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$2 Billion Deal Reached for Clippers; President Obama to Meet with Eric Shinseki; Clinton Opens Up on Benghazi in her Book; Ballmer to Become "Baller" as NBA Owner

Aired May 30, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Rosa Flores joins me with the very latest on that.

Good morning, Rosa.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning, Don. You know, here's the deal. The Sterlings have a big decision to make in the coming days. And while you do have Shelly Sterling paving the way, making it very easy for the sale to happen, the ball is definitely in Donald Sterling's court.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (voice-over): It is one of the biggest deals in sports history, and the winning bidder, this man, Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft. The price tag, $2 billion, handily beating out competing bidders like Oprah Winfrey and David Geffen by at least $400 million. But the deal is no slam dunk. Ballmer has signed an agreement with Shelly Sterling. But the next play belongs to Donald Sterling.

MAXWELL BLECHER, DONALD STERLING'S ATTORNEY: There is no sale and he is not yet agree to sign off, period.

FLORES: His lawyer telling Wolf Blitzer before news of the agreement that while Donald gave her permission to negotiate selling the team, he did not give her permission to actually sell the team.

BLECHER: Not without reaching an accommodation with the NBA, which gives him some form of vindication. The money is not critical to him.

FLORES: The NBA is pushing for a quick sale, trying to ward off a contentious meeting scheduled for this Tuesday where owners will officially vote to force Sterling out.

The reaction overnight was quick, with Magic Johnson tweeting, quote, "Clipper fans, you'll love Steve Ballmer as your owner."

But either way, Donald Sterling will not leave empty handed. He originally bought the team for $12 million. If the sale goes through, he stands to make over $1.9 billion in profit.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FLORES: Now I'd like to share with you a quote from Shelly Sterling. Now this is from an announcement released early this morning. She says, quote, "I am delighted that we are selling the team to Steve who will be a terrific owner. We have worked for 33 years to build the Clippers into a premier NBA franchise. I am confident that Steve will take the team to new levels of success."

And Don, I think it's probably safe to say that the team is ready for a new beginning as well.

LEMON: Yes, ready to move on.

Rosa Flores, thank you very much.

FLORES: You're welcome.

LEMON: We're going to continue to talk about this now. Joining me now is legal analyst Joey Jackson.

Joey, good morning. Man, this is really a saga that just keeps going and going and going. First and really most obvious, the most obvious question would, do you think the NBA is going to approve the sale?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think they really would. Now this is interesting, Don, because the left hand, Shelly Sterling, it's like the bus has left the station. She's thanking him and saying he, being the new CEO, right, Mr. Ballmer, will be delighted to have him. And then you have the other camp, Donald Sterling, not so fast. Maybe there'll be challenges.

But I do think because the NBA is committed to disassociating themselves from anything Sterling that certainly with this new owner, right, CEO, former CEO of Microsoft, very well respected, you know, certainly seems to be culturally diverse with regard to his statement, Los Angeles being a very inclusive town. The NBA being an inclusive organization and he, himself, Mr. Ballmer saying I'm inclusive. I think they would be delighted.

And that Board of Governors would act swiftly to get rid of the Sterlings and welcome the new owner to the L.A. Clippers.

LEMON: All right. If everything goes as rosy as you seem to think it's going to go --

(LAUGHTER)

JACKSON: You know it won't, Don. You know it won't.

LEMON: Well, I mean, you heard Maxwell Blecher yesterday, I mean, it was complete contradiction of what Shelly Sterling is doing, you know, with Steve Ballmer. I mean, it's just -- you know, we'll see. But if approved, as you said, the Sterling would sell the Clippers from 166 times, you know, what he paid for it.

JACKSON: Not a bad profit. LEMON: Not a bad profit. But I mean, can you really -- people are saying, you know, he's profiting off racism and racism is profitable. Well, that's not really -- that's not really the case, is it?

JACKSON: No. I mean, listen, it was absolutely abhorrent that any of this had to happen. But ultimately if the end game is to get rid of him and to have a league which has always been for the people, by the people inclusive, you have African-Americans who really are just the all-stars of this league working so hard, and to be demoralized and degraded as they have, and so if the end game is just to get rid of him, it's a lovely thing.

