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Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien

President to Address Association of Latino Leaders; Miami Heat Win NBA Championship; Twitter Crashes; New Zimmerman Tapes; Park Ranger Falls To His Death; Sandusky's Adopted Son Claims Abuse; Grandma Bullying Victim Speaks Out; South Carolina Mom Upgraded; Wikileaks Founder's Asylum Request; No Arrests From Full Body Scans; Millionaire Still Missing

Aired June 22, 2012 - 06:59   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN HOST: Welcome, everybody. Our "Starting Point" this morning, the markets tank after major banks take a huge credit downgrade, all signs pointing to a very costly Friday. Is it the double dip recession that was feared?

And his own son, there are some shocking new accusations against Jerry Sandusky, but the deliberating jury will not hear them. We'll tell you what he's saying.

And from crying on the bus to laughing all the way to the bank, the web is rallying around a grandmother who was bullied on the bus.

And kiss the ring. King James steam rolls his way to his first NBA title and puts the doubters, Will Cain, out of business.

Pack hour ahead this morning with ESPN's Marcellus Wiley and Mike Greenberg on LeBron's big win last night.

Also, Republican congressman, Randy Forbes, is going to join us and forensic psychiatrist, Michael Wellner , will be with us.

It's Friday, June 22nd, and "Starting Point" begins right now.

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O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody. Up first, we're talking about the rattled nerves sending the markets around the world lower, triggering some new fears of a double dip recession right here in the United States, heavy sweating after the rating agency, Moody's, downgraded 15 of the world's biggest banks. You coupled that with a debt crisis in Europe and you've got a recipe for a sell-off today. The Dow losing 250 points yesterday alone. Christine Romans minding our business this morning, hey.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. It was a really ugly day. It was the second worst day for stocks in the country this year. And it spread overseas. Rumors about it all day didn't happen until after the closing bell. There's the Dow, down about two percent. The big bank downgrades, including the biggest banks in Europe, basically Moody's saying that anybody with a lot of exposure to the credit markets, they were going to downgrade them. The banks one by one saying they disagree with the downgrades and in fact some of those stocks are moving up a little bit.

But that's the bank part of it. Banks are what pumps the oxygen through the financial system. When you have people worried talking about a slowing global economy, it caused all kinds of concerns. We're concerned about slowing numbers from China, from Europe, from Germany in particular. We had all kinds of macroeconomic data that was starting to show what many people feared that the global economy is slowing down. That means American factories are selling fewer things and American business owners are not hiring people because they are worried about the global slowdown and it feeds on itself.

O'BRIEN: Does that mean a double dip recession?

ROMANS: We can't say there will be a double dip recession, we know that growth is slowing around the world and that is the big fear. We have other things going on. The fiscal cliff is looming. We have debt ceiling stuff will be coming up, political problems around the world. When there's prosperity, politics is not quite so dangerous. But when you don't have prosperity, the politics become that much more important. And so we've got some real issues in this country on the political front we need to address, the debt ceiling and all of the stuff coming up.

O'BRIEN: All grounded in the economic front.

ROMANS: So many things to worry about. I can make a list and maybe two things you don't have to worry about. That's where we are in the middle of the summer.

O'BRIEN: Thanks Christine, appreciate that. We're going to talk about the bank downgrades and how they impact the November election when we're joined by Randy Forbes of Virginia, our guest straight ahead.

Christine is back with other stories making headlines.

ROMANS: Thanks, Soledad. A deadly siege at the Kabul hotel is over. Sparking an overnight gun battle with afghan and NATO troops in Kabul. Three security guards and security guard and three are dead. More than 40 civilians were rescued but it is feared others may be dead inside.

The northeast is sizzling. Temperatures will soar into the 90s for the third day in a row. People are fleeing to pools and beaches.

(WEATHER BREAK)

ROMANS: Severe Flooding in northeastern Minnesota is turning roads into rivers and keeping rescue crews busy. It took a rescue helicopter to pull Allan and Linda Johnson to safety Thursday in Thompson, Minnesota. The two were left stranded by flooding caused by the overflowing Thompson reservoir. Flooding has decimated the neighborhood. Only one neighbor remains in his home, everyone else has fled to higher ground.

