Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Donald Sterling Sues NBA for $1 Billion; Deal Reached to Sell L.A. Clippers for $2 Billion; Veterans Affairs Secretary Resigns; American Marine Still Being Held in Mexican Jail; Digital Password Protection Methods Examined; Casey Kasem's Family Battle over Custody; CNN Hero Helps Those with Heart Disease

Aired May 31, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: So, one man out, but will there be more to go? The scandal that sacked the leader of the V.A. is far from over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I) VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: If people have committed criminal acts, they should be punished, no ifs, buts or maybes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: He is about to lose his team, but the embattled Clippers owner is not going down without a fight, $1 billion dollar fight at that. The Donald Sterling saga takes another strange turn.

BLACKWELL: And two women face off over a radio legend. Daughter versus wife in a courtroom drama or Casey Kasem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame on these children. Shame, who have done this to their father.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: It's getting dicey. We'll tell you what's going on. But first we want to say hello and good morning. We're so glad to have you with us today. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: Always good to be with you. I'm Victor Blackwell. Its 10:00 here in the east, 7:00 out west. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

PAUL: We're starting with Donald Sterling.

BLACKWELL: Yes. He's suing the NBA for $1 billion. The embattled Los Angeles Clippers owner says he's taking the league to court because of his decision to ban him for life and force him to give up his franchise.

PAUL: This latest twist is coming just after his wife Shelly agreed to sell the team for $2 billion to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. It is the most ever paid for in an NBA franchise. But, did Ballmer pay too much? A lot of people asking that question today. Alexandra Field is checking that out for us. Hi, Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christ, Victor. A lot of people thought the team would go for about half that much. But honestly, it is worth whatever Ballmer is of course willing to pay for it. He outbid his closest competitor by about $400 million. What this really means is that the teams that are already considered more valuable than the Clippers could now be much more valuable than even their owners had imagined.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: A $2 billion bid for a basketball team smashes records. But what's Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft mogul, getting for all that money?

RICK HORROW, HORROW SPORTS VENTURES: The team that is better on the court today than the Los Angeles Lakers with a great lease at the Staples Center and a new upside television deal that he is about to negotiate in Los Angeles.

FIELD: Future TV deals both local and national could bring in close to an extra $100 million a year by some estimates, which is a lot, but not the big picture.

MIKE OZANIAN, "FORBES" MAGAZINE: In the first few years, profits are going to be very minimal. This isn't something he's buying because he wants to make money. This is someone who is going to take 10 percent of their net worth and they're going to buy a sports team in L.A., which is going to give them a lot of prestige.

FIELD: For $2 billion there is plenty of prestige, a way for the wealthy to diversify investments and, with a salary cap in place, NBA owners can be protected from dipping into their own pockets.

OZANIAN: Steve Ballmer knows that if he runs this team somewhat prudently, he is not going to have to put any capital into the team.

FIELD: If you have $20 billion.

OZANIAN: Not a bad thing.

FIELD: In January "Forbes" list of NBA team values ranked the Clippers 13th with an estimated worth of $575 million. Their potential sale price was estimated at around $1 billion once Donald Sterling's racist rant was revealed.

HORROW: The NBA should trip over itself, get the documents done, approve this transaction, and move on to other business just as fast as humanly possible.

FIELD: The $2 billion price tag could help send the values of some of the league's most valuable franchises soaring.

OZANIAN: I don't think you'll be able to buy a big market NBA team for less than $3 billion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: And to put these really big numbers into perspective, last month the Milwaukee Bucks sold for $550 million, and that was an NBA record. So this bid blows that out of the water. But it isn't the biggest sale in U.S. sports history. That goes to the L.A. Dodgers, their sale in 2012, $2.1 billion. Victor, Christi?

BLACKWELL: Big numbers. Alexandra Field, thank you very much.

PAUL: So the chief of Veterans Affairs, as you know, out of a job this morning, so attention now turning to finding his replacement, his permanent replacement, we should point out.

