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Update on Deadly Arkansas Tornadoes; U.S. Imposes New Russian Sanctions; New Flight 370 Search Could Take Another Six to Eight Months; Racist Comments Attributed to NBA Owner Trigger Widespread Outrage

Aired April 28, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in it right now. We're in the tornado.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voiceover): Arkansas hit hard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was the biggest by far the biggest one I've ever seen.

COSTELLO: It's the deadliest outbreak so far this year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Downtown area seems like it's completely leveled.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People call you and tell you that I have black people on my Instagram, and it bothers you.

DONALD STERLING, OWNER, L.A. CLIPPER: Yes, it bothers me.

COSTELLO: Unsterling comments.

STERLING: You can do anything, but don't' put him on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me.

COSTELLO: Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, a man who was supposed to receive the NAACP lifetime achievement award, allegedly caught on tape with his girlfriend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wearing their warm-up shirts inside out.

COSTELLO: The players sending a powerful message on the court last night, the outrage growing.

MAGIC JOHNSON, NBA HALL OF FAMER: I think he should step down.

JAMES LEBRON, NBA PLAYER: We can't have it from a player. We can't have it from an owner.

MAYOR KEVIN JOHNSON, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: There is absolutely no place in the NBA family for ignorance.

COSTELLO: Hit again.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It builds on the sanctions that were already in place.

Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed with more sanctions today. But will they have any real effect?

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Complete devastation in the central United States this morning after a deadly string of tornadoes ripped through the region. Take a look at this incredible video caught on camera by a storm chaser in Kansas. At least 18 people are dead after storms tore through Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. Sixteen killed in Arkansas alone, the state hardest hit by these storms. More than 100 people there taken to hospitals.

This is what it looks like just north of Little Rock. A massive twister more than half a mile wide flattened the towns of Mayflower and Vilonia, devouring almost everything in their path. A nightmare all too familiar to residents here. Almost three years ago to the day, another storm wiped out some of the same neighborhoods.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time this storm was much stronger. Buildings are completely leveled. Very few walls left standing in its path, just a tremendous amount of damage. It's just hard to look at and believe this happened to us again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: This morning rescue teams are racing against the clock. Another round of severe weather expected to hit some of those same regions in the coming hours.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers -- Chad Myers, rather, is in Mayflower, Arkansas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This building was a concrete block, a cinder block building, some type of machine shop because I'm finding all kinds of bar clamps and things like that. This was a moving, an operating factory of some sort. And now it's just completely destroyed. But the real problem today for the search and rescue teams and for the people picking up their lives in Mayflower, Vilonia, El Paso, is this.

Let me show you this. I'm going to pick this up, put a light on it. That -- nails and nails are everywhere out here. The buildings are shattered, the nails are everywhere. More people can get hurt after the storm than during the storm if they're not very careful. Now minor injuries -- we do believe now that most of the power has been shut off. And for a while a lot of the power lines were full.

I'm going to be very careful moving through here because of those nails, because of everything else. But here is the -- here's the electrical box for this building, right, so all the conduit right there. A big structure, a very sturdy structure completely destroyed. We know that -- I'm probably saying that this is F-3 damage because I can still see some walls. But there are buildings in Vilonia that we know of, especially One Dollar Store that there's nothing left except the concrete that that building was sitting on.

Everything else completely gone. That indicates damage of greater than EF-3, somewhere in the four or maybe even a five. The National Weather Service will be out here looking at it. I think now, though, counting the dead, helping the injured and rescuing those that still may be trapped it is such a wide area, that there may still be people that need to be rescued.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Yes. Firefighters are now going door to door in those communities.

Chad Myers, many thanks to you.

Let's get more on where those storms are heading today. CNN meteorologist Indra Petersons live in New York to tell us.

Good morning.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. And unfortunately we still have a huge risk area out there today. A slight risk area where you see the yellow. That involves 38 million of you today and heightened risk. We're really going to be focusing on is this moderate risk here. About three million of you there from Huntsville just a little bit farther north also into Tennessee, back in through Mississippi, out towards Jackson, Mississippi.

This is the concern. Today we're already seeing these storms firing up. In the afternoon we'll see them fire up again. Currently right now tornado watch boxes already out there this morning. We had tornado warnings. So definitely the system is not over with yet.

What are we going to be watching for? Once again, it is the same setup, very typical for spring time. Warm moist air coming out of the Gulf, you have cold, dry air behind it. You have a system make its way across. Notice you see the low, kind of sitting around, kind of a little bit of a trigger to get those systems to fire up. And of course the frontal boundary itself.