With the votes of 12 million Latinos at stake, President Obama will speak at the huge gathering of Hispanic lawmakers near Orlando. It's the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, or NALEO. His speech coming just one day after Mitt Romney addressed the gathering. He focused primarily on the economy and reminded voters to remember the promises and economic reality they now face.

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He may admit that he hasn't kept every promise and he'll probably say even though you aren't better off than four years ago, things could be worse. He'll imply you don't have an alternative. I believe he's taking your vote for granted.

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ROMANS: Suzanne Malveaux is live from Florida.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You might notice here this is not only going to be the largest gathering of Hispanic policy makers but in the heart of Disneyworld, so you might see the monorail and Space Mountain behind me. It is a mix of families and powerful people throughout the country waiting to hear for the president to speak later this morning.

What we saw yesterday was real little a very enthusiastic crowd, but also very skeptical crowd. They wanted to hear what Mitt Romney had to say and he talked about the economy, talking about 11 percent unemployment for the Hispanic community, two million Hispanics now living in poverty but also took a swipe at president Obama. His policy changed last week saying he would allow young adults meeting criteria to stay here in the United States despite their illegal immigrant status. Mitt Romney essentially saying it was a stop gap measure and it was temporary. We're going to hear president Obama coming back and swinging hard and saying that he is doing something to at least address and fix this problem. The last time he was here was back in 2008 as a candidate. Now he's trying to prove once again that he needs another four years and that he will be good for the Hispanic community. Very important words that are going to happen later this morning. Christine?

ROMANS: Suzanne Malveaux in Florida.

The king has his crown, finally. LeBron James and the Miami Heat are champions of the NBA, eliminating the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games with a 121-106 victory in Miami last night. James capturing his first title along with MVP honors. We'll talk about LeBron's achievement and what it means for his legacy when we're joined by Mike Greenberg of ESPN's Mike and Mike in the morning.

O'BRIEN: I have been e-mailing people collecting on my debts. People owe me money and things.

ROMANS: One dollar.

O'BRIEN: I did a whole week of pay back from one person. A whole week. A week.

ROMANS: Let's make a list.

O'BRIEN: I'm a good friend.

Christine, thank you for the update. Our lead story fears of a double dip recession to talk about after Moody's downgraded the credit rating of 15 banks, among them is Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup. It's not clear how this is going to affect every day Americans. Republican Congressman Randy Forbes is with us this morning.

REP. RANDY FORBES, (R) VIRGINIA: Good to be with you.

O'BRIEN: When you hear a double dip recession, do you think that's likely? She said it's too soon to tell.

FORBES: It's too soon to tell. When you travel around the country and listen to people hiring people and listen to you and I talk up here, they are saying nobody is listening to them. What they really need is to get the strangling regulations of their back and get more stability where we're not changing the rules from Monday to Friday every single week which is what they feel is happening. We need to get situations where they are not focused so much on the litigation that they have to do throughout the businesses so that they can have a fair level playing field to compete and get back in this economic game. Until that happens, we're going to continue to see the fluctuations take place.

O'BRIEN: You've been a proponent of less regulation and fewer taxes. How does that translate into more jobs and better economy regulation is what could have staved off a crisis in the first place.

FORBES: There's different kinds of regulation, Soledad. And one of the things you're hearing today, we need to step back and ask people investing the money, ask the people making the hiring decisions why they aren't doing it. If you just do that, one of the things you have to see, this administration united them together because they are coming back across the country and telling us the same thing. They're saying we are not going to make investments if you have this huge health care big strangling small business around the country. We're not going to do it when every single day we're kicking business people in the teeth. Until we get those guys back in the game and get them investing those moneys, we're going to continue to have this cycle kind of thing we're seeing every day.

O'BRIEN: There was a report that Rick Scott was advised to tone down the state of Florida's success, and the report is it's coming out of the Romney campaign. This is the Dems accusing the Republicans of rooting for a bad economy. That is not the first time something like has been charged.

FORBES: We're in a political season and hear all kinds of things. What you love to see is for the administration, it had three and a half years, just once for one of their failed policies, always have the same responses, either George Bush made me do it or the mean Republicans --

O'BRIEN: Sometimes it is the mean Republicans.