BLACKWELL: Retired four star General Eric Shinseki resigned Friday amid a chorus of growing calls for him to step down after the revelations that included deadly delays for veterans cares for those who were waiting.

PAUL: Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has learned Shinseki's departure was as sudden and as swift as it looked to the rest of us. Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Christi and Victor, in a day of high drama here at the White House, V.A. Secretary Eric Shinseki was gone in 60 minutes. With Democrats calling for his head, Shinseki, according to one administration official, stepped down on his own.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: For President Obama, there was no time to wait.

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Secretary Shinseki offered me his own resignation. With considerable regret, I accepted.

ACOSTA: According to White House officials, the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki was over in one hour. First Shinseki met in the Oval Office with the president, chief of staff Denis McDonough, and the top White House aide overseeing the V.A. Rob Nabors. Then the president and Shinseki went for a walk on the south lawn for a private conversation. Minutes later Mr. Obama said Shinseki had concluded he was too much of a distraction.

OBAMA: And so my assessment was, unfortunately, that he was right. I regret that he has to resign under these circumstances.

ACOSTA: Shinseki's departure came as the V.A. released an audit of its health system that found facilities around the country were flagged for further review because of concerns about questionable scheduling practices. The V.A. secretary was more blunt in a morning speech, claiming his own officials have been lying to him.

ERIC SHINSEKI, FORMER V.A. SECRETARY: I was too trusting of some and I accepted as accurate reports that I now know to have been misleading with regard to patient wait times.

ACOSTA: The president said the White House was also in the dark that V.A. officials were concealing wait times.

OBAMA: This issue of scheduling is one that the reporting systems inside of the VHA did not surface to the levels where Rick was aware of it or we were able to see it.

ACOSTA: Over at the capital, House Speaker John Boehner had his own rapid response that Shinseki's departure is not enough.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) HOUSE SPEAKER: His resignation, though, does not absolve the problem of his responsibility to step in and make things right for our veterans. Business as usual cannot continue.

ACOSTA: Besides the internal probes of the scandal under way, the chairman of the Veterans Affairs committee said the Justice Department is also involved.

SANDERS: Criminal acts, they should be punished, no ifs, buts, or maybes.

ACOSTA: White House aides say expect other V.A. officials to go.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We'll be holding accountable specific individuals.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: But the V.A. will do that with a new interim secretary Sloan Gibson who has only been on the job in his role as a deputy secretary for three months. A White House official says it's too early for a short list for a permanent replacement. Christi and Victor?

BLACKWELL: Jim Acosta, thank you very much.

The big question now, who is going to take over for Shinseki long term?

PAUL: Sloan Gibson, as we said, is moving out of that spot. Let's talk about some of the people who are on this short list, or I should just say a list of possible contenders as we're just one day out here and they look forward to the future here. Senator Jeff Reed, Admiral Mike Mullen, General Peter Corelli, and for senator Jim Webb are all on that list. Yesterday CNN's Jake Tapper in fact asked Webb himself whether he would even be interested in replaced Shinseki. Here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES WEBB, (D) FORMER U.S. SENATOR: I have a family who has a citizen soldier tradition that goes a long way back. My son left college and enlisted in the marines and fought in Iraq. I've followed these issues and worked on them pro bono. I'm here to help if they want some advice but not interested in the position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So in addition to his time in the Senate, he's a decorated marine himself and also served as secretary of the Navy.

PAUL: So a U.S. marine sharing his story about being abused and tortured inside a Mexican prison. Now he says, yes, things are getting better, but we'll tell you what he credits for that just ahead.

BLACKWELL: Plus, look at this, a CNN reporter is roughed up in Turkey on live television.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: A U.S. marine being detained in Mexico says that he was tortured and abused. His name is Andrew Tahmooressi and he says he's being treated better now that his story has attracted more attention, but he says his first month in jail was a nightmare.

PAUL: Mexican officials arrested him after he drove across the border with guns in his car. That was back in March. He said it was an accident. CNN's Nick Valencia has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was Andrew Tahmooressi days before his arrest, living at a friend's house in San Diego, looking for emotional support after two combat tours in Afghanistan.

