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Obama Revives Bush Tax Cut Fight; Voter ID Law in Court; Federer Wins Seventh Wimbledon; Romney's "Buried Treasure"; Obama to Push for Tax Cut Extension; Thousands Kicked Off-Line Today
Aired July 09, 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, Christine. Happening now in the NEWSROOM, shut down, go to your computer right now. If you can get online, you are lucky. Tens of thousands of Americans won't have the Internet today, all thanks to the FBI rooting out an Internet virus. PC Mac, we'll tell you what you need to know and how to fix it.
In the voting booth should you be required to show an I.D. to vote? That question front and center in federal court today. So is it about preventing voter fraud or to minorities from voting?
Plus this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS: The is a guy whose slogan is believe in America and it should be business in Bermuda. That's what Mitt Romney is all about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Offshore and out of sight. The Democrat this morning on the attack after a new "Vanity Fair" article explores Mitt Romney's buried treasure in Bermuda. Millions of dollars. So how much of his wealth is tucked away on an island? We'll talk to the investigative reporter who broke this story.
Wow, boom. Thunder and lightning. And a fourth inning baseball. We'll never forget, the Rangers' manager saying he thought he was dead.
And next time you drive past your corner gas station, check out how much the price has shot up. We'll tell you what's behind it and if those prices will continue to skyrocket.
NEWSROOM begins right now.
And good morning to you. Happy, happy Monday. I'm Carol Costello. We begin this morning with your money and your vote. This morning President Obama is focusing on both. He'll call on Congress to pass a one-year extension of the Bush-era tack cuts. But here's the key. He wants the cuts only for families earning less than $250,000 a year. Mitt Romney and the Republicans want the breaks to also include the wealthy. The contrast will be Obama campaign message this week when he visits battleground states. The Obama message, he's the defender of the middle class while Romney only wants to protect rich people like himself.
CNN's Dan Lothian is at the White House and the president is going to put on quite a show.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And you know turning a little bit of the attention away from what we saw last week, those disappointing jobs numbers. The president now turning his focus on these extending the Bush-era tax cuts for those making up to $250,000 a year for only a year.
The president really has been on this push, the narrative at least from the campaign has been one of helping the middle class or those trying to get into middle class. And so by doing this the president is drawing a contrast between those that he says really need the most help and are suffering in this down economy compared to those that he says his opponent is pushing for and that's those wealthy Americans.
So the president will be out there pushing this theme tomorrow in Iowa, later in the week in Virginia but also some private citizens and state and local officials will also be what the campaign calls amplifying the message in key battleground states like New Hampshire, Florida, Colorado, and Nevada.
Now remember, it was just two years ago or so back in 2010 when the president agreed to a two-year extension for all of the Bush tax cuts, all the Bush tax cuts. At the time the president had been pushing that he wanted it to be extended only for those making up to $250,000. But, of course, he did it in order to get the deal done.
Republicans say that this is not the economic environment to be doing something like this because you're essentially raising taxes on those who are creating jobs. But it's not just coming from Republicans. Even some Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, for example, thinking that that threshold should be up to a million dollars. So this will no doubt be a very testy debate here as the president making that announcement today -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A debate. We have heard many, many times before.
Dan Lothian live at the White House this morning.
When the president visits those battleground states this week, he'll be lobbying for the very votes that could decide the election. If these 12 swing states voters don't lean heavily toward either party, though, and they will soon settle on their choice. But not just yet. According to a "USA Today"/Gallup poll the presidential race is locked in a statistical tie. Obama has a razor thin edge of two percentage points but that falls within the error of -- or the margin of error, rather. Also this morning a major fight gets under way over voter rights and a state's authority to protect the process and its integrity. In a Washington courtroom the Justice Department will challenge Texas' proposed law that would require voters to show identification.
Last hour on CNN's "STARTING POINT" we heard from one Texas lawmaker who scoffs at claims that minorities are being unfairly targeted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN BRADY (R), TEXAS: What we really want are people who are eligible to vote. We want as many as possible to get to the polls and register to vote. We don't want those who are dead.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Of course not. Nobody wants that.
BRADY: And we don't want the fraud. We want actual real ballots from real people and this law does that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN crime and justice correspondent Joe Johns joins us now.
