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Donald Sterling Speaks Out; Nigeria Considers Negotiating With Terrorists?; MERS Virus in Florida

Aired May 12, 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: Public tours began last hour for the first time since the monument was damaged. Remember all those cracks from that earthquake three years ago? The renovation cost $15 million, which was split between taxpayers and a philanthropist.

The monument -- monument will be open late over the summer to help as many people as possible visit it.

And we roll on, hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Let's get to it.

Donald Sterling is speaking out and this time he knew his words would be made public because he talked to CNN's Anderson Cooper. This is the first time Sterling has spoken publicly since his racist comments were recorded and the first time since the NBA's decision to ban him for life, fine him some $2.5 million -- that was a maximum -- and urge its owners to force him out of the league.

So, Sterling says he's sorry. He says he is not a racist. But, as you are about to see, he still has problems with Magic Johnson.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD STERLING, OWNER, LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS: I'm a good member who made a mistake and I'm apologizing and I'm asking for forgiveness.

Am I entitled to one mistake in my -- after 35 years? You know, I love my league. I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake? It's a terrible mistake and I will never do it again.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The vice president of the NBA Players Association, Roger Mason, he said that the players won't accept anyone in the Sterling family owning the Clippers, not you, not your wife, not your son-in-law, not your daughter. Do you believe it?

STERLING: I really don't know. The people that are going to decide my fate, I think, are not the media and not the players union, but the NBA.

COOPER: The owners?

STERLING: Pardon me?

COOPER: The owners? STERLING: The owners. If the owners feel I deserve another chance, then they'll give it to me.

COOPER: But there is a path for you to fight their decision, isn't there?

STERLING: Of course. But if you fight with my partners, what at the end of the -- at the end of the road, what do I benefit, especially at my age?

If they fight with me and they spend millions and I spend millions, let's say I win or they win. I just don't know if that's important.

COOPER: Why wait so long to apologize? It's been a couple of weeks. You could have come out...

STERLING: That's a very good question.

I just -- I'm so emotionally distraught. And the reason it's hard for me, very hard for me is that I'm wrong. I caused the problem. I don't know how to correct it.

COOPER: Do you trust people? I mean, there...

STERLING: I do.

COOPER: ... have been a couple of phone recordings just in the last week or two that have come out of people you've talked to on the phone, or seems to be your voice, who have then sold it to, you know, Radar Online or TMZ.

And I hear that and I think, do you have anyone you trust around you?

STERLING: I don't give interviews. The only one that I know that I talked to is Magic Johnson.

COOPER: You have talked to him?

STERLING: Twice. And then -- yes, he's...

COOPER: Did you apologize to him?

STERLING: He knew the girl. He said he knew the girl well. He...

COOPER: Did you apologize to him or...

STERLING: Well, if I said anything wrong, I'm sorry.

He's a good person, and he -- what am I going to say? Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don't think so. But I will say it. I will say it, you know, he's great. But I just don't think he is a good example for the children of Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Hmm. Let's discuss. Let's go there with sports agent and attorney Eugene Lee and Eldridge Recasner, a former L.A. Clipper and now a board with the NBA Retired Players Association.

So, gentlemen, welcome to both of you.

EUGENE LEE, SPORTS AGENT: Thank you very having me.

BALDWIN: Eldridge, I would love to just...

ELDRIDGE RECASNER, FORMER L.A. CLIPPER: Thank you very having me.

BALDWIN: Let me go straight to you. You played for Donald Sterling. Do you find -- watching these different snippets from this interview, do you find his apology authentic?

RECASNER: Not at all. Once again, he disrespects Magic Johnson and he says, if I offended anybody, so I don't think he's being sincere at all.

BALDWIN: What else about what you have heard doesn't ring sincere? What did you wish he had said?

RECASNER: You know, initially, I wish he just would have came out and admitted that he said it and apologized to all the players.

You have had a guy who has been owner for over 30 years. And to just completely come out and disrespect not only the black players, but Magic Johnson in his own city of Los Angeles, was just real hurtful to me as a former Los Angeles Clipper and as a former member of the NBA.

