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Two Health Care Workers Test Negative For MERS; 238 Miners Dead, Hopes Fade For 120 More; Magic Speaks On Sterling, Clippers And NBA; Nationwide Audits Ordered In V.A. Scandal

Aired May 14, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Al Qaeda was an extremist terrorist group that bastardized -- that essentially bastardized that religion for their own purposes, but no one will come through this exhibit in any way think that we are indicting an entire religion, which we are in no way are.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Is seems very appropriate that you end here at the last column.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It goes back to resiliency and seeing those messages of hope and remembrance on this very tall column that is still standing strong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That last column, of course, Carol, is the last piece of steel standing once the towers fell. As for the dedication ceremony, president and first lady will be in town for that ceremony. The president is expected to speak. As you mentioned off the very top, there's a period of dedication and memorial for those most affected, the families, the survivors, the families, recovery workers, first responders. There will be a period of days that they are allowed to gain access to the museum, 24 hours it will be open. Then it opens to the general public mid next week.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you for the tour. It was fascinating. Kate Bolduan reporting. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM --

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MAGIC JOHNSON, NBA HALL OF FAMER: He says I'm trying to set him up. How am I trying to set you up?

COSTELLO: Magic Johnson sets the record straight.

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JOHNSON: I took a picture with her. Looks like at a Dodger game. That's it. That's all I know of her. (END VIDEO CLIp)

COSTELLO: His exclusive interview on CNN.

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JOHNSON: I said the number one thing you need to do, which you haven't done is apologize to everybody and myself.

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COSTELLO: And his advice for Donald Sterling.

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JOHNSON: Look, you're 80 years old. You've had a tremendous life, right? And you're going to benefit whatever the price tag is from this team. Sell it. Just go ahead and enjoy the rest of your life. You know, you're fighting a battle that you can't win.

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COSTELLO: Also --

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I look out and see the bouncy house go up.

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COSTELLO: A terrifying sight flying 50 feet in the air. A bouncy house is swept away in a gust of wind. Three children trapped inside.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was unbelievable. It spun and the first little boy came out, landed in the middle of the road right there.

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COSTELLO: Plus, MERS, the deadly respiratory virus has reached the United States.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can take one person to another if they are in close proximity.

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COSTELLO: Two cases confirmed. The TSA on alert putting up advisories in airports.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no vaccine for it and there's no treatment for it.

COSTELLO: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. MERS, if you don't know what that is, listen up, MERS or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome has hit home. It is potentially deadly because it has no known treatment. The CDC is tracking the virus right now. You're looking at pictures from the agency's situation room where a meeting was held this morning.

Blood tests from an Orlando hospital have now been sent to the CDC. There is one patient in that Orlando hospital who has MERS. Hospital workers have also been exposed. They have been sent home until tests come back showing they do not have this virus.

CNN's senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen is at CDC Headquarters. Elizabeth, what's the latest on those hospital workers?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, there's really some good news coming out of the state of Florida and also here at the CDC. So there were two health care workers who were taking care of the gentleman who we know who has MERS. Those two health care workers started to get flu-like symptoms, which of course was very concerning.

But now I've just been told by a federal official that the state of Florida tested those two health care workers and they are negative. Again, those two health care workers, they were so concerned about do not have MERS according to testing done in Florida. Now, the specimens from those two workers were federal expressed to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. They were sent to a lab and CDC will confirm are these two health care workers indeed negative?

COSTELLO: Elizabeth, I want you to stay with us. I want to bring in a doctor, Dr. William Schaffner, he is chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Because this sounds so scary, Doctor. How contagious is it?

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, DEPARTMENT OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE, VANDERBILT MEDICAL CENTER: Fortunately, Carol, it's not very contagious at all. It can spread in the health care setting and we're aware of that. We can protect ourselves with good health care -- good infection control precautions.

COSTELLO: Well, Elizabeth, I also understand the TSA is putting out guidelines for air passengers warning them about MERS.

COHEN: That's right. So they are putting up posters for everyone to say if you have been traveling in the Arabian Peninsula and you have symptoms like a cough or fever, you should know about MERS. A federal official told me at the CDC if someone steps off a plane from the Arabian Peninsula and they look ill, they've instructed airline officials and others to take that person aside and say, you should know about MERS because you don't look so healthy and to give them information and to give a call to the CDC folks who are at the airport. There is some level of monitoring going on of folks who were stepping off planes from the Arabian Peninsula.

