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Donald Sterling Allegedly Caught in Racist Rant; Interview with Lorraine Miller; Bluefin Nearly Done Scanning Search Zone; Georgia Law Broadens Gun Rights; Crowds Pack Vatican City for Historic Canonization
Aired April 27, 2014 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Top of the hour, Don Lemon here. You're in CNN NEWSROOM.
This story that Fred and I have been talking about originates in the sports world, the world of professional basketball but quickly moving far beyond the sports world. Recorded racist remarks attributed to the billionaire owner of the L.A. Clippers. The man's name is Donald Sterling. While those alleged comments has everyone talking from casual fans to the president of the United States.
Sterling is married but he also apparently had a girlfriend named V. Stiviano. She supposedly made the recording obtained by TMZ sports. It features a man telling Stiviano her to stop posting images of herself with black athletes and to stop bringing African-Americans to the clippers' game.
Now this is what TMZ sports says ignited the remarks, a photo featuring Stiviano with L.A. basketball legend Magic Johnson. The voice purported to be Sterling's singles out Magic as one person in particular that he does not want to see. Well, the entire recording of what's purported to be Donald Sterling reportedly runs for an entire hour, not all that recording is available now, but we're going to play you what is available and you're going to hear it all in the coming hours here on CNN so stay tuned.
So here's a portion from TMZ sports featuring the couple's discussion about race and minorities. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Honey, I'm sorry.
DONALD STERLING, L.A. CLIPPERS OWNER: I'm sorry too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish I could change the skin, the color of my skin.
STERLING: That isn't the issue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's the issue?
STERLING: The issue is you don't have to broadcast everything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not broadcasting anything. I don't do anything wrong.
STERLING: Nobody said you did anything wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't do anything wrong. If we ever have any issues it's because people call you and so you things about me that are not true.
STERLING: Then why are you broadcasting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not broadcasting anything.
STERLING: And why are you taking pictures with minorities. Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's wrong with minorities? What's wrong with black people ?
STERLING: Nothing. Nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's wrong with Hispanics?
STERLING: It's like talking to an enemy. There's nothing wrong with minorities. They are fabulous. Fabulous. Because you are an enemy to me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?
STERLING: Because you don't understand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't understand what?
STERLING: Nothing. Nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That racism still is a lie?
STERLING: No, but there is a culture.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What culture?
STERLING: People feel certain things. Hispanics feel certain things towards blacks. Blacks feel certain things towards other groups. It's been that way historically and it will always be that way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it is not that way in my heat and in my mind.
STERLING: But maybe you want to adjust to the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So why if the world doesn't anything for me and they don't make me happy?
STERLING: You're right. I don't want to argue with you. I don't want to argue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't be racist in my heart.
STERLING: And that's good. I'm living in a culture and I have to live within the culture. So that's the way it is. That's all, I got it. I got the whole message. You live with your heart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't.
STERLING: You can't be flexible. You can't --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am flexible. I understand that that's the way you were raised and that's your culture. And I'm respectful.
STERLING: Well, why do you have to disrespect them? Thos are --
STERLING: The world before you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why am I disrespecting them?
STERLING: by walking and you're perceived as either a Latina or a white girl. Why can't you be walking publicly with black people? Why? Is there a benefit to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it a benefit to me? Does it matter is they are white or blue or yellow?
STERLING: I guess that you don't you that. Maybe you are stupid. Maybe you don't know what people think of you. It does matter, yes. It matters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Even President Obama has joined this conversation. The president is on a tour of Asian nations right now and when asked about Sterling's alleged comments at a news conference in Malaysia, the president said this quote. He said "when ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything. You just let them talk. That's what happened here." He also said more and you'll hear it a little bit later on.
Terrence Moore is our sports contributor and columnist for mlb.com. Also with us is Mark O'Mara, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney. CNN's Stephanie Elam outside the arena where the Clippers are playing right now.
And Terrence, I want to start with you. Kareem Abdul Jabbar told us today that he is not surprised but Donald Sterling and Magic Johnson says Sterling has to go. These are not guys who won against you in the sports world. Will this make any bit of difference?
