Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Will NBA Owners Vote Out Donald Sterling?; Search for Flight 370

Aired April 30, 2014 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And let's continue on, top of the hour, and stay on this. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me here.

The big question swirling around the NBA today, what will the owners do concerning the owner of the L.A. Clippers, Donald Sterling? Yes, we heard the commissioner ban him for life yesterday during the epic announcement there from the NBA because of the racist remarks we now know he did indeed make.

We watched this play out during that show live yesterday. Commissioner Adam Silver saying he will begin the termination procedure of Sterling's ownership as soon as possible. That of course pleases a lot of people, including this guy, Magic Johnson.

You remember in that TMZ recording Donald Sterling seemed pretty upset that his then girlfriend posted a picture with Magic Johnson on her Instagram page.

Here now is Magic Johnson's reaction to yesterday's major news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EARVIN "MAGIC" JOHNSON, FORMER NBA PLAYER: I'm just happy that commissioner Adam Silver came down hard and showed that we can't let people get away with this, even if you're an owner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Magic Johnson.

And as NBA owners gear up to vote to possibly terminate Sterling's ownership, force him to sell, Shaquille O'Neal, who has a stake in the Sacramento Kings, says there is zero tolerance for racist comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, FORMER NBA PLAYER: A lot of the owners, including the owner of the Sacramento Kings, have zero tolerance for comments like that. We hope the other owners feel as strongly as we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's talk about the legalities of this with CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin and NFL star former New York Giant Amani Toomer. Amani, let's begin with you. Nice to see you, my friend, back on the show here. Listen, we have talked to you, I have talked to you. We have heard from -- we just heard from Magic and Shaq. Lots of players thrilled with how commissioner Silver handled this yesterday. You played football. Is this something that other pro athletes are talking about? What are folks in your circle saying?

AMANI TOOMER, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Well, everybody is talking about it.

It's the biggest thing going out in sports right now. I got a show on SiriusXM NFL Radio. That's all I was talking about for the first hour of my show yesterday. It's one thing that -- when racism happens in this country, especially in a sport that you think is a forefront leader of race relations like the NBA, you would think that it wouldn't really transpire in a sport like the NBA.

BALDWIN: We talk about the NBA. Talking to Jerry Stackhouse off and on for two hours, he says, you know, yes, and many agree that it's been alive and well.

The NBA is one thing, but I have to press when it comes to football, because I was thinking about Riley Cooper, Philadelphia Eagles, used the N-word, whole thing caught on video. He apologized and he was fine and he was not suspended.

TOOMER: Sensitivity training, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Sensitivity training, exactly. And not only that, Amani, he just resigned with the Eagles for like millions of dollars. And there are other anti-gay remarks that made national news, and I haven't heard of a player or coach banned from the NFL. Where do we draw the line?

TOOMER: I think we should try to eradicate it from all sports.

I think one area that we really need to look at is the name Washington Redskins. That is a racial slur in and of itself. And to have that name represent the NFL, I don't know how that can stand now that Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, has put his stake down and said, hey, look, we're not accepting it. But yet, still, the more popular league, the NFL, is still allowing going to Washington Redskins name to be used.

That's something that I think is going to heat up again, that debate, whether the Redskins should be able to use that name.

BALDWIN: Let me come back to Amani.

But, Sunny, how, when we talk about -- we know commissioner Silver was urging the owners, right, to come together to vote. Can you just walk me through exactly how the vote happens? Because it's my understanding that Donald Sterling himself can stand there and vouch for himself in this room with the 30 owners.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: He sure can.

I think one of the problems is we just found out what the process is, right, because the NBA constitution has been confidential.

BALDWIN: Confidential.

HOSTIN: Less than transparent. And I think the process is sort of less than transparent also, even though we know what the process will be. We know that there's going to be this vote. We know that the rules of evidence don't apply. We know there will be sort of a multi-day kind of quasi-court hearing.

I don't know that it has ever happened before. We're sort of in uncharted territory. And, yes, maybe he can. I also think that not only the horrific things that we heard him say on these tapes are going to be considered. I think his history, his well-documented history of racism, will also be considered during this vote.