So, I just really wish he would have came out and apologized from the get-go. But now it seems he is -- like he's trying to cover his tracks and make up for it and it's not coming off very well.

BALDWIN: Eldridge, here is the flip side of this, there are years back documented discrimination from this man. Yet people continued to sign on to the Clippers, to play for the Clippers, to coach for the Clippers. Why do you think that is?

RECASNER: Well, number one, it's a job.

I know, in my particular situation, I didn't hear about all this stuff back when I played. And I can't honestly say that I saw racism when I was there. But I wanted to play in the NBA and the Clippers offered me a contract so I took it.

So, I think it's a situation where it's employment for a lot of people. And we had heard the rumors about him being cheap, but as far as being racist, I had never really heard that.

BALDWIN: OK. OK.

So, rumors aside, Eugene, to you, because you have to think -- you have to think that Donald Sterling had some kind of kumbaya, if you will, with his team of lawyers ahead of this sit-down with Anderson, what to say, how to say it, how to portray himself.

But when you listen to the clips that I have seen, this man seems pretty unfiltered to me.

LEE: He does. But the question then becomes, if a person is wrongly accused of a crime, you immediately want to defend yourself, immediately.

So, why then did Donald Sterling take over two weeks to come out and discussion his apology?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: He says he was emotionally distraught. That's what he told Anderson.

LEE: He may have been emotionally distraught, but in my opinion, the damage has been done. And I think the damage is irreparably here.

BALDWIN: If the owners, right, this is still the big if -- they need the three-quarters majority for the owners to eventually say, you're getting the boot.

So, if they vote and force him to sell, did it sound to you like he was saying he won't fight it?

LEE: He seemed a little more submissive in this round of interviews.

But I think, again, the point to remember is that the NBA is a private organization. It has a constitution. It has bylaws. If fair market value is paid for Donald Sterling's team, which I assure you it will, and there is just cause to force the sale, such as the economic ramifications to Clippers employees, and, more importantly, the monumental P.R. disaster for the NBA, then I think that they will emerge victorious if he takes it to court.

BALDWIN: And, listen, this whole thing could go months and months. They could be in legal limbo.

What -- Eldridge, let's just fast-forward to October. Training camp starts. Let's say they're still in legal limbo and Sterling still technically owns the team. Even though he's been banned for life from the NBA, this man is still the owner of the L.A. Clippers. What do Doc Rivers and the players do then, do you think?

RECASNER: I don't see Doc Rivers staying. I don't see Doc Rivers staying probably either way. But I definitely don't see him staying if Donald Sterling is not removed by the start of next season, along with Chris Paul.

I'm here in Seattle and along with Jamal Crawford. I think those guys are highly insulted. I think they take this very, very seriously. They were put in a tough situation this particular time because of the playoffs. I think, if this would have been a regular season game, they probably wouldn't have played. But they have worked hard all year to try to achieve a goal of winning a championship. And I think that's the only reason that they're participating in it at this point.

BALDWIN: OK.

Eldridge Recasner and Eugene Lee, gentlemen, thank you so, so much.

Like I mentioned, this is just a snippet of what happened here between Donald Sterling and Anderson Cooper. We want you to watch this entire exclusive sit-down interview only here on CNN 8:00 tonight on "A.C. 360."

Next, I want to talk to you about this video that are now seeing for the first time today, because it's almost as chilling as the story behind it. You have the government of Nigeria saying it would consider now negotiating with the brutal terrorists who captured these young girls, but what are the risks to that?

And you are also about to hear from one girl who escaped their clutches -- her harrowing story right after the break. Do not miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are just learning Nigeria's government says it would consider negotiations with Boko Haram when it comes to helping secure the release of these kidnapped girls.

This second Boko Haram video emerged from Nigeria today and here it is. It claims to show some of the kidnapped Nigerian girls. And you can see they are sitting here wearing black and gray hijabs and are reciting the Koran as they make Islamic declarations of faith.

The group's leader appears in another part of the video, but not with the girls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): By Allah, these girls will not leave our hands until you release our brothers in your prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We are also seeing another chilling example of just how frightening living in the presence of this terror group can be. One of these kidnapped who made this heroic escape from her terrorist captors girl was brave enough to sit down with our CNN correspondent and share her story.

