released her tax returns. somehow this wasn't an issue. >> it is an issue for mitt romney. it is not his wife's money. and unlike john mccain, romney's career has been in business. not politics. mitt romney is running on his business expertise. his tax returns are a relevant window in to his he conducts his business affairs. if he refuses to release them, it is because he had a lot more money in tax shelters than he does now. two, he did something shady. or, three, he's stupid. mitt romney not stupid. and if he did something shady, did he it because the irs would already have found it. so let's assume it's number one. he had a lot of tax shelters. took advantage of every loophole known to man in the 72,536 page irs tax code. that's fair and square. that is why the tax code is so long so people can take advantage of it. but here's our decent proposal.

release the returns. if there's a lot of tax shelters and some frankly incredibly low tax rates, significantly lower say than your 13.9% rate in 2010, mitt, then say this. my tax rates were too low. i don't believe that passively invested money should be taxed lower than income people earn by working. i benefitted from low rates on investment. that's not great policy and i'm going to change it. on day one. you know he likes to say on day one. i will end the loophole that saved me tens of millions of dollars at least. after all, americans know that this country needs major tax reform. even tea parties have said that they would close some of the loopholes that benefit some of the wealthiest americans. and, mitt, could use this as a chance to show how generous you are. get ready for this, everybody, it is true that mitt romney gave $7 million to charity in the two years i held up, 2010 and 2011. that's 16.34% of his income. it is more than he paid in

federal taxes. now, keep the screen up. i want to show you this. it's not like he sat there and hoarded the money he didn't pay to uncle sam. he gave enough away to make his rate 31%. greater than the 30% that president barack obama says should be the minimum rate for wealthy americans. so if you look at it that way, mitt's taxes seem to add up just fine. he could make the argument, that's why he should seize the narrative. it isn't caving to democrats to release them. not only have many in his party called on him to do it, it also lets him take control of the conversation. after all, what's wrong with being known as one of the most generous people in the country? joining us now is john avlon, michael walden and hogan kinley. john, let me start with our strike team question independent political analysts. we polled them and said is mitt romney hurting himself politically by only releasing two years. everybody 100%. you obviously voted. why so certain? >> this isn't subtle. the reality is left, right or center, unless you're on the

romney campaign payroll, i think you see that this is a bad decision to stone wall this. because either you'll keep on taking hits because it doesn't pass the common sense smell test or you'll kill people with kindness, put it all out there and use to make a positive argument. blaine offense always beats plain defense. but this doesn't add up for the campaign at all. >> i promised to make a point here that this isn't just democrats calling for this. take a listen. >> he should release the tax returns tomorrow. it's crazy. you've got to release six, eight, ten years of back tax returns. take the hit for a day or two. >> if there was nothing there, he would say have at it. so something compromising what he said in the past about something. but i think the bigger thing is it's arrogance. >> if something is going to come out, get it out in a hurry. >> hogan, what is he waiting for? >> that's a great question. obviously you need to get out in front of these things early if

there's something wrong with those tax returns as you mentioned in your open. but this is the message war. obviously president obama sees an opening here. he's taken advantage of it and he's hammering mitt romney on his bain holdings. hammering mitt romney on not releasing his tax returns. and focus group, polling shows us what he should do. he's obviously been very successful at it, because we've been talking about this now for about a week. so clearly the mitt romney campaign is on its heels. conversely mitt romney says i'm hot going to listen to what the president wants and i'm going to hammer him on the economy. the problem is the only voice being heard and being paid attention to right now seems to be the president. and mitt romney needs to hit back. republicans want him to hit back and they want him to hit back with a pair of brass knuckles. get after it hard and mean and looks like he hasn't been doing that. >> why can't he come out? i was just giving my ---the way i would handle it. why not say when i add of my charity and federal taxes, it's more than what barack obama would have people pay. >> the whole thing is rather

weird because they had to know this was going to come up. they knew this one year ago, five years ago. >> he was running in 2008. he had to have been ready then. to release a couple years. >> you have to assume this is something where mitt romney himself as a personal matter feels his privacy as a wealthy person is being violated or something like that. and there's a reason in a way that we don't often elect people from this kind of background. when nelson rockefeller was nominated to be the vice president, he went through an examination of his finances by congress that was unprecedented. they looked at six years of his tax returns and that was because of this special nature of nominating for vice president a rockefeller. i think it would be hard for romney even assuming of course i assume that everything was legal, but it's very much what's