So, Joe, what's the core issue before the court today?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. The issue is really heating up. Just in time for November's elections. This is a Texas case and the question in court is about ensuring the integrity of the ballot versus making sure voting rights of minorities are protected. And what side your one often is likely going to be be determined by your party affiliation. Republicans have been arguing for a long time now that voter fraud is a big problem.
We've heard that argument and so something numerous states, I should say, have enacted laws that require voters to present photo identification though some of those laws have been challenged. Democrats say a lot of Democratic voters especially segments of the African-American and Hispanic populations tend to lack the kinds of photo identification that these laws require. We're talking about driver's license, military I.D., United States passport, et cetera.
So the question before the court is whether the law in Texas prevents anyone from voting based on race, Justice Department says it could. The state of Texas says it would never do that.
COSTELLO: OK. So this controversy. It's spilled over to include Attorney General Erick Holder. And as we all know, Holder was just held in contempt of Congress over "Fast and Furious" so what do you suppose the American people think of his insertion into this controversy?
JOHNS: Right, right. Well, so you're looking at this thing from the 30,000-foot view and you see that the Congress recently found the attorney general in contempt for not fully complying with the subpoena in the "Fast and Furious" investigation. But the attorney general and his supporters, Carol, have long contended that Republicans and Congress actually went after Holder because of his intense focus on their very voting rights issue because he is one of the main guys who have been attacking the voter I.D. laws.
He's giving a speech at the NCAAP to make that case, but not quite clear whether that Holder messages getting through to the public. We have a CNN/ORC poll that shows 553 percent of voters think it was proper for Congress to hold her in contempt, though six in 10 respondents said there was a political motive so the public is really split on this. I'm not quite sure what to think of it -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Joe Johns reporting live for us from Washington.
To Afghanistan now where six U.S. troops have been killed by an improvised explosive device, an IED. A U.S. official who wished to remain nameless says the attack happened yesterday in the eastern part of the country. It was a deadly weekend across that country overall. At least 26 civilians were killed in roadside bombings and two international troops were killed as well.
Also this morning tens of thousands of Americans will find their morning routine interrupted when they try to log on to the Internet and they won't be able to. That's because their computers were infected months and even years ago with a nasty virus. The FBI set up servers to keep the infected computers online but the agency is shutting them down today.
Today infected computers won't be able to access the Internet and later this hour CNN's tech guru Mario Armstrong will join us to explain.
Over the weekend millions of Americans got a weekend reprieve from the record heat wave. But the relief came at a price. Heavy rains and severe storms plowed across much of the country. In Fredericksburg, Virginia, young dance students scrambled for cover as ferocious winds peeled off roofs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miss Connie was trying to tape up the window and she saw the -- the funnel start to, and she just told everybody to get in the dance room.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We weren't that close from it hitting us. Like we had just stepped foot in there and we saw it. Just came in on us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Whoa. Virginia's governor is pleading with residents to be patient. Many had already been without power for more than a week when those stormed rolled in.
At least 30 deaths now being blamed on the brutal heat that smothered much of the country this last two weeks. The death toll includes at least 18 heat-related deaths in Chicago, another five in Philadelphia. As is typical, the victims tend to be very old, very young or dealing with other health issues.
So let's take a look at the weather taking shape for today and the rest of the week.
So Alexandra Steele, we're praying for some cool winds.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. That's right. The winds of change, they are blowing. We certainly have seen some extreme weather. This was just kind of the end of the heat wave yesterday.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: At least they're more used to it. Although I still feel sorry for them.
STEELE: But it's a dry heat there.
COSTELLO: That's right. There's no humidity.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Thanks, Alexandra.
To tennis (INAUDIBLE) make to way for the old folks at Wimbledon. A couple of 30-something showed they had a lot more to give on the court. On Saturday Serena Williams won her fifth championship at the all-England Club and on the men's side Roger Federer won a record tying seventh Wimbledon title beating great British hope Andy Murray.
CNN's Becky Anderson sat down with Federer this morning.
Did you ask him about Murray's tears?
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I did ask him. I was going to say before we start, if you need cooler climates, Carol, I'd be happy to swap with you. It hasn't stopped raining here since the middle of May. Thankfully they were able to start with some sunshine yesterday. They had to pull the roof over eventually at Wimbledon on centre court to finish the match.