Now just a quick twist with this, Don, is that Mr. Sterling's mental capacity, of course, is being challenged because new reports are out that say that he doesn't even have the mental ability to challenge what Shelly Sterling is doing because it's a family trust and he is deemed by apparent experts who have interviewed him as not competent.

Now how credible that is I guess will remain to be seen. But I think at the end of the day, Don, even if he fights this, the NBA is on very solid footing to remove him based upon his disparaging remarks and the effect it had on the brand, on the league, on the sponsors and on us all.

LEMON: There is the next part of the story. There's the twist. The mental capacity. Mark my words.

Thank you, Joey Jackson. We appreciate it.

JACKSON: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Want to get you back to our big story this morning. And that is at the White House where the president is preparing to meet with embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in just under -- just about 40 minutes. We're going to carry it for you here on CNN. You don't want to miss it. Stand by. More on this breaking news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome book everyone. Our big news this morning, problems with the veterans administration and the head of that administration for now, Eric Shinseki speaking out this morning in Washington addressing the problems, taking responsibility for them and saying that he's going to make changes.

That's if the president will allow him to do it because they're going to meet at the White House in just about 30 minutes -- excuse me, just about 45 minutes, at 10:15 Eastern Time. So the president is going to meet with Eric Shinseki. Will he make a decision about Eric Shinseki's future? We shall see.

Athena Jones is at the White House and she is following this story for us.

Athena, the big question, as I said, will the president, what will happen at the White House, what will their talk be about? Did Eric Shinseki really say enough at this homeless veterans coalition to save his job?

But Eric Shinseki is not the only one speaking out this morning. The president was on "Michael and Kelly" this morning -- "Kelly and Michael" and he spoke about really just how big and serious this problem is. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll have a serious conversation with him about whether he thinks that he is prepared and has the capacity to take on the job of fixing it. Because I don't want any veteran to not be getting the kind of services that they deserve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So there we go, the president really foreshadowing, I guess, a little bit what he's going to talk to Eric Shinseki about. But the president has a critical decision here.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he does, Don, and that's what's so interesting about that, that comment we just heard from the president. He's still making it sound as though it's up to Secretary Shinseki to say whether he thinks he has the capacity to fix the big systemic problems we know are facing the VA health care system. And certainly Secretary Shinseki thinks that he does. We just heard from that -- heard him say that and spell out part of his plans, part of the actions he's taken in that speech to homeless veterans not too long ago.

But I can tell you that the White House has certainly given themselves an out on both sides. We know that the president right now just a few minutes ago was saying that it's up to Shinseki to say whether he has the capacity to fix this. He said last week that Shinseki has poured his heart and soul into this job, taking it very seriously, no one cares more about veterans than Secretary Shinseki.

At the same time, we've heard this week from White House officials saying that Secretary Shinseki is on thin ice. And so I'm not a betting woman. I can't say how it's going to go. And we don't know how much to read into the president's remarks just now. But certainly from those remarks, it sounds like the president is waiting to hear a little bit more from Secretary Shinseki about how he would go about fixing this problem.

But as you know, Don, this is systemic. There's a national audit that's on going, and there's been a drip, drip, drip of more problems being revealed at VA facilities around the country. And so that's the challenge that the president is facing as he tries to make this decision that could come as soon as today -- Don.

LEMON: And, you know, that -- to be fair, Athena, that interview on "Kelly and Michael" that was taped after Shinseki's remarks, the president may have a change of heart after they --

JONES: Sure. LEMON: After they speak live today, he may have a change of heart. Who knows? We won't be inside of that room. But I'm sure someone will come out to report exactly what happened. If Eric Shinseki goes, we shall know very quickly.

Athena Jones, we'll get back to you at the White House. Thank you very much.

Again, just about a half hour from now, the meeting at the White House with Eric Shinseki and President Barack Obama. We're going to continue to watch this very closely for you. And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton has not decided yet on a 2016 presidential bid, but observers say her road to the White House could involve a big hurdle, and that's the Benghazi consulate attack that left four Americans dead.

Now Clinton is opening up about the incident in her upcoming book, "Hard choices." In a 34-page chapter obtained by Politico, Clinton takes responsibility for the loss of life, but also takes aim at her political rivals, writing in part, quote, "I will not be part of a political slug fest on the backs of dead Americans. It's just plain wrong and it's unworthy of our great country. Those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me."

