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Officials: Ukraine Heading for Civil War; Human Hair-Hang Chandelier Falls At Ringling Bros. Circus; Dinner Jokes and the Next Campaign; Sterling's Wife Fights for Clipper Ownership; Nigeria Urged to Find School Girls
Aired May 04, 2014 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: And you can find out more tonight on "ANTHONY BOURDAIN PART S UNKNOWN". It airs at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, only on CNN.
Hello, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Randi Kaye.
Tensions are running so high in Ukraine that world leaders are afraid that all-out civil war is close to igniting.
This is the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, riot police fighting against violent groups of people demanding to be part of Russia. The clashes started on the border. They've now reached the country's interior.
The deadliest incident of the conflict happened on Friday. A building in Odessa burned with dozens of pro-Russian activists inside it. At least 40 people were killed in the fire or jumped to their deaths. Witnesses say the fire was started by people throwing Molotov cocktails.
In several cities around the country this weekend, angry groups of pro-Russian protesters smashed to the government buildings, they say they want to vote and let the people decide whether or not to be absorbed by Russia.
In Odessa today, protesters rioted and overwhelmed the city's police and forced them to release dozens of people arrested for street fighting.
CNN's Phil black is in Odessa and watched it happen.
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Randi, this big angry crowd surrounded the police station here in central Odessa. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, standing in the rain demanding that pro-Russian activists that have been detained since Friday in the station be released.
Some of the crowd seemed determined to stage a jailbreak. They were really attacking the building, smashing windows, doors, security cameras. They forced their way into the central courtyard at the police station. The police seemed powerless or unwilling to stop them.
Someone proposed a deal whereby if those who had been detained were released, the crowd would go home peacefully. That's pretty much what happened. These detained pro-Russian activists emerged to joyous scenes, very emotional, lots of tears, hugs, smiling.
On this same day, because of the violence this city has seen recently, Ukraine's interim prime minister came here to Odessa pleading for reconciliation, national unity, once again blaming Russia for the violence that has been seen here. But it is a tough message to sell because so many people in this city now believe that people who speak Russian are being killed or arrested by forces loyal to his Ukrainian government -- Randi.
KAYE: Phil Black, thank you very much.
A few minutes ago, I talked to a former U.S. ambassador with much experience in Eastern Europe. He's one of the officials who fears that what's happening in Ukraine is spinning completely out of control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO POLAND: I think as your reporters have found out, it's a pretty complicated picture there where there are many people who feel very close to Russia, whether they speak -- prefer to speak Ukrainian or speak Russian, they want to be close to Russia. So, this is a very tough situation in the coming weeks. And it's not at all clear how it's going to turn out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Former U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill, he spoke to me from his home in Denver.
Some frightening and crazy, those words describing a horrific hair hanging incident at the Ringling Brothers at Barnum & Bailey circus. The accident happened during a performance just hours ago in Providence, Rhode Island. It was all caught on tape.
And here it is. We want to warn you first -- the video is graphic.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
KAYE: Witnesses who saw it happen describe the scene for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First, I thought it was the act. We see them. They were doing acrobats with their hair. Then, all of a sudden, it was like eight girls and all of a sudden just boom, it just falls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chandelier, the metal bracket that they were actually attached to, just dissembled from the main bracket and it tumbled right on top of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: And a short time ago, I spoke with a man named Sean Bergeron. He was in the audience with his girlfriend and they shot this video. Again, it is graphic. This is how Sean described how it all happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN BERGERON, WITNESSED RINGLING BROS. ACCIDENT: Well, it took me maybe 35 seconds just to finally realize what just happened. And the entire place, complete chaos at that time, freaking out. People were grabbing their kids, and I think they all left, honestly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Just absolutely terrifying.
Nick Valencia is working the story for us.
Nick, what did you know? What have you learned?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL REPORTER: We just got an update a little while ago, Randi, from the Department of Public Safety there in Rhode Island. They tell us 15 to 20 people were injured as a result of this circus accident.
We know nine of those people were performers as part of this hair-hang act where acrobats are suspended about 35 feet in the air solely by their hair. We know at this time that this incident happened about 11:45 a.m. during their 11:00 a.m. show. And something, as you heard there from the witnesses, went wrong with the rigs that are welded together that support this so-called human chandelier.