But absolutely, he is exhausted but elated today, that being Roger Federer, a record to only match Pete Sampras, of course. Seven Wimbledon titles, 17 grand slam titles. That is a record-breaking number of majors.
Now he totally understood that this game was going to be a big one given that the hopes of a British nation were riding on one 25- year-old called Andy Murray. It would have been the first victory for a British man at Wimbledon since 1936, 76 years ago, Fred Perry. So as you can imagine the cheers from an entire nation at the end of this match when he won were quite justified.
This is what he said to me about how he felt about this victory. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER FEDERER, SEVEN-TIME WIMBLEDON CHAMPION: I didn't feel good about it and I was disappointed for Andy and -- but I think his emotions were nice to see because it shows that he really cares about tennis and how much he would like to win a grand slam, and that's why I think he's going to make it. But it did feel bad, you know, crushing maybe many people's dreams here in this country. But I am convinced that Andy will win a grand slam.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Yes. He's such a delightful man. No ego to this guy at all. He's really quite remarkable. You think about what he's done at the ripe old age, Carol, of 30. He's just shy of his 31st birthday. It was wonderful yesterday at the end of what were quite emotional speeches as you can imagine.
He said he couldn't look up to the box where his family was because his mom and his wife had his twins there. They are now just shy of 3 years old. They were waving away at him. He said he couldn't look up because he'd burst into tears as well.
And I asked him whether the girls were playing tennis. He said they picked up a tennis racket and they just chucked it away. They have other things to do at this point.
(LAUGHTER)
ANDERSON: But he's such a nice guy. You really, even as a Brit, I mean we were all behind Murray yesterday. But even as a Britt you can't fail to like Roger Federer.
COSTELLO: I know. That was a lovely thing to say, although I couldn't help but feel that inside he was not saying that.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: It was a lovely thing to say.
Becky Anderson, thanks so much.
Turns out the U.S. government was way too generous with those unemployment checks last year. Yes, Uncle Sam wants your money back, unemployed Americans. We'll tell you how much.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Sixteen minutes past the hour.
Checking our top stories now:
President Obama will likely talk tax breaks at a briefing just before noon Eastern today. He's widely expected to call for a one- year extension on the Bush-era tax cuts for middle class Americans -- really anyone earning less than $250,000 a year. A campaign adviser says the president is 100 percent committed to ending Bush-era tax cuts for wealthier Americans by the end of the year.
The United Nations and Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan just finished meeting with Syria's President Bashar al Assad about ending the violence in Syria. Annan says they agreed on an approach to peace that Annan will now share with opposition forces in Syria, but there's no stop to the violence yet. The opposition says at least 17 people were killed today.
If you have been receiving unemployment benefits, you could be asked to pay some of it back. The federal government and states overpaid about $14 billion in benefits last year. Now, the Department of Labor and States are launching a massive effort to recoup some of it and avoid future overpayments.
In weather, finally, finally, a break from the scorching two- week heat wave. Now some states are back to just regular old summer heat. Thunderstorms moved through parts of the Midwest and Mid- Atlantic yesterday and that cooled things off just a bit.
Check out this video. Keep an eye on the top right of your screen. You see that running away tractor-trailer coming? It maneuvered between two cars and then it toppled over just inches from some gas pumps. Apparently the brakes failed as the driver was getting off an exit ramp. No one was seriously injured.
I don't know if that was skillful driving offer just luck but, man, I wouldn't want to be in that minivan or I would feel lucky today.
Back to the presidential campaign and the subject of Mitt Romney's wealth. Democrats continued to pounce on how much money Romney has and where he has it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
ROBERT GIBBS, FMR. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I pick a bank because there's an ATM near my home, right? Mitt Romney had a bank account in Switzerland. He's got a shill company --
CANDY CROWLEY, STATE OF THE UNION HOST: Nothing illegal, right?
GIBBS: Well, we don't know.
This is a guy whose slogan is believe in America and it should be business in Bermuda. That's what Mitt Romney is all about.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: Americans need to ask themselves why doesn't American businessman need a Swiss bank account and secretive investments like that?
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
COSTELLO: OK. So is there any there there?
Joining me now is Nicholas Shaxson, author of "Treasure Island," a book about tax havens. He's also written an in-depth article on Mitt Romney's finances for the August edition of "Vanity Fair."
