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Erin Burnett Outfront

Bluefin on Another Mission; Florida Ravaged by Record Flooding; NBA Owners Trying to Oust Sterling; Massive Missteps After Flight 370 Disappeared; East Coast Doused In Two Trillion Gallons Of Rain; Flood Warnings After Record East Coast Rain

Aired May 01, 2014 - 19:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Next, new details about what happened to Flight 370. Why did officials wait four hours before doing anything about the missing jet?

Plus, new video of a Baltimore landslide. The moment the earth opened up and swallowed an entire block. This is unbelievable.

And Donald Sterling's many women. We know about the woman on the infamous tape. Tonight, the other, other woman. Another mistress revealed. Let's go OUTFRONT.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, did anyone have to die? After 56 days, finally, the Malaysians releasing new details on what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. This preliminary report is just a few pages. We've got appendices here. It's got new flight paths, maps, and other documents. We have the names and ages of every single passenger on that flight.

Tonight, we now know thanks to this report that the plane was missing for 17 minutes before anyone noticed. Then it flew for four hours before anyone did anything about it. Could every life on that plane have been saved? Also on the report audio communications between the pilots and ground control.

Nic Robertson begins our coverage in Kuala Lumpur where MH370, of course, took off. And Nic, there are some fascinating new details in this report, even down to we're finally finding out how many lithium- ion batteries were on this flight.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and the most staggering of all those appendices is the one that details exactly what took place after the flight was first noticed to be missing, 1:38 a.m. to 6:14 a.m. What is staggering about it is that Malaysian Airlines' own operating control center for two hours was confusing the situation because they thought they were tracking the aircraft. They were in fact tracking or looking at its predicted flight path, not its real flight path.

So when air traffic controllers in Kuala Lumpur and Vietnam contacted them to say do you know about the plane, they said yes, sure we know where it is. It's flying over Cambodia. That information was wrong, and it took two hours for them to correct it. We now have a much better picture of the clear timeline of that flight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Included in the report, new audio of the last voice communication from Flight 370, 1:19 a.m. local time.

TOWER: Malaysian 370, contact Ho Chi Minh 120 decimal 9. Good night.

PLANE: Good night Malaysian 370.

ROBERTSON: And new details about what happened next. Two minutes later, the plane disappeared from radar in Kuala Lumpur. It would be another 17 minutes, 1:38 a.m., before anyone noticed the plane had vanished. That's when Ho Chi Minh tells Kuala Lumpur air traffic controllers it has not heard from Flight 370. Another four hours pass before a search was launched at 5:30 a.m. For the first two hours of that time period, Malaysia Airlines had been tracking the plane based on its intended flight path, not its actual position.

Something we still don't know. That mistake was admitted at 3:30 a.m., but precious time had already been lost. Now the report suggesting one safety recommendation to prevent that mistake from happening again. Real-time tracking of airlines.

PLANE: Ground MAS370. Good morning, Charlie 1.

TOWER: MAS370 Lumpur Ground Morning Push back and start approved Runway 32 Right Exit via Sierra 4.

ROBERTSON: The report also details for the first time what and who was on the plane. The cargo manifest included four tons of mangosteens, a tropical fruit, and lithium-ion batteries, which the Malaysian government did not publicly confirm were on the plane until after the search began. Also today, our first look at the passenger manifest and the seating plan. The 51-year-old American, Philip Wood, seat 11c.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: So that huge gaping question, what could have been done differently in those two hours where there was confusion that Malaysian Airlines operating center thought they were still in touch with the plane. We may never get the answer to that -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right, Nic, thank you very much. And joining me now Richard Quest, Arthur Rosenberg and Miles O'Brien. Richard, let me start with you. This report we've got it sort of spread all over the desk here. But you have all kinds of -- there are some new information. It's not lots and lots of pages. But how significant is it that they have put this out?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, they had to make this report, the first one. The fact that it's only five pages long is pretty much pro forma in many cases. It's all the other information that goes around it that is significant. But if you want to stick to strictly the report itself, the most interesting part of the report itself is that this bit here, I think. At 1:21:04, the plane was observed on the radar screen by Kuala Lumpur. Nine seconds later, nine seconds later, that radar label disappears. Lumpur notices it. We know that from newspaper reports and it's 13 minutes later before Vietnam says hang on, we haven't quite seen that plane we were expecting.