Very easy to see when you look at. Actually you get some sunshine. If you don't have too much cloud cover, you let that sunlight in and it really enhances the thunderstorm activity. And that's what you see, you typically see these really fire up in the late afternoon into the evening hours. So that's going to be a concern. Again in through tonight, the system makes its way across where tomorrow we have a huge risk. I'm talking about 57, almost 58 million of you still under the gun for severe weather -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Wow. Indra Petersons, thank you.

All right. Breaking news to tell you about now. Just minutes ago the Obama administration leveled new sanctions against Russia over Ukraine. Frozen assets, bans on entering the United States, all aimed at more than 20 VIPs and companies with close ties to the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

And there's a new wrinkle. These sanctions are also aimed at high- tech defense exports to Russia.

White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski following the president in Manila. She has more for us.

Good morning.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. As promised, the U.S. has now expanded sanctions against certain people and companies in Russia. And in a press statement the U.S. said that, you know, Russia has done nothing, and that's to quote the statement, to deescalate the situation in Ukraine. And that -- yes, they said Russia has done nothing to deescalate and the fact that it's linked to the violence there seems indisputable.

So what are these sanctions? They target seven people, according to this press release, two of them are within Putin's inner circle. And then 17 companies that the release says are linked to Putin's inner circle. And among those 17 companies, 13 now are banned, although it's not an outright ban. They explained it as a sort of presumption of denial for importing U.S. products.

And as you mentioned, going further than that, there's this ban or a presumption of denial for U.S. exports in the high-tech defense sector to Russia. That's something that President Obama said today that he felt was inappropriate given the current climate. So who exactly are these people and what exactly are these companies? We don't know just yet. But we're expecting to hear more information on that, hopefully a lot more detail within the hour.

And President Obama was asked today, why not target Putin directly? Why not issue these sanctions, these asset freezes and visa bans against Putin or more of his inner circle? And President Obama responded by saying well, the goal is not to target Putin personally, but to try to change Russia's behavior. But he did acknowledge that these sanctions might not do that, they might not work, as prior U.S. sanctions at this point seem not to have -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Michelle Kosinski reporting live this morning.

The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet is about to enter a new phase. Crew have been searching for 52 days now and they found nothing. Now Australia's prime minister is saying the search could last up to eight more months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: It is highly unlikely at this stage that we will find any aircraft debris on the ocean surface. Therefore, we are moving from the current phase to a phase which is focused on searching the ocean floor over a much larger area. And the aircraft plainly cannot disappear. It must be somewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The Bluefin-21 will continue to be used in the underwater search. It's now on its 16th mission. And the deep sea drone will soon be joined by sonar devices towed by ships that can provide more instant feedback.

Families, though, are furious and fed up with the investigation by Malaysian officials. And they'll take their concerns directly to Boeing shareholder's meeting in Chicago this morning. Boeing is the maker of that 777 aircraft that vanished on March 8th with 239 people aboard.

CNN's Alexandra Field is live in New York to tell us more.

Good morning.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The families are trying to exhaust every possible avenue to try and get some information. Now they want to know what does Boeing know and what is Boeing willing to share. So they've written down their questions, they've given those questions to a delegate. A delegate will take the questions to the shareholder's meeting in Chicago this morning to try and find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): More desperate, more frustrated. The family members of the passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 turned their attention toward Boeing.

SARAH BAJC, PARTNER OF MALAYSIA AIR 370 VICTIM: And if we're not getting information directly from Malaysia Airlines and from the Malaysian government, we might as well try to go directly to the source.

FIELD: The manufacturer of the missing 777 has issued a statement that says, quote, "In accordance with international protocols, Boeing is serving as a technical adviser to the National Transportation Safety Board in support of Malaysian authorities." But families have technical questions they want Boeing to answer.

STEVEN MARKS, AVIATION ATTORNEY: They would have all of the data. They would also have the tape recordings and they'd have the Inmarsat satellite images and whatever other information the government has shared with them.

ARTHUR ROSENBERG, AVIATION ATTORNEY: I've advocated that Inmarsat and perhaps together with Boeing as a participant, release some of this information, some of this technical data information so that the families can at least get a handle on how they came about to calculate, you know, the area, this coalesced area where everyone is looking at now.

FIELD: Boeing has expressed sympathy, but so far they aren't saying much more. And an appeal from the families won't likely change that.

ROSENBERG: They are under no obligation to disclose any of that information.

FLOYD WISNER, AVIATION ATTORNEY: Boeing will say that they are prohibited from talking to the families under Annex 13 of the ICAO, International Civil Aviation Organization, but that really only applies to information gathered in the course of the investigation.