I mean, people are saying, you know, that they will have a majority of the owners, and that's what they need. They need a majority of the owners to kick him out, to agree to kick him out.

But I do want to piggyback on what you were just mentioning. You see racism on the coach level and on the player level, and that after an apology and some sensitivity training perhaps everyone is absolved. This situation, I think, is very, very different, because we're talking about the ownership level. We're talking about the employer level.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Still not acceptable at any level.

HOSTIN: That's right. It's not. But don't tell me that his private thoughts didn't somehow filter into the way he ran his business.

And we know that there are laws in our country that preclude people from discriminating on the basis of race in their business practices. And I really think it's important to note that, because we're hearing all of these arguments about free speech, this was a private conversation. But guess what? It's public now and he's an owner.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: It's public. But to your point, and, Amani, I want you to jump in, people knew about this. It goes back specifically to 2006, the discrimination against black and Hispanic tenants. It's documented discrimination and goes back years. Folks I have talked to say they knew about this. This is just the moment when, you know, the media throws the audio up.

And now he's getting in trouble. And, Amani, I'm just curious, however many years you were playing ball, did you ever experience anything where you just kind of -- you talked about it maybe amongst your friends but you didn't say anything?

TOOMER: No. I have never been in a situation.

BALDWIN: No? TOOMER: I was lucky to play for an organization, with the New York Giants that wouldn't -- it's just the furthest thing from my mind when it comes to that ownership group.

BALDWIN: Good. Good.

TOOMER: But, you know, you got to look at this guy's history. And he's been sued by Elgin Baylor. He's been sued by a lot of people.

But this was the first action point that the actual NBA had towards him, because in the other lawsuits, again, the housing lawsuit got settled, and so there was no blame, so they couldn't really have any -- make any reaction from it. Now, since the audio is out, now they finally have their smoking gun, they're able to do what they wanted to do probably for a long time.

BALDWIN: Here's the next question, because we talk about this audio recording and I was reading -- ESPN's Jason Whitlock made this point. Specifically, he's saying great if you want to punish an owner for this private conversation.

And this could have been obtained illegally, right? That's a whole other issue. But he writes this: "If TMZ plans to make pillow talk public and the standard is set that pillow talk is actionable, it won't be long before a parade of athletes joins Sterling on Ignorance Island."

Amani, you have been in many a locker room. Not everyone is politically correct. Does he have a point?

TOOMER: I don't think so.

I think that what Sterling said is hate that I don't even really think -- there is some fun that goes on between teammates, but there is no hatred and malice. What Sterling was spewing was hatred and malice. That has no place in sports. Sports is the ultimate litmus test, the proving ground where it doesn't matter what color you are, it doesn't matter any ethnicity, religion. It doesn't matter. You can go on the court or on the field or whatever, what have you, and you are judged truly on your merit.

And I never on any team I was on had any malice in our locker room.

BALDWIN: That's an awesome thing.

Sunny Hostin, though, I just wanted to ask you. I want your reaction on that because again these are private conversations that were recorded and released.

HOSTIN: Yes. I think she -- certainly there is that legal issue because in California you're not supposed to tape someone without your consent. Both people have to consent.

Maybe he has a cause of action against her. We know this is a guy that likes to sue people. But I think if you really look at the broader picture here, it is a public matter now. Again, he is an owner. And so he needs to be put to task for perhaps those private thoughts that I am sure filtered their way into public decisions and to his business decisions.

Let me say also this, Brooke. I think the lack of transparency that we have seen from these owners is reprehensible.

BALDWIN: Sure. How do you mean lack of transparency?

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: Because we didn't know about this NBA constitution and my understanding is this vote could, perhaps, also be confidential and private.

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: If you're going to do the right thing, the board, the NBA board, then have this hearing be public. I want to know what your vote was. I think it should be a public procedure. I want to know what's going on and I want to know which of those owners will vote in favor of keeping Sterling or against keeping Sterling.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOMER: I 100 percent agree.

And one thing that the commissioner said in the press conference yesterday is that Donald Sterling will not be -- he is suspended from all councils, everything. He's not a part of the NBA anymore. So, he will not be a part of it.