BURNETT: That crucial gap.

QUEST: That is the sort of detail. Why didn't somebody say something sooner?

BURNETT: Arthur, that is the question here. Crucial pieces of information, 17 minutes this plane nobody noticed it was gone, and then there were four hours before anybody did anything about it.

ARTHUR ROSENBERG, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: This plane went invisible at exactly the right point in the sky that you would want to do if you wanted to make an escape. What happened when the transponder was turned off at 1:21, 17 minutes later, that gap, while time wise you have to cut the Malaysians, the controllers a little bit of slack. That is a crucial, crucial time, and then when you extend this out over four hours, we're going get into this a little bit.

But this was a comedy of errors by the controllers that permitted this plane to escape. It was amplified by bad information from Malaysian ops. They use the word "normal." They said the plane was over Cambodia. They made the situation worse and much more confusing than it had to be.

BURNETT: Miles, we are also, and when you go through this, all of the pieces of data here, and I want to talk about the cargo. We did get some very new and important information there. But it's even things like the seat list. Just reading through this, we have been covering this story for a couple of months. Now and all of the sudden you read through this, you see the names again. You see the ages. You see two 2-year-olds, a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old, and it brings the human side of this alive.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: That slowed me down, Erin. Just reading that. You know, it gives face to all of this and it's a reminder of why we're talking about this 54, 55 days later. These are human beings who strapped themselves into an airplane on their way to see loved ones or go home or go on a vacation, and something awful happened. When you see the names, it hits you.

BURNETT: It really does.

QUEST: This goes to what Prime Minister Tony Abbott said last week -- or earlier this week when he was announcing the change in the new phase. The traveling public has a duty and a right to know what happened.

BURNETT: Yes.

QUEST: As well as these people.

BURNETT: It's very important.

QUEST: Because any one of us who travels, some more than others, could have been one of these names on this list.

BURNETT: All right, now let me ask about the cargo because there is -- we now have more information about the cargo and that's the attachment here, everybody there is mangos on this plane. Everything was on the plane. Arthur, we also now find that we're 5,400 pounds of lithium-ion batteries that is new information, at least as far as we all know. We did not know that information. That's a lot?

ROSENBERG: That is a huge amount of lithium batteries. To put it in context, in the United States, that would be expressly prohibited. You are --

BURNETT: That amount?

ROSENBERG: That amount. By a factor of ten or more. In the United States, you are only allowed to carry I think it's about 400 pounds of lithium batteries. Beyond that, you're in violation of regulations, but you know, we can get into whether --

BURNETT: This doesn't change your view as to mechanical or non- mechanical? This was a huge amount.

ROSENBERG: We can talk about this. I am firmly in the camp of an intentional deliberate commandeering of this airplane. This was not a mechanical malfunction of any kind.

BURNETT: Richard, what do you read into this cargo manifest? Does it change your view as the facts start to come in?

QUEST: The cargo was -- this was, I'm told by those involved that this cargo, these lithium-ion batteries, it's not like they were suddenly not aware. They knew they were on board. They knew they were properly packed. They were actually packed at the rear of the aircraft I'm told in the rear cargo area of the aircraft. So any idea that there was a fire and these lithium batteries was not an explosion in my ear from miles.

BURNETT: Was that an explosion from Mr. O'Brien?

O'BRIEN: I'm just saying 5,000 pounds of lithium batteries. If there is a fire in the back of the airplane, you've got problems, Richard. You've got problems. It may not create the scenario, the specific scenario.

QUEST: But my point being, if there was a fire in the back of the aircraft.

O'BRIEN: Right, I know.

QUEST: There would have been warnings.

O'BRIEN: They would have gotten a radio call off. I understand. I understand the point.

