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Sandusky Trial Speeds Along; Dharun Ravi Released From Jail; Clemens Chokes Up After Verdict; Clemens Acquitted On All Counts; Asians Are Fastest Growing Group In U.S.; Boy Survives Spear Through Head; Heat Wave Blisters Chicago; National Average Gas Price $3.50; U.S. Expands Probe Of Toyota Vehicle Windows; Forbes: Mayweather Highest Paid Athlete; Torchbearer Proposes During Run; Tea Party's Power In 2012

Aired June 19, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, HOST, CNN NEWSROOM: Good morning to you. Thanks for being with us this morning. I'm Carol Costello.

Stories we are watching now in the NEWSROOM. Take a look at this x-ray. That is a spear three feet long right through the brain of a 16-year-old. Miraculously the kid survives but how could that be? And what will the rest of his life be like?

Plus, offensive, appalling and insensitive. That's what Jesse Jackson says about those sneakers saying looks like shackles put on slaves. Adidas' response by canceling 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 touch screen and flips down to have a full keyboard. But will it actually give Apple a run for its money?

We start with the trial of Jerry Sandusky. It is moving faster than expected. The judge in the case now says closing arguments could get under way Thursday.

The big questions today, though will Jerry Sandusky take the stand? One attorney says Sandusky has hurt his case every time he has spoken publicly. I talked with CNN legal contributor Paul Callan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: There's just one incident after another that he has 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 is going to be a disaster on the witness stand in the hands of a good cross examiner prosecutor.

COSTELLO: OK, so yes or no, you are the defense attorney. Would have you 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 are offered some sort of a reasonable plea.

Now, he is facing 20-year felonies and at his age, frankly a conviction even on one count means he will probably die in prison. So it is 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 he's put his family through the torture of listening to this horrific testimony. But once again, he is presumed innocent and you never know what a jury is going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: New this morning, Dharun Ravi is out of jail. The former Rutgers student was found guilty last month of spying on his gay roommate during an intimate encounter with another man.

That roommate, Tyler Clementi committed suicide. Ravi was sentenced to a 30-day jail term, community service, fines and counseling. The Federal Immigration Authorities have decided not to deport Ravi to his native India.

We have no fiercer competitor than Roger Clemens. But outside a courthouse, Clemens showed a rare emotional side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER CLEMENS, FORMER MLB PITCHER: Really, all the -- all you -- you media guys that know me and followed my career --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Clemens was found not guilty on all counts of lying to Congress about steroid use. CNN's Joe Johns is in Washington. So Joe, jurors sat through eight weeks of testimony. They deliberated for 10 hours. What was the key to their verdict?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: You know, Carol, where do you start? I mean, the first case was a mistrial. In the second case, the star witness, his credibility got dismantled on the stand.

The defense was actually able to call the main part of evidence against the baseball player a pile of garbage and which is sort of -- it sort of was.

A bunch of syringes and medical waste stuffed down in a crushed beer can that this trainer of -- for Clemens kept around for seven whole years.

So from start to finish, this was the kind of case that was just a real problem for the prosecutors and so it is no surprise, really, that this case was -- basically it trial for some of -- nine weeks and the jury was only out about 10 hours or so -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So was this another government whiff? I mean, should federal prosecutors not have brought this case?

JOHNS: You know, that's a very good question. First thing the federal prosecutors will say to you in the politest way possible is that this was a referral of a prosecution from a congressional investigation.

Congress four years ago was holding hearings into steroid use and in baseball and they brought Roger Clemens up. He spoke at a deposition and then again at a hearing proper, sworn in both times.

They said that they thought he lied. They told the Justice Department. The Justice Department prosecuted. For their part, they did basically what they had to do, but they can still say this case came from Congress.

COSTELLO: OK, so what about the court of public opinion? Does Clemens -- have a shot at the hall of fame, let's say?

JOHNS: You know, he certainly does, seven-time CY Young winner, I think. He has been around for a long time, one of the best-known names in baseball and it is -- true that getting acquitted on these six counts has got to help his case.

