penn state, back before the name penn state became synonymous with this unfolding sex scandal and the former defensive coordinator jerry sandusky. the testimony is key to the case against two former penn state officials, senior v.p. gary schultz and athletic director tim curley who denied charges they lied to authorities. again tonight fair warning, this is tough material. the whole case has been that way from the start. we begin tonight with our national investigative correspondent michael isikoff from state college, pennsylvania. >> reporter: once the starting penn state quarterback, now a star witness for the government, mike mcqueary took the witness stand today and graphically described seeing a naked jerry sandusky engaged in what he called extreme sexual activity with a young boy. "the boy was up against the wall" mcqueary testified. "jerry was directly behind him in a very, very close position. i believe jerry was sexually molesting him." mcqueary slammed his locker door shut, causing sandusky and the boy to separate and look him directly in the eye. mcqueary's testimony is key for the case against two former penn state officials, athletic director tim curley and senior vice president gary sc

prosecutors, what they are trying to show a judge is there's enough evidence to move forward against penn state officials and penn state officials, of course, are under fire about what they knew, when they knew it and how they responded. >> nbc's michelle fran zen in harrisburg, p.a., for us. thank you. >>> joining me in studio is former prosecutor john q. kelly and john worthheim. a writer for sports illustrate. people will remember this week, joe amendola waiving the preliminary hearing for sandusky, based on the fact that mcquearys wasn't going to be testifying in the preliminary hearing, now damning testimony coming out of the perjury case stemming from the penn state officials. what is this doing, when we hear about this my mind goes straight to jerry sandusky, i don't think about curley and schultz. it is very damning testimony. >> like you said, the technical charges against curley and schultz, this perjury and failure to report, but the elephant in the room is sandusky and the graphic testimony regarding his -- his conduct toward his 10-year-old boy, without going into the details, it's highly di

at issue is what you said is what mike mcqueary told these two penn state officials. has testified this morning that he made it very clear to these two penn state officials, tim curly and gary schultz, that he did see something of a sexual nature, something that he believed was sexual intercourse. that's what he said he told him. that it was wrong, it was over the line. that he saw jerry sandusky in the showers allegedly attacking a young boy. that's what's at the heart of this, because those two penn state officials disagree that mcqueary said that this boy was allegedly being raped. in fact, mcqueary said i never used the word rape or sodomy, but i did make it very clear to them that something extremely sexual was going on. now as to the particulars, we are hearing for the first time from mike mcqueary what he says he saw. he said he went to a locker room in 2002, saw a boy in the showers with jerry sandusky. now the boy was facing the wall with his hands on the wall shoulder height and he testified that he saw jerry sandusky allegedly with his hands around the boy'

reporting live, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >>> and today two penn state official will be in harrisburgn court facing charges of lying to a grand jury and failing to report sex abuse allegation. the lawyers will be going forward with hearing and challenging the evidence. earl cert former assistant coach injury sandusky waived his preliminary hearing. >>> news time is now 6:49. let's go back out to ohio now where the fire is still going strong. you can see the spray of the water across this. that is manufacturing facility known as tech ni -- techni coat. five departments are on the fire right now. we have learned from our sister station they were cleaning a machine overnight in the label making factory and switching over the process and cleaning it out something went wrong. there were solvents and tons of paper rolls of paper in this facility. that's what caught fire and that's what caused it to spread so quickly. thankfully though everyone on- site and in the building they were able to get out withoutinjury some workers tried to fight the fire that last adamant because things got out of

. >>> two penn state officials accused of covering up jerry sandusky's alleged sexual abuse will go to trial. the decision comes after testimony this morning from former assistant coach mike mcqueary. he testified he saw sandusky having what he believed to be sexual intercourse with a young boy in a campus shower and told penn state officials exactly what he saw. but lawyers for former penn state athletic director tim curley and vice president gary schultz say it's mcqueary's word against their clients'. >>> lawmakers in the house this morning approved a $1 trillion spending bill. that means the government won't shut down and now there is word congressional leaders are close to agreeing on a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. that hardly puts the issue to bed. it puts the fight on hold until the new year. that tax cut gave most americans an extra $1,000 in their paychecks this year and unless congress acts, that goes away starting new year's day. >>> this is a lifeline to struggling families and a way to insert into our economy the spending power of 160 million families buying