Now, earlier, we spoke to a spokesman for the parent company of the circus. And this is what he had to tell us about the incident.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
STEPHEN PAYNE, CIRCUS SPOKESMAN: This apparatus had been used for multiple performances each week since this show launch back in January. Each and every time that we come to a new venue, all of the equipment that's used by this group of performers as well as all the other performers is carefully inspected. We take the health and safety of our performers and our guests very seriously.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VALENCIA: It's an act that had just gotten under way before the accident happened. As you see there in this video we're about to show you again. We'd like to warn you if you are sensitive to dramatic video, now is the time to get out of the room.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
VALENCIA: Now, Randi, six performers have just recently been added in January to this performance chosen specifically because of their height, weight and hair. On the Barnum & Bailey Web site, it goes into great detail about the procedures that these acrobats do on their hair because this act revolves around the hair hang to create this, as I mentioned, so-called human chandelier. We do know that three different rigs are welded together to support this hair-hang apparatus and performers are specifically chosen for this part of the show -- Randi.
KAYE: And, Nick, apparently, obviously, there's no safety net or anything for this hair-hanging act.
VALENCIA: No.
KAYE: What about the other circus performances? Will they go on as scheduled or what are they saying?
VALENCIA: Well, we do know that the 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. show for today have been canceled. No word just yet on the show tomorrow. Barnum & Bailey had just gotten in town on Friday and were expected to perform until Monday.
You mention that no support system was beneath those acrobats. It really speaks to the confidence that this troupe had in their performers.
Nothing had gone wrong up to this. As the show started, as I mentioned, in January, but clearly something went terribly wrong early this morning, Randi.
KAYE: Yes, we certainly hope that they all turn out to be OK.
Nick Valencia, thank you for your reporting on that.
VALENCIA: You bet.
KAYE: Joel McHale had his pick of targets at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night. He made the most of his chance to hit each and every one of them.
2016 presidential contenders might want to get used to that treatment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOEL MCHALE, STAR OF NBC'S "COMMUNITY" AND E!'S "THE SOUP": Hillary's daughter's pregnant which means in nine months we'll officially have a sequel to "Bad Grandpa." It also raises the question -- when the baby is born, do you give Bill Clinton a cigar?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Ooh, boy, that was pretty tasteless there.
Well, the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner featured joke, if you want to call them that, targeting just everyone -- from the president to reporters to Hollywood celebrities. But as you just heard, the night also marked the return of jokes about Bill and Hillary Clinton plus a whole lot of one-liners about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
CNN political commentators Marc Lamont Hill and Ben Ferguson join me once again. Along with them, Katie Glueck of "Politico" is also here, along with CNN political commentator Ryan Lizza.
All right. Welcome to all of you, guys. Lots to talk about.
If being talked about means your star is rising, I guess Chris Christie and Hillary Clinton have to be happy.
Ryan, I want to ask you, 2016 on the horizon. So, should we get ready for a whole lot more Clinton and Christie jokes coming our way?
RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No doubt. The tone and tenor of the Christie and Hillary Clinton jokes were really completely different, right? Christie was essentially mocked and the bridge scandal in New Jersey was sort of the butt of lots of jokes. Hillary Clinton at least Obama's Hillary Clinton jokes were all about how she's going to be the next president and is sort of a prohibitive front-runner on the Democratic side.
I think if you're Joe Biden watching especially Obama's speech, you're thinking, huh, why isn't the president making any jokes about how I might be president next and not Hillary Clinton? You know, obviously, this is a humorous evening, but there's a lot of real politics embedded in the jokes.
KAYE: Yes, certainly. Listen, we talked a little bit last hour about funny versus mean, and actor and humorist Ben Stein, he was on CNN last night. He said some of the jokes were funny but others he thought simply went too far.
Listen to what he said and we'll talk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN STEIN, ACTOR AND HUMORIST: The names that he called Christie, the mockery that he inflicted on Christie because of his weight is just unbelievable. It's unbelievably sadistic and mean-spirited.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: All right. Katie, so has this dinner taken a new turn away from fun and maybe more a little bit towards some settling some scores?
KATIE GLUECK, POLITICO: Well, it certainly depending on whom you ask, you know? Essentially with regard to Joel McHale, he was perhaps viewed a little more controversially at the dinner. Some thought his particularly barbed humor was going a little bit too far. Others thought he was funny, kind of the nature of the beast.