SAM VRANCAR, SERVED WITH JAILED MARINE IN AFGHANISTAN: We noticed the problems face-to-face where he was just acting distant and we could tell a clear sign of PTSD.

VALENCIA: But over the course of the month his friends told CNN things started to look up, until the night of March 31st. He parked his car on the U.S. side and walked into Mexico to patronize an establishment popular with marines according to his mother. He eventually returned to the U.S. on foot, got in his car, and then made a fateful turn into Mexico.

Tahmooressi's mom said the marine parked in this lot. He made a left right out of here, completely missing that sign that says "Mexico only, no USA return," straight on to that onramp right into Mexico.

SGT. ANDREW TAHMOORESSI: I crossed the border by accident and I have three guns in my truck, and they're trying to possess, they're trying to take my guns from me.

VALENCIA: Tahmooressi would have driven through here. Not every car that goes into Mexico gets checked. The director of the Tijuana checkpoint told Mexican media Tahmooressi was pulled over because he didn't have a front license plate. Never once did he say he was a U.S. marine, Mexican officials said, or that he got lost. He's been imprisoned in Mexico ever since. We spoke to him on the phone from the Mexican prison where he's being held.

What have things been like for you there in Mexico, Andrew?

TAHMOORESSI: Not very good in the beginning. For like the first month things were not that good at all.

VALENCIA: Tahmooressi is being held here in Tecate, Mexico. When I spoke to him by phone earlier he said he is being abused, mistreated by prison officials, not given enough food or water. We weren't able to get inside the prisons to see for ourselves, but when I talked to the head of the police at the jail he denied those allegations and said that the marine is being treated well.

But the drama surrounding his case has caused court delays. After firing his attorney before the first proceedings, Tahmooressi may have to wait weeks to get another hearing. He's willing to wait, he says, optimistic that he will be released soon.

What gives you that confidence, Andrew?

TAHMOORESSI: I'm not guilty. And I'm confident that the judge is going to realize that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: All right, Nick joining us live from the Mexico border. Nick, good to see you. So, Tahmooressi, we know, you just said he fired his lawyer. What is his next move?

VALENCIA: He has a new attorney, Christi, but we just don't know who that is. The family has not disclosed who that is, and when I spoke to his mother as I mentioned in that piece, it could take weeks for a new hearing. It's just going to take some time for that new attorney to be briefed on the case.

Meanwhile the efforts here in the United States, they continue. There is a WhiteHouse.gov petition that reached over 100,000 signatures. Now the White House must elicit a formal response about Tahmooressi's case. There is also a change.org petition. We also do know that Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to the Mexican government on Wednesday. Obviously, we don't know if that will lead to the marine's release or not. Christie, Victor?

BLACKWELL: Nick Valencia there near the U.S./Mexico border. Nick, thank you very much.

Let's go to Turkey now where one of our CNN colleagues was taken into custody by officials. So, watch, this incident happened live on camera just a short time ago. Ivan Watson was doing a live report on the anniversary of the protests when he was approached by officials asking for his credentials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Excuse me. I think I'm getting -- I think I'm being --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a minute. May I see your passport? WATSON: CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I see your passport?

WATSON: We're now being checked. OK. Anyway, this is my press card that allows me to work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need your passport. I need your passport.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Watson sent out a tweet, "Turkish police detained me and my crew in the middle of a live report in Taksim Square. One officer kneed me in the butt." Watson said his crew is doing all right now, but that they were detained for about half-hour before being released. That got serious there for a moment.

PAUL: It sounds a little scary when you don't understand what they're saying and they're just kind of taking you off.

BLACKWELL: You have no idea what is next.

PAUL: You don't know what is coming.

BLACKWELL: Speaking of you don't know what is coming, more twists and turns in this clash between Donald Sterling and the NBA. The embattled L.A. Clippers owner now suing the league and he wants him to pay him $1 billion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: It's 20 minutes after the hour now. If this deal to sell the L.A. Clippers goes through, and this would be a story, but, Donald Sterling, the current owner, he knows and he says at least that this battle with the NBA is not over.