Earlier, you said that he had an opportunity to vote for himself.

BALDWIN: No, no, no.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOMER: ... 29-person vote.

BALDWIN: Yes. You're exactly right so far, banned for life all things Clippers, all things facility, NBA, et cetera, but ultimately then it is up to the remaining owners to determine his fate and whether they force him to sell.

Awesome discussion. Amani Toomer and Sunny Hostin, thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it.

HOSTIN: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: The woman who exposed Donald Sterling and his racist comments is now considering a higher office? At least so she says as she was leaving this restaurant caught by L.A. paparazzi. They have been following V. Stiviano wherever she goes wearing this visor thing. Cameras caught her outside this local bistro talking about her quest for the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

V. STIVIANO, EX-GIRLFRIEND OF DONALD STERLING: One day, I will become president of the United States of America, and I will change the legislation and laws (INAUDIBLE) modern-day history, civil rights movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I know it's tough to hear with the traffic, but she talks about wanting to be president and wanting to write -- I believe she said write laws and I heard the word civil rights. It's still unclear if Stiviano will face any legal consequences, as we were just discussing there, with Amani and Sunny, for recording the private conversations with Sterling. That's another part of the story we will be watching for.

Coming up here, an Australian exploration company says it has found possible evidence of a plane thousands of miles from that current search area for Flight MH370. Why are we just now hearing about this? Is this company credible? Could this be the plane? We will look at that.

Also, severe weather slamming parts of the Southeast. Pensacola, Florida, for example, flooding there has left at least one person dead, roads turning to rivers. We will take you there live.

And live pictures as we're watching California. This is the Los Angeles area, Rancho Cucamonga, California, acres burning, folks being evacuated from their homes as we speak. We're watching that for you. Stay here. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Right now, two Bangladesh navy ships are in the Bay of Bengal. They're searching for a possible aircraft that could maybe be Flight 370. It is sitting some 3,000 feet below the surface of the ocean and miles from where searchers have been looking more than a month.

An Australian marine exploration company says they believe it is indeed wreckage of a commercial airliner, a Boeing 777 spotted right around the time that Flight 370 vanished.

CNN's Anna Coren traveled to the company's headquarters to find out why they think this needs to be a part of this official search.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the search continues for MH370 more than seven weeks after the plane's disappearance, a team of scientists from an Australian mining exploration company believe they may have found its location more than 5,000 kilometers away.

GeoResonance is believed that through its high-tech spectral imaging gathered from satellites and plane,s it has been found the remains of an aircraft in the Bay of Bengal 190 kilometers off the coast of Bangladesh.

PAVEL KURSA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, GEORESONANCE: We are not into making theories. It is a scientific proven fact that we guarantee that at that location, there are chemical elements that are part of a plane.

COREN: Their search began four days after the plane's disappearance testing for elements such as aluminum, titanium and copper found in a Boeing 777.

And while many are skeptical of the technology, the team stands by the science and their findings.

Their final report was sent two weeks ago to Malaysia Airlines and all countries involved in the search, but they got no response. Now, no one at GeoResonance is saying that this is, in fact, the remains of MH370, but they are calling on authorities to investigate saying it's their moral obligation to the families of the victims on board.

Anna Coren, CNN, Adelaide, Australia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Anna, thank you.

Coming up, we will talk a little bit more about this. Could this be the plane that investigators have been looking for? Some experts say no way. We will talk about that.

Also ahead, more L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling -- the punishment from the NBA was swift, it was severe. But could this now be precedent-setting for owners and players? Back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We want to get you straight now to the severe weather affecting both coasts. You have this fire on the West Coast, flooding on the east, 37 million people threatened by the floods all the way from Florida to Virginia.

But let's begin in Southern California, because I have just received word, here he is, Paul Vercammen on the left-hand side of your screen has just arrived at the scene of that fire, Rancho Cucamonga, just outside of Los Angeles. On the right set, Chad Myers getting set to talk to me as well.