Welcome.
NICHOLAS SHAXSON, VANITY FAIR MAGAZINE: Thanks.
COSTELLO: So is there any there there?
SHAXSON: Well, what there are is an awful lot of questions when you look into his finances, you come up against an awful lot of brick walls when I researched this, you know, there are lots of things you can speculate about. There are a few things you can say for sure.
But this is -- his finances are still very mysterious. There are a lot of things we don't know about.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about this. Is that Sankaty? Is that how you pronounce it? Sankaty?
SHAXSON: Yes.
COSTELLO: Sankaty Yield Asset Investors Limited, the entity based in Bermuda. What is that exactly?
SHAXSON: Well, it is an entity. It is an offshore company that contains -- we don't know exactly the value of that company. It contains -- it could be, it's possible, that it's just an old entity that has no real significance, something that is left over from earlier deals. But he does appear to have treated that entity very carefully indeed, transferring it into his wife's blind trust just before he was inaugurated as governor of Massachusetts, having his lawyer Bradford Malt as the director of that company.
So this is a very carefully treated company and on his -- we found about it on his 2010 tax return. But we have very little information about it. It doesn't appear to be much in it at the moment, but it's possible there will be profits interest flowing into it in the future.
But, again, it's one of these questions we don't know about.
COSTELLO: From what I understand, Sankaty was part of a cluster of hedge funds run by Bain Capital which is the private equity firm Romney founded and led until, what, 1999. So what was Sankaty used for in 1999?
SHAXSON: Well, again, we don't -- this particular entity is just one of the Sankaty family. Sankaty itself is a much bigger Bain entity with various different funds in it. But this entity is a particular company that was closely controlled by Mitt Romney, 12,000 shares held by the family.
But, again, you only have this information from the 2010 tax return and a little bit of information out of Bermuda. But beyond that it's hard to know.
We don't have details, for example, of Mitt Romney's severance agreement with Bain Capital, so we don't know what he's entitled to, where that money is.
So it's, again, a lot of questions.
COSTELLO: So, in light of these entities, is there any way to really determine how wealthy Mitt Romney is?
SHAXSON: Well, the campaign has said that his wealth is close to a bit less than $250 million U.S. dollars. However, there is an awful lot of flexibility when you say what something is worth. I mean, if you have a profit's interest from a Bain Capital fund, for example, you may value it at zero at the moment because no income is flowing but some years down the line, there might suddenly be a huge payout.
So there's an awful lot of flexibility both from the point of view of tax law, but also from the point of view of what you're going to actually declare. As to what you say you're worth.
So, it is quite a squashy concept. There was good reporting by I think it was "Forbes" recently that estimated his wealth at close to $250 million U.S. dollars.
COSTELLO: As far as we know, though, Mitt Romney has done nothing wrong? He's done absolutely nothing wrong. So why should voters care about these things?
SHAXSON: Well, this has been the mantra of the campaign we have followed every law scrupulously. My article decided to explore is this actually true that he has broken no laws, he's paid all the taxes he owes and no more. And in fact, the answer to that question is not completely straightforward. In tax law and in other laws, there is generally a gray area between the legal and the illegal, tax avoidance and tax evasion.
And there's quite a big gray area and financial players such as Mitt Romney have routinely strolled into this gray area and Romney has shown on a number of occasions that he's content to stroll confidently into this gray area where you are not sure until there's been a resolution by the IRS or someone else that this is strictly legal or not. There is a question mark.
It is the campaign mantra that this stuff is completely legal and there's nothing wrong with it. That statement needs questioning further.
COSTELLO: Nicholas Shaxson, thank you for joining us this morning.
SHAXSON: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Still ahead, when it comes to your vote, if you don't like the party's candidate, is it OK to vote for them anyway because you just can't stand the other guy? That's our talk back question this morning.
(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, is it right to vote for a candidate because you hate the other guy? Can you make me love Mitt Romney?
According to "Roll Call" a woman popped that question at a fund- raiser in West Virginia and Republican House Speaker John Boehner ran with it. His answer, quote, "Listen, we're just politicians. I wasn't elected to play God. The American people probably aren't going to fall in love with Mitt Romney. I'll tell you this: 95 percent of the people that show up to vote in November are going to show up in that voting booth, and they are going to vote for or against Barack Obama."