PAUL: Yes, the L.A. Clippers' owner is suing the league itself now, the NBA for $1 billion because of its decision to ban him for life and force him to give up his franchise.

BLACKWELL: So this is all coming as his estranged wife, Shelly Sterling, agreed to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion, the most ever paid for an NBA franchise. So let's talk about it. Joining us now, Brian Frederick, vice president of Aim Sports Reputation Management, and Rick Harrow, sports business analyst. Good to have both of you. I want to start with you, Rick. Do you think this team is worth $2 billion?

RICK HORROW, SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: I don't have a Monet or a Picasso, but I can tell you those are worth whatever people are willing to pay for it. And so I'm amused people putting a value on this or any other franchise. The NBA is going to strike a huge television deal in the next couple of years and the Clippers will in the L.A. market. They may rebrand the team, maybe changing the name, I don't know. But new start, a team on the court, by the way, that's better than Kobe's Lakers with someone that has discretionary money to spend. To you and me, maybe $2 billion doesn't mean a whole lot. Steve Ballmer, maybe not. To others, absolutely. The bottom line is it clearly worth whatever you pay for it, and no NBA franchise has sold for less than what it is originally purchased for. So there is the appreciation value as well. I have my money for the next deal. I'm throwing it in right now.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: We count on you for 20.

PAUL: Exactly, if we all pool our money.

I want to read something from Sterling's lawsuit. This is a quote here, "The forced sale of the Los Angeles Clippers threatens not only to produce a lower price than a non-forced sale, but more importantly it injures competition and forces antitrust injury by the market unresponsive to the operation of the free market." So, Brian, do you agree with that? Do you think the Sterlings could have gotten more if it had not been a forced sale?

BRIAN FREDERICK, SPORTS INDUSTRY MANAGEMENT, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, absolutely. But that is part of the agreement that he originally went into. To become an NBA owner you sign away all these rights. So often some of these things, they get the antitrust benefits, they get the tax exemptions, they get stadium subsidies. For once, this is actually working against him because he agreed to give that all up when he became part of the league. So he really doesn't have much of a leg to stand on.

The only thing he can claim here is that his wife is actually acting, you know, out of bounds by declaring him incompetent. That's where I think this is probably headed.

BLACKWELL: So, I wonder initially, as part of this trust, does Shelly Sterling have the right at any time to determine or have doctors determine if her husband is mentally unfit? So I guess that's something we'll find out with this trust. Rick, my question to you, how could this lawsuit from Donald Sterling interfere with the sale?

HORROW: Well, listen, the NBA had a preemptive response very quickly, which means as a lawyer, I'm gleeful, because all these lawyers are getting paid a whole boatload of money to play offense and defense. The NBA has a great battery of lawyers and they know exactly what they're doing. Adam Silver is a trained lawyer at the knee, in essence, of David Stern, who was an amazing lawyer, as well. And, clearly, the issue is Donald Sterling can litigate until the day he dies. But the question is, is there injunctive relief? Can they shut the process down? There are published reports that Shelly Sterling would indemnify the NBA against a lawsuit if she sells to Steve Ballmer and there will be escrow funds available. So now the money would come out of the Sterling family trust if Donald sues Shelly. And so the NBA may have boxed Donald Sterling into a pretty precarious box to the benefit of the NBA and basically all sports down the road.

PAUL: OK, but Donald and Shelly's relationship under a lot of scrutiny, and there are some people, Brian, who think I wonder if these two are working in cahoots to try to make this happen. What is your take?

FREDERICK: It's really hard to tell with the Sterling family. It's certainly been a true soap opera playing out in front of us. It seems kind of weird that only a month ago a guy could actually run and own an NBA team and nobody would question his competence, and then suddenly a month later he is declared incompetent.

I think it's a little bit problematic in the fact that he hasn't had his sort of day in court in front of the NBA owners. But again, he signs that all away when he agrees to become an owner. And nobody is really crying for him. So, he's kind of on his own. As Rick points out, he could sit here and sue until the cows come home. He may, he may very well, but it's really not going to matter much in the end.