TERRENCE MOORE, CNN.COM SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. It's going to make a difference in the fact that he will end up going. But you know, putting this in perspective, having done this been in professional sports journalist now for 40 something years, Don, I'm telling you something that Donald Sterling is not the only owner that I've ever encountered or general manager with these type of thoughts. He is one of the few owners who has gotten caught saying these things out there in the open. And that's the thing. I mean, it's almost like gambling in the piano bar, that old "Casablanca" line. That's not the shocking part. The shocking part is the fact that it got out there some kind of way. People are reacting to it as well as they should, but to think that he is the only one and that he is some sort of a rarity here, the exception to the rule would be foolhardy on the part of everybody else out there.
LEMON: OK. So then why do people do stand by, right? And listen, I'm not a sports aficionado, I don't really know that much about Donald Sterling before this, Terrence, why is he still an owner? Why do people sit by -- sit back and let this guy be a racist and, you know, have lawsuits against him settled, but not really talk about it, and not really call him on it in the league, why?
MOORE: Well, there's two big reasons. Number one, nobody has cared about the Clippers. He's owned the Clippers since 1981. Nobody's cared about the Clippers except for the last couple years they have this super team with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and Doc Rivers now owning the team. So they could be in the shadows out there and L.A. as the other team and nobody ever cared.
The other thing is one of the things that's been the case in professional sports forever, whether you talk about the NBA, major league baseball or NFL, you're talking about the ultimate good old boy network. The owners who are a part of these things, they protect themselves. They're not going to turn on each other.
As a matter of fact I thought it was interesting, Michael Jordan has a history of not wanting to get involved in anything involving race. As a matter of fact, back when he was a player he made the famous statement, when ask somebody asked him, why aren't you commenting more about race? He said roughly that white people buy basketball shoes, too. And I'm mentioning Michael Jordan now, he is the owner of the Charlotte franchise, yet yesterday when everybody was asking or talking about this, he refused to give a comment. He finally gave a comment today after he put his finger to the wind and saw where it was going.
LEMON: What are you saying?
MOORE: Well, I'm saying that these owners, they protect themselves. This has been going on with all the lawsuits with Donald Sterling since 1981, basically he's been sued, you had Elgin Baylor as general manager accusing him of harassment, suing him for age discrimination. So they all knew it, they being the owners. But they didn't do anything about it partly because he's part of the good old boy network.
LEMON: Mark, I'm going to talk to but the legal angle but if you'll just allow me, I want to go to Stephanie Elam, because she is right there where it's happening in California.
Stephanie, you know, the playoffs are happening now. You're there. The players and the fans there, what's the reaction? I understand they're wearing their jerseys inside out and is that some sort of a protest? STEPHANIE ELAM,. CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, to be clear, Don, this was in the warm up that they came out onto the court, that they took their jerseys off as a team and dropped them at center court and when they did that, they revealed that they had on red t-shirts that were inside out with the logo basically against their chest so not showing the logo.
They did that as a team from what I'm understanding, something that they decided to do as a team to acknowledge this. I mean, you're talking about a bunch of black men, right, who play for the Clippers. And I think there may have been a bit of conflict of do we acknowledge this or not, considering the fact of who we are but we do have a task at hand.
The Clippers are up 2-1 in the series right now. But not a good day for them so far. Right now they are trailing. So wondering whether or not this is affecting their play tonight -- today is part of that question. But I do feel like they felt the need to make the way they felt heard.
On top of that you've got a few L.A. fans who were up here, one man I talked to said he doesn't support Sterling. He thinks he should go but at the same time he supports the players, if they're not boycotting, he's not boycotting. He's here to show his support for those players, Don.
LEMON: I heard you earlier saying, can you imagine the conflict the internal conflict that's going on with the players.
Listen, not just the African-American ones, all of them because this man has, you know, has really embarrassed every race, not just black people but can you imagine the internal conflict especially for the African-American players and I agree with you 100 percent. You want to get out there and you want to win and this is something you worked for all your life but then you have this guy embarrassing you in this way.
