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Boy Survives Spear Through Head; Dharun Ravi Released from Jail; Russian Ship Headed to Syria Stopped; Romney Bus Tour Wraps Up; American Catholics Vs. Obama Admin.; Adidas Drops "Shackle" Sneakers; Official Results Expected Thursday; Sandusky Trial Speeds Along

Aired June 19, 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: Good morning, Soledad.

Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM, take a look at this x-ray. Oh, yes. That is a spear. Three-feet long. Right through the brain of a 16-year-old. Miraculously, he survives. How can that be? And what will the rest of his life be like?

Plus, offensive, appalling, and insensitive. That's what Jesse Jackson says about these sneakers saying they look like shackles put on slaves. Adidas responds by cancelling plans to sell them. But was Jackson right? Or was this just a fashion faux pas?

IPad gets another rival. Microsoft just unveiled its own tablet. The surface runs on a PC, has a touchscreen and puts down you have a full keyboard. But will it actually give Apple a run for its money?

And it happened in a matter of seconds. This guy walked up to a Picasso in Texas and then he does that. Spray paints the masterpiece. What did he write? And is it permanent?

And good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with us today. We begin with a story that really has us buzzing this morning. You are about to see why. But first, a warning. Some of you might find the next image a bit disturbing. Here it is. This is the image. It's a steel spear shot through a teenager's skull. But before you reach for the remote, let me give you a reason to stay.

Today the boy is doing just fine. More on the medical reasons in a moment. But first the details of what happened.

Here's reporter Liz Nagy of CNN Miami affiliate, WSVN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIZ NAGY, REPORTER, WSVN: Paramedics tenderly wheeled 16-year- old Yasser Lopez into the ER with the three-foot spear shot through his skull on June 7th. Doctors say his friends shot it accidentally as they got ready to go fishing.

DR. GEORGE GARCIA, TRAUMA SURGEON: It was about one inch above his right eye and then -- and it's straight through. You can feel the tip underneath his skin on the posterior part of his skull.

NAGY: This is the scan of Lopez's brain after rescuers had to use a rebar tool to cut down 18 inches of stainless steel spear to even fit in the scanner.

DR. ROSS BULLOCK, NEUROSURGEON: The most important thing is to resist back temptation to pull the thing out.

NAGY: Dr. Bullock and his trauma neurosurgery team determined that the tip of the spear inside his head was actually a screw tip.

BULLOCK: It was possible for us to figure out a strategy during the operation to be able to unscrew the tip of the spear instead of having to get this whole spear dragged out through his brain.

NAGY: Miraculously, the three-foot shaft somehow missed every major blood vessel in the brain and pierced the right, not left side of his brain, sparing his speech.

BULLOCK: His words are actually amazingly, amazingly easy to understand. We can -- for example, he says he's not having pain. He's worried about the fact he can't use his left side properly.

NAGY: Eleven days and only a single surgery after Yasser Lopez took a spear in his forehead, this is his brain with only a small bit of swelling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost a normal looking CT scan.

NAGY: As for the day he got shot, Lopez knows nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He woke up. The story -- the version we got was that he woke up with a spear in his head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He probably won't ever regain those memories.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Wow. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now.

And it went through his right eye. What if it had gone through his left?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it could have been a very different story, Carol, because, you know, that's what happened to Gabby Giffords. Not a spear obviously, but a bullet, which is a different situation. But it could have affected his speech as it's affected hers. So he's lucky in many ways that it went where it went. And let's actually talk about that a little bit. It entered about an inch above his right eye. So sort of, you know, here-ish. And went straight back. So it entered kind of right around here.

And it didn't actually protrude through the skin on -- in the back of his head, but you could feel the tip of it. So it went through the skull, but it didn't actually protrude through the skin.

COSTELLO: So -- I don't know, you would think if anything goes through your brain, you would have much more damage done to you than this young man.

COHEN: But when you see that, it's amazing he lived through it, right? I mean, you think, wow, you think this person would have died. It's all about what the foreign object hits and what it doesn't hit. If it hits, for example, the part of your brain that controls breathing, you're in trouble.