FORBES: But sometimes it is the mean Democrats doing it to themselves. Soledad, everybody wants this economy to grow and do well. I think the American people realize we've got to turn these policies around if we want to get the economy going again.

O'BRIEN: NALEO, Mitt Romney was speaking in front of the organization of Latino leaders and he basically talked a little bit about his plans for immigration. It was very, I thought, vague and sketchy on some things, but he said there should be a clear path to citizenship for those in military service, green card preference for families living under one roof and visa program, strengthen border security. He didn't really talk about what everybody is talking about, which is the Dream act, in quotes, "kids."

FORBES: I think we need -- again, I think the governor said it well. We don't need a two-year Band-Aid on this. We need a comprehensive fix that will deal with the problem on a long-term basis. One of the things I was excited to hear about with the governor, he's going to put a lot of detail to his proposal.

O'BRIEN: But he hasn't. He's low on details.

FORBES: He's come out with a proposal six months before he's become president and president Obama it has taken him three and a half years. Where were his proposals in congress?

O'BRIEN: His answer is will put in place a long-term solution that will supersede --

FORBES: I disagree. I think what he's talking about is the need for a permanent fix on a balanced approach where he looks at a couple of things. One, make sure we're enforcing the laws we have --

O'BRIEN: Let's talk specifically about the Dream act type for kids. What he's saying on that front, I'm going to do something long term. You're saying something, something long term because this is a very vague paragraph. I can read it to you, it's vague.

FORBES: If you want me to respond, I'm happy to. One of things we hear all the time, I'm not hearing it in studios like this but from case work all across our constituent offices. People tell us one of the biggest problems they have is this inefficient administration to get the paperwork done. That's what people talk about. The second thing is this, he's talking about giving a path to citizenship for people who serve in the United States service.

O'BRIEN: I'm talking about the Dream act kids.

FORBES: You want to talk about the things you feel -- but what I'm saying --

O'BRIEN: I hear you. FORBES: What people are talking about, they want a balanced approach, don't want the Band-Aid approaches that the president walks in -- five months or four months before an election.

O'BRIEN: But what you're saying to me, what Mitt Romney's answer, I will put in place a long-term solution, right, kind of a vague, you have to admit that is very vague on this front, a long-term solution that replace and supersedes the president's temporary measure. That that is a better answer than what the president has done which is temporary but now put into effect. That's what you're arguing.

FORBES: When you talk about the vagaries of Governor Romney's talk, he has put down several pillars which are going to form the basis for a foundational approach to have a comprehensive solution.

O'BRIEN: He said he would veto the Dream act.

FORBES: The other thing is people across the country are very concerned about is going to be getting this economy going because we don't have jobs for people. None of this will matter much anyway. People pretty much realize that Governor Romney will have a plan to do that.

O'BRIEN: I have everybody yelling in my ear, we have to go. Randy Forbes, we would love to come back and continue this conversation. I appreciate having you.

FORBES: We'll be talking about it for a long time.

O'BRIEN: It is and you know we will.

Still ahead on "starting point", looks like the decision turned out to be a good one. We're going to talk about the Miami heat win. If you're addicted to Twitter as I am a little bit, the get real will get you talking. It's viewer request Friday today. This is from Barbara Hamilton's choice via Facebook, good choice. You're watching STARTING POINT. We have to take a break.

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O'BRIEN: The Miami Heat are the new NBA champions. The Heat crushed the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-106 to win the NBA finals in five games. LeBron James with time still on the clock kind of unable to control his emotions last night as he jumped on the court and hugged his opponent, Kevin Durant. It was LeBron's first NBA honor. He earned another honor, MVP after he was also voted MVP of the regular season.

Mike Greenberg and Marcellus Wiley join us. I'm a Heat fan and big LeBron James fan too. Why do you think at the end they were able to win?

MIKE GREENBERG, HOST, ESPN'S "MIKE AND MIKE IN THE MORNING:" It's the corps nation of king James, that is the story of the finals and as far as why they are able to do it differently, LeBron James looked like a different person. He said he learned a lot from the experience and pain from falling short last year. There was a lack of aggressiveness about him a year ago that he seems to have found now.

