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V. Stiviano Started Sterling Controversy, Wants to Be President; Oklahoma Governor's Press Conference on Botched Execution; Severe Weather from Coast to Coast; Many Looking to Buy Clippers.

Aired April 30, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: She goes by the name V. and she thinks she can go from courtside at the Clippers all the way to the Oval Office. I'm not making this stuff up. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. Bottom of the hour you're watching CNN.

Oklahoma City, just to set the stage for you, we are waiting. Should begin any minute now, this news conference that will be led by the governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin. She will be discussing specifically this investigation that she has launched into last night's botched execution where this death row inmate. Clayton Lockett did not die as expected after receiving the three-drug cocktail designed to end his life. Ultimately, the execution had to be halted. Lockett did die anyway from a heart attack some 43 minutes later. We're staying tuned to that news conference and as soon as we see Governor Fallin, we will bring it back to you, live.

In the meantime, 24 hours after Donald Sterling booted out of the NBA, calls for a new team owner are starting to pour in, even inside the walls of Congress. This morning, Congressman Bobby Rush spoke from the House floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BOBBY RUSH, (D), ILLINOIS: Remove him from the equation that he currently operates in. Do that finally and firmly, and do that quickly. We need a decision by the NBA owners now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that was the House floor.

Now to new details about this woman who started this entire controversy, Sterling's now ex-girlfriend, V. Stiviano. Take a look. This. Here she is wearing this infamous, dare I say, daft punkesque visor, dodging reporters and paparazzi in Los Angeles. She is not saying too much but she did say something that is certainly raising eyebrows today. Not only does she call herself an artist, a writer, a chef, a poet, a philanthropist, but apparently, she wants to be president?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) V. STIVIANO, EX-GIRLFRIEND OF DONALD STERLING: One day I will become president of the United States of America and I will change the legislation and laws in which -- (AUDIO PROBLEM) -- modern day history civil rights movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That's kind of hard to hear over that traffic noise but she said she wants to be president. No word yet when she will lift the visor and when we will see her face but there is more we do now know about her.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As she left her Los Angeles home Tuesday, V. Stiviano's intuition proved correct. The 31- year-old woman posting online, quote "One day, I will look back at Instagram and say I have been there and I've done that." It was her Instagram page and this picture with Magic Johnson that reportedly sent her boyfriend, Donald Sterling, over the edge.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

DONALD STERLING, OWNER, LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS: Don't bring them to my games.

(END AUDIO FEED)

FEYERICK: Stiviano was president of a company bearing her name, suspended in 2008 by the California Franchise Tax Board. It's unclear what the company did. Stiviano she describes herself as artist, lover, writer, chef, poet, stylist, philanthropist, saying, "I do it all."

HARVEY LEVIN, FOUNDER, TMZ: She definitely likes the rap world.

FEYERICK: Court records and public records show that she used at least five names. They include Vanessa Maria Perez, Monica Diegos (ph) and Maria Delges (ph). But during the now-famous recording argument, Sterling seems at a loss for words as his girlfriend lays out her ethnicity.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

STERLING: -- a Latino girl.

STIVIANO: I'm a mixed girl. You're in love with me. And I'm black and Mexican, whether you like it or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Born October 1982, Stiviano is almost 50 years younger than the 80-year-old billionaire. She met the mogul about four years ago. He apparently began supporting her almost immediately. In a lawsuit filed before the tapes went public, Sterling's wife alleged that Stiviano targeted her husband and initiated and participated in a sexual relationship with him in exchange for gifts allegedly worth more than $2.5 million. Those gifts include a $1.8 million la duplex, two Bentleys and a Ferrari. License plates on Instagram that read "I heart you V" and "V hearts you."

According to TMZ Sports, Stiviano says she was archiving Sterling's conversation at his request.

EVAN ROSENBLUM, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, TMZ: Yet, she claims she is not a girlfriend, just an employee. An archivist who is tasked with recording conversations and working with a Clippers-related charity.

BALDWIN: A team spokesman says Stiviano did not work for the Clipper organization, Sterling and several other family charities.

