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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Roger Clemens Not Guilty; Sandusky Trial Wrapping Up; Potential Bombshell In Sandusky Trial; Ravi Being Released From Jail; More Homes Reduced To Ash; Wildfire Burning Out Of Control; Showdown Over Syria; 6-Year-Old Detained In Arizona; Microsoft Unveils Surface Tablet; Asian Americans Fastest Growing Ethnic Group; Facebook Stock Ticking Up; Showdown Over Syria; Interview with Misty May-Treanor, Two-Time Olympic Gold Winner
Aired June 19, 2012 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Former pitching great, Roger Clemens, officially cleared of perjury charges. Next up, another judgment by the hall of fame. We've got the details in a live report.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Plus, a six-year-old is arrested and detained by immigration officials. Find out why straight ahead.
BANFIELD: And possibly one of the craziest pictures you will ever see. This is not doctored. This is a real x-ray. A teenager with a spear in the head. Find out how this boy is doing, and I'm going to tell you right now, those pictures belie how this story ended up. Remarkable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD (on-camera): Isn't that something else?
SAMBOLIN (on-camera): Oh, my goodness.
BANFIELD: You have to stick around for this one, truly, it is a miracle. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. How about that for a start? It's an early day. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It's nice to have you with us.
SAMBOLIN: Lucky and blessed, kid.
BANFIELD: I know.
SAMBOLIN: All right, I'm Zoraida Sambolin. We are bringing you the news from A to Z. It is 6:00 a.m. here in the east. So let's get started for you.
Up first, after two trials, eight weeks, 46 witnesses and an estimated $2 million to $3 million, in your money, taxpayer money, Roger Clemens not guilty on all counts. He was acquitted on all charges in his perjury trial yesterday. The Rocket, as he's called, denying all along he ever used performance enhancing drugs as well. Yesterday, Clemens' attorney insisting, again, his legendary pitching career is not tainted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSTY HARDIN, ROGER CLEMENS LAWYER: I hope those in the public that made up their mind before there was a trial will now back up and entertain the possibility of what he has always said, using steroid and HGH is cheating and it was totally contrary to his entire career.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Joe Johns is live in Washington, D.C. for us. It's nice to see you. So, after four years, millions spent on this investigation, the government could not come up with a conviction here. They are calling it a blow to the Justice Department. Why did this case fail?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zoraida, this case was referred to the Justice Department for prosecution by a U.S. Congressional Committee.
And they are the ones who initially decided that allegations about a baseball player lying about using steroids were so important that they needed to make a federal case about it.
Roger Clemens was very emotional after he was acquitted last night. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER CLEMENS, FORMER MLB PITCHER: And really all the -- all you media guys that know me and followed my career -- I put a lot of hard work into that career. And so again, I appreciate my teammates that came in and all e-mails and phone calls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: So big question this morning, the day after, why when the country has so many problems did the government spend millions of dollars prosecuting the case? That's going to be a question asked for a while.
This was not a strong case when the prosecution got to trial. The main witness for the government, Clemens' strength coach, Brian McNamee simply had his credibility dismantled by the Clemens defense team. The defense team also had a good attack on the main evidence in this case.
They called it a pile of garbage, which it sort of was. We're talking about syringes allegedly used to inject steroids and human growth hormone. And medical waste that the trainer had saved up for seven years in a partially crushed beer can. All of that sort of adds up to a weak case -- Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: He won't be tried here for his steroid use, right? You said that earlier. So I want to talk about the hall of fame. Because you have three names on there that are kind of similar here, you have Clemens, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa, all first timers on that list. What are people saying about whether or not he'll be inducted into the hall of fame?
JOHNS: Well, honestly, I think the first thing you have to say, there aren't very many people at all who get inducted into the hall of fame on the very first try. That's true.
Then you have other people who have been tainted by allegations of steroid use, including guys like Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa. They are coming up too.
Frankly, there are a lot of people who are also saying, look, it isn't going to change that much in the long run. We're still going to look at these guys and we're still going to have to take into account that sort of swirl that's been around them for the long time.
So on the other side of the coin, you've got to say, being acquitted on this six-count indictment certainly doesn't hurt the case of Mr. Clemens in any respect.