It certainly couldn't hurt. Nonetheless he has that stigma that question about whether he actually did take steroids or human growth hormone. That could haunt him for a while. We will see. He could come up as early as next year, actually, his name, along with a bunch of other players. A lot of people don't get in on the first ballot, of course.

COSTELLO: I have to agree with those people. Joe Johns, many thanks to you.

Asian immigrants are now the fastest growing group of immigrants into the United States. You know what? When they get settled they are happier here, they make more money than the rest of the population does.

CNN's Deb Feyerick is live in New York for us this morning. This Pew Research survey is surprising.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, it really is and we're talking about a record 18.2 million Asian-Americans in the United States. Three of four adults were actually born abroad and these are people are from dozens of countries in the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

Now the shift really occurs over the last decade. In 2005, you see the number of Hispanic immigrants dropping while the number of Asian immigrants begins to go up sharply. Four years later, 2009, Asians become the largest immigrant group and that's a trend that continues into 2010.

Now the big differentiator, education levels in this immigrant group, 61 percent of Asian-American adults coming to the United States have at least a bachelor's degree and are more likely than other immigrant groups to be sponsored by an employer for a green card rather than a family member.

So take a look at this graphic. We are talking right now about the 25 and older population, 49 percent of Asian-Americans have a bachelor's degree and that's compared to 28 percent of whites, African-Americans and Hispanics.

Financially, Asian-Americans are making more, $66,000 compared to $49,800 for the median U.S. household. That's about a $16,000 difference.

So, OK, they are educated and well off and guess what, Carol, apparently they are happier than most of the U.S. population. The study found that they placed more value than other Americans in marriage, parenthood and also success -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. So I'm going to make it all political now because it is an election year. So which candidate do they link to?

FEYERICK: Well, this is what's interesting. The majority of Asian- Americans are really twice as satisfied than other Americans in the general direction of the country. So you have about 50 percent who lean democratic.

And when you look more closely, it is the folks from India, Japan, and China, they are the ones who are the most democratic leaning. There is a real emphasis on the part of U.S. Asians that when you come to America, hard work is really going to lead to success.

That's a much more optimistic outlook than had they stayed in their original country. So they bring a very hard work ethic, but they also have the education to back it up -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Deborah Feyerick, interesting numbers for us this morning.

Now we want to show you 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.

It is a steel spear shot through a teenager's skull. But before you reach for that remote, let me give you a reason to stay. Today, the boy is doing just fine. The arrow somehow missed the most vital portions of his brain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most important thing is to resist that temptation to pull the thing out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was about one inch above his right eye and straight through. You could feel the tip under his skin around the posterior part of the skull.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His words are actually amazingly easy to understand. He says he's not having pain. He's worried about the fact he can't use his left side properly. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Doctors say his left side may remain a little clumsy and that should be the only lingering effect for the teenager. He will undergo three to four months of rehab therapy. He was accidentally shot, by the way, by a friend as they were swimming in a lake.

A blistering heat wave rolling across the Midwest and it hasn't loosened its grip yet on Chicago. The high temperatures combined with the smothering humidity make it feel like 100 degrees or more. The miserable conditions compounded by strong winds are chasing people off the streets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the most part, myself and all the other vendors down here are going to be closing down because it will be too windy. Everyone is talking about the heat. 20 to 40-mile-an-hour winds down here. It is hard to do anything in a sand storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Higher than normal temperatures and gusty winds also making things tough. Fire crews in Northern Colorado, more than 58,000 acres of burned fires, 50 percent contained at least for now.

Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is here with a quick look ahead. I hope the weather is going to cooperate for them.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It was a roller coaster for them. But tonight at 7:09, summer officially rolls in. The heat is on, record heat. And take a look at where we stand.

These are the high temperatures for today. Places like Denver, 100 degrees yesterday. Today is 95. But anywhere you see that red, Carol, that's the axis of the heat. It's all moving to the north and east.

So today in the north east, 70s and 80s, but look at Boston. Wednesday, tomorrow, 101 degrees, they should be at 79. Last time they were in the hundreds was last July. Not out of the question, but from Boston all the way down to Washington, D.C., look at that flirting with the upper 90s to 100s.