But, Paul Vercammen, to you first. Tell me what you are seeing.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see right now over my right shoulder the eastern edge of this fire that started this morning, cause unknown, winds whipping up to 80 miles per hour.

This neighborhood on the far eastern edge of the fire threatened, 1,100 people evacuated. We have seen engines go in there to stand in structure protection for those homes. We have also had the evacuation of a high school, a middle school, several elementary schools. You can tell by the color of the smoke, Brooke, it is dark and this fire largely unchecked right there. They are unable to get water on this fire right now from the air because of these absolutely sinister winds that are whipping up here behind these housing developments.

The winds right now, believe it or not, this is sort of calm. Earlier, we were almost blown over. When you're talking about 80 miles per hour, there is no way that you can fly a helicopter or a fixed-wing aircraft in here to drop that purple material, Phos-Chek, on the plane.

They are hoping the winds will die down and they will be able to begin fighting this fire by air. They say 200 acres have burned. That is not a very updated number. That is sure to change.

For right now, we have not seen any houses burn and they are now hoping, as I said before, try to get a break in the wind so that they can get some help up in the air -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: As you mentioned, school evacuations and home evacuations. Got two boxes on the screen, and you can see really the smoke. And I can even hear, Paul, the wind picking up in your microphone. So talk about a challenge if you can't attack this thing from the air with the water with those 80-mile-an-hour winds. At what point can they fly? Do we know?

VERCAMMEN: They haven't given us a specific number on those winds. I think they probably need that to be cut in at least half.

Obviously, this puts all the firefighting efforts right now on these ground crews. Some of them of course are with the Forest Service and they're very used to digging in, in these situations and getting in those with those brush trucks that have the ability to pump out water.

Nonetheless, an extremely difficult task, mutual aid pouring in from all over Southern California. They were well aware that there's a high-fire danger today. And, as you know, this horrific drought has just added to this problem. All of this stuff behind me should be a lot greener in late April.

Yes, you're saying, oh, well, it does look green to us, but this has been going on for such a long time.

BALDWIN: A lot of brown.

VERCAMMEN: Yes, a lot of ground, and all of this so-called fuel is just bone-dry, because we had so little rain. That is obviously adding to the fire and making it a lot more easier for it to advance. As I said, they are trying to get crews from all over the region in here to help these people out in the Forest Service in the city of Rancho Cucamonga, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes. A lot of brown ground, brown with a B.

Paul Vercammen, thank you so much, you and the crew for the hustle to getting out there for us. We will come back to you, of course, as news merits.

Let's go to Chad Myers, Chad Myers in a car.

Last I heard, you were in Pensacola, sir. Tell me where you are and what you see.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm 1,800 miles from where I started, Brooke, Little Rock, then Tupelo, and then Tuscaloosa, and now Pensacola.

And we see flooding. We did not get the tornado outbreak yesterday because the people of Pensacola got flooded out, 24 inches, even 25 in some spots, in 24 hours, two feet of rain in 24 hours. It had to go somewhere and it went on the ground and then it went up.

It kept piling up and piling up and piling up. This Gulf of Mexico storm down here cut off the moisture feed to the tornadoes, so there was nothing up really north of us, where we were hoping or looking for something to clear. They're saying please don't -- let's not have a third day of this.

And that came true. We did not get a third day of tornadoes. And so the people finally, even though they were expecting them, finally said, hey, a sigh of relief. We don't want any more of this. The people down here though are picking up with this flooding, more pictures to come here up on "THE LEAD" as well.

We talked to Governor Rick Scott earlier today, and he calls the devastating flooding a tragedy for this little area because it has been hit so hard so many times. But people tell me that this flooding that we're seeing right now is worse than Ivan and worse than Katrina ever did to them -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes, I was talking to the spokesman for Escambia County and he was saying to me this is the worst he has seen or experienced for this part of Florida at least. Chad Myers, thank you so much driving along. I hear the exhaustion in your voice. You have been on TV a heck of a lot trying to cover this thing for us. We appreciate you.

Coming up, an Australian exploration company says it has found possible evidence of a plane thousands of miles from the current search area for Flight MH370. Why are we just now hearing about this? Is this company even credible? We will explore that next on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)