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Hot Air Balloon Crashes in Virginia; New L.A. Clippers Ownership May Include Donald Sterling's Wife; Veterans Affairs Controversy Widens; U.S. Advisors Sent to Nigeria to Help Find Kidnapped Girls; Republicans Form Select Committee on Benghazi Attack; Hillary Clinton's Possible Presidential Run Examined; Former Harem Member Tells of Her Experience; CNN Hero Teaches Girls to Ice Skate

Aired May 10, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's what we had witnesses tell us. They may have seen two jump or possibly somehow they got out, whether they leapt on their own or maybe the basket, the condition of it, they fell, we don't know that for certain. But we've also seen video that people have provided us that it does have that appearance as two people exited in whatever fashion the basket.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: We have breaking news this morning, a fiery hot-air balloon crash in Virginia. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 10:00 here on the East Coast. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

CABRERA: And we start with some new details now on that balloon crash that happened north of Richmond, Virginia. One body has now been recovered. Police say they've narrowed down the search but they have not found the two remaining passengers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've also found kind of a debris field. We found different items that would have been inside the hot-air balloon. This is very helpful for us in our search efforts, because now we have an area of concentration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And that appears to be the moment when -- you're seeing here what appears to be the moment when the burning basket fell away from the balloon. We've got more on the accident now that happened just before 8:00 last night when authorities say that hot-air balloon participating in the mid-Atlantic balloon festival near Richmond drifted into power lines and caused the basket to burst into flames. The balloon then continued to fly away and that basket, as we saw, right here looking like a fireball in the night sky. These pictures are unbelievable. One witness reported hearing two people screaming as they jumped from that burning basket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you could hear them screaming, "Please, dear god, sweet Jesus, we're going to die, please help us."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's get more from Erin McPike, live in Caroline County, Virginia, at the site where crews are now searching for two of the people on board who were on that balloon. Erin, what's the search scene like there now?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, the activity is actually picking up. We're hearing some helicopters overhead, and we heard from Virginia police that this has gone from a rescue mission to a recovery operation, meaning, of course, that they believe there were no survivors. I want you to take a listen to the dispatch calls from last night to hear just how bad this crash was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Possible mass casualty incident reported multiple hot-air balloons have crashed into power lines and the balloons are now on fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Visual of the airborne and hot-air balloon, appears to be smoking, still pretty high in the air.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got a report that the basket has come off, so we're trying to find that right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caroline, advise all units the several balloons aren't the issue. We need to locate the basket.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: Now, police say they also have specialists on the scene who are trained in this grid system search who are fanning out throughout the search area, and they have found some debris from inside the basket, and they believe that they're making progress now, Victor.

CABRERA: And also, Erin, we heard from a witness earlier who saw that balloon on fire from the ground. Let's listen to how he described it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CULBERTSON, WITNESSED BALLOON CATCH FIRE: I was on the road coming home, which is about five minutes from my house, and my kids and I, we saw the hot air balloon a couple thousand feet up, and it was smoking pretty bad.

BLACKWELL: Now, I heard from one of my producers that this -- by the time you got home, it flew right over your house?

CULBERTSON: Yes, it had just passed right over my house. By then, it was probably maybe a couple hundred feet, 500 feet at the most above the trees.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So, Erin, what else are you hearing out there? How are people describing the scene at the time when that fire broke out?

MCPIKE: Well, Ana, we've actually had a number of witnesses come by here this morning and talk about this, and a number of people said they saw the balloon fly over their house. They saw it detach from the basket. A couple of people said they saw two people jump out. And what we've heard from some is that the fire engulfed the entire basket and was a really awful scene. One man I spoke to said he was about two miles away, and he could even hear the explosion that far away, Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Erin McPike, thank you for staying on top of that for us.

