joining us now former new york prosecutor now criminal defense attorney jim shallock is here to delve deeping into these developments. >> it was stunning. eight young men testified they were assaulted and in effect some of them raped by him and he didn't take the stand, yet he could give television interviews. if i'm a juror, i'm saying to myself you can talk to television, but you're not going to tell me you didn't do it? i think it was a big mistake, stunning. >> is there any reason you can think the defense would think we're better off without him on the stand? >> they probably felt he couldn't withstand cross- examination. there may have been other acts or things that once he took the stand would have allowed the prosecutor to ask him about. obviously they felt he couldn't withstand cross-examination. >> let's talk about the trial as a whole. that prosecution has devastating witnesses. we were sick to our stomachs practically here in the newsroom listening to some of the things that these kids said sandusky did to them. did the defense make any headway in discrediting some of that

this issue, jeffrey jokobavitz, head of litigation of his law firm and former defense attorney jim shallock here as well. explain to us something about executive privilege. every white house tries to use it. >> sure. executive privilege was used 14 times by bill clinton, six times by george bush. this is the first time barack obama is using it and it's a privilege designed to allow deliberations to proceed with confidence, that government officials could deliberate with each other and know it won't get out in the public about what they're saying. >> they could have conversations about sensitive things, say what they think and not worry congress will be looking over their shoulder. even if that's the case, why not turn over these documents, jim, because it looks like you got something to hide? >> congress has a right to know what's going on in an investigation. they have a right. they're elected by the people and have a right to subpoena documents and to investigate this botched gun running scheme. now by taking the fifth amendment, people say to themselves what are they hiding in court? sam