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American Morning
Penn State Sex Abuse Scandal; Cain Denies Sexual Harassment Allegations; Second Cain Accuser Goes Public; Cain Chief of Staff Makes False Claim; Election Day 2011; Italy's Berlusconi to Resign; Should Joe Paterno Resign?; Holder on "Fast & Furious": Never Again; Penn State Sex Abuse Scandal; Show Of Support; Cain Won't Cave; Berlusconi Agrees To Resign
Aired November 09, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: They are Penn State. Hundreds of students rallying behind their legendary head football coach of 46 years. Critics, though, saying his minimum action taken years ago allowed a child predator to go free.
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HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't even know who this woman is.
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ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Herman Cain calling sexual harassment allegations against him baseless, bogus and false, and saying the Democratic machine is out to get him.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Bye-bye, Berlusconi. The Italian president heads for the door as Italy deals with crashing debt that could bring down a continent on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: Good morning, everyone. It's Wednesday, November 9th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI: Boy, lots of news. First though, new indications that Joe Paterno's 46-year coaching career at Penn State could be over in a matter of days or weeks.
Paterno has been under fire in the wake of a child sex abuse involving a former top assistant of his. The university's board of trustees is launching an investigation saying they are outraged by the allegation.
Meantime, a huge crowd of supporters rallied outside Paterno's home last night. The coach was visibly moved by it. CNN's Jason Carroll following developments for us. He's live in State College, Pennsylvania.
We heard from Paterno yesterday for the first time about this. Where has this story gone since then, Jason?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, Ali, it's not surprising that you see so many supporters who are coming out in support of Joe Paterno.
When you think of this man's record, you think of his stellar record for generations, for so many years here at the school not surprising that so many are coming out to say instead of directing the anger at Paterno perhaps that anger should be directed at Penn State's president.
More on that a little bit later. First, listen to how Joe Paterno addressed his supporters last night in front of his home.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want you. I want you guys. It's hard for me to tell you how much this means. You know, with the kids that are victims. I think we ought to say a prayer for them. Tough life when people do certain things to you. But, anyway, you've been great.
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CARROLL: Ali, as you know, despite all the supporters that you see out there. There have been many calls for Paterno's resignation. A lot of his critics here not just folks here at this school, but alumni and other people in the community saying, Joe Paterno may have done what he should have done legally.
But morally, he didn't do enough. There had been many calls for his resignation. His son spoke about that last night. So I also want you to take an opportunity to listen to what his son, Scott Paterno said last night as well.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any discussion about any strategy has not taken place with anyone (inaudible) that's all I can tell you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing between the university?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's been no discussion between the university and Coach Paterno. There's nothing exchanged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as he's concerned he's coaching Saturday and the foreseeable future?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: You heard that, Ali. He'll be coaching this weekend and for the foreseeable future. We'll have to see about that -- Ali.
VELSHI: That was kind of fascinating where he said there's been no discussion between the university and Coach Paterno, and nothing has changed. That statement alone strikes me as a little bit shocking. What do you know about another victim having come forward?
CARROLL: That's interesting. Yesterday, I spoke to a source close to this investigation. And that source confirmed for me that a man walked into a police station just about an hour from here, Ali, spoke to a lieutenant there and told that lieutenant that he too had been victimized by Sandusky.
If that proves to be true through an investigation, then that would make nine victims. And you remember what the attorney general said. The attorney general said that there is a strong possibility that there might be more victims out there.
So, once again a man has walked into a police station just about an hour from here and said that he too was victimized by Sandusky.
VELSHI: The attorney general did specifically say because some of these victims they don't know who they are if anybody out there was victimized they should come forward and they will be interviewed. OK, Jason, thanks very much. Great coverage on that. Jason Carroll for us in Pennsylvania.
COSTELLO: On to politics now, Herman Cain has a message for anyone who thinks he should pull out of the Republican primary race. It isn't going to happen he says.
Cain's fighting back against the sexual harassment allegations that now threatened to derail his bid for the White House saying could it be the Democratic machine behind the accusations.
At a news conference yesterday, Cain insisted he doesn't even remember, Sharon Bialek, the single mother from Chicago who publicly accused him of groping her 14 years ago.
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CAIN: I have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period.