BLACKWELL: Again, the hunt for those who are inside the basket has now changed from a rescue effort to a recovery effort. They're still not releasing the name of the one person whose remains have been found. Listen to more from state police this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORRINE GELLER, VIRGINIA STATE POLICE: We spent all night searching for the wreckage of the basket, the balloon. It was just before midnight that we were able to locate one of the occupants, one of the three occupants in the balloon. The remains have been transported to the office of the chief medical examiner in Richmond for positive identification. We do know who was on, the two passengers and the pilot. We have been in contact with their families overnight and through this morning. But at this time, we are not going to identify which one of those occupants has been recovered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So what could have caused this horrific crash? We know it hit a power line, but could it have been poor visibility, pilot error? We asked an aviation expert just that this morning. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL DUNNINGTON, OWNER, GONE WITH THE WIND: Balloons, of course, never know quite in advance where they're going to land. This is one of the beauties of ballooning, but also, of course, one of the reasons pilots have to remain very alert. So it's impossible to know where a balloon is going to land before you -- before you take off or when you take off. So I think that isn't a practical proposal to define a landing site in relation to wires. But on the other hand, of course, it's the pilot's responsibility to look out for wires, to be vigilant, to keep his situational awareness high in a landing situation where there may be wires.

CABRERA: And, Phil, we talked to former FAA safety inspector David Soucie a little bit ago who said pilots have quite a bit of control of these balloons. So in a situation like this, do you think it is weather related, or could it be pilot error?

DUNNINGTON: Well, it's very hard to say at this stage. But I think your guest from the FAA did say that the evening situation is sometimes difficult, and I think that's not from a weather standpoint. That's more likely to be because of poor visibility or reducing visibility, and also possibly because the pilot might have been looking into sun, and seeing wires. When you're looking into a low sun situation is sometimes very difficult. One of your other guests -- I think the one from the NTSB -- said that the lines should be marked on the chart. But, of course, the ones that are marked on charts, not just in the U.S. but worldwide, are the big ones. And the ones that are the most dangerous are the small ones, which you don't get marked on charts, domestic supply cables, that kind of thing.

BLACKWELL: Phil, in this unfortunate situation, if a balloon hit the power line, what's the protocol? What is that pilot supposed to do?

DUNNINGTON: Well, so much depends on at which stage he was aware of the presence of the line. If he saw the line but knew he would not be able to clear it, then the advice is to deflate the balloon and come to the ground as soon as possible so that even if the top part, the fabric part of the balloon touches the wires, at least the occupants are on the ground and have an opportunity to escape.

Of course, if the pilot did not see the wire until more or less the time he hit it, then at that stage, a lot depends on whether the wire arcing began a fire, which would probably have begun to set fire to the propane, the liquid propane, which powers balloons or gives balloons their lift. And that, of course, is a point of which it's very hard for the pilot to do anything, which is likely to end up with good results.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Our thanks to Phil, and we'll keep you updated as we get more details on really a terrible accident.

Also, the VA hospital scandal, that is growing this weekend. Now another facility is accused of gaming the system. So who should be held accountable for this alleged cover up?

CABRERA: Plus, celebrities like Jay Leno and Richard Branson are leading a protest against the iconic Beverly Hills hotel and the multibillion sultan who owns it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILLIAN LAUREN, AUTHOR, "SOME GIRLS, MY LIFE IN A HAREM": I am a witness to the fact that, you know, the sultan was drinking, was committing adultery, was, you know, not exactly living on the straight and narrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: We'll hear from this woman who, let's just say, knows the sultan a little better than most. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The scandal is growing involving allegations of this massive cover-up by Veterans Affairs hospitals. A hospital in Wyoming is now the latest facility to come under fire. And an e-mail reveals how employees were encouraged to game the system in order to hide the fact that sick veterans were waiting months for medical treatment. And it gets worse.

CABRERA: A CNN investigation found as many as 40 veterans died after being placed on a secret wait list. That was in Phoenix. But in San Antonio, a scheduler there says his bosses told him to fudge the numbers on paper even though in reality veterans weren't getting the appointments until months out in some cases. Now, senator and Vietnam vet John McCain now says if this is all true, it boils down to a crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: If these allegations are true, there are violations of law. And it's not a matter of resignations. It's a matter of whether somebody goes to jail or not. OK?