So the warmest we have been thus far, pretty apropos, first day of summer so it will be steamy. Colorado, too, though, having this incredible heat. Of course, it is fanning all these flames out there.

Of course, red flag warnings, fire weather, fire dangers, absolutely high. But in terms of the temperatures, you can see today in the 90s. Then a bit of a cool down and then those temperatures kind of rise back up again.

So a roller coaster there, roller coaster in the northeast, but in the northeast and around a lot of the country, cold front moves through Friday. That's kind of the end of the heat. COSTELLO: Well, that's a good thing.

STEELE: Yes. So it will be a quick few days of 95 to 100 and then Friday it's a fade --

COSTELLO: Quick few days of misery and then relief.

STEELE: Then it is over.

COSTELLO: Alexandra, thank you.

Evangelical voters did not flock to Mitt Romney during the GOP primaries, but can he count on their vote in the general election? We'll ask that question to journalist and author, David Brody.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 13 minutes past the hour. Checking the top stories now. Campus of Penn State, Jerry Sandusky's defense team will call witnesses a second day. Not clear if the former football coach will testify in his own trial. The judge in the case says final argument could get under way by Thursday.

The nationwide average for a gallon of gas dropped to $3.50. That figure from Triple-A today. The average gas price dropped nearly 20 cents from a month ago. The highest gas prices right now are in Hawaii. The lowest is in South Carolina.

In money news, the federal probe expands into Toyota power window switches that can overheat and start fires in vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it now includes 1.4 million, 2007 to 2009 models. It involves Camry, Camry Hybrids, Highlander Hybrids, Rav 4 and Garris vehicles.

In sports, boxer, Floyd Mayweather is the world's highest paid athlete over the last year. "Forbes" magazine reports that Mayweather earned $85 million for two bouts. Mayweather knocks Tiger Woods out of the top spot. He's held that spot since 2000. Woods falls to number three on the "Forbes" list followed by boxer, Manny Pacquiao.

This video gives new meaning to Olympic ring. The man carrying the Olympic torch made a quick detour to propose to his girlfriend in England. The beaming bride-to-be happily accepted before her new fiance continued on his way. The London Olympics kick off in 38 days.

Let's talk a little politics now. Mitt Romney is rallying Republicans ahead of the November election. But he may not have one influential voting bloc completely in his corner and that would be the Tea Party Movement.

Our next guest talks about the growing power of the Tea Partiers. Many of whom consider themselves Evangelicals. Journalist David Brody's book is called "The Teavangelicals, The Inside Story of How the Evangelicals and Tea Party are Taking Back America."

David Brody is in New York this morning. Welcome, David. DAVID BRODY, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, CBN: Carol, great to be here.

COSTELLO: OK, back a couple of years ago when the Tea Party began in earnest, it really wasn't so religious. So when did that happen?

BRODY: Well, I have to tell you, starting in 2010, with these rallies, when I was going around the country, I noticed wait a minute. Everybody is praying at that these Tea Party rallies. They are starting with prayer.

They are talking about Judeo-Christian principles. I said, maybe I should do a few interviews. When I did, I found out that this person is an Evangelical and this person a conservative Lutheran and this person a conservative Methodist.

The point is there were tons of conservative Christians at that the Tea Party rally. And those statistics, Carol, bear that out, 50 percent to 60 percent of the Tea Party are conservative Christian.

So I came up with this title, "The Teavangelicals" because that's exactly what they are, fiscal issues, social issues, combined.

COSTELLO: Still, in the beginnings of the Tea Party, those belonging to the Tea Party, deliberately stayed away from social issues. Now they seem to be embracing them, why?

BRODY: Well, I don't know about their embracing them actually, Carol. I think what's going on is that the Tea Party agenda, if you will, is all about constitutional limited government and Evangelical Christians buy into that.

That's exactly what's going on. So, you know, Evangelical Christians are not about just the life issue and just the marriage issue. It is a very convenient narrative to put certain folks in a box.

Actually, life issues are important. The marriage issue is important. But guess what, they are joining the Tea Party not for those issues. They are joing because of many other issues.

