we re back. after closing arguments in bellefonte, pennsylvania, a jury has begun deliberating on the 48 counts of sex abuse jerry sandusky faces all of which he denies. nbc s michael isikoff reported this morning that sandusky declined to testify after prosecutors warned his legal team if he took the stand his adopted son matt was ready to act as a prosecution witness with a damaging rebuttal. and just a short time ago, we learned what that would have been. matt s attorneys confirmed that he, too, claims to be an abuse victim of jerry sandusky. michael isikoff is here with me now. i saw your report on the today show this morning. this is quite a bomb shell. yes, it was. and when prosecutors warned the defense team about this this week, it was pretty explosive news. and it was from all indications, it was a factor perhaps the most important factor in jerry sandusky s decision not to testify.
prepared to do that. the good news, if there s any, the banks got what they expected essentially. they knew this was coming and they prepared for it. they have recent safeguards in place. those were taken into account as well. basically when you downgrade a bank, it means they have to pay for more its debt and then there s the trickle down effect and we have to kind of pay for that. hate it when that happens. moody s has been doing this. in june it downgraded spain by three notches after downgraded 16 spanish lenders in may. it cut ratings on german lenders. moving on, jurors in the jerry sandusky case will begin their first full day of deliberations this morning but without one bombshell piece of information. just after the panel was sequestered, sandusky s adopted son, matt, revealed he was prepared to testify he had been
how mitt romney is setting his campaign sights on the all-important latino voters who seemingly back president obama. a look at both coming up. a widening gap. i think a 40-point margin as of last week. also this morning, lebron james and the miami heat, dream team winning the nba championship in miami. the big celebration in south florida after blasting past the thunder. last night taking the title. finally got his championship. later this half-hour, the young genius with a revolutionary invention and how he could forever change the way doctors test you for cancer. a kid we are talking about. it s an amazing story. it really is. first the jurors in the jerry sandusky child molestation case begin the first full day of deliberations this morning. we know something and they don t. sandusky s own adopted son has now joined the ranks of his accusers. abc s t.j. winick joins us with details. good morning. reporter: good morning, john and paula.
up on the witness stand they re open to strong cross-examination because of prior inconsistent statements. first you said you weren t. now you say you are. which one s the truth? reporter: matt first met jerry at 10 years old and moved in with the sanduskys at 16. he tried to commit suicide four months later. legal experts say matt may have been a difficult witness on his own because he repeatedly denied in the past any sexual abuse by his father. even when his birth mother, deborah long, told abc news she had her suspicions and believed matt was covering for jerry. my son was afraid of jerry. if jerry said don t talk, matt didn t talk. it s just sickening. i mean, it s the only way i can describe it. how could you do that to a child? reporter: is matt sandusky s reversal a factor in jerry sandusky not taking the witness stand? sources tell us there was no quid pro quo, but was made clear to the sandusky defense that matt sandusky was standing by to rebut anything jerry sandusky
abc s jim avila has more. reporter: abc news confirmed that jerry sandusky s 33-year-old adopted son, matt, until now his biggest supporter, has turned on his dad and offered to testify that he was personally abused by jerry. that s matt ducking into court. his attorney released this statement saying, during trial last friday he arranged a meeting with prosecutors to disclose for the first time in this case that he is a victim of jerry sandusky s abuse. matt took his own children to visit jerry early in the case, over the objections of their mother. and began this trial just ten days ago seated right next to his adopted mother dottie. visibly supporting sandusky. so why didn t prosecutors call him to testify? sources familiar with the case tell abc news, matt was waiting in the wings in case sandusky decided to testify. and then could be used as a rebuttal witness. you put a witness like that