wrong with the tax code. it's not progressive. there are things available to some people that aren't available to other people. >> which john brings me to the other problem. he's been on adamant i wouldn't change for example the rules on carried interest which is how he had a very low tax rate on money that was investment income essentially. he'd have to come out and say i would change the what you so that people can't pay those low rates. he'd have to flip-flop. >> or evolve as he has said on many other issues in the past. >> there's nothing wrong with evolving. >> no. especially if it's counter to your self-interest on the surface. if you say i did pay a lower rate and it's one more argument why we need radical tax simplification. president obama campaigned on it, he didn't do it. i will. >> and hogan, one other thing, our brittany harris looked at the returns today. looking for romney tax returns over the past ten days. it has spiked.

when you look at it from a political operative point of view, you say you got to make this go away? the spike won't drop on its own? >> right. look, he's going to get attacked. it's political calculation. he'll get attacked either for not releasing his tax returns or attacked for what's in them. obviously they've made a choice that they'll wait and just take the attacks for not releasing them. i think he needs to go ahead and do it obviously, but this is an issue that has plagued him for some time. our campaign, the rick santorum campaign, we actually upped the ante and tried to release a lot more tax returns to try to draw him out. but this is a different game. this is the general election, the lights are brighter, the stakes are higher. and for some reason he doesn't want to release that, and right now we have to live with that as republicans and defend him. and hopefully it will come out in our favor in the end. >> quit final word. >> mitt romney wants to make the election a referendum on the state of the economy. barack obama wants to make the election a referendum on who

will benefit from the way we fix the economy. this whole issue is very hard for romney to make a winner for him. >> well, and all i'll say is it has to add up to this. the guy was running in 2008. that meant he was ready for two years of tax returns then. he could do at least six, even if he did something bad, it's got to be more than six years ago. i think that adds up a massive gamble for oil in the arctic. we went out front to find out if the cost of that drilling adds up. and an international banking scandal could be spreading to this country. a criminal case could be on the horizon. and new sex abuse accusations tonight against jerry sandusky and they stand out from the prior ones. ♪ why not make lunch more than just lunch?

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our second story out front. a massive gamble for oil in the arctic off to a bad start. one of shell's oil rigs headed up to alaska's north slope broke free of its moorings. it could have grounded. at this point, it doesn't appear that there is damage. they're still investigating. but it raises a red flag for environmentalists. if shell can't manage the ships in a protected port, how can they come it in open sea. how could they do it in an open sea where conditions are thought to be much, much worse. tonight a look it at the other side of the arctic gamble. not the billions that shell has invested. but what happens to the environment if something does go wrong, terribly wrong. >> reporter: for millions of nesting birds, for sales, walruses, whales and countless sea animals, the arctic is the cradle of life.

a short but intense summer with 24 hour sunshine. in the winter, another world. a place of subzero temperatures, ferocious winds and a frozen landscape. yet this harsh but delicate place is changing. look at this from nasa. ice covering the north pole in 1980 compared to 2012. the north pole is melting. opening new opportunities. i'm standing on an iceberg in the middle of the arctic. it must be several hundred tons and what's amazing is i can feel the entire structure move as the water comes underneath it. the eskimos have more than 100 words to describe ice and they had it for a reason. ice, not only now in the summer, but certainly the winter, is a way of life. that way of life headed for change. the arctic now open for summer shipping and some predictions say by mid century, shipping year-round will be common place.