And there you have it. Voters in 2012 won't vote for a guy they love. They'll vote against a guy they hate. Heck, a whole online telethon based on that very idea last week. Its goal? To raise $250,000 not to elect Mitt Romney but to defeat Barack Obama.
One of the telethon's guests, former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Victoria Jackson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOST: Tell us about -- first, tell us about the movie, first of all.
VICTORIA JACKSON, COMEDIAN (via telephone): Well, thank you for what you're doing. We have to get rid of Obama. It's the most important thing about saving our country. Thank you for what you're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: There is a lot to criticize about Barack Obama. After all, the economic recovery isn't exactly robust, but don't voters want a guy with ideas to replace him, not just anybody?
So the talk back question today, is it right to vote for a candidate because you hate the other guy?
Facebook.com/CarolCNN, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Thirty minutes past the hour. Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello.
Stories we're watching right now in THE NEWSROOM:
Opening bell coming to you this morning from the Farnborough International Airshow in the U.K., first time ever rung in the U.K.
Stocks are set for a lower open this morning as investors are keeping a close eye this week on quarterly corporate earnings.
It's Texas versus Eric Holder this morning and it's all about voter rights. Federal judges will review a Texas law requiring voters to show photo ID. Holder has been fighting efforts that could make it difficult for some Americans to vote.
And Google has launched a gay rights campaign it calls legalized love. The program will promote safer conditions for gays and lesbians in countries that have anti-homosexuality laws. In the words of a company executive, "We want our employees who are gay or lesbian or transgender to have the same experience outside the office as they do inside the office."
Tax cuts, extensions, a combo -- yes, we're back to that. President Obama will gather round middle class Joes and extend tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 a year. He'll do this all in the East Room in contrast, he hopes, to Mitt Romney's fund-raising in the Hamptons, the playground of the rich and famous.
Joining me now to discuss this long and well-traveled road, Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and right-leaning CNN contributor Will Cain.
Welcome to both of you.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thanks, Carol. Good to be here.
COSTELLO: I'm glad you're here. I'm going to ask a really long first question, so bear with me.
CAIN: Thanks for the warning.
COSTELLO: Thanks for the warning, OK. Actually, I'll ask a shorter question just to make things simple this morning.
And, Maria, I'll start with you. This idea of extending the Bush tax cuts for people making less than $250,000 a year -- we've been down this road before. Nothing will come of it. Nothing.
CARDONA: Well, we'll see if that's the case this time around, Carol. What we do know is that the majority of Americans actually a agree where this president is in terms of making sure that tax cuts do not go up are for the majority of Americans, 98 percent of Americans who are in the middle class, who make less than $250,000 a year. The majority of Americans are with this president, with him on this, and making sure that the wealthy don't get additional tax can cuts that, frankly, they haven't asked for and that they don't need.
It also helps him with his coalition, Carol, that he needs to make sure is with him come November and that includes African- American. That includes Latinos, the labor movement. It includes young voters. It includes blue collar voters. It includes, frankly, everybody who has been really hurt by this recession.
So this is a good message for the president, a good contrast with Mitt Romney, which I think not so much that he was fund-raising in the Hamptons because the president could raise money there, he'd be there, too. But in contrast with all the stories about his offshore accounts, his secret Bermuda corporation and other offshore Cayman Island accounts, Swiss bank accounts, et cetera --
COSTELLO: Well; let's talk about the contrast and, Will, you saw the president in Ohio. There he was in Amherst, Ohio. He's wearing a blue collared shirt, you know, a blue shirt, it had a blue collar. He was surrounded by middle class Americans -- hey, he was drinking a Miller Lite.
What could be more middle class and American than that?
In contrast, Romney was in the Hamptons, the playground of the rich and famous, donors there reportedly gave him 3 million bucks this weekend. So the contrast is there.
Is Mitt Romney worried?
CAIN: No. The contrast is there this week. I think Maria was honest giving a month or so you might see the president in the Hamptons. It's only been a couple of weeks we've seen him on the upper east side of Manhattan raising money.
We're not going to really judge these guys by where they raise money, right? They are going to go where the money is. So this is something that we could probably judge both these guys by.
COSTELLO: Yes, but what about the Swiss bank accounts? Democrats came together on all the morning talk shows and blasted Romney about his secret offshore accounts and his Swiss bank accounts, et cetera, et cetera.
