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Kidnapped Nigerian Girls; Michael Sam's Kiss Sparks Firestorm; Third Body Found after Hot Air Balloon Crash

Aired May 12, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We have some stunning new video just into CNN this morning. It purports to show about 100 of the more than 200 school girls being held captive by Islamic terrorists. Now, the video, obtained from Boka Haram by AFP, is 27 minutes long. It shows the girls wearing Muslim head dresses, reciting parts of the Koran and making Islamic declarations of faith. In a separate portion, the terror group leader pitches what seems to be a deal to release the girls. Nima Elbagir is in the Nigerian capital to tell us more about this case?

Good morning, Nima.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, today will be a day full of relief for many of the families out there, but I'm sure they will also be scanning those videos trying to make sure that their girls are amongst that hundred or so girls shown in the video. But realistically, the issue is whether or not they can trust in what Boka Haram is saying. They're offering now to swap the girls for prisoners. You remember, Carol, that initially they said they were going to sell them as spoils of war. So that seems to be a pretty significant about-face. But, obviously, that's something we have to watch very closely in the coming days. We traveled out to Chibok, where the girls were abducted from, and what we found was a community still very much in the grip of terrorists. Still very much afraid of Boka Haram. Take a look at this, Carol.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR (voice-over): This is a road few are now willing to travel.

ELBAGIR (on camera): There's been one checkpoint after another as we have traveled north from the Nigeria capital of Abuja. We've definitely seen evidence of the security reinforcements that the government has been talking about. But as we got further north, as we got deeper into the Boka Haram countryside where they've been striking terror into the hearts of villages, much of that presence seems to have evaporated.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Attacks by the militant Islamist group Boka Haram are constant in this part of Nigeria. But what happened in Chibok put the world on notice. ELBAGIR (on camera): In here, in these rooms is where the girls were sleeping when armed men in what they describe as military uniforms came to their dormitory gate and told them that they'd come to protect them. The girls started to assemble in the yard as ordered to. They didn't realize who the men really were until it was too late.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said, OK, we enter (INAUDIBLE).

ELBAGIR (voice-over): This girl managed to escape. She's now too fearful to show her face, too fearful to go back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A big lorry.

ELBAGIR (on camera): Big lorry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ELBAGIR: They came with a big lorry?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ELBAGIR: Was it one or more?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seven.

ELBAGIR: Seven lorrys.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Trucks, motor bikes. Residents here tell us this raid was effectively a shopping trip for Boka Haram. Over 200 girls dragged from their beds to be sold off as bounty. A message that the militant group's edicts on female education must be heeded. But a way, also, for big men with guns to make money off terrified girls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If in Chibok, I'll never go again (ph).

ELBAGIR (on camera): You'll never go back to school -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ELBAGIR: Because they made you afraid?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Before the militants left, they destroyed everything they could, textbooks, the library, the laboratory, their attempt to forever shutter this school. Elizabeth and Mary are friends, members of the same church. Their daughters were also friends, hoping one day to study medicine. They and many of their classmates never made it home from school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are pleading with them to leave our daughters. We don't have power to do anything that requires power.

ELBAGIR: They say they still feel powerless. No closer to finding their daughters nearly a month after they were taken.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR: It's just absolutely extraordinary, Carol. A seven-truck convoy with motorcycle riders, pickup trucks. The descriptions we were hearing from the villagers were just chilling. It really gives you a sense of the impunity with which Boka Haram have been able to operate in that region.

COSTELLO: And, Nima, I know it was a frightening journey for you to even get there to talk with these - with these women because the area is so remote and so dangerous. Describe what it took for you to get there.

ELBAGIR: Well, it was incredibly difficult to convince anyone to even come with us. It was difficult to convince people to rent us their cars, to -- for drivers to come along. Even the military and police escort that we'd been promised would take us into Chibok took days to organize because nobody wants to go there. Everybody is absolutely terrified.

And when you get closer to that epicenter, you really understand why. There's just this sense of foreboding, knowing that at any point cars could come out of that savannah. It's very thick savannah in some places. Further along there's forests (ph) that are supposed to be guarding their stronghold. The road that we went on, just the day before there was a shootout with police in which one police officer was wounded. So that threat is ever present. And when you get into that community that's been so traumatized, it's just - it's just awful that after having lost so much, they have to continue to live with the specter of even more violence, Carol.

COSTELLO: Nima Elbagir, thanks for bringing us such an important story. We appreciate it.

Here at CNN, we're not giving up on those girls and we'll bring you the latest developments as this story unfolds. If you would like to help girls worldwide trying to overcome barriers to education, you can go to our website. The address, cnn.com/impact.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Donald Sterling breaks his silence and raises some eyebrows in a freewheeling discussion with Anderson Cooper. Sterling pleads for forgiveness, but also says his assistant, V. Stiviano, baited him into making those racist comments in a secretly recorded conversation. Sterling also repeatedly maintains he's not a racist. And in an odd twist, Sterling again hurled insults at NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. He was a primary target of the rant that went public two weeks ago. Be sure to watch Anderson Cooper's full interview with Donald Sterling, that's tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

On to football and the kiss. Michael Sam has yet to practice on an NFL field, but he's quickly becoming the league's most controversial player. On Saturday, the openly gay football player started a firestorm simply by kissing his boyfriend moments after being drafted by the St. Louis Rams. Sam took to Twitter after the draft to thank everyone for their support. And what should have been a glorious moment in his career is now soured because of the reaction he's getting from current - from some current and former NFL players.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The St. Louis Rams select Michael Sam, defensive end, Missouri (ph).