enter shell and its plan to prospect for oil offshore here. if they find what they think is down here, it will spark a race to drill increasing the possibility of a spill. >> there is no world experience that tells us that we could address and clean up the spill in the unforgiving waters in the arctic. >> reporter: in the gulf's deep water horizon, only about a third of the oil was physically recovered in the spill p.m. in the "exxon valdez" disaster, less than 10% of the oil was recovered. and cleaning up a spill in this hostile place would be a very tall order. the plan in shallow water, less than 200 feet, drilling wells up to 8,000 feet below the seabed, then lowering sophisticated equipment into the holes to determine just how much oil is down there. no plans to actually bring oil up. you think there's a gold mine

under the arctic? >> we're enthused about what we see, but our enthusiasm is tempered until we drill. >> reporter: shell has equipped themselves with clean up collection and processing ships, planes and helicopters, just in case of a spill. the company has also worked with eskimo plans. edward ita is mayor of barrow. he ran on the slogan, hell no to offshore drilling. but then he took office. >> in my heart of hearts today, i still oppose offshore. but during my term, i realized one important thing. that responsibility of a mayor. >> reporter: responsibility to compromise for jobs, tax revenues, even cleaning the streets. bob reese author of the eskimo and oil man about the decision to drill offshore says the plan is all about compromise. all the way to the white house. >> compromise means you don't let people drill in some places and you do in other places. and i think that that's what the president's done here. and the department of interior

has been pretty thorough in going over shell's plan. >> reporter: but reese admits no matter how stringent the rules and oversight from washington, at the end of the day, no one can legislate perfection. >> miguel is here with me now. we talk about the oil rig that broke loose of its mooring. has that changed shell's plans? it's going to cost them $20 billion just to do this. >> no, it hasn't. they put underwater vehicles down there to see if there was any damage to the hull. they said that are not. they'll have divers come in friday to check out the hull, as well, to make doubly sure that it's fine. but they intend full steam ahead first week of august, shell expects to be drilling there if they get all of their permits approved by then. >> i saw those wildlife pictures that you were showing and you think of the awful pictures from the "exxon valdez" and then of course there was bp and the worst oil spill ever now in the u.s. with the macondo well.

what is shell's contingency plan for something they say you can't 100% control. >> you can't, but i've read a heck of a lot and they have gone to enormous lengths. they have 15 ships going up there with these two rigs dedicated solely to the collection and processing of oil. they have planes and helicopters that can spray dispersants. if worse comes to worse, they can burn it off much more readily in the arctic as well because it hanging together in that cold water. the one big question is whether it will be tested. >> miguel of course is doing an extended series for us. you'll see the next installment tomorrow night, cold war, fight for arctic oil right here out front. ahead tonight, what u.s. special forces are doing to stop the threat of al qaeda, which is now rising again. and seven minutes of terror.

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our third story "outfront,"

u.s. special forces, civil war, and arising islamic insurgency which includes al qaeda. no, it's not afghanistan. this is the situation in the african nation of mali and it could be america's next big problem. the obama administration is tight lipped about u.s. involvement in mali, but three u.s. army commandos were killed in a mysterious car crash in mali's capital this spring and there are reports of a growing cia presence nearby. seth jones is out front tonight. good to see you. appreciate your taking the time. how substantial is al qaeda's foothold at this point? >> i would say al qaeda's foothold is substantial in the sense that it is using mali as a sanctuary. it's involved in training forces both in mali and others in the region, it provides explosive devices, training them in counterterrorism techniques. so it is a rising concern and should be a rising concern for a range of european governments. >> we've been hearing so much about al qaeda being on the

verge of strategic defeat and some of the successful killings in yemen. do you think this changes that argument? >> i think there's no question it changes the argument. what we've seen across aspects of north africa and then the horn is weakening government. exactly what's happened in mali. al qaeda has tried to push into the governance vacuum and establish some areas of sanctuary that it's trying to expand using local allies, in the case of mali, organizations as a local group to establish broader sanctuary. >> so president obama has called for increased use of special respect forces as part of his strategy. david sangor in his book. there was a report of the three commandos found dead in, a car with three supposedly moroccan

prostitutes. does that add up to you? >> u.s. special operations forces have been involved in training malian forces over the last decade and more. training them in search and seizure counter terrorist operations, intelligence surveillance and recognizance. so the idea that u.s. special operations and other units in an area that has an al qaeda foothold would be involved in training is certainly probable. >> there are u.s. special operations forces and commandos in there now? >> well, i would say the first and most important aspect in mali for both u.s. special operations and intelligence units is understanding the picture in mali. that means collection of intelligence. how big is the al qaeda

footprint, are they plans overseas or regional attacks. on training, it's unclear how much training is going on by the u.s. but i would say it is an identified hot spot. so i think the subject of question how at the white house and in special operations command is what's the near term strategy for training security forces in mali. >> seth, thanks very much. appreciate you taking the time tonight. and on thursday, we go out front to africa, our first stop will be rwanda where i'll have an exclusive interview with former president bill clinton in a country he calls his personal failure. that is thursday night. and "outfront" next calls for criminal charges over an international banking scandal. and new developments in the search for two missing girl ntds iowa. i'm barack obama and i approve this message.

