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: Should Shelly Sterling Remain Co-Owner; Increased Efforts to Search for Nigerian Kidnapped Girls; U.S. Support Team Arrives Today in Nigeria; Cell Phone "Kill Switch" Legislation;

Aired May 09, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

PIERCE O'DONNELL, ROCHELLE STERLING'S ATTORNEY: And Commissioner Silver was very clear that she's not accused of anything here, she didn't do anything wrong. It's Donald. OK. Number two, they've been estranged and not living together for over a year. OK. And while they share business, business properties, he's out of the team, has nothing to do with it and she's the owner in charge.

STE[JAMOE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Does Shelly Sterling want to be the sole owner of the team or does she want the family trust without Donald to own the team after he's gone?

O'DONNELL: First of all she wants an NBA championship to come to Los Angeles. And the business front, her desire is to retain her 50 ownership of the team and whatever happens to Donald's interest have. She's been an owner for 33 years? An avid fan. She helped build the family fortune and she wants to retain her ownership in her lifetime.

ELAM: One wrinkle in that is that we've heard some of the players say that they don't want to see -- I should say the NBA, not necessarily from the Clippers, but that they do not want to see any Sterling owning the team. How does she plan on fighting that?

O'DONNELL: Well, first of all, they never told me that. I have a very cordial relationship with Commissioner Silver, the general council, Rick Buchanan. I was on the phone with Rick Buchanan 20 minutes ago. They never said that to us. We're going to be meeting with them soon to see if we can come up with a mutually beneficial resolution of the differences that exist.

They've never banned her from games. She will be at the game on Friday night. She's been at other games. And we're hopeful we can resolve this for the good of the city, the good of the team, the fans, the players, Doc Rivers and the coaches and for her.

ELAM: This is a team that is valued at a lot more than what the purchase price was in 1981. If there was a bidding war, the Sterlings stand to make a great amount of money. Everyone has a price. Has Mrs. Sterling identified hers?

O'DONNELL: No. Mrs. Sterling wants to retain her ownership interest in the team. She has enough money in her life and for her children and grandchildren. She's passionate about her ownership of this team. She loves the team. Players love her. Doc Rivers has been very supportive of her. And she's supportive of them. Mrs. Sterling wants to retain her 50 percent ownership interest in her lifetime.

ELAM: I asked Coach Rivers this question about whether or not he had heard from Mrs. Sterling. And he said that he had. That she had asked if she could come to one of the games early on in the Golden State Warriors series.

Has Mrs. Sterling reached out to the players to talk to them players in the midst of all this, or has she left that alone?

O'DONNELL: She hasn't reached out to them but some of them have come over to her, given her a hug.

Mrs. Sterling is a wonderful woman. She's very caring and decent. The players know she cares about them. They're trying to guide her actions accordingly. I think Westbrook and Durant were the bigger distractions for us unfortunately last game. And she's trying to perform the important role of being a co-owner, the owner in charge right now. But let the team be managed by the great coach, Doc Rivers.

ELAM: One thing that I want to clarify, too. Because you have these old depositions that we've seen from 2009. And in them there were claims made by people, one in particular that she called someone under her breath a black MF, negative term.

Is Mrs. Sterling a racist and does she deny those statements?

O'DONNELL: First, she denies the statements categorically. Those were depositions, they're one-sided. Nobody has asked for her position. I will state it categorically. She has never, ever engaged in discrimination based on race, sex, orientation, anything like that, number one. Number two, Mrs. Sterling and her husband were sued. They've never been found by a court to have engaged in discriminatory housing practices.

Some cases were settled by the insurance companies. Mrs. Sterling is a wonderful woman and doesn't have any racial ominous.

ELAM: Is this going to be a quick resolution or is this going to be a long process with the NBA?

O'DONNELL: Well, we hope it is a speedy resolution. This is a very complicated issue. There's a lot of moving parts and we will be meeting with the NBA soon to see if we can't begin a process of healing and a process by which Mrs. Sterling and the league both achieve their objectives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: OK. So according to Shelly Sterling's attorney, the Clippers love Shelly Sterling and Doc Rivers has supported her. So you would think Rivers would also support her staying on as co-owner. Well, here's what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DOC RIVERS, L.A. CLIPPERS COACH: I think it would be a very hard situation, if you want me -- I'll say that much. I think it would be very difficult. I guarantee every person wouldn't be on board with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With the ownership picture far from settled, the Clippers themselves have a playoff battle on their hands. The team hosts the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight. The series is tied at a game each. And yes, Mrs. Sterling will be back at the game.

So let's bring back our -- our panel, rather. LZ Granderson, Darren Kavinoky and Stephanie Elam.

Welcome to all.

Wow. OK. So Darren, I'll start with you. You heard what the attorney said. He said we abhor guilt by association in America, the sins of the husband cannot be imputed to the wife or children. In short he says Shelly Sterling is not racist.