ROSENBERG: And the plane is not going the fly for another seven hours. O'BRIEN: All that of is true. That is very true. But you have to -- the bottom line is if you're trying to go down the road of any sort of mechanical explanation, you should not exclude these lithium batteries from the discussion.

ROSENBERG: Agreed.

BURNETT: We're pointing out here.

ROSENBERG: But we give it little merit.

BURNETT: This report was not long, but these are the new pieces of information we got. Air France, though, Richard, Air France 447, 128- page report one month after the plane went missing. We had a five- page report with attachments, but it comes to what, 20 pages or something, 56 days later.

QUEST: I went back -- well, Qantas WF-32. That report went to 53 pages. I went back and looked at those reports. A lot of it is padding and they certainly could have padded this. They could have given us chapter and verse on ACARS. They could have given us transponders and flight information region and different areas. So, yes, a lot of what we saw with France 447 was background material to explain the situation. And I think maybe they should have done. We should have had diagrams showing Kuala Lumpur flight region and all the others.

ROSENBERG: And 447, they knew a lot more about the crash.

QUEST: From the --

ROSENBERG: From the ACARS system.

BURNETT: They also knew where the plane was, which is a big difference. Hit pause for a moment. We also learned something very crucial in this report about the path of flight 370. That could be very, very important. What happened in those lost 17 minutes? We're going to actually show you on the map because it's so important to lay it out.

We also already know about Donald Sterling's wife and one of his former mistresses. Tonight details of his relationship with yet another woman.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: All right. We have some breaking news. The Bluefin is now going down on another mission. We're understanding that it's going to be refueling and heading out in just another moment. We'll let you know when that happens.

Meantime, though, the massive missteps after flight 370 went missing, that's one of the key takeaways from the new report issued today by Malaysia airlines. Now, we went through some of the headlines there, but here is what we know in terms of the flight path. This is new. It flew for four hours after its last verbal contact before anybody did anything. And we also know much more about what officials on the ground were doing during that time.

Richard Quest is back.

So, first we have that 17 minutes where nobody even noticed it was missing. Then they notice, and four hours go by before they do anything. So let's just start here with this flight path.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: What we're going to do is start at that point where Vietnam basically says we know something is happening. We're going to call up the flight plan. Remember, the plane, this is the arc. The plane has taken off. And this is the flight plan. Now, as we put this towards the totality, bear in mind what we're showing you. We're showing you the four-hour delay. And what air traffic control was doing in the various parties was doing.

BURNETT: So let's start with 1:38 a.m.

QUEST: 1:38, that's when of course they first notice it. We have Vietnam unable to establish connections. That's at 1:38.

BURNETT: All right. That's the first problem, that 2:03 a.m.

QUEST: 2:03, we have Cambodian airspace. This is what Arthur was talking about. This is where you get the Malaysian air people saying we think it's over Cambodia. And then this goes on for ages and ages. But meanwhile, the plane has now flown out over the northern part of Indonesia.

BURNETT: OK. So that's another mistake 3:30 a.m. See, almost an hour and a half later.

QUEST: An hour and a half later, Malaysia admits it's tracking it incorrectly. That's Malaysia airlines.

BURNETT: OK.

QUEST: They admit at 3:30, they admit that the information they've been giving is projections. It's not actually real information. But the plane by this stage is here. This is how -- look how far it's gone.

BURNETT: All right, 4:25, another hour later.

QUEST: Malaysia, by 4:25, now you're really starting to get into some trouble. The plane is well into the Indian Ocean.

BURNETT: The plane is heading down towards Australia, and they're asking up north.

QUEST: And air traffic controls are talking to each other. And they're saying, Malaysia have you heard from, this is Malaysia ATC, have you heard from Hong Kong? Have you heard from Beijing? Nobody has any notion that this plane is now well and truly down into the South Indian Ocean. And then --

BURNETT: All right, 5:30, another hour goes by.