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, before you get to prosecution, should the man in charge, VA secretary, Eric Shinseki step down? Let's bring in Paul Sullivan. He's on the board of directors of Veterans for Common Sense. Also joining us is Alex Nicholson, legislative director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Good to have you both with us.

PAUL SULLIVAN, VETERANS FOR COMMON SENSE: Glad to be here.

BLACKWELL: Alex, these kinds of delays have been going on for some time, for years. The alleged cover-ups are egregious, but the bigger question is, why haven't things changed?

ALEX NICHOLSON, IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS OF AMERICA: Well, that's a good question, and that's what we are asking the VA secretary and President Obama. And we would love to see them more vocal on this. We think those questions need to be answered. We've known this has been going on for years. It's nothing new. Our members have been telling us about it for years, and they're outraged. We're ready for answers, from the secretary, from the president. And just a couple of cherry-picked media interviews on the topic is not going to be sufficient. We need answers on this.

CABRERA: Do you have answers?

SULLIVAN: Oh, there are definitely reasons why there are problems sat VA. It's simple supply and demand. First, there aren't enough doctors to treat the veterans showing up for care, so the VA facilities are having to cook the books. And similarly, there aren't enough claims processors to process the disability claims, so veterans are saying, wait for us, wait for us, delay, deny, and wait until we die. The bottom-line answer is to hire more staff and to have more accountability.

BLACKWELL: So, Paul, let me ask you about that. Let's stay right there for a moment. I want to read from this e-mail at the center of the controversy in Wyoming. And here's the e-mail. Let's put it up on the screen. "Yes, it is gaming the system a bit, but you have to know the rules of the game you're play playing, and when we exceed the 14-day measure, the front office gets very upset, which doesn't help us." I mean, so essentially -- and gaming the system is an egregious phrase on its own, but let's talk about the rules. The person or persons who implemented the 14-day mandate had to know when they implemented it that it was unrealistic that they would meet it based on, as we've said, supply and demand.

SULLIVAN: That's right. Frankly, Congress hasn't given enough money to VA, and VA hasn't asked for enough money. So there's a shortage of doctors. So what happens is the VA local facility has to cook the books to give the appearance of helping veterans in a timely manner.

BLACKWELL: Let me jump in here. Should the pressure be on Shinseki or Congress?

SULLIVAN: The pressure needs to be on the White House, on the secretary of Veterans Affairs, and on Congress, because let's be clear, Veterans for Common Sense sued VA over this issue in 2007. It went all the way to the Supreme Court last year. The facts were very clear. No one disagreed with the fact that there are not enough doctors and not enough claims processors so that veterans get timely care and benefits.

However, no one has the political courage and the courts and the White House and in Congress to make sure that veterans get what they've earned. That's what needs to be fixed right now. It's full transparency for the medical facility directors to say, here is what I need to make sure that when a veteran walks in who's sick, that he or she gets treated right away. And for a veteran who files a claim, the regional office director should be telling Washington this is exactly how many employees I need so every claim can be processed accurately and completely within a reasonable amount of time.

CABRERA: Paul, what you're saying --

SULLIVAN: That's what needs to happen.

CABRERA: You're saying we need more manpower for one.

SULLIVAN: Absolutely.

CABRERA: I want to bring Alex back into the conversation here. Obviously, Alex, it's a widespread problem. We're hearing problems in Phoenix, San Antonio, Wyoming, who knows where else this is possibly going on? Where does the VA and the administration begin to fix this broken system besides just adding more people? I mean, does this need to be -- do they need to clean house all around? DUNNINGTON: Yes. You know, one interesting point I'll have to disagree with from earlier is that while you certainly do need to keep pressure on congress, the administration, and the VA, it's important to remember Congress has given the VA every penny it has asked for. Paul is right. The VA is not asking for enough money a lot of times. But Congress has given it more than the administration has requested for the VA.

If it weren't for House Veterans Affairs Chairman Jeff Miller doing, you know, 30 hearings on the VA and extensive oversight and investigations and for a CNN story, breaking this Phoenix issue, you know, we still wouldn't know about it. But Congress has given the VA everything it has asked for. Perhaps they're not asking for enough. I don't think Congress is the problem here, for once. I think it's actually the VA.

