good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, tax war. two respected experts wrote an op-ed that the obama campaign immediately seized on it. it was enough to prompt them to send this e-mail to their troops, subject line romney's role in tax shelter raises questions. the reason? the op-ed written by two experts who recently wrote another article critical of romney's personal tax strategies says since romney refuses to release his tax returns, his views on taxes are revealed by what did he while on the audit committee of marriott corporation. i'll explain what happened, but first let's just lay out the key accusation. the authors say, quote, a key troubling public manifestation of romney's apparent incense tivety different to tax obligations is his role in marriott international's abusive tax shelter acvity. so does the accusation of insensitivity, translation, lack of ethics, add up? romney was chief for a while of the audit committee from 1993 to 1998. in that role, he would have been responsible for overseeing the company's tax returns. during his tenure, marriott was accused of using a tax scream called son of boss. we reached out to marriott and are still awaiting their response. but in court documents, they have denied the claims. big shot tax attorneys and investment bankers love to give their complicated tax creations catchy names and this one son of boss does sound like the mafia shelter that it was. it was called son of boss and it set up various structures beneath other structures. basically to move money around. it could turn a gain into a loss and of course that mean it is can offset gains and bottom line you don't pay taxes. the tax code is 7300 pages long for a reason. because if you can read them all, you can legally come up with ways to minimize your tax bill. but son of boss was over the line. the irs took years to court and won. and even though marriott denies doing anything wrong, they had to pay up for what they did. only in the irs has gotten $3.2 billion from back taxes from more than 1800 people who used son of boss. marriott international was one of the biggest offenders, eventually paying more than $29 million in back taxes. that puts them really in the top. the biggest offender was one company which paid $100 million. now, critics of son of boss actually include john mccain who called it a hoax and scam back in 2004 and said, quote, one of the greatest beneficiaries of this tax shelter, and that is all that it is, a tax shelter, is a very profitable hotel chain, marriott. and he's not alone in his criticism. we called in our tax strike team to get their view on this. daniel shaviro told us that son of boss was the most abusive in u.s. history. tax shelter. but he did note something really important. at the time, it was a big more ambiguous because after all, when you think about the '90s, these were the days of enron's rise and they were the master of tax shelters. they all ended up being a joke and causing a massive crisis, but at the time, it looked like they worked. they were in vogue. so here is the bottom line. it is fair to hold mitt romney accountable for marriott's use of an abusive tax shelter while he was chairman of the audit committee. and it is fair to say that romney knows a lot about what's right and wrong with tax shelters. as he himself says. >> i don't pay more than legally due and, frankly, if i had paid more than are legally due, i don't think i'd be qualified to become president. >> all right. but here's our original question. ask does the accusation that romney's sign off on son of boss is a troubling public manifestation of romney's apparent sensitivity. to what is right. does it add up to a personal ethical reflection? we asked the romney campaign to come out front tonight so they could answer these serious questions directly. they declined. joining me now is steve moore head of the editorial board and great to see both of you. judd, so let me start with you. is it fair to take what happened while he was the head of the audit committee at marriott, a terrible tax shelter which at the time may have been more ambiguous, and say this is a reflection of his personal ethics and personal taxes? >> well, i do think it's fair. and the reason why, mitt romney has put his business career both in bain and all the boards he served on, the various companies he advised, really at the center of this campaign and with that, you have to take the good and you also have to take the bad. so i think the whole reason you are on a board of directors is to exercise your judgment and to be a good steward of the stockholders' money if it's a public company like in this case. and i think that absolutely this is something that he should be held responsible and really plays into the larger questions about both his personal finances and his conduct as a business executive. >> it's interesting, steve, that marty sullivan, another tax expert on our strike team said many years before he even new romney had anything to do with marriott, marriott had a reputation for aggressive tax planning. which is true. they had synthetic fuel transactions. so he comes in, so the audit committee presides over these tax shelters. is it fair? >> well, first of all, i think it's very interesting that the obama administration would accuse anybody of not paying their taxes. let's not forget half of the cabinet that obama appointed back in 2008 had tax problems including by the way the current treasury secretary. look, i think this issue -- i have to say this, i think this issue for the lefts what the birther issue was for the right. all