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Tornados Devastate Plains, South, More Bad Weather on the Way; L.A. NAACP Not to Give Award to L.A. Clippers Owner; Sponsors Back Away from Clippers; Obama Getting Tough on Russia

Aired April 28, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Tornados across several states claimed the lives of 17 people. Parts of Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri have been reduced to rubble. But Arkansas took the brunt of the storms. Former President Bill Clinton weighed in on the destruction saying, "My thoughts and prayers are with the families and communities in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Iowa affected by last night's devastating tornados." No confirmation yet on the intensity of the storms but the clean up is expected to be lengthy.

For more information on how you can help, just go to CNN.com/impact.

Right now, let me bring in CNN meteorologist, Jennifer Gray, at the CNN Severe Weather Center. She has been covering the severe weather.

Jennifer, more tornado watches right now. Is that correct?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. More watches and these are huge. This one in particular right here from southern Tennessee through portions of Alabama and through Mississippi including Jackson, this is considered a particularly dangerous situation. They don't issue those very often and when they do, you know we could have a very, very large threat of large tornados and they could be long- lived.

A new tornado watch has just been issued for portions of eastern Tennessee. This watch will be in effect until 9:00 central time for tonight. We also have tornado warnings in effect. This is for Mississippi as well. These are moving to the northeast. They will be crossing I-55 in just a couple of minutes. These are fast moving storms. This warning is in effect until 2:15 central time. And it's moving to the northeast. If you're in Silver City you need to take cover, get into a small interior room. This storm is headed for you. We also have one just on it. Sharpie County ([ph), if you are in this county, including the city of Rolling Fork, you need to be on the lookout for this as well.

These are very dangerous storms. These could become very powerful as we go through the afternoon. We are going to have a similar day like yesterday but these storms have all shifted to the east. We have the same weather set up with very moist, humid air coming in. This is going to produce these very large powerful storms. I want to show you something else. A lot of lightning associated with these storms. These two cells, just in the past 30 minutes, almost 6,000 lightning strikes. These are very dangerous. If you are in the area around I-55 just to the north of Jackson, you need to be very, very careful. These storms move quickly and sometimes they can be a little unpredictable with the severity of them. They can have large hail, golf ball-sized and sometimes bigger. The lightning, the hail and gusty winds and, of course, the possibility of tornados, not a day you want to be outside.

BROWN: Speaking of that, some people are outside, particularly in Arkansas, cleaning up after the severe weather that went through there yesterday.

GRAY: It looks like they will have a quieter day for today. Most of the strong storms have move off to the east. They have a little bit drier air trying to filter into Arkansas. We could see spotty showers in eastern Arkansas for today but luckily central and northern Arkansas looks like they will be in the clear for severe weather today, which is excellent news.

BROWN: Thank you so much, Jennifer Gray.

And turning now to the controversy surrounding NBA owner, Donald Sterling. Until reporting of Sterling making racist remarks became public, the Los Angeles NAACP had planned to give him a Lifetime Achievement Award. The L.A. chapter says that Sterling will not receive the award. The L.A. NAACP held a news conference a little more than an hour ago.

Our Paul Vercammen was there.

Paul, I can see why they cancelled the award. Did they say why they were giving it to him in the first place?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, and that's the question, Pamela. And I pressed them on that both on and off camera and the answer was they repeatedly had conversations with Mr. Sterling and were comfortable with giving him that award saying not much more.

But Leon Jenkins, who is the branch president, came out and came out swinging. He said, if this is Mr. Sterling's voice on the tape, this is all reminiscent of an ugly time in U.S. history. Let's listen to more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON JENKINS, L.A. BRANCH PRESIDENT, NAACP: On a scale of one to 10? 11. If you look at the content -- and the one thing you do have to consider is that it was a private conversation. But not with standing that fact, the words used were very gibberish. It goes back to a segregation system and a time that nobody in America is proud of. I think when you say things like that you have to pay a price for those kinds of things. You have to demonstrate, if it's possible, that that's not who you are. It was devastating. It's off the scale.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And, Pamela, Mr. Jenkins also saying he was going to be given the award because of his body of work and has hosted so many minority children at basketball games, given summer camps and currently in talks to give scholarships to schools, colleges, in the Los Angeles area.

BROWN: Paul Vercammen, thank you.

We now want to take a listen to a statement that Doc Rivers, the head coach of the L.A. Clippers, made just moments ago. Here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOC RIVERS, HEAD COACH, LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (voice-over): Hello, everybody. This is Doc, and I would like to start again by, you know, these last 48 hours or more have been really hard for our players and for everyone. I would just like to reiterate how disappointed I am and the comments attributed to our owner. I can't tell you how upset I am, our players are. Today, I had a meeting with, you know, just people in our organization talking about everyone from pr to everyone because I just felt like, you know, they needed to hear a voice as well. And you know, when you're around all these people you realize that they're just as upset and embarrassed and it doesn't reflect who they really are. And you know, that was the thing that I got from all of them that, you know, they didn't sign on for this but they're part of this. And they're upset at this but they're going to hang in there. And so are we. I can tell you that as a group and as a team. What I said yesterday after the game, I meant. I had to do a better job with our guys and try to get them back. And, you know, from our fan standpoint, being here over the last ten hours since I have landed they have been amazing. We need them. I can tell you that. We need unbelievable support right now, and we're hoping we get that tomorrow. So I'd like to open up to questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: You just heard Doc Rivers speaking to a group of sports reporters in a previously scheduled conference call and making remarks about this scandal involving the owner of the Clippers, Donald Sterling, saying this is a defining moment for the NBA, talking about the players saying they didn't sign on to this but they are going to hang in there, and asking for support during this difficult time.