BLACKWELL: As soon as you think this is wrapping up, there's some new chapter, there's some bizarre twist. Brian Frederick, Rick Horrow, thank you both.

FREDERICK: Thanks, guys.

PAUL: Thank you.

So, you know Eric Shinseki resigned as V.A. chief. The question now that some people are asking is, will the V.A. scandal affect the way you vote when you go to the polls during midterm elections?

BLACKWELL: And we've been following this one. Now two women are facing off in California in a courtroom, the wife of radio icon Casey Kasem versus his daughter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: I hope Saturday has been good to you so far. It's 29 minutes past the hour. I'm Christi Paul. Thanks for your company.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Let's start with five stories we're watching this morning.

PAUL: First of all, number one, the State Department is confirming claims by radical jihadists that an American carried out this suicide bombing you're looking at here in Syria one week ago, and now they want to know why, obviously. He's been identified. He grew up in Florida and went to Syria late last year to join extremist fighters. Intelligence officials are interviewing his family and friends now to try to determine more.

BLACKWELL: Number two. Beaten, shackled to his bed, given no food or water -- that's what a marine says has happened to him in a Mexican prison. Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi has been behind bars for more than two months now. He says he accidentally crossed the border with guns in his car, and he's coping with phone calls to his family, prayers, and hope that he'll get well soon.

PAUL: Number three, so, if you want to eat at Sonic or Chili's, you've got to go gun-less. The two chains are adding their names to the list of businesses that would prefer its customers not carry weapons when ding at their establishments. Both said they respect local gun laws, but they want their customers to feel comfortable.

BLACKWELL: Number four, Donald Sterling now suing the NBA for $1 billion. The L.A. Clippers owner said he's taken the league to court because of his decision to ban him for life and force him to give up the franchise. This comes just as his wife, Shelly Sterling, has agreed to a deal to sell the team for $2 billion. That's the most ever paid for an NBA franchise.

PAUL: Number five, a 19-month-old toddler in critical condition now after being severely burned by a flash-bang grenade. Authorities say they were trying to catch a suspected drug dealer when they threw the device into a north Georgia home earlier this week. Now, according to the child's family, the grenade landed in the boy's bed and exploded on his pillow. Police say they were not aware a child was in the home at the time of the raid.

BLACKWELL: Well, it is day one of the search for the next head of the department of Veterans Affairs. President Obama accepted V.A. chief Eric Shinseki's resignation yesterday.

PAUL: He left after this firestorm of outrage over delays in medical care for veterans, with a lot of Democrats, Republicans, and some veterans groups asking him to step down. We want to bring in CNN political commentator Ben Ferguson and Democratic strategist Robert Zimmerman. Thank you, both, for being with us. All right, so, Ben, let me start with you. I know that you tweeted, I believe, "Well done, Barack Obama, for making the right decision. Shinseki has been fired." Let's remember Shinseki did resign as we know it. Does it matter, ultimately, though, whether the president fired him or whether he resigned himself?

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it was weird yesterday because when it initially came out and the president said he had resigned, I was giving him full credit for that because it's what needed to happen. It's what veterans deserve. They needed a new person in charge. And then the only time that Obama got emotional yesterday in that press conference was when he was defending his former V.A. secretary, and I'm sitting there going, where is the disconnect? You had veterans that died. You have families that buried their loved ones, and your most emotional part is defending the guy that is now leaving and said he was the one who decided it was time for him to leave, he was the one who said he was a distraction.

BLACKWELL: Robert?

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Ben, the disconnect is your analysis of that press conference. Obviously I think the president spoke nobly and well by recognizing General Shinseki's 50 years of courageous military service, and as a four-star general and a purple heart recipient. And we also recognize General Shinseki's real achievements in the Veterans Administration, dealing with homelessness and jobs, dealing with claims backlogs.