of these unsubstantiated allegations about an issue that most people don't really care about. and this idea that somehow that he's guilty until proven innocent unless he releases his tax returns. it's really crucial -- >> but steve, your own editorial page said he should release the taxes. i mean, it's -- this comes from the right, these calls, too. >> that's because we think he should clear his name of this. but that's his personal prerogative whether he does or doesn't. but on this issue of the son of boss and marriott, look, there's a big difference between tax evasion, which is a crime, and tax avoidance and tax shelters which are in many cases legal ways to lower your tax burden. that's something that millions of americans do. they use legal means to lower their taxes so their liability is lower. and it appeared at the time as you even admitted that this was a legal tax shelter. >> i mean, i don't know, but i know some people had indicated it might have been. so i wanted to be very fair about it. but judd, how do you respond to that? is it possible that romney wouldn't have known? even though certainly this is a man who is incredibly sophisticated in his understanding of taxes and tax law. >> i think this goes beyond the very specific question of did mitt romney follow the law. i don't think anyone's accusing him of breaking the law, but there's a fundamental question that comes up in the context of a presidential election and that's do you trust this person. there are so many questions about his conduct that really can't be answered until we see his tax returns. how many people in america know that mitt romney has over $100 million in an i.r.a.? how was he able to do that with the limits that are placed on everyone's personal retirement accounts? and to compare this to the birther situation, the difference is despite the fact that those were absolutely outrageous made up charges that have no basis in reality, obama released his birth certificate. >> but so are these outrageous allegations. there's no proof any wrong doing there never has been. and the senate majority leader went on the senate floor and basically accused the republican nominee for president as being a tax cheat. how is that at all different than the birther issue? there's no evidence of either of these things. >> it's not an issue of whether you're a tax cheat or not, it's an issue of can you trust him, was he behaving ethically, in a way that we expect from a potential president. >> but there is no evidence whatsoever that he is guilty of any of these things that groups like obama campaign are accusing him of. they're saying he did it because he's not releasing his tax forms. that is his own prerogative and since when are you guilty until proven innocent? >> we'll hit pause on that. i will note just for the record that the men who wrote this have written other op-eds critical of mitt romney on taxes, but everyone we talked to spoke highly of them and said their reputation is pristine. and the best that there is. still out front, the obama campaign has dodged questions about super pac ads slamming mitt romney. since we're going to hit one, we'll hit the other. is the president hiding behind a technicality? and starbucks takes a step to some day eliminate cash. but that does not add up. and gabby douglas, america's gymnast darling in the olympics. the color of her skin. how much does it matter? this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. mine hurt more! mine stopped hurting faster... [ female announcer ] neosporin® plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infecous bacteria. neosporin® plus pain relief. for a two dollar coupon, visit neosporin.com. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've been years in the making. and there are many years ahead. join the millions of members who've chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. our second story out front, the obama campaign is dodging blame for something very nasty. two top aides to the president dodged questions today over inaccuracies from an ad from a super pac supporting the president. here's the ad. >> when mitt romney and bain closed t plant, i lost my health care and my family lost their health care and a short time after that my wife became ill. >> the ad blames mitt romney for a woman's cancer-related death. now, we want to say again what we said last night. the facts on this ad don't even add up. the woman who sadly died was covered by her own employer as her primary coverage, not even by her husband's insurance. so the whole premise here is wrong. but when asked about the ad today, white house press secretary jay carney told reporters, i still haven't seen the ad. i've read about it. i don't speak for a third party group. obama campaign spokeswoman doubled down. we have no involvement with any ads that are done by priorities usa. all right. priorities usa is the super pac that paid for this ad. now, super pacs are not allowed by law to coordinate with campaigns. and bill burton, head of priorities usa, denies any coordination. >> the campaign is doing what the campaign is doing. but to suggest that we would be mixing those two i think is a distortion of what the campaign finance laws are and what would possibly even happen here. >> okay. here's the rub, though. bill burton and the president are tight. bill burton served as president obama's national press secretary during his first presidential campaign and then when he won as deputy press secretary in the obama white house. a job that he left to start priorities usa. bill burton knows the president's ethics