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COSTELLO: Joe Johns joins us live from Washington. Good morning, Joe. So did Herman Cain do enough yesterday? Say enough yesterday to save his campaign?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: No, not yet. I mean, you listen to that sound bite. It's like a blanket denial of all allegations that he behaved improperly.
He seemed to believe what he was saying, but the he said/she said quality of the story suggests it's now up to Cain's accusers to come forward of corroboration if you will.
And as they come forward, the Cain campaign has made it clear, it's going to be very aggressive in releasing information that tends to suggests the accusers making these claims are not reliable.
The impulse is too long for some type of impartial fact finding, but these allegations go back more than a decade, it's remote. It doesn't sound very practical, which brings us to Cain's remarks about a lie detector test.
Last night in his news conference, in the course 30 seconds or so, Cain said he would take a lie detector test and then he took it back as quickly as he said it. Listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As distasteful as it might be would you be willing to do a lie detector test to prove your honesty in something like this?
CAIN: Yes. Yes. I absolutely would, but I'm not going to do that unless I have a good reason to do that.
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JOHNS: Not clear what he sees as a reason good enough for him to take a lie detector test. There's a lot of controversy, of course, that varies from state to state on the admissibility of lie detector tests and so on.
But that's another story. It would be interesting though to find out, for example, if he really does not know Sharon Bialek who has asserted that he groped her and tried to push his face into her lap -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Another woman has come forward and you know, she's public now. Her name is out there. Her face is out there. She actually wants to get together with all of these women who have accused Herman Cain and hold a news conference. What can you tell us about that?
JOHNS: Right. This is Karen Kraushaar works over at the Treasury Department. She said she is considering releasing details of her claims that she kept copies. She said she received a $46,000 settlement from her sexual harassment claim.
And she is considering getting some of the other women together who have asserted that Cain harassed them as well. She's a woman Cain claimed he made some innocuous comments about her height.
She's also the woman represented by Washington Attorney Joel Bennett who held a news conference last week to give details about the case. Listen.
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CAIN: I was standing next to Ms. Kraushaar and I gestured standing near her like this, you're the same height as my wife because my wife comes up to my chin. That was the one gesture that I remember. JOEL BENNETT, ATTORNEY FOR KAREN KRAUSHAAR: My client is a very intelligent, well educated woman. She would never file a complaint about an innocent remark like that. My client is 5'2." She's not the same height as Mr. Cain's wife and the incidents that were reported to the National Restaurant Association were multiple, over multiple days.
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JOHNS: So for people who believe Herman Cain it is a he said/she said, however, there are a lot of women now out there who are making these claims. It sounds like it isn't going to go away any time soon -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It doesn't sound that way. Joe Johns reporting live in Washington. Herman Cain's chief of staff, by the way, is fighting to clear his candidate's name.
But Mark Block got his facts wrong when he appeared on Fox News and claimed the son of Cain accuser, Karen Kraushaar works at "Politico," the news organization that first broke the story, that first broke this sexual harassment story. Listen to what he told Sean Hannity.
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MARK BLOCK, CAIN CHIEF OF STAFF: We've come to find out that her son works at "Politico." The organization --
SEAN HANNITY, HOST, FOX'S "HANNITY": Have you confirmed that? I've been hearing that all day, rumors about that. You've confirmed that now, right?
BLOCK: We confirmed it with -- that he does indeed work at "Politico" and that's his mother, yes.
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COSTELLO: Except that's not true. Josh Kraushaar tells CNN he is a former "Politico" employee who left the news organization in 2010 and he is in no way related to Cain accuser, Karen Kraushaar.
ROMANS: All right, Election Day 2011, a controversial ballot measure going down to defeat in Mississippi. Voters rejected that so- called "Personhood Amendment" to the constitution. That amendment would have defined life as beginning at conception and therefore make all abortions in that state illegal.
In Ohio, voters repealed a law limiting the collective bargaining rights of state and local employee unions to bloat Ohio's Republican Governor John Kasich that championed that measure. Ohio voters approved allowing the state to opt-out of federal health care mandates.
Now the author of Arizona's tough immigration law lost a recall election. State Senator Russell Pearce was defeated by fellow Republican Jerry Lewis. The recall election was seen as a referendum on Arizona's controversial measures targeting illegal immigration.