She recalled the night she and more than 200 other schoolgirls were taken from their beds.

Here she is with Nima Elbagir.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But what was their dress? What were they wearing? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm feeling afraid.

ELBAGIR: Did they look like soldiers?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm afraid.

ELBAGIR: You feel afraid?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ELBAGIR: You don't want to talk about what they look like?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

ELBAGIR: That's OK. I understand, I understand. I'm sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let me bring in CNN's Isha Sesay, live in Abuja, Nigeria, and CNN's Jim Clancy here with me in studio.

But, Isha, I want to begin with you to this news here just in the last hour or so that we're hearing that Nigeria that they are willing to negotiate with these terrorists possibly for the girls' release.

What does that tell you about the government's efforts to locate these girls?

ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Nigerian government has said many things since this April 14 attack took place.

And as we have scrutinized and looked more closely at their statement, they haven't quite been all that they seem. So let's just take the statement that they have made today, which is that is that all options are on the table. That is what we're hearing from the director general of state security services.

But when we look at what they are doing on the ground to find these girls in terms of any kind of military operation, any kind of deployment on the ground in Chibok, where those girls were taken, well, our own Nima Elbagir was just -- is just back from there, and she saw no sign of any huge activity, any urgent response to the abductions.

We have spoken to other parents. I have spoken to parents who say the same thing. So, yes, the government is saying all options are on the table. But where that will lead and whether you can actually trust a terror group like Boko Haram, we are going to just have to wait and see. We have heard no word yet of any direct contact with Boko Haram or any negotiations being under way -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Let me follow up on that with you, Jim Clancy, because how could you even trust an organization such as this? Of course, we know the U.S. doesn't negotiate with terrorists, but the possibility now that negotiation would be on the table.

If they decide, they being the Nigerian government, what would be the downfall?

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a huge -- first of all, take a look at the video. Look at his first video.

This guy is clearly unhinged.

BALDWIN: Yes.

CLANCY: This is a new demand. Now he has decided he has figured out what to do. I'm going to trade them for some of my...

BALDWIN: Prisoners.

CLANCY: Some of my prisoners that are there.

He could release a part of the girls and not all of them and just drag all of this out. There's a lot of risks here. But Goodluck Jonathan is under political pressure to take some kind of action. The parents are deathly afraid of a military action to rescue the girls. They know what the risks are that are involved there.

They may push very hard for this kind of a swap, hoping to get their daughters back whole.

BALDWIN: What about the -- gosh. What about the notion, though, that now that this has really become this international conversation, this push to rescue these girls, the hashtag #bringbackourgirls, there have been some who have come forward and said this is not a good thing for these girls.

Now that the spotlight is on this village in Nigeria, these guys, these terrorists now have the upper hand because they know the world is watching and they want those girls back.

CLANCY: Well, they do. And you know what? There's not a whole lot you can do about that.

Yes, their value has been elevated. But, at the same time, the government has been forced into action. As you talked earlier, the downside of all of this, number one, they get impunity for their crimes. They can just kidnap more people to trade them any time that they are caught. There's a lot of risks that are involved in this situation.

BALDWIN: Have you been to this part of Nigeria at all?

CLANCY: Yes. Yes, I have.

BALDWIN: What's it's like?

CLANCY: It is very remote. You will drive for long distances without seeing anyone.

And there were even then -- and this has been 10 years ago -- plenty of military checkpoints around. And a lot of it was just for security's sake. But, clearly, there was not nearly enough security. Clearly, there's serious questions to be asked about how the government may have had warnings hours before, and there was no response.

And this is the core issue. This is the reason that you see the protesters every day in Abuja. They want their government to pay attention, to value each and every one of its own citizens.

BALDWIN: Jim Clancy, thank you. Isha Sesay, thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: And Nima -- go ahead, Isha. Jump in.

SESAY: No, I was just going to add to what Jim -- I was just going to add to what Jim said. We all heard Secretary -- former Secretary of State Clinton saying the Nigerian government has been for some years derelict in their responsibility of protecting the people of the north.