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we start the second half of our show with stories that we carry about, where we focus on our own reporting from the front lines. the fda has approved a drug for the prevention of hiv/aids. it's for adults who don't have hiv but are at risk of getting the disease. truvada has been used with those already infected to help control it. doctors warn the drug should be taken in combination with other things, certain safe sex practices, for example. the aids health care foundation

calls the approval reckless, saying it's going to set back years of hiv prevention efforts. one of the reasons the group is so upset is while the fda recommendation is negative, the agency doesn't actually require it. hillary clinton is visiting israel to discuss the new leadership in egypt as well as problems with iran. another topic will be syria. she sat down with elise labott and told her why bash aar al asd is distill in power. >> as long as he has iran in his corner, which he does, and as long as he has russia uncertain about whether or not to side against him in anymore dramatic way than it already has, he feels like he can keep going and that's the message we want to reverse. >> the secretary also said she wants the rest of the world to put pressure on russia so that the u.n. security council can impose tougher sanctions on the syrian regime. abu dhabi has started exporting oil from a pipeline

that bypasses the straight of hormuz. it's important because iran of course has threatened to shut down that strait. through which about 40% of the world's oil goes through. the world energy information administration scissors it's the most important oil checkpoint. one and a half million barrels a day go through it. that's a far cry from the 17 million barrels that go through the strait each day, but the pipeline provides the eau with an out in the event the strait is closed. a million and a half here or there can really start to add up. senate investigators believe hsbc failed to prevent billions of dollars worth of money transfers linked to drug cartels and terrorist groups. the committee on investigation says over the past decade, hsbc failed to review thousands of suspicious transactions, some involved iran. >> two hsbc affiliates concealed thousands of transactions involving iran. an outside audit found hsbc affiliates from 2001 to 2007

sent 25,000 iranian transactions worth $19 billion through h-bus and other u.s. banks. links to iran were concealed in 85% of those transactions. >> in a statement, hsbc acknowledges that it sometimes failed to meet regulators standards and insists it has stepped up its compliance efforts. it's been 347 days since america lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back some retail sales fell half a percent in june. economists had hoped for an increase. they got the third decline in a row. the last time a triple month decline happened was in late 2008, the height of the financial crisis. and now our fourth story outfront. the global interest rate rigging scandal has gained more traction here in the united states. so far at least two states, new york and connecticut, are looking into whether banks worked together to effect the

libor rate. let me hit pause for a quick second here because i think it's worth emphasizing how important libor is. it is an interest rate at the core of our entire economy. it's really not wrong to say that if you can't trust libor, you can't trust anything in banking. and that is because libor is the interest rate to which credit cards, adjustable rate mortgages, student loans, even money companies borrow, any debt whose interest rates fluctuates basically is based on libor. and libor is set by banks who report on a regular basis the rates they're willing to lend to each other. so it's not based on the rates they actually lend to each other, but on the rates they say they would. that's a crucial distinction, it's in that say they would where they're able to manipulate the rate. but given it's at the center of the world's economy, to manipulate it would be terribly violating. but it has happened. and as the justice department

reportedly builds a criminal case, on the other side of the atlantic, regulators told british lawmakers about the culture of corruption at one of the manipulating banks, barclays. >> people were beginning to think that there was a cultural tendency to be always on one side of -- always to be pushing the limits. >> banks pushing limits is not anything new. we've seen it again and again. of course you even had the loss at jpmorgan last week. but washington has tried to reform the banking system. still, it has been 726 days since the financial reform bill called dodd-frank was signed into law. you may love that or you may hate it. but the fact is this. we still don't know what will be in all of the 848 pages. so, yes, it passed and we still don't know what's in it. there are a lot of blanks still to be filled in because the lobbyists are still fighting over what number will go on what line. so far this year, they've spent