If it hits a major blood vessel, you're in trouble. But it didn't hit anything major like that. He may have some clumsiness in his left arm. But that would be about the extent of it, which really, you know, seems amazing when you look at that picture.

COSTELLO: It really does. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.

COHEN: Thanks.

COSTELLO: Asian immigrants are now the largest group of new immigrants in the United States. Those are the results of a new Pew Research survey. Beginning in 2009 and into 2010, Asian immigrants surpassed Hispanic immigrants in the United States. The study also found Asian Americans lead in education and income and that's not all. The Pew results show Asian Americans are more satisfied with their lives than the general public and they tend to put more value on marriage and parenthood than other Americans.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: Breaking news to tell you about now. News 12 New Jersey is reporting that Dharun Ravi -- remember him? He is now out of jail. Ravi is the ex-Rutgers student convicted of bias intimidation for the death of his roommate Tyler Clementi.

Paul Callan is her and Dharun Ravi was supposed to serve a little bit more time than this, Paul, but he got out 10 days early. Why?

Is Paul Callan with us?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. Can you hear me?

COSTELLO: Yes, I can hear you now, Paul. Let me ask you that again. So Dharun Ravi was supposed to serve a little more time in jail for his involvement in Tyler Clementi's death. Why was he let out early?

CALLAN: In New Jersey, you get five days off pretty much automatically for good behavior. And if you work in jail, you get another five days off. So that brought him down to 20 days. Now, ironically, he was facing as much as 11 years in prison had the judge given him the maximum sentence here. And now of course he's out in 20 days.

COSTELLO: The other surprising twist in this is that Dharun Ravi can stay in this country. Why do you suppose the judge decided that?

CALLAN: Well, first of all, this would be a decision made by federal authorities, not by the state judge who sentenced him. So they could have made a decision to deport him. Usually, if it's a crime that gets felony sentencing, that is a sentence of over a year in jail, presumptively you get deported. Since he only did 20 days in jail, federal authorities view this as a misdemeanor, and they have decided apparently not to deport him.

COSTELLO: All right. Paul Callan, thanks for being -- I know you're supposed to be here to talk Jerry Sandusky and we're going to do that right now.

CALLAN: Yes.

COSTELLO: The trial of Jerry Sandusky is moving faster than expected. The judge in the case now says closing arguments could get underway on Thursday. The big questions today, will Jerry Sandusky take the stand? Or perhaps his wife of 50 years, Dotty. What did she see? What did she hear?

So, Paul, yes, let's talk about the case so far, because the defense did put on a few witnesses yesterday. They were on the stand for, what, at the most, 10 minutes apiece. It wasn't exactly stellar defense testimony, was it?

CALLAN: I didn't think so from what I observed. This is an attempt to humanize Jerry Sandusky and to say that he's a great guy, and showering with boys is normal behavior in state college, Pennsylvania. And actually, two former coaches testified that they shower with younger boys in YMCAs, and -- boy, they gave the YMCA and the YWCA a bad name, I think, yesterday in their testimony.

But they said it's normal behavior and it doesn't necessarily indicate that anything wrong is being done. They did say, though, that if somebody hugged somebody else in a shower, that would be inappropriate. And of course that's one of the claims made against Jerry Sandusky.

COSTELLO: But none of these people who testified on Jerry Sandusky's behalf really were around him recently.

CALLAN: No. They haven't been. And they're -- they're character witnesses. And this -- you see this in criminal trials frequently, where, you know, you put somebody on the stand who says, well, gee, he's got a great reputation in the community. He is a good person. But ultimately, this testimony really goes very -- it doesn't get you much distance with the jury because the jurors say well, they weren't around when these events happened. They weren't in the shower room or the locker room. So I don't think that character testimony gets you too far in a criminal case.