Certainly we need to add more staff and capacity to the VA, but we've also going to be taking away. We have to see people held accountable, and that's one of the things, I think, that at least the house veterans affairs committee has been trying to do.

BLACKWELL: Alex, quickly, when Shinseki was chosen by the president, a lot of people were excited because he is a combat veteran. He came in during those confirmation hearings saying he would modernize and revolutionize the department. And we see this. The simple question, when you say take away, is it too big? Should it be broken into maybe two departments?

DUNNINGTON: As far as the VA, you know, I don't think so. I mean, it's -- it's a big bureaucracy. It's the second biggest bureaucracy in the federal government behind DOD. I think ultimately the problems are fixable. It just needs leadership. There's a confidence crisis in the VA. But it's important we keep telling vets, if you're in crisis, if you need help, if you need care, you still need to go to the VA to get the care and help. But we need to continue working on fixing the VA. And it is a fixable problem. We've just got to keep the pressure on.

BLACKWELL: All right, Paul Sullivan, Alex Nicholson, thank you so much for adding your voices to the conversation this morning.

SULLIVAN: You're very welcome.

DUNNINGTON: Thanks.

CABRERA: Still to come, the L.A. Clippers are bloodied, but they are fighting in the playoffs. But what would happen if they didn't answer the bell as a form of protest? CNN's Alexandra Field is outside the NBA headquarters in New York. Alexandra?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, they have shown their displeasure with Donald Sterling, but what about the other Sterling? What would the players say if Shelly Sterling gets to stay? We'll talk about that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLACKWELL: The Los Angeles Clippers ownership situation has not been settled. We know that. But the team is locked into a playoff battle with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Co-owner Shelly Sterling showed up for game three at the Staples Center last night. There she is. The Clippers lost last night, now trail two games to one.

CABRERA: And the NBA has tapped Richard Parsons as the new interim CEO of the Clippers. Parsons is a former chairman of Time Warner, CNN's parent company, and Parsons says the first order of business is just settling everybody down. So a lot of people are now asking if Donald Sterling ends up out, what about his estranged wife? Could she still be a co-owner of the team? CNN's Alexandra Field breaking down where we're at and what's next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: Clippers players still playing, Donald Sterling still talking.

DONALD STERLING, CLIPPERS OWNER: I'm talking to a girl. I'm trying to have sex with her.

FIELD: The latest recording released by Radar Online is believed to be Sterling offering some kind of explanation for his racist rant.

STERLING: What the hell, I'm talking to a girl? The girl's black. I like her. I'm jealous that she's with other black guys. I want her.

FIELD: Sterling could be forced through a vote by NBA owners to sell the team. This week, his estranged wife Shelly Sterling is saying she's a partial owner and she wants to keep it. Clippers coach Doc Rivers.

DOC RIVERS, L.A. CLIPPERS COACH: I think it would be a very hard situation if you want me -- I'll say that much. I think it would be very difficult. I can guarantee you every person wouldn't be on board with that.

FIELD: Players have already protested Donald Sterling turning their shirts inside out. Sports law professor Marc Edelman said they could turn to social media, too. Beyond that, there are consequences.

MARC EDELMAN, SPORTS LAW PROFESSOR: Everybody is so quick to say what the players should do when they don't have any skin in the game. For a player, they have to be cognizant of their contract. And the fact that if they do not show up to a game where they have an obligation to appear, they do run the risk of termination.

FIELD: Professional athletes have had lockouts and contract disputes, but a team rarely publicly goes up against its owner. There is an extreme example. Eight players, including the infamous shoeless Joe Jackson on the 1919 Chicago white sox team were accused of conspiring with gamblers to lose the World Series, an apparent act of retaliation against an unpopular owner.