So let's talk about it, why don't we? CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar joins me and CNN political commentator and "New York Times" op-ed columnist Ross Douthat and CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona.

Good morning to all of you.

Brianna, I'm going to start with you. So characterizes this chapter as a template for Democrats on how to respond to Republican critics of the Obama administration. Could she also be signaling her own strategy here? That's very possible.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh no I think -- I think she definitely is, in fact. And I think this is why, the State Department, her experience at the State Department is seen by voters very much as a positive. And so Republicans look at that. They see Benghazi as the dark spot and they are really trying to tarnish that.

So we're seeing Hillary Clinton hit back. And I know that we have a full screen of one of the things that she also says in this chapter about Benghazi, if we can go ahead and put that up.

OK I guess we don't have that. But basically she's just hitting back on Republicans in Congress who really are trying to have an upcoming hearing. They've had a number of investigations or I should say upcoming investigation, and she's hitting back on them saying that she doesn't want to participate in that. I will say, Don, I think that when you look at the timing of this release I would say that it might actually you know might really work to her benefit, really trying to dispense with this topic of Benghazi now so that when her book is rolled out, remember it's not officially coming out for another week and a half, that you know, she can focus on other things during the book tour, that maybe some of this Benghazi stuff will kind of be old news.

But it's really -- and here is the statement, "Those who exploit this tragedy over and over as a political tool minimize the sacrifice of those who served our country, really hitting on Republicans there."

And I will say, Don, this is a very carefully orchestrated book rollout. It's pretty fascinating as you watch it. Hillary Clinton has been meeting with like foreign policy thought leaders, one of her top aides briefing a wide swath of Democrats here in Washington, D.C. this morning. Her team coordinating messages and what's really kind of a campaign style surrogate operation.

So there's a lot going on here. It makes you wonder if maybe isn't to do more than just sell books.

LEMON: Yes.

KEILAR: You know and she has an eye on 2016.

LEMON: Here is a question, Ross. You know by saying what you're saying I'm not going to get involved, I'm not going to participate in politicizing this, is she backing herself into a corner and actually possibly allowing her critics to say she doesn't want to talk about it, she's avoiding the subject? It depends on really how you interpret this.

ROSS DOUTHAT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes I mean I think that her theory is probably that there isn't going to be some smoking gun that proves the wildest conspiracy theory is correct and demonstrates that you know Hillary Clinton was in a sauna sipping a daiquiri, you know, turning off her cell phone while Americans were getting killed in Libya right.

I mean that that sort of worst case scenario isn't going to happen, I think. And so there's sort of an advantage for her in letting Republicans run wild in a way and end up sounding paranoid and conspiratorial and just sort of resting on the idea that this is a tragedy, but we're in the going to politicize it. And that worked pretty well for President Obama, as you'll recall, in his debate on the subject with Mitt Romney, he sort of shut down Romney by saying you know I'm not going to -- you know how dare you impugn my record as Commander-in-Chief and sort of politicized dead Americans and so on.

The larger issue here though is that if this is just a question about the very specific specifics of the Benghazi incident, I think Hillary Clinton can walk away from it. If it's a question though about what Benghazi represents as sort of after emblem of larger failures of President Obama's foreign policy, I think it gets a little harder. Because you know the real question here is well what happened in Libya happened in a country where the United States intervened to topple a regime and since that intervention Libya has been sort of perpetually destabilized. It's become a safe haven of some sort for al Qaeda groups like the groups that launch the attack and so on. And what does this say about the Obama foreign policy record and what does it say about Hillary's stewardship. And that's something where the --

LEMON: If they're going to use it, then they have to go beyond just politicization of it as talking about it and talk about it on a broader -- on a broader scale on a broader spectrum then just that.

(CROSSTALK)

DOUTHAT: Right Benghazi has to mean more than just Benghazi itself for it to be an effective tool for Republicans.

LEMON: OK fair point. I got your point there.