But, of course, the scandal that has now consumed the Veterans Administration and the mistakes that general Shinseki made in this process obviously led him to resign, and he deserved the dignity of resigning, because I believe General Shinseki is truly committed to helping the Veterans Administration move forward, and that means he has to step aside.

BLACKWELL: Robert, do you think -- let me get this question in. Do you think he was the fall guy here? Did he have to go?

ZIMMERMAN: Well, clearly, he had to go because, ultimately, he became a political target. The focus became General Shinseki versus the ways to reform and change the Veteran Administration. So politically he had to leave. But my big concern, and you raise an important point, Victor, by Shinseki's resignation, by him becoming the political fall guy, will the media lose its focus? Will the public lose its focus as opposed to really keeping the attention on the systematic changes that have to be made in the Veterans Administration?

FERGUSON: And I don't think that is going to happen because I think so many people on both sides of the aisle actually care about this. And I think that is one of the things that many veterans that I talked with yesterday had real concern over. And it is the disconnect at the top that seems to be -- the V.A. secretary did the right thing by stepping down and resigning. I think everyone can agree on that one. But is there really going to be a change mandated and demanded from the top of the White House if the president of the United States of America really was not planning on firing him yesterday, and said it wasn't his idea for him to resign? That's why I think veterans are concerned right now. Is this just going to what you explained? It's going to be one guy that is gone. We're going to have the same V.A. system. We're going to have same veterans that are hurting.

Remember, funding for the V.A. has gone up 60 percent since 2009. So putting money into the system is not correlating into better care for our veterans. We have to have a different system, and the V.A., I think they know that.

PAUL: OK, so Robert, let me ask you something, because a lot of people are following this, and a lot of people are going to be going the polls for midterm elections. Do you think this scandal, Robert, is going to make a difference in how people vote when they go?

ZIMMERMAN: No, I don't think the scandal is going to make a difference because a lot of bipartisan blame here for this situation going -- for the situation that took place. I'll tell you where it does become a political issue. If the American people don't see results, if they see members of Congress and either party getting in the way of the needed reforms and the need to bring on more doctors and nurses and the need to provide more immediate health care for veterans to avoid the wait-lines by going to their local hospitals. If we see members of Congress getting in the way of that and we don't results from the administration, then it becomes a political issue. But the political gotcha game, that may play well on talk radio and political pundits, but don't forget, people with real lives want to see results.

FERGUSON: I don't think it's a gotcha game at all because there are people that are actually veterans that it cost them their life, and I think that's not a political game at all to those family members. And any veteran that's watching this knows this isn't a talk radio thing. This is real life for them, and some of them, unfortunately, it was life and death. So I do think this is going to be a big issue at the polls. If veterans don't feel like the administration has gotten a handle on this and is changing with actual reforms, they are certainly going to be a large voting bloc to be dealt with.

ZIMMERMAN: Ben, that's exactly what I said. Don't misinterpret my words. The partisan rhetoric is the gotcha game. Obviously the tragedy is the scandal, and both parties have to be held accountable for decades of problems in the Veterans Administration, and there has to be criminal prosecution to hold people accountable.

FERGUSON: But there is only one --

ZIMMERMAN: For obviously outrageous acts.

FERGUSON: I agree with that. But there is only one president of the United States of America, and he is the guy that is in charge right now, and that is the person that has to start with, with the reforms. You can't go back five, six, seven, eight years and try to put this on someone else. You have one president of the United States of America who was re-elected. He is the commander of chief and in control of everyone in the military and has to start with him.

ZIMMERMAN: And he has taken responsibility.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Robert Zimmerman, this conversation could go on for the rest of the hour, BUT I thank you both for adding your insight.

FERGUSON: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, gentlemen.