MARCELLUS WILEY, FORMER NFL PLAYER: We saw this year LeBron James showing pure joy for the game and going out there with a different mindset and feeling comfortable with himself and his teammates. He went out there this year and let his desire manifest. You saw the result.

O'BRIEN: He talked about an immaturity. He said to NBC sports, "Last year I played to prove people wrong instead of playing my game and going out and having fun and playing a game that I grew up loving." I thought that was true. It looked like it was much more into it and into the whole thing this year.

GREENBERG: I think what happened was LeBron James is someone who had been beloved his entire life. In the wake of quote/unquote "the decision" two years ago, he took on an unpopular role, the ultimate sports villain. I think somebody in the recesses of his soul, he came to terms with the fact, I can't change that. I'm just going to go out and play my game.

WILEY: Just to have that ability to go out there and self- correct, not just your game but you, your personality, your mind set, you've got to give this guy respect for what he was able to do. Now you saw him go out there and continue with that development, and it resulted in him finally getting the monkey off his back and winning championship.

O'BRIEN: But as you know, he didn't just say he was going to win, two or three or four or five. He said seven. Do you think that great game MVP means that people will forgive him and the whole decision thing will be past him?

GREENBERG: You know, I think there are some people who will never forgive him. I don't think he'll ever be especially popular in the city of Cleveland again. If you look at some of what's out there on Twitter, there will be always people to want to tear him down because they don't like the way he handled everything and the way the team came together. Whether you respect him or not is irrelevant. You cannot help respect the game.

WILEY: Exactly. Most people will forgive but some people won't forget the decision. And that's OK, because now you can cross another one off the list in the sense of LeBron James saying look at my resume. I have a three time NBA MVP and also a champion. Those critics start to silence.

O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, I'm doing my victory lap around the newsroom today. Mike and Marcellus joining me from Mike and Mike in the morning. Nice to see you, thanks.

Let's talk about the game, shall we? Will Cain, are you leaving the set?

(LAUGHTER) WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I'm a man of my world first of all.

O'BRIEN: I thought he might be leaving.

CAIN: What was it five?

O'BRIEN: It was one. I'm very cheap, only bet a dollar at a time.

ROMANS: Six more coming to you.

O'BRIEN: I know, yes.

CAIN: Should LeBron keep his promise to win seven titles.

O'BRIEN: It's the Will Cain dollar.

CAIN: Will was wrong. There was a first time for everything.

O'BRIEN: How about yet again, Will was wrong, is that what you mean?

(LAUGHTER)

We're going to talk about this with our team this morning. Will and Margaret and Ryan -- I almost called you Liz at first. Let's talk about Twitter. Oh, my god.

MARGARET HOOVER, AUTHOR, "AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM": There's nowhere to go --

O'BRIEN: Talk about it on the other side of the break, Twitter crashed for hours. The worst part you couldn't tweet about how you were not being able to tweet. It's our "Get Real" this morning.

RYAN LIZZA, "NEW YORKER": Nobody is going to read that.

O'BRIEN: This comes from Twitter, a song request courtesy of administer aware, "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus. We don't get a lot of Miley Cyrus requests on the show.

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ROMANS: Welcome back, I'm Christine Romans. Two of the central characteristics in the "News of the World" hacking scandal in court this morning. Former chief executive Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie appearing for a preliminary hearing. They're accused of removing boxing of materials from the news international archive and trying to conceal evidence from Scotland Yard investigators.

Day two of deliberations set to begin in about two hours in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse trial. A bombshell yesterday when Sandusky's 33-year-old adopted son matt claimed he had been abused by Sandusky and was willing to testify about it in court. So why did Matt Sandusky wait until now to make these allegations? We'll talk about that next in the next half when we're joined by noted friends and psychiatrist Dr. Michael Welner.

A millionaire's boat washing up on shore without him. The Coast Guard now searching the waters off south Florida for Guma Aguilar. The coast guard says the boat's engine and lights were still on. We'll speak to his mother here on STARTING POINT. A real mystery in south Florida.