SAMBOLIN: And after some time passes too, some people, you know, feel a little bit better about voting for him. I think I called you John earlier, so I apologize.
JOHNS: Everybody does. All good.
SAMBOLIN: I appreciate. Thank you very much.
So live on "STARTING POINT" at 7 a.m. Eastern, Soledad will speak to Rusty Hardin, Roger Clemens' lawyer.
Also Mike and Mike in the morning, ESPN's radio morning guys, Mike Greenburg and Mike Golic, weigh in, is the rocket a hall of famer?
BANFIELD: Still 5 minutes past 6:00. We could be witnessing these final days in Jerry Sandusky's child abuse trial, yes, about half the time that was expected to actually try that case.
And instead it could go to the jury by the end of this week. But, and a big but, before that happens, NBC News is reporting that prosecutors may introduce a potentially explosive unaired portion of an interview that Sandusky did with NBC's Bob Costas.
Here is the unaired clip of that interview from NBC's "Rock Center."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it's entirely possible that you could have helped young boy A in some way that was not objectionable while horribly taking advantage of young boy B, C, D and E? Isn't that possible?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you might think that. I don't know, in terms of my relationship with so many, many young people. I would guess that there are many young people who would come forward, many more young people who would come forward and say that my methods and what I had done for them made a very positive impact on their life.
I didn't go around seeking out every young person for sexual needs that I've helped. There are many that I didn't have -- I hardly had any contact with who I have helped in many, many ways.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Wow. The defense is expected to wrap up its case tomorrow afternoon. That should be followed by a prosecution rebuttal with closing arguments expected by Thursday. That jury could even possibly get that case by Friday.
SAMBOLIN: Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi expected to be released from jail today. Ravi has served 20 days of a 30-day sentence after being convicted last month of using a web cam to spy on roommate, Tyler Clementi having sex with another man in their dorm.
Clementi later committed suicide. He earned the early release, Dharun Ravi, for good behavior and work credit. Immigration officials say they will not try to deport the Indian-born Ravi.
BANFIELD: More homes reduced to ash in Colorado because of the stubborn high park fire there. Officials are confirming that eight more homes have been lost, bringing the total number now to 190 destroyed.
Crews had to fight the fire in record heat yesterday, calmer winds gave them a small reprieve, close to 59,000 acres have been scorched. That fire is just 50 percent contained.
SAMBOLIN: And from controlled to anything but, another wildfire we have to tell you about, this one in the Crowtan National Forest that's in North Carolina. It began with a controlled burn and since swelled out of control, consuming about 11,000 acres so far. This fire has not been contained.
BANFIELD: Right now, a Russian warship and a cargo ship full of helicopters and missiles are trying to get to Syria. And this is creating a very tense situation between Russia and the United States. The United States in no way wants anyone to be helping Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to kill his people.
President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin were meeting yesterday at the G-20 Summit in Mexico. And President Putin called on the Syrian people to decide for themselves who leads them.
SAMBOLIN: Plenty of economic gloom and doom at the G-20 Summit. President Obama and other world leaders turning up the heat on Europe to solve its debt crisis.
That's triggering a war of words with the president of the EU saying European nations didn't come to the G-20 to get lectured. Today, President Obama meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao. BANFIELD: A 6-year-old girl from El Salvador is being detained by officials in Arizona. She was one of 16 people who were taken into custody by famous Sheriff Joe Arpaio after their van was stopped last Friday.
Sheriff Arpaio was known for his extremely tough stance on illegal immigration and says that little girl was unaccompanied and that the others in the group claimed to know nothing about her.
SAMBOLIN: It's a nerd arms race. The new battle is being waged in the war between Microsoft and Mac. Take a look, Microsoft getting back into the hardware business, unveiling a direct challenge to the iPad yesterday with its own surface tablet.
There it is. It's video that was given to us by Microsoft with pretty tight restrictions. It has nearly the same specs as the iPad. It is a little thinner. It weighs a little more with a larger screen and kickstand and a keyboard case.
No word on the price, however, except that it will be competitive. But the big question, will it be an iPad killer or end up in clearance?
Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of reddit.com will give us his view at 8:10 Eastern on "STARTING POINT."