QUEST: 5:30. And then you end up with it is only at 5:30 that Malaysia activates the official rescue operation. By this stage, the plane has flown down here. And not only that, it will continue to fly for another two hours. And all of this is in what I call the four- hour gap.

BURNETT: The four-hour gap. And by the way, that's before because it was around 7:30 a.m. that they announced to the world, hey, we have a missing plane.

QUEST: So, to have all of this dithering, the plane is going down here, and they are just going backwards and forwards talking to each other. And this better than anything else I think shows just how serious it is.

BURNETT: All right. Arthur and Miles, let me bring you back in.

Miles, let me start with you. Was there any way this could have been prevented when you think about this timeline? I mean, that there is so much time that went by?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yes, yes. I think, you know, a simple phone call between the military side of things in Malaysia and the civilian side would have gone a long way in either direction. Because one had a missing aircraft and the other side had a blip, and unidentified blip that they were tracking across Malaysia. Presumably, two and two would have gone together there, and they would have realized that this plane was headed in that direction, and presumably, somebody would have said why don't we go intercept that aircraft and see what is going on.

Now, if we go down the road and most of us in this panel are pretty much firmly in the camp that this was some sort of deliberate act, if there is suddenly a fighter on your wing, how might that have changed the course of events that night? That's the most troubling aspect.

BURNETT: Arthur, we began the program by asking, you know, could those lives have been saved and that's a question raised in the report today.

ARTHUR ROSENBERG, AVIATION LAWYER AND ENGINEER: Right. Well, that now plays out a lot. But it's even worse than that. Even assuming that there was no communication between the civilian side and the military side, the military radar tracked this plane across the Malay Peninsula. Somebody looking at the screen would have realized, I think the prime minister said to Richard, well, we thought it was friendly. They had no way of knowing that. This plane could have been carrying a nuclear bomb.

As soon as this plane set out for the west coast of Malaysia, they should have scrambled jets. They could have come up behind the jet. They could have tailed the jet. They would have known where the jet was. We would not be in the position that we are today as far as saving lives, it would have given these people a chance that they never got.

QUEST: And that I think is very much back to our -- to the map here. And this really does make the point. It is -- it has always been from the moment this thing began, it's what happens down here is important, obviously. But it's that cross back over.

BURNETT: Miles said if there were a fighter jet on your wing, would that have possibly changed?

QUEST: Why didn't the military? But I'm told by those people in the region that it is not unusual for civil and military radar on civil and military air traffic controllers not to talk to each other in the same way as they would say in the United States. I'm told that is not unusual.

BURNETT: Which is so shocking.

O'BRIEN: That aspect has changed dramatically since 9/11 here as well. It was pretty stovepipe before in this country. So maybe the lesson of 9/11 should have been learned all throughout the world because this could very well have been a 9/11 scenario for them.

BURNETT: It certainly could have. And it brings you back to the manifest with the names of all the people. You see the 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, every age of everybody. And you realize at some stage in life, those lives were cut short, perhaps totally unnecessarily.

Now OUTFRONT next, Donald Sterling. Tonight we are learning of another former mistress with shocking similarities to V. Stiviano. What was it about this man that brought everyone to him?

Plus, he'll go to Florida. Ravaged by record flooding, a live tour of the devastation, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Tonight up and down the east coast, millions cleaning up, assessing some of the damage after some of the worst flooding in a generation. About two trillion gallons of rain fell across the region, two trillion gallons.

This was the scene in New Jersey -- cars actually seen floating. Pensacola, Florida was the hardest hit in the nation, almost two feet of rain in 24 hours, entire neighborhoods under water.

And that is where Alina Machado is OUTFRONT tonight.

Alina, what is the situation like there?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, there are parts of this town that look like this. They're an absolute disaster. I want to show you what this road typically looks like. It's usually clear. I am standing on several feet of sand. There is debris scattered everywhere. There is this car there is also that red truck still stuck in the water that remains still stuck in the sand. No doubt that the cleanup effort here is going to take a very long time.

Now, we spoke to a man who has live heard for more than two decades, and he says the storm has forever changed his life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: You were inside when all this happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MACHADO: What was that --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was here all night.

