Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Shocking Testimony In Sandusky Trial; Penn State File On Sandusky; Stubborn Wildfire Keeps Shifting; Auburn Shooting Suspect In Custody; George Zimmerman's Wife Arrested; Examining "Stand Your Ground" Law; Toddler Thrown From SUV; Barber Wins Giffords' House Seat; Homeless Man Hits Jackpot; Durant Outduels James; JPMorgan Chase CEO Testify Today; Funneling Money Through Horse Racing; You Can Judge A Person By Their "Soles"
Aired June 13, 2012 - 05:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN HOST: The Colorado wildfire is taking a dangerous turn. The flames have forced new evacuations this morning.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Plus, incredible video from a police car's camera. A toddler thrown from a rolled over truck. And what happened next is a miracle. The details coming up.
SAMBOLIN: And -- so sorry. And the NBA finals are officially under way. LeBron James and the Heat, they got a smack down last night. We have the highlights this hour on CNN.
Good morning to you, and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Zoraida Sambolin.
BANFIELD: Hi, everybody. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. We're bringing you the news from "A" to "Z." It is 20 seconds to 6:00 a.m. on the east coast, and let's get you started with the top story today.
This is just something else. Sickening and gut wrenching testimony in the child sex abuse trial of former Penn State football coach, Jerry Sandusky. Two alleged victims have now testified already, day one and day two. And a third could take the stand just about three hours from now.
Yesterday, former assistant football coach, Mike McQueary also got on the stand, took his turn at describing what he said was something that looked like Sandusky molesting a young boy in the shower, and there was tearful riveting testimony from a young man whose accusations really kicked this whole thing off and helped to trigger the criminal investigation into Jerry Sandusky.
He is being called alleged victim number one and he testified that he stayed at Jerry Sandusky's house more than 100 times sleeping in the basement as a boy and that he was repeatedly sexually assaulted.
Susan Candiotti is live in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania with more on this story. You spent a lot of time in that courtroom even though it's only been two days, Susan.
These allegations have been piling up one after the other after the other. What's been the effect in that courtroom?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think overall, certainly jurors are starting to have a picture painted for them that all of the at least the two people that have testified so far and you've got six more to go are telling basically the same story.
About being allegedly groomed by Jerry Sandusky, eventually starting with kisses such as like this 18-year-old victim talked about what happened when he was a boy and eventually leading to sexual assault.
His testimony was particularly as you said painful to listen to and riveting. He broke down several times while he was telling what allegedly happened to him.
At one point during the cross-examination, he broke down again and he said this, quote, "I'm going to keep telling you the same answer. I want you to stop asking me the same questions over and over," as he was sobbing into his hands.
He had his hands up in front of his face, but then he gathered himself and went on -- Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: It's hard to say what would be the ultimate linchpin in this case for the prosecutors whether it's repeated stories as you just said that are so alike of all of these accusers or whether it's the one person who can take the stand and tell what he saw in the witness form of Coach McQueary.
He took the stand yesterday. Tell me a little about his testimony. How credible did it seem? How on message was he and did there seem to be any inconsistencies in what he said?
CANDIOTTI: Very few inconsistencies. There was cross talk about a date whether he saw something two times instead of three times. But other than that it is the same thing that we have heard from Mike McQueary when he took that stand.
And he is a star witness for the prosecution because this is someone who actually testified that he witnessed what is believed to be a rape of a boy in a shower. He said in his mind he had no doubt about it -- Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: And there was another witness who testified, I think it was a wrestling coach yesterday, maybe he didn't see anything quite to the extent that Coach McQueary witnessed, but he did see something unusual I think on a wrestling mat?
CANDIOTTI: That's right. They were face to face on a wrestling mat. This is late at night when the school was closed. This coach came in on them. He left something behind and caught the two of them.
He said, you know, it struck me as very odd, but I kept saying to myself, but this is Jerry Sandusky, he wouldn't do anything like this. And he said that's what he used to think.
So it would be interesting to see whether prosecutors bring this up as they make their closing arguments. Is this the same thing that each of the little boys were going through as well? Can this really be happening?
BANFIELD: Can this really be true? Doesn't that really lead to this other issue that you uncovered yesterday? And that is that it seems so impossible, is seems so implausible, and yet the university began to collect information in the form of this mysterious file. Can you explain how that plays into this?