BANFIELD: And Microsoft wouldn't give us one to, you know, mess around with it. All I have is this to say it's kind of heavy, it's kind of big. Microsoft, come on, give us your product and give us a look see for ourselves. Don't just send us a video. Do I sound like Jerry Seinfeld?
SAMBOLIN: That would be a great idea.
BANFIELD: OK, I have a picture to show you and all I can say while it's horrible to look at this x-ray. It is a boy, a teenage boy. There is a good ending to this story. That boy survived but my goodness. How did this happen and how on earth did the doctors save that guy? Remarkable.
Then there's this. A Picasso and an absolute loser vandalizing that painting and it's caught on a camera phone and as that man walks up, thinking I did not see what I saw, yes, spray paint. We'll tell you the story in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: It's 14 minutes now past 6:00 on the east coast. Let's get you up to date with the top stories this morning.
Let's begin with this one. The Justice Department going down swinging again in its pursuit of former pitching great Roger Clemens, this is round two lost to the feds.
Federal jury acquitting Clemens of all of the charges, all six of them in that perjury trial. He was accused of lying to Congress when he testified that he never used performance enhancing drugs.
An earlier attempt to convict Clemens ended in a mistrial.
SAMBOLIN: A Canadian porn star accused of dismembering a university student is now back in Canada and expected to appear in court today. Luke Magnotta returned to Montreal last night on board a military plane. He was arrested in Germany earlier this month.
Police say Magnotta mailed one of the victims hands and feet to Canadian politicians.
BANFIELD: Here is the picture we have been talking about this morning.
The emergency crews are dealing with this after seeing this south Florida teenager's x-ray, it's hard to believe he survived being shot in the head with a 3-foot long spear. Lord.
Police say 16-year-old Yasser Lopez and a friend we are getting to go out fishing and the spear gun they were planning to use accidentally went off and hit Lopez right through his head. Now, yesterday was a good day, moved out of the ICU. Doctors say he could have problems with the left side, some memory loss, but the good news, otherwise they say that Yasser's prognosis is actually good and it is a miracle.
SAMBOLIN: Good gracious.
BANFIELD: An absolute miracle.
SAMBOLIN: I agree. That is a miracle.
Sixteen minutes past the hour here.
Chicago is fast becoming one of the deadliest cities in America. Listen to this. It is even more dangerous than Afghanistan -- 144 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan in 2012. Compare that to a staggering 228 Chicago residents who have been slain so far this year. That is a 35 percent increase over the past year, and quadruple the homicide rate of New York.
It does go up in the summer quite a bit though.
BANFIELD: In Houston, a cell phone camera catches this. Take a look. If you can believe it, an idiot and vandal caught in the act, making rounds on the Internet.
Take a peek, you can see the man with the cell phone walking up to the 1929 Picasso called conquer the beast -- I'm thinking, no way, he didn't. Yes, he did. He spray painted the word conquista, which is Spanish for conquer.
The man who shot the video said he confronted the vandal afterward and the vandal reportedly told him that he's an up and coming artist who did it to honor Picasso's work.
What? Yes, that's how he honored Picasso's work by defacing it. They are hoping they can get it cleaned up and restored. But so far, no word on whether they can.
SAMBOLIN: Oh my gosh.
BANFIELD: I know. It's just an unbelievable.
SAMBOLIN: Not a way to honor somebody's work.
Seventeen minutes past the hour.
When it comes to produce, it's tainted by pesticides, Oregon apples top dirty dozen list. An environmental advocacy group has updated its ranking of pesticide-laden produce.
Apples are on the top, even when they are washed for ten seconds.
BANFIELD: That's long.
SAMBOLIN: Celery, sweet bell peppers and peach and strawberries, they round out the top five.
Onions, sweet corn, pine apples, avocado and cabbage, made the top five of the clean 15, for the lowest level of pesticide residue, the cabbage surprises me.
BANFIELD: I can't think of picking up an onion out of the fruit bowl and taking a bite. Sorry. Darn, that's hard to hear.
OK. So, sitting on your butt isn't just bad for your waistline, being a couch or office chair potato is dangerous to your health. The doctors are saying that sitting is the worst position for your body and doing it too much can pinch nerves and misalign your spine and tense up muscles and joints and even cause cardiovascular disease. Dang.