COSTELLO: OK. So prosecutors. They want the unaired portion of NBC's exclusive interview with Sandusky. And some parts of it quite frankly are shocking. But they want these parts of the interview that viewers did not hear to be entered into testimony. Let's listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY SANDUSKY, FORMER PENN STATE FOOTBALL COACH: I didn't go around seeking out every young person for sexual needs that I've helped. There are many that I didn't have -- I hardly had any contact with who I have helped in many, many ways.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So the prosecution's part of this case is over. It rested. Can it get the unaired portions of NBC's interview into the proceedings?

CALLAN: Well, the judge could allow the prosecutor to reopen and to play that to the jury. That would be one mechanism that they could use to get it in. If Jerry Sandusky takes the witness stand, they certainly could use that to cross-examine him. And as you can see in listening to it, it kind of sounds like he is saying, I didn't go to little boys for all of my sexual needs. You know, it's like I only did it some of the time.

That's an inference that people say could be drawn from that rather inarticulate sentence that he uttered to Bob Costas. Kind of surprising that NBC didn't air it. Because I think it's a really important piece of evidence in the case.

COSTELLO: Well, let's go with the inarticulate comment that you just made. You put Jerry Sandusky on the stand. Is he going to be more articulate than he was in that interview? He's going to be cross-examined. That's brutal.

CALLAN: You know, Carol, I think it would be a disaster to put him on the stand. Every time he's subjected himself to a public interview, which -- and by the way, even his attorneys allowing him to be interviewed on television with a criminal case pending has been -- has surprised most lawyers.

It's been a disaster for him. He's talked about, well, it's OK to shower with boys. And he makes statements like he did to Costas. You remember that statement where there was this delay when he was asked whether he gets sexual pleasure from children? There's just one incident after another that he's blown it in terms of public interviews.

Also, they say he has this histrionic personality disorder, which means grandiose gestures, trying to attract attention to himself. If he has this disease, it's going to be a disaster on the witness stand in the hands of a good cross-examining prosecutor.

COSTELLO: OK. So yes or no? You're the defense attorney. Would you have brought this case to trial?

CALLAN: Well, I would say no, given the way the evidence has gone in because this has been such a strong prosecution case. But you have to remember one thing. Defense attorneys can only plead guilty if they're offered some sort of a reasonable plea. Now he's facing 20-year felonies. And at his age, frankly, a conviction on even one count means he'll probably die in prison.

So it's very, very difficult to believe that prosecutors offered him any kind of a deal that would be acceptable. The only reason that I'm surprised that he went to trial is that he's put his family through the torture of listening to this horrific testimony. But once again, he's presumed innocent and you never know what a jury is going to do -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Paul Callan, many thanks.

CALLAN: Nice being with you.

COSTELLO: If you thought it was -- nice talking with you, too.

If you thought it was cold in Russia, you haven't seen how chilly it can get in Mexico. Case in point, take a look at the body language between President Obama and the Russian president Vladimir Putin. This was after the two leaders met during the G-20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. And after -- and it was after they talked about Syria.

Foreign affairs correspondent Jill Daugherty, she's live in Washington this morning.

Jill, the White House is telling us don't read too much into that body language thing. But Russian warships are still making their way to Syria, and no one really knows what they're going to do there. Do we need to be worried?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know -- Carol, let's go through the ships because there really is a lot of confusion, and maybe deliberately so. We'll get into that in a second. But you've got the first one, which is a ship that went from Kaliningrad, a Russian city, and making its way then -- around Scotland, it was the insurance company that was providing insurance decided to pull that insurance.

Why did they decide to do that? Because aboard apparently are helicopters. Now these are attack helicopters that the Russians say are part of an old contract with the Syrians. They bought them years ago. They needed to be refurnished. And they are simply sending them back.

The United States is saying, those are attack helicopters. They can kill people whether they are new or old. And this shouldn't be done. As President Obama said, this is making things worse in Syria.

Then there are two other ships that the U.S. is tracking and both of them apparently have munitions. Some type of armaments. And they also potentially reportedly have some marines or some type of troops. Now why would they have them? Well, you know, the Russians say -- Russian experts say it could be they're protecting the cargo or maybe they are going into Syria for some other reason.