CANDIOTTI: That's right. We don't still have the big picture here about what Penn State knew and when did they know it. So it has now been revealed that prosecutors have found a file that was kept by a now retired Penn State official, Vice President Gary Shultz.
And prosecutors say that this file contained information about incidents involving Jerry Sandusky, unclear how far back it went. We know there were incidents going as far back as 1988. And they say this information contradicts grand jury testimony.
Schultz and the former athletic director are charged with perjury and they also found e-mails between Curley, Schultz and others that they haven't named.
So the big question here, Ashleigh, is will this lead to additional charges against Curley and Schultz and other Penn State officials before this over?
BANFIELD: Good Lord. Susan, I know you have a busy day ahead of you with more victims taking the stand today so we'll let you go. Susan Candiotti live for us in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
And also I want to let our viewers know, Susan, that in the next half hour, we're going to speak about this extraordinarily emotional day in court.
What happened on the stand and really just where this case stands so early on, just two days? Beth Karas is a correspondent for "In Session" knows a thing or two about court.
Decades that woman has been court not only as a prosecutor, but as a correspondent. She's going to join us with her take on just where this case stands.
SAMBOLIN: It is 5 minutes past the hour. Happening now in Colorado, a huge shift in the so-called high park wildfire burning 60 miles south of Denver. New evacuations are in place at this hour while some residents have been allowed to return home.
Thick smoke temporarily grounding the air attack, fire officials say expect to have as many as 800 firefighters on the ground. That's expected later this week.
The fire has burned about 70 square miles and is just 10 percent contained at this point. It is being blamed for the death of a 62-year-old woman.
BANFIELD: The manhunt for the Auburn triple murder suspect is officially over. The 22-year-old Desmonte Leonard is now behind bars after surrendering last night to the authorities in Montgomery, Alabama.
He had spent three days on the run. He could make his first court appearance later on today. He's accused of killing three people at a party near the Auburn campus last weekend. The dead include two former Auburn football players.
SAMBOLIN: George Zimmerman's wife, Shellie is out on bail this morning. There's a picture of her there after her arrest for perjury. She's accused of lying at her husband's bond hearing about the family finances.
That charge led the judge to revoke George Zimmerman's bail and order him back to jail earlier this month. Zimmerman is charged with second degree murder in the death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. He claims the shooting was self-defense.
BANFIELD: In the meantime, Trayvon Martin's parents attended the first public meeting of a task force to review Florida's controversial "Stand Your Ground" law.
It happened not far from where their son died. Sybrina Fulton said that law can be used to protect aggressors. That what she believes happened on the night that her son was killed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SYBRINA FULTON, TRAYVON MARTIN'S MOTHER: My 17-year-old son was unarmed. He had a bag of candy and a can of iced tea. He was not harming anyone. He was not committing any crime and I just don't understand how this law was passed under these grounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: At 8:10 Eastern Time on "STARTING POINT," Soledad O'Brien is going to talk with Trayvon Martin's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, along with their attorney, Benjamin Crump.
SAMBOLIN: Check out this police dash cam video of an 18-month- old girl being thrown from an SUV. This is in Lubbock, Texas. Cops say the toddler's father was trying to elude them after committing a robbery and rolled to the vehicle during a high speed chase.
You see that circle that's highlighted. That's a child, immediately getting up and walking after being ejected. So she suffered only minor injuries.
Another woman in the vehicle with that little girl, possibly her mother, jumped out and rescued her. That is nothing short of a miracle.
BANFIELD: It's hard watching that as she stumbles and falls. She's OK.
SAMBOLIN: Relatively speaking, yes. You see her chasing after the vehicle unstable and falling over before she's scooped up by the woman who appears into that video quickly. That's just awful.
BANFIELD: OK, switch gears now, found in a Texas park, $77,000 cash. This guy homeless, finds the money, but is it finders keepers? Find out coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: The House seat vacated by Gabrielle Giffords will be occupied for the next five months by her former top aide. Democrat Ron Barber defeating Republican Jesse Kelly in a special election in Arizona's Eighth Congressional District last night.
Giffords voted with Barber and celebrated at his side after the victory. Barber was wounded in the 2011 shooting spree that critically injured his boss and killed six others. He'll have to run again in the general election in November against an unknown Republican opponent.
BANFIELD: A Texas man has just hit the jackpot, while at the same time sitting in a jail cell. This guy's name is Timothy Yost and he was walking in this park near Austin about five months ago and came up something pretty awesome, a bag containing $77,000 worth of cash.