. >>> we turn to the scandal at penn state university. two school officials showed up charges they lied to a jury on allegations of sexual abuse. pamela brown has the story. >> penn state officials walk a harrisburg, pa. courtroom judge over allegations to properly report abuse.ex the penn state assistant coach witness in the case. he is not just an important witness in this case. he is the witness. he is the reason these two officials were indicted. at aest -- journalists updates.tweeted c he says he left immediately and 's home the head coach give the coach and explicit details. later, he metweek the coach. he was under the impression that incident would be reported to the authorities. is charged with 52 criminal counts. he is innocent. he will appear in court again on january 11. fortime is running out republican presidential contenders. contenders met last night for their final showdown the january iowa caucuses. there were no bombshells. gingriche to take new had gone about his business record as ad his conservative. >> we cannot have at our nominee who

penn state's football team. and he said that he had a meeting with joe paterno and then about ten days later he had a meeting with penn state officialsy and gary shultz. they are the penn state officials who are facing perjury charges here in miand mcquery's testimony is the center of that hearing today. we're expected to hear from more witness this is afternoon. but certainly mcquery's testimony, andrea, very damaging to day. >> michelle, is in any kind of cross-examination or is this simply the prosecution laying out its argument for probable cause to continue the case? >> reporter: well, prosecutors certainly are trying to lay out their case. but defense attorneys did have a chance to cross-examine. it was very limited to what the prosecution had asked. so they did get a chance to question mcqueer yes. they asked whether or not he took notes or just his recollection of that. but certainly the defense's cross-examination is very limited in that scope because prosecutors are just trying to show a judge that there was enough evidence to move forward. defense attorneys, though, maintain that penn state officials were not told by mcque

detail and also revealing about what mcqueary says he quit witnessed in 2002, what he told penn state officials, and how they reacted. for the first time, mike mcqueary spoke publicly about allegations he witnessed jerry sandusky having sex with a boy in a penn state locker room shower in 2002. in graphic detail and under oath, mcqueary, then a graduate assistant, says he first heard noises coming from the shower, then saw sandusky standing behind a boy with his hands around his waist. he testified that while he wasn't 100% certain, he believed sandusky was molesting the boy. his testimony is key in the hearing for two penn state university officials facing perjury charges. prosecutors say tim curley and gary schultz lied to the grand jury about what mcqueary told them. >> most 6 or 7-year-olds understand what it is to tell the truth or lie. >> reporter: legal experts say mcqueary's testimony today was convincing and damaging. >> the only question is what he described to curley and schultz. did he describe something that was necessarily a sexual act? >> reporter: curley and schultz's lawyers ma

. >>> dramatic testimony at a hearing right now for two former penn state officials, gary schultz andth fighting charges they didn't do what they should have nine years ago after they heard that former assistant football coach jerry sandusky was allegedly sexually abusing young boys. nbc's michelle franzen is live outside the court nous harrisburg, pennsylvania. michelle, assistant coach mike mcqueary has been on the stand. i have been reading some of the testimony. it's, frankly, hard to even read. >>> it is. it is graphic testimony. and it details what mike mcqueary says he saw and heard back in 2002 in that locker room. the penn state locker room shower room. what he has been telling the court the last hour is what he had told the grand jury in that report that was released in early november. he told prosecutors today that he heard noises coming from that shower room and looked in a mirror and saw jerry sandusky with a boy in that shower back in 2002. and he says he believed that -- he believes that he saw jerry sandusky molesting that boy. of course, there is other testimony about

mcqueary also testified that he did make it clear to penn state officials that a boy had been sexuallyory, because now you are hearing that testimony of at least one of those officials at the moment, tim curley, the athletic director, being read into the record. now, we are, in fact,ing what both men are saying. as you indicated, it is the first time that we are hearing details from mike mcqueary from his own mouth on the witness stand, sworn testimony once again about what he said he saw back in 2002 when he describes a boy being allegedly sexually attacked by jerry sandusky. he says he didn't see actual intercourse but he said, from what i could see, it certainly appeared that that's what was taking place answered also testified that he made it abundantly clear to the two penn state officials that that's exactly what he saw. now, contrast that, brooke, with this, right now as we speak, the testimony of tim curley is being read into the record and he saying that mcqueary did not mention that he saw anything of a sexual nature. in fact, he said that he didn't know if there was any sexu

