW YORK YANKEES: At this point, I don't know. At this point, I don't know. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen, you know? From there, we'll see. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Rivera is baseball's all-time saves leader with 608.

Even a phenom like Bryce Harper can make a rookie mistake. The Nationals 19-year-old took second base on a wild throw. Ouch. Only problem he forgot to touch first base. So look closely, he missed it. His left foot goes by the bag. The Diamondbacks appealed. Harper was called out.

The rookie made up for it later in the game though. He smacked a double down the left field line. There it goes; turned out to be the game winning hit. He's amazing. Harper is now 6 for 16 in his first five games. The Nats lead the NLE.

NBA playoff time now the Miami Heat taking on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Dwyane Wade fueled the Heat's comeback in the third quarter. He was hot. Then Lebron James finished off the home team outscoring the Knicks all by himself in the court.

Heats win, 87-70; they can sweep New York with a win on Sunday. Knicks have lost 13 straight playoff games.

From tomorrow on, you can call him Dr. Shaq. Shaquille O'Neal is graduating from Barry University with a doctoral degree in education. Shaq, of course, he will be standing out among the other graduates. The former NBA star is wearing a custom-made size triple x large gown. At least he will during graduation.

Hey, what was your college dorm room like? I bet it didn't have voice-activated controls, a disco ball and a button you could push to turn it into a nightclub. Sounds pretty cool, right?

Well, officials at UC Berkeley didn't think so. Here is Dan Simon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK LOW, UC BERKELEY STUDENT: I just wanted to build this to learn how to do it.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Derek Low was a freshman at UC Berkeley. He's majoring in electrical engineering. And he's made his college dorm room his laboratory.

It's a technology wonderland, automated curtains, motion sensors, and voice commands --

LOW: I can be in my bed, I just shout out "sleep mode".

SIMON: -- are just a few of the features that Derek spent three months creating. When he uploaded this video to YouTube, Derek unofficially became recognized as having the coolest dorm room on the planet.

SIMON (on camera): What is your favorite thing about it? LOW: Party mode, of course.

SIMON (voice-over): Derek showed us his party mode, spinning disco ball, lasers, strobe lights and techno music all controlled from his laptop. Here it is in all its glory.

As you can imagine, it's attracted campus attention. Berkeley housing authorities were concerned about electrical wiring modifications, but found no issues. Nonetheless, Derek has been summoned to a campus hearing anyway to explain things.

LOW: They say that I had some violations of resident hall policies. I broke a few rules. I modified a door. My room is a fire hazard. I'm disturbing my neighbors. But look around, I mean everything is fine. No one is complaining.

SIMON: As Derek shows us he used tape and binder clips to put the equipment in place and didn't drill any holes. The whole system he says can be dismantled in a few minutes.

(on camera): His name is Derek but there is a sign on the door that says "Brad". That is not anybody's name who lives here, it stands for Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm.

Derek also bought a fog machine for the room, but hasn't used it in fear it will set off the fire alarm. With only ten days left of school and students now studying for exams, that's probably a good call.

Dan Simon, CNN, Berkeley, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)