(on camera): Stiviano's lawyer plans to speak in the next couple of days. It's unclear when the relationship ended or if it ever did officially. However, Sterling's wife is suing Stiviano, saying her husband had no right to use the couple's community property to buy the girlfriend anything, not the apartment, not the cars, nor anything else. The wife wants it back.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, News York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Deborah, thank you.

Coming up, severe weather impact people from coast to coast. A brush fire is burning on the west, forcing evacuations there. In Florida, folks facing major flooding. We will take a look at the hardest-hit areas in the country next on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Storms. Storms are threatening 37 people across the southeast. Florida to Virginia, including floods. Really the pictures tell the story. Take a look for yourself. Here's a guy clinging to a tree. He is trapped in a flood in Mobile, Alabama. A firefighter swims to help this man out. Hands him -- watch this with me. Hands him what looks to be a flotation device and ultimately, this ends well, he pulls him to safety. This all happened -- this was a road, by the way. It's now a river. Unbelievable, just one of so many stories we're reading here.

Pensacola, Florida, at least one person has drowned. Look how far up you can see how far that water was based upon the windows of the cars.

Florida's governor declared a state of emergency for 26 counties.

Meteorologist Jennifer Gray joins me know.

We talked to the spokesman in Florida and he told me this is the worst thing that I have ever seen.

Hang on.

Do you want me to go to that?

Pause. Let's go to Oklahoma, Mary Fallin, governor.

MARY FALLIN, GOVERNOR OF OKLAHOMA: -- questions that we have had in our office in relation to the execution last night.

Last night, the state of Oklahoma executed Clayton Lockett. In 1999, he physically assaulted, kidnapped Stephanie Newman and had an accomplice bury her alive in a shallow grave. He also repeatedly raped a second woman. He was convicted in a fair trial by a jury of his peers. He was then sentenced to death. He appealed the execution and that appeal was rejected by the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. He had his day in court. I believe the legal process worked. I believe the death penalty is an appropriate response and punishment to those who commit heinous crimes against their fellow men and women. However, I also believe the state needs to be certain of its protocols and procedures for executions and that they work. For that reason, I have asked for a review of the Department of Corrections execution protocols. After consulting further with the Department of Corrections director, Robert Paton (ph), we agree that an independent review of the Department of Corrections procedures would be effective and also appropriate. Therefore, I have asked our Department of Public Safety and our commissioner, Michael Thompson, to lead an independent review of the state's execution procedures.

And that review will focus on three different things. First of all, Lockett's cause of death. Commissioner Thompson has informed me that the medical examiner's office will authorize an independent pathologist to make that determination. Second, it will be to see if the Department of Correction followed current protocol for executions. And third, Commissioner Thompson will develop recommendations to improve protocols for the Department of Correction. I expect the review process to be deliberate and thorough and it will be the first step in evaluating our state's execution protocols. My office will communicate with the attorney general's office on any possible additional steps that might need to be taken to allow for Commissioner Thompson's review process to be completed before any further executions.

Last night, I also issued an executive order staying the execution of Charles Warner until May 13. I have not given Commissioner Thompson a deadline to complete the review. If he has not completed the review by May 13, an additional stay will be issued at that time. If there are adjustments that he needs to make, or that need to be made to the state's execution protocols, those adjustments will be made. Charles Warner also had his day in court. He committed a horrible crime, physical abuse, rape, and murder of an 11 month old baby.

BALDWIN: Oklahoma governor, Mary Fallin, is talking about two individuals. The second individual, whose execution she has now stayed because of what happened last night in Oklahoma. This execution that went horribly wrong because of the three-drug cocktail. She has issued two independent reviews, one with the Department of Corrections to figure what happened, how this guy died, and if proper protocols were followed, and, if not, to recommend proper protocols for the state of Oklahoma. That's where we are right now. This man, Clayton Locket, died in 43 minutes, which should have taken just minutes. Took 43 minutes, veins burst. Blinds were closed because something was going horribly wrong. He ultimately died of a heart attack. And because of this story in Oklahoma -- and this has happened before here, and that is a whole other story. Capital punishment now back in the spotlight in this country to be discussed.