BLACKWELL: So, the family of legendary disc jockey Casey Kasem are locked in this bitter battle in court right now. Casey Kasem is 82 years old. His wife and daughter are now fighting over who gets to take care of him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: It's 19 minutes to the top of the hour now, and King James, Miami Heat, they've done it again. Defending champs are on their way to the NBA finals for the fourth time in a row. If your Instagram and Twitter and Facebook didn't tell you, I'm telling you. James and Chris Bosh led the way with 25 points apiece last night in their game six win over the Indiana Pacers. They have knocked out of the Pacers in the eastern conference playoffs three years in a row, and game six in the western conference finals kicks off at 8:30 eastern tonight. San Antonio takes on Oklahoma City. Watch the game on our sister network TNT.

Generations of music lovers grew up listening to Casey Kasem. The radio counting down, you know, the top 40 hits. PAUL: I remember it well. He had that distinctive voice. Well, the man behind it is in the midst a fierce court battle between his wife on one side and his daughter on the other, and they're fighting over who can take care of him. Drew Mickelson of CNN affiliate KING, has more for us from Washington state there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DREW MICKELSON, REPORTER, KING: An awkward family reunion in Port Orchard as Jean Kasem and her stepdaughter, Kerri, face off to decide who should be in charge of the medical care of disc jockey legend Casey Kasem.

JOEL PAGET, KERRI KASEM'S ATTORNEY: We are concerned about his health because we really don't know what condition he is in.

MICKELSON: Last week a California judge gave Kerri Kasem exclusive medical authority over her father, but Gene Kasem, who says the family is in Washington on vacation, would not allow Kerri to visit or to take her father to the doctor. Kerri Kasem says she has been worried about the 82-year-old's health since his wife took him out of a California nursing home earlier this month.

KERRI KASEM, CASEY KASEM'S DAUGHTER: He now has a stage three bed sore and a bladder infection and a lung infection from probably being moved and not, in my opinion, what I've heard not being taken care of to the fullest extent.

MICKELSON: The judge will hear arguments next week on whether the California order has any merit in Washington. But she ruled Kerri has the right to visit her father and take him to the doctor.

KERRI KASEM: I'm happy with how the court proceedings went today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame on these children! Shame who have done this to their father and who have shredded my family.

MICKELSON: Jean Kasem said she and her daughter, Liberty, are taking good care of Casey. She says he is struggling, though, with what's happening to his family. Jean played a recording of what she said was his reaction to the court's ruling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is crying. My husband is an American treasure. He wanted to go out strong. He wanted to leave beautiful memories. That was all torn apart today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Our thanks to Drew Mickelson of CNN affiliate KING reporting there. In a statement Kerri Kasem and her siblings denounced the release of that recording of her father that you just heard. They said it was, quote, "a reprehensible invasion of privacy."

PAUL: If you are an eBayer, you got the e-mail last week, change your password and do it now all because of a humongous hack there. BLACKWELL: Huge. So, up next, tell you not only how to protect your personal information online, but also how you can better keep track of all of your passwords. Believe it or not, there's an app for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: The chances are a lot of you watching us right now were hacked in the last year. Think is according to a new research that says, think about this, 110 million Americans, that's about half the adults in this country, had personal information exposed either on our iPhones, laptops, or through corporate hacking.

BLACKWELL: I don't know if you heard but last week the online auction site eBay was hacked exposing the personal information of its 145 million users. And that prompted the company to ask all its users to change its passwords.

PAUL: So we want to get to two things specifically this morning. First of all, how can you best safeguard your personal information online? And second, is there a better way to keep track of all your passwords other than that memory that isn't always so smart.

BLACKWELL: The memory loses it. So, here to help us understand those digital questions, digital lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, founder of CarleyK.com. Good to have you back. So, let's start with the question of how do we protect all that personal information. I mean, how much information should we put out there?

CARLEY KNOBLOCH, DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: Well, there's always a certain amount of risk with sharing your personal information online, but usually the convenience outweighs the risk, and that's why we give our mailing address and our credit card information to these big retailers because they make it so easy to purchase online if we share all those with them. So that assessment of how much to share is really a personal decision, risk versus convenience, that everyone has to make for themselves.

PAUL: OK, so how do we know if it's safe that we're sitting online and we know it's safe to give them our credit card information or our mailing address or our phone number and, you know, can we fudge it a little bit? You know, maybe give a number?