very well and it is fair to hold him up to this standard. any ad bill burton runs, he knows the president would personally support. the president cannot hyde behind a super pac on an ad as ugly as this one. when that super pac is run by a long-time friend and deputy. let me start with this. the law prohibits technically the coordinating between super pac and the campaigns. one of the operatives who said we have nothing to do with priorities usa, brianna keilar, our cnn colleague, reports that the man you see in the ad there, everyone, told his personal story on an obama campaign call in may, a campaign call that the deputy campaign manager stephanie cutter was on. the campaign has asked him to appear at rallies in battleground states. so how did bill burton hear about this gentleman? >> this shows how fundamentally screwed up the super pac laws are. anything that's technically public information can be used. and the campaigns and super pacs both take a wink and a nod look at this on both sides of the aisle. technically there is no coordination and the super pacs realize that they have the ability, the license and plausibility deniability. and they can do things that a campaign doesn't. just like in the obama camp there are overlapping relationships that go way back, that's true on the republican side of the aisle. so they say it's public information. that's been out there. so this is part of the problem of the political campaign finance world we're in right now. and it's prevalent on both sides and it's leading directly to these ugly ads. >> isn't it fair to say that one should expect bill burton to run an ad that he thinks that barack obama would personally be all right with. >> not at all. >> why not? >> because that's the whole construct of citizens united. you're transferring power from elected officials and their staffs to these unnamed, unsourced, un-whatever groups. bill burton is a friend of mine, but you give burton the power to decide what the campaign should be about. you give one of the republican guys the power instead of giving that power to the politician who is the person that we'll hold accountable. and that's the reason why john's right, we've got to change these laws. >> because we come back to this personal thing, i know bill burton, as well, it doesn't seem that personally this is the right thing to do. and personally should you hold him to that standard, although everyone will point at the law. the law says this, so if i don't run a nasty ad, the guy over in mitt romney's super pac will run a nasty one. >> it's important to understand the partisan mind set and that's that it's really important to defeat the candidate of the other side and so that means that even if this ad is somewhat misleading, that's okay. you throw up a cloud of dust. and actually the case right now is does the push back against this ad, does finding out that this gentleman had appeared in obama campaign appearances made a difference, or does the ad information get out there enough or does it matter to have the ad out there in the first place -- >> the ad has not even run. part of me i think about this because, yeah, personally i have a moral point of view about it. but it hasn't even run. and we're running it because we have a point of view about it and yet we're kind of adding to the problem. >> that's right. and this is all by design. that kind of earned media is more valuable even than paid media. there is actually unlimited money in the cycle, but there's limited television time. so it all becomes a game about how to get past those limits. and both campaigns do it. and that race to the bottom, the more outrageous and negative the ad, not only can it drive down the negatives, but it can also gain free tv time. so it's all part of the cynical game that the super pac economy has created in american politics. >> and mitt romney launched an ad that the president's allies believe is completely false on this welfare tact. and you know what the obama people realized, there's no referee in national politics. nobody will say ten yard penalty and change of possession. >> this is mitt romney saying that obama took out work from welfare. that's what you're referring to? >> absolutely. so what you do is you don't wait for somebody to come in and call foul. you hit back. you counter punch. and i think that's what happened today from priorities. they counter punched with this ad yesterday. and that's why people are reacting to it. they didn't wait for somebody else to call it. is and frankly, that's your only option. in politics. you can't sit around and wait. >> and with the deadlock 3-3, there's not any decisions on these gray areas until after the election is long in the rear view mirror. yet another problem. >> and final word. the romney ad when we looked at it saying welfare to work, that didn't add up either. both sides are -- >> i think there are definitely legitimate concerns to what's happening to welfare to work. but granted whenever you're presenting this kind of advertisement, these are very complex issues. you're trying to distill them in an accessible, simple way that connects with people emotionally and that's very tricky territory. regardless of the side you're on. >> i know john doesn't agree but we're out of time. "outfront" next. starbucks wants to change the way you pay for coffee. and a story we brought you last night on "outfront" flowing. a british bank, iran and the f bomb. what's that? it's eassist. helps the engine run really efficiently. it captures energy that assists the engine... so i'm never guzzling gas. oh -- that's hippie talk. it's