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Storm System Kills 29 in Six States; Twelve Sponsors Sever Ties with Clippers; U.S., U.K. Help Ukraine Recover Stolen Assets; North Korea Conducts Live Fire Drill

Aired April 29, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

SPIKE LEE, FILMMAKER: And then I want to say -- I want to say what Magic said and say people say -- not just Magic. People say, doesn't he know all of his players are black? Yes, he knows that. Masters know that, too, when we were out there in the cotton fields and whatnot, working.

So, he has to go and I would like to see even though the league is 75 percent African-American, I think this -- outside from Dirk Nowitzki, I've really never heard from the white players.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You think this should be an issue that white players speak out about, not just the African-American players.

LEE: Everybody. Everybody. If you are someone who believes in humanity, justice for all, whether based on race, sex, whatever, this is a front to everybody and we all should be outraged as Americans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Former NBA player and Knicks executive Larry Johnson is looking beyond the Sterling controversy. He's actually calling for an all-African-American basketball league. Johnson tweeted, quote, "black people, you're focusing on the wrong thing. We should be focusing on having our own team. Our own team, own league, two (ph) for (ph) self (ph)." We'll talk about that in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

Still to come, deadly weather explodes across the south and tens of millions of Americans are at risk. Meteorologist Chad Myers in Tupelo this morning.

Hi, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Carol.

Here comes the sun. That's not a good thing. More storms today in this heat. The forecast after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Time to check some top stories at 35 past the hour. Let's head to Wall Street. You can see the big board there. The bell rang just about five minutes ago. The Dow up just about 78 points. Investors looked to end the month on a positive note. That's a good thing.

President Obama's approval rating is not a good thing. It has fallen to a new low. According to the latest "Washington Post"/ABC News poll, 41 percent approve of the job he's doing as president, while more than 50 percent disapprove.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a large, violent tornado. There is all sorts of stuff falling out of the sky. The road is getting -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A sprawling and fearsome storm system breaking across the south and putting some 75 million Americans at risk of severe weather. A string of tornadoes erupted yesterday killing 29 people across six states. Weather experts had warned of the threat for days and struggled to keep abreast of the tornadoes as they roared to life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a tornado ripping through the city of Tupelo as we speak. And this could be deadly. Let's go tower cam. There's a damaging tornado on the ground right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. That young meteorologist had to leave the building himself. The Tupelo mayor told me that he did a fantastic job in warning people to take cover.

Let's head out to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

Good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

Been a long night here in Tupelo for many of the residents here. Now, the images I'm going to show you, not representative of the entire town. So if you can't get ahold of someone you love in Tupelo, they're likely OK. This is 5 percent of the city.

But look at this, Carol. This was a gas station. People were getting fuel here when this happened. You can see right inside. They're trying to salvage what's inside. And, obviously right here, they already have the bulldozers ready to go. They're going to knock this whole place down. There's going to be nothing left here.

Look at that car right there. This is why we tell you, if there's a big tornado, there might not be a good place in your car because look at that piece of metal. That went right straight through. And then the rest of his debris, all the way from -- as far as I can see, from north to south to east to west here, probably a half a mile wide, slightly, slightly less intense than the storm I was in yesterday, which was the Mayflower tornado, somewhere maybe 150, 165 on that one miles per hour.

Here, maybe 140. Because as we look at the trees, they're not devastated quite as much as they were yesterday. There's still a couple of trees with leaves on them. Yesterday, the trees were bare. The bark was gone, ripped off. That means that the violent tornado yesterday. And this one, although violent if it's right where you are, doesn't stack up to that storm yet from what I've seen. We'll go do more of a storm report later and look at the other neighborhoods. There are some homes that were pretty damaged here, but the people here only like six real injuries that had to stay overnight according to the mayor's office a little bit ago.

COSTELLO: Right. Chad, you've covered all sorts of national disasters though the years. It's always heartening to see the resilience of those who've endured such big losses, you know, as in property.

MYERS: Yes. Yes.

COSTELLO: And I want our viewers to take a look at the scene you came across. It's a flag raising amid the rubble and debris that was once a home.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: A touching image here. Tell us about that.