And finally, a race for governor decided in two states. Mississippi elects Republican Phil Bryant. He moves from lieutenant governor. Also Kentucky, a Democrat Steve Bashear wins a second term in the governors' mansion -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Christine, there's real concern about the financial stability of Italy, which is Europe's third largest economy. This morning the price Italy has to pay to borrow money is now up to 7 percent.
Now that is the rate at which other countries have had to seek international bailouts and Italy's staggering debt crisis has cost Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi his job.
The billionaire announced he will resign after Italy's next budget is approved by parliament. Becky Anderson is live in Rome. Becky, good morning. What's the situation in Italy right now?
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's very little clarity here, and that's I think the reason why traders are selling off these bonds and we're seeing these yields go higher.
Silvio Berlusconi, you're right, didn't get a majority in parliament yesterday. He acknowledged that. Even though he won this vote and this is the vote on public finances that really has to get pushed through.
These are the austerity measures that need to be enacted, even though he won that vote he lost his majority, went to the president and it was announced late last night that he would be standing down.
But we don't know when and we don't know what will happen after that. That I think is the problem here. Berlusconi says he wants to push this budget through the Senate. That could be as late as the beginning of December.
And then there will either be a coalition government formed here in Italy by the president or there could be another election and an election really is something that Italians do not need at the moment.
Listen, it was a really chaotic day yesterday here, Ali. An interesting shot on the front page of the left wing newspaper here, "El Manifesto." This is the piece of paper that Berlusconi had in his hand yesterday during the vote.
Let me just tell you exactly what it says. Right at the top there, it says 308-8. He needed 316 for a majority. He got 308 of lawmakers to vote for him yesterday. But eight stood against him and you see the word traitor written right at the top of that piece of paper.
He goes on to say turn around vote acknowledgment, tender my resignation president of the republic as a solution let's move on. That I think was when Berlusconi acknowledged it was all over that he really needs to step aside.
But he's a very powerful man here. He said yesterday that he would go to that vote and look his betrayers in the eye. What an uncomfortable vote that must have been for some of his lawmakers who voted against him yesterday.
VELSHI: When we were together in Cannes last week, we were discussing Greece as serious as it is, is going to be pale in comparison to how influential Italy is on the world stage and to world economy.
ANDERSON: Absolutely.
VELSHI: Becky, we'll stay on top of it with you. Becky Anderson in Rome for us this morning. Thank you.
What's happening in Europe affects the rest of the world including here in the United States. Take a look at U.S. stock futures now. They are down and down big. Dow futures are off by nearly 200 points. We'll be keeping a close eye on this throughout the morning.
ROMANS: The bond markets are where there's this strain and the danger signs.
VELSHI: That's right.
COSTELLO: Coming up next, an embarrassing diplomatic mess for President Obama. He was caught on tape chatting privately last week with the French President Sarkozy. Wait until you hear what the, two I'm sure you've heard about this by now. It's like oops. We'll tell you more.
ROMANS: Attorney General Eric Holder saying "Operation Fast and Furious" never should have happened and would never happen again. Republicans grilling him about a botched gun tracking program that put dangerous weapons in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. What he had to say the family of a murdered border patrol agent.
VELSHI: Stranded and starving, seven sailors stuck on a desert island. The U.S. Coast Guard forced to air drop food to them. We'll tell you how that nightmare situation turned out. It's 14 minutes after the hour.
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ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, folks.
There's growing concern this morning about Iran and its nuclear ambitions. The International Atomic Energy Agency releasing a report that said there's credible - credible information Tehran is developing nuclear weapons.
Even though there's no evidence a decision has been made to actually build a nuclear bomb, the agency said it is disturbed by how ambitious and structured Iran's nuclear program has become now. VELSHI: The White House not commenting on an embarrassing diplomatic development for President Obama. At last week's G-20 Summit in Cannes, an open microphone picked up a conversation that the president was having with French President Nicholas Sarkozy about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Sarkozy is heard saying, quote, "I cannot bear Netanyahu. He's a liar." The president responding, quote, "You're fed up with him? But I have to deal with him even more often than you."
No comment from the office of the French president or the Israeli prime minister's staff.
COSTELLO: Wow.
Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, "Should Joe Paterno resign?"
Let's not mince words. Legendary college football coaches are gods. Joe Paterno, Penn State University administrators are powerless in the face of his 409 wins and all the money that comes with him. Mr. Paterno retired at age 84. Joe Paterno decides what Joe Paterno does, but maybe not now.