FIELD: Potentially a lawsuit against Boeing could force the manufacturer to turn over information about its aircraft. But with the plane still missing, some aviation attorneys say the families don't have a case, at least against the Boeing company.

WISNER: You're not going to be able to bring a claim against Boeing, in my view, without the wreckage or the black boxes. It's just not possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: So these aviation attorneys are clearly not optimistic that the families will be getting the answers they're looking for, at least not today. But the shareholder's meeting starts a little later this morning.

A Boeing source says that MH-370 is not a topic on the formal agenda. Still, you could see someone bring it up and it could be asked about during a question-and-answer period. So we will stand by to find out -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll be waiting to hear.

Alexandra Field, thanks so much.

New York Congressman Michael Grimm surrendered to federal authorities this morning. This comes after a two-year investigation by the FBI into alleged illegal contributions to his campaign.

You might remember Grimm from earlier this year when he threatened to throw a television reporter over a balcony after the reporter was questioning him about this same ongoing investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHAEL GRIMM (R), NEW YORK: Let me be clear to you. If you ever do that to me again, I'll throw you off this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) balcony.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Grimm later apologized for the incident saying that he sometimes wears his emotion on his sleeve.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a racist rant attributed to L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

What can the NBA do now, Rachel Nichols?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Well, the NBA's options, Carol, may be more limited than you would like. I will let you know what the league can and can't do coming up after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. We've been telling you about these terrible deadly storms that ripped through parts of Arkansas. In fact, 17 people are dead in Faulkner County. More than 100 injured. Authorities believe there still may be people trapped in their homes.

I want to take you to Faulkner County, to Vilonia and listen in to a news conference held by the Faulkner County public information officer David Hogue. Let's listen.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED)

DAVID HOGUE, FAULKNER CO., ARKANSAS PUBLIC INFO OFFICER: My name is David Hogue, the public information for Faulkner County.

And I have several shelters I want you to know about. One is the Beryl Baptist Church in Vilonia. Red Cross is there today. They will be serving meals morning, noon and evening. Vilonia Senior Center is also a shelter for Vilonia as well as Mayflower, even the homeowners are not allowed to come in at the moment.

Last night, there was kind of a cursory nighttime search and res key effort by all of the emergency responders and law enforcement. Today, they are getting started in daylight hours with a very detailed, thorough search and rescue effort. That's why there's a perimeter around both of these towns so that when people are coming in, unless you can show ID and give them a valid reason to be there, then you're not going to be let in.

Volunteers will be welcome at a certain point, but now I'm afraid is not the time. Search and rescue efforts are still happening. And as long as we have personal -- emergency personnel on the scene and as long as we have power lines down, we're asking citizen volunteers to stay where they are.

We'll let you know, we'll have another press conference and let you know when people can come in and volunteer. There will be a time. It's just not yet.

REPORTER: Do you believe there are people still alive in parts of these subdivisions?

HOGUE: I believe so. We're being told so. At the present, Pat Moore, I talked to him this morning, he's the Faulkner County coroner, and he explained that there have been 10 confirmed fatalities so far. That's two children and eight adults in Faulkner County.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) emergency crews are doing search and rescue efforts right now?

HOGUE: Yes. They did some search and rescue efforts very quickly and carefully, yes, but this morning they started a very thorough and deliberate, concentrated search and rescue effort. That's going to go through most of the day today. I'm going to be stationed here and be available for more information as we get more information.

REPORTER: Has anybody been found alive, rescued this morning?

HOGUE: I don't know about that.

REPORTER: You mentioned how some people were not allowed back to their homes, some of the residents. We saw some that were back in their homes. Is it a slow process where some are allowed back in and some not, until we get back and do the search and rescues?

HOGUE: Yes, it is a slow process. We have people and dogs going through the rubble and trying to find whoever we can and whatever we can. Once we get tonight fall again tonight, then search and rescue will slow down again, but at the moment, until search and rescue is over and the county judge's office is coordinating all the efforts here, until we get word that search and rescue has been done, then law enforcement has a perimeter around both towns and they're not letting anybody in that doesn't belong here.

(END LIVE FEED)

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to pop out of this.

As you heard, sad news out of Faulkner County in Arkansas, 10 people confirmed dead, two of them children. Seven others apparently dead in neighboring -- in a neighboring county. But David Hogue, the Faulkner County PIO, public information officer, was talking about just Faulkner County at this moment.

Our figures show 17 people dead in Arkansas, 100 or more injured. As you heard Mr. Hogue say, firefighters are going door to door to see if there are any survivors in these destroyed homes. They believe there are survivors. So, we'll keep you posted on that.