called technology dad... here take two dollars. take the money. [ male announcer ] the all new 37 mpg highway chevy malibu eco. from conserving fuel, to the technology that makes it happen. chevy runs deep. [ male announcer ] you work hard. stretch every penny. but chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him... mitt romney made twenty million dollars in two thousand ten but paid only fourteen percent in taxes... probably less than you now he has a plan that would give millionaires another tax break... and raises taxes on middle class families by up to two thousand dollars a year. mitt romney's middle class tax increase. he pays less. you pay more. mitt romney's middle class tax increase. it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter. so starbucks is investing $25 million in mobile payment company square. the company is best known for its square credit card reader. basically it plugs into a smart phone, you see it being demoed right here. it was popular with small business owners at flee market booths, places that could only take cash, but now they could actually process a credit card anyplace that they could get wireless reception. so that was a great innovation. square has now launched a phone app that links your credit card to your square account. so now all you have to do is touch the app and you pay. go to starbucks, latte, wham, bam. but no. the number is $470,600,000,000. that is how much the value of currency in circulation in this country has increased since the year 2000. that is an 80% jump. some of you may say this is why we'll have an inflation crisis, but that's not where i'm going with this. dollars are typically used when you make those smaller transactions like buying a latte. 67% of all transactions that were $10 and below are paid for right now using cash. so new technology is great for now, cash is still king. still "outfront," new details in on the murderer the oak creek temple massacre and how he died. and later, madonna and the trial of a rock group jailed in russia for defying vladimir putin. don't have them. questions about treatment where to go for extra help, how to live better with the disease. so many questions, where do you start? alzheimers.gov. the answers start here. in re, every powerful collaboration is backed by an equally powerful and secure cloud. that cloud is in the network, so it can deliver all the power of the network itself. bringing people together to develop the best ideas -- and providing the apps and computing power to make new ideas real. it's the cloud from at&t. with new ways to work together, business works better. ♪ with new ways to work together, business works better. fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink we start the second half of our show with stories we care about where we focus on our fronting from the front lines. tonight the nypd has returned to search a manhattan basement into the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of eton patz. he disappeared in 1979. they first sachd the basement in april. police removed several bags of evidence from the building tonight. it in may, hernandez because arrested in connection with the case. he alledgedly confessed to murdering etan telling police he strangled him. he was arraigned on second-degree murder charges. the obama administration has apparently sweetened a proposed prisoner swap in order to revive peace talks with the taliban. a senior u.s. official tells "outfront" under the proposal, the u.s. would transfer five taliban prisoners to qatar first and then there would be an exchange where a u.s. soldier being held by the taliban would be released. qatar has played an important role in america's talks with the taliban, but they have presented some serious obstacles to the dealings with al qaeda as well. >> translator: qatar is intervening directly in the financing and material of the islamists. and we think this is blatant support of the islamists. >> that was one of the leaders of course for the fighters fighting al qaeda based in northern mali. officials stress if a deal is worked out, it would be done in accordance with u.s. law, but of course questions remain over whether qatar is a friend of the united states. the billionaire has filed a $60 million lawsuit against the national jewish democratic council. he's suing for libel claiming the organization said that he approved a prostitution at his casino. he threatened to sue the democratic national campai committee for making similar actions, but they retracted statements. but, not this time. in a statement, the national jewish democratic council says we will not be bullied into submission and we will not be silenced by power. we follow the smart phone battles closely and android phones are dominating. we learned they accounted for 68% of the global smart phone market in the second quarter. a big reason for that dominance is samsung which uses android. according to research firm idc, apple controls only 17% of the market and research in motion maker of the beloved that i still use only controls less than 5%. but it's a great 5%. all right. it's been 370 days since this country lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? a development tonight on libor. a u.s. judge has suspended new lawsuits that claim that banks manipulated the key interest rate used to set american mortgages and credit card rates. the judge wants to see how related cases that have already been filed are sorted out. this could be a big and major development in this story in terms of a reprieve. now our third story out front. new developments in the wisconsin temple shooting. the fbi says that wade michael page was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and not by a shot fired by police. and we are learning more about page's history tonight. his former girlfriend, misty cook, has now been arrested for an unrelated weapons charge but police say she also has links to white supremacist groups. ted rowlands is out front on the investigation. >> investigators believe it's possible the only reason wade page was in wisconsin was this woman. 