According to a grand jury report, Paterno was informed back in 2002 that Coach Jerry Sandusky was seen having sex in a shower with a young boy. Paterno told Penn State's Athletic Director the minimum required by law.
Paterno canceled a press conference Tuesday due to the ongoing legal case, but we caught up with him.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell --
JOE PATERNO, PENN STATE HEAD COACH: I know you guys got a lot of good questions and I'd like to answer them, but I can't do it now. (INAUDIBLE). I'm sorry the press conference thing turned out (INAUDIBLE). I'll have another one soon.
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COSTELLO: Paterno is beloved. For 46 years of teaching his players about life as well as football.
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PATERNO: I think you've got a tremendous impact on a kid. You're not teaching them facts, you're teaching them things about - about character. You're teaching them things about success. You're teaching them things about what it takes to get along with other people.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Paterno is known for running a clean program. You don't hear about paying players or falsifying S.A.T. scores. Not Penn, not Paterno.
But now his reputation may be irrevocably harmed. SI.com columnist Michael Rosenberg writes, "We don't yet know who is legally guilty, but several prominent employees at the state university are morally guilty and one of them is Joe Paterno."
So the "Talk Back" question today, "Should Joe Paterno resign?" Facebook.com/AmericanMorning, Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read your comments later this hour.
VELSHI: All right. Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, watch what you download. A developer says he's found a way for hackers to gain control of your iPhone.
ROMANS: And gone in 50 seconds. Watch $10,000 worth of fireworks go up in under a minute. The incredible accidental show right after this.
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ROMANS: Good morning and welcome back. "Minding Your Business."
Stocks closed higher yesterday but stock futures are trading much lower this morning. Dow futures are down about 200 points right now. Why? Because of the instability in Europe where markets are down, too. Particular focus on Italy where bond yields reached seven percent this morning. That's the level at which other countries have had to seek international bailout. Investors say a danger zone there for Italy.
Back in the U.S. more help wanted for a change. Employers posted more jobs in September than at any other time in the past three years that's according to the Labor Department. At the end of September, according to the agency, there were 3.4 million job openings.
We now know 40,000 people shifted their accounts from the big banks to credit unions this past weekend as part of that Bank Transfer Day that's according to the Credit Union National Association. The whole movement really caught fire after Bank of America announced the debit card fee, a fee they eventually scrapped under pressure from customers.
The billionaire convicted in the biggest insider trading case involving hedge funds in the U.S. has been fined nearly $93 million by the Security and Exchange Commission. The biggest S.E.C. fine ever levied against an individual. Last month, Raj Rajaratnam was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Apple's App Store may not be as safe as you think. A notable computer security researcher says he was able to get an app past Apple's screening process, an app that allowed hackers to gain control of your iPhone. So far Apple is not responding to this security flaw. Get ready to make - to pay more for that pecan pie. Prices for the nut said to jump 22 percent because of growing demand in China and a drought that damaged much of the crop in the American South.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this quick break.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This should never have happened, and it must never happen again.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Never again. The attorney general grilled about a botched gun tracking program. What he had to say to the family of a murdered border patrol agent on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Welcome back. We're just crossing the half hour now. Your top stories and there are lots of them.
He hasn't been charged. He's not a target of the investigation. But Penn State football coach Joe Paterno may not survive the child sex scandal involving one of his former top assistants.
Supporters rallied outside of Paterno's house -- look at them -- amid growing calls for his resignation. Paterno's son calls reports of his father's retirement premature.
ROMANS: Herman Cain said all of the accusations of sexual harassment against him are false and he's even willing to take a lie detector test if he has to. Cain says the Democratic machine is out to get him and he has a message for anyone who thinks he should abandon his bid for the White House: It ain't going to happen.
COSTELLO: Mississippi voters defeating the so-called personhood initiative that would have defined life at the start of conception. If passed, the measure would have outlawed abortion and many forms of birth control in the state.
VELSHI: Republicans grilling Attorney General Eric Holder about the botched Fast and Furious gun-running program, demanding who will be held responsible for an operation that may had led to the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
CNN's Brian Todd has more.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): More than 30 Republicans in Congress are calling on him to resign, over a program that allowed hundreds of AK-47s and other illegally bought guns to stream into Mexico.
Attorney General Eric Holder now says this about Operation Fast and Furious.