KAYE: And, Ben, the celebrities certainly out in force last night as we saw. Is the Washington media, do you think, is the media crowd maybe a little too impressed when a celebrity walks into the room? What do you make of that relationship? BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, I think they always love hanging out with people they don't get to see hardly ever in their profession. I mean, really, celebrities don't hang out much with politicians unless it's someone like a Bono who has a foundation that they want funding for. But we now see this blending of these two worlds where I think there's a lot of people that are celebrities that say, hey, I want to have a relationship with the press or I want to have a relationship with someone at the White House or congressman or senator because it can help me with my career.
At the same time I think those in Washington, they love knowing they've got a big-time celebrity sitting at their table because they're not impressed by the politicians. I mean, if the president walks in the room, vice president, that's somewhat normal for the White House press corps and those of the correspondents but when you see somebody coming like the "Duck Dynasty" star or Jessica Simpson or from the show, you know, "Veep", all of those type of things that's abnormal to your world. So, that's why I think this night becomes so entertaining.
KAYE: And, Marc, there's certainly been criticism that this dinner makes reporters and lawmakers seem just a little bit out of touch, perhaps. Too much champagne, a little too much black tie maybe. Some are saying people can't relate. What do you make of it? Do you buy that?
MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, to say that members of congress are out of touch, I don't think this dinner is one of them. We can look from women's wages to the lack of a minimum wage, and we can go on across the board. I don't think this is one of them. I think this is a fun night. If there is a critique, it might be that the White House is too in bed with the Washington establishment in terms of the press corps, and the journalists are so cozy to the White House that they are so pleased to be in the president's company that they can't report on him fairly. I think there's a critique there.
But on the whole, this is nerd prom. Let's just enjoy it, have fun and hear good jokes, which Joel didn't offer many of.
KAYE: Yes. Well, I just want to ask you, guys. I mean, I sort of go around our group here and just get a read on how Joel McHale was.
Ryan, I'll start with you.
LIZZA: Yes. You know, I actually talked to Joel and his writers before it. And I was incredibly impressed with how much they had prepared for this thing and how much studying they'd done in reaching out to previous comedians.
I thought -- I thought he was great. I've been to like almost every one of these dinners since 1998, sad to say, and I thought he was one of the best that I'd seen. I thought he had a nice flow of going over the line with a few jokes which if you're a comedian, that's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to come to Washington and make fun of the most powerful person and the most powerful people in the world. That's what's great about our democracy. KAYE: But did anyone else feel that he was sort of reading his jokes? I mean, was he --
LIZZA: He didn't have his material memorized, but that's not unusual at these dinners.
HILL: That's normal. Honestly, it has more of a roast feel to it than it does a stand-up monologue feel to it.
LIZZA: Exactly.
HILL: They read off iPads, they read off papers, that's OK.
I agree with Ryan, you can make fun of everybody. But it should be funny. So many of the jokes just died.
I mean, he made predator drone jokes. Maybe it's possible to make a funny predator drone joke. He didn't do it last night. I can't imagine one.
FERGUSON: But you know what? People love watching a train wreck. I mean, we've seen this in the other award shows. The ones that push the buttons the most actually seem to get decent ratings and the question is, is this the new line that we're going to have at the White House correspondents' dinner or is it going to be a little bit more lighthearted and a little bit funnier?
He had some of those funny lines that he made, like, for example, Hillary Clinton, if you vote for her, we'll save 30 percent on our payroll because of women not making as much money. It was a big political issue. That's a funny joke.
KAYE: All right.
FERGUSON: There's a difference between funny and mean-spirited.
KAYE: Let me give Katie a chance to just quickly weigh in.
GLUECK: Sure. He certainly did not hesitate to take the gloves off, which is something that, you know, if you kind of take a look at some of his previous work, that might have given us a sense of just how far he might have been willing to go.
And sort of the question of how they went over in the room, is certainly mixed reactions. Some thought he was very much embracing kind of the hottest political issues of the day, as was just noted. But, you know, others thought that taking up the issues of drones, for example, that that was perhaps pushing the envelope a little bit too far.
KAYE: All right. Marc, Ben, listen, thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
HILL: Thanks.