COSTELLO (voice-over): It was a tremendous moment of joy for NFL draft pick Michael Sam that quickly became the center of an online firestorm. Just moments after Sam received the news over the phone, the first openly gay player drafted by the NFL kissed his boyfriend, sparking some hateful tweets.

"Oh, my God," tweeted Miami Dolphin Don Jones. He later added, "horrible." The tweet since deleted. And from former Houston Texan and New York Giant Derrick Ward, "I'm fine with it being a new day and age, but for him to do that on national TV is disgusting, gay or not. Man, you got little kids looking at the draft. I can't believe ESPN even allowed that to happen."

The social media backlash, a reaction that Sam says he expected.

MICHAEL SAM (voice-over): Are there going to be idiots out there that say some stupid stuff? Yes. I'm not worried about that. I'm worrying about the guy next to me, the guy in front of me.

COSTELLO: Overnight, the Dolphins suspended Jones and slapped him with a fine. Jones now apologizing for what he calls inappropriate comments. But Ward says he doesn't regret hitting send on his tweet, even after he says he's received death threats against him and his kids he tweeted, "I'll continue to speak my mind because it's my God given right and supposedly you can do it without being frowned upon here in America."

For Sam, though, as ever, it's all about the game.

SAM: Since February, since my big announcement, this has been a whole speculation of the first gay, openly gay football player. But you know what, it's not about that. It's about playing football. Can Michael Sam play football? And, yes, I can.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Joining me now to talk about this, LZ Granderson, CNN commentator and senior writer for ESPN.

Good morning, LZ

LZ GRANDERSON, CNN COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, first it was all about history being made, but now it's all about that kiss. I admire Sam for his courage, but did he go a step too far? GRANDERSON: I don't think it's all about the kiss. I'm still looking at Michael Sam the football player and wondering, you know, how my Detroit Lions are going to do now that they've got some new picks and a new tight end. There are few people absolutely who are bothered by the kiss. But we're focusing in on stupid people, as opposed to the tens of million who didn't think anything of it, who thought it was a good moment, who might have been initially uncomfortable but have since moved on with their lives. If we look at this story as a whole, I think the real story is, you know, where did Johnny Manziel end up, where did Michael Sam end up and who did Houston draft the number one pick? It really is not about that kiss.

COSTELLO: Well, I think it's more than a few people, sadly, LZ, because while Americans may be more accepting of gay people, they're not quite there yet. I mean look at the TV show "Modern Family." You never see the couple in that show kissing or doing anything remotely romantic and there's a reason for that.

GRANDERSON: Well, if you think about that same network also had the show "Brothers and Sisters" in which you had the couple kiss, get married, wake up in bed together. Same network. Same - you know, in fact, it was an hour-long show, and not just a half-hour show. So for every example - "Modern Day" example you have of, you know, two couples maybe not kissing for whatever reasons, I can come up with some new shows in which you have seen public displays of affection by same-sex couples.

COSTELLO: But you have to admit it's not pervasive and you have to admit there is a reason for that.

GRANDERSON: Well, you know, we don't see a great deal of interracial couples on television either. And as we remember from the Cheerios commercial, America kind of responded to that. But we - but we, rightfully so, remember that we -- this is a voice of the minority, not the majority. The country's attitude has shifted when it comes to marriage equality.

Obviously if the attitudes shift towards marriage equality, that goes along with the idea of two same sex people kissing that's why you kissed the bride and kissed the broom and all that good stuff.

I'm not trying to -- I'm not trying to say that there still aren't people who will be upset about it. What I'm trying to say is that as much emphasis that we're putting on the people who do have trouble with it.

And those two players you mentioned are one a seventh round pick like Michael Sam, so he should just be thanking God he's is the NFL as well. And the other one is a retired player who is no longer there. This is not the entire NFL brotherhood that you're talking about. You pointed out two individuals, one who is a second year player and one who is not even in the league anymore. You aren't talking about a whole rush of players rushing to Twitter, rushing to Facebook and Instagram denouncing --

COSTELLO: But L.Z., they are not going to -- if they have any brains at all, they are not going to rush to Twitter and put negative stuff on. They're not because they know they're going to get in trouble because the NFL came out and said "Don't do that, that is wrong, we're trying to be more inclusive."

GRANDERSON: Well you know there's a combination of things you can look at. If you know, if you think about the story with Jeff Fisher, the man who wanted to draft Michael Sam and is the coach for the St. Louis Rams. If I can have time just to give you a little history of that. Brendan Burke was a student athlete manager at the University of Miami in Ohio. He played hockey. He came out to the team. They embraced him. He was killed in 2010 in a tragic car accident. His brother and family came up with an organization in his honor, "You Can Play".