SAMBOLIN: So get up, walk around.
BANFIELD: Actually, if you're lying down in bed right now, stay there, you're in good shape.
The doctors are recommending you stand every 20 minutes or so and do simple stretches. Who knew?
SAMBOLIN: Eighteen minutes past the hour.
It's easy to reset your watch when you change time zones but no so easy to reset your body clock.
Felicia Taylor has some ways to reduce jet lag in today's "Road Warriors."
BANFIELD: Why are you sitting?
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. I've got to stand.
I have to tell you, I'm a little disappointed about the list of vegetables and pesticides.
BANFIELD: You're back on that, are you?
TAYLOR: I have to tell you why, those are all things that I love. Apples, strawberries.
SAMBOLIN: They say if you peel things -- you can't peel strawberries but if you peel the fruit you're OK.
BANFIELD: Who's going to peel an apple. Ten seconds when you wash your hands, it's a long time to be under the water.
SAMBOLIN: Now you are informed. Consider yourself informed.
TAYLOR: Exactly.
Now, there's no shortage of tips on the Internet when it comes to dealing with jet lag. Here are a few that seem to work for most travelers.
First, when you get on the plane, set your watch to the local time of your destination. Then you have to adjust your sleep pattern. In you land in the morning, rest on the plane. After you arrive, don't nap. It's tempting but don't do it. Stay awake until at least 9:00 before you actually hit the sack.
Don't drink alcohol or caffeine. I know that's tempting too.
BANFIELD: Sure, Felicia.
TAYLOR: Well, all right, maybe one glass.
BANFIELD: Pot calling the kettle.
TAYLOR: One glass. Drink a lot of water inside. The air inside the flight -- it's true, come on.
BANFIELD: I know.
TAYLOR: It's very dry and can get you dehydrated. Alcohol only exacerbates that --
BANFIELD: Have you been drinking?
TAYLOR: It's 6:20 in the morning. What are you, nuts?
Bring an empty water bottle through security. I didn't know you can do this actually. You fill it up on the other side. They will allow you do that. Drink all of that water will get you out of the seat and gets you up and moving. And that's a good thing to release jet lag.
Of course, we're talking about exercise. Do knee bends while waiting for the bathroom. I'm sorry, people will think your crazy but it will help you, flex your legs and rotate your ankles and shrug your shoulders. It keeps the blood flowing and can prevent aches and clots. That's very important. I knew somebody that got a blood clot traveling on a long distance flight and she was laid up for months.
BANFIELD: It can be deep vein thrombosis, yes.
TAYLOR: Recovering from jet lags when you land depends on the number of time zones that you cross. A general rule, allow yourself one day to recover for every hour of difference from where you're traveling.
SAMBOLIN: Oh, my.
BANFIELD: That's a lot. It's a lot.
TAYLOR: But it makes a difference. The key thing is do stay up until 9:00 at night because you end up in the time zone from where you are.
SAMBOLIN: That's if you can sleep on the plane. But great advice.
BANFIELD: If you're traveling with a 5-year-old.
TAYLOR: That's a whole different story.
BANFIELD: That's when drinking comes in.
TAYLOR: Stop.
SAMBOLIN: It is 21 minutes past the hour.
If you've been hanging in there with Facebook stock, there's finally some hope for you. Folks, we have details coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Minding your business this morning.
Felicia Taylor is in for Christine Romans.
Facebook stock making a comeback?
TAYLOR: Yes.
BANFIELD: You're not doing the up. Really the up.
TAYLOR: No, it was up almost 5 percent yesterday. And the fact is they are trying obviously to figure out how they are going to make money. But in the meantime, they are doing a little bit of an acquisition, they bought face.com, a company that allows facial recognition photographs to be transferred to various other points on the Internet.
This is something they've been using for a couple of years. It is an Israel-based company and details don't know whether how much they spent to acquire this, but nevertheless it was good for Facebook.
Also, the company has come out and said it's going to defend itself when it comes to any lawsuits that may ensue as a result of the, quote, "botched" IPO that we saw back 30 days ago. Nevertheless, the stock is down 18 percent since the IPO but we had three days of excessive gains up 4.5 percent at $31.41 a share. The IPO price was $38. So, it's not that bad.