That would be completely surprising many experts say because the Russians supposedly wouldn't want to join the conflict. So it's confusing, but it may be a way of just kind of sending a message to the U.S., don't get involved where we have a base.

COSTELLO: Jill Daugherty, reporting live for us, many thanks.

Turning now to presidential politics, Mitt Romney wraps up his bus tour today in his native state of Michigan. The presumptive Republican nominee visited six states over five days and says he picked up plenty of advice from well wishers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What is the best piece of advice from those rope lines that you think you received from somebody?

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Stop trying to be like yourself. Be someone else.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMNEY: Just don't be you. Just kidding. Just kidding. You know, I get a lot of that. And I didn't get any of it today, on the rope line today, in Iowa. But in Wisconsin, I had a lot of people saying (INAUDIBLE), be me. When I'm in Ohio, I get Rob Portman. I get a very -- a very biased audience in whatever state I'm in. Which should not be -- which should not be surprising.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: National political correspondent Jim Acosta has been shadowing the Romney campaign.

Good morning, Jim. It looks like Romney is loosening up.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

That's right, Carol. I mean, take where we are right now. We're in sort of this Bavarian village called Frankenmuth, Michigan. Part of it celebrates Christmas year round. You know, on top of this German themed village behind me, he has the banner up putting jobs first.

So he is staying to his message on the economy. But you heard on that campaign plane in that back-and-forth with reporters, he is starting to loosen up a little bit. As he was landing here in Michigan yesterday, he was talking about, you know, one of the comments he made that some people poked fun at. He was telling reporters notice when we land on the ground here in Michigan, the trees are the right height. So he is sort of poking fun at himself.

And he's been sort of doing that throughout this bus tour or trip, sort of loosening his collar, loosening up with voters and reporters a little bit. You can hear the polka music behind me, a little political polka music. I'm not sure we're going to see Mitt Romney out in lederhosen later on this morning, but he has been loosening up a little bit out in the campaign trail.

But really, Carol, he's also been sticking to this message of the economy. Despite the fact that this issue of immigration came up late last Friday with the president shifting his policy on deportations, we have not heard Mitt Romney talk about that throughout this campaign trip, except when asked about it by the press. Instead, every step of the way, along with some pretty high profile surrogates, he's been sticking to this message of the economy. We can expect him to do that later on this morning.

Right now, he is just moments away from meeting with a roundtable of local business leaders and local residents. He's been doing that routinely throughout the campaign. And he says this is a way for him to get ideas on how to get the economy going again.

And what he says out on the campaign trail, when he gets out in front of big crowds and the press, he says what he's hearing from voters every step of the way is that small businesses are hurting, and so he wants to do things that will get that going again, get that sector of the economy going again. And that's been a big part of this bus tour that he's been having over the last several days, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Acosta, reporting live for us from Michigan this morning.

Microsoft's newly unveiled tablet P..C. is already raising eyebrows. Some are calling it an iPad copycat. Will the Microsoft Surface lure people away from Apple's iPad?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Twenty minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now:

The defense this morning calling more witnesses in Jerry Sandusky's child rape trial, still unclear if the former Penn State assistant football coach will take the stand. Closing arguments could begin as soon as Thursday.

In money news, a new battle between Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft unveiling a direct challenge to the iPad with its Surface tablet. Microsoft released this video, along with a lot of restrictions on media access, and the question remains, will this tablet be able to take on the iPad?

Conan O'Brien has a theory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": Microsoft made a big announcement today when they unveiled their version of -- it was a huge announcement today. They announced their version of the iPad from Microsoft. Yes. The actual announcement was you're probably not going to buy this.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: No one is going to buy that thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's one like aunts and uncles will buy because they don't get it.

O'BRIEN: Yes. It's an etch-a-sketch with a battery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ouch. The Surface has nearly the same specs as the iPad. No word on price yet, except that it will be competitive.

