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Tensions Continue Between Ukraine and Russia; V. Stiviano Gives Interview about Donald Sterling; NBA Owners to Vote on Donald Sterling Forced Selling of Clippers; Search for Missing Malaysian Plane Continues; Kentucky Derby About to Commence; MERS Virus Case Reported in U.S.
Aired May 03, 2014 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We are following several big stories for you this hour. The violence and rhetoric getting more intense in parts of Ukraine. One separatist leader is calling for the formation of a new army.
And the hunt for flight 370 is the about to change and it could involve a whole new search area thousands of miles away from where the crews are now.
And breaking her silence, the woman who recorded Donald Sterling's racist tirades speaks out. Hear her theory about why the L.A. Clippers owner says what he said and the state of their relationship right now.
Violence in the Ukraine is pushing the divide country even deeper into crisis. Video posted on YouTube shows a bus burning in a city where people were warned to stay off the street today. CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of that video, but our crews on the ground say there were clashes in the city. And nearby, a group of western military observers was released after being abducted about a week ago by pro- Russian separatists.
Matthew Chance joins me live now from Moscow. So Matthew, there have been a lot of statements coming out of Russia today. What is the latest that we are hearing?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They have. Certainly the Kremlin has been sharply critical, condemning the violence in eastern and southern Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is sending his condolences to the families of the victims of the 40 people who died in that incident in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa in the building in which they were taking refuge and protesting inside was burned down. So a huge tragedy there. It's been greeted with a lot of anger by the pro-Russian groups inside Ukraine and by the Kremlin here as well.
Also the Kremlin saying they're receiving thousands of requests for help from southern and eastern Ukraine. That's interesting and important because the Russians have said all along, they reserve the right to intervene militarily in Ukraine if they believe Russian interests, ethnic Russian language speakers are at risk. And so there is a growing concern that Russia could use its 40,000 strong army that it's got in position across the border in western Russia from Ukraine to intervene and take areas, further areas of Ukraine if it chooses to do so.
At the moment, no such order has been given. In fact there has been a telephone conversation between the Russian foreman and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in which Mr. Lavrov called on Mr. Kerry to use all his influence, all the influence that the United States, to get Kiev to end its military operations inside eastern Ukraine. And so, yes, a lot of tension between the two sides, the various sides here, and a lot of anger on the part of the Kremlin as to what's happening in Ukraine.
WHITFIELD: Matthew, there continue to be discussions about sanctions, more sanctions. Does that really seem to be much of a deterrent for Putin?
CHANCE: Well, it could be. I mean, certainly the next level of sanctions being discussed, the sectoral sanctions, like the oil sector in Russia or the gas sector which are really crucial to the Russian economy are likely to be sanctions that Vladimir Putin would want to avoid. So far, though, the sanctions have been pretty much symbolic. They have been pinpricks in terms of the damage they may have caused. They may have had an economic impact, but certainly not the kind of impact that the Russian authorities, the Kremlin are not prepared to withstand.
That could change, of course, if the Russians decide to go into eastern Ukraine or they decide to disrupt the election process, the elections due in Ukraine on the 25th of May. And so that's possibly something that the Russians will want to avoid. But we don't know whether the events on the ground are sort of trumping those concerns, those economic concerns and those concerns about sanctions, Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: Matthew Chance, thank you so much, in Moscow.
Back here in the U.S., a woman who recorded the embattled L.A. Clipper's owner's racist rants is voicing her own opinion now about the controversy. V. Stiviano gives her take on Donald Sterling's attitudes towards minorities here in an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters. She says the 80 year old billionaire comes from a different generation and grew up with racial segregation. But Stiviano insists he doesn't have hate in his heart.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS, ABC NEWS: Is Donald Sterling a racist?
V. STIVIANO: I don't believe it in my heart.
WALTERS: Have you heard him say derogatory things about minorities in general or blacks in particular?
STIVIANO: Absolutely. WALTERS: You've heard him say derogatory things.
STIVIANO: Yes.
WALTERS: Don't they sound racist to you?
STIVIANO: I think that the things he says are not what he feels.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right Deborah Feyerick is following this for from New York. So Deborah, what did Stiviano say about the relationship she has with Sterling?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a young woman who made a clear distinction. She calls on Donald Sterling for being in love with her. Yet at the same she tells Barbara Walters that no, she was not in love with him. She loves him as a father figure.
She was his personal aide, apparently, that's what she says, his right hand, his wingman, as it were, a confidante, a best friend, somebody who was always by his side and taking care of whatever it is he needed taken care of. She says it was a professional relationship. She has called herself an archivist.
We don't know specifically what the nature of the relationship was, but it is fair to say it was probably not platonic. The wife filed a big lawsuit alleging a sexual relationship, saying that the reason her husband gave this young woman all the gifts that he did, the $1.8 duplex and the cars, the Bentleys, the Ferraris, the Range Rover, is because they were engaged in this intimate relationship.