COSTELLO: OK, so Doctor, I'm a little confused. If it's not really that contagious, why all of these precautions?

SCHAFFNER: Well, precautions are always good. Education is good. We want people who might be affected because they could come from the Arabian Peninsula and having picked up the infection to immediately seek medical care and then of course to notify their health care provider that that's where they've been so we can put into place those infection control precautions.

You know, it worked very, very well in Indiana when we had such a patient who has now gotten better and gone home. Emergency room docs across the country are asking everyone who comes in with a respiratory infection, have you traveled to the Middle East? Do you have contact with someone who has traveled to the Middle East?

So the clinicians are on the alert. The CDC is doing a splendid job from a public health perspective. I think we have this at the moment under control.

COSTELLO: That's good to hear. Dr. William Schaffner, Elizabeth Cohen, many thanks to both of you.

Now let's turn to a horrifying mine disaster that's unfolding in Western Turkey. It's in the coal mining town of Soma and it may touch nearly every family there. Overnight rescue workers managed to haul dozens of survivors from a smoke filled shaft, but more than 200 miners are dead. Hope is quickly fading as more than 120 remain trapped inside that mine.

CNN's Ivan Watson has scrambled to the town and has more for you.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're now overlooking the gritty coal mine where ambulances are lined up and rescue workers are hard at work trying to save hundreds of Turkish coal miners believed to be trapped at the bottom of the mine shaft when what authorities describe as an electrical fire broke out sometime Tuesday afternoon.

The Turkish prime minister has canceled his trip to Albania and he and his entourage just paid a visit to this location and he told journalists on the scene that the death toll has now tragically risen to at least 232 miners killed as a result of this disaster.

There are hundreds if not thousands of residents lining the streets of the small city behind police barriers and behind riot police in front of the main hospital there with some of the people clearly anguished waiting for news about their missing loved ones and some of them getting the terrible news that their loved ones have not survived this terrible disaster.

Now, tragically this is not the first time Turkey has seen a coal mine disaster. In 2009 and 2010, dozens of miners were killed in two separate deadly incidents at other mines in other parts of the country. And in fact just about two-and-a-half weeks ago, a Turkish lawmaker tried to file a motion to investigate reports of safety hazards at this very coal mine, a privately owned coal mine. He was voted down in the Turkish parliament.

That's sure to become an issue in the days and weeks ahead. Right now the main priority is to try to ensure that there is some supply of clean air going down to depths of more than a kilometer underground and to try to establish some kind of contact with the miners who are still believed to be down there.

Nobody knows exactly how many people were there. There was a shift change under way when the fire broke out. You can see with people gather around here, the anguish on their faces as they wait and pray for their loved ones to emerge. Ivan Watson, CNN, Western Turkey.

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COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Magic Johnson one-on-one with CNN's Anderson Cooper and responding to Donald Sterling's racist rant.

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JOHNSON: The problem is that he's living in the stone ages. He can't make those comments about African-Americans and Latinos. You just can't do it.

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COSTELLO: The Lakers legend also weighing in on his former crosstown rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers. What players think of Sterling and whether Magic Johnson could buy the Clippers.

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COSTELLO: Some two weeks after a racist rant sparked an NBA scandal and a lifetime ban for the Los Angeles Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, Magic Johnson who was caught in the middle of this controversy is speaking out. In a CNN exclusive, Magic Johnson talked about the league, its players, and why the only option for sterling now is to leave.

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JOHNSON: Here we are in a league that's over 80 percent, at least percent African-Americans. He wants us to play for him, but he doesn't want us in the stands. He wants us to help him win a championship, but he doesn't want us in the stands. The players have rallied together. They're waiting to see what will happen with the vote on the Board of Governors.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "AC360": By the other owners.

JOHNSON: By the other owners and I'm hoping that they understand, we can't have this type of action in our league or in our society. We just can't have it.

COOPER: Sterling claims that push comes to shove, he can kind of buy time. Players will play. Sponsors will sponsor his team even if he stays there. That money talks. In the end they got contracts. Sponsors wants to make money. Everybody wants to make money. He clearly believes there's a route for him to remain as owner of the L.A. Clippers.