about $16 million on lobbying. the biggest spenders are wells fargo, jpmorgan, and citigroup. "outfront" tonight new jersey's democratic senator robert menendez one with of 12 senators calling on the justice department to look into the libor scandal. i tried to explain why this libor scandal is so important, but obviously you feel it is, too. do you think that there was manipulation by american banks? >> well, we don't know for sure, but we do know published reports have a list of over a dozen banks, two from the united states, that are supposedly under review by the justice department. and that's why, you know, i wanted to along with several of my other colleagues to urge attorney general holder to pursue this vigorously because libor is at the very basis of our global economic system. and insofar as the effect on consumers, the effect on investors, the effect on pension funds. all of this is affected. so from your mortgage that may

be adjusted because libor goes up, if you have an adjustable rate mortgage, to credit cards, to your money market fund, all of these are at the core of making decisions that affect our financial wellbeing. so we need the justice department to pursue this vigorously. >> it makes complete sense. the one thing i want to ask you of course is that in the instances we've seen libor manipulation, in the case of barclays, it was at the height of the financial crisis. they say they were under pressure from lenders to manipulate it. they wanted it to look like they landed a lower rate so they were a stronger bank. so if anything, the manipulation that we've seen so far would have resulted in lower rates for mortgages, student loan, everybody else. so i'm not saying that justifies it, but it is interesting. >> a couple things about that. those rates got shifted because there were other times in which their traders at he's very banks

wanted to move where libor was this order to protect their investment positions. so sometimes it might have been lower to show that there was safety and soundness or you could be secure. other time it is went up and if you got caught when it went up in order to protect the trading positions of the very same institution, you got third hurt. >> well said. one other question. a lot of people say this libor manipulation, if it happened, it was widespread, it's clearly criminal and a big problem. but then they say but why have we not seen more prosecutions, whether it be the people at the top of lehman brothers or mf global. no one's gone to jail. >> i think we should be actively pursuing prosecutions in any of those cases where we not only have civil procedures but criminal procedures. we need to make it very clear that you cannot manipulate the

nation's financial system and do it with impunity. because that undercuts the very essence of everybody's well, well being from pension funds that are making investments, thinking that libor is at a certain rate, to money market funds, to individuals as they're affected in their consumer independents. just the entire spectrum. so by prosecuting individuals when we could make a case criminally in addition to the civil penalty, i'm seeking those criminal prosecutions from the government because i think that sends a very clear message. >> and one final question. obviously barclays so far paying half a billion in fines. they've admitted to manipulating libor. it could be american banks. but then hsbc also not an american bank came out today as we just reported. helping -- it could be iran, it certainly was mexican drug cartels launder money in and out of the united states.

numbers apparently that stood out like hockey sticks. so are we treating foreign banks more easily than american banks? why is it that foreign banks keep coming up? >> well, it seems to be foreign banks, although many foreign banks are clearly operating here in the united states as well. and i think in the particular case that you just spoke about a few minutes ago, that bank is the u.s. subsidiary or the u.s. bank of that foreign company. the bottom line is someone who was a sponsor of the sanctions on the central bank of iran, it makes me incredibly concerned because at the end of the day, our ability to stop terrorism, our ability in the case of iran from seeking nuclear weapons, is dependent upon the financial institutions taking the reports and publicly making sure that they are following the law and

can informing us so that he can with have flows of money that circumvent the laws that we have pursued in order to stop nuclear weapons or terrorism. >> thank you very much. appreciate your time tonight. and we go how to iowa where the fbi is stepping up the search for two missing girls. the fbi flying in specially trained search dogs hoping that they lead officials to 8-year-old elizabeth collins and 10-year-old lyric cook. the cousins disappeared on friday after they left their grandmother's house to ride bikes. authorities found their bikes and a purse near a lake that is now being drained. kcrg has been covering the story and dave is out front tonight. dave, thanks for taking the time. so in addition to bringing in the fbi dogs, they've also released a more recent photo of lyric from just a few weeks ago. she was wearing glasses. officers obviously i know are stopping cars where you are, vehicles and trucks. what else are they doing, where else are they looking for these girls?