Mark O'Mara, you know, it's not against the law to be racist or it's not illegal to be an idiot, but is it legal in California to record someone else's voice without their knowing it and what are lawyers on both sides doing today and saying about this?
MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's not legal. California is a state like Florida and like 11 or 12 others that say that you have to have consent of both parties in order to record a conversation. So there's no question that this person who recorded the conversation surreptitiously and without his knowledge and probably did it to try and gain some negotiation position in the lawsuit by the wife, and this now all uncovering little soap opera we have going.
So I don't think that's going to get into a courtroom for those purposes because she can't use it for her benefit, but can it be used by the NBA? Can it be used by the court of public opinion? Yes, yes, and it should be.
LEMON: And so, if it's not illegal and I have to, I've got to move on, but if it is illegal to record someone or you have to, what is it called, two-party notice.
O'MARA: Correct.
LEMON: It is the two-party state, then how can it be released and broadcast?
O'MARA: Well, it can't get into a courtroom. And actually in Florida, if you do it that way it's a felony. So, she may have it at her own risk to have released it that way. But again, released it to the general public, releasing it for other purposes is much different than whether or not it will ever get into a courtroom.
California statues, Florida Statues, say, it cannot be used in a courtroom when it is not properly gauge. But again, it doesn't mean that it can't be used for the purposes that we are not talking about which is sort of uncovering these no so set a racism that has (INAUDIBLE) this guy's history and now talking about it.
LEMON: OK. There is more I want to talk to, Mark, about there are many people who are saying she is baiting him. I mean, what he said was despicable. Does that even matter because whether she is baiting him or not, if you don't feel that way then whose things were not come out of your month?
But Mark, stick around. Stick around as well, Terrence. Stephanie, thank you very much. We will get back to you later on especially as the game continues there in California.
You know, as incredible as it sounds, the Clippers owner was due to received a lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP when this broke. And despite Donald Sterling also ready having a questionable background, they were going to do.
Well, ahead, I'm going to ask the group's national leader. What were they thinking?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Withal come back everyone. I'm Don Lemon.
We're devoting extensive coverage this hour to the controversy surrounding L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Recorded conversation has surfaced purportedly Sterling and his girlfriend in which the man's voice makes racist remarks. Here's a portion of the recording obtained by sports Web site dead spin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STERLING: Well then, if you don't feel it, don't come to my game. Don't bring black people and don't come.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know that you have whole team that's black , that plays for you?
STERLING: You just, do I know? I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know that -- who makes the game? Do I make the game or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners that --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: One confusing side bar to all of this is that Donald Sterling, this controversy is that the fact that until yesterday the Los Angeles NAACP had planned to give him their lifetime achievement award. The honor was to be handed out at the group's 100th anniversary event next month.
Now the L.A. chapter says Sterling will not receive the award. I want to bring in now Lorraine Miller. She is the interim national president and CEO of the NAACP.
It's good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us.
LORRAINE MILLER, NAACO INTERIM PRESIDENT AND CEO: Thank you for having me.
LEMON: To the best of your knowledge, why was Donald Sterling slated to receive a lifetime achievement award from the L.A. chapter of your organization, when it was not a secret that he had racist tendencies or that he was in fact racist?
MILLER: Well, Don, I think that was a local decision and it was based on what our local folks felt, how helpful he had been to the people we try to serve in Los Angeles, and that was do we need a better vetting system, absolutely. And I'm sure this incident will make people look a little more closely, a little more strenuous at the recipients of a lifetime achievement award, that's a big deal.
LEMON: OK, so let's talk about this. First he had a checkered past as we talked about, in 2009 he settled while admitting no liability, three lawsuits tied to discrimination claims at apartments he owned the Los Angeles times reported that. He also settled a 2003 lawsuit that claimed he wouldn't rent to Latinos, "the Times" reported that as well and yet, the NAACP was not aware of this? This is public record.