MACHADO (voice-over): In the 22 years James Rare has lived in this house, he has never seen this kind of damage.

How difficult it is for you to be standing here in this living room?

JAMES EARL, FLOODING SURVIVOR: It's very difficult. This is my life. It's gone.

MACHADO: Ray lives in one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in Pensacola, where more than 17 inches fell in a matter of hours.

How did you know something was wrong?

EARL: I was in back, and I started up here, and this hall closet here, I saw water coming out of the door. The carpet was wet. And I didn't realize that the flood was coming down the hill until I saw water bubbling under those doors over there. And that's when I realized it. It was like a river out there.

MACHADO: It must have been terrifying to be inside not really knowing what was going to happen.

EARL: I'm a little worried. But I kept seeing my magnolia tree outside. I said I can climb that tree if I have to.

MACHADO: This is what is left of Rare's garage. You can see it's partially collapsed. It's being held up right now by a neighbor's boat.

And I want to show you snag is interesting. If you look inside the garage, even though there is all this destruction, there are still tools hanging on the walls.

Also untouched, a picture of ray with the love of his life and the memories they shared that made this house their home. How do you -- how do you move on from this point?

EARL: I don't know. I'm 80 years old almost. So I don't have too long to worry about it. I guess I'll rent some place. Settle down. Finish what few years I got left.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MACHADO: Ray and his family have spent most of the day picking up what they can, salvaging stuff from inside the house. This is some of the stuff that they're going to take from this house and then load up in this truck and remove it from here. And Ray, like so many other people in this neighborhood, Erin, doesn't have flood insurance. So he is not sure if he'll be rebuilding any time soon.

BURNETT: So sad what he had to say about his last years. Thank you, Alina.

OUTFRONT next, new details about Donald Sterling's sordid past. A previous lawsuit reveals new details about yet another mistress.

And 200 girls kidnapped, sold into marriage. A Special Report from Nigeria, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news in the case of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. The NBA advisory and finance committee has met via conference call late today. They've been discussing the process for terminating Sterling's ownership. They unanimously agreed to move forward as expeditiously as possible and they're going to meet next week. We're going to have more on that in just a few moments.

But, first, new details on Donald Sterling's other other woman. We've told you about V. Stiviano, the woman at the center of the scandal, who is believed to have recorded and leaked the racist comments that led to sterling being banned from the NBA. Now, according to the new documents obtained by CNN, Sterling and his wife Rochelle were involved in a legal battle in 2002 with another one of his mistresses.

Deb Feyerick is out front with the latest on the case, along with our legal analyst Sunny Hostin, and Steve Adubato.

OK. Great to have all of you with us.

So, Deb, you know, as we're trying to get to the bottom of who this man was, what he was like, why people looked the other way for so long, this string of mistresses is very central to this. I mean, who is this other other woman? And I know her name is Alexandra Castro, but you found more about her.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what's interesting is every time that the Sterlings sue, we actually learn more about the relationship between the Sterlings actually.

Alexandra Castro is a young woman who Donald Sterling met back in 1999. She was 27 at the time. The two began a relationship.

The information we're getting does come from a lawsuit. This powerful couple, Donald Sterling and his wife, they decide to enter into a business relationship with this young woman. It's a verbal business relationship in which she is going to show them a home and then they're going agree to purchase it, and she will remodel it. Once this is all done, they're going to sell the home and they're going to split the proceeds, the profits.

Well, it happens that they split in 2002. Donald Sterling and this woman Alexandra Castro. And then, all of the sudden, the Sterlings decide once again they're going to sell the property. So, it's really a foreshadowing the exact same lawsuit that was brought against this young woman, V. Stiviano as well.

BURNETT: All right. So the case is very similar to the Stiviano case, as is this woman similar to V. Stiviano, right? I mean, how so?

FEYERICK: Well, what's very interesting is there is always a huge age difference between Donald Sterling and these young women. They're both in their late 20s when they met. They spend a couple of years ago, break up in their early 30s. Both women are Latina. Both women claim Sterling gave them gifts, including million dollar properties. Both of them in Beverly Hills.