BANFIELD: Maybe a good time to buy?
SAMBOLIN: That's a tough one.
TAYLOR: Don't catch me on that one.
BANFIELD: I know. All right. Felicia, thank you.
Twenty-six minutes now past 6:00.
Talk about lofty ambition -- coming up, some details to build the world's tallest building in just a couple of months. Really, months
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Right now, a Russian warship and a cargo ship full of helicopters and missiles, trying to get to Syria, creating a tense situation between Russia and the United States. U.S. said it in no way wants to help Syrian President Assad kill its people.
The exact location of war ships and how the U.S. is responding, straight ahead.
SAMBOLIN: Plus, for the first time in the 167-year history, the U.S. Southern Baptists are electing their first black president.
BANFIELD: She dominated the sport of sand volleyball in the Olympics over the years. She has two gold medals to prove it and now, she's going for a third. Misty May-Treanor joining us live here in studio this hour on CNN.
SAMBOLIN: Welcome back to EARLY START. We're happy you're with us. I'm Zoraida Sambolin.
BANFIELD: Good morning, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.
Thirty-one minutes now past 6:00 in the morning.
Let's start with this: relations between the U.S. and Russia, getting pretty chilly this morning, especially when it comes to the topic of Syria. The body language may speak volumes. President Obama meeting yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Mexico.
United States hoping to get an agreement on ousting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end the slaughter of civilians, but that did not necessarily happen and we're finding out more about a Russian cargo ship that was stopped by British authorities while trying to deliver attack helicopters and munitions to Syria.
CNN's foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty is live this morning from Washington. We've got a couple of stories about ships and then, of course, we have the G20 as well.
Let's start with ship. There's the one I just mentioned and then there are other ships as well and specifically a teeny, tiny Russian port on the Mediterranean coast of Syria is starting to create some headlines. Can you take it from there, Jill?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: OK. So, well, let's look at the ships.
The first one is the one that you're talking about -- the ship that apparently is carrying helicopters. Now, the Russians say these are helicopters sold a long time. We're refurbishing them and we're bringing them back to Syria. The United States says those helicopters that could, whether they're old or new, be used to kill people.
So, what happens is that ship goes from Kaliningrad and then as it's steaming along, the insurance company that insures that ship says we are going to drop the insurance because of the nature of that trip to Syria and so it's essentially stuck. It can't port anyplace. And it's somewhere we understand around Scotland.
Now, there are two other ships the United States is tracking and both of those appear to be carrying some type of armaments and perhaps troops or marines and the purpose of those marines, again, is kind of unclear. Are they protecting the cargo? Are they going to be used in Syria? A little unclear.
But all of this, Ashleigh, is creating a lot of tension. The Russians I think could probably clear it up pretty quickly, but that might be part of their rationale to warn the United States, if there's any type of military action in Syria, it could get very complicated if our base is there.
BANFIELD: Let me switch gears for a minute and cover of "The New York Times" speaks volumes this morning. There's a picture of Putin and Obama and their faces are forlorn to say the very least, sitting there for the photo-op. They look none too pleased to be there.
And from all accounts after a two-hour long behind closed doors conversation, they did not seem to get much a of detente when it comes to the issue of disarming Bashar al-Assad and trying to stop the violence in Syria. Where is this relationship go from here?
DOUGHERTY: Well, I mean, Mr. Putin often looks like that. He's a serious man, but it's a serious issue. But essentially I think you got the only point now that they really do agree on is that the violence has to stop and there has been to be some type of political transition. That means ultimately that Assad goes.
But the United States wants him to go very quickly. That's the problem the United States believes. The Russians don't want any type of regime change. They think they were burned during Libya and they don't want it to happen again. So, that is one of the problems.
And the strategy now is to push Mr. Putin to do as much as he can. That's a question. Can they actually do anything to get Assad out? BANFIELD: Well, you of anyone knows a lot about Russia having spent a very big chunk of last 20 years there.
Jill Dougherty, thanks very much for that.