And let me say this. You're saying, you know, he is no longer -- they rescinded the L.A. chapter, you know, the award to be handed out. But the NAACP and this is what the reporting of the Hollywood reporter, the NAACP has previously honored Sterling with a lifetime achievement, that was in 2009.
MILLER: 2009, yes.
LEMON: As well as the NAACP president's award in 2008, ahead of his 2009 honor the NAACP L.A. head Leon Jenkins praised Sterling to the "Los Angeles Times" even as the mogul was being accused of a racist lawsuit that I talked about from Clippers general manager and NBA hall of famer, Elgin Baylor. He has a unique history of giving to the children of L.A., Jenkins said, of Sterling at the time, adding that Sterling routinely gave 2,000 and 3,000 tickets to local youth for each clippers home game. So he knew about that, about what he gave but he didn't know about his history of racism? MILLER: Well, you know what? Don, I really can't speak to that. I don't know what Mr. Jenkins actually knew. I can just tell you, though, from an NAACP perspective. We are very concerned that racism in this country and discrimination is rampant. And what do we do, the question that we really want people to think about is, what does this mean for racial equality, equality of opportunity, for people to have equality in the legal process in this country, what does that mean? Have we done that? Those are the kind of issues that are prominent in our mind, clearly, clearly. We've got to do a better vetting job on these awardees.
LEMON: As an African-American though, people are asking you know me, not just black people, but as the oldest and most respected civil rights organization in the country.
MILLER: Yes.
LEMON: What happened? What's the breakdown? Is this about money? Is this about donating to the NAACP? What's going on here?
MILLER: Again, Don, I don't know. This was a local decision, our local branch felt strongly, of course, that this gentleman had done significant work to help them in achieving the things they wanted to do with the people we try to serve in Los Angeles. And for that part, they felt that he deserved the award. Now should he have been vetted much more strenuously, yes we admit it. It was a local decision.
LEMON: Still it was a local position and still part of the NAACP.
MILLER: It's our brand.
LEMON: And it's a terrible decision.
MILLER: Yes.
LEMON: Was a terrible decision?
MILLER: Yes. An unfortunate decision.
LEMON: The president of the California NAACP is now suggesting that fans boycott the clippers. Do you think that will make a difference or do you think you'll end up hurting the players, many of whom are African-American on the team?
MILLER: You know what? I don't think she said boycott. I think in her public statement she said maybe we should do what the owner has asked us to do, not attend the games. It's not, I think it was part of an effort to say look, if he doesn't want us there, why should we force ourselves and more importantly force our incomes and our moneys on him, if he doesn't want us, he doesn't want us.
But I tell you, I think we read a little too much into that. We have so many other things that we have to do and we should be doing to eliminate racism in this country. That's what we are about. We've been around for 105 years. We have not eliminated racism and discrimination in this country, and that's what we're about. The NBA and the Clippers have to do what they feel is in their, the interests of their team and their business interests. We can't dictate that, but we would hope that, when racism raises its ugly head, we have to speak out about it, and we will speak out about it.
LEMON: And as the interim president, are you going to make sure that the vetting process is better, do you promise improvement?
MILLER: We will make sure our vetting processes -- you can imagine how this is resonated among our branches around the country and people are going to be much more stringent about the people they give a lifetime achievement award, because it represents what we stand for, the NAACP.
LEMON: Yes. And it represents Dr. King and so many others who fought for our free dome and civil rights.
MILLER: So many who have died.
LEMON: And it's embarrassing. I mean, you have to admit. It is embarrassing.
MILLER: Yes. It's embarrassing. It is unfortunate, but we'll do better.
LEMON: Thank you, Lorraine Miller.
MILLER: Thank you for having me. Good to see you.
LEMON: We're not done talking about this. We're going to bring back our guests for more on the alleged comments by Clippers owner, right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: NBA legend Magic Johnson reacting to the recorded racist comments being attributed to a man he has " known for decades and even considered a friend, Clippers owner Donald Sterling. This image is what TMZ sports says ignited the remarks, a photo featuring Sterling's reported girlfriend V. Stiviano with Magic Johnson.