penn state's star quarterback will become a star witness against two university officials. g for two former penn state officials. earlier on "american morning," paul callan said perjury cases can be a real challenge for prosecutors. >> they can hard to prove and they're hard to get convictions because they turn on an interpretation of words, okay. >> that's exactly what's going on here. >> it's exactly what's going on here. you know, there's a claim that the word sexual contact or sexual activity was used. as opposed to just horsing around and can you be horsing around in the context of sexual activity. this is, they're going to be arguing about things like that to determine, ultimately, is this a lie under oath. >> tim curly, the ex-athletic director and gary shultz both charged with perjury and failing to report suspected child abuse in the jerry sandusky case. >>> we may finally get to hear from jailed army private bradley manning today. he's facing an arraignment hearing at a military base in maryland for allegedly finding classified documents that wound up being publish

penn state coach jerry sandusky spent time in court. mike mcqueary said he saw sandusky molesting a boy in a shower. mcqueary testified in a preliminary hearing for the two penn state officials accused of lying. when asked why he didn't go to police, mcqueary said one of the officials he talked to was in charge of the police department so he felt that he had. prosecutors said jerry sandusky mow lessed children for at least six more years. >>> the fbi said it will now change the definition of rape, this after advocates thought the current description is too specific and only applies to women. the definitions a not been updated since 1929. the new definition includes a wide range of crimes send not gender specific. it will be official sometime next sprik -- spring. >>> this news comes days after a government survey outlines how widespread sexual assault is. one in four said they have been violently attacked by boyfriend or a husband. we have more and why victim advocacy groups say this could still underestimate the problem. it's in the featured story section on abc2news.com. >>> well, most of the first day of the rookie league's hearing at fort meade revolved around the judge.

penn state administrators are in the pretrial hearing in the jerry sandusky sexual abuse allegations. tim curley and gary schultz are charged with lying to a grand jury investigators. >> penn state officials tim curley and gary schultz are arrived at court this morning in harrisburg, facing perjury charges connected to the jerry sandusky de child sex abuse case. the former penn state athletic director and vice president are accused of lying to the grand jury, telling them that assistant football coach mike mcqueary did not inform them he witnessed sandusky having sex with a boy in a locker room shower in 2002. prosecutors' first witness today, mcqueary who appeared calm on the stand as he described in graphic detail what he saw and heard in the locker room that day. he said he first heard noises coming from the shower, looked in the mirror, saw sandusky behind the boy but he went on to tell the court, "i believe jersey -- i believe jerry was molesting him." his testimony is being contradicted by another grand jury witness, a family friend who said that on the night of the alleged abuse, mcqueary told him he only heard noises. the assistant coach told prosecutors he was shocked by what he

viewers, a lot of that is difficult to hear, but an important hearing going on about two former penn state officialse facing charges that they didn't do enough to actually, to actually inform authorities when they had heard about some of these accusations. you see them, the two former penn state officials there. that's what this hearing is about. but mcqueary having to take the stand today and having to testify about what he saw. those are some of those, again, disturbing details you are hearing. 34 minutes past the hour. stay with me. a whole lot more coming for you after the break. [ female announcer ] lactaid milk is easy to digest. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. >>> well, it appears she's about to do it again. tmz reporting that britney spears is getting engaged. "showbiz tonight" host a.j. hammer live for us in new york. who is this guy? >> he's a very lucky guy in some people's mind. he's a talent agent, t.j. his name is jason. it's not an inspire surprise

suspicious -- specific words but where he spoke publicly for the first time, he testified he told penn state officials very clearly that he saw coach sandusky molesting a boy in 2002 after hearing "slapping sounds." he said, "i looked in the mirror and surprisingly saw him in the shower with a young boy with jerry behind him. the next day and he took the information to and then head coach joe paterno saying "it was way over the line come extremely sexual in nature." he described himself as distraught. paterno told him he did the right thing. tim curly and gary schultz said they never knew how serious the allegations were. they're charged with covering up what they knew. because he oversaw the police department he said, in my mind, it was like speaking to a district attorney. sandusky faces 52 counts against the 10 boys and will plead not guilty and has a new lawyer offering an explanation. >> teaching a person to shower at te age of 12 or 14, people will say they need to be taught basic life skills. >> there ruled there is enough evidence to put them on trial. sandusky will head to trial separately in