So a friend also said, you know, it was never described to her, however, as being sexual. But at the same, the same friend said, look, she looked at video of the couple taken by Stiviano and their behavior definitely crosses the line and makes neither of them look particularly good. So more will be coming out, but right now, she is holding to her story, that they met at the Clipper's foundation and that she began working for him and she was paid off the books. Fred?
WHITFIELD: All right, so the owners are expected to meet on whether to force Sterling out. What can they do, really, legally?
FEYERICK: Legally, they're basically following the steps. The 10 member committee met last week and they want to move ahead as quickly as possible. They said their next step, basically, is not to vote. It's to reconvene sometime this week. They got to write Donald Sterling a letter. Everybody right now highly lawyered up because there are a lot of things that, you know, that Donald Sterling can do. He's a very wealthy man, a very powerful man.
You look at all the owners, and that's also an interesting thing about this is they are all extremely wealthy. At least half are billionaires. They're financiers, they're bankers, mortgage lenders. There is one obviously, you know, Michael Jordan. He's the famous basketball player. He's not a billionaire, by the way. I think it's $750 million. But there are a lot of power, very wealthy people. Donald Sterling, he has nothing to lose right now. Take a listen to one expert that we spoke to in terms of the power that these teams sort of imbue, these businessmen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARC EDELMAN, LAWYER: It's primarily ego. It's toys for boys. It's fantasy basketball with billions of dollars at stakes. This puts someone on the national television focus every day, and it gets them more media attention than they would ever be able to buy in any other manner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: You really think about that, look, I'm not a basketball fan. I couldn't pick Donald Sterling out of a room full of 10 people. But because he's on the side of that court, everybody knows who he is, and that really elevates him. And that's the importance of it. It's not just about the basketball rights. It's also the media in the cities in which they live. So a lot at stakes and we'll see what happens.
WHITFIELD: There are a few, a handful of NBA team owners who are quite notable. People know them for other things, ventures, Mark Cuban, another one of those, sometimes acting and then, of course, you see him on a popular television show in the evening. So, you know, I guess real NBA stars might know who the majority of the owners are.
FEYERICK: What would you but if you had that kind of money. I don't think, you know, that's one thing --
WHITFIELD: If you had that money -- I don't know.
FEYERICK: Owning a team is one of those things -- I would be owning my own island right now.
WHITFIELD: They probably have that to.
(LAUGHTER)
FEYERICK: Yes, they do.
WHITFIELD: That's the distinction between them and us. All right, thanks so much, Deborah Feyerick, appreciate it.
All right, an underwater drone provided by the U.S. has searched the Indian Ocean floor 18 times trying to detect any signs of flight 370. Now we've learned when its mission will end altogether.
And the first case of the deadly MERS virus hits the U.S. Is there a chance of it spreading?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: President Obama will get a firsthand look at the devastation of this week's severe weather. The White House says the president will travel to Little Rock, Arkansas, on Wednesday. He will meet with families, first responders, and recovery workers. The city was one of many affected after a slow moving storm brought tornadoes to the south and Midwest and record flooding as well from the Gulf coast to the northeast. In all, nearly 40 people died.
Hope is fading for survivors of South Korean ferry disaster. The death count is at 228 with 74 still missing. Many were high school students. Divers have not found any air pockets which would indicate survivors. Meantime, authorities search the offices of the company that owns the sunken ferry as well as the home of the billionaire whose family reportedly has ties to the company. The ferry sank April 16 during a routine trip.
All right, new development today in the hunt for Malaysia Airlines flight 370. A U.S. military official tells CNN that the U.S. has agreed only to extend the deployment of this underwater searching device until late next week. The Bluefin drone finished its 18th under water mission yesterday. It still has not found any traces of the plane on the Indian Ocean floor. Meanwhile, the hunt for the plane has extended 1,000 miles away from the official search area. CNN's Will Ripley has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The acting transport minister here in Malaysia is speaking more about that search happening in the Bay of Bengal for the possible wreckage from MH370. This is a news release and he says that there are three naval ships from Bangladesh in that area, including a survey ship. One of those ships is equipped with side-scan sonar technology that allows crews to look for debris along the ocean floor. And the ships are also looking on the surface for any wreckage that may be floating there.
Frankly, the mood from officials here in Kuala Lumpur is that they think it's highly unlikely that anything will be found in the Bay of Bengal, which is why they continue to focus their efforts on the Indian Ocean off western Australia. And on Monday there is a big meeting coming up where officials from Malaysia, Australia, and China will get together and they're going to come up with a blueprint for how to proceed in the weeks and months ahead. We know this search could take up to a year and cost an estimated $60 million.
But this meeting on Monday, this trilateral meeting, will allow officials to decide how they are going to allocate those resources. So we'll keep monitoring the situation. We will keep you updated as we hear more on the search for flight 370.
In Kuala Lumpur, Will Ripley, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, next, hour, what is the next step if the Bluefin doesn't find traces of the plane? We'll discuss.