KAYE: Katie, Ryan, we want you to stick around so we can talk more about the dinner with the two of you later on in the show. The playoffs were the least of the Clippers worries this week, but the team played a win or go home last night. They also learned about the NBA's push to find them a brand new boss with a surprising voice lending her support to that plan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Today marks 44 years since the deadly shootings at Kent State University. The Ohio National Guard fired on students protesting the Vietnam War. Four students were killed, nine others wounded.
Listen as some of those Kent State students relive that tragic scene in this week's "American Journey."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK AYERS, KENT STATE SENIOR, 1970: I thought this was going to be perfect for my photography class. Went out and saw the kids on the common and heard the bell. And saw them sent out a Jeep to tell everybody this is an illegal gathering.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leave this area immediately. Leave this area immediately.
AYERS: And that was the part where I really started to get angry because it was on the campus. Nobody was doing anything but standing in a group.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: General Canterbury said, OK, we're going to have to disperse them because it's an illegal assembly. With that I brought my grenadiers forward and we fired tear gas on the hill and in front of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never imagined that the National Guard determined that they had to break up the crowd, that we were illegally on the hillside, that we needed to get out of there. So I didn't like that. I thought, you guys haven't even given us a chance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was about 150 feet away, about 50 yards away from the National Guard. I was shouting at them, mostly anti-war slogans, but perhaps a few insults if I remember correctly.
I saw that they were aiming at me. They had their fingers on the triggers. I felt that my life was in danger, but still I thought it was unlikely that they would shoot.
We all ran away back over the hill behind us, and we were very surprised to see the guardsmen come over the hill and chase us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they reached the top of the hill, being a farm boy and a country boy, I saw them wheel with their rifles. And I knew what that intention was.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw them turn in unison, lift their rifles in unison and start to fire.
(GUNFIRE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: You could see much more on this 44th anniversary of the tragedy at Kent State, our CNN special report "Witnessed: The Killings at Kent State" will air tonight right here on CNN at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: The L.A. Clippers refuse to let the Donald Sterling controversy quash their playoff dreams. The Clippers are to the NBA western conference semifinals. Coach Doc Rivers and the team celebrated last night after beating the Golden State Warriors in a do or die game seven. The Clippers appeared rattled last week and lost game six after their 80-year-old owner got banned from the NBA over his racist remarks.
The Sterling scandal certainly ripe for mocking. President Obama weighed in at last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How well does Obama care have to work before you don't want to repeal it? What if everybody's cholesterol drops to 120? What if your yearly checkup came with tickets to a Clippers game? Not the old Don Sterling Clippers, the new Oprah Clippers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Oprah Winfrey is one of several celebs interested in buying the Clippers. Oprah and other interested buyers may have to contend with a blond roadblock named Rochelle Sterling. She's the estranged wife of Donald Sterling and she's making a move to distance herself from her disgraced husband and take her ownership claim on the L.A. Clippers.
Joining me now, national correspondent Deborah Feyerick.
All right. So, lots to talk about here, Deb.
Boy, yes, she's certainly outspoken. She is saying a lot about her ownership in the Clippers. What exactly is she talking about?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's fascinating. I mean, this was an incredible statement that she put out just before the game last night. Five lines, but in those five lines she absolutely asserts her complete co-ownership of this team, her rights to this team. She says for the last 30 years she's just wanted the best for this team.
And she puts herself in a position of control. She says she supports -- she says I spoke to the NBA commissioner. I support his actions, and I am looking forward to his active involvement in getting it done. She says, I welcome his active involvement in the search for a person of the utmost character, proven excellence and also someone who is -- has a commitment to promoting equality and inclusiveness.
Clearly she's distancing herself from her husband because these are qualities that he has been criticized for perhaps lacking over the last couple of days. So by doing this, she is essentially establishing her connection to the team and they -- she may say, you can kick him out, but you got me to contend with.
KAYE: Yes.
FEYERICK: So it's kind of an interesting dynamic there.
KAYE: A pretty smart move actually on her part. But what if -- I guess the question is what if Donald Sterling files for divorce from Shelly? What -- how will that affect her ownership claim?