It was wet and there were coins in there too, gold coins, all of this on the banks of the Colorado River. The rightful owner of that bag or loot has not come forward and last night the local city council decided you know, we have to vote unanimous to turn the money over to the guy who found it, the homeless guy, Yost.
Right now, Yost is in jail, charged with criminal trespass and public intoxication.
SAMBOLIN: The Oklahoma City Thunder drawing first blood in the NBA finals. Kevin Durant scoring 17 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Thunder past Lebron James and the Miami Heat, 105- 94. This is last night.
Miami led early, but the Thunder outscored the Heat by 18 points in the second half. James led Miami with 30 points, game two of the best of seven series set for Thursday night in Oklahoma City.
BANFIELD: It was the Thunder dome officially, right, isn't that what we can say? Time for a weather update now, Alexandra Steele sitting in for Rob Marciano. Are you giggling at my Thunder dome reference, lady?
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's quite -- from Thunder dome to the weather. You're so good, didn't even know it. Hi, everyone. Good morning to you, Ashleigh. Good morning to you waking from the east and the Long Island, it's a slog of a go this morning. All of this rain pushing eastward so conditions will only improve as you get up and get moving this morning. It's pretty stormy yesterday around Houston, Texas with hail and also some very strong winds up to 70 miles per hour.
Next line you can see this line of storms moving from Oklahoma City to Dallas. By the time you make your way out the door, Dallas will be a wet go this morning. Some, stormy, stormy conditions this afternoon as well.
Today's forecast, there's the threat in the northeast, the rain moving out. In the southeast, dew points are high incredibly tropical.
Fire weather, of course, keeping an eye on that fire in Colorado and New Mexico and the heat of day, 90 degrees so really today is the day they need to get it under control. Thunderstorms moving in for next few days. Back to you guys.
BANFIELD: All right, Alexandra, Thanks.
SAMBOLIN: It's 14 minutes past the hour. Let's get you up to date. Here's Christine Romans with this morning's top stories.
Good morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, guys.
A riveting day of testimony in the child sex abuse trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. One of his colleagues, Mike McQueary, telling jurors about the way he witnessed him molesting a boy in a young shower. He said it was more than his brain could handle.
Alleged victim number one testifying yesterday that he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Sandusky when he was just 12 years old.
An all-out civil war, that's what the head of the U.N. mission in Syria is calling the rebel uprising against the regime of President al-Assad. A U.N. report says the government is targeting children, using them as human shields and torturing those with relatives supporting the opposition.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says there's evidence that Russia is sending attack helicopters to Assad's army.
An Internet privacy watchdog in the U.K. said Google misled it the first time so it's re-launching its inquiry into street view and looking into claims that the search giant gathered personal information as it took pictures for the mapping service. But taking a second look as U.S. regulators said it was designed to collect that data. The first go around, the Google explained it was a simple mistake.
New York maybe known as a city that never sleeps. But it turns out Los Angeles is home to people who can't sleep. That's one of the findings done for beauty rest. It analyzed social media and online search behavior to find cities where people are most highly stressed, overworked and generally need to recharge their battery.
The top five cities: Las Vegas, Miami, Austin, Texas, Atlanta and Durham, North Carolina. New York was 22nd over all. It has the highest volume of stress-related tweets. Boston, number 17, has the most anxiety-ridden Google searches.
SAMBOLIN: What don't they study? You know, I got a note from somebody on Facebook, Ashleigh. It says that they watch us all the time in California. He can't sleep, has insomnia. I guess it's true.
BANFIELD: That's on the way to bed as opposed to walking this morning --
ROMANS: He just never sleeps.
BANFIELD: Sorry, buddy. We'll be here for you.
SAMBOLIN: Seventeen minutes past the hour. Can you still get rich in America? Christine Romans put that question to a leading global investor. Stay tuned for his answer coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: It's 20 minutes past 6:00 on the East Coast. We're minding your business this morning.
And today's big story: Jamie Dimon, you probably heard his name. He's CEO of JPMorgan Chase and he's testifying on Capitol Hill, expected to answer some pretty tough questions, too, from the Senate Banking Committee over the huge losses, trading losses last month at JPMorgan Chase.
SAMBOLIN: Christine Romans is here.
And that's what you're talking, Jamie Dimon and how contrite you expect him to be.