But listen she's saying you know I'm not going to deal with it but she's still going to have to address it by saying I'm not going to deal with it. In a way she is addressing it Maria. She's going to have to deal with it. They're going to bring it up over and over and over again if she does run.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, they are. And I think to her point and her words will be the most -- I think the best defense for her, which is that she doesn't want to get into the political mudslinging on this and what I believe her book will reveal or at least this chapter what it will remind people of is that she did three very important things to deal with the Benghazi issue. The first and critically important and she says this in her book, is that she takes responsibility, full responsibility.

The second is that she actually took action immediately she put together the accountability review board and implemented all of those recommendations and thirdly she was incredibly transparent in how she took action. There has been I think only other accountability review board in history that have been as transparent as the one that took forward.

And to Ross's point Don if -- I think this actually not just helps Hillary as Brianna was saying but I also think it helps Republicans in essentially telegraphing that if she does run in 2016, they're going to have to come to her with a lot more than the tired political talking point of Benghazi.

LEMON: Substance, substance.

CARDONA: Because if they don't, then I will be dancing with all of you at the 2017 President Hillary inauguration.

DOUTHAT: But we don't know if she's running.

LEMON: All right yes.

CARDONA: That's why I said if she runs.

LEMON: She hasn't said she's running but she's raising a lot of money with speeches and she's speaking everywhere and the book is coming out carefully orchestrated as Brianna said so. But she's not -- we don't know if she's going to run.

All right guys thanks to all of you. And have a great weekend. Brianna Keilar, Ross Douthat and also Maria Cardona.

CARDONA: Thanks Don.

LEMON: We're following news at the White House at 10:15 Eastern Time just about 20 minutes from now where we're going to be seeing the arrival and maybe sooner of Eric Shinseki is going to meet with the President that's scheduled for 10:15. Make sure you stay with CNN for all of the details on that.

We're back after a very short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is already on the billionaire list, already many times over, but he's about to add another "b" to the mix and that b is baller. He's soon to be the newest owner in the league and if the NBA board of governors approved the $2 billion sale the Clippers. But who is Steve Ballmer? Who is he?

Christine Romans has the scoop now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BALLMER, FORMER CEO OF MICROSOFT: Come on. Get up. Get up.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He always seemed ready for courtside. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was famous for energizing his employees.

BALLMER: I have four words for you. I love this company. Yes.

ROMANS: Ballmer started working at Microsoft in its early days. In 1980, he became the company's 24th employee.

BALLMER: Five hundred.

ROMANS: And his oversized personality became known fast through videos like this promoting Windows 1.0 in 1985.

BALLMER: Watch as Windows innovate Lotus 123 with Miami Vice.

ROMANS: And with Bill Gates in a "Night of the Roxbury" spoof to this 90s club hit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steve Ballmer.

ROMANS: In 1998, Ballmer rose to president then CEO in 2000 taking the company through hits like XBox and Kinect and flops like Windows Vista.

BALLMER: Our job, our job is to make sure that only PC is not dead but we're constantly innovating it, reimagining it.

ROMANS: He's stepped down as CEO of Microsoft just three months ago but remains on the board of directors and is a bigger shareholder than Bill Gates. He's worth more than $20 billion according to "Forbes" and sits at number 35 on the magazine's annual billionaire list.

Ballmer grew up near Detroit where his father was a manager at Ford Motor Company. He went to Harvard and briefly attended Stanford School of Business. And he's no stranger to the business of sports. His name has been tied to a possible deal for the Sacramento kings but that fell through. Now he's poised to make the biggest NBA deal ever going from high tech billionaire to courtside baller.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Make sure you stay tuned to that. There's going to be big developments on that today and also big developments coming from the White House as President Obama scheduled to meet with Eric Shinseki in just a few moments. We're going to carry that for you live. What will the President's decision be? What will they speak about? Is going to keep Eric Shinseki as the secretary of Veterans Affairs or will he get rid of him? Eric Shinseki saying this morning he's ready to make big changes and to fix this problem.

So make sure you stick with CNN.

That's it for me. I'm Don Lemon. The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM with Ana Cabrera begins right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: good morning. Happy Friday. I'm Ana Cabrera, in for Carol Costello. Thanks for joining me. Let's get right to it as we begin this hour with Eric Shinseki just minutes from now. That Veterans Affairs secretary will meet behind closed doors with the President.

Now details about this meeting are scarce, but few expect Shinseki to emerge with his job still intact.