FEYERICK: You know, it's so interesting because they have been estranged it seems for a number of years. OK. And she filed -- Shelly Sterling filed a lawsuit against his mistress, his alleged mistress back in 2002. She just filed a new lawsuit against his female companion this year, which may have prompted all of this because the mistress or the alleged girlfriend wanted Donald Sterling to put pressure on his wife to back down.
He said he couldn't. He just didn't have the power to do so. And so the tape somehow got released. So there's a lot going on here. But trusts are created in order to protect property. It appears that the Clippers team is in the Sterling family trust, and that means that they're going to use whatever legal means they can to keep this team intact. She's essentially saying, look, take away his ownership, kick him off the board of governors, but as far as our property, it's our property and you simply can't take it away. Especially now that it's got so much increased value given the fact they're doing so well in the season and given the fact that the NBA is negotiating media rights which means they can be getting multiples of what they're already getting.
So, you know, she is not going to get rid of this team in a fire sale and she is not going to get rid of the team without a viable fight. So it is really interesting now.
KAYE: Yes. And --
FEYERICK: Let the games begin.
KAYE: And the new CEO coming in so we'll see what --
FEYERICK: Exactly.
KAYE: What that person has to say about it. All right, Deb, thanks very much.
FEYERICK: Yes.
KAYE: For the update. Appreciate it.
The arrest of 11 alleged militants in Malaysia raised the hope we might closer to finding out what happened to Flight 370. But while Malaysia says the arrests are not related, does anyone actually trust what those authorities say at this point?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back, everybody. It's an emotional day for the families of those aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The first memorial service was held for two passengers. An Australian married couple Rod and Mary Burroughs. Their relatives needed some type of closure from their 59-day nightmare.
Meanwhile, in a few hours a crucial meeting will be held to determine the next search phase. Officials from Malaysia, China and Australia will attend that meeting.
We have also learned the contract for the U.S. Navy's underwater drone Bluefin is now extended to the end of the month. And also this -- 11 suspected militants are under arrest in Malaysia accused of being involved in a group that plans terror attacks. But Malaysia Police say there is no link between the 11 suspects and Flight 370.
Here to discuss all of this, aviation analyst, Les Abend, a 777 captain, and safety analyst, David Soucie, author of "Why Planes Crash."
So a little bit of news coming out today on these 11 militants arrested.
David, what do you think? I mean, Malaysia is saying absolutely not. There's no link to the downing of 370. Do you buy that? Would they even tell us?
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: You know, this is interesting because there's a reason the United States, we separate accident investigation from our leaders, and our leadership, because there's so much that would put doubt in the leadership. And that's the -- I think the big mistake that Malaysia made by coming out with the leadership and saying we're in charge of this investigation. Because now anything that comes up damages their credibility.
And here's this case in point. Now do we do anything that Malaysian police say? I do. I really don't think that it's connected. But nonetheless, it puts this doubt in there, and I think that's something we could have learned from this accident.
KAYE: Yes. Les, I want to ask you about this crucial meeting coming up tomorrow. We have China, Australia and Malaysia getting together. What needs to happen at that meeting to move this investigation in the right direction and forward?
LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I think it's in the right direction with the Inmarsat data -- and Dave and I were talking during the break about the better calculations with this data and they're searching in the right place. So from the standpoint of that, I think that it's just a reorganization. You know, how -- who is going to go where and do what? And I think that's what's -- that's what's important. And I think it's necessary at this point in time.
KAYE: Yes. And what about holding on to the Bluefin-21? That's the drone that's been going over the ocean floor, hasn't found anything on many missions already. $40,000 a day to extend this. We're looking at some video of how it works.
David, do you think it's worth it?
SOUCIE: Well, it's operating right on the cusp of its depth limit. So I think it's time to bring in some other equipment. Something -- as we go north, which I think is the most probable area now, going north toward the other pings are, the longer ping, the two-hour ping is north of there. And that is much deeper. Looking at down to 5,000 or 6,000 meters there. So they have to bring in something that can go deeper which would be the REMUS 6000 or perhaps another towed sonar.
KAYE: How much does something like that cost, though?
SOUCIE: It's probably going to be just the same amount of money but it -- the right tool, then it's better. Now there may be these (INAUDIBLE) as well, I would think I would keep it on hand but operating it I would wait until you have a really good plan for how you're going to do it and what parts of the ocean you're going to use which tools.