ROMANS: Yes. And although there is some expectation on the street that he should be aggressive. So, we'll see -- his testimony which I've already seen is -- it is contrite, he said we made a mistake, our traders didn't understand the requisite risks. In hindsight, our traders should have done a better job, but we lost this money and it hurt our shareholders, didn't hurt taxpayers or broader economy, let's move on here.
So, I'll be interested to see what his attitude is like during his Q&A because you'll se senators trying to hammer him. It's start at 10:00 a.m.
SAMBOLIN: All right. And earlier, you had a big investor that was going to tell us whether or not we can still get rich in America. We've been waiting an hour.
ROMANS: All right. Jim Rogers, I sat down with Jim Rogers this week. You know, he's a legendary investor who made his fortune in this country and has been looking very critical of the United States government and all of these debts and deficits.
I asked him, can you still get rich in America? Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Can you still get rich in America or do only get rich in China?
JIM ROGERS: It's easier to get rich in Asia than it is in America now. The wind is in your face, with the largest debtor nation in the history of the world. In China, all of assets of the world --
ROMANS: Are you bearish America?
ROGERS: Aren't you? Don't you know we're the largest debtor nation in the history of the world? I don't like saying this. I'm an American taxpayer and citizen like you.
We're the largest debtor nation in the history of the world the debts are going up by a trillion dollars -- over a trillion dollars every year. The largest creditor nations in the world are China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore. The assets are in Asia.
You know who the debtors are and where they are. Look at Greece, look at Spain. I mean, I don't like saying this, you know? I'm an American too. But facts are facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He said it's not hopeless you guys, but Congress is sort of hopeless. And the White House is a little bit hopeless. Washington needs to get its act together.
I mean, but the fact that he sees other places around the world. He's moved to Singapore. You know, he's raising his children are learning Chinese. He's really kind of walking the walk and talking the talk.
He's very, very disgruntled with the way this government has been running debts and deficits for so long and he just doesn't see any political will to fix it.
BANFIELD: I wonder who he thinks could.
ROMANS: Well, he's not buying stocks and he's putting his money where his mouth is -- buying hard commodities and buying other country's currencies around the world. You know, he's got gold. He owns gold. He carries gold in his pocket.
BANFIELD: What's the one thing you need to know today?
ROMANS: All right. The one thing you need to know about your money today is stock futures are down this morning but I wanted to flag to you a new CNN Money survey of economists. It says stocks are hitting bottom now and the S&P 500 will rise more than 8 percent by the end of the year. You can all tweet that if you want to look at that for yourself.
BANFIELD: Thanks, Christine.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
BANFIELD: Appreciate it.
Still ahead on "EARLY START," some riveting testimony in the Jerry Sandusky abuse trial. We're going to be joined by "In Session" correspondent Beth Karas to find out what we can expect later on this morning. Here's a hint -- yes, another accuser will tell a story.
You're watching EARLY START.
SAMBOLIN: And if you're leaving the house right now, you can watch us anytime. Take a quick view. We'll be on your desktop or your mobile phone. Just go to CNN.com/TV.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Dramatic and emotional testimony in the Jerry Sandusky trial. One of his alleged victims is telling the court how his mentor became a social predator. But how is case doing so far? That part of the story straight ahead.
BANFIELD: Plus, you have Web sites with dot-com, dot-org, dot- gov. Well, today, you're going to get a sneak peek of a whole new set of domain names, dot-google, dot-lol, dot-porn and dot-sexy. Story is coming up.
SAMBOLIN: And her book is called "I hate Everyone, Starting with Me." But is that just another one of her punchline? Joan Rivers gets personal in my one-on-one interview. That is headed your way soon.
Welcome back to EARLY START. We're really happy you're with us this morning. I'm Zoraida Sambolin.
BANFIELD: Good morning, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.
It's 28 minutes now past 6:00.
Let's start with this -- lead story today, court expected to resume in two and a half hours in the Jerry Sandusky trial. Today, at least one of other alleged victim expected to make the stand and that would make three in a row.
Yesterday, the now 18-year-old who's accusations of sexual abuse first triggered the criminal investigation into this case gave graphic details about his alleged abuse by the former coach. The man known as alleged victim number one, testified, quote, "at first he would kiss me on the forehead good night." Later, he said, Sandusky, quote, "put his mouth on my privates." And then said quote, "It's your turn and made me put my mouth on his privates."
Joining me now, "In Session" correspondent and former prosecutor, Beth Karas. She's been inside the courtroom for much of this trial.