So does he have a point, Darren?

DARREN KAVINOKY, ATTORNEY: Yes, well, you know who does a great job speaking on behalf of Shelly Sterling? Her lawyers and her publicists. They do a great job. But you know who does a lousy job advocating for Shelly Sterling? Shelly Sterling. On the very day that she came out with a very strong and public statement against her husband and against racism, she's caught coming out of a restaurant saying, Donald, he's not a racist and backing him up.

And yes, those court cases alleging discrimination in the housing dealings were settled. And that was just one side of the story. But a big fat check will make those issues go away.

I don't think the NBA is going to be satisfied as long as there's anybody with the Sterling name that's attached to it. It's just like a cloud hanging over the entirety of the transaction. It raises the Specter that Donald Sterling will be behind her pulling the strings and manipulating the thing. They don't need it. They need a flesh start.

COSTELLO: All right.

KAVINOKY: And I cannot imagine a world where the NBA would go along with that.

COSTELLO: All right. Well, wait, wait, wait. Before we go on, I want to go back to that tape, where you saw Mr. Sterling, she was with Mr. Sterling on his 80th birthday and she said he was not a racist.

Stephanie, I know the attorney addressed that. So I have two questions for you, Stephanie. One, how does the attorney explain what Mrs. Sterling said that night? And two, they've been apart for a year? Who knew? And why was she with him on his 80th birthday if they're estranged?

ELAM: These were exactly the questions I asked, Carol. Now he says, her attorney there, Mr. O'Donnell says that she misunderstood the question to be about her, and so that's what she was answering, even though we hear it on the tape very clearly they're saying is he a racist. She thought that the question was directed to her. That's what her attorney says. So that's the answer to that one.

I also asked, I was like, they were together. If they've been estranged, living apart for a year, why are they together on his 80th birthday? And she -- his answers was, well, they do have children and grandkids and they do have these businesses. And sometimes separated people do come together.

But it still seems that it wasn't a contemptuous sort of setting that they were in, not that there was a lot that you could see of them interacting, but he was very clear on that point that this is the reason why they were together.

But it is interesting to hear how he explains it. And one thing that I also thought was really interesting from that interview is that he said Mrs. Sterling wants to own the team, her stake in the team which is 50 percent, by the way, for her lifetime. He said for her lifetime several times. And I think that's also very telling -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. OK. So my question to you, LZ, Mrs. Sterling also said she has no interest in actively managing the team. She just wants to own it apparently for the rest of her life. So would that be so bad if she owned the team but stayed out of, like, day-to-day operations, et cetera, et cetera?

LZ GRANDERSON, CNN COMMENTATOR: Yes, actually.

(LAUGHTER)

GRANDERSON: I have a very --

KAVINOKY: Yes. In a word.

GRANDERSON: I have a -- I have a very difficult time seeing how Commissioner, you know, Silver, how the players association and other officers, how the public will go, OK, well, since she's not in the office, then I guess it's OK. It's like no, because -- the public can still process the fact that she'll still be making money from these players and from Coach Rivers. And you know, the thing I thought was really telling was that you could tell that the Clipper family has gotten together and gotten their public speech right.

Because the attorney ended up saying something exactly what Coach Rivers said, which is, you know, we have a bigger distraction in Durant and Westbrook. That was almost an exact quote from the same thing that Rivers said. And I'm sitting there going, are you kidding me? Do you not know we have tape? Do you not know we're able to piece these things together?

We get him. You're trying to shift the focus back to basketball and that's great. But here are some things in life that are bigger than an NBA championship even if you've been working towards this goal your whole life, and that is dignity. The dignity that you know that our ancestors in this country has worked so hard on race relations, to put that all away and say, well, we've got to focus on Westbrook and Durant. It's like, you know what? No. You need to handle this now because the NBA has been letting this man stick around for 30 years.

They've known since 1982, was the first time that his racist remarks were recorded and that they tried to address it. And since '82 until this year they've been letting this happen. There comes a point in which you've got to put basketball aside and deal with some issues that are a little bit larger than that. And I would think this will be one of them.

COSTELLO: OK. I got -- I got to end it here, guys. Thank you so much.

LZ Granderson, Darren Kavinoky and Stephanie Elam.

I'll be right back.

KAVINOKY: Thanks, Carol.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Right now a new British team is in Nigeria. And an American group hits the ground today to help in the search for nearly 300 kidnapped schoolgirls now missing for 3 1/2 weeks.

Now this new seven-member American team will not include American combat troops and instead help with intelligence, investigation and hostage negotiations.

Isha Sesay is live in Nigeria to tell us more.

Good morning.

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, this team has arrived from the United States and from the UK and is here to provide critical expertise in intelligence and surveillance, in hostage negotiations and reconnaissance, that kind of thing, which is believed to be absolutely essential and could be some of the gaps that exist in terms of Nigerian capability for search and rescue mission to bring these girls home.