Everything from reducing and eliminating, if you can, the size and scope of government as much as possible, with Obama care, I can go down the list, but there are a lot of reasons the Evangelical Christians are joining up with the Tea Party and not having it derail so much into social issues.

COSTELLO: So Mitt Romney would love to have Tea Party support and I think many people assume he does since he is the presumptive nominee. Does he?

BRODY: Well, he has some support for sure. You know, he is in the high 60s when it comes to the Evangelical vote right now. John McCain was at 73 percent in 2008.

So if you talk to anybody within that Evangelical pro-family movement, they say Mitt Romney pretty much needs to get north of 75 percent to win this election. At least have a shot at winning election.

Now let me say this, Carol. It is not really about that number as much this is about raw vote total. You know, one of the things that's very important is that groups, these Tea-vangelical groups, like Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition.

That has a lot of Tea Party activists, along with social conservative activists, they have the self-phone numbers, Carol, of 13 million Evangelical Christians in this country. They are trying to get many of them to sign up and vote.

If three million of them sign up in 2012, Romney can send a thank you card to each and every one because it will probably guarantee him the White House in 2012.

COSTELLO: If they are enthusiastic about him, are they?

BRODY: Well, that's an unknown at this point. I have to tell you, Romney has some work to do. A good VP pick would be very important. A stump speech talking about the fiscal issues along with the social issues merging both of those together, whether it be -- cutting Planned Parenthood funding.

Those types of things would be very important. I have to tell you. There is a story in the book where Mitt Romney actually has been laying the groundwork with the Evangelical leaders for a long time as far back as 2006, Carol.

We detail in the book for the first time a secret meeting between Romney and folks like, Franklin Graham, the late Jerry Falwell was actually at this meeting, and many other Evangelical leaders.

Where Romney and Ann Romney sat around with these Evangelical leaders in their room, in their living room, ate sandwiches and then at the end about a month later sent them all a chair. They actually sent these Evangelical leaders a chair and says you always have a seat at my table.

COSTELLO: Interesting, OK, one last question. There is a good part of the population out there that they think the Tea Party is poisoning our politics. They are very unchristian-like. Why do you suppose that a lot of people believe that about "Teavangelicals?"

BRODY: Well, there are a couple of reasons. I detail in the book in the last chapter where I lay out the challenges. One of those challenges is making the message mainstream. One thing -- one thing that the "Teavangelicals" have to a much better job at is explaining to folks why they believe what they believe and why it makes sense.

Carol, I give you a good example. Independents in this country are very much for term limits, 73 percent of independents in this country are for term limits.

A balance budget amendment, they're for that as well. What "Teavangelicals" need to do is to sell independents what they are preaching, if you will, and then hopefully they can start winning the argument in this whole circle of debate out there. It is a challenge for sure. And there is quite a few of them out there for them.

COSTELLO: David Brody, thank you. It is an interesting book, "The Teavangelicals." Thanks for joining us this morning.

BRODY: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Do you drink Starbucks or are you running on Dunkin'? A new survey says that may depend whether you are a blue stater or a red stater.

(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 talk host, Glenn Beck, is shocked by the gay friendly TV show "Glee" and its effects on America's youth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN BECK, TALK SHOW HOST: I mean, it is -- horrifying some of the things they are teaching high schoolers, but it is brilliantly done. It is brilliantly done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So 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 will have liberals, quote, "making out with me and they will never see it coming." What are the chances of that happening? Not much. Because 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 run on Dunkin'. TV shows, Dems like to watch "Animal Planet," Republicans click over to the "History Channel."

And cars, Republicans prefer BMW and Democrats, Jeep. There may still be hope for bipartisanship though. Both Democrats and Republicans love Coke and Google, but come on, seriously?

Talk back question today, are we born to be Democrats or Republicans? Facebook.com/carolcnn. I will read your comments later this hour.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. What do you make of this one? You see President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin in what appears to be face-off.

The body language is not good. Actually, you will see more pictures of Putin and Obama in our "Buzz" section next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Just about 30 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories. Attorney General Eric Holder and Representative Darrell Issa are expected to talk today about documents relating to the government's botched firearms sting.