Thanks for joining us.
This is one of those cases where sometimes the story of quantity can trump quality in a bizarre way. We've only had two of these alleged accusers so far, but the impact of it so far in your assessment?
BETH KARAS, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: Very powerful, Ashleigh. This case could have gone forward with one of them. A lot of people say it's just this young man's word against Sandusky's, he's denying this. When you have one after another after another, same -- virtually same story, different time period, some of them you will find really overlap also. They tend to corroborate each other and there is strength in numbers. So, it is very powerful indeed.
BANFIELD: Sandusky's defense has been that these victims want money and they are all in collusion in some way. So, clearly, that cross-examination is going to be critical.
How has that cross-examination been? Because on one hand you have alleged victims here and you can't be seen beating them up in front of a jury.
KARAS: Frankly, Ashleigh, the beginning of cross-examinations of four and two were like a double direct. They clarify a lot of point I thought about the scenarios. He has a lot of questions the prosecution could have asked, and then he moved into motive. This is Joe Amendola, by the way, he moved into money motives
But these young men knew of each other but didn't have contact. Victim number four knew one of the victims, only because he bullied him. It's not as though the defense has been able to develop some grand conspiracy on the part of these young men to come forward and say let's say the same thing happened to us so we can sue Penn State. He hasn't really made much head way in that.
BANFIELD: Can I ask you? In all of your years of being a prosecutor and then covering the court, now, it's going on for decades. But you know a thing or two about strategy. Joe Amendola, Jerry Sandusky's defense attorney stays seated at the defense table when he's doing his cross-examination and he asks questions into the microphone which effectively forces someone on the stand to look over to him and right over to Jerry Sandusky.
Has that been awkward, uncomfortable or caused unintentional eye contact between these alleged victims and Sandusky?
KARAS: Well, it's hard to tell if there is this eye contact. I suspect that, it's hard (INAUDIBLE) Sandusky's right there to the left of Amendola. It's good for the rest of us in the courtroom that Amendola is speaking into the microphone because acoustics aren't great.
Now, some judges do permit -- courtrooms do have this relaxed lawyer where the lawyers can sit down while they're asking questions. It's not a norm. It was never my experience in New York City.
The prosecutor does a combination, he stands most of the time but sometimes he sits. But I don't know if it was strategic on the part of Amendola's part to seat himself where he was to the right of Sandusky so that the witnesses have to look to their left over Amendola and there is Sandusky right there. They can't really avoid them I suppose.
BANFIELD: We have another at least one, possibly more of these alleged accusers taking the stand today.
Beth, thanks very much, appreciate it. Beth Karas from "In Session" joining us. Former prosecutor and correspondent, she'll be in the courtroom most of the day today as well.
And in 8:00 hour, on "STARTING POINT," Soledad O'Brien is going to be joined by forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Welner. He's going to discuss the defense argument that Sandusky suffers from a histrionic personality disorder. He's going to weigh on the two alleged victims that we have heard from so far.
SAMBOLIN: Thirty-three minutes past the hour. Dot-com is so yesterday, there's a whole new batch of names that are headed your name, dot-lol, anyone ? We'll have much more coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: This is a fascinating conversation we already started. What is the name?
On the Internet, dot-com has ruled the worldwide web which it begun. There have been others like dot-org, dot-net, and dot-edu. But none as popular as dot-com.
Later today we get to find out who has supplied for personalize addresses. Think dot-google, or dot-doctor, even dot-lol.
Joining us to discuss what this change means is John Abell. He's a columnist for "Reuters Mediafile."
So, why? Why this change?
JOHN ABELL, COLUMNIST, REUTERS MEDIAFILE: Well, there are a very limited number of internet addresses, dot-com is one everybody loves. Now what the international agency which regulates this has done has allowed you to roll your own.
For a lot of money, you can buy your own domain and do anything with it.
SAMBOLIN: It's $185,000.
ABELL: Plus $25,000 a year. It's like being in a country club.
SAMBOLIN: So, this is targeted to big companies.
ABELL: Big companies, large trade organizations, that sort of thing.
SAMBOLIN: Really creative ideas when you think of the dot-lol.
ABELL: Or dot-cola or dot-camera. Companies like Facebook and Google are going to buy dot-Facebook, dot-Google, dot-CNN might exist, and then you can sort of create silos for teach.CNN, your name dot- CNN.