Out West, firefighters will get no help from Mother Nature today. Fires have consumed nearly 1,000 acres in San Diego County, California, and nearly 60,000 acres in Colorado. Forecasters predict more than normal temperatures and more gusty winds today will only fuel the flames.

In sports, a fan held onto a foul ball and his drink cup last night Kansas City-Houston game. The ball shattered the cup, but you can tell the guy is not broken up about it. He shows off the prize to picture-taking fans. Houston wins the game 9-7.

The Catholic Church has accused the Obama administration of waging a war on religious freedom. The church is angry because the administration now requires employers to provide insurance to cover birth control despite religious beliefs. It's not a good place for Mr. Obama to be in an election year. And some say it's not a good place for Catholic leaders to be either.

The issue is not just about the country, but Catholics, too. All this week, we will go in-depth. The series is called "The Call for Change in the Catholic Church."

Zoraida Sambolin is here. Good morning, Zoraida.

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.

COSTELLO: You're going to tell us about this growing divide between the Vatican and American Catholics.

SAMBOLIN: Well, perhaps it is a growing divide and perhaps it's not. We had an opportunity to visit a church here in New York, and they had a different perspective on the divide. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMBOLIN (voice-over): St. Paul the apostle calls everyone to Sunday mass, even people who don't agree with every Catholic teaching.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If they're Catholic, they're Catholic. If they're not, they're not.

SAMBOLIN (on camera): And so if they are Catholic, they should be welcome?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.

SAMBOLIN (voice-over): There's Maureen McGann (ph), who thinks Catholic should allow women to be church leaders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I liken it a little bit to the United States. I don't agree with everything our country does, but I'm not going to join another country at this point.

SAMBOLIN: And Megan McKeever (ph), who is a lesbian.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could never give up being a Catholic any more than I could give up being a gay woman. I have found a way to reconcile within me.

SAMBOLIN: Megan focuses on what she loves about a church that adheres to strict doctrines.

(on camera): I want you to tell me the position that the Catholic Church has on some of these things. I'm going to start with abortion. OK or not OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not OK.

SAMBOLIN: What about women in leadership positions?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The church feels it doesn't have the authority to ordain women. Given the tradition going back to the time of Jesus.

SAMBOLIN: How do you have them be a part of something that has such fundamental differences with the way they live their lives?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I don't know if those differences are that fundamental. Because the question --

SAMBOLIN: These are big issues in the Catholic Church.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're big issues.

SAMBOLIN: And the Vatican.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure. But for people living their lives daily, I think if they really engaged it for their lives, they have understood what they believe and what the relationship is to these teachings. So they have kind of are at peace with that.

SAMBOLIN (voice-over): Mark Esposito Askin (ph) says the food pantry offers church-goers more than just charity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By allowing them to help them live their faith and providing a nonjudgmental atmosphere where they are allowed to explore ministries, whether it's serving the poor, that alleviates a lot of the stress they might feel otherwise if they're in an environment where, you know, there was a focus on dogma.

SAMBOLIN: An approach that keeps them coming to Catholicism.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAMBOLIN: And there is some research that suggests that Catholics are actually more liberal than non-Catholics. There is a Gallup poll that compares moral acceptability on issues. And when you look at homosexual relations, 54 percent of Catholics are actually accepting.

So, Carol, at the ends of the day, in this particular church, what it seems like with Father Martinez is that all of the dialogue that happens at the church to make people feel good about who they are and still be Catholic is what makes this situation unique.

COSTELLO: Zoraida Sambolin, thanks so much.

Coming up tomorrow, a conversation with Father Dave Dwyer. He's the host of "Busted Halo" on Sirius XM satellite radio.

We want you to be part of the discussion. So, if you have questions, my Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Send your questions to my Facebook page, that's CarolCostello -- that's Facebook -- I'm sorry. That's Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I knew I'd get it right eventually. Please send your questions there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. The question for you this morning, are we born to be Democrats or Republicans? Conservative talker Glenn Beck is shocked, shocked by the gay friendly TV show "Glee" and its effect on America's youth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN BECK, GBTV: I mean, it's horrifying, some of the things they are teaching high schoolers. But it's brilliantly done. It's brilliantly done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Beck's people are fighting back. Three years after "Glee" was born, they are planning a rival show, a conservative "Glee" featuring hit music and no sleeping around. Beck predicts he'll have liberals, quote, "making out with me. They'll never see it coming."