>> well, they're looking anyplace that they conceivably think there might be some clue to find. let's start with the lake first. we're here at meyers lake that you see find us here. and notice where the greenery is, the water just a few hours ago was up to the part that has the green growing plants there. and it has dropped that much. the lake is draining at the rate of three inches an hour. and it's not a very deep lake. at least in most spots. they're thinking within two days they may have a good majority of it drained and that way they would be able to make absolutely sure that the two girls are not in the lake. now, we've spoken with firefighters and rescuers who say they really doubt it because they have used drag lines throughout the entire five acre lake here, and they're 99% sure there's nothing to find here. but again, this is the area where the search began because this is where, as you mentioned, the bikes, the purse on the other side of the lake is where they were found. there's a trail behind there. that's where the last evidence

about the girls appeared and that was again on friday when they found out. and there have been literally 1,000 volunteer as day that have combed the area, 12 square miles, the entire city about 5,000 people, they've practically gone every home's backyard, at least cursory inspection. not found a thing since friday. so it's a very frustrating kind of situation here. now, as far as stopping the automobiles, that was something that they did probably for about an hour and a half to two hours today. they actually were passing out some of the missing flyers. you saw some of the photographs on those. they were then questioning the drivers. we even saw some of them open trunks and do some searching. they wouldn't tell us about there was something that led them to do this, but the effort still continuing but without the 1,000 volunteers a day combing the area. >> i appreciate your time and

we'll keep following the story. very strange obviously. what could have happened to those girls. "outfront" next, an american warship opened fire off the coast of dubai today. and details of new sex abuse accusations against jerry sandusky. chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance. geico, see how much you could save.

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in just a few would he bes nasa will try to land the rover "curiosity" on the surface of mars and nasa is really pushing the promotion of this landing. they came out with this video that describes the seven minutes of terror, the seven minutes it will take to land the "curiosity." there's intense music, heavy drum beats, dramatic animations. it's sort of like something out of hollywood. in fact nasa has even gone so far as to create an xbox live game to hype up the landings. looks like the live rover landing launch. you land basically using body movements and then you are score order how well you complete the three major phases of the landing. so this is the "curiosity" coming down. you get the point. nasa has to do these things, though, in real life and they have to, well, do all this stuff to get to you care about them and about space again, which is what brings me to our number tonight.

that is $300 million and it's the number of dollars slated to be cut from nasa's planetary science funding under president obama's 2013 budget. that's a 20% cut. and for mars exploration, it's worse. the president's budget cuts program funding for that by 38%. so in order for nasa to try to get more funding, they have this big pr push to get people excited about paying for space again. of course god forbid they find life, then we have to share it with everybody else. now to tonight's "outer circle." tonight we begin in the persian gulf where an american naval ship fired on a dubai port killing someone. i asked why the navy opened fire. >> a navy ship fired on a small boat killing one person and wounding three others when this small boat came too close to the

u.s. navy ship. navy officials tell us it may have been fishermen on board, but in those busy and tense waters in the persian gulf, when a small boat approaches a u.s. navy ship and does not obey the signals to stay away and keeps coming, they really have no choice, but eventually if they have to, to use lethal force to stop it. erin? >> thanks to barbara. and now we go to syria, where fighting intensified at the capital today. the red cross announced the spread of violence means the entire country they say formally is now in civil war. ivan watson has been following the story and told me what this new fighting in damascus means. >> reporter: erin, ferocious gun battles have been raging in the heart of the syrian capital for nearly two days now according to eyewitness testimony, as well as numerous videos filmed by opposition activists and rebel cameramen as well who have even

been live streaming over the internet pitched battles between gunmen and the forces of the syrian president bashar al assad. in some of these cases the fighters using machine guns and rocket propelled launchers that jam as they go up against armored syrian tanks. this is a sign that the rebels are feeling more confident than ever that the government's control of the capital is being challenged more than ever in nearly 16 months. the circle is tightening around the syrian regime. erin. >> thanks to our ivan watson. now our fifth story "outfront." new accusations against jerry sandusky. cnn today learning three men now accusing the former penn state assistant football coach of sexually abusing them in the early 1970s and 1980s. obviously, this is years and years before the crimes for which he was convicted last month. cnn contributor sara gannon broke the story today and she joins me tonight from harrisburg with the details. you've been reporting these