KAYE: Is it worth it to just throw everything at it no matter what it costs, do you think, Les, to find it?
ABEND: Well, you know, I think this is something David will agree with me. I mean, the purpose of accident investigation is to find what the probable cause is so it never happens again. So whatever the cause of this whole thing there's a way to prevent it. And there's -- there's usually numerous pieces of information that we find out. It's never just one thing.
KAYE: Yes. Well, speaking of the cause, I know we've talked quite a bit about the cargo on that plane and now learning just this week that, what, more than 5,000 pounds of lithium batteries which --
ABEND: Fifty-four hundred. Yes.
KAYE: Which we know can spark and cause fire on an airplane. What do you make of that now actually knowing the numbers?
SOUCIE: Not too long ago you did an excellent story on these lithium batteries and how they can -- can be very hazardous if they're damaged pull being putting in the aircraft or taken out of the aircraft. There's 141 -- just this year there's been 141 reported cases of lithium batteries that were not able to be put on the aircraft on various reasons because of their shipping.
So, you know, there's risk there. We haven't actually had reports of them being -- going off on the aircraft, but that's because we have very strict standards for what allows them to go on and doesn't. Does Malaysia have those? They do have standards. They've met those standards when they put these batteries on board. But it still raises questions.
ABEND: I had lithium batteries on my flight on my trip down to Sao Paulo, Brazil just the other day and we're restricted to 25 kilograms, so -- at least in the U.S.
KAYE: And you're comfortable all flying with them below you?
ABEND: Well, you know, I have to -- I have to -- there's a lot of trust involved.
KAYE: Yes.
ABEND: So when they were actually located in the forward cargo compartment which is close to the electronics.
KAYE: I guess, why, Les, would it take so long to get the numbers on the lithium batteries that were in the cargo? I mean, why release it at this point?
ABEND: Well, you know, anything the Malaysian government did early on in the investigation, they were so overwhelmed by this I guess their reaction was just to withhold information initially and maybe now this is their transparency program.
KAYE: So between the lithium batteries and the arrest of these 11 militants, has your theory, David, changed at all on what happened?
SOUCIE: I'm still -- I think it hasn't changed a lot on what happened. Why it happened, I still don't know. And that's the answers that we need to keep looking for. And that's where we need to go. Once we know why, then we can prevent it from happening again.
KAYE: All right, appreciate it both. Les Abend, David Soucie, nice to see you, guys.
SOUCIE: Thank you, Randi.
KAYE: Missing school girls and time ticking by with apparently nothing done to find them. That's the nightmare parents are facing in Nigeria right now.
Ahead the growing campaign demanding action finally forces the country's president to talk about this kidnapping.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Worldwide protests have forced the Nigerian president to step up efforts to find those kidnapped girls. This crowd here in London is trying to rally international support. More than 200 students are still being held by an Islamist militant group Boko Haram which is violently opposed to educating women. In fact its very name translates at Western education is a sin.
Here's CNN's Isha Sesay.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amid mounting criticism, Nigeria's president Goodluck Jonathan for the first time spoke on camera about the abduction of more 200 school girls nearly three weeks ago. While admitting they still don't know where the abducted girls are, the president still expressed confidence in his government's efforts to find them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. GOODLUCK JONATHAN, NIGERIA: We'll surely get them out. One good thing that made us happy I believe is that there's no story that any of them have been touched, in terms of injured or dead. I really sympathize and express my empathy to the parents and the relatives and, of course, the guardians of these girls. We are fathers and mothers. The daughter of school is -- to write the secondary school terminal exams. So they're (INAUDIBLE) from about 17 to 18 years old. And that is circumstances -- it is traumatizing. It is quite painful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: The government has provided few details about the search and rescue mission. Apart from confirming that helicopters and aircraft are being used to scan the area, the president didn't provide much in the way of significant operational detail on Sunday. There is no doubt that the president was looking to blunt mounting criticism of his government's handling of this situation with his remarks but his comments suggesting that lack of progress in finding the girls is partly due to a lack of cooperation from the girls' family is unlikely to go over well here with some here in Nigeria.