O'BRIEN: Yes it is. I'm looking forward to that interview, lots of questions about that. Thanks, Christine.

Let's introduce you to our team this morning. Margaret Hoover is with us, we had a chance to spend time out of work.

CAIN: You did?

O'BRIEN: We went to a reception.

HOOVER: It was a reception honoring Soledad's foundation.

O'BRIEN: We were both drinking wine in the afternoon which makes for a rocky show.

LIZZA: And Washington correspondent for the New Yorker -- almost called you Liz O'Ryan.

O'BRIEN: Will Cain had to hand over a dollar today because of a bet.

CAIN: Careful now, you might have to answer questions.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: Our "Get Real," we have high unemployment numbers and people losing homes. There is one bright spot in the world though. Twitter is back, thank god. Just before noon yesterday the micro-blogging site crashed. It was so bad they never even put up the fail whale you get. Twitter returned less than an hour later and crashed again around 3:00 in the afternoon. The PR account tweeted that the issue was caused by a cascading bug, whatever that means.

LIZZA: That's my new excuse for anything. I didn't feel that piece, the cascading bug ate it.

O'BRIEN: A hacker claimed they had taken it down for three years but whatever --

CAIN: It seems like the hackers were jumping on it.

LIZZA: Like a terrorist organization that jumps on some event without actually having anything to do with it.

CAIN: On a scale from one to ten, how much did this affect your life?

LIZZA: Some days it would be huge. I lost contact for a few hours, so low, a serious problem for Twitter, they are trying to make money and they have a reputation for being unreliable and they were starting to overcome that and boom, you go out for a couple of hours.

CAIN: It's the first time since October that they've been down like this. No big deal for Twitter.

LIZZA: Still haven't fixed the un-follow button, know about that?

O'BRIEN: Cascading bug.

HOOVER: I'm wearing a Twitter color this morning, Twitter blue.

O'BRIEN: Still ahead on STARTING POINT, we're going to hear more about the breaking news, George Zimmerman's own words as he created some inconsistencies in his story. We'll examine that.

Seven months after the Jerry Sandusky story breaks, the coach's own adopted son is coming forward and saying he too was abused. The timing of all this, though, is a little interesting. You're watching STARTING POINT. We're going to talk about all of that after the break.

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O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Coming up this morning on STARTING POINT, a bombshell comes after a testimony ends in the Jerry Sandusky trial.

His adopted son says that he was one of the victims of the accused child molester. Dr. Michael Welner is one of the leading forensic psychiatrists in the country. We're going to talk to him about that this morning.

And a troubled Florida millionaire who has gone missing. His empty yacht washing up on shore. What happened to him? We'll talk to his mother live this morning.

First though, got to get an update on what's happening in the headlines. Let's get right to Christine Romans for that. Hi, good morning.

ROMANS: Good morning, again. Whether George Zimmerman goes to prison or goes free could all come down to the tapes.

Newly released video of Zimmerman giving Sanford police his version of what happened just before he shot and killed Trayvon Martin. But some are questioning whether his story is consistent.

Compare a clip where Zimmerman explains why he got out of his car that night to what was recorded on the 911 call.

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GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: Asked me where he went, what direction he went in. I said I don't know. Then I thought to get out and look for a street sign. I got out of my car and started walking --

All right, he's running. He's running.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Which way is he running?

ZIMMERMAN: Down towards the other entrance of the neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: OK, which entrance is that he's heading towards?

ZIMMERMAN: The back entrance.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Are you following him?

ZIMMERMAN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: OK, we don't need you to do that.

ZIMMERMAN: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A Martin family attorney tells CNN's Erin Burnett those two clips tell different stories about why Zimmerman got out of his car and how he came in contact with Martin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE JACKSON, ATTORNEY FOR TRAYVON MARTIN'S FAMILY: That's not a small inconsistency, that's a huge one. Because our whole position has been this case is not a stand your ground case because George Zimmerman pursued Trayvon Martin.

The fact that that is not what he wrote in his statement that he pursued and ran after him when we know about his own words that's what happened, you know, what else can we believe in his statement, if from the very beginning there's a lie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The re-enactment video was shot the day after Martin was killed. In it Zimmerman tells police that Martin, quote, "jumped out from the bushes and attacked him." You could see bandages on the back of his head.