There have been calls from several lawmakers for the Justice Department to release more documents. Turning them over might postpone a Wednesday vote that would cite Holder with contempt.

Private security screeners are closer to being a reality in Orlando. The TSA has given preliminary approval to Orlando Sanford International Airport and give final approval once the plan is deemed cost effective and it ensures travellers' safety. Screeners employed by private companies are already used at 16 airports under the TSA screening partnership program.

Asian immigrants are now the largest group of new immigrants in the United States. Those are the results of a new Pew Research survey. They are also more satisfied with their lives than the general public is. They tend to put more value on marriage and parenthood than other Americans.

"Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day, three questions, smart answers. Playing today Robert Zimmerman a Democratic strategist and Dana Loesch, CNN contributor and conservative.

First question, Presidents Obama and Putin met for two hours on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit. And if body language is any indication, Obama, unlike President George W. Bush, was not able to get a sense of Putin's soul.

But then again, Putin is known for his manly demeanor. Here he is on a Harley and here he is with the Harpun gun. I couldn't help it. Still, Russia is sending warships to Syria. So the question is on a scale of one to ten, how much should we worry about Russia -- Dana?

DANA LOESCH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I also love the photo of him in the Siberian forest and he just happened to save a gaggle of reporters from a puma. But you know I think we -- I think we should always be concerned about Vladimir Putin because it is Vladimir Putin.

However, I don't think that we should misinterpret our need to kind of be concerned about what Russia does, to become involvement in Syria. We're still kind of learning who the opposition forces are in Syria.

And as bad as things are in Syria, I still don't think it necessitates American military involvement. So -- and we could be getting into a proxy stand-off as well. There are a lot of things we need to figure out first before we even consider that route.

COSTELLO: Robert?

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You know, I've got to give Dana credit because in many ways she is outlining President Obama's strategy. Unfortunately when you run for president, like with Mitt Romney, when you run for president -- you try to do foreign policy from sound bite and talk radio. When you are president you do it through skilful diplomatic negotiations.

Clearly, Russia and China are always going to be factors especially with Syria and, of course, we're trying to stem Iran's growth of nuclear power. So we have to keep an eye on that.

But Syria is going to be impacted. And hopefully we can remove Assad by bringing in principal players like the Turks and the Saudis to play leadership roles there.

COSTELLO: Ok. On to question number two.

So much to say about President Obama's decision to stop deporting young illegal immigrants who graduated from high school or served in the military. But we'll talk about what Mitt Romney will do.

Well, we could if we knew. So the question, Romney is eager to rescind Obama care on day one. Why not this? Robert?

ZIMMERMAN: Because the bottom line is that Mitt Romney doesn't have a plan of action. We saw his rhetoric during the primaries he was against the Dream Act, he was advocating self-deportation. But the reality is whether it's issue of health care in America, whether it's the issue of balancing our budget, whether it's the issue of dealing with the issue of undocumented workers.

Mitt Romney consistently has a lot of rhetoric and talks in vague generalities. But he's shown no agenda to help people with pre- existing conditions or people who dropped them their insurance. He's made no -- he produce a budget -- objective analyst show will increase the deficit more than President Obama.

COSTELLO: Whoa, we've moved off the immigration issue.

ZIMMERMAN: And on immigration --

LOESCH: Yes very much so.

ZIMMERMAN: -- let's be -- let's be -- and on immigration, let's be clear. He clearly does not have an agenda because he is a victim of his own rhetoric.

COSTELLO: Dana?

LOESCH: Well to counter Robert's point about the budget, at least Mitt Romney didn't pass a budget that the majority of his own party voted against. But I don't think that Mitt Romney's taken the bait when it concerns immigration. If the Obama administration genuinely cares about immigration -- legal immigration they would make it easier and remove some of the red tape and bureaucracy. We want people to come to the United States we want them to come legally.

Unfortunately Democrats have been playing checkers and instead of actually making it easier for people to do so. I personally know families who waited over seven years and paid thousands of dollars. We want those families in the United States. And it's ridiculous that there's so much red tape.