So much time has gone by, Carol. These girls have been missing for over three weeks now. And the hope is that now that there is this international assistance, that that could prove to be the turning point because this is very difficult terrain we're talking about that these teams will be guiding the Nigerians through.

This is terrain in the northeastern part of the country it's remote, it is -- it's heavily forested. And Boko Haram has made this area their stronghold for many, many years now.

So this is a big undertaking. But I have to tell you, the feeling in this country is one of growing pain, growing anxiety as people hope and pray that it will be international assistance that brings the result we all want, that these girls are brought back home -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Isha Sesay reporting live this morning. Thanks so much.

If you would like to help girls worldwide try to overcome barriers to education, you can go to our Web site. That address is CNN.com/impact.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking some "Top Stories" for you at 48 minutes past the hour.

A man on Oklahoma's death row is getting a six-month stay after last month's botch execution. Charles Warner's execution has been scheduled for next week but the state is continuing its investigation into the death of another inmate Clayton Lockett. His lethal injection stopped because the problem giving him a three-drug cocktail officials say he died of an apparent heart attack.

Twenty-seven million people are in the path of a severe weather system sweeping the eastern half of the United States. Storms from Texas to Indiana are set to bring in high winds, hail and possible tornadoes. This as some communities are still recovering from yesterday's extreme weather. Storms dumped more than five inches of rain in Dallas where high winds shattered windows and frightened residents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA SHARP, EYEWITNESS: The wind was so extremely horrid and I shut my front door, locked the door and the next thing you know, I ran in the bathroom and then I just heard my house going clank, clank, clank and you're just shaking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Yes we're glad she's ok.

In Minnesota -- you can see the dramatic video of a tornado actually touching down south of Minneapolis. Just one of many twisters reported in the Midwest.

I want to get you a quick check of the markets about 15 minutes after the open. The Dow -- the Dow trading slightly lower. Just about 32 points down. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The California Senate has passed a bill requiring smartphones sold in the state of California to have kill switches that make them inoperable if they're stolen. The bill is meant to deter phone theft which is skyrocketing in California. Replacing mobile devices is a $30 billion business for tech companies and carriers take an estimated $7.8 billion on insurance.

CNN technology analyst Brett Larson is following the story. He joins me now. Good morning.

I congratulate California lawmakers for passing this legislation.

BRETT LARSON, CNN TECHNOLOGY ANALYST: Right. It's a -- it's a good thing. It's the Golden State it's where we get all of our technology so it makes sense that they lead the United States in legislation about our technology.

But these little guys are worth a lot of money. They're worth a lot of money to us when we go out and buy them. They cost us a lot of money. But they can also be very dangerous as you mentioned there. Theft of these devices is on the rise and because of that we have now legislation like this with these "kill switches".

What's interesting about it is when I talked to a handful of the handset makers a lot of them don't want a kill switch. They want something that's more software like what Apple has where your phone locks up and you can find your phone but it's password protected and no one who gets it can really do anything with it unless they have your user name and your password.

COSTELLO: So is that -- is that as effective as a "kill switch?"

LARSON: Personally I think -- I think the "kill switch" is the way to go. I think that's the best way to deter it. I think if going to steal something literally means you're going to have just a device that does absolutely nothing, you're going to be less inclined to want to steal it. I think anything that is software based is always hackable.

And again we're not talking about, you know, white collar crime. We're talking about criminals who are going to go -- someone who is going to yank this out of your hand when you're trying to talk on it doesn't care if it has a software "kill switch". They might just want the screen they might want the parts inside. They might want the battery. They don't care. They're not going to go oh wait it has password protection here take it back. So I -- yes.

COSTELLO: I -- you know this happened to me, right?

LARSON: I know it did happen.

COSTELLO: I know and they pulled out a chunk of my hair. And I was not happy. But I was going to ask -- I thought this was a nationwide effort. Did that nationwide effort die and is it just the state of California trying to do this now?

LARSON: Yes. The nationwide effort, you know the CTIA, the company that handles all of the lobbying for the wireless industry, they're not really behind this right now. The cell phone carriers also aren't really pushing a lot of this legislation.

So California tends to lead the pack on things that the rest of the country is, like, hold on a second. Let's -- let's figure this out -- let's figure out a better way to do this. But I mean, you're right. I actually -- I have a friend who is in full traction and had to his mouth wired shut because his phone was stolen. Ripped out of his hand and they hit him pretty hard and he had his mouth wired shut. So this -- here in New York they call it Apple picking. It's a very serious crime.

I hope that the "kill switch" works. I hope by California leading the pack we see some decrease in crime. And I hope that's the solution.

But there's got to be -- we all kind of need to come together here and find better solutions to keeping these things in the hands of their owners and not getting ripped out by thieves.

COSTELLO: Amen, Brett Larson. Thanks so much. I appreciate it.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

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