JOHNSON: Can't buy his way out of this one. His bought his way out of all of the other situations. Can't do it this time.

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COSTELLO: Can't buy his way out of this one. Magic also gave us a hint about his possible future with the Los Angeles Clippers. Listen.

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COOPER: Are you interested in the Clippers? I mean, there's a lot of reports you would be interested in being owner or part owner.

JOHNSON: Well, you know, we have to wait. That's going to be eight months to a year to see if it ever hits the market. For me, if it comes out and it's for sale and my partners and I say, OK, we'll look at it and want to buy it, of course, we'll make a run for it. It's not about owning the team. What I would really want to do is own the Lakers. If any team I really want to have or be a part of would be the Lakers. Not the Clippers. But if I can't be a part of them and it's a team out there like the Clippers that I like and my partners like because you have to remember, this is a billion dollar deal.

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COSTELLO: It would be such cosmic justice if Magic Johnson bought the Clippers. Joining me now to talk about all of this, Dave Cowens, NBA hall of famer and former NBA head coach and founder of the NBA Retired Players Association and Leigh Steinberg, a sports agent who inspired the film, "Jerry McGuire." He is also a sports attorney. Welcome, Gentlemen.

Leigh, I want to start with you because, you know, my dream vision is that Magic Johnson buys the Clippers. It sounded like he was very interested although he couched it.

LEIGH STEINBERG, SPORT AGENT WHO INSPIRED "JERRY MCGUIRE": That Guggenheim group that he's talking about came into a very similar situation with an extremely unpopular Dodger owner, Frank McCourt, who alienated the city. They bought the Dodgers back and they brought them back to their previous high status. He's got powerful backers.

For Donald Sterling to take on Magic Johnson in Los Angeles who would be like holding the Easter bunny or Santa Claus hostage. He's the most popular figure in our entire region. He was popular as a player and then since retirement he's notably gone back to the inner city and brought everything from Magic Johnson theaters to Starbucks. He's been an exemplar of what you want a player to be post-career. He's at every charitable event. His business acumen is great. He might be the model for how a player can succeed in a second career. Donald Sterling picked the wrong guy. I think that was a death rattle. We're seeing the end of this process come closer and closer. You ask yourself, who is the PR adviser to Donald Sterling? I've done damage control for years. That is not the way to do it.

COSTELLO: That astounded me as well. He had no handlers with him when Anderson Cooper interviewed him. You have to wonder. Going back to Magic Johnson -- it's crazy. Going back to Magic Johnson because I want to address this to Dave. Magic Johnson was so gracious during this interview. He said he feels sorry for Donald Sterling and as a religious man, he's praying for him. I don't know if I have that in me.

DAVE COWENS, FOUNDER, NBA RETIRED PLAYERS ASSOCIATION: I think Magic is taking a high road and he's one of the best spokesmans for the minority community and for the NBA and for retired players. You know, the whole thing about prejudice and bigotry and racism, they are all different in a way, but they all have one common theme and that is there is ignorance at the base of us. For Donald Sterling to say what he said, it's quite honestly -- I'm unable to comprehend how he could possibly get there.

Because with all his dealings, he's had to deal with a lot of different people, different contract settings, different business dealings, and he's had to deal with a lot of different people and he knows that every human being is a little bit different. You know, part of the reason that we started a retired players is that all of these people have had life learning lessons and we try to portray those to the different communities that we live in.

And this is kind of a setback to have an owner come out and say this, but in a way, it's a teaching moment to say, Magic, you're wrong. He's not in the stone ages. This is what a lot of people think right now in 2014.

COSTELLO: Your satellite window is going to go down, Dave. I'm address my last question to Leigh. I've been asking this all morning. Have we learned any lessons from this terribly ugly soap opera?

STEINBERG: Absolutely. I think it almost has a happy ending because it's unified a whole country and made it clear how people feel about race at least in the public way. That's the first thing. So I think it's triggered a discussion. Sports is the great example of how people from different races, ethnic backgrounds, can get together.

It's not ten talking heads on Washington "Weekend Review" talking about race relations as they live in segregated communities. This is a living, breathing example of people who shower together, who work out together, who bleed together as a team, black, white, Asian, all together. There's virtually no problems in it. That's first.