In addition to race remarks, the voice reported to be Sterling singles out Magic Johnson as one person he doesn't want to see at Clippers games.
Well, earlier today, Magic Johnson had his say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IRVIN MAGIC JOHNSON, FORMER NBA PLAYER: There's no place in our society for it. There's no place in our league, because we all get along. We all play with different races of people when you are in sports. That's what makes sports so beautiful. And then he's put his own team in a tough situation. So I believe that once commissioner Silver, I was going to say Stern -- Silver, you know, does all his due diligence, gets all the information gathered, the information, he's got to come down hard. He shouldn't own a team anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right, so with me again, Terrance Moore and Mark O'Mara.
Terrence, the NAACP in California is urging basketball fans to stay away from Clippers games and I'm sure you heard the interim president saying don't read too much into that, they are saying especially African-Americans and Hispanic fans, in other words to honor Donald Sterling's request. But do you think fans will turn out back on the team during the playoffs?
MOORE: Fans are fans. Look, the only thing the clipper fans want to know is whether or not this team, this loaded team with all these stars, Chris Paul, are they good enough and will they win the NBA championship?
Fans don't care about this. I mean, you look at the Washington Redskins. You got that racist nickname there. And I can't tell you how many die-hard Washington Redskins fans I know who are African- American, OK?. You look at their owner forever, Washington redskins, a guy named George Preston Marshall. He was a noted racism. All right, the team from the 1930s to 1960s but you have the die-hard black fans. The point of the matter is the way fans operate, if you win, everything is forgiven. We don't really care. It's not that part of it, not going to be that much of a big stink.
LEMON: Mark O'Mara, let's talk about the legal end of this now, a little bit more. What about the girlfriend, V. Stiviano? I mean, she's not married to Sterling. Does this smell like a revenge, act of revenge or extortion or a scam? Because they mentioned that, you know, the clippers in their response yesterday, can she be in trouble?
O'MARA: Well, we know that he is giving her $2 million and something like, cars and properties. But what the lawsuit said, the weight b the lawsuit against the girlfriend. The girlfriend says I'm going to get back at you. And now, all of the sudden this tape showed up. So I think he was voted into it. I think he did it intentionally, it seems like, and suddenly showed up quite quickly.
Now, could she be in trouble? Yes, I think if she surreptitiously taped somebody without their knowledge, that it could be a crime and certainly it's not going to be admissible in some courtrooms.
So, I think she is at risk for the way she did it, now that it's out there, we should be talking about it.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Absolutely we should be talking about it. There's also the concern now, Mark, at least a question about -- you know, obviously what he said is despicable, right? So, I'm not saying that what he said was OK. But the expectation of privacy in your own home.
O'MARA: I hear you and I understand that. One thing we have we have to understand public figures, and he is a public figure, have much less of a right to privacy than a true private citizen. Unfortunately, he wants to put himself out there and own an NBA team, an enormously productive and profitable event, but one that is out there in the public. He's going to have to act appropriately.
And if he was acting this way, if he is a confirmed it seems racist from all of his history, as shown by these most recent comments, though he may have meant them in private, that was a risk that he took, acting that way to somebody else.
LEMON: So, Mark, you know, you are, this is right up your alley, right? You deal with this all the time. He did not in that statement, the Clippers in that statement never said it is not him on that tape, did they? They didn't deny the words coming out of his mouth. They just said attributed to him. What should we read anything into that?
O'MARA: Don, if somebody said those are your words you would have gotten in front of this very camera within 10 seconds and said those are not my words. I would have done the same.
The lack of a comment, that silence I think speaks volumes. If it's not him, get on TV and tell us it's not you. Tell us how it happened.
But the idea that the Clippers even say the tape doesn't suggest his true feelings, even they don't deny it was him. It seems like Magic Johnson said, I know his voice. He didn't say that's his voice but he said I know it.