EDELMAN: It just goes to show what could happen if all levels of respect between an owner and a player would fall apart. (END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: Donald Sterling has, of course, already been banned for life from all NBA activities, but he is still very much the owner of the Clippers team. It's up to the NBA now and various team owners to try to decide whether or not they could force Sterling to sell his team. Another NBA committee meeting will be held to discuss that topic this coming week. Ana, Victor?

CABRERA: All right, Alexandra Field, thank you for the update.

BLACKWELL: Republicans looking to strengthen their footing against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, a look at the headlines this week and what it could mean for her possible presidential run.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Bottom of the hour, 10:30 in the east, 7:30 in the west. Welcome back. I'm Ana Cabrera sitting in for Christi today.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Here are five stories we're watching this morning. Up first, the rescue effort in that hot air balloon crash in Virginia has transitioned now into a recovery operation. One body has been found. Two other people are missing. What happened here is the balloon hit a power line then burst into flames. It happened about 25 miles north of Richmond last night.

CABRERA: We're also following this morning how Democrats remain divided about joining the new committee created by majority Republicans to investigate the deadly 2012 Benghazi terror attack once again. Now, Democrats argue this is just a political ploy to keep the controversy in play during a midterm election year. Republicans say this committee is a serious effort to get to the truth about what led to the deaths of four Americans.

BLACKWELL: Number three here, there are new concerns today about the growing number of unmanned aircraft in the skies. The FAA is investigating a near collision on March 22nd involving a U.S. passenger jet and a drone in Tallahassee, Florida. Here's an animation to kind of display what happened here. The pilot said the drone came so close to his jet, that he wasn't sure they hadn't actually hit the thing. An inspection of the plane turned up no damage.

CABRERA: Number four pro-Russian activists in two regions of eastern Ukraine say they will go ahead with a planned referendum tomorrow despite the calls from Moscow and Kiev not to do so. Now, the separatists are seeking more autonomy from Ukraine's interim government. Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin took part in Victory Day celebrations in Crimea yesterday. This was his first visit to the region since Russia annexed it from Ukraine.

BLACKWELL: Five now, another Veterans Affairs hospital is under fire for trying to cook the books, this time in Cheyenne, Wyoming. An employee there has been placed on leave after a leaked e-mail reveals schedulers were encouraged to cover up long appointment delays for sick veterans. The VA chief Eric Shinseki calls the allegations unacceptable and has ordered an investigation.

CABRERA: A lot of talk about Hillary Clinton in the news this week. She hasn't formally announced any plans for a 2016 presidential run, but you probably wouldn't have known that given all the attacks that she's been the center of by Republicans lately.

BLACKWELL: This week, the former secretary of state has taken hits on everything from her personal life to foreign policy, her time as secretary of state, and with the creation of the panel to investigate the attack in Benghazi. The pressure's not going to let up anytime soon. CNN political commentator Sally Cohn on the left, Amy Holmes from TheBlaze.com on the right. Sounds like I'm starting "Crossfire" this morning.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: We're here to talk about it. We're going to start with you, Sally. Good to see both of you.

SALLY COHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Nice to see you guys.

BLACKWELL: Is this panel -- I want to ask another question about Democrats boycotting. But first, is this panel a chance to attack Secretary Clinton for her time as secretary of state?

COHN: Yes, it is. There's no question that that is all it's about. And let's be honest, in suggesting that this panel and the continued Republican obsession with Benghazi is about attacking president Obama and Hillary Clinton, that's not to minimize what happened that night. But we've had 15 hearings, 50 briefings, 25,000 pages of documents, we've spent millions and millions of dollars in taxpayer money, we know what happened. We know what went wrong. There are reports from Congress on how to fix it, and from the intelligence community.

This is about trying to pin, you know, this notion that the White House was culpable in a cover-up and misleading people with talking points, and such banal triviality. And the only evidence we need of its political motivation is that the Republicans are fund-raising off of this. They're sending off fundraisers, bragging about how they're keeping Benghazi in the news. The only reason is to try and hurt Obama and Hillary.

BLACKWELL: Amy, what do you say, an opportunity for Republicans to raise money and lower the profile of Secretary Clinton?