31-year-old misty cook. within hours of the shooting, the fbi interviewed cook first at this restaurant where she worked at a waitress less than a mile from the temple, then again in her upstairs apartment in the back of this home. >> she was cooperative. the police officers while there observed a weapon and they arrested her for felon in possession. >> the arrest investigators say was unrelated to the temple shooting. but cook like her ex-boyfriend page appears to have a history with white supremacist groups. that's her wearing a volksfront t-shirt, classified as a hate group. they have their middle finger up, but the person he end of the table seems to be giving a nazi salute. and she posted messages on a hate site in which she repeatedly uses the "n" word. and other dwins -- offensive lang wave. this one says i've been a member of the wp, wheat power movement, for eight years. another, from the same time period encourages people to, quote, become an asset to the white community. >> we will as appropriate make a decision as to whether she will be charged with anything. right now that matter is also clearly under investigation. >> there was no answer at cook's door wednesday. our requests for an interview have gone unanswered. but in an e-mail to the milwaukee journal sentinel, she said if could i say something to ease the pain of the victims and their families, i would gladly do so. unfortunately, words do not begin to heal the pain they are going through. a possible connection between hate groups and the temple shooting is part of the fbi's investigation, but there's nothing at this point connecting anything or anybody except page to the shooting. >> misty has been very cooperative and we do not believe she had anything to do with this. we're not ruling out anything, we're being thorough, but we don't believe she had anything to do with it. >> ted is with me from oak creek. ted, how were they able to figure out what happened in those last minutes when they're now saying wade michael page killed himself? >> yes, we were led to believe that he was killed by that second officer who arrived on scene and shot him. well, now they say they've looked at some dash cam video from the patrol car of that second officer and they say it clearly shows that the officer shoots the victim, in this case the shooter, in the abdomen, but then as he gets down on the ground, he shoots himself in the head. they say they're not sure if the officer's shot would have been fatal, but the shooter did cause his own death. >> all right. it's hard to figure out what happened, but luckily they have that video. ted rowlands has been investigating the story for "outfront." and now a man who got an up close look at wade page. he was conducting research on white supremacist groups when he was first introduced to page. he stayed frequently at page's home, says he listened to knee neo nazi bands with him. he's now a professor of criminology at the university of nebraska. i appreciate your taking the time, pete. so tell me how this happened. i know this was over a period of a couple of years that you talked to him, right? >> yes, correct. i started conducting field work with members of white supremacist groups in 1997 and by about 1999, 2000, i started focusing on southern california and one of my main contacts was so i met him through this contact. >> and was he receptive? clearly you spent a lot of time with him. how do you approach someone like him and say i want to talk to you because i want to learn about hate groups? >> well, his house mate was already willing, you know, research subject and i had already established the relationship with his house mate. and when i first met page, he immediately was very approachable and very willing to have me around. some of the folks that i met through page's house mate became apprehensive when they found out that i was doing research, but page was not one of those. he really seemed to enjoy having me around as far as the talk about his beliefs and seemed pretty hope about sharing his ideas. >> and what were those beliefs and ideas that he shared with you that you remember? or perhaps in the past few days have come to the forefront of your mind again. >> by the time i met him, he seemed pretty fully indoctrinated into neo nazi ideology, ideas. he was vehemently anti-semitic, he talked about the jewish conspiracy to control the world. he was very anti-black. he felt that whites were constantly victimized and were on the short end of the stick of how society, you know, is organized. he felt that whites were on the verge of extinction and that basically by being involved in the white power movement, he was standing up for his people and trying to prevent the extinction of his race. >> so when you talk to someone like him at the time, i mean, we've now heard that he's been tracked since the year 2000 by groups that track people who are in hate groups. you're saying you spoke to him back then. was there anything at the time that stood out to you as this person could be violent? i mean, a lot of people may just hear those things and say those