I think we can presume it's him and his actions by not showing up at the game tonight was sensible. I don't think that we should boycott the games at all. We'd be there for the players but something needs to happen to the owner who acted the way he did.
LEMON: It's very interesting to me, Terence Moore, that no action was taken that, Adam Silver didn't do anything. He said everyone, how did he put it, they deserved, he didn't say benefit of the doubt.
O'MARA: Due process.
LEMON: Due process, thank you very much.
O'MARA: Yes.
LEMON: Due process.
So but the question is, a member of the police department, if something happens, you're suspended either with or with pay, pending an investigation. If something were to happen to me here on CNN, if I were to do something, they would probably suspend me pending an investigation, right? I'm not saying that I wouldn't get paid and all that stuff, but you understand where I'm going with this, to take no action, was that worse than if they had said listen, you know, right now, we're going to do this, but the investigation should continue. It doesn't sit well that nothing happened with many people.
TERENCE MOORE, CNN.COM SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Don, that to me is something that no one needs to worry about, because something will happen and I believe his words were, Adam Silver, it's going to be extraordinarily swift. I believe that. It's going to happen quickly.
Donald Sterling is history. There's too much stuff out here. We have a precedent for this from Major League Baseball, Marge Schott, we're talking about a different now, 20 years ago, Major League Baseball basically wanted to run her out of the game so she was suspended twice, once for one year, the second time for three years, they were about to suspend her a third time and she happened to just sell the franchise with a push and something like this is going to happen in this situation, but probably even more severe.
Adam Silver of the NBA gets it, just too much publicity out here about this. He's gone. He's history. There's just too much stuff that's out there.
LEMON: So you think it's over?
MOORE: It's over.
LEMON: Mark, have to run -- you think it's over as well?
O'MARA: He gets his due process. Let's wait until the whole story gets out and then he needs to do something besides own an NBA team. He needs to be gone.
LEMON: Terence Moore and Mark O'Mara, and as a footnote I thank the Twitter person who said yesterday was Donald Sterling's birthday, April 26th, 1934, what a birthday present.
Coming up, the search teams hunting for Flight 370 don't have all the resources in the world. We're going to look at their desperate efforts to find the plane and what's next in the Bluefin, for the Bluefin underwater, that drone, if it comes up empty.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The hunt for Flight 370 is on the verge of a crucial turning point. One phase is nearly over. The Bluefin underwater drone is wrapping up a last ditch effort to find clues inside the search zone, the yellow area you see right there on your screen.
The U.S. Navy drone is on its 15th mission there. Each time, it has come up empty. So, here's the bottom line -- the entire search operation may need to stop, regroup and hit refresh. I was talking to officials who say they might move the search zone north to an area where a different ping was heard.
After 52 days and no rock solid clues, is it time to rethink everything here?
With me now is aviation analyst Les Abend, a 777 pilot, and aviation analyst Michael Kay with the British Royal Air Force.
Michael, to you first, as we enter this next phase, what's the best news for this expensive search and resources, air or sea?
MICHAEL KAY, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: I think it's a combination of both, Don. I think you have to have a combination of both in terms of maximizing the possibilities of linking something to the resting place in the south Indian Ocean of MH370. There is a natural pause here, though, in terms of the tempo, the search tempo, that's been going on, in terms of the air side and also with the Bluefin as well.
I mean, the big decision that Angus Houston had to make 12 days ago was going from the pinger, which you remember was looking for the GPS on the black boxes, making the decision going to bed at night and knowing that he'd searched absolutely everything, and then transfer it to the bluefin, because once he transfers to the Bluefin, that's it for the long haul.
LEMON: So, but you still think air search and underwater search and not just one or the other? They had said earlier that, hey, listen, we're going to, the air search going to be over fairly soon. It's still going on but it should be over soon. KAY: Well, I think the air search needs -- you can't maintain the air search at the tempo since day one, bottom line. So, I think it needs to go from a proactive search to a reactive search. What I mean by that is we've been flooding the whole area with airborne assets, maritime surveillance assets, in the hope of finding something. I think what we need to do now is reset -- service all the airplanes, give some of the crews a little bit of rest time and then go to the reactive start, we find something, a satellite or a picture, get the crews out there and take a look.