Second of all, he will be forced to sell this team. He doesn't have legal recourse. In a previous interview I told you how the league got him to sign off that he wouldn't sue and he would accept the decision. And then it will be happier days for the Clippers because the league will put together a group of people reflective of Southern California, blacks, Asians, Latinos, entertainment figures, deep pocket owner.

And they have two stars everyone wants to see. This is going to end up being a resurgent Clipper team and Donald Sterling, his wife, and the whole "National Enquirer" will be gone.

COSTELLO: I hope you're right. Leigh Steinberg, many thanks and thanks to Dave Cowens as well.

There's more of Anderson Cooper's interview with Donald Sterling. You can hear his thoughts tonight on CNN beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll be right back.

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COSTELLO: Checking top stories at 24 minutes past the hour, the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius now on hold. He's been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after a psychiatrist testified that Pistorius suffers from anxiety and is depressed. He's accused of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Nigerian officials believe they can positively identify 77 school girls in this video posted by the terrorist group, Boko Haram. A U.S. spy plane is now helping special teams from Britain, France and Israel with the search. It has been one month since more than 200 girls were kidnapped from their school.

A convicted rapist and murderer got a last-minute stay of execution in Texas last night. Robert Campbell was set to be the first inmate put to death since the botched execution in Oklahoma last month. Campbell's execution is now on hold while an appeals court reviews his intellectual disabilities.

As we debate the best way to humanely kill convicted killers, a question for you. Can you be both pro-life and pro-death penalty? It's the latest topic of my op-ed. I asked that question because I was in the middle of a heated debate surrounding that seeming contradiction with a group of friends over the weekend.

So I wanted to know what you think. I wrote this op-ed. I reached out to Albert Muller, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary who told me, quote, "It's not an eye for an eye kind of thing. Retribution is not the same as a demand for justice. Genesis 9 God speaks to Noah after the flood. When someone takes a human life, they forfeit their own life."

Now that's diametrically opposed to what the Catholic Church believes. It teaches only God can take a life. I would love for you to weigh. So go to cnn.com/opinion or you can visit my Facebook page, facebook.com/carolcnn.

One day before Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki heads to the Senate to try to explain a growing waitlist scandal at the VA, CNN has learned nationwide audits are now under way. The audits are trying to determine why so many veterans are waiting months and months to get medical treatment at VA hospitals.

As CNN has reported, dozens of those veterans died because of that delay of care and there are allegations that as many as 40 more veterans died waiting for care at a VA hospital in Phoenix some waiting on a secret wait list for months. Drew Griffin broke that story. He joins us now. Tell us about these audits and how they work.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: The audits were ordered by Eric Shinseki, the Veterans Affairs secretary. Face to face meetings at VAs across the country. More and more problems are being discovered with more and more hospitals have been accused of now cooking the books in a sense, Carol, trying to prevent either headquarters or any kind reporting that shows exactly how long these tremendous waits are for veterans getting care. The biggest allegation we have yet to hear on is whether or not an actual secret list existed and that list may have been destroyed at the Phoenix VA.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about that. If that list was destroyed, could there be criminal charges brought?

GRIFFIN: It would seem to me and it's been raised now by members of the Senate and the House, mostly Republicans now I must say, that there was some kind of federal crime committed. If health records were destroyed, if some cover up took place, specifically at Phoenix, was there a crime. Eric Holder, the attorney general, was asked about that yesterday. Here's what he had to say -- Carol.

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ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Obviously these reports if they're true are unacceptable and the allegations are being taken very seriously by the administration. I don't have any announcements at this time with regard to anything that the Justice Department is doing. I will note that the inspector general, independent inspector general at the VA has this matter under review. We'll monitor the results of that inquiry and try to get to the bottom of what happened. This is what Secretary Shinseki wants to do as well.

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GRIFFIN: The problem is you still have the VA investigating the VA, Carol. Even the Office of Inspector General is separate, but yet we've seen report after report just get filed and nothing gets done. I think that's where the grilling will take place tomorrow in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

COSTELLO: Will Shinseki be in?

GRIFFIN: Shinseki will be there. We're not expecting harsh treatment like he would get if he showed at the House, but he will still going to get some tough questions.

COSTELLO: Drew Griffin, many thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, should everything published about you online live forever? What if you could purge your personal information from search engines like Google? A top European court makes a shocking ruling that may make that possible. We'll talk about that next.

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