AMY HOLMES, THEBLAZE.COM: Are you suggesting that politicians try to fundraise, that they send out letters to their supporters? For goodness sakes, both sides do it. Democrats certainly have done it fairly well. We have, in fact, the Senate majority leader quite shamefully using the Senate floor to attack the Koch brothers, which is a big fundraising effort by the Democrats going into 2014, an election they're very afraid that they're going to lose the Senate in.

But getting back to the Benghazi panel and its purpose, its purpose is to find out information that the White House has been withholding, and we learned this only this last week. Of course, the e-mail, a White House advisor was advising about how to shift this conversation to be talking about a video, things that we still don't know. We still don't know what the president was doing that night while our embassy -- or rather our consulate in Benghazi was under attack. We did learn from a FOX interview with Bret Baier that he was not in the Situation Room. I think that was an admission that was not intended. We've learned that. And as for the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, what did we learn from her in hearings? She threw up her hands and said, what does it matter?

COHN: Oh, come on.

HOLMES: Sally, you were -- I'm sure you watched the clip.

COHN: Context.

HOLMES: The context is she said it didn't matter whether it was an organized group of people or, as she said, people walking down the street. Of course it matters when it comes to America's national security, and of course it matters if Hillary Clinton was denying the backup at that consulate that was being asked for over and over again. We know that the ambassador was pleading for it.

So in terms of the purpose of this panel, I think it is to flesh out or to ask these questions, hopefully get responses and responsive answers from the White House. But the charge that this was, oh, it's purely political -- purely political was saying this was a YouTube video ahead of a presidential election.

CABRERA: Sally, we'll come back to you to respond about that, but let's bring in a bigger picture issue, and that is Clinton's foreign policy, and it's come under attack over and over again, not just about Benghazi this week, but also about her involvement with Boko Haram in that she did not designate them as a terrorist group when she was asked to back when she was secretary of state. So is her leadership in question?

COHN: You know, look, first of all, just to Amy's point, those are legitimate points if we hadn't already answered them. We had General Petraeus testify as to why we wouldn't want to tip our hands to the suspects in giving out too much information. We have a Senate intelligence committee report which makes clear what happened that night and that there was not a stand down order given or anything. So Republicans are trying to bring up things they already have the answers to and pretending that the questions haven't already been answered. Number one. Number two, to the --

HOLMES: Where was the president? Do you know? I don't know.

COHN: But what is that? That suggests, what, the president is culpable? You want to basically --

HOLMES: He's commander in chief --

COHN: I've heard folks on both sides suggest that he and Hillary have blood on their hands. That is not only factually wrong, it is insulting. Let's go to Boko Haram, which addresses larger concerns of politicizing foreign policy in a way we never tolerated as Americans before.

Look, the Nigerian government did not want Boko Haram designated as a terrorist organization. They did not want more attention, more prominence, more bragging rights given to what at the time was a regional organization. That was their request. It was the recommendation of the intelligence community. But, no, Republicans, instead of doing what is right for our country and for the world and for little girls in Nigeria are going to try to politicize this in order to take points out on Hillary. That's sad.

BLACKWELL: Quickly to you, we have maybe about 10 seconds left. I want you to respond to that.

HOLMES: Well, of course, if Hillary Clinton has an intention of running for president of the United States, of course her leadership is going to be scrutinized and examined when she was secretary of state, and for the -- for that matter when she was a United States senator. Her record, of course, is very much relevant whether she wants to be commander in chief.

As far as the Republicans don't care about missing Nigerian girls, I can assure they do.

COHN: I didn't say that.

HOLMES: As do conservatives. We certainly have in our news organization at The Blaze. So I actually take great offense that the suggestion that Republicans don't care about the kidnapping and possible enslavement of little girls in Nigeria. I think that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as I say, her record is very much in play here in terms of her future leadership aspirations.

BLACKWELL: And I don't know if -- and we've got to wrap up here, but I'm not sure that's what Sally said.

COHN: Not even close. Republicans are politicizing what I think we all know is a humanitarian international crisis, and Boko Haram, by the way is a terrorist organization that's been attacking churches and schools for quite some time.