Mount Rainier National Park is closed this morning after a park ranger fell almost 4,000 feet to his death. He was trying to rescue four stranded climbers.

Ranger Nick Hall was preparing other climbers to be evacuated Thursday afternoon when he fell while standing in an elevation of 13,700 feet. A search team reached Hall's body several hours later.

It looks like South Florida will get a soaking next week. There's a storm system brewing right now in the Gulf of Mexico. Forecasters say there's a 70 percent chance it could result in a tropical depression or tropical storm possibly by tonight. If it does, the storm or depression will be named Debbie -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Christine. Thanks for that update.

Explosive accusation to tell you about in the Jerry Sandusky case as the jury deliberates his child sex abuse trial. Sandusky's own adopted son, Matt, now says he was also sexually abused by his father and was willing to testify against him.

Until now Matt has been one of Sandusky's strongest supporters during the investigation and the trial. And he denied he was abused. Jerry Sandusky, of course, is accused of abusing 10 young boys over 15 years.

The jury currently sequestered won't hear about the new accusations. Brings us to Dr. Michael Welner, he is one of the leading forensic psychiatrists in the country.

He's been following this trial, of course, like everybody else. The timing on this Matt Sandusky allegations, if you will, accusations, if you will, is strange I think. What do you think?

MICHAEL WELNER, PH.D., FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: Victims go through a complex mix of how open they should be, why they didn't report it another time, why they allowed themselves to be victimized, whether they deserved it.

I think that unless we've gone through the experience of what it is to be sexually exploited, then we can't understand the pool in both directions, now throw in incest and the idea we spoke about last time I was here about how Sandusky was manipulating victims by sending them letters.

Can you imagine when it's someone who's legitimately you're the father figure and you're the son and the powerful pool of family silence and family loyalty and how others in the family will react and again, your own role, your own guilt imploding the family in the place you have to play.

So I think we can question, it's a natural human tendency, but humanity has a bigger problem of giving ear to victims and especially incest victims and that's why it's so under reported in contemporary society.

HOOVER: Was this well placed in terms of the jury? I mean, this will have no effect on the jury's deliberations because they can't hear testimony. Was it well strategically placed at a time when the jury started deliberations?

WELNER: I don't know we can necessarily think of emotions as strategic. I would consider how close he was to all of the testimony that was unfolding at trial --

O'BRIEN: He sat through the entire thing -- but he sat with the Sandusky family.

WELNER: What must it have been like for him to sit with this and have it brew in him and have him look at victims and contemplate what must it have been like for them to come forward.

Then look at himself in the mirror and say, not only was he silent, but in some ways he was the accessory to abuse that everybody was accusing others of being so long.

By saying nothing is happening here, this is a virtuous family. I was treated well. He was loving. He had to come to grips, if in fact he was being overly protective of somebody he has loving feelings for, for his being part of the problem.

So I think in terms of strategic effects, when it comes to the turbulent emotions of victimization, all bets are off about strategic significance.

And what we need to do is just listen and then let it sort itself out later and be cautious and have the process go through. Because for all of the victims, not just the son, but all of the victims, had that journey of do I speak, do I expose myself? Do I stay silent? For incest victims, it's that much more difficult.

O'BRIEN: I was surprised I went to the attorneys who are going to be handling the civil suit and not the prosecutors that they are sort of on either side of that. I fully understand you can never predict how somebody who has -- if they have been victimized --

WELNER: It may also be the mechanics of it. The prosecutors may say I'll be here for you before the trial. When prosecutors are on trial, they may not have been accessible to him at the time when he had intense emotional needs.

CAIN: But it's definitely worth pointing out that Matt Sandusky was adopted. He was adopted when he was 11 and he was a troubled youth who came to Sandusky family through the Second Mile charity. You know, I think that's at least we're considering in this whole story. It seems to be an odd twist.

O'BRIEN: And his birth mother was the one who originally had red flags about Jerry Sandusky, but did she have an axe to grind because her son was taken away or were there some valid points to that? It's a really interesting turn in this case.