Just want to remind our viewers, too, Jill, that at 7:00 Eastern, on "STARTING POINT," Soledad O'Brien is going to take a look at the crisis in Syria and the rift between the U.S. and Russia over how to solve this problem when she's joined by John Negroponte, who's the foreign policy expert and former U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
SAMBOLIN: It is 35 minutes past the hour.
Roger Clemens no longer an accused felon this morning. A jury finding him not guilty on all charges in his perjury trial. One of the most intimidating pictures in the history of baseball, holding back tears as he gave thanks on the steps of the courthouse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER CLEMENS, FORMER MLB PITCHER: I put a lot of hard work into that career and so -- again, I appreciate my teammates that came in and e- mails and phone calls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: The Rocket's first year of eligibility for the baseball Hall of Fame is next year.
Attorney General Eric Holder is hoping to cut a deal to avoid being held in contempt of Congress. He'll be meeting with California Congressman Darrel Issa. Holder is offering to turnover documents from the botched anti-gun running operation known as Fast and Furious. In exchange, he wants Issa to postpone once they scheduled contempt vote.
BANFIELD: When it comes to endorsing a presidential candidate, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg apparently intends to remain neutral. "New York Times" quoting two people who spoke to the mayor at the recent charity event says Mr. Bloomberg believes Mitt Romney though would be better at running the country, but says he can't support him because of his opposition to abortion rights and gun control.
SAMBOLIN: And new this morning, U.S. Southern Baptists kicking off their annual convention today with a ground-breaking change to their leadership. The group is expected to elect its first black president -- there's a picture of him there -- in its entire 167-year history. New Orleans' pastor, Fred Luter, Jr., is running unopposed. Church leaders hope Luter will attract more members of color and help distance the church from what they called its racist past.
BANFIELD: China, planning to build the tallest building in the world and planning to do so in three short months. Yes, three months. A Chinese company who wants to do is called BSB. It plans to build 2,750 feet of building. They want to call it Sky City and they want to do it in 90 days. That's just 1/20th time that it took to build Burg Khalifa, which is the world's current tallest building in Dubai. This one though is going to be 33 feet taller -- 33 more feet of bragging rights.
So, how are they going to do it in just three months? Apparently, a lot of the building is to be constructed ahead of time offsite. The company specializes in something they call prefab construction. Entire sections of the building are built in a factory ahead of time and then just hauled over to the construction site and assembled like Lego.
SAMBOLIN: Interesting.
BANFIELD: A little like Lego, but probably a lot not like Lego in case you want to visit.
SAMBOLIN: It is 38 minutes past the hour. She's already an Olympic legend. I'm looking off to my left, because she's right here. Misty May-Treanor isn't satisfied with that. She's hungry for more gold in beach volleyball. There she is. She's joining us live, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: So, there are just 38 days until the 2012 Olympics. They open in London.
One of the top U.S. competitors is Misty May-Treanor. She and her teammate Kerri Walsh-Jennings have dominated the sports of beach volleyball since the 2004 Olympics, leaving the competition eating sand. She's won two Olympic medals and she's trying now to make it three medals.
And Misty May-Treanor joins us now.
The reason you caught me laughing at the top, is because I said, you're 34 years old, aren't you? And you said --
MISTY MAY-TREANOR, TWO-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST, BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Yes, and I'll be 35 in London. So --
SAMBOLIN: Early birthday.
MAY-TREANOR: The hump right around the corner.
SAMBOLIN: So, that would be perfect, right, the three-peat. How does it feel?
MAY-TREANOR: Oh gosh, a bit surreal, you know? That I've been playing as long as I have, and that Kerri and I have been competing together as a team for 12 years. But to go first, third, I mean the first is something very special, when you become an Olympic champion. That's something nobody can take away from you. The second was even greater. We made history.
And to have an opportunity to go for a third, I mean, is very rare in our sport.
SAMBOLIN: You know, I was doing a little research this morning because I was wondering how young can you be to compete against you, right? And I read it was 14 years of age.
MAY-TREANOR: Yes.
SAMBOLIN: How do you feel about going up against such young bucks, right?
MAY-TREANOR: We haven't met anybody 14.
SAMBOLIN: Not quite yet.
MAY-TREANOR: Not yet, but the whole world of beach volleyball is changing. So, you never know. A lot of other countries have developmental programs and finding the young teenagers traveling the summer tour with us, competing in the qualifier. If they don't make it, they are still being able to practice against the top teams in the world.