Isha Sesay, CNN, Lagos.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: We all hear about out-of-touch politicians, but once a year at the White House Correspondents' Dinner they hear what a lot of people really think about them, whether they like it or not. So would Washington work better if they heard it more often?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: All right. Maybe you've been walking down the street, glanced up and saw it, a camera watching your every move. Tonight on "INSIDE MAN" Morgan Spurlock asks if we have better get used to the end of privacy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN SPURLOCK, CNN HOST, INSIDE MAN: Who gets access to what information? Does the government get access to everything just for the fear of terrorism? Is this the guise that we're kind of live under forever?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything we say and do electronically is out there in the Cloud and stored for an indefinite period of time. SPURLOCK: This is real kind of Fourth Amendment issue. Sure, there should be protections, but at the same time as a citizen I should still have some privacy rights that are within my control.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have a camera here, second camera here, third camera there. Today the average New Yorker is videoed 350 times a day.
SPURLOCK: You can't help but start to feel like everyone's watching.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every single major online entity is tracking your whereabouts.
SPURLOCK: Right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now.
SPURLOCK: I think there's going to be more and more people who start to say, we have to do this differently. Something else has to change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: That's tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Meanwhile, last night privacy in the NSA spying scandal led to more than one joke at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Colorado legalized marijuana this year. An interesting social experiment. I do hope it doesn't lead to a whole lot of paranoid people who think that the federal government's out to get them and listening to their phone calls. That would be a problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: So let's use the president's comment right there about domestic intelligence gathering to talk a little bit more about last night's dinner in D.C.
Katie Glueck of Politico is back with us, along with CNN's political commentator Ryan Lizza.
Good to see you both.
Also with us --by the way, guys, I just want you to know is David Soucie who we normally talk with about MH-370 and the missing airplane but he was just dying to get up here, he had to talk about it and weigh in. He watched the whole thing last night. So we're going to get his comments, too.
But meanwhile, we just saw the president joking about the NSA. We also heard jokes last ight about the miserable debut of the Obamacare Web site. And there were jokes implying that Hillary Clinton would be the next president and that Joe Biden might not even be up to the job. So, Ryan, I guess the question is, are people, the president even included, revealing their true thoughts and feelings more at this dinner than they do the rest of the year in Washington? And should we have more dinners like this?
RYAN LIZZA, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORKER: A little bit. I mean, if you looked at the sort of the politics of the 2016 and the way it was talked about, Joe Biden was sort of the butt of most of the vice president jokes, right? He actually starred in a very funny video with Julia Louis Dreyfuss, who's the star of "Veep," and the whole -- the whole, you know, joke of the video was about how there -- you know, these two poor vice presidents, one who is real and one who plays one on TV who have no power and no access and are dying to actually be presidents but don't look like they're ever going to make it.
And that was the sort of gist of all of Obama's jokes about Biden, is this sort of -- he's almost like becoming like a Dan Quayle figure in a lot of the pop culture now including the jokes by the president whereas Hillary Clinton, all the sort of premise of all the jokes about her is how she's going to be the next president. So I think that, you know, it's not reading too much into it to say there's something there.
KAYE: Yes. Certainly sounds that way.
Katie, Joel McHale, obviously the comedian who was in charge there last night. He took on just about everybody with some pretty tough one-liners, certainly didn't shy away from anything.
What do you think in terms of the audience that he was playing to, I mean, who was it?
KATIE GLUECK, POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: You know, very interesting to see kind of how some of those jokes ended up going over in Washington, which is, of course, traditionally, culturally maybe a little, but a more conservative town. You know, some thoughts that he was really funny. They liked that he was kind of taking the gloves off going after everyone, kind of on all sides of the aisle. And, you know, others thought that perhaps by taking on some other more controversial issues making jokes about drones, for example, that that was perhaps pushing things a little bit far.
KAYE: All right. I'm going to let David Soucie weigh in here and give him a chance to talk about something other than MH-370, the missing airplane.
So you watched much of the coverage. What do you think?
SOUCIE: As much as I could. Joel McHale last night --
KAYE: Forget to turn away?
(LAUGHTER)
SOUCIE: Well, I -- he kept looking at his card and reading it. I felt like he was just reading off the blank card which they were funny, there was some truth to what he said certainly, but I thought that the president by far outshined him as far as his comic ability to be honest with you.
KAYE: He had some pretty good comic timing, do you think?
SOUCIE: He really did. He really did, yes.