CAIN: You know what's interesting about that? The timing. As the economic message fails, as we have a weak jobs report last week, the second one in as many months, we're reverting back to this politics of personality. And the politics of personality is very obvious going forward are for the next couple of months is going to be attack Mitt Romney as a person which means attack him for his wealth.
This is quite clearly, quite clearly going to be the message and, by the way, Carol, it dovetails with let's let the tax cuts on the wealthy expire, those that make over $250,000. This concept of fairness, Mitt Romney is Scrooge McDuck. That is going to be the message Barack Obama runs on.
I think that's becoming very, very clear.
COSTELLO: All right. Well, we have to end it there sadly. Maria Cardona, and Will Cain, thanks so much. You see my question was long.
CARDONA: Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Thanks to both of you.
CARDONA: Next time.
COSTELLO: I know.
From politics to Hollywood's big drama, it seems Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are keeping things cool while their lawyers negotiate a hot divorce settlement. Details in our showbiz headlines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Hollywood legend and Oscar-winning actor Ernest Borgnine has died. He was best known for starring or guest-starring in TV shows like "Airwolf," and who could forget "McHale's Navy"?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERNEST BORGNINE, ACTOR: I just can't understand it, captain. We went out of our way to make them feel at home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jesse James might feel at home with you and your mob.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Borgnine won an Oscar for his portrayal of lovelorn butcher in the 1995 movie "Marty." His manager says Borgnine died at a Los Angeles Hospital from kidney failure. His wife and his kids by his side. He was 95 years old.
Let's head to Los Angeles and showbiz correspondent Nischelle Turner.
He was still working right up to the end in "SpongeBob SquarePants."
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN SHOWBIZ CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Carol.
He lived a very full life. In a way, he kind of outlived his fame because there's a lot of people under the age of 30 today who are wondering just why this guy deserved so much attention. So, I'm going to fill you in a little bit.
He had more than 200 films and television credits on his resume and that doesn't include his career on stage. Now, this was a man who starred in films like "From Here to Eternity," and the original "Poseidon" adventure. He had TV rules and shows ranging from "Little House on the Prairie" and "E.R." to just what you mentioned, "SpongeBob SquarePants."
He was a son of an immigrant, born Ermes Effron Borgnino. He took theater classes after he served in the Navy during World War II. He was also married, Carol, five times. Ad that included a very brief Kim Kardashian-type marriage to Ethel Merman.
So, you have to say that Ernest Borgnine lived a very, very interesting life.
COSTELLO: Oh, you're not kidding. I'm picturing that couple just shot into my mind, wow.
TURNER: You know?
COSTELLO: I know.
TURNER: Exactly.
COSTELLO: OK. We have to talk about another couple because you know my fascination with TomKat continues. I'm ashamed to say it, but I want every single detail.
TURNER: Well, you're not alone, Carol. There's a lot of people who are wondering what's going to happen, what's going on now and what's happening next. And reportedly at this point, it's some sort of divorce negotiations. But part of these negotiations would appear to be a media blackout because both sides have really kept their public statements to a minimum.
Now, we have reached out here at CNN to attorneys and representatives from both sides over the last few days. They really haven't responded to our questions.
So, really what is going on here is a lot of speculation that is filling the void and the perception today is that Katie has kind of done this sneak attack that has given her leverage that she is trying to use this leverage now in a private way to get this whole divorce taken care of and certainly most people believe right now the did divorce battle is over custody of their 6-year-old daughter Suri. And interestingly, according to "People" magazine, Katie Holmes is due to start production in New York on a new film called "Molly." Now she co-wrote and co-produced the film and the movie is, Carol, reportedly about a single mother and her daughter.
COSTELLO: How timely.
TURNER: Interesting. Very interesting.
COSTELLO: Nischelle Turner, always fun. "Happy Days" --
TURNER: All right, darling. See you later.
COSTELLO: See you.
"Happy Days" cast members have settled a lawsuit with CBS. Nischelle will be back with us next hour with details on that, too.