Also next, royalty visits Memphis, Tennessee. What brought Prince William and Prince Harry to the home of the blues and the king of rock 'n' roll?
And get ready for the fastest two minutes in sports. The countdown to the Kentucky Derby is on. And we could see a historic win. Live pictures right now of Churchill Downs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, and they're off in a few hours from now at the 140th Kentucky Derby. Mint juleps, big hats, even small ones and, of course, the main event, the thoroughbreds lining up for the fastest two minutes in sports. CNN's Francesca Cumani is live for us in Louisville, Kentucky, for the countdown to post time with a lovely topper. I love that hat, Francesca. Let's begin with that jockey who is trying to make history.
FRANCESCA CUMANI, CNN HOST, "WINNING POST": Yes, indeed, Fredricka. Rosie Napravnik is bidding to become the first female jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. She has come closest of any female in the past with her fifth place last year. This year she rides "Vick is in Trouble." The horse is jumping from post position two, which hasn't produced a winner in the Kentucky Derby since 1978. They will have to plot the tricky part on the inside there. But she has as good a chance as any, although, she has to beat the favorite. The favorite if California grown. He's won six of his 10 starts so impressively. You know for his trainer Art Sherman who is 77-years-old, it's his first runner in the race. And it would be a record if you were to when at that age.
WHITFIELD: Wow, that would be impressive. Well, we'll all be watching. So you got 160,000 fans or so at Churchill Downs, an extraordinary number. And of course the big race is the main attraction. But that's not the only reason why a lot of people are there. What else are they doing?
CUMANI: Definitely now. Of course everybody loves seeing the thoroughbreds in action. But it's just a huge social gathering, and the fashion is such a central point of the Kentucky Derby. I have seen some great outfits, including one lady beautifully dressed in red with the most enormous red rose on her head. The rose is obviously being the flower of the derby. The winning garland that gets draped over at the end of the race weighs 40 pounds, and they're all hand- stitched onto there. There's a lot to see and a lot of do on Kentucky Derby day, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. With some of those toppers, it's a good thing it's not raining because folks wouldn't be able to --
CUMANI: It's not raining, but a bit windy.
WHITFIELD: It looks like you have great weather. I'm so glad. A little extra. All right, Francesca, thank you very much.
OK, royalty in Memphis usually means the king of rock 'n' roll, Elvis Presley. Well, not this time. Prince William and Prince Harry made a trip to attend a close friend's wedding there. They enjoyed some Memphis barbeque and then toured Graceland. Their friend's wedding is this evening. Princesses Eugenia and Beatrice are also in town for the wedding of Guy Pelley who has been a friend of the royals for 20 years now.
OK, it has never happened before. Doctors are now treating the very first patient in the U.S. for the deadly MERS virus. How it got here and how concerned you should be, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Americans in at least two major cities are demanding that more than 200 girls kidnapped from a Nigerian schools be rescued. In New York and Washington hundreds of people took to the streets for 276 girls who were abducted by militants in the middle of the night more than two weeks ago in eastern Nigeria are still in a lot of trouble. Secretary of State John Kerry in Ethiopia today says the perpetrators must be brought to justice and urged supporting the Nigerian government in finding the girls. Police say 53 of the girls managed to escape, but 223 are still being held captive.
Right now to the health story that you've got to hear. A deadly virus from the Middle East has spread to the U.S. for the first time. It's called MERS and stands for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. The CDC says a man from Indiana was hospitalized after he began experiencing symptoms, including shortness of breath, coughing, and favor. Now officials are trying to figure out how he contracted the virus. CNN Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, we are getting some more details. We know this is an American, someone who works as a health care worker doing that job in Saudi Arabia and traveled back from Saudi Arabia through London, Chicago, and then took a bus to Indiana. It was three days after they arrived here they began to get ill and a day later was in a hospital in isolation.
He appears to be if stable condition right now, on oxygen, but not on a ventilator. Fred, we don't know exactly where this virus comes from. They believe it made a jump from camels to humans. About three quarters of single humped camels in Saudi Arabia have the antibodies to this particular virus. They've even found the virus itself in camels over there.
But exactly how it gets transmitted, is it from droplets of some camel's spit? Could it be camel meat, or even unpasteurized camel milk? They just don't know. This particular patient appears to be doing well. Unlike SARS, which a lot of people think of, this does not appear to spread as easily from human to human. With MERS, we just don't know yet. We certainly will keep an eye on things.
In many ways, Fred, this wasn't expected. You have a global air travel system. You have people moving very quickly from country to country. There have been cases in Europe. Now he's the first case in the United States. We'll keep an eye on it. Fred, back to you.
WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Sanjay Gupta.
President Obama says the U.S. is ready to help after a deadly landslide in Afghanistan. At least 2,700 people are feared dead, likely buried alive in a sea of mud. It happened just as a wedding was taking place in a remote northeastern area. Hundreds from a nearby village went to help when another landslide hit. Officials are now declaring the site a mass grave.