So, definitely the competition is getting younger and younger.
SAMBOLIN: Is it getting tougher, though?
MAY-TREANOR: It is getting tougher. Yes, there's a lot of parity on the women's and men's side now. That's what you want to see. You want to see the sport grow and branch out and it definitely is.
I just came back from Italy and Switzerland, won the grand slam, Germany came in second, another U.S. team came in third. China has been winning. Brazil has been winning and, of course, the U.S.
There are just so many more teams in other countries just developing in this sport.
SAMBOLIN: So have you changed how you prepare in order to stay competitive?
MAY-TREANOR: You know what? I think if you know what you need to do to get there, don't change it, stay with it.
Definitely though, older I'm getting, recovery is becoming more and more important, you know?
SAMBOLIN: I would imagine.
MAY-TREANOR: It's hard to rest when you're young. You just want to keep going. But then it is nice to kick your feet up on the couch and you need that down time.
SAMBOLIN: As we have this picture up, if we can leave it up. We were talking about uniforms and the beach volleyball uniform, the International Volleyball Federation changed the rules, so bikinis are no longer mandatory, which is upsetting to gentleman here in the studio. Women apparently can now wear shorts and sleeved or sleeveless tops.
Why the rule change? And are you going to change what you wear?
MAY-TREANOR: You know, that rule was implemented I think to help other countries that are new to the sport to maybe feel more comfortable. It is tough if you're new to beach volleyball to just put on a bikini and not worry about it.
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
MAY-TREANOR: I grew up on the beach. So, for me, it's nothing new. It won't affect anything Kerri and I do, and a lot to other women on to it that we're talking to.
SAMBOLIN: You're not changing what you wear.
MAY-TREANOR: Feel comfortable in the bathing suit. Yes.
SAMBOLIN: OK.
MAY-TREANOR: Correct.
SAMBOLIN: And is it an advantage to wear the bikini, in your opinion?
MAY-TREANOR: I feel that with as much movement as our sport has, you need to feel comfortable and especially when you're diving in the sand, it's just functional for what we do. You know, I feel comfortable.
I remember when I was younger playing on the sand, I play with shorts on, sometimes you go up for a hit and your thumbs get caught in the pockets and you're ripping, you know, your pockets. So, the uniforms are kind of key -- you've got to feel comfortable when you're playing. But, you know, we work hard to get the bodies we do.
(CROSSTALK)
SAMBOLIN: We know, and we love that part of it. I don't want to let you go without talking about a campaign that you have with Arnold and Oroweat bread. Can you tell us about that?
MAY-TREANOR: Yes.
SAMBOLIN: Somebody make an opportunity to play against you.
MAY-TREANOR: No, I know. I'm so happy to be partnering with Arnold and Oroweat. You know, I grew up with eating oroweat bread. It's been part of my regimen for training. But yes, people can log on to Facebook.com/Arnoldandoraweat, their Facebook page, and register for a contest to get a clinic by me.
SAMBOLIN: Wow!
MAY-TREANOR: And to be able to play with me, but it ends July 2nd. So, they've got to get on it fast. I love getting back to the sport. This is my way of saying thank you to all the fans. SAMBOLIN: Can you say thank you to us when you win that gold medal, can you come back and show it off for us?
MAY-TREANOR: I would love to do that. I would love to do that.
SAMBOLIN: Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it.
So, Ashleigh, back to you. We get another Olympic gold. We had one, I think, a couple of weeks ago, the wrestler who said he'll come back --
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I want to enter that contest but not if I have to wear one of those bikinis to train with you. That's all I'm saying. Contest with her doesn't have to wear it, I hope. All right. Misty May-Treanor, always good to see you.
Coming up, all right. Eight feet of TV, can you stomach it? Seriously, folks, this is the kahuna coming at you. Go bigger ho home. We're going to show you. One of the biggest TVs you've ever seen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: It is officially ten minutes to Soledad, and she's standing by now with the look ahead at what's coming up on "Starting Point." Hello.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot happening this morning. Good morning to you. This morning, I'm going to talk about Roger Clemens. He picks up a big victory as you well know in the courtroom. The top pitcher was found not guilty of lying about his steroid use before Congress.