KAYE: Yes. Did -- so you were watching at home. Were you laughing or did you think it wasn't that funny?
SOUCIE: I was laughing, but some of the stuff about, you know, attacking CNN and things that happen there, it was like, oh. But then --
KAYE: You took it personally.
SOUCIE: I still laughed about it.
KAYE: Because you know us all now.
SOUCIE: I still laughed about it. That's right. That's right.
(LAUGHTER)
KAYE: Well, yes, there were some people, though, you know, I guess, Ryan, when the room went silent.
LIZZA: Yes.
KAYE: I mean, how do we take that, when the whole -- the whole ballroom goes silent, does that mean that Washington needs to get a little more thick skinned or what?
LIZZA: Yes, they do. I mean, the -- the crowd that goes to these dinners has a very narrow range in terms of the jokes that they can handle, right? You can't go over the line. So like the cigar joke about Bill Clinton, that's too far for this crowd.
KAYE: Yes, that was awful.
LIZZA: But you have to -- but it has to be sort of knowing an insider to get laughs out of this crowd as well. And so, you know, McHale -- he basically was sort of in that range with a few jokes that were both too -- going too far for the taste of this crowd, and then a few jokes that were, you know, not knowing and insidery enough for this crowd. But you know, look, there are people that watch this thing now out in the real world that aren't in that ballroom that I think, you know, thought he was -- that he did a good job.
KAYE: Katie, who do you think would be a great host for this?
GLUECK: You know, President Obama, he was -- he was pretty funny. And you know, this is always a kind of an interesting task for someone to follow the president, a big job, that you know we've seen people like Colbert up to the task before. So always interesting to see that. And another thing that always kind of standout is those videos that they do write at the beginning of the speech, and you know that video that we saw featuring with Julia Louis Dreyfus and the Vice President Biden, that was something else that seemed to go over pretty well.
LIZZA: I have a few names for that list, though, just to answer that answer.
KAYE: OK.
LIZZA: You know, I think the White House Correspondents' Association we've never had a female comedian do this dinner, and I hope next year, they could get someone like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler or Mindy Kaling to do it because --
KAYE: Ellen DeGeneres would be pretty funny.
GLUECK: Yes. I would second that, too.
LIZZA: DeGeneres would be fantastic.
SOUCIE: Yes.
KAYE: Yes.
Listen, David, I know that obviously you're watching it. I mean, we're talking about what was funny and what wasn't. And was there something that sort of struck you.
SOUCIE: Well, like I said, there were some truth to what was going on there that night. Because I actually got a call from Wolf Blitzer. And Wolf said, can you help me find my table? And so I thought, you know, maybe I can help him. So I looked over at who was with me. I was looking for our table, actually. But I was in Washington, D.C. up at the north route. And -- so I was with the ambassador from Bangladesh looking for it up there. So I told him we probably won't be able to help him.
KAYE: That's pretty funny. We know Wolf didn't really call you, right?
SOUCIE: Right.
KAYE: OK. Playing off the joke about trying to find a table, trying to find the plane. What do you make of the president going at the media? I mean, is that pretty risky, Ryan?
LIZZA: Yes, so there's two tracks for the president's released speeches. You know, you're supposed to do a lot of self-deprecating humor, or otherwise you get -- you know, you get attacked for not making fun of yourself. But Obama definitely likes to weave in -- he likes to weave in with his self-deprecating humor basically attacks on, for lack of a better word, his enemies, you know, FOX News, the press, you know, certain Republicans that have given him a hard time during the year. So he usually -- he usually sort of has, you know, about a quarter of the material is taking shots at people who have -- who he doesn't normally get a chance to say something like that about.
KAYE: Right. All right. Ryan, Katie and David Soucie, thank you all for joining in on the conversation. Appreciate it.
LIZZA: Thanks for having us.
GLUECK: Thank you.
SOUCIE: Thank you.
KAYE: I'm Randi Kaye, and coming up tonight, two words from Anthony Bourdain summed up lined friends, food porn. He eats his way through the food-obsessed city. And then later Anthony dives into Mexico as only he can. Going beyond spring breakers and drug cartels while Morgan Spurlock looks at who is looking at you.
And right now, "WITNESSED: THE KILLING AT KEN STATE" begins. Watch it here only on CNN.
Have a great evening, everyone.