WELNER: On both fronts with the adoption. You may be adopted, but he's your dad. And then on the other front, if we look at Second Mile, as this vehicle and that was your question last time, this vehicle for setting up exploitation because you're the paternal loving influence.

Well, what greater institution than the institution of adoption, which is tragic because then people doubt adoption and there are so many virtuous people who know how to treat children and full of love and therefore they have to be defensive.

O'BRIEN: It's an interesting alleged -- alleged --

WELNER: You wonder --

O'BRIEN: You wait to see what the jury says when they come back. Thank you, Dr. Welner. It's nice to have you as always.

Straight ahead, we're going to talk about this grandmother. We talked about this yesterday being bullied by a bunch of middle schoolers.

Well, now she's got the showering of support that's pretty amazing and also threats too though. We'll tell you what happened there.

This millionaire has gone missing. His empty yacht has washed ashore. What exactly happened to him? We're going to talk to a family member live. You're watching STARTING POINT. We got to take a break. We'll see you on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: "Island Rocker" by Akshan. Who is this? Kristin Palmer, Facebook. I know it's all request Friday. However, gospel people, come on.

We've been showing video of a grandmother horribly bullied on the school bus. We talked about this yesterday, by this middle school kids. It seems there is one bright spot in all of it though.

People around the world literally around the world have donated what's nearly half a million dollars to send Karen Klein, that's her name, on vacation. You probably have seen some of the tape. We'll roll a little bit right here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED KID: You're a troll. You're a troll.

UNIDENTIFIED KID: How about if I bring my knife to -- cut you and my knife would go through you like butter because it is all lard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: It was so awful. It's actually got worse than that. It went on for about 10 minutes. So last night she was on Anderson's show and she gets this really cool surprise.

Because Anderson tells her like, guess what, you're also getting Southwest Airlines donating airfare and hotel to send her and nine people to Disneyland, which is pretty awesome.

So the half million dollars didn't have to pay for that. The bullying tape also though is inciting some vigilantes, which is so crazy. Because the four kids who are accused of harassing her that are caught on that tape, are now getting death threats.

HOOVER: Well, this is what we need -- also it is a wonderful story to make lemonade out of lemons, but you also hope that there's disciplinary action for the kids who acted out in this.

O'BRIEN: The school says there will be. HOOVER: And in fact, even one of her grandchildren has received over a thousand texts and death threats on his phone. Police have custody of the telephone.

So the bully -- the cycle of bullying has to stop. The money coming in is great and she'll have a fantastic vacation. But how do you stop the cycle of bad behavior.

CAIN: My point yesterday was these kids were following kind of a group mentality, a pack mentality that makes it easy to jump on. What about the kind of pack response when the kids receiving death threats now? I mean, kind of need to check ourselves at some point as well, right?

LIZZA: There's a gut reaction when you see something like this. Even the kids engaged in the bullying, when they watched it later they told reporters they were shocked and can't believe they did that and had a sense of regret. It reminds you of the psychological experiments how far people go and especially teenagers, middle school.

O'BRIEN: But bullying the bullies is not exactly the solution to stop bullying.

CAIN: Quick numbers, Margaret, you have 2 million views of that YouTube video and over half million dollars that means a quarter from everyone who watched.

O'BRIEN: I love that.

All right, still ahead on STARTING POINT this morning, a search is on for this multimillionaire, he's missing. His yacht has washed up onshore. They can't find him though anywhere.

We're going to talk to his mother. His name is Guma Aguiar and we're going to talk to her about what she is hearing as authorities continue to search for him. You're watching STARTING POINT. We're back in a moment.

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ROMANS: Welcome back to STARTING POINT. I'm Christine Romans with a quick look at what's making news this hour.

A South Carolina mom who contracted a rare flesh eating bacterial infection has been upgraded to good condition. The 36-year- old Lana Kirkendahl has undergone about 20 surgeries since May 11, four days after giving birth to her twins.

But unlike the case of Aimee Copeland of Georgia who is battling the same condition, no amputations have been necessary.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange who has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London finds out today whether that country will grant him asylum.

But British police say Assange will be arrested regardless of Ecuador's decision. Assange is trying to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over allegations of sexual abuse.