And you know he's focusing on the economy which is what Obama needs to do as President as well.

(CROSSTALK)

ZIMMERMAN: And Dana what is Mitt Romney's plan again?

COSTELLO: Ok, on -- on -- on to question three.

LOESCH: Oh Robert, you can't take more of your time. You can't occupy CNN.

COSTELLO: You must follow the rules. On to our "Buzzer Beater" now. Question number three. Glenn Beck's war on "Glee".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN BECK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I mean, it's horrifying some of the things that they are teaching high schoolers. But it's brilliantly done. It is brilliantly done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And because "Glee" is brilliantly done, Beck's people are fighting back. Three years after "Glee" was born they are planning a rival show, a conservative "Glee" featuring hip music and no sleeping around.

So the question, does TV need prime time balance -- Dana?

LOESCH: I'm going to be honest. I don't watch "Glee" and not because I don't like what's going on in the content but because I cannot stand musicals. I am so not a fan of musicals. I do not go watch them in theater. I can't -- because, you know, I can't -- I don't have that suspension of disbelief. Nobody would do that in real life. No one is going to sing and dance in all the choreograph in real life.

But no. I think there's a lot of trash on television. And you know for instance, I watched -- I watched "Jersey Shore." I'll admit it I watched "Big Rich Texas." I don't know what that says about my character but maybe we should do something about it.

COSTELLO: Robert? You are so honest, Dana. I love that.

ZIMMERMAN: What it means Dana is you've got to come to New York and hang with me in the theater district and see some musicals. We sing and dance on cue all the time in New York City. But the bigger point here --

LOESCH: Ok.

ZIMMERMAN: -- as far -- as far as Glenn Beck advocating balance, the only way he's ever going to achieve balance is by adjusting his meds. The idea that he's going to produce a show that's going to define hip, hang with me for a moment here -- I mean, his definition of hipness is bringing in Ted Nugent to perform or Pat Boone.

The reality is "Glee" is a brilliant show that teaches the best values of responsibility and respect and love. I'm a devoted "Gleek."

COSTELLO: By the way --

LOESCH: Robert, I appreciate the effort to try to get me into musicals. I don't know if it's going to happen, many have tried. My own mother have tried and they failed so.

ZIMMERMAN: I'll start with the first season of "Glee". Ok.

COSTELLO: I'm with Dana. I can't stand musicals either.

LOESCH: Sorry, Robert thank you.

COSTELLO: Thanks for playing today. We appreciate it.

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.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Arsenio Hall is coming back to late night TV. He made the announcement on CNN's "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT." And "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer is in Los Angeles with more details. Good morning, A.J.

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Good morning Carol. The last time Arsenio hosted his late night show was back in 1994. Although I have to say it doesn't look like he's aged all that much. He broke the news to our own Piers Morgan who he credits for helping him come back to the pop culture scene.

Piers let Arsenio fill in for him here on CNN and he also gave Arsenio some pretty good advice about doing "Celebrity Apprentice". Arsenio say Piers told him to read everything Trump ever wrote and that is what helped him win the reality competition. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARSENIO HALL, ACTOR/COMEDIAN: And you have no idea how many times in the board room or in the situation of business crisis I was able to throw a quote of his at him. If you look at Donald Trump and you say, "Sir, never stand on the tarmac without a plight 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. You told me to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Yes. You can see how that would work with Trump. And now we're going to see if he is ready to rejoin the very crowded late night landscape. The show is not going to be a network show. It will be syndicated.

And Carol, of course, people are now wondering if we are going to see Arsenio's dog pound come back. It does seem so 1990s, doesn't it? But he says that he will have other animal sound this time around to make it very 2013.

COSTELLO: Didn't he get that from Cleveland? He is one of my people.

HAMMER: Yes. It is all -- derivative. Isn't it?

COSTELLO: Yes. The dog pound and Cleveland Stadium with the brown -- you know. Well, we will just see.

Let's talk about something else, though. Conan O'Brien. He is going to have every single one of Mitt Romney's sons. That's a lot of sons.