MYERS: You know, Vilonia and also Mayflower yesterday, it seems the first thing people want to do to show that they're Americans and show that they're not going to give up and show that this isn't the last day of their life, that they want to raise a flag and say, we are here, we're coming back, this is what we stand for. And the one we saw, the flag-raising we saw in Mayflower, it was at least 20 people that didn't even know the owner of the home. Not even friends helping friends. Random people helping people, because that's what America and Middle America is all about, when you get this type of weather, and you get this type of damage, the people that don't get damaged come out to help the people that do.

COSTELLO: Thanks for sharing, Chad. We appreciate it.

MYERS: I'll see you tomorrow from a different location in Alabama. There will be more tornadoes today.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Chad. We'll get back to you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, sponsors start to bail on the Los Angeles Clippers as the owner finds himself in the middle of a racial firestorm. Christine Romans following that side of the story.

Good morning, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, ANCHOR CNN'S "EARLY START": Good morning, Carol. Twelve teams and counting, or 12 companies and counting have dropped their, or suspended their sponsorship of this team. What will be the financial cost for Donald Sterling? I'll have that for you right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: While the NBA will announce its punishment for Clippers owner Donald Sterling later this afternoon, some of the team's biggest sponsors aren't waiting to act. Twelve of them cutting ties with the team in some way after its owner was accused of making racist comments. CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins me now.

Good morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, ANCHOR, CNN'S "EARLY START": Good morning, Carol.

It was so interesting about so many of these companies dropping or suspending their sponsorship of this team, they are at pains to say they support these players. It's the language, the reported language of the team owner that has them stepping back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS (voice-over): Unacceptable, offensive, reprehensible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to see this guy out of the league now.

ROMANS: And now, corporate America joining the backlash against Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling in the wake of his alleged racist comments. While players protested publicly over the weekend, sponsors began the week releasing carefully worded statements, pledging support for players and fans, but distancing themselves from Sterling.

Take State Farm, for example. The insurer says it's taking a, quote, "pause in its relationship with the organization," but the company stressed it will continue to run television ads featuring Clippers star Chris Paul. Same for the energy drink maker Red Bull. The company is suspending all team-related marketing activities but plans on continuing its relationship with the high-flying Blake Griffin.

Other companies, including CarMax, Amtrak, Virgin America, Mercedes- Benz, Sprint and KIA are all dropping the Clippers as well. Forbes estimates Sterling's fortune at $1.9 billion, with the Clippers' team revenue at $128 million this season, putting the franchise in the middle of an exclusive pack.

So what happens next? Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is a former NBA star and the chairman of the National Basketball Players Association's executive search committee.

MAYOR KEVIN JOHNSON, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: Certainly when you talk about things like boycott and protesting and economic sanctions, we don't want to take anything off the table. ROMANS: Experts say more corporate sponsors will drop the Clippers. Even so, the NBA's problem with Sterling goes far beyond money.

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, NBA HALL OF FAME PLAYER: I don't think he belongs in this environment, given the way he feels about 80 percent of the players in the league.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Carol, what sponsors do next really depends on what happens at 2:00 p.m. Eastern when we will hear from the NBA officially on what it plans to do, what kind of sanctions, if any, they will have again this owner. And then you could see some of these sponsors coming back in. Only a couple of them have said that they've definitively ended their relationship. Others have said they have suspended it.

Carol.

COSTELLO: But Christine, sponsors are one thing right. TV deals are another. Those TV deals are very lucrative isn't that where the NBA or the team owners make most of their money?

ROMANS: You know, and Carol it's even more lucrative today than it was even three years ago for this is team. This is a team that has seen its TV ratings jump 55 percent. It is I think, the 13th biggest, or most valuable franchise, but it is the fifth biggest audience in the NBA. That -- that is a really important part of this question. So will next year, will the team suffer next year if the deals being written today for next year's TV sponsorship to TV deals, this controversy bleeds into next year, that's what we just don't know yet.

COSTELLO: Christine Romans reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, luxurious lives, palaces -- the palace filled with gold. Now the United States and Britain are teaming up to help Ukraine to make sure they recover all the spoils of corruption. That's coming your way, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A day after the United States issues more sanctions against Russia, an investigation into Ukrainian corruption gets under way. Surely you remember the ousted Ukrainian president swanky palace, his opulent home filled with Versace plates, Faberge eggs and Suits of Armor. There was a golf course on the outside, dozens of antique cars and a massive riverboat and more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When months ahead when Ukraine comes to terms with the troubled economy and asks where did all of the money go? Here is part of the answer. The President's own vodka.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Today the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will participate in a forum in Britain to help identify, trace and recover proceeds of corruption stolen by the former Ukrainian regime. An interesting exercise since the guy who lived in that palace now lives and is protected in Russia.

Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance joins us from Washington. Good morning Matthew. What are the Russians saying about this?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. There's been no official reaction of course to this. And you're right Viktor Yanukovych the ousted former president of Ukraine does indeed live somewhere in the Moscow region.

But you know what? I think many Russians see this exercise, however valid it is, as being something of double standards. They say well look yes, ok. It may be worthy to look for the stolen assets of this regime but will the shortcomings or the corruption of previous Ukrainian administrations who are pro-Western by the way in the main will they also be investigated? So the sense in which many Russians feel this stinks of double standard.

And but it is a worthy enterprise. In fact the Prosecutor General of Ukraine says already he has located $3 billion worth of stolen assets. This forum which is taking place in London at the moment is going to take a long time. It's a two-day forum but it's going to take years to find the other missing millions and the missing billions.

But what organizers say that it's important to send a strong message that people who carry out this kind of corruption or engage in it cannot enjoy impunity from investigations. So that's the basis for this.

COSTELLO: Right well in the meantime Russia again has upped the ante in the propaganda game. The Russian released -- the Russians released a statement today on the new American and EU sanctions saying those sanctions just open the door for neo-Nazis to continue their reign of terror in Ukraine. Seriously, does anyone believe neo-Nazis are to blame for what's happening in Eastern Ukraine?

CHANCE: Well I think the Russians have created a narrative in which they say that neo-Nazis are a significant proportion of the pro- Ukrainian unity protesters and elements within inside -- inside Ukraine. Indeed inside the Ukrainian government itself. And so that's the narrative that they have -- that they're keeping to and are sticking to.

But I wouldn't say so much they are upping the ante. I mean if anything this is a response to the ante that's been upped by the Europeans and the Americans in introducing yet more sanctions against Russian individuals and companies. Today the Europeans announced 15 targets for their latest sanctions. All of them individuals from the military and political elite associated with separatism in Eastern Ukraine and in Crimea. The United States has been targeting much more Russia's commercial interest and the inner circle of associates around the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Foremost amongst them in these latest sanctions from the U.S. Igor Sechin, he's the Chairman of the Russian oil company, Rosneft is the biggest oil company in Russia. He's a close Putin associate, an old KGB officer himself. He's from (inaudible). He's worked for many years with Vladimir Putin.

The U.S. trying to send a strong message that it is Vladimir's -- Vladimir Putin's inner circle that they're trying to target with their sanctions.

COSTELLO: Matthew Chance reporting live from Moscow this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, tensions rising in the Korean Peninsula as the North conducts live fire drills and now there are concerns that Pyongyang is poised for yet another nuclear test.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: North Korea is again ramping up military tensions with live fire drills along this disputed maritime border South Korea. Pyongyang notified Seoul ahead of the exercises and South Korea warned it would return fire if any shells landed in its territory. The drills come amid mounting suspicion that the North is poised for another nuclear test.

CNN's Andrew Stevens reports from Seoul, South Korea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Another day of high tensions on the Korean peninsula, North Korea firing some 50 artillery shells into its own waters in the west sea close to the disputed maritime border between the two Koreas. South Korea responding by putting all arms of its military on high alert. It didn't reach the same stage as the last live firing exercise by North Korea last month, which saw North Korean shells dropping into South Korean territory and the South Koreans responding with live fire of their own.

It does underline the continued provocative actions being taken by North Korea in the wake of the visit by the U.S. President, Barack Obama, to Seoul just last week. This disputed maritime area remains a flash point in relations between the two Koreas.

Four years ago a South Korean naval vessel sunk in the area. The South Koreans claimed it was through North Korea action although the North Koreans have denied that. Also in the same area, an island was shelled four years ago killing several residents so tensions remain very high here in Seoul. There is still a small chance the North Koreans may continue a night live firing exercise which could happen in a few hours from now.

Andrew Stevens, CNN, Seoul, South Korea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Andrew Stevens reporting.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.