But, yes, it will be a way for companies to brand their products and have subdivisions that are intuitive.
SAMBOLIN: How does this affect me?
ABELL: Well, it make you easier to find thing and imagine where stuff is, like for example, if CNN buys CNN, I know I will go to tech.CNN and get tech news.
SAMBOLIN: Have there been concerns about this?
ABELL: Yes, a lot of companies are saying you're holding us hostage to buying something for a lot of money. There's going to be a process to figure out who gets the generic name like dot-cola. It won't be Pepsi. It won't be Coke. It might be a trade group, that kind of thing.
But ICANN, which is regulating this and doing the auction, has figured outweighs to make it as fair as possible.
SAMBOLIN: And when will we find out?
ABELL: We'll find out later today which of the 1,900 requests will be made. ICANN says it can process a thousand a year and may say they'll do subsequent auctions but today's going to be pretty exciting.
SAMBOLIN: Wow. How do we know about the dot-lol?
ABELL: Well, if nobody else bids for it which is unlikely, then chances are they'll get it. None of these things happen until next year. It will take another year to get these things on the web.
SAMBOLIN: All right. It will be a while before we process this and have to deal with it. Sounds exciting though.
ABELL: It is.
SAMBOLIN: All right. John Abell, thank you so much for joining us, columnist "Reuter MediaFile". Appreciate it your time.
Ashleigh, back to you.
BANFIELD: How does dot-Soledad sound?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I like it.
BANFIELD: It's the most expensive one. You have been busy all morning.
O'BRIEN: Yes, lots going on this morning.
We're going to have an exclusive interview with the parents of Trayvon Martin. They are fighting to make big changes in the stand your ground law. Plus, they'll also have a special Father's Day video from the family. You're only going to see it here on "STARTING POINT." We'll play it for you this morning.
Also, JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon on the hot seat in front of senators today. How is going to explain his firm's multimillion dollar losses. We'll talk about that. One of the senators questioning him, Senator Bob Corker will join us on "STARTING POINT".
And hip hot artist Nas is going to join me. He's got a new album, it's called "Life is Good" and the single for that album is called "Daughters." And it really talks about his failings as a father. We'll discuss it with him as well this morning.
All of that and much more at the top of the hour at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
BANFIELD: Are you a Joan Rivers fan?
O'BRIEN: I am.
BANFIELD: Always have been.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Sometimes the red carpet gets a little harsh.
BANFIELD: Sometimes she goes too far but, you know, pretty good record of comedy. She is going to talk about Hollywood and she certainly doesn't mince words and doesn't play nice. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOAN RIVERS, ACTRESS: If you say something about Meryl Streep, her P.R. person won't let you have Tom Cruise. So, nobody says anything except nice things on the red carpet and you turn into a hypocrite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: That's not all she said. We'll have more the revealing interview in just moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: It is 44 minutes past 6:00 on the East Coast. Let's get you up to date on the top stories. Christine Romans has been doing the job this morning.
Hello.
ROMANS: Good morning again.
Day three of testimony gets under way in just over two hours in the child sex abuse trial of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. Mike McQueary took the stand yesterday. He said it was more than his brain could handle. Alleged victim number one also taking the stand tearfully telling jurors he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Sandusky when he was just 12.
A terrifying deadly string of car bombs exploding in Central Iraq. Seven bombs going off in a two-hour period killing at least 58 people and wounding more than 50 others. Police say most of the victims are Shiite Muslim pilgrims. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have been walking to a holy site to commemorate a death of a revered imam.
Seven members of Mexico's Los Zeras drug cartel have been arrested for allegedly laundering millions of dollars in drug money through horse racing and breeding. Seven other cartel members are still at large. An indictment accuses the cartel leader of funneling money to one of his brothers and his brother's wife who used a front company to disguise ownership of these horses.
Israeli president, Shimon Peres, will receive America's high civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom tonight. He'll receive the honor during dinner at the White House. The president met with Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, former president, Bill Clinton. Peres met up with defense secretary, Leon Panetta, at the Pentagon earlier this week.
All right. He may be a self-described rodeo clown, but conservative pundit, Glenn Beck, is laughing all the way to the bank. Beck signed a whopping $100 million contract with syndicated premiere networks that will extend his radio run for another five years. "The Glenn Beck Show" is currently the third most popular in the country.