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: This should never have happened.
TODD: That doesn't spare Holder from intense grilling by Republicans who are furious over a February letter from Holder's aides at Justice to GOP Senator Chuck Grassley. That letter says, "ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico." In fact, ATF agents were allowing those weapons to be taken into Mexico as part of an operation to trace them.
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R-IA), JUDICIARY RANKING MEMBER: Who will be held accountable for allowing a letter to Congress with a statement that many in the Justice Department knew was false?
HOLDER: Well, again, I have to dispute with due respect. The assertion that people in the Justice Department knew it was false.
TODD: Holder says he thought that letter was accurate at the time, but now regrets it was sent. But the most pointed exchange came over the murder of Border Patrol Officer Brian Terry. Guns from Operation Fast and Furious were found near the murder scene.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: Have you apologized to the family of Brian Terry?
HOLDER: I have not apologized to them, but I certainly regret what happened.
CORNYN: Have you even talked to them?
HOLDER: I have not.
CORNYN: Would you like to apologize today for this program that went so wrong, that took the life of a United States law enforcement agent?
HOLDER: I certainly regret what happened to agent Brian Terry. I can only imagine the pain that his family has had to deal with, in particular, his mother. I am the father of three children myself. We are not programmed to bury our kids.
TODD: Holder said it would be a mistake to tie Terry's death directly to Fast and Furious. I caught up with Holder as he left the hearing.
(on camera): When are your going to speak to Terry's family and apologize?
HOLDER: Thank you very much.
TODD: I also caught up with Senator Cornyn who told me that Holder's answers about Brian Terry's family and about the program overall were not acceptable. Cornyn said he's not at the point yet of calling on Holder to resign, but he's heading in that direction.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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COSTELLO: It's kind of like that movie "Castaway," except Tom Hanks wasn't around. Seven missing sailors were discovered in a deserted Pacific island somewhere between Hawaii and Australia. A U.S. Coast Guard air crew dropped boxes of food and supplies attached to parachutes until rescue crews could arrive. The men were on their way to Cayman Island last week and somehow got lost. Everybody is A- OK this morning.
ROMANS: No word on whether the professor and Mary Ann was lifted up?
COSTELLO: Of course, they made a little face and the soccer ball with some ball.
VELSHI: All right. It was short but pretty darn sweet. Listen, first.
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VELSHI: That was supposed to be a 20-minute fireworks show. But it was over in 50 seconds in Scotland on Saturday. Hundreds of fireworks are going off all at once. Organizers say it was a technical error that caused the entire computer operated show to ignite all at the same time.
COSTELLO: There was the big finale.
ROMANS: It was awesome but then it was done.
VELSHI: Costly for 50 seconds.
ROMANS: If you went back to the car to get something out of the trunk, you missed it.
VELSHI: It was fun to watch. But for the organizers who are hoping for to it go 20 minutes.
ROMANS: Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You got to get out there by hand, with the flare, old school. And that kind of mistake wouldn't happen.
VELSHI: That's it.
MARCIANO: Fifty seconds.
All right. Good morning, guys.
Hey, listen. Some fireworks happening across the mid-section of the country. Early snowfall for parts of Iowa and Wisconsin. Here's the storm that brought the severe weather not only the day before yesterday with that incredible video that one tornado, we had several reports of tornados across the ArkLaTex region yesterday. Once again, thankfully, no injuries.
But heavy snow from parts of Iowa up through Wisconsin, already several inches of snow on the ground. This is an area really that doesn't see significant accumulating snow really until the middle of December. So another unusual snowstorm this time for the Midwest and the western Great Lakes, three to six inches in parts of Iowa, maybe six to nine in parts of northern Wisconsin. Winter storm warnings are posted.
Thunderstorms down to the South, and ahead of this system, it continues to be very, very mild. Indian summer-like temperatures especially across the Northeast after snowstorms, 66 degrees in New York City. It's a beautiful day yesterday. It will be again today. Seventy-three degrees expected for a high temperature in Atlanta.
This is Alaska. This is a huge, huge storm impacting the west coast of Alaska right now from Nome. Farther points north, winds right now are gusting over 80 miles an hour. And we've got huge storm surge with that, and tropical storm Sean with 50 mile-per-hour winds not going to impact the U.S.