(LAUGHTER)

KNOBLOCH: Well, the first, the first question, how do we know it's safe? You never want to give your personal information to a site that is not a secure page. And the way that you know that it's a secure page is you look at the web address. If it starts with an https, that s stands for secure. You can also look for that little lock icon that's usually in the bottom right corner of the browser and that will tell you that the page that you're on is safe to transmit your credit card information.

And as far as fudging your information, that actually could impede your ability to get your credit card authorized, and that's the whole reason why you're there in the first place. So I think a smarter idea and a slightly less popular idea would be to read the private policy and the terms of service for that site because that will give you a good picture of what they're planning to do with your information and help you make a little bit more of an informed decision about whether you want to share.

BLACKWELL: I have never read terms of service.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK) If you give me a click and keep moving, I'm doing it.

Can we talk about the passwords? Because I think most people generally use one password and alter it a little bit. One needs a capital letter, one needs a digit, and then you forget which goes where. How do we keep track of all these?

KNOBLOCH: It's true. You know these hacks are not going anywhere. This is our new normal as we increasingly move our digital information, our information online. So we have to be better prepared. We have to have better digital hygiene, I call it. So using a password manager is actually one of the smartest things you can do, a well rated one, like Last Pass or Dash Lane, there's many others. A well rated one is going to help you store all of your sensitive information behind one master password. And it's going to help you login to all the different sites that you go to. That means that you can make your passwords for all those individual sites longer and more complicated so they're a bit more hacker proof.

And it also means that you have, if you use it consistently, a pretty accurate list of who has your personal information. So if you're feeling like you're spread around a little bit too much online, you can go in and delete accounts.

PAUL: How do you know that app is hacker-proof?

KNOBLOCH: Well, people ask me this question all the time and I usually turn it around on them and I say, where are you currently storing your passwords? Because if it's in a notebook in your desk or in a word file in your desk that's called password, people show me this stuff all the time and it's a huge digital no-no, or even worse, having the same password for all the sites that you can remember. So, a well-rated password manager is going to be a huge security upgrade from any of those solutions. So I highly recommend it.

PAUL: All right, good to know. Carley Knobloch, thank you. Appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: I keep all my passwords in one place. No, no, I actually have to be able to read them. I'm not going to tell you where because then it would be no point.

Donald Sterling not just clashing with the NBA, as the embattled L.A. Clippers owners now demanding that the league pay him $1 billion. The clash now has a dollar sign next to it. But could the move interfere with the historic deal his wife reached to sell the team?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: You know heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and the emotional and financial burdens it causes on the families is just incredible.

BLACKWELL: And one woman has dedicated her life now to easing those pains. She is a CNN hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't do what most people can do. I can't ride skateboards. I can't play football.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brandon was five weeks old when he got his heart transplant. I have been caring for Brandon since he was born.

MICHELLE JAVIAN, CNN HERO: Heart disease is the number one killer in America. It can happen in a second and it uproots your life entirely. A lot of families travel to New York City for top cardiac care. However, New York City is also one of the most expensive places to live and stay. My father passed away after battling heart disease for nearly two years. While we were at the hospital, we met countless families that didn't have a place to stay. They were emotionally drained and financially not in the best situation.

How are you guys doing and feeling?

So I co-founded Harboring Hearts. Our organization helps families with emotional and financial support and any other types of emergency needs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brandon needs to have biopsy every few months. Without the foundation we wouldn't be able to be close to the hospital because of my economical situation.

I want to thank you in the time that we really need it.

JAVIAN: After my father passed away, I wanted to do something positive and bring happiness and relief and support to the families in need.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: So, if you know someone like Michelle who deserves recognition, we want to know about them. Go to CNNheroes.com.

And that's going to do it for us. Go make some great memories today.

BLACKWELL: It's been a pleasure being with you all morning long. Stay right here, though, because we have much more ahead in the next hour of CNN newsroom, and turning things over to our colleague Dana Bash.

PAUL: Hi, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN AHCHOR: Hey, guys. It's great to be here.