LEMON: So, Les, you know that this report is going to be released for Flight 370 in Malaysia. The question is, what do you expect to see in the report and why initially did the Malaysians want to keep it secret?
LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I'm not so sure they wanted to keep it a secret. I think they wanted to dot their I's and cross their T's. We've been talking about how mundane this report is going to be, but I think it's important it states the facts specifically so that we can chronologically see what we know for sure happened to the airplane at least with the terms that we have, you know, at this point.
But I think it's an important to get it on paper.
LEMON: So, 52 days later, Les, that the Malaysians have not ruled out that passenger and crew were involved. Is that surprising to you at all?
ABEND: No, it's not because we have no hard evidence. We've discussed this before. I lean toward the mechanical side but even that's got holes in it and the nefarious part of it has holes in it. So, there's not enough facts at this point in time.
LEMON: All right. Les Abend and Michael Kay, thank you. Appreciate both of you.
Hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful and curious onlookers packed into St. Peter's Square today to witness history in the making. Up next, a closer look at today's historic canonizations. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back, everyone.
Right now, millions of people across the central U.S. under a threat of severe weather, storms are firing up across several cities including Memphis, Tennessee.
Our meteorologist Jennifer Gray is closely following the system for us.
Jennifer, wow, look at that. That looks pretty ominous.
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, ominous-looking skies across all of the South, really, Don. Memphis and Little Rock we have pictures of out of Little Rock and these storms just to your west starting to move in, so this is going to be affecting millions of people as we go through the weekend. In fact, tornado watch boxes in effect across portions of Arkansas and this does include Little Rock and in fact, it is considered a particularly dangerous situation from the Storm Prediction Center and that doesn't happen very often.
And so, that means need to take these storms very seriously. In fact, we're starting to see some of these cells pop up and these are the ones that you really want to look out for. There's a tornado warning in effect right now for this one right here, we'll get some information for you, and it is in effect until about 5:00 central time. It's affecting 245 people, a rural area of Oklahoma. We also have a severe thunderstorm warning in Oklahoma as well, and that is until 5:45 Central Time.
I want to show you something else, because with these storms they have a lot of lightning associated with them, and if we just draw a little box right here, you can see in the past 30 minutes, about 150 lightning strikes with these two cells. And so this has been something that, of course, is very, very dangerous. These storms are moving at about 30 miles per hour to the Northeast, producing very heavy rainfall, large hail, golf ball, sometimes baseball-sized hail, Don, and so, these are very, very dangerous. They'll be alive the rest of the afternoon into the evening hours.
LEMON: They should heed Jennifer Gray's warnings. Thank you very much, Jennifer. We appreciate you.
You know, Georgia loosened its gun carrying laws, does it make anyone safer? Our next guest thinks so and he was behind the plan.
But first, food porn. That's right, I said food porn. I had a conversation about food porn with Anthony Bourdain, the host of CNN'S "PARTS UNKNOWN." We talk about his amazing journey to Leon France, a food haven, a food haven. Bourdain says he gained eight pounds in less than a week there.
I've been there. Here's part of our conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, CNN'S "PARTS UNKNOWN": There's food porn and then there's super high test XXX food porn, and I made a career out of finding the really seductive, amazing technically accomplished depictions of food that make you want it bad. We've topped ourselves this time. Never have I come close to what we -- it's the foodiest, sickest, foodiest show we've ever done. It's a deep dive into where great cooks come from, great dishes, great food culture, tracking it back from the tables of high-end restaurants right back to the humble beginnings on the farm and along the way.
Let me put it this way: make sure you have a good bottle of wine and enough food when you watch this show. You do not want to be caught short sitting there in your underwear with a bag of Cheetos. Not for this one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Yum, yum, yum.
When I say I've been there, I mean gaining eight pounds in one week especially when I go home to Louisiana. That is food porn as well.