Those full body scans at airports have generated plenty controversy, but they haven't caught any terrorists. But TSA's John Holenski admits those scans have not resulted in the detention of any terror suspects. But says their presence is keeping terrorists away from U.S. airports -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, I guess that's good to know. Thanks, Christine. Appreciate it.

So there is this mystery that is surrounding the disappearance of a Florida multimillionaire. He is a natural gas tycoon. His name is Guma Aguiar. And he was discovered missing early on Wednesday morning when his yacht washed ashore in Fort Lauderdale, but he wasn't onboard.

The yacht, which is called the "TT Zion" was found with lights on and both outboard engines running. Aguiar was last seen on Tuesday night, and authorities aren't ruling out any possibilities in his disappearance.

This is a guy who's had multiple run-ins with the law in recent years and he had been committed to a psychiatric hospital back in 2010.

Talking to us this morning is Ellen Aguiar, she is his mother. Thank you for being with us. I know that the Coast Guard has called off the search last night. So at this point, what do you realistically think has happened to your son?

ELLEN AGUIAR, MOTHER OF MISSING FLORIDA MILLIONAIRE: You know, we still hope that someone found him. We hope that by some miracle that Guma is still alive. The other option is that because of the problems with his boat and the tumultuous sea that he was tossed from the boat.

O'BRIEN: Which would mean that if he was tossed from the boat in a storm that he could be --

AGUIAR: That he would have drowned.

O'BRIEN: He could have drowned. He went sailing when the weather was bad and as you point out the seas were very, very choppy. Is that unusual for him? Some people were surprised that he'd take a boat out at that time of night and in that kind of weather.

AGUIAR: You know, I'm not altogether familiar with his habits in the evening. I wouldn't anticipate that on a normal evening he would go out in a storm. I would think that when he went out, that the seas were still calm before the storm. And he got stuck in the storm.

O'BRIEN: I mentioned as we were coming to start our interview about some of the troubles that he's had in the past that you know of, I know, with law enforcement, some of the troubles that he's had psychologically. He was committed to a mental hospital in 2010. How did he seem to you of late? Did he seem like he was stable and healthy or was he struggling?

AGUIAR: He was struggling. He was under tremendous pressures that would not cease. And those of us who were very concerned reached out to parties essentially begging them to mitigate him from some of the pressures. And allow him to take a break.

And really to be able to heal from a lot of the trauma that he has been through, not just -- largely through the time that he did spend in hospitals. You know, ironically, we think of injustice and poor treatment for the poor.

But my experience is now is that the super rich have so many people vying for money and favors that they are not able to be taken care of properly.

O'BRIEN: Wow, that's interesting that you're saying that. I know he's worth something like $100 million and you have asked to have temporary guardianship of his money. Has that been granted to you? Do you think it will be at this point?

AGUIAR: It's pending. It's pending.

O'BRIEN: All right, well, thank you.

AGUIAR: And that's because --

O'BRIEN: Go ahead. I'm sorry.

AGUIAR: I have photographs.

O'BRIEN: Of?

AGUIAR: Of Guma.

O'BRIEN: OK, and we've been showing pictures of him all morning. I know you want to make sure that people know what he looks like in case certainly hopefully that somehow he's been found and rescued and he's alive and just is disoriented.

So we will show pictures of him as we've been doing during our interview so people understand and know what he looks like in the hopes that he is -- that he has survived this boating accident.

Ellen Aguiar, thank you for talking with us this morning. We wish you the very best and I hope that they'll resume that search again.

AGUIAR: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: All right, we have to take a break. Ahead this morning, we'll talk a little bit about what could be a double dip recession, news at home and news abroad kind of pointing in that direction. We'll talk finance straight ahead. President Obama speaking to 12 million potential voters who are Latino today. We're going to talk to the head of the DNC about the president's efforts to win them over in this election.

And here's something to think about. President Charlie Sheen, no worries. Relax, breathe, Margaret, breathe. It's only in the movies.

Here is a request from Twitter user, the country is in the very best of hands from the Li'l Abner sound track. It's completely out of control. You're watching STARTING POINT.

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