You can't get online today it's probably because of the FBI trying to root out a nasty virus. Really, but do not fret. Our tech guru will be along to tell what you to do to get your Internet service back on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Forty-five minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now:
President Obama will talk tax breaks in a statement just before noon Eastern today, just in about two hours and 15 minutes. He's widely expected to call for one year extension on the Bush era tax cuts for the middle class; really anyone earning less than $250,000 a year. A campaign adviser says the President is 100 percent committed to ending Bush era tax cuts for wealthier Americans by the end of the year.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has filed a petition with the Supreme Court to stop same-sex benefits in Arizona for state employees. That's according to "The Huffington Post". Last September a lower court place a preliminary injunction on a state law that would have banned those benefits. Plaintiffs in the case have until August 6th to respond.
In money news, would you pay more to be the first off a plane? Oh if you said yes, you are among a growing number of Americans according to a new survey and that "USA Today" is reporting, yes, that could mean yet another new fee when you buy that airline ticket.
In weather, finally -- finally -- a break from the scorching two- week heat wave. Now some states are back to just regular old summer heat. Thunderstorms moved through parts of the Midwest and the mid- Atlantic yesterday and boy, did that cool things off a bit.
And check this out, this brilliant, beautiful light show. This is time lapse video of the Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights. The spectacular show happened last night just before midnight near St. Cloud, Minnesota. It lasted about a half hour. Wow.
No trouble getting online this morning? Then were you not affected by a malicious software it's known as DNS Changer and it's hit hundreds of thousands of Internet users after the FBI dropped a malware safety net at midnight. What's that, you ask?
Well, joining me now from Baltimore is Mario Armstrong, HLN's digital lifestyle expert. So I will ask you, Mario, what is that?
MARIO ARMSTRONG, HLN DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: What is it? So here's the deal. The FBI busted this cyber-criminal ring back in 2008. Actually they were aware of this. But it was the virus was so infected into many computer users, over half a million or more people were infected with this virus, they couldn't just pull the plug or all of those people back in 2008 would have shown up to the Internet with nothing being displayed on their computer screen.
So they've created basically a copycat system of their servers and now the FBI is saying, look, we've given enough people enough time, we have to pull the plug eventually on this copycat system and that day is today. It happened already.
So many people that are still -- if they are still infected with the virus on their computer when they pull up the Internet, they basically won't be able to get to the Web sites that they want access to.
COSTELLO: Ok so they are probably freaking out right now and they're calling all sorts of people, but who should they call?
ARMSTRONG: Well, you know, they should call family, friends, relatives, especially those that aren't computer savvy. We're talking about people that probably don't get on the Internet that much, may not watch the media that often. So maybe these are folks that are either have been away on vacation, sleeping under a rock or just really don't know what steps they can take.
It's very easy for you to determine whether or not your computer has the virus. You can do it in one step and then if you have the virus, there are several steps you need to take to remove it.
COSTELLO: Where do you find the several steps to remove it?
ARMSTRONG: So -- so the first thing that people should do is they need to go to a Web site and it's -- you've to pay attention, folks, because I'm going to list it out for you. It's DNS-OK.us. That's DNS-OK.us. You go to that Web site. It will instantly tell you -- like I just did it on my screen here. And as you can see, my screen shows up green. So being my screen shows up green. This particular computer is safe. If it shows up red, you will be given steps on how to remove it. If it gets to complicated, I really made it simplified on my blog at marioarmstrong.com.
COSTELLO: I'm glad you did.
ARMSTRONG: Yes.
COSTELLO: Ok, so -- so this brings up a larger concern like has the FBI like, handled this kind of problem now? Do we need to worry in the future about these kinds of viruses?
ARMSTRONG: That's a really great question. Absolutely we need to worry about this. We need to be very vigilant as users of the Internet, protecting our data and our information. This is happening every single day where they're investigating and trying to track down the source of this criminal behavior.
I mean this goes all the way across the globe to Estonia. So this isn't something that's very easy for them to just handle and just do without our help and without our vigilance. So a couple of things I think folks need to do. Number one, I'm still surprised, Carol that a lot of people don't update their anti-virus software. Many people buy computers. It comes with the anti-virus software on it but they fail to know that you have to subscribe every year to make sure it's active. So that's first and foremost.
And then secondly, back up all of your important data, your movies, your files, your IRS forms, any documents, anything. Back that stuff up on an external drive so you always have another copy of the data in case your machines become infected.
COSTELLO: Ok. I'm doing that right now.