things are violent by their nature. >> yes. you know, when you're involved in a world, the world of white supremacy, you do a lot of things that from the outside appear as red flags. and in fact, you know, the ideas of white supremacy are filled with aggressive ideas, violence is certainly at the forefront of that world. because of their belief that the white race is on the verge of extinction, they feel that violence is a necessary defense mechanism, that violence is a form of self-defense. and so, you know, he was very committed to those ideas. he was beginning to tattoo his body with symbols of naziism. he was involved in the music scene by the time i met him and playing in music shows and going to music shows and going to events. so, yeah, he was heavily involved. but as far as to say that he seemed a lot different than other individuals involved in these groups or appeared more threatening, i didn't see it at the time, absolutely not. i thought he seemed pretty typical in many ways. >> which is either sobering or frightening. pete, thanks very much. still ahead, a twist in a story we have been following involving a british bank and the f word directed at the united states of america. in russia where madonna is touring showing support for a female rock group jailed for defying vladimir putin. today a surprising outburst in the courtroom. it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter. you'll inevitably find yourself on a desolate highway in your jeep grand cherokee. and when you do, you'll be grateful for the adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts your speed when approaching slower traffic. and for the blind spot monitoring that helps remind you that the highway might not be as desolate... ...as you thought. ♪ our fourth story out front, standard charter. that's the british bank whose executive allegedly said bleeping americans, and then went on to make thousands of deals with iran allegedly totaling about $250 billion. now, the bank claims that there was no attempt to circumvent sanctions. it says sure some of the transactions broke u.s. sanctions but it was only about $14 million. they say this was clearly wrong and we're sorry that they happened. that's what the ceo said today. but this is not the first time a british bank has gotten in trouble with its american ally. a senate panel accused hsbc of bypassing sanctions by laundering money with financial drug cartels. so how is this affecting our relationship with our closest ally? elise, what's the british government's response in this is a huge bank and an important policy issue for the united states. >> and one of the most important foreign policies for britain. the official line out of london is that this is very concerning, they'll be looking closely not just at what the investigation reveals, but also what standard charter's explanation of what eventually comes out of it. but in their very british way, this is their way of saying they're very embarrassed because as we know, this is the u.s. and the british have been working very closely on really effective sanctions, really tightening the financial squeeze on iran. so what the british are saying is, listen, this is not a case like china or some other country that's willfully looking other way while their banks do business with iran and other rogue nations. they're really saying that we're not going to be looking the other way and we'll be taking this very seriously looking to the treasury department, we obtained a letter this morning, treasury department letter to british seeking clarifications on sanctions. and they will be working very closely together on it. >> well, we will see. pretty amazing how it all went down. front, madonna's show of solidarity with a russian punk band on trial for hooliganism. at her concert last night. >> i think that these three girls, masia, katia, nadia, yes, i think that they have done something courageous. i think they have paid the price for this act. and i pray for their freedom. >> if prosecutors have their way, members of the band will go to jail for three years just for showing up in february where they as you can see performed an anti-government protest song. the three women spoke in court today, they called their trial medieval and a fraud. i spoke with a moscow correspondent and she was in the courtroom and i asked what she saw. >> today we had the closing arguments in the trial of pussy riot and the three women each gave their closing statements. since there is a widespread understanding inside russia that it's a political decision that will decide the verdict rather than any other sort of exercise of justice, they used it as a chance to make these vast statements, these manifestos about the political situation in russia today. >> and what was the reaction in the courtroom? it was a little surprising, right? >> yeah. every time that one of the women finished speaking, all the russian journalists in the room began applauding and the courtroom was absolutely packed. the judge wasn't happy, but they kept on clapping. >> what's your view of the sentence? will it be the three year that's been reported, what will happen? >> there's a pretty clear understanding here that it will be a guilty verdict. as for the sentence, that's been thrown into a bit of doubt. everybody expected the verdict to come tomorrow and the fact that it's going to come in a week's time indicates that there is uncertainty about what should be done with these women. >> thanks so much. and of course miriam has been covering it from inside the courtroom. >> phil black, what was the reason you