Castro did acknowledge that she had a sexual relationship with Donald Sterling.

V. Stiviano, the most recent woman, said no. She acknowledged that Donald Sterling was in love with her, but that she was not his girlfriend.

BURNETT: She is an archivist.

FEYERICK: Yes, yes. She is a note taker.

BURNETT: And there's a deposition he's talked about their relationship together.

FEYERICK: There was this brutal deposition that shows up on smokinggun.com. And in that deposition, Castro's lawyer accuses Sterling of being evasive and questions his credibility, something Sterling's lawyer rejects. But in it apparently sterling says, quote, "she was the best of the best, the best sex that anybody ever had."

STEVE ADUBATO, AUTHOR: It's worse than that.

FEYERICK: Yes, and he called her much worse than that.

The interesting is that in this lawsuit, basically, Rochelle Sterling said that Castro threatened if she went public with this, that Castro would allege that Rochelle sterling herself was having an affair.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think what is fascinating is in that lawsuit, Rochelle Sterling also sued this woman. And that is what I think is so fascinating. Because it appears that the Sterling are quite the unit, right? It's almost as --

BURNETT: Yes, they're in cahoots. They are.

HOSTIN: They're almost in business together. Because the lawsuit that I have with V. Stiviano, Rochelle Sterling sues her alone. In this other lawsuit, they sued together. So, what does that mean I think in terms of the future of the Clippers? Everyone is saying now there are some reports I believe that the Clippers are owned by a family trust. You mean to tell me that Rochelle Sterling is very much a part of this scenario. She is very much a player with the Clippers debacle.

ADUBATO: Rochelle Sterling in my opinion has destroyed her public reputation. When you have a second case where she is involved and says, look, OK, so my husband is having a relationship, sexual or otherwise, it's hard to be clear.

But this happened in 2002. This last case just happened before. And she sues the woman saying, I want back what my husband gave you.

Where is the public sympathy? Where is the sense that the public says you know what? You are an innocent victim here. You're the scorned wife. We want you the take over the Clippers.

BURNETT: The house is on Rodeo Drive. Million Ferraris.

(CROSSTALK)

ADUBATO: This is not with visor lady. This is Miss Castro. She got a house on Rodeo Drive. She was asked to quit her job, allegedly. Got $4,500 per month allegedly in this suit.

This is crazy stuff. He called her a prostitute.

HOSTIN: Allegedly. And he says he paid her every time they had sex, $500.

FEYERICK: And this is the exact lawsuit, in which the lawyer is questioning his credibility, whether he is lying under oath. That's a huge question mark because we don't have all the documents.

BURNETT: And you take the V. Stiviano case, and you have a pattern of behavior of this man and who he was as well as his wife and her role that makes you ask really? No one said anything about this guy for 20 years, 30 years?

ADUBATO: Sorry for interrupting, Erin.

BURNETT: No. We are not talking about a pattern of behavior that was incredibly discreet. We're talking someone who was on the sidelines with the woman with the visor, V. Stiviano. We're talking about a man who was an owner of this team for all these years with this other woman, with a lawsuit that a lot of people know about.

We're talking about a guy who settles the largest court case with the federal government, the Department Justice for $2.8 million for housing discrimination against blacks and Latinos. The point is this is a bad character that the NBA let get away with this for a long time.

And Rochelle, the wife, for her to in any way imply that somehow I can't believe this is happening to me. Anyone who lets her get away with that, forget about from a legal point of view, I respect your view on it, Sunny, she was explicit -- in terms of public opinion, in terms of benefit of the doubt, you can't give her any benefit of the doubt.

BURNETT: She certainly knew that he was sleeping with other women and buying them homes and Ferrari.

HOSTIN: The relationship has all been open and notorious. And that's sort of a legal term. But I think that that's what is fascinating.