The current president of You Can Play is Wade Davis a former NFL player who played for Jeff Fisher. Wade Davis this year went to the NFL and had a conversation about why it's important that this -- that we have an environment which openly gay players can feel safe in the NFL.

In that room was Jeff Fisher who went up to Wade Davis afterwards, gave him a hug and said he understood. Months later we have this moment. And so my point is that we can choose to look at all the people who denounce Michael Sam, denounce the kiss or we can look at the heroes who have worked tirelessly throughout the decades, being brave enough to come out and here is this moment and we need to look at and encapsulate in its entirety, yes, some of the objection is part the story line. But we didn't celebrate the KKK during the march on Washington. We focused on the achievements on the march on Washington. And I think we should be embracing this moment as well in the same manner.

COSTELLO: All right and Eric Dickerson came out in support, he was one of the first to tweet, said fabulous things. So you're right, there are a lot of supporters. And of course, Michael Sam has to make the team now. So we'll see what happens.

GRANDERSON: He has to make the team. That's the other part -- he has to make the team.

COSTELLO: L.Z. Granderson thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, another body has been recovered in this weekend's hot air balloon crash. We're learning more about the pilot and about a high-level push to improve balloon safety.

We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: The third and last body has now been recovered from the Virginia countryside after Friday's deadly fire aboard a hot air balloon. The NTSB is now investigating the crash and pushing for tighter rules governing the operation of hot air balloons.

Alexandra Field is following the story for us from New York. Good morning.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Carol. Right now we know that that balloon crashed into a power line but the question is why and how could that have been avoided? So right now investigators are trying to find pieces of the balloon and the basket in order to answer those questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD (voice over): Hours before the ill-fated flight at a hot air balloon festival in Dasvo, Virginia, one of the victims documented her apparent excitement with a series of Instagram pictures one of them with the eerie caption "Will go up this evening #anxiety".

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got to report that the basket has come off so we're trying to find that right now.

FIELD: The NTSB is now investigating a crash that killed three people. One month after the agency issued a letter to the FAA urging greater safety regulations meant to quote "Address operational deficiencies in commercial sightseeing balloon operations."

HEIDI MOATS, NTSB AIR SAFETY: During the investigation we will examine the man, the machine and the environment.

FIELD: The balloon hit a power line Friday night as it came in for landing catching fire. Then a small explosion separated the basket from the balloon. Witnesses saw two people jump or fall.

CARRIE HAGER-BRADLEY, WITNESS: You could hear them screaming, "Please, dear God, sweet Jesus. Help us. We're going to die."

FIELD: Daniel Kurt the pilot seen here in recent video had 30 years of flying experience according to his father.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've flown with him along and he was a very safe pilot.

FIELD: A police spokesperson says the pilot was seen doing safety maneuvers.

CORINNE GELLER: He was taking every effort he could to manage the situation and extinguish the fire.

FIELD: His passengers, Ginny Doyle a 44-year-old basketball coach at the University of Richmond and Natalie Lewis a 24-year-old co-worker, both were alumni of the University -- which honored them Sunday with a moment of silence during a commencement ceremony.

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FIELD: And we reached out to a spokesperson involved with the balloon festival who tells us that FAA inspectors were on sit checking out the balloons and the paperwork before any flight happened over the weekend and on Friday too. The FAA is not commenting specifically on this case but A spokesperson for the FAA says that inspectors are routinely at these hot air balloon shows, Carol. And we should know more sometime next week when NTSB puts out their preliminary report.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll check back. Alexandra Field -- thanks so much.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

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COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, disturbing new video of those captured school girls being forced to cover themselves and read the Koran. Their captors say the girls will be let go if their demands are met. Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD STERLING, OWNER, L.A. CLIPPERS: I'm wrong. I caused the problem. I don't now how to correct it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Donald Sterling says he's sorry. He sits down with Anderson Cooper for an exclusive interview.

And the wait is over. After an earthquake and nearly three years of repairs, the Washington Monument reopens.

NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining me.

We have some stunning new video just in this morning to CNN. It purports to show about 100 of the more than 200 school girls being held captive by Islamist terrorists and it's the first images we've seen of these girls since they were abducted four weeks ago today.

The video obtained from Boko Haram via AFP is 27 minutes long. It shows the girls wearing Muslim headdresses and reciting parts of the Koran and making Islamic declarations of state (ph).

In a separate portion the terror group leader pitches what seems to be a deal to release the girls. Isha Sesay is at the Nigerian capital with more on this tape. Good morning.

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Carol.

I think the other point to stress to our viewers is that this 27- minute long tape the portions that contain the girls, also display quite clearly the absolute terror these girls are in. They are clearly under duress as they sit there on camera clothed in traditional Islamic clothing wearing the Hijab, the headdress and reciting portions of the Koran.

These are girls that are afraid. There is no doubt about that.