We're going to take a short break. We'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The NBA promising a swift investigation into racist comments allegedly made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. The comments have triggered widespread outrage and distracted attention from the league's pinnacle event, the playoffs.

The story exploded over the weekend with audio recordings first released by TMZ Sports and then by Deadspin. The tapes purportedly are conversations between Sterling and his girlfriend and mistress V. Stiviano, where Sterling complains about Stiviano bringing Magic Johnson to Clippers games and posting pictures of him with her on Instagram.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GF: He happens to be black and I'm sorry.

STERLING: I think it's nice you admire him. I know him well and he should be admired. I'm just saying it's too bad you can't admire him privately. And during your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) life, your whole life admire him, bring him here, feed him, (EXPLETIVE DELETED) him, I don't care. You can do anything. But don't put it on Instagram for the world to see so they have to call me and don't bring him to my games, OK?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But the bigotry is not just targeting Magic Johnson.

Here is another excerpt from Deadspin.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

STERLING: If you don't feel it, don't come to my games. Don't bring black people and don't come.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know that you have a whole team that's black that plays for you?

STERLING: 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 I have -- who makes the game? Do I make the game or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners that created the league?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: An attorney for V. Stiviano, the girlfriend and mistress, says the recordings are authentic and but he says she did not release them. For the record, V. Stiviano is being sued by the Sterling family alleging she embezzled more than $1.8 million.

The Clippers stage add silent protest before yesterday's game with Golden State, wearing their pre-game jerseys inside out so the Clippers name could not be seen. The team wore their regular uniforms for the game. The Clippers lost to the Warriors by 21 points.

Other teams had their own Sterling protest. The Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers wore black socks at their game last night. The players association is putting forward a list of demands about Sterling, former NBA star and current Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is advising the union to take some sort of actions, as in sanctions.

Donald Sterling was supposed to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles NAACP next month. Well, that's not going to happen.

The more pressing question, how do you punish a guy who alleged lid made racist comments if he owns the team?

Let's bring in Rachel Nichols.

So, Rachel, what can the NBA really do?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Well, it is a tough road ahead for them. A lot of people very rightfully demanding action.

But how did they go about that? Well, first, they've got to authenticate this tape. That's not so easy to do. TMZ has the tape. Do they want to give to it the NBA? Does the woman involved want to give them a copy of the tape?

Remember, it is illegal in California to teach someone else without their knowledge. She is putting herself in jeopardy by getting copies of the tape out there. Donald Sterling has suggested that the tape may have been doctored in some way. So, you may have to wonder how he is going to cooperate with the league investigation.

Let's say they can authenticate this tape? What then? Donald Sterling is worth about $2 billion. So, do you fine him? What kind of fine would possibly make a difference to this guy?

In terms of the NBA charter, that is actually private. It's not a public document. From we do know, there isn't a path to relieve someone of ownership unless their organization is in some kind of financial trouble which is not the case now.

So maybe you try to suspend him. Well, that's difficult, too. Do you suspend him from day-to-day operations form a year, two years? What feels justified?

When Major League Baseball was dealing with this issue with former Reds owner Marge Schott, she made racist comments and had a track record of racism. They suspended her for one year.

Then she returned to baseball. She then did it again. They suspended her for two years in that scenario and then they worked with her to suggest that she sell the team. But they couldn't force her out.

Unfortunately with Donald Sterling, he's known as a very litigious guy. He's not going to go quietly into the good night. This is a mess for the NBA to untangle. Clearly, they have to do something significant.

COSTELLO: Well, maybe ultimately it's up to the fans. If they don't go to the games, if they don't buy tickets, if they don't buy food at the games, then they could force the issue, right?

NICHOLS: It is. It's tough though. It's complicated. You have players on that team who work very hard, who are going and playing the games. They're under contract. Those players, they thought about boycotting their own game, not wanting to play for that owner. But then they could get in trouble with the NBA and open themselves up to some problems. It is a complex issue. The players and the coach are asking for support from the fans and certainly they deserve it. How you support them without supporting the owner causes problems for people.

COSTELLO: OK. So there is speculation that Magic Johnson who, of course, was mentioned in this controversy is interested in buying the Clippers. That would be something, wouldn't it?

NICHOLS: Certainly, that would make a lot of people happy, sort of the ultimate correction of this situation. Magic Johnson and an ownership group own the Dodgers. They're certainly interested in getting into the NBA. In fact, when the NBA was having trouble with its women's team in that L.A. market, the Sparks were in financial difficulties, Magic Johnson's group stepped in and bought them. They already have a relationship with the NBA.