Now, if you want to learn about a person -- what a person is all about, you need to just look at their shoes. That's right. A new study claims you can accurately judge 90 percent of a stranger's personal traits just by looking at their foot wear. Researchers say people correctly determine a stranger's age, income, political affiliation, lots of other traits simply by looking at their feet.
For example, people with flashy shoes were extroverts. Agreeable people wear practical shoes. Ankle boots were worn by aggressive types. And people who wore uncomfortable looking shoes had calm personalities.
BANFIELD: What?
SAMBOLIN: What if you wear all of the above? Do you have multiple personality disorder?
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: I think that just means you're flexible. And, I wonder what Joan, your good friend, Joan's, shoes were, Joan Rivers?
SAMBOLIN: And I'm trying to remember what she was wearing, but I can't. But you know her?
ROMANS: I know.
SAMBOLIN: She's never at a loss for words. She is a legendary comedian, actress, jewelry mogul, and fashion police spotter. We could only be talking, of course, about Joan Rivers. And now, she's packed in all of her jokes and putdowns into a very blunt, uninhibited, totally uncensored book.
It's titled "I Hate Everyone Starting With Me." I recently sat down with her to find out how she has remained relevant and sound off about the 99 presenters (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN: So, the title of the book is "I Hate Everyone Starting With Me." What do you hate about yourself?
JOAN RIVERS, COMEDIAN: Oh, come on! Where do we start? My god, the breasts and you notice where I'm looking.
(LAUGHTER)
RIVERS: The breasts, the thighs, the accent. Listen to myself on tape -- you know, -- everything.
SAMBOLIN: I think the self-deprecating humor is actually the funniest, but I was looking in the book and I was trying to find a picture of you as a young girl.
RIVERS: Not a pretty look.
SAMBOLIN: Where is it? Can you show me?
RIVERS: This is a picture of me --
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERS: -- in camp. I mean, they asked me to sing for the other team during color war.
(LAUGHTER)
RIVERS: That's how -- it's somewhere -- it's a horrible picture.
SAMBOLIN: You mention in the book that you started plastic surgery at a very young age.
RIVERS: Yes.
SAMBOLIN: What age and why?
RIVERS: I started when Melissa was still a baby. I was, I think, 31 years old.
SAMBOLIN: And then, it just continued.
RIVERS: And then, -- yes, I did a little tweaks all my life. And that's the way people should do plastic surgery. You should do it that people don't really notice. They just say, doesn't she look good. I love when they say, she's rested. Yes, she fell asleep on the operating table.
(LAUGHTER)
RIVERS: I hate ugly people. If you are ugly and you know who you are, I could start right now pointing out. Just get up and get out, because trust me, at the end of the evening, you're going to be just as ugly at least be home.
(LAUGHTER)
SAMBOLIN: You're 79 years old.
RIVERS: Seventy-nine.
SAMBOLIN: Happy birthday, by the way.
RIVERS: Thank you. Lindsay Lohan stole this for me, isn't that great?
(LAUGHTER)
SAMBOLIN: It's quite lovely.
RIVERS: Yes.
SAMBOLIN: I was going to ask you if that was on QVC, something which is on QVC?
RIVERS: No. It will be.
SAMBOLIN: It will be.
(LAUGHTER)
SAMBOLIN: And I believe in your book, one of the reviews said that you were still relevant.
RIVERS: Yes.
SAMBOLIN: How at 79 years of age -- I mean, there are comedians that are half that age, if not a third of that age, that will never hear the word relevant in their lifetime.
RIVERS: Yes. And I don't know. My manager always says to me, he's southern, you are relevant. And I don't know how I would not be because I like the present. You know, when people say, what age would you wish you were again? And I always have said, where I am now?
SAMBOLIN: Really?
RIVERS: Always having a great time. I'm very lucky or very shallow. But I think I'm very lucky. I'm always very happy in my life at the moment, and maybe that keeps me current.
SAMBOLIN: You are a very hard working woman. You're in that one percent --
RIVERS: Yes, I am.
SAMBOLIN: That, you know, perhaps, should be taxed a little bit --
RIVERS: Why?
SAMBOLIN: I'm asking you how you feel about that?
RIVERS: Why? I work 18 hours a day. I love my job. I think I work harder than anyone on my staff. That's my choice. And I make money, yes and I earn my money. I had nothing when I started. I slept in my car. And you want to know something? I think China is right. I don't want to take care of people with 12 children that don't even know who the fathers are. Not interested.