HAMMER: That is a lot of sons. And you might remember, Arsenio's biggest moment, perhaps was Bill Clinton playing the sax on his show all those years ago. So maybe Conan is going to get something as memorable with the whole Romney clan

We're talking about Romney's five sons -- Tag, Matt, Josh, Ben and Craig -- all appearing on Conan. It will be the first ever interview on a late night show and their first joint interview of the campaign season. So that episode is going to air Wednesday, Carol. All eyes will be on Conan.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. We will also bring your excerpts the next day. A.J. Hammer, many thanks.

Consider this a case for Mongolia's most wanted. Police are saying looters smuggled this dinosaur skeleton out of the desert and now they want their fugitive fossil back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Just about 45 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now.

Near the campus of Penn State, Jerry Sandusky's defense team will call witnesses for a second day. Not clear if the former football coach will testify in his child rape trial. The judge says they case may hear final arguments Thursday. In money news, a major shakeup in JC Penney. It's marketing and merchandising chief is out and its chief executive officer will take over his duties.

The retailer has struggled lately posting a 19 percent drop in same-store sales at the beginning of the year as it tries to wean customers off of coupons and discounts.

In weather news, some people who live in southeastern San Diego County are bracing for word on whether their homes are still standing. The nearly 1,000-acre fire has already destroyed at least one home and threatens about a dozen others. No word yet on what started the fire on Sunday which is now about 75 percent contained.

The U.S. Attorney's office is trying to return a stolen dinosaur skeleton to Mongolia. The feds say the tyrannosaurus skeleton was looted from Mongolia's Gobi desert and brought to the United States illegally in 2010. The skeleton was sold at auction for a million dollars. Now prosecutors have filed a civil complaint to get it back .

One of the great racehorses of all time "Secretariat" set records at the Kentucky Derby an d Belmont Stakes in 1973. Some say the Triple Crown winner also set a record at the Preakness. Well, today the Maryland Racing Commission holds a hearing to consider requests from the horse's owner that would settle a decades-old controversy.

Carlos Diaz from HLN Sports is here to talk about this case.

CARLOS DIAZ, HLN SPORTS: It has been almost 40 years. And they want a look back on this.. They have instant replay in football and basketball and baseball -- a little bit in baseball -- Hockey. Now they want instant replay in this certain race.

Because basically what happened in 1973, at the Preakness, two timers said that Secretariat ran the race in a minute and 53 and two- fifths. But the official time was recorded as a minute 55 and then later changed to 54 and two-fights. The reason is such a big deal is because of the change to a minute -- and that means that he would have the record for how fast he ran that Preakness as well as the record for the Kentucky Derby that year and also the Belmont Stakes which means that not only would he have had the -- Secretariat would have had the triple crown for that year but would have the record for that year.

It is kind of like -- a Triple Crown that never goes away. And that's what they are going to be talking about today. Whether or not they should use the times from the two independent timers from that race.

In the program it still is listed as Secretariat ran 1:53 and two-fifths which is the record. It all comes down to who you believe in this situation.

COSTELLO: The actual timer or whoever recorded that. DIAZ: Or two guys that hold watches and say we both got it at 1:53. So that's the thing. They want to go back and they want to look at this sophisticated video system to find out what he really ran the race in, at what time.

COSTELLO: So why now?

DIAZ: It is -- all about history. This year we almost had a Triple Crown winner. I'll have another almost won the Triple Crown. It is not -- the Triple Crown is not something that happens a lot. It hasn't happened since 1978. You know, Secretariat's only one of 11 horses to ever do it. If they can confirm that he ran this race in a minute 53 and two-fifths. Then his Triple Crown will be the best out of the other 11. That's why it -- it is significant.

COSTELLO: Ok. So my bet is on secretariat.

DIAZ: Exactly.

I think you have a lot of guys today watching video. Down the stretch he comes. He's coming.

It happened 40 years ago but I'm still excited about it.

COSTELLO: Exactly. Carlos Diaz, many thanks to you.

Microsoft finally enters the tablet ring. But is its Surface tablet worth the wait? And how will it do against the iPad, anyway.