CABRERA: Sally Cohn, Amy Holmes, A lot more to talk about Nigeria. We're going to get into that. Thank you both for your insight into that situation and politics this week.

BLACKWELL: Good to see you both.

CABRERA: Yes. Nigeria's president making a bold promise weeks after hundreds of schoolgirls were kidnapped. CNN Isha Sesay is following the new developments live from Nigeria this morning. Isha?

ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: More U.S. advisors are now on the ground to assist the Nigerian government in efforts to find the missing schoolgirls. I'm Isha Sesay in Abuja. I'll have a live report after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters. We see their hopes and their dreams. And we can only imagine the anguish their parents are feeling now. Many of them may have been hesitant to send their daughters off to school fearing that harm might come their way, but they took that risk because they believed in their daughters' promise and wanted to give them every opportunity to succeed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That was the first solo weekly address by first lady Michelle Obama.

CABRERA: U.S. advisors are now in Nigeria to help in this effort to find and rescue those girls.

BLACKWELL: And a startling report from Amnesty International says the Nigerian government knew in advance about last month's kidnapping, and they did nothing. Isha Sesay joins us from Abuja, Nigeria. Isha, the Nigerian government denies they knew about Boko Haram's plans in advance, this report from Amnesty International. What are you hearing?

SESAY: The Nigerian government strenuously rejects that and says that is not the case. But I have to tell you that CNN has spoken to multiple residents in that local area, and they paint the same picture. They paint a picture of giving the government, giving the security forces an advanced warning that something was about to happen, and they say that they were failed by their government, that there was an inadequate response to the attack, and in the aftermath, that the Nigerian government was not there to pursue the attackers and get their girls and bring them back home.

You mentioned the U.S. elements that are on the ground, here in an advisory capacity. We must be clear with our viewers, these are not combat troops. They're here to provide advice to the Nigerian government and really determine whether gaps exist in their capabilities. Victor?

CABRERA: All right, Isha Sesay reporting from Nigeria, thank you.

BLACKWELL: The next woman you're about to meet, she went from living in New York City to a harem in a small Asian nation. Now, she's weighing in on a controversial new law that's igniting a firestorm among celebs in Hollywood over an iconic hotel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The Beverly Hills Hotel in the middle of an international firestorm, and here's why. The celebrity hotspot is now owned by an investment company with ties to the sultan of Brunei.

BLACKWELL: Brunei is an oil-rich nation, the first east Asian country to adopt the strict Islamic criminal code known as Sharia law. If you don't know much about it, punishments for adultery, abortions, same- sex relationships could be whippings, lashings, dismemberment, even death by stoning. And celebrities like Jay Leno, Richard Branson, they're outraged. And their message to Brunei is to get out of town or lose business.

CABRERA: Lets' bring in our guest today, a former girlfriend of the sultan of Brunei's brother and an author of the book "Some Girls, My Life in a Harem," Jillian Lauren. Jillian, thank you so much for talking with us. So at age 18, you were essentially in a harem, you were once gifted to the sultan of Brunei. What was that interaction with the sultan like?

LAUREN: That's correct. My interaction with the sultan was -- came as rather a surprise to me. His brother was my boyfriend, and one time when we were in -- we were on a business trip in Malaysia, I was taken to the roof of the hotel we were at and ferried to another hotel by a helicopter where I was led to a hotel suite and where I had an intimate encounter with the sultan.

CABRERA: How did he treat you?

LAUREN: He was very charming. Both brothers were witty, and the sultan was breezy, and he seemed like a nice guy to me. Of course, that is not how that's shaking out right now.

BLACKWELL: So the criticism and actually the outrage coming from Hollywood is that Sharia law has been implemented in Brunei, and they don't want people supporting the sultan who made these choices. I want to read to you, Jillian, words of your own written in the "Daily Beast." Let's put them up on the screen. "As citizen of a free society, it is my right to transgress. As long as I don't break any laws or impinge on -- infringe on the freedom of others, it is my prerogative to sleep with all the princes I damn well feel like. I live with my choices.