People have spoken to countless people on the ground there, and, Brooke, let me tell you they say they feel that they're being treated as if they're not even Nigerians, completely abandoned and left to the terror of Boko Haram.

BALDWIN: Isha, thank you so much in Abuja, and also to Nima Elbagir, who somehow made it to this village to sit down with this young girl. It's stunning that we were able to make this happen on CNN. Thank you to all of you.

We are just now learning new details about this new case here of the deadly MERS virus in the state of Florida. The CDC has tracked its path. We will tell you where it originated and then how concerned we should be next.

Also ahead, for more than a month, searchers have been frantically tracking those possible black box pings heard during the hunt for Flight 370. Well, now it turns out, according to this new report, that Australia is not so sure they were pings at all -- details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right.

So the CDC is confirming now a second case of MERS in the United States, this time in Florida. The first case was reported earlier month in Indiana. Both cases appear to involve travel to Saudi Arabia.

MERS was first diagnosed on the Arabian Peninsula in 2012, sometimes includes fever, cough, and shortness of breath. One in three people infected with MERS dies.

Let's talk about this latest case with senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

And remind us just quickly. MERS, it is an acronym for... ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

BALDWIN: OK.

COHEN: And that one in three mortality rate that you mentioned, that's what gets everyone so nervous. That is a high mortality rate.

BALDWIN: So, with that said...

COHEN: With that said, yes.

BALDWIN: With that said, what do we know about the second case?

COHEN: What we know about the second case is that this is a health care -- we don't know if it's a man or a woman -- was working in Saudi Arabia and came to visit family in Orlando, Florida, and took flights from Jeddah to London, London to Boston, Boston to Orlando -- Atlanta, rather -- and then Atlanta to Orlando.

BALDWIN: OK. Wow.

COHEN: So, again, Jeddah-London, London-Boston, Boston-Atlanta, Atlanta-Orlando.

So, that's quite a few flights.

BALDWIN: And a lot of people on those flights.

COHEN: And a lot of people on those flights.

So, now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is coordinating an effort where everyone who was on those domestic flights is going to get...

BALDWIN: Tracking them down.

COHEN: Trying to track them down and say, hey, you were on a plane with someone who has MERS.

Now, they can't say, and, boy, are you in trouble.

BALDWIN: Right. Right.

COHEN: But they don't actually really know how contagious this would be on a flight, but at least they want to tell them, if you have these symptoms, the cough, and the cold and the fever, don't just kind of blow it off and figure you will stay in bed.

BALDWIN: It could be something.

COHEN: It could be something. And you need to be followed.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: What then is the likelihood of something like this spreading? Two cases so far.

COHEN: The bad news about this virus is that it has that high mortality rate.

The good news is that it's kind of hard to spread. It doesn't spread all that easily.

BALDWIN: Good.

COHEN: So what we have seen in the Middle East is that family members get it, people you're living with get it. Health care workers who are helping to take care of you, they might get it from a patient.

So there hasn't been a lot of other -- the disease hasn't spread in many other ways. So, that's the good news. So, I would say if I were this health care worker's wife or husband or child, I would be anxious. But if I was just another person living in Florida or Indiana...

BALDWIN: No need to worry.

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: Yes. There's none. I was just in Florida. I'm not worried. It's really -- it's not as big of a deal if you're not directly in contact with them. And I think that's a really important thing for people to remember.

BALDWIN: And at least those people who are in directly in contact know that they're directly in contact and hopefully are going to the hospital right away.

COHEN: Yes. And the hospital, to their credit, apparently figured out quite quickly that this was MERS, and they knew to isolate him and to mask and gown and all of that stuff.

BALDWIN: Good.

So, they -- that's key, because it's the health care workers who are really vulnerable in this situation.

BALDWIN: Good. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much.

COHEN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, Donald Sterling speaking exclusively to us here at CNN about his racist rant. What did he say? How are fans in Los Angeles responding? Well, we have a live report for you straight ahead.

Plus, for weeks after hearing pings, or so they thought they were the pings, crews have been searching a specific area, looking for Flight 370 in the Southern Indian Ocean. But here's the but. There is now this chilling new revelation that could change everything. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)