This didn't impact the U.S. either. That asteroid came mighty close, about 200,000 miles away last night. And, yes, our high powered telescopes got a good glimpse of it, shooting past the earth at 30,000 miles an hour. We'll be extracting --
COSTELLO: It looks like a big potato, doesn't it?
MARCIANO: Well, it does. It does, you know. But if you were to make an asteroid, I'm now thinking back of the '80s, Atari, it looked very similar that we used to shoot down.
VELSHI: What kind of a camera gets that? How to you take a picture? Thirty thousand miles that far away?
MARCIANO: Radar telescopes, so basically receiving radiation, radio waves from that thing.
VELSHI: Incredible.
MARCIANO: Fancy stuff.
VELSHI: Very interesting.
COSTELLO: Rob just took a shot of a potato in dark light.
MARCIANO: That works too.
VELSHI: Put it through PhotoShop. Rob, you wouldn't do that. Thank you, my friend.
COSTELLO: Just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: can legendary coach Joe Paterno survive the sex abuse allegations that's rocking the Penn State campus and his football program? Many of those are asking, should he survive?
VELSHI: Plus, putting more cash in your pocket. We'll give you three ways to make your money work four. It's this morning's "How to Speak Money."
It's 37 minutes after the hour.
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COSTELLO: It is 40 minutes past the hour. Welcome back.
Penn State may be setting the wheels in motion to bring Joe Paterno's 46-year coaching career at the school to an end. The university's board of trustees plans to investigate allegations of child's sex abuse against a former Paterno assistant and charges the school officials tried to cover up.
As you can see there, fans and students show their support for Paterno with an impromptu rally outside of his home last night where the coach talked to the crowd. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: We want Joe.
JOE PATERNO, PENN STATE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH: And I want you. And I want you guys. It's hard for me to tell you how much this means for me. You know with the kids that are victims. Whatever they want to say, I think we taught say a prayer for them because, you know, tough life when people do certain things to you.
But anyway, you've been great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Reporter Sarah Ganim has been covering the story for the "Patriot-News." She joins us this morning from State College, Pennsylvania.
Welcome.
SARAH GANIM, REPORTER, "THE PATRIOT-NEWS": Thank you.
COSTELLO: So kind of clear this up for us, because "The New York Times" was reporting that the board of trustees has already worked on an exit plan for Joe Paterno. His son came out and said we haven't heard anything about that.
So what's going on?
GANIM: Well, you know, a source tells us that the Paterno's fate will be decided by the end of the week. Now, the board of trustees, however, they issued a statement last night, pretty late, about 10:00, that said that they were going launch this investigation, they are meeting on Friday and the governor is expected to be at that meeting.
So I think that we might have to wait and see what happens Friday.
However, Paterno in one of his several statements yesterday kind of impromptu statements outside of his house where there were swarms of people and supporters, he did say that he might a statement today. So, that's a possibility too.
And other than that, you know, his press conference yesterday was canceled. And we were learning that it was coming from the office of the president and that the board of trustees actually made that decision for the office of the president. So, it seems like they might be taking some of the president of the university's power away from him, too, slowly.
But as we said, as this week goes on, they are taking over.
COSTELLO: Yes. The board of trustees -- I mean, you have to believe that some action will be taken against the president of that university.
But going back to Joe Paterno, it's his kind of way to kind of ignore what the university wants him to do anyway. So if he wants to speak, do you think that Joe Paterno will ignore what the board of trustees want and just come out and make that statement sometime maybe today?
GANIM: I mean, you're correct Joe Paterno is known for saying what he wants to say and when he wants to say it and sometimes the opposite not saying what they want him to say when they want him to said. So, yes, I think if Joe Paterno wants to talk today, he will talk today.
And I do think that he wants to talk because yesterday when his press conference was cancelled one of -- you know, one of the things that was circulating on Twitter and that was coming from his son is he wanted to hold a press conference and they were searching for a new location to do that. So, he could be holding a press conference off campus today. I think that's a possibility that we're looking at.
COSTELLO: OK. We saw all of those students at his home last night cheering in support of Joe Paterno.
How much support is there, really, for Joe Paterno to resign?
GANIM: You know, the mood on campus has shifted from Monday, Sunday and Monday to Tuesday and today. I think that initially people were just hanging their heads and sad and didn't really know what to think. Yesterday, there was a lot more vocal support for Joe Paterno. But there's also a lot of people who still disagree with what he did and aren't sure what to think and then there's a vocal group of people who are calling for him to step down.