. >>> taking a look at tonight's top stories, two penn state official also go to trial after lying to a grand jury. the judge ruled there was probable cause to move forward with tim curley and gary schultz. the two are charged with not properly reporting what graduate statute mike mcqueary told them about jerry sandusky. sandusky said he's innocent of the more than 50 charges, all sexual assault charges over a 12-year span. >>> a cold case is being reopened by the fbi in hopes of catching a killer and rapist. d.c. police are sending out sketches of the potomac river rapist. he's the suspect in eight rapes and one murder a $25,000 reward is being offered. >>> more legal troubles now for the annapolis man accused of scamming local schools. abc2 news was the first to tell you about criminal charges filed against joseph gill in queen anne's. a new charge has been filed after hearing from a pta group. they paid hundreds for gill to bring in an athlete but he couldn't deliver. dozens of local schools have made similar claims. >>> weather byes, clouds have thickened up. take a look. first, o

wjz eyewitness news. >> and the judge decided that is enough evidence to put the penn state officials on trial. >> a scary scene. a police chase through two states and with a crash. we are told the pennsylvania state trooper was chasing the driver when he lost control. the suspect was taken to the hospital. >> fighting for justice. the family of a baltimore police officer gunned down by his own fellow officers say they are still waiting for answers. it wjz if i'd are you the families fight for answers. >> tonight the family of officer william orbit walked the streets. they were passing out these flyers. they say they just want answers and a brother may be gone but he will never be forgotten. >> reporter: the family of the officers spent the whole day seeking answers. >> last january he was mistaken for a gunman. he was in plainclothes responding to a distrust call. he was shot by fellow officers 20 times. >> i don't understand what's going on. that many gunshots, and he's an officer. >> investigators released surveillance footage from one of the city's crime cameras showing the shooti

penn state assistant coach, mcqueary's testimony is called in to question. he says he witnessed sandusky raping a boy in the team showers in 2002 and told the head coach and penn state officialsbout it. now a local paper says a mcqueary friend told the grand jury he spoke with mcqueary the night of the incident and mcqueary said he never saw sex only encounter that seemed suspicious. the victims admit will be an emotional and difficult day. >> there will be a adversarial process for them and unfor a momentable. he is ready to go forward. >> any victim that goes forward with these types of case says brave. they have to face their person they are accusing. >> the attorney general has not said how many alleged victims will testify today or what evidence will be presented. >>> more accusations pop up. this time at amateur athletic union or aau in memphis, tennessee two accusers say the aau president, robert dodd abused them in the 80s. we talked to a therapist who says penn state maybe a platform for victims to fine their voice. >> i belief it's the bravery and courage of people who do make a decision to come forth that gives people the courage to do the same to realize it's not

star witness in the penn state scandal testifies today he did, in fact, see jerry sandusky molest a boy in a locker room. assistant mike mcqueary told the court he told penn state officialst the abuse. sunny hostin on the case, this was a preliminary hearing for two former penn state officials accused of covering up this alleged rape. had the news this judge in harrisburg now ruling these men will go to trial. what role did mcqueary's testimony play today, do you think? >> well, he was certainly the star witness today. he was unflappable, unflinching, unequivocal. he certainly stuck to what we thought he was going to say, brooke, in front of the grand jury, he indicated that he saw jerry sandusky in a bathroom, with a boy who appeared to be 10 years old and he believed he saw some sort of sexual active you the. he explained that he did not necessarily see intercourse, but he felt that he saw something that went over the line, sexual in nature and reported exactly what he saw, not only to gary schultz, tim curley, but to his father, who testified today by the way, and supported his son and supported what his son had told him. i think all in all, mcqueer riff the star witn