Coming up right here on NEWSROOM, more on the racist comments attributed to L.A. Clippers owner, Donald Sterling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRLFRIEND OF DONALD STERLING: People call you and tell you that I have black people on my Instagram and it bothers you?

DONALD STERLING, OWNER, LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS: Yeah, it bothers me a lot if you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Fans and players alike want Donald Sterling out. Lots of discussion about what, if anything, the NBA can do. That story up next. Stay with us.

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BROWN: The fallout from controversial, racially charged comments attributed to L.A. Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, is becoming clear. Three sponsors have backed away from their relationship with the team. Earlier today, the Los Angeles branch of the NAACP said it's not going to honor Sterling.

Sterling's team is predominantly black, he's dating a woman of color, but if private beliefs expressed on the recording are true, what makes a person lead this seemingly double life.

Here to help give us some context is clinical psychologist, Jeff Gardere.

Jeff, nice to have you with us.

What do you make of this?

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: I'm not surprised by any of this. We have people who have very racist views but who don't consider themselves to be racist. They think the things they say about certain people and they thought patterns are based in some sort of reality. They're based on stereo types, of course. So you don't hear Sterling coming out and saying these things to the public. This was a conversation that he had and in some ways kind of led into that direction of that conversation.

BROWN: You look at his track record. He's been sued twice for housing discrimination. So I guess in light of that it's not that surprising what he allegedly said.

GARDERE: Well, yeah, of course, and the history is there. That being said, and I'm not Band-Aiding this individual at all, he clearly is a racist. There are so many other people who may have similar views in real estate. There's a history of real estate owners who don't rent or sell to people of color, to minorities. And these people still have friends who are minorities. This is not at all surprising and it's not at all a deviation. This is someone who got caught saying what he really feels and there are a lot more people like that.

BROWN: That's so troubling to think that. His girlfriend is a minority. So how can he share these views, but be dating a minority? I think that has a lot of people scratching their heads.

GARDERE: There has always been a pattern of certain type of people, white males who may be sleeping with a woman of color. Less than or inferior, yet, they are still involved with these women. They may go out with these women but, often times, they don't marry these women. They may have children with the women and take care of the children but, often times, don't acknowledge them publicly. We saw that with Senator Strom Thurmond. That was exactly his situation.

BROWN: Dr. Jeff Gardere, thank you.

GARDERE: Thanks, Pam.

BROWN: Coming up right now on NEWSROOM, President Obama getting tough on Russia with some new sanctions against some of the country's most wealthy, but will it be enough? We will discuss, up next.

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BROWN: Vladimir's friendship is about to get a lot more expensive. The sanctions by the U.S. target two people close to the Russian president and five others in his government. And they could add to the pressure on Russia to live up to its commitments in Ukraine. Ukraine wants the U.S. to go even farther, while Russia says it has already gone too far, calling the sanctions shameful.

Michelle Kosinski is traveling with the president and has the latest.

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MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The Obama administration has just named and shamed those individuals and companies that are now part of expanded U.S. sanctions against Russia. Seven Russian officials, among them a deputy prime minister, a lawmaker, a director of a gas company, and two of these people are said to be key members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle. One of them is the president of Russia's number-one petroleum company and just last year was named by "Forbes" magazine as number 60 in its list of the World's Most Powerful People. There are also 17 companies that the administration says who are linked to oligarchs in Russia that have been previously sanctions, and they include three banks and a holding company. There are also now tough restrictions on those companies being able to import U.S. products and tough restrictions on U.S. exports of high-tech defense materials.

These administration officials who gave detail on these sanctions, visa bans and asset freezes, they listed ways that they feel these sanctions have hurt Russia. The drop in the value of equities and the ruble. They said that Russia's credit rating has dropped to just above junk status. They also said that Russia has done precisely nothing to de-escalate the situation in the Ukraine and continues to contribute to the unrest there.

Now, President Obama today faced many questions on the sanctions. Why not do more, that sort of thing. He said that the point of the sanctions was not to target Russian President Vladimir Putin personally. And he acknowledged that these sanctions might not do anything but the real goal was to try to change the calculus in Russia's behavior. What he focused on and what the administration continues to focus on is hurting in the long term. What they say will be continued isolation on a global scale.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Michelle Kosinski, thank you.

Coming up at the top of the hour, more severe weather is expected today after a deadly round of storms tore through several states. We will talk live to a man who hid in the closet with his family while a tornado passed.

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BROWN: A dark day for Congressman Michael Grimm. The New York Republican is out on bond today after pleading not guilty to federal charges related to a Manhattan restaurant he owned. A two-year FBI investigation led to a wide-ranging 20-count indictment including mail fraud and filing false tax returns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHAEL GRIMM, (R), NEW YORK: After two and a half years of just being deluged and bombarded with allegation after allegation after allegation, I haven't been able to fully defend myself. It's been anonymous sources. And let's be honest, let's call it what it is, absolutely shameful, disgraceful government leaks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Grimm says he has no plan to resign his seat in Congress.

That does it for me. But be sure to stick around.

NEWSROOM continues with Deb Feyerick right now.