OK. So, what are the chances of that happening? No much. It seems we are born to watch certain shows and buy certain brands.

Biology, Inc., a firm that measures brain responses to brands, says that just like the votes in congress, Americans' buying habits are often split along party lines. Take coffee, Democrats like Starbucks, while Republicans on Dunkin. TV shows, Dems like to watch Animal Planet. Republicans click over to the History Channel. And cars, Republicans prefer BMW, Democrats Jeep.

There may be still hope for bipartisanship, though. Both Democrats and Republicans love Coke and Google. But come on. Seriously?

The talk back question this morning, are we born to be Democrats or Republicans? Facebook.com/CarolCNN, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Adidas, one of the most recognized sports apparel brands, is shelving plans to market sneakers with rubber shackles on them, or what critics call slave shoes. Take a look at the pictures. This is from Adidas Facebook page. The high-top sneakers called the JS Roundhouse Mids were expected to go on sale in August, but civil rights leaders say the shoes are insensitive to remind them of slavery.

Adidas responded saying, that the design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott's outrageous and unique take on fashion. It has nothing to do with slavery. We apologize if people are offended by the design. And we are withdrawing our plans to make them available in the marketplace."

One of those upset by the shoes, civil rights leader, the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

Welcome.

REV. JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW PUSH COALITION: Good morning.

COSTELLO: What offended --

JACKSON: I am stunned at the insensitivity. It was a gross insult. We are prepared to engage in a boycott in 50 markets. We contacted Adidas yesterday and contacted David Stern, who in turn within a few minutes called Adidas and had it cancelled. They cancelled it because they got a call from David Stern and the threat of a real boycott.

COSTELLO: The fact is that the shoe went from an idea to a concept to an actual product before anyone thought it would be even slightly controversial. What do you make of that?

JACKSON: I mean, Adidas was insensitive. And they went to the whole vetting process. And to conjure up the idea of slavery and to have some African-American ball players is a bit much to take.

And so, because it is insensitive, and because it reminded me so much of the gold tooth ad that had to be rejected some years ago. But this is a bit far.

And, of course, we wrote them and David Stern. And we began to contact ball players and met ministers around the country that were prepared for really a full-scale rejection of this.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, I post a picture of the shoes and the story on my Facebook page. And I just want to read you a few comments.

This is one comment from Lonnie. He says, "People wonder why we can't move on from this issue. It's because this person with an addiction to media has to hang onto something like this. I can't believe this is even an issue." He says it's just a pair of ugly shoes.

JACKSON: Well, it's according to what your sensitivity zone is. I mean, the slave cycle -- it's a 246-year experience, connected to Jim Crow. We are fighting these battles now to make us better. So it's offensive.

It may not be offensive to the blogger. It's insensitive to a whole bunch of people. Have I begun to contact athletes who likewise are selling these shoes, and they were going to rebel as well.

COSTELLO: Well, I think this person was saying, you know, we want to move past all of the stuff. Why not just not bother with things like tennis shoes and talk about something really important?

JACKSON: Well, I don't think that you can ask women to move past issues of women's rights to self-determination and given the gross violations of women. Or ask people who are gay and Native American or Jewish.

We must in this multicultural environment be sensitive and be caring. This is insulting, insensitive provocative, and wrong. And therefore it was provoking really an outcry across the nation. And they immediately got the message from the people.

I think David Stern is a man I think who has a great sense of social justice and social conscience. David Stern did the right thing. So it would not go into a big deal in the middle of the NBA finals.

COSTELLO: Adidas has apologized and pulled the shoes from the market. Is that enough?

JACKSON: That's a step in the right direction. Remove it from the market. And the next time around, don't make the same mistake again.