weren't in the courtroom? >> media beyond the small few number of print journalists have largely been excluded for much of the proceedings over the last week. the defense teams believe that these proceedings have not been fair, have not been legal, have not been just in any way. i'm not suggesting that restricting the media access is necessarily an example of the illegality, but it certainly shows that it was not a thoroughly open process. >> what's been the reaction among people in russia to this case? >> how high profile is it? >> it's extremely high profile,profile. i think the country is divided into three camps. there are those who align themselves with the russian orthodox church and they feel offended by this and they want to see them sent to prison for a period of time. there are also members of the church who feel mersy for them. they believe they have already served a punishment and deserve to be released. there are those who back the women and those who feel strokly in choosing to prosecute these women, the government, the system has done them a favor by highlighting what they believe are many of the things that are wrong with the government, with the judicial system in t dunttory. >> and it is amazing. and no doubt as we say, maybe the name pussy riot itself got people paying attention to this. you're talking today about some video from someone who came out from someone has been an opization leader. debugging his apartment wouldn't have gotten his attention, right? >> it certainly helps. there's no doubt about this. pussy riot women have become an international figurehead for the opposition movement. the man that you're talking about is a prominent opposition leader here. i interviewed him only a few months ago in that office and we talked at the time about the possibility of him being targeted by surveillance and he was pretty sure that he was being watched and listened to in that way. now we've seen him pull a bug from the offices in which he works, where he targets corruption and campaigns against the government. >> and a final word, then, phil, what is your take? putin has done things to indicate that he's more open than he used to be to criticism, but has he moved at all or has he moved maybe even in the other direction? >> well, just before he returned to the presidency, one of the big questions that i and a lot of other people were talking about at the time was how will putin respond to the new opposition movement, the unprecedented side of people on the streets. since he has republicaned to the presidency, we've seen the prosecution of pussy riot. and other significant opposition figures as well and a raft of legislation has been passed through the parliament of this country all of it making it a little harder for the opposition to, would, giving it lefs room to breathe. >> next. gabby douglas wins gold and challenges all of us to think about race. it took a mighty machine, and plain old ingenuity to go where no fifth grader had gone before. ♪ and she flew and she flew, into the sky and beyond. my name is annie and i'm the girl who dreamed she could fly. powered by intel core processors. ♪ powered by intel core processors. those little things for you, life's about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. >> last thursday, gabby douglas made it into the history books. the 16-year-old took to the olympic podium. the first black woman -- she's 16 -- woman, girl, to win gol in the all-around gymnastics competition. now, it was amazing to watch her. instead of the moment being celebrated on its own, there's been an onslaught of commotion surrounding gabby's race. included in this conversation is buzz about gabby's hair, which really does not dignify debate. the woman is focused on performing the crazy flips, twists and jumps to perfection shouldn't be worried about her hair. i even like how gymnastics girls wear makeup, but that's another issue. commenting on her hair is irrelevant and stupid. so stupid it seems her teammates may have worn their hair to look like her in solidarity. there's a simple question of political correctness, which is not so simple as it turns out. is she black or african-american, something a cnn ireporter took issue with this week. >> why can't all black american athletes represent only one country? and that country they are representing is the united states of america. >> now, it is terrific that gabby is a leader and role model for other black girls to follow. are we taking something away from her wonderful moment by qualifying it that way? shouldn't she just be a role model for all young people? young girls, black, white or any other color? that really seems to be the bottom line here? race is important to americans, but not in the simple ways, are you black or white anyway? we don't actually seem to know who we are. according to research released today, the census box known as some other race is a big hit. there is a census box called some other race. maybe you checked it because the census bureau thought almost no one would check that box. because they give you so many choices. but in the 2010 census, it turned out to be the third biggest group which is pretty incredible. clearly people think their identity is more complex than checking a box called african-american/black which the title for that race. on the form. so here's to hoping that gabby douglas goes down as the gymnast with the great smile. that's really the thing about her that stood out to me, that smile that is just enormous and overwhelming that makes you smile, too. she inspires young girls to excel let's not put her in a box