ARMSTRONG: Please.
COSTELLO: I know.
ARMSTRONG: I don't want to scare people, but this is real. We have to pay attention to these things.
We're computing. We're doing everything from banking to searching for health information to looking up jobs to connecting with relationships through the Internet. So it's a big deal that we be a little bit more vigilant about protecting our systems.
COSTELLO: Yes, sir. Mario Armstrong, thank you so much.
ARMSTRONG: Take care.
COSTELLO: Don't forget the "Talk Back" question of the day: is it right to vote for a candidate because you hate the other guy? Your responses on the other side of the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We asked you "Talk Back" on one of the stories of the day. The question for you this morning: is it right to vote for a candidate because you hate the other guy?
This from Beverly, "If you don't like a candidate and know they will not be good for our country, then, yes, vote for the other."
This from Tom, "Those without intellect only have their emotions." Oh it's too deep for the morning Tom. But very precious (ph).
Richard says, "That depends on whether your hatred is sane and rational or insane and irrational. If you hate Obama because of the health care individual mandate, then you should probably hate Romney too."
This from Steve, "Voting has always been about the lesser of two evils. I don't even remember being that excited to vote for someone."
And from Kelly, "I wasn't aware there was another option."
Keep the conversation going, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. More of your responses in the next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Ok. Jeff Fischel is here and he is going to talk about a very emotional moment at Wimbledon.
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: Andy Murray going for his first major title. And it wasn't really just about him; it was about an entire country rooting for him at the All-England Club yesterday. He was attempting to become the first British man to win the Wimbledon in 76 years are. Murray face the best player of all time, Roger Federer.
Could it have been any tougher? Even through the first two sets, Murray hanging tough with him, won a set. But then after a rain delay, it was all Federer. Federer took control, winning the third and fourth sets.
Federer wins again. It's his 17th major title, his seventh Wimbledon title, tying Pete Sampras for the most of all time. There is match point. Murray could not pull it out, despite getting the huge crowd roar throughout the match. And afterwards, he was so emotional when he spoke to the crowd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY MURRAY, WIMBLEDON MEN'S RUNNER-UP: I'm going to try this and it's not going to be easy. Everybody always talks about the pressure of playing at Wimbledon, how tough it is. But the -- it's not the people watching. They make it so much easier to play. The support has been incredible. So, thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISCHEL: I don't know that I can remember a time where an athlete had a crowd in tears after a match.
COSTELLO: I know, the royal family was crying. Everybody was crying.
FISCHEL: Yes. It was truly an emotional moment. And you know, you have to say after this, please, Andy Murray win one, please, for your country.
Anyway. Let's do some baseball now. The Pittsburgh Pirates have the best record over the last two months, thanks in large part to Andrew McCutcheon. He went deep twice yesterday, this one off Tim Lincecum. McCutcheon leading the Pirates to the 13-2 win. McCutcheon will play in tomorrow night's all-star game. He's also in the home run derby tonight and the Pirates are in first place in the NL Central at the break.
Now, scary moment for players and fans at yesterday Twins/Rangers game in Texas. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Talking to the --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISCHEL: That was thunder rocking the ballpark at Arlington. The players and umps go running for the dugout -- they're out of there. Josh Willingham was on the first base at the time, he hit the ground like he had been shot at. Fortunately, no one hurt. The game continued after the storm system passed.
Twins right field Ben Rivera tweeted, "Glad no one heard me scream like a little girl." It's true.
COSTELLO: I mean usually you just flinch. But man, they were out of there.
FISCHEL: I think royals would not balked but no one was going to call them on it.
Anyway, one more for the ballparks. The Brewers Ricky Weeks, knocks a homerun into the right field seats against Houston yesterday. Look close -- everyone wants to catch a ball, right? A woman's -- not a glove, not a cup -- she puts up her baby's car seat to try to catch it.
COSTELLO: The baby wasn't in it, right?
FISCHEL: Right. Exactly.
Fortunately she was wise enough not to keep her baby in there while she tried.
COSTELLO: Why did she have a baby seat at a baseball game?
FISCHEL: Resourceful. She's resourceful. I don't have a glove -- see there is the baby, safe and sound.
COSTELLO: Thank God. Maybe she was afraid someone would steal it from the car.