Also to be discussed, we just left off talking about the weather. Let's get a quick break in. When we come back, Jennifer Gray talking about the storms, the flooding in the south, and also this fire raging in the west. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Talk about that severe weather, 37 million people threatened by the severe weather.

And a lot of that flooding, Jennifer Gray, as I was saying before, talking to this Florida spokesman, saying this is something that he has never experienced there.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The water can come in so fast. It can rise so fast. We saw it in boulder last year and we are seeing it in the panhandle this year. Yesterday we had incredible amounts of rain. It rained all day in the panhandle. Still raining. And the storms started training. Think of a train on a track, one after another and those storms just kept going over the same place over and over and over. And that's where we got the incredible amounts of rain. This storm system is finally going to pick up some speed today. So the showers are tapering off. Look at that, areas of white. More than ten inches of rain right there in the panhandle. Here are break downs as far as rainfall totals. Milton, Florida, 19 inches of rain. Pensacola, more than 17.

I wanted to show you the flood stage. This is how fast the water can rise. You can see an amount of about a six-hour time frame, the water rose amazingly so. The flood stage is going to go down but the river run off is going to be a problem so expect places to stay flooded for the next day or so. It's going to be a problem. The showers move off of the east coast. The focus now is on the east coast, places around D.C. getting a lot of rain and severe weather.

I want to mention something else, Brooke. On the other hand, the product of not enough rain.

BALDWIN: Look at that smoke.

GRAY: Look at it. California, just outside of Los Angeles, 200 acres burning and on top of that, 80 mile per hour wind gusts. They are unable to fight this fire from the air because of the wind. Amazing

BALDWIN: 40 miles east of L.A. I know we have a reporter en route. We'll talk to that reporter coming up.

Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

In the meantime, Floyd Mayweather loves to gamble and now he says he wouldn't mind putting his money into the L.A. Clippers. Who else might want to buy the NBA team if Sterling is forced to sell? That's ahead here on CNN.

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BALDWIN: Here is a big if. If Donald Sterling does sell the L.A. Clippers, there will be no shortage of potential buyers. Oscar de la Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, and even Diddy. He says, "I will always be a Knicks fan but I am also a business man." Then you have David Geffen, Rick Caruso. There are others.

Let's bring in CNN correspondent, Zain Asher, in New York.

In terms of cha-ching, how much could the Clippers go for?

ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke. We have been speaking to investment banks that specialize in the sports industry and the ranges are from $850 million to a billion. How do they get that number? They look at other NBA teams that have recently sold. The Sacramento Kings sold for $535 million and the Milwaukee Bucks sold for $550 million. That's a huge price tag. They're in the fifth-smallest TV market in the NBA and they're in dire need of a new arena as well. The idea is if Milwaukee can sell for $550 million, then surely the L.A. Clippers can sell for a whole lot more, especially when you consider that Los Angeles is the second-largest TV market in the United States. The Clippers' TV deal is up for renewal soon so they could potentially get a lot of money. And just the rarity of how frequently these teams in large TV markets come up for sale. The last time the Clippers were up for sale was back in 1981. And also the Chicago Bulls, the last time they were up for sale was in 1985. And lastly, you have to remember that anyone who buys the L.A. Clippers right now stands to benefit from a huge amount of positive publicity. You're basically going to come in looking like a hero. And there's a premium for looking like a hero -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Of course, I'm curious if Sterling might leave a darker mark on the team. Could one get a discount? Could this be damaged goods? Although, the Clippers are doing pretty well.

ASHER: Exactly. There was some initial consent about this when this news broke, but then, yesterday, when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver came down hard in terms of the lifetime ban, you then saw sponsors start to come back, Nike and Samsung. Some may argue that the Clippers are more popular now because so many people really rallied behind them -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: How about that.

Zain Asher, we watch and wait to see what the owners do.

Thanks so much for us in New York.

And let's continue on. Top of the hour.