So, there are people who are supporting him and sure they are definitely loud. Last night there was a mob of about, I would say more than 1,000 students who circulated from the center of town to Old Main, which is where the president's office is, to Beaver Stadium, and then back. And they did that three times until about 2:00 in the morning when they were down to 200 people.
COSTELLO: Wow.
GANIM: The police came out. There were barricades broken. So, there were people in that crowd on both side of the issue, people who are supporters and people who are not.
COSTELLO: Well, the emotion was so high. I was watching ESPN last night. They were interviewing Matt Millen, who, of course, is a very popular Penn State player and then he went on to be the G.M. of the Detroit Lions and now, he's analyst for ESPN. They were interviewing him about Joe Paterno, and he broke down in tears and started crying. I mean, people love this man.
GANIM: It's true. You know, that was actually -- I watched that interview, and that was hard to watch. I was really surprised. And, you know, but that probably sums up what a lot of people are feeling. They really don't know what to think. It's taken them a couple of days to get their heads around, how big this is, how bad this is, and they're just tremendously hurt.
They feel tremendously betrayed. And the degrees of that hurt and that betrayal are different, and everybody -- you know, there's a lot of opinions here on campus. But, if you have to sum up what the feeling is here that's it.
COSTELLO: Yes. It will be interesting to see if Joe Paterno holds this news conference on his own, because you're right, people just want an explanation. This man is a hero, and he's helped out so many students through Penn State and you kind of want his feet not to be made of clay. So, I guess, we'll see what happens later today. Sara Ganim, many thanks to you.
ROMANS: And you know, it's also a story about leadership because he's a man who is a leader. Corporate executives look at him and his style of leadership and what -- he's a leader to children, to fans, to people who are sports fans to people who are at Penn State and who aren't at Penn State.
And one of the things people are saying this morning is, was there a failure in leadership here? Did we think that Joe Paterno was a leader that he is not?
COSTELLO: I was thinking a lot about his generation. He's 84 years old. These things, you didn't think about back then. You know, maybe it's just so outside of his comprehension that one of his coaches could actually be doing this over a long period of time. You know, he went -- he did what he was supposed to do, right?
He went through the chain of command and told the athletic director what he knew, and then, he probably said, maybe he said, I just can't believe this is happening because this is not in my realm of reality. ROMANS: Doesn't Joe Paterno have the power to say there's something wrong here. I want him out. I want him out. I want him gone. And I want the police --
COSTELLO: I remember, he retired shortly after that. So, he's really effectively out of the football program, although, he continued to use the facilities. It will be interesting -- I mean, I want to hear Joe Paterno. I want to hear what he has to say, because it will be interesting. It will be fascinating.
ROMANS: I think that until he does give that press conference, the words Joe Paterno can't be uttered without people saying --
VELSHI: Yes. I agree.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Definitely, the damage has been done to him. There's no question about that.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: All right. We're going to take a quick break. It's 48 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.
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VELSHI: Forty-nine minutes after the hour. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI (on-camera): An extraordinary show of support for the embattle Penn State football coach, Joe Paterno. Fans and students rallying outside his home as a sex abuse scandal involving Paterno's former assistant threatens to end his 46-year career.
Herman Cain says there's no way he's abandoning his bid for the White House. At a news conference yesterday, he called four women's accusation of sexual harassment false, and he insists he'll take a lie detector test if he has to.
Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is on his way out. He agreed to resign yesterday after losing his majority in parliament. Berlusconi's resignation will take place after Italy's next budget is approved.
This is only a test. One huge test. The federal emergency alert system will have its first nationwide test today at 2:00 p.m. eastern. It will be just like the ones that have interrupted your shows for decades, only this time, the first time the test has been done across the entire country.
Rap legend, Heavy D, died yesterday. Police say Dwight Arrington Myers collapsed in his Beverly Hill home, struggling to breath. Heavy D rose to fame with hit singles like "Now That we Found Love" and collaborated on albums with Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. He was 44 years old.
Nancy had a great run. HLN's own, Nancy Grace, was dismissed from the ballroom competition, "Dancing with the Stars," last night, only one week short of the semi-finals. Grace said she's proud of her accomplishments and credits her partner, Tristan MacManus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: That's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this.