What I also think is fascinating in terms of the bigger picture here, we know that the NBA met today to try to take away this team from Donald Sterling. He is so litigious. His wife is so litigious. We haven't heard anything from Donald Sterling because he has lawyered up.

I suspect he is meeting with his lawyers, and he is not going down without a fight. Buckle your seat belts, because we are going to see some legal maneuvering that we've never seen.

ADUBATO: That's what he says now. But he is going to be forced. He is going to be pressed.

And let me tell you something, in the end, the amount of money I think they're going to lose in this, he is going to ultimately in my opinion, he is going to fold. He is going to have no choice.

FEYERICK: Very quickly --

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: Maybe not him.

FEYERICK: But we spoke to a number of people who basically said that the Sterling file lawsuits for sport. They are mean. They're vindictive.

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: Think about it. Think about it. They're going after $1.1 million, this woman Castro when they're worth more than a billion?

ADUBATO: Yes, but the stakes are different now. They're totally different. His reputation is on the line in a different way.

Those cases, that's chump change to them. I think everything is on the line now.

FEYERICK: But they did it anyway. That's the --

ADUBATO: I think the stakes are different now.

HOSTIN: And I love your point that people say that they use the system as sport. We see that oftentimes in the legal system with people that have that kind of money. And that type of access to that type of lawyer. I mean, we're talking about very, very skilled, highly paid attorneys.

FEYERICK: $800 an hour attorney.

HOSTIN: At least, I'd like to say -- when I was a private practice, I charged quite a bit as well.

ADUBATO: Good for us to know, Sunny.

HOSTIN: But the bottom line is I really believe that we are going to see a significant lawsuit, possibly an antitrust type lawsuit. This story is not going away any time soon.

ADUBATO: Ms. Sterling is going to be a part of this. She is going to be a part of this case.

BURNETT: Thanks to all.

And still to come, a "who's who" of wealthy celebrities lining up to buy the clippers. SO, how much it is going to cost? You know, how much money is Donald Sterling going to get? Well, we have the answer.

Plus, a shocking story out of Nigeria, 200 women kidnapped, perhaps sold into sexual slavery. We've been covering the story, and we have a special report tonight from Lagos.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: And now let's check in with Anderson with a look at what is coming up on "AC360".

Hey, Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Erin. We've got breaking news tonight on the program.

Action tonight at the highest level, 24 hours after we aired our exclusive investigation into vets dying while waiting to see doctors at the Phoenix Veteran's Hospital and two other facilities, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has been placed on administrative leave the woman who runs the Phoenix hospital, Sharon Helman, along with two others on her staff. You want to hear Drew Griffin's report ahead on the program on what's being done after allegations that her hospital kept a secret list of veterans, each of whom had been waiting 14 to 21 months just to see a doctor. Some of the vets apparently died while waiting.

That's all at the top of the hour, Erin.

BURNETT: Anderson, really looking forward to that.

All right. Well, our breaking news on the NBA. It's gearing up for what could be a major legal battle against Clippers owner Donald Sterling. A committee of team owners announcing tonight they may force Sterling to sell his team after going on a racist rant.

A statement from their meeting about terminating Sterling's ownership reads, "The committee unanimously agreed to move forward as expeditiously as possible, and will reconvene next week."

Now, this is the first time they have spoken since Sterling was banned for life. And while the Clippers are not yet up for sale, some big names with some deep pockets already lining up to bid.

Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPRAH WINFREY, CELEBRITY TV HOST: Let's have a good time.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The notable list of names keeps growing. Oprah Winfrey says she is interested in buy the clippers, partnering with David Geffen and Oracle owner Larry Ellison. Magic Johnson confirming he is a potential buyer as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to buy the Clippers?

(LAUGHTER)

MAGIC JOHNSON, FORMER NBA PLAYER: I've been saying no all the time. I think that we'll see what happens. If I will be owning an NBA team some time, it has to be right situation. Is the Clippers are the right situation? Of course.

CARROLL: Encouraging news for Matt Damon.

MATT DAMON, ACTOR: If Magic wants to put people together, I'll jump in as a super tiny minority.