We have seen these ad agencies push the button and sometimes in marketing and automobiles. Sometimes we've seen it in athletics. And we have -- in the markets we have a right to protest. The right in this case to protest it, and because of our collective action and quickly, it will not go on the market.

COSTELLO: Reverend Jesse Jackson, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

JACKSON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Arsenio Hall gets hired again. He was the big winner on the latest "Celebrity Apprentice." And he just scored another very familiar gig. What we know about his big return to late night TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Arsenio Hall is coming back to late night TV. He made the announcement on CNN "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT" and "Showbiz Tonight." A lot of tonight in one paragraph.

"Showbiz Tonight's" A.J. Hammer is in Los Angeles. He has all the juicy details. Spill it.

A.J. HAMMER, HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Yes. All right. Carol, I ran into Arsenio in the hallway here at our Hollywood bureau yesterday, and he was so excited. Now I know why he was running around like the best news in the world had just happened to him, and it had. Almost 20 years ago is when "The Arsenio Hall Show" went off the air, but it is coming back to late night television.

The last time he hosted was in 1994. So, he broke the news to our own Piers Morgan who he credits with helping him on this comeback. Arsenio says filling in for Piers on his show helped convince executives that, yes, he could handle being a TV host again.

And he also credited Piers sharing some secrets about "Celebrity Apprentice." Both of them won that show, of course. And Arsenio says that Piers told him read everything he could about Donald Trump, and that is what helped him win. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARSENIO HALL, ACTOR/COMEDIAN: You have no idea how many times in the boardroom or in a situation of business crisis I was able to throw a quote of his at him. When you look at Donald Trump and you say, sir, never sit on the tarmac without a flight plan. Be ready. Know what you want to do.

And he would look at me and say, this brother is ready. And I had my birth certificate, too. So I was ready for anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Well, we'll see if he is ready to rejoin the crowded late night landscape. The show is not a network show. It's a syndication deal, meaning you'll have to check your local listings to find out when it comes out.

But, Carol, were you look at Arsenio there? He looks 35 years old. The man is 55. And I swear, when I saw him in the hallway, I'm like, is that you? It's amazing to me.

COSTELLO: He looks so trim.

HAMMER: Yes. He's in terrific shape. And I think his excitement about having won "Celebrity Apprentice" and now moving back into the late night venue which he enjoyed so much, I think that's a huge deal for him. I think he's really, really pumped up about it.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's talk about another huge deal. This involve Mike Tyson and Spike Lee and Broadway. Weird.

HAMMER: Yes. It does seem a little weird to some people. This is basically a continuation of the one-man show that Tyson put on in Vegas. That show did earn him some critical acclaim. And at least it was reportedly a truly unvarnished look at Tyson's life.

As Tyson put it yesterday in New York, he had the crowd mesmerized. He is very up front about his life and what he's doing. As he told reporters yesterday, Carol, I'm trying to get paid and get out of debt and stuff. Love you all. See you at the show.

Now, this isn't just Tyson's first appearance on Broadway, it is Spike Lee's first Broadway show as well. The show is called "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth." It's going to have two previews, starting at the end of July, before four scheduled shows in four days. Some seats listed at 200 bucks. But there's a meet and greet premium package you can score for around $300.

So he's trying to earn an honest living. And I give him credit for putting it out there like that.

COSTELLO: Yes. A.J. Hammer, thank you.

A.J. will be back with us next hour with more showbiz headlines, including Conan gets political. He is getting ready for a Romney invasion with no sign of Mitt?

A man goes up to a Picasso, but instead of admiring the painting, he takes a can of spray paint and spray paints it. It's all caught on camera. The question is, can the painting be saved?

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COSTELLO: It's 47 minutes past the hour. Checking our "Top Stories" now, here is a remarkable medical story to share.

In Miami, a 16-year-old boy is expected to make a full recovery after a steel spear was shot through his brain. Somehow that spear missed all the major blood vessels. The boy still faces several months of rehab therapy.