But make sure you watch "ANTHONY BOURDAIN PARTS UNKNOWN", "The Journey to Lyon, France". It airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
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LEMON: A law just four days on the books generating a lot of heat in Georgia. The law signed by Governor Nathan Deal will allow them to carry permit holders to carry guns in some surprising places. For starters, beginning July 1st, permit holders will be allowed to carry guns inside bars, churches and schools, also inside airports, including Hartsfield/Jackson International, which is the busiest airport in the world.
There are certain caveats, though. At airports for instance, guns cannot be taken past security. And certain property owners, namely family churches and bars, can opt out of the law.
But that is not appeasing critics who argue the bill is dangerous and will make people feel less safe. The bill was pushed through Georgia's legislature by georgiacarry.org. The executive director is Jerry Henry and he joins me live now from Atlanta, my former home there.
So, Jerry, is there a need for guns to be in schools, or bars or churches?
JERRY HENRY, GEORGIACARRY.ORG: Well, criminals will have them there, so somebody should be there to protect people. The thing about carrying in the schools, that's only if the local school board approves the arming of teachers or administrators and they have to have training in order to do so. And it has to be concealed and can't be accessible to anyone but them.
LEMON: OK. I have to say, listen, I believe in the right to carry and all that stuff, but people in bars are already drunk and act crazy. Why should they have a firearm on them?
HENRY: Well, first off, we're talking about responsible gun owners. And it's been the law for the -- a lot of people aren't aware of it, but it's been the law since 2010, that you can go into a bar with a firearm and drink if you had permission of the bar owner. And that's four years down the road. And we haven't had any of those things happen.
There's more people that get drunk and go driving off the road and killing people in the cars than you'll see in bar shootings.
LEMON: I just see a lot of bar fights and even walking by, not necessarily in them, but I see a lot of bar fights and think if there were more people with firearms, that it might escalate and get worse.
But let's move on, because the law appears problematic on a couple fronts. That one for many, but this one, for instance, if a person is seen with a gun strapped to his pants and acting suspicious, police are prohibited from asking that person if he has a permit for that gun? Does that make sense to you?
HENRY: If that's the only reason he's detaining him, to see if he has a weapon's license, then yes. That's already been taken to the Supreme Court a couple of times in several case where is the Supreme Court has said that the presence of a gun does not mean a crime has been or is about to be committed.
If you don't have probable cause or reason or articulate suspension, then the police cannot act you. If you are asking suspicious, the police should have articulate suspension.
LEMON: Everyone is going to be watching. Jerry Henry, thank you for joining us here on CNN. Appreciate it.
HENRY: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
LEMON: All righty.
You know, we're all over this NBA owner story today. Donald Sterling, boss of the L.A. Clippers. It certainly sounds like his voice on the recording, making all kinds of racist statements. Lots of people say they are not surprised, and we are talking with sports writers and former NBA stars and, of course, the lawyers.
Stay with us.
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LEMON: An ongoing standoff in Ukraine is intensifying today as a group of detained European observers are paraded in front of cameras in eastern Ukraine. Pro-Russian separatists released one of the observers for medical reasons, but for at least seven others, their faith remains uncertain with one official calling them prisoners of war.
Another European delegation arrived in eastern Ukraine today. They plan to discuss ways to free the detained observers. Meanwhile, during on a visit to Malaysia, President Barack Obama urged the world to unite in its disapproval of Russian actions in Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Russia has not lifted a finger to help. In fact, there's strong evidence that they have been encouraging the kinds of activities that have been taking place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: More U.S. and E.U. sanctions could come as early as tomorrow.
In an unprecedented ceremony, two of the most beloved hopes have entered sainthood as nearly a million Catholics from around the world packed into St. Peter's Square in Rome. John XXIII and John Paul II were canonized today. In his homily, Pope Francis described the two as men of courage who bore witness to God's mercy. After the formal ceremony, Pope Francis climbed into the pope mobile, a chance for him to get closer to some of the many faithful who flocked to Rome.
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LEMON: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM and we're going to start with a story that has really gripped the nation today.