. >>> two penn state official also be in court tomorrow. the former vice president and athletic director are accused of lying to a grand jury and failing to report sex abuse allegations to police back in 2002. lawyers for both men say they will go forward with the hearing challenge all the evidence. earlier this week jerry sandusky waived his right to a preliminary hearing. >>> as the iraq war comes to an end you have to think of the 83 heros from our state that have lost their lives live lives. abc 2news with the final countdown. >> reporter: after nine years so much violence in iraq and controversy at home, the war is over. in baghdad today, the last of 4,000 troops cased the united states forced flag and will soon send home. a million and a half served here, 4500 died. >> the cost was high. the blood and treasure of the united states and also for the iraqi people. those lives have not been lost in vain. they gave their -- to an independent, free iraq. >> reporter: shaun fox is one of the last left. he was 14 when this war started. he shi

penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky. nbc news national investigative correspondent michael isakoff is in hairrrisburg with more on th. >> reporter: good morning, lester. a judge ruled that the case against those two former penn state officials can now proceed to trial. once the starting penn state quarterback, now a star witness for the government. mike mcqueary took the witness stand and graphically described seeing a naked jerry sandusky engaged in what he called extreme sexual activity with a young boy. the boy was up against the wall, mcqueary testified. jerry was directly behind him in a very, very close position. i believe jerry was sexually molesting him. mcqueary slammed his locker door shut causing msandusky and the boy to stop looking him directly in the eyes. both penn state officials are charged with lying and failing to report it to authorities. mcqueary acknowledge he never saw any sexual intercourse and never intervened. i was shocked and horrified, to be said, and to be frank with you, i was probably not thinking straight. >> mcqueary was a great witness. very articulate, very sincere and very respectable. >> prosecutors read from joe paterno's testimony. mcqueary told the panel he saw jerry doing something

. >>> in the penn state scandal a judge ruled this afternoon two penn state officials accused of lying to a grand jury will stand trial. the judge said there is enough evidence for the case to pro sued against tim curley and guy slits -- proceed against tim curley and gary schultz. former assistant coach mcqueary said he saw sandusky in a shower assault a young.and reported it to curley and schultz and they deny this. >> perjury cannot be just one person's word against anothers. >> the task at han today for the commonwealth was to present -- hand today for the commonwealth was to present enough evidence to show the court that the charges should be held. >> sandusky is charged with 52 counts of child sex abuse that allegedly took place over 15 years. he waived his right to a preliminary hearing tuesday. >>> a pretrial hearing in maisch mayor for the soldier accused of give -- maryland for the soldier accused of giving government secrets to wikileaks. the officer decided not to recuse himself. if convicted, manning faces up to life in prison. >>> lawmakers are desperate to start their ho

penn state ever reached out to that child. so it's very interesting that joe is saying that penn state officials did know who that boy was, theydentity and didn't contact him. >> thanks very much. want to bring in our legal panel, mark geragos, jeffrey toobin. mark, i want to play another clip from the interview sarah did with sandusky's attorney. take a look. >> what is the point where you say, maybe we should talk about a plea deal? are you already having those conversations with the a.g.'s office? >> no, we haven't. as a matter of fact, from your experience, people who maintain their innocence plead guilty because the overwhelming evidence against them and many people who had gone to trial were convicted 0f of serious crimes and executed and it later turned out they were innocent. there's a lot of reasons why people decide to do certain things. but at this point, jerry's maintained his innocence in regard to allegations he knows about. >> what do you make of that answer? does it sound like they're considering a plea deal and he's setting the table for that or was he hypothetically talking. >> sounds like the door's open. i

take place about events in 2005, 2006, that's three years after that 2002 incident in which penn state officials were warned about and were told about sandusky sexually molesting a child at the penn state locker room. this is going to reinforce the question that came up originally, why didn't penn state officials act on that initial allegation if they had, then perhaps victim number nine would never have been abused like this. >> nbc's mike. isikoff, thank you so much. >>> we move on to our next guest an experienced litigator in child sexual abuse case including the bishop eddie long case in georgia, former prosecutor and assistant d.a., b.j. bernstein. thanks for being here. a tough topic with the new charges and how graphic it is potentially the wife of sandusky aerd has child in the basement. >> tough to hear about this with sandusky's arrest sitting in the jail we saw behind ikele isikoff if we can see if his lawyer can come up with the cash to get him released. why would a potentially active pedophile be given bail? >> well, you know, every case, i mean we do have the presumption of innocen