How is this going to affect his chances of getting into the hall of fame? This morning, we're going to talk to Mike and Mike from ESPN.
Florida senator, Marco Rubio's dream, is it dead? He is (INAUDIBLE) his version of the Dream Act, pro-immigrant Dream Act. He's blaming President Obama about that. We'll tell you what's happening there.
Microsoft finally surfaces a tablet maker now. Is it better than the iPad? We're asking tech experts of what their first impressions are.
And Chaz Bono is going to join us talking about his gender reassignment surgery and what it's done for his life and his new book as well.
Don't forget, you can watch us on your computer or mobile phone while you're at work. Go to CNN.com/TV. We'll see you right at the top of the hour. Back to you, Ash.
BANFIELD: All right. Thanks, Soledad.
SAMBOLIN: It is 51 minutes past the hour. Let's get you up to date.
Roger Clemens in the clear. A jury finding him not guilty on all charges in his perjury trial. He was accused of lying about his use of performance enhancing drugs. The rocket's first year of eligibility for the baseball Hall of Fame is next year.
BANFIELD: A wildfire in Croatan National Forest in North Carolina is swelling out of control this morning. It began sadly with a controlled burn, but it has since consumed about 11,000 acres, and that fire is not contained.
SAMBOLIN: Asian-Americans are now the fastest growing race in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center. Asians overtook Hispanics between 2000 and 2010 when it comes to percentage of people immigrating to the country. A Pew survey also found Asian-Americans to be the highest earners and the best educated citizens in the country as well.
BANFIELD: Remove the hinges from your doorway because Sharp is unveiling a 90-inch L.E.D. television. I said 90-inch. You should see the crew right now, like Homer Simpson, right? That's like almost eight feet. That is the biggest thing I've ever heard of. You're going to need pretty wide walls and super deep pockets to have this one, folks. $11,000 can get you the eight-foot-ish flat screen.
SAMBOLIN: Prices will drop after a while, right?
BANFIELD: I know, but you've got to have a house big enough and a mortgage to boot.
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
BANFIELD: Unbelievable.
SAMBOLIN: That would be cool. So, the truth is in the pictures, and you don't mess with the truth. That's part of today's "Best Advice," and that is coming up.
BANFIELD: And if you're leaving the house right now, don't worry about it. You can take us with you on your mobile phone and then when you get to where you're going, on your desktop, just go to CNN.com/TV and watch live CNN television on your device.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Ah, it's a beautiful picture of New York City. Hello, New York. Good morning, Manhattan, as the sun rises over the Big Apple. It is going to heat up. If you're planning to travel to New York, bring your short sleeves. We're supposed to go up to like triple digits, I think, later on this week, which is not that much fun in Manhattan subways.
SAMBOLIN: Oh, I would imagine.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: It is now three minutes to the top of the hour. "Starting Point" just about a minute or so away.
SAMBOLIN: So, we wrap it up, as always, with "Best Advice." And here's photographer and author, Larry Schiller. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY SCHILLER, HERE'S PHOTOGRAPHER AND AUTHOR: You know, I reinvented myself several times during my life. So, the best advice I ever got as a photographer was make sure you're alive when you die. That's really good advice. As a photo journalist, the best advice I got is don't alter your pictures. So many will find out (INAUDIBLE).
And the best advice as a journalist I ever got is, tell the truth, tell the facts as they were, and don't make up any of the story, unless, you tell the people you've made up part of the story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Don't retouch your photos, unless, somebody wants them retouched.
BANFIELD: Yes, right.
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: I'll sign up for that. He's just such a terrific author as well. Best-seller after best-seller, "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town," story of JonBenet Ramsey crime. Considered to be one of the definitive, you know, sources for the facts on that crime. And just a terrific journalist, photojournalist, and writer all around. So, that's great advice.
SAMBOLIN: It sounds like no fabrication, right, whether it's in telling your story or whether it's in showing your pictures. So, it is.
BANFIELD: I would say that's Journo 101.
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
BANFIELD: Call me crazy. Hey, everybody. So nice to have you here on the Tuesday edition of EARLY START, that's 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.