I think get a job. I will help subsidize anybody that is working and gainfully employed. I will not subsidize someone like got 92 children and is sitting around all day long, third generation on welfare, not interested.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN: And there you have it. Like I said, uninhibited and uncensored, but Rivers really lets loose when it comes to presidential politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: The matchup between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. What do you think?
RIVERS: Both idiots.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: How do you feel about what Joan Rivers said? Feel free to tweet me @ZoraidaCNN. That's just the beginning folks. You won't want to miss the rest of her take on the race for the White House. You know, she says she doesn't talk politics. She did. BANFIELD (on-camera): An eighth grader is making history and stealing some serious thunder from Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Bubba Watson at the U.S. open. Are you ready for this? Come Thursday, 14-year-old Andy Zhang of China will be teeing off with the big boys at the Olympic club in San Francisco.
Take a peek. He made it into the tournament at the last possible minute when another golfer pulled out. It's believed that Zhang is the youngest player to ever qualify for the open, and he is not expecting any miracles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY ZHANG, 14-YEAR-OLD PLAYING IN U.S. OPEN: I take this as a learning experience. If I can make the cut, that will be awesome, but I can't put any expectation to it because I'm 14.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: OK. How is this for adorable? Zhang says that he wanted to ask for autographs when he got to the practice range yesterday, but his caddie unequivocally told him, "Today, you are giving out the autographs, you are not asking for them. You are one of the big boys." Awesome.
SAMBOLIN: They should let him get those autographs, too. That is very cool.
Fifty-two minutes past the hour. Some of life's lessons come from unexpected places. Coming up, what 80s sitcom star, Meredith Baxter, learned from her mom while cleaning the kitchen.
BANFIELD: And if you happen to be heading out at the house right now, no worries. You can take us with you any time on your desktop or your mobile phone, you can just go to CNN.com/TV and watch CNN no matter where you are.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: "Starting Point" is just ahead.
SAMBOLIN: We wrap it up as always with "Best Advice." Here's Christine Romans.
ROMANS: And this one comes from Meredith Baxter, the mom in the show "Family Ties," and the author of the book called "Untied."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEREDITH BAXTER, AUTHOR, "UNTIED": You know, my mother had told me, "clean up as you go." Now, she was referring to as you're cooking in the kitchen, don't leave it all there, eat your dinner and then get up and have to deal with the whole kitchen. She meant, clean one pot then cook this and clean that pot and do that.
So, you didn't have a lot afterwards. I understand it differently. I think stay current, you know, make amends when you need to make amends, you know, and try not to procrastinate. Take care of things as they are presented to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Clean up as you go. It's kitchen advice that mothers pass down and grandmothers pass down, but she uses it for life, and I think that's pretty interesting. Also, you know, it also goes to this other advice you often hear people say which is, do what you're doing right now as well as you can.
And then the next thing, do that as well as you can. That's also kind of that kitchen advice, right? You know? So, very -- I thought that was really clever and interesting.
BANFIELD: I heard some really good advice just this morning. Stop living for the next day or for Friday. I keep saying, oh, how many days to Friday. Pete? Stage manager and I were always say how many days to Friday, but we're rushing through our weeks for Friday. We're not living in each day. And I just realized, why am I rushing this life, you know? It's true.
ROMANS: You talk to Joan Rivers this week, and she had some pretty big things to say.
SAMBOLIN: Yes. She had good advice also. I'm not going to share it because it's a surprise that's coming up. But what I like about Meredith is that she takes what her mother told her right, and then, she moves it forward. How can I apply this to today?
How can I apply it to, you know, moving forward to my kids and the advice that I can give them. So, you take that one little nugget, and then, you pass it on.
ROMANS: Someone once told me when I was expecting my first baby, you're going to get a lot of advice, choose the advice that you want to choose. You don't have to take all of it. We give you advice every morning so you can take it or leave it with you to work (ph) or leave it. Maybe you don't think the kitchen advice pertains to you, but, there you go. Clean up as you go say Meredith Baxter.
BANFIELD: When I got into TV, they said take half of the good criticism and half of the bad criticism and you'll find the right medium in there.
ROMANS: There you go.
BANFIELD: All right. Christine, thanks very much.
SAMBOLIN: Thank you.
BANFIELD: That wraps it up for us, the news from "A" to "Z." I'm Ashleigh Banfield.
SAMBOLIN: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. "STARTING POINT WITH SOLEDAD O'BRIEN" starts right now.