CARROLL: There is at least one prominent unmanned buyer from the Middle East who is interested in the team. He may have to duke it out with Floyd Mayweather and Oscar de la Hoya. Both have thrown their names in the ring.

OSCAR DE LA HOYA, FORMER BOXER: The Clippers need a face. They need a face. And what better face than my face who is a fighter?

CARROLL: And then there's this from Sean Combs, who tweeted, "I will always be a Knicks fan but I am a businessman, #diddybuytheclippers? #Nameyourprice."

The Clippers' cost, Donald Sterling bought the team in 1981, when it was based in San Diego for $12.5 million. Now, Forbes estimates the franchise is worth $575 million, that is if the sale took place now. It remains unclear if Sterling will fight the lifetime ban the NBA served him with that could ultimately force the sale of his team.

The NBA's advisory finance committee held a conference call this afternoon to discuss the next step in the process.

MICHAEL MCCANN, COLUMNIST, SI.COM: He is 80 or 81 years old and may be at the point where he doesn't want to put up a legal fight in court over the next several years. But Donald Sterling is described as somebody very litigious, someone who will put up a fight.

CARROLL: If he does, look for players to fight back. LeBron James already calling on owners to get Sterling out.

LEBRON JAMES, NBA STAR: He doesn't belong in our league. And, you know, like I said, the next step for the owners to vote and get him to sell the franchise.

Obviously, it's not going to be as night and day. You know, it is not going to be like that. And we'll just wake up tomorrow and the team is in someone else's hand. But you know, we need to get the next step going. It can't be something that we just drag on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT, along with Steve Adubato, and "Bloomberg" sports business reporter, Scott Soshnick.

All right, Jason, so, a lot of people are involved here, Oscar de la Hoya, Floyd Mayweather. All right. Are they all serious?

CARROLL: No, look, they're not all serious, but when you look at someone like Oprah Winfrey, yes, she is serious. I mean, we reached to her spokeswoman, Nicole Nichols, she basically said she is in negotiations, is speaking to Geffen, also speaking to Ellison. Geffen is also someone else. This is a man who's serious as well.

BURNETT: Why are people actually could afford to buy it on their own are the ones on the same thing?

(CROSSTALK)

CARROLL: Also, Oprah made it clear she doesn't want to be involved in the day to day operations of the team. She's going to leave that to Geffen.

ADUBATO: This is a heck of a brand to be a part of.

BURNETT: She is the face.

ADUBATO: You put it OUTFRONT, and you put Geffen, you put some other people involved in the operational side, you've got a solid team. I mean, it's a winner.

But here is my view of it, every day that it takes to get this guy out of there, to get Sterling out of there, you lose value on this.

BURNETT: All right. Let me ask you about that stuff, the last two NBA franchises, these don't come up for sell very often. We should emphasize to people. They're owned by wealthy individuals, their humanity projects, they want to keep them in the family, right?

All right, New Orleans Hornets, $338 million, Memphis Grizzlies, $377 million. The Clippers is in L.A., second biggest media market in the country, people who don't know a lot about basketball did not know about the Clippers until this whole imbroglio. OK, but now, how much higher could the value be?

SCOTT SOSHNICK, SPORTS BUSINESS REPORTER, BLOOMBERG: Let's go more recently, the Milwaukee Bucks, Milwaukee needing a new arena, $550 million.

BURNETT: Milwaukee?

SOSHNICK: Milwaukee, yes, you had private equity guys from New York, Mark Lazry (ph) bought the team. I was wondering is he thinking at all, wait a minute, I could have waited for the Clippers and I bought the Bucks. But it's a beachfront that's what you're getting it. They're not making anymore of it.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: Do you think the Forbes number -- way less.

(CROSSTALK)

ADUBATO: It -- but here, listen, I appreciate and respect what you're saying. I think you're probably right. But the longer this goes on, say he sues, but again, we expect him to do that and they delay it. He is not the owner and you can't transfer ownership.

But the longer it goes on, say, you got free agents like --

BURNETT: Well, you could