penn state coordinator jerry sandusky is speaking out trying to salvage his reputation. he sat down to talk about the 40 charges of child abuse he's facing. he denies all of them. he discussed what penn state officials knew about the allegations and he he says the athletic coordinator approached him with concerns about him being in the shower with boys. as far as head coach paterno, he said he is unsure about how much he knew. >> he didn't take my keys. i still have my keys. i still went in there and worked out. i don't know that he didn't know. i know he never said anything to me. >> sandusky says he misses being at penn state, his charity antd his grand kids. >>> still ahead, we'll show you why fish and game chasers spent the day chasing down deer. >>> a look at our temperatures start ing to cool off. winds backing off after a gusty start. get ready for round three of gusty winds coming back. anything else, hon? hon? do you call everyone hon? no. i'm sweetie. precious. sugar britches. whoever you are, get a whole dinner and a drink for just $8 onlyt nny's. with the $2, $4, $6, $8 value mu. america's diner is always open. die diane dwyer. i was in south korea. i was in germany. i was in iraq. i thi

. >>> a court hearing for two penn state officials will focus on what they were told about child sex abuse allegations about jerry sandusky. gary schultz and athletic director tim curley are charged with lying to a grand jury and failing to report sex abuse allegations to authorities. then graduate assistant mike mcqueary is at the heart of the case and they say that he is going to testify possibly for the first time in public. he told a grand jury he saw sandusky raping a boy but curley and schultz remember inappropriate conduct. >>> police are trying to figure out what caused a accident that killed a parkville high school sophomore before 3 in the afternoon on the corner of putty hill and wilson avenues. 16-year-old ryan chase was hit by two cars as he was trying to cross the street. both drivers are cooperating with police and so far no charges have been filed. >>> this morning, ryan chase's family is trying to come to grips with the loss. his cousin talked to abc 2 news and told us about the 16-year- old and abc2 news corinne redman is here with part of the story. >> reporter: we

sandusky raping a 10-year-old boy in the showers in 2002 and he told head coach joe paterno and penn state officialsper says, a mcqueary family friend told the grand jury he spoke with mcqueary on the night of the alleged incident and mcqueary told him he never actually saw any sex only an encounter that seemed suspicious itch the attorney general has not said how many alleged victims -- will testify today and what evidence will be presented. that money bradley, abc7 news. >> the penn state sex abuse scandal has california lawmakers doing more to make athletic programs in the state safer for children. a new bill requires organizations to provide training on what is inappropriate and illegal contact with minors. another proposal would add coaches -- [ unintelligible ] >>> a state lawmaker will unveil legislation that he says could help california's college students save billions. he wants to put textbooks for most college courses online for free. he plans to introduce bills to create the digital library. some students announcing an online petition today targeted at lawmakers and professors, urging th

. >> reporter: penn state officials arrived at court this morning in harrisburg, facing personal charges connected to the jerry sandusky child sex abuse case. they are accused of lying to the grand jury, telling them assistant football coach mike mcqueary did not tell them that he witnessed sandusky having sex with an underage boy in the shower in the locker room. he told prosecutors he first heard noises coming from the shower. he said he looked in the mirror and saw sandusky behind the boy. he then went on to tell the court, quote, i believe jerry was sexually molesting him and having sexual intercourse with him. mcqueary's testimony is also being contradicted by another grand jury witness, a family friend who says on the night of the alleged abuse, mcquary told him he only heard noises. the now assistant football coach now tells prosecutors he was shocked and distraught at what he saw and left the locker room and called his father for advice. after going home to talk to his father, mcquary says his next call was to head coach joe paterno and went to his home to tell him he saw sandusk

. >> a judge ruled this afternoon two penn state officials accused of la jolling to a grand jury must stand trial. the judge said that there is enough evident first case to proceed against the university athletic director tim curly and the university vice president gary schultz. during today's hearing, the punxsutawney phil state coach mike mcgeary testified that he -- the penn state coach mike mcqueary said he witnessed them in the shower and a claim that curly and schultz deny. >> and perjury can't be one person's word against another's. >> and that task at hand today was to present enough evidence to show the court that the charges should be held. >> sandusky is charged with 52 counts of child abuse and that allegedly took place over a 15- year period. >> and influential author and journalist christopher hitchens died. he was known for his essays in vanity fare magazine and wrote the best seller "god is not great. "he had cancer of the e cov fuss -- sof gus and fighting pneumonia and was 62 years ole. >>> the government won't shut down but the taxes may still go up. >>> and can't g