As the citizens of Brunei face the erosion of their rights, I imagine the man I once knew holed up in a posh hotel suite somewhere, maybe with another American teenager in his lap, making laws that legislate morality." With that context, what would you say to the sultan?

LAUREN: Well, the sultan doesn't really care what I have to say because he is not -- he's only concerned about his own needs and his own radical double-standard of morality. And I'm just one of the little people. But I would say, you know, that I have stood witness to the fact that he is enforcing a hypocritical standard.

BLACKWELL: So let me ask you this. If you say the sultan doesn't care what you have to say, does the sultan care if at the end of the day he has to sell the Beverly Hills hotel? I mean, what skin of is it off his back? He's a very rich man. That's just one source of income.

LAUREN: Well, I think that one hotel more or less I'm not sure, will make a difference for the sultan's finances. But I am very encouraged by the fact that people are raising their voices with this boycott and saying that they don't want to line the pockets of human rights abusers.

CABRERA: But yet, some are saying these boycotts may not be doing an effective job of really getting to the heart of the situation, getting to the beef of it all. Do you think there's a more effective way these celebrities or others who are outraged about Sharia law can speak out and do something that will make a difference in this case?

LAUREN: Well, I think that people are -- they're making their opinions known with where they spend their money, and I think that they are making this a visible issue, and that they're speaking out for what they believe in. I don't know what would be the most effectual way of addressing this, but I think that historically those are all really good ways.

CABRERA: Is this hurting the employees, though, more than the sultan himself?

LAUREN: Well, I have a lot of compassion for the employees, and I think that whether or not the sultan owns that hotel, there will be people employed there and the Beverly Hills hotel will go on, as, you know, historical institution here in Los Angeles.

BLACKWELL: All right, Jillian Lauren, an amazing story, and I thank you for sharing it with us.

LAUREN: Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

CABRERA: Appreciate that personal connection.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CABRERA: Breaking barriers on and off the ice. Coming up, you'll meet the CNN hero who's helping a group of girls skate their way to success.

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BLACKWELL: It's warm for most of us, and summer is on the way. But for one group of girls in Harlem, ice is their focus all year round, ice skating, actually.

CABRERA: And one woman has made it her mission to help these girls succeed both on and off the ice. And that's why she's a CNN Hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARON COHEN, CNN HERO: I love the crispy feeling of the air, the sound on my skate crunching on the ice. Skating relieves me from everything. I just want to fly. I just don't want to stop.

I heard that there were some girls who wanted to figure skate in Harlem. Growing up, I was a competitive figure skater, and I knew that skating wasn't a diverse sport. There was not access for kids in low-income communities. They were so eager to get started. I began teaching them, and it was really inspiring to me.

Now, we serve over 200 girls a year. The best part about skating is it gives you quality that you use for the rest of your lie. They gain discipline, perseverance.

Step, cross, step, cross. Excellent, girls.

They fall down and they get back up, and they learn they can do that in anything. It's a building block. Skating's the hook, but education comes first. Before they even get on the ice, they have to get their homework done, they get tutoring a minimum of three afternoons a week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Algebra was not my best subject and I failed it. Ms. Sharon hired a special tutor for me. It felt like, hey, you have to get back up.

COHEN: It was that simple.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, I'm doing way better in school. I'm, like, yes.

COHEN: Ladies and gentlemen, Harlem ice.

We want girls to believe and know they can be anything they put their hearts and minds to.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not all about skating. Ms. Sharon is teaching us to be the best we can be in life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Every week we honor a CNN Hero, an everyday person doing extraordinary work to help others. If you know someone who deserves recognition, tell us about them at CNNheroes.com.

CABRERA: And what an uplifting way to do the handoff to Fredricka Whitfield.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, thank you so much. It makes me want to go ice skating. I love ice skating. Did you skate as kids?

BLACKWELL: No. To put all this man on a blade on ice, it just didn't make sense.

(LAUGHTER)

CABRERA: I'm a ground creature myself.

WHITFIELD: OK. It is fun. It's never too late, you guys.