accusers would have been young boys at the time of the alleged abuse in the '70s and '80s. do they have connections to penn state or second mile? >> reporter: erin, that's a great question i would love to know the answer to but right now the details about these three men and their allegations are very thin. all we really know is that they've come forward in some way. they're telling their story. police are aware of them. we don't know if they've testified before the grand jury. we don't even know if they were interviewed by police. but police are aware of them and we're not sure if police can really use them. if the statute of limitations has run out. because we don't know exactly how old they were or how old they are now. pennsylvania, the law for the statute of limitations has to do with the age of the accuser when they come forward. and so because we don't know their age at this point, we don't know if criminal or civil charges could be brought in any of their cases. two of them say they were abused in the 1970s.

one in the late 1980s. in the 1970s, jerry sandusky would have been in his late 20s. >> just a follow-up to that, at the trial, his defense attorney, joe al men dole la said his closing argument was based on the premise there had not been accusations against jerry sandusky as a younger man. he said, after all these years when jerry sandusky is in his mid-50s, jerry decides to become a pedophile. does that make sense to anybody? what do you think this does to jerry sandusky from this point, another trial and appeal? >> reporter: well, erin, you know, i don't think it's that big of an appeal issue. he's been convicted. he will go for sentencing. when he goes for sentencing, he's looking at a de facto life sentence. he's looking at hundreds of years in jail. whether or not this really has an affect on the criminal case is iffy. where i think it might have an impact is if these people come forward and say they've spoken

about this, reached out during these decades long ago. if they reported this to police in any fashion, if any of those things turn out to be true, that could be where the impact is. but as far as -- we don't even know if the age he is going to be pursuing more charges in jerry sandusky's criminal case. all right, sarah, thank you very much. of course, sarah ganim breaking that story today. yahoo! has picked a new ceo. we'll tell you who it was. "outfront" next. it's the one you store in the freezer. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. that's chilly. [ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. [ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy development comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self-contained well systems. and, using state-of-the-art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations

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big news in the tech world today. google's marissa mayer defecting to take the top spot at yahoo!. the ceo job. it surprised a lot of people. pretty much everybody. mayer was very big at google. she was the 20th employee there, and its first female engineer. her most recent job was running google maps. and the look and feel of the entire google universe online. this was a very fast courtship. mayers said she was only approached by the job in mid-june and others had turned it down before. she had guts to take it. sure, she's respected. she's taking a job that just the other day i heard one mogul say he'd rather die than take. because yahoo! is in trouble. its stock is down more than 40% over the past five years. google shares are up over that time. nobody knows whether marissa can turn it around or not but here's what i know about marissa mayer personally. she and i did a magazine shoot together about a year ago. she was gracious, she was down

to earth and she was a woman who enjoyed style. with all this debate over whether women can have it all or can't have it all, all of that buzz anywhere, whether they need to act like men, marissa is a woman who is smart, strong and feminine. only one of 20 woman ceos now in the fortune 500. she's tonight, after all the headlines, i'll talk to kerry kennedy's cousin, patrick, about how she's doing and about the cause that's closest to his heart, the stigma of mental health problems. >> we call them crazy, nuts, psycho. and who would want to be acknowledged as having suffered from a mental illness if they're called those worlds? >> also, sorry seems to be the hardest word. >> it's disgusting, it's demeaning, it's something which i think the president should take responsibility for and stop. >> we won't be apologizing. i don't -- sometime these games are played during political campaigns. >> the bane of mitt romney's existence.

also, new explosive charges in the trayvon martin case. george zimmerman's attorney is here to answer them. and more from the interview that people are still talking about. >> who do you think killed bonny? >> bonny had people that she burned. how bad, i don't know. >> now the man who sued robert blake and won $13 million for bonny lee bakley's family fires back. this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. our big story tonight. a familiar headline. a kennedy in the news for the wrong reason. kerry kennedy, ex-wife of new york governor andrew cuomo, was arrested over the weekend. according to the police report, kennedy was involved in a hit and run when her 2008 lux sus struck a tractor trailer on friday morning. police say she drove away and was found behind the wheel of her damaged suv.