In money use, a major shakeup at JC Penney, its marketing and merchandising chief is out and its chief executive officer will take over those duties. The retailer has struggled lately, posting a 19 percent drop in same store sales in the beginning of the year as it tried to wean customers off of coupons and discounts.

Out west, firefighters won't get much help from the weather today. Fires have consumed nearly 1,000 acres in San Diego County, California and nearly 60,000 acres in Colorado. Forecasters predict warmer than normal temperatures and more gusty winds that will only fuel the flames.

And a priceless Picasso vandalized. Cell phone video shows a man using spray paint to deface a Picasso at a museum in Houston. The vandal took off. Museum officials say they can restore the painting.

The optimism that Egyptians felt with the Arab spring has given way to confusion after the country's first democratic presidential vote. Islamist candidate Mohammed Morsi is claiming victory but official results from the runoff are not due until Thursday. But more importantly, there are questions about exactly what powers the new president will wield after moves by military leaders in Egypt.

Robin Wright is an expert on Arab affairs and the author of "Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic World." Welcome Robin.

ROBIN WRIGHT, AUTHOR, "ROCK THE CASBAH": Good morning.

COSTELLO: Ok so -- so the people of Egypt vote for the Islamist candidate Mohammed Morsi they vote him as president. But the Egyptian military dissolves the parliament and is overseeing the creation of a new Constitution that does not sound like a new democracy.

So was the revolution a failure?

WRIGHT: Well, clearly the military is trying to seize the moment and define the new order. It is not only taking away legislative powers, but it has as you pointed out announced that it's going to appoint the 100 members to write a new Constitution.

It also -- it re-imposed martial law and it -- in its interim Constitution declared that the military budget and the military itself would not be subject to supervision by any part of the government. So this has really put the military on top of any government structure.

And it has -- yes, indeed, begun to unravel the uprising.

COSTELLO: And the military ran the country when Hosni Mubarak was in power. The people overthrew Mubarak. So is Egypt right where it was before?

WRIGHT: Pretty close. And in some ways the polarization that's happened over the last 18 months but particularly over the last month in -- as it played out in this presidential election has deepened.

And that's a very worrying sign that you have the two very different sides of the spectrum. The military on the one side and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood on the other pitted against each other in what is going to be a competition to put it mildly for power.

COSTELLO: Ok. So let's talk about the United States and the amount of money it sends to the Egyptian military; $1.3 billion. Should the United States say, hey, this is no kind of democracy that we recognize? We're going to stop sending you money?

WRIGHT: I expect it won't. I think that there were some missed opportunities over the last 18 months to signal to the military that the United States wanted to make sure that the generals wouldn't do exactly what they have done.

And now I think the -- the Obama administration faces a real challenge in trying to convince people it dealt with for not just the last 18 months but for decades, what to do, how to push them in a direction that will ensure that the people's will is honored. And the United States, I think, has been in a little bit of denial about what's going on and there aren't many great options. It can't simply turn off $1.3 billion to the military without consequences itself.

So trying to figure out how to -- the balancing act diplomatically I think is going to be hard right now.

COSTELLO: Robin Wright, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

WRIGHT: Thank you.

COSTELLO: We asked you "Talk Back" on one of the stories of the day. The question this morning -- "Are we born to be Democrats and Republicans?" Your response is after this.

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COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the stories of the day. The question -- are we born to be Democrats or Republicans?

This from Douglas. "I'm a Democrat who prefers BMWs over Jeeps and Dunkin' over Starbucks. So much for that survey.

This from Jason. "I was born and raised a Republican. But it was people like Beck and the way the Republican Party has been taken over by the Jesus freak crowd that turned me off back in the 90s.

This from Sandra, "Born to a long line of staunch Democrats. Then came Obama. My elderly mother, managed to jump several hurdles just to ensure she could vote for the first time, Republican this year."

This from Lee. "Personally, I'm independent. I don't trust any of the lying crooked bastards. And by the way, I drive an old Dodge Power Wagon."

Keep the conversation going. Facebook.com/carolcnn.

I'll be back after this.

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