a judge in pennsylvania says a perjury case against former penn state officials can go to trial. former athletic director tim curley is charged with lying to a grand jury and not reporting sexual assaults he knew about. a graduate assistant for the football team testified that he saw the former coach jerry sand usky sodomizing a child. another says he cannot be believed. >> we believe that at the trial in this matter, the question will be whether mike has the credibility to overcome the perjury high level of proof that is necessary. we believe that at trial, we will clearly be acquitted of these charges. >> a university vice president oversaw the campus police is also charged and will face trial. see complete coverage of the scandal, including a time when of the case as it began to unfold, on our website, wbaltv.com. the federal government will not shut down at midnight. in the latest round of deal making, they might settle the issue of the payroll tax cut. we have the latest out of washington. >> in this boat, the yeas are 296. >> the house vote came about 10 hours before the de

penn state ever reached out to that child. so it's very interesting that what joey is saying that penn state officials did know who that boy wasppreciate it very much. thank you. >> i want to bring in mark geragos and jeffrey toobin. mark, i want to play another clip from the interview that she did with sandusky's attorney today. take a look. >> what is the point where you say maybe we should talk about a plea deal? and are you already having the conversations with them? >> no, we haven't. as a matter of fact, you know from your experience, sarah, that people who maintain their innocence sometimes plead guilty just because of the overwhelming evidence against them and there have been many people who go to trial who are convicted of very serious crimes including homicides and executed and later turned out that they were innocent. so there's a lot of reasons why people decide to do certain things. but at this point, jerry has maintained his innocence in regard to the allegations he knows about. >> what do you make of that answer? does it sound like they're considering a plea deal and he is setting the table for that or is he jus

. >> late this afternoon, the judge in that case ruled that the two ex-penn state officials mentioned there in susan's piece will face trial on perjury and failing to report suspected child sex abuse. breaking big developments from the beginning. sarah, let's just start with mike mcqueary in that graphic. horrible, horrible testimony. was he a credible witness? >> reporter: very interesting, john. he was an interesting witness because he came across as having -- very assured of himself, even when it didn't bode so well for him. he was very, very confident in saying that he definitely thought it was a crime. very confident in saying that, yes, he left that locker room with that boy standing naked alone in a shower with jerry sandusky and he didn't hesitate really for any of the answers. there were times on the stand where he sat there and stared at the defendant and they looked away, which is usually the opposite in court. usually the defendants stare at the witnesses who can't make eye contact. it was a very interesting dynamic in the courtroom. i do think he came across as incredibly

. >> reporter: a part of that story, sandusky's explanation of what penn state officials knew about the allegations and what they did. tim curley, now facing perjury charges in the case, approached him with concerns but never went any further. >> he didn't take my keys, i still had my keys. >> okay. >> i still went in there and worked out. >> reporter: and sandusky said joe paterno never discussed the issue. >> i don't know that he didn't know. i know that he never said anything to me. >> he was still very loyal to coach paterno and very upset, talked about -- very upset that he had been fired as a result of this whole thing. >> reporter: another regret, how he answered this question from bob costas in his only other interview since the accusations of abuse. >> are you sexually attracted to young boys? >> am i sexually attracted to underaged boys? no. >> i enjoy -- that's what i was trying to say. i enjoy spending time with young people. i enjoy spending time with people. >> these days, sandusky spends most of his time with his dog bowe. jay gray, nbc news, state college, pennsylvania.

. >> there is a preliminary hearing this morning for two former penn state officials.m curry failing to pass on a complaint about alleged child sex abuse and then lying to the grand jury about that. but fothe focus may be on the m who said he witnessed the abuse, assistant coach mike mcqueary, likely he will be questioned extensively. >> flip-flopping on his story. >> that's what they're saying. >>> to iraq where the u.s. military formally declared its mission over. the flag of the forces in iraq was officially retired during a pretty solemn ceremony at the baghdad airport. defense secretary leon panetta honored the sacrifice of the 1 million troops who served during the nine year war and the 4,500 who lost their lives and 32,000 injured. think about that 3, 2,000. in an abc news exclusive, barbara walters asked mr. obama about the milestone. >> the united states declared an end to its mission in iraq today and the troops are coming home. you are adamantly owe po lly ad the war. >> despite a difficult situation because of their sacrifice, because of their skill, they a