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COSTELLO: Microsoft wants to take a big bite out of Apple's pie. But is its new tablet a worthy opponent to take on iPad?

Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. A lot of people are skeptical about Surface.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are. But you know what? You look at it broadly, you know. Since Apple came out with the iPad, other tablets, they have had some success. Look back at 2010 when the iPad came out, sure, Apple dominated and it still is king.

But look, the android and other tablets today they make up more than a third of the market for tablets. Look, there is room in the market for Microsoft if the Surface can prove itself. But you know, consumers are going to have a lot of questions about the Surface.

No word -- there's no word yet on exactly what it is going to cost. Microsoft says that it is comparable to other tablets. But you know, that's a wide range. It could mean a couple hundred dollars up to a thousand dollars.

Another question, is it a better physical product than iPad and Android tablets? Also what's the app store going to look like. Is it going to be big enough? Right now the Surface has fewer apps than the iPad but that still could grow. You know what's crucial here Carol is that the Surface really needs one of those support systems -- you know, a community. Something that Apple's had years to build on -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We will see. I mean what are some of the features? I'm just curious. What are some of the things that you can get on the Surface that you can't get on the iPad?

KOSIK: Ok. Well, first of all, I need to point out that Microsoft is doing something that it has never done before. It's actually manufacturing and it's selling a windows computer that it designed itself. You have to understand that Microsoft always relied on other companies to make its devices.

All right. So there are a couple of design features that separate it from most other tablets. The case is actually built in. This is kind of cool, it folds down into a full keyboard. It also has a built-in kind of a stand, kind of a kick stand in back. There's also a USB port on the Surface; the iPad does not have that.

So there are a few distinguishing features there -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It has the Windows Operating Service -- I don't know about that one. I think that the one that consumers will say -- hmm --

KOSIK: Yes, yes. Exactly. And it does have that brand new operating system. It's going to be called Windows RT and it is a version of the Window's 8 design just for the Surface. So you know, a lot of people can understand how that operating system works. That could be a selling point.

COSTELLO: Or not.

KOSIK: Or not. Yes.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Alison Kosik. Live at the New York Stock Exchange.

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. This was posted on Adidas Facebook page but has been taken down. The high cut sneakers called the J.S. "roundhouse mist", are expected to go on sale on August. I talked with the Reverend Jesse Jackson about the sneakers. He said Civil rights leaders are ready to take action against Adidas nationwide.

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REV. JESSE JACKSON, FOUNDER RAINBOW PUSH COALITION: Are we prepared to engage in a boycott and sift the markets. We've contacted, we contacted Adidas yesterday. Contacted David stern who in turn within a few minutes called Adidas and had it canceled -- they canceled because they are going to call for Stern and a 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 that Adidas was insensitive and they -- went through the whole vetting process and the conduct or idea of slavery and some of that African-American ball players is a bit much to take.

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COSTELLO: In a statement Adidas apologized and said the shoes were simply a fashion statement and had nothing to do with slavery.

Are you planning to hit the gym today before you say no and reach for that burger, listen to this. People who work out more make more money. We are not talking about any chump change either. The study of the journal of labor research found employees who exercise more earn about 9 percent more than those that don't -- 9 percent. However, the doctor who conducted the survey knows that -- more research is need.

We asked to you "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning -- "are we born to be Democrats or Republicans?" Your responses after a break.

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

This from Sarah. "Born to be Democrats or Republicans? No. Socialized to be that way in the United States, absolutely."

This from Kristi. "If you are not a liberal at 20 you have no heart. If you are not a conservative by 40 have you no brain. I think we will see a growing trend as young people get tired of paying for the ideology of liberalism."

This from Vatnya. "Absolutely absurd. I vote Democratic and I watch the Animal Planet, History Channel, and Nat Geo. What Nimrod came up with this study?" I think that's my favorite one today.

This from Eric. "As a soldier my belief is easy. We are born to be Americans."

Please keep the conversation going. Facebook.com/carolcnn. And thanks as always for your comments.

I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for so much joining me today. "NEWSROOM" continues right now with Kyra Phillips.