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ROMANS: All right. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. We're teaching you how to speak money this week. Today, we're talking about the markets. To achieve your financial goals, you can't hoard your money in a mattress. You have to do something with that money to make it grow.
VELSHI: Anybody who's tried to invest money by putting it in a bank knows you're getting no return. Financial markets might look intimidating if you'd never invested before or you've lost money, but it's actually a pretty easy concept, so we want to begin by laying out exactly what you can invest in.
We're going to give you the three main categories. Cash or it's equivalent, bonds, and stocks.
ROMANS: All right. Let's talk about cash. Cash equivalents are highly liquid, very safe investments. They can be converted into cash quickly for you to live on, for emergencies. These are savings deposits, U.S. treasury bills, certificate deposits, you know, CDs, mutual -- money market mutual funds. The risk is low but so are the returns.
VELSHI: Yes. The only real risk of those kinds of investments are inflation. If inflation rises higher than your interest rate, you end up losing money. And right now, inflation is substantially higher.
ROMANS: You can put money in a CD and you're losing money.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: You're losing money. OK. Next are bonds. These are basically loans. When you hear us talking about the bond market, you're talking about this whole world market for loans. You're lending money for a certain period of time at a fixed rate of return. Pretty straightforward. The bond itself has the interest rate on it, and when the fund will be paid back to you.
VELSHI: So, there are three kinds of bonds. There are corporate bond, bonds of companies that need to borrow money, municipal and treasury bonds. The credit rating of the entity that you're buying determines the interest rate. If it's very credit worthy, you get a much lower interest rate. The higher their credit rating, the more likely they'll be able to pay you back, but the less likely you'll get a lot of money on it.
ROMANS: So, it's all a trade off, right? Buy a bond from an entity with a high credit rating, get a lower return, the lower the credit rating, the more you stand to make --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: It's risky.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: So, you get seven percent on an Italian bond.
ROMANS: But you're worried that they're not going to be able to pay you back. That's why you get more. OK. Finally, stocks. Would you buy stocks? You're buying small pieces of a company to become one of many, many, many owners. A stock's price (INAUDIBLE) and the overall economic climate.
Stocks also pay dividends. That's money that they pay you for owning the stock. It's an amount of money per share based on the company's performance.
VELSHI: Right. And if the company is doing well, sometimes, they'll increase their dividend. If the company is doing poorly, they reduce their dividend. A lot of people buy stocks because of the hope that they'll go up and down, but others buy stocks just because of that dividend that they're going to get.
It's basically income over the long-term. So, if you look at them as long-term investments and ride out the markets ups and downs, you can still be successful just by buying dividend hanging (ph) stocks.
ROMANS: All right. So, that's a category. That's what to invest in. Tomorrow, we're going to talk about how to invest in these things, these three concepts that you're now speaking, mutual funds, index funds, exchange traded funds.
VELSHI: And remember, all of this is in our brand new book, "How To Speak Money," which is out right now -- Carol.
ROMANS: Carol, there'll be a quiz for you during the commercial break.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I knew you were going to say that.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I was paying attention. I really was.
VELSHI: We know you do. We appreciate that.
COSTELLO: I can't wait for tomorrow, though, because, you know, how to invest into those things and like be safe and all that kind of stuff.
ROMANS: And not get burned, because I'm so conservative, and he's a little more risky. So, that's going to be the interesting. That's where we duke it out.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: I know. I'm loving it.
OK. We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The question this morning, should Joe Paterno resign?
This from Chris, "I do not think that Joe Paterno should resign. It would really be sad if he was forced to resign. Blame the person at fault, not Paterno."
This from Sandra, "if he reported the abuse to higher ups and they did nothing, he should have resigned that instant and raised hell about it. There is no way he can say he didn't participate in the cover-up given the power he has at Penn State and in the athletic world."
This from Michael, "Put yourself in a parent's shoes and imagine Joe Paterno saying this to you. Yes, I know your son was raped. I was told after it happened, but I didn't do it, and I told my boss. I realize that police were not contacted, but I did my job. Is that good enough?"
And this from David. "Without having the same information as the grand jury has, how can anyone pass judgment on Joe and honestly answer the question?"
Keep your comments coming. Facebook.com/americanmorning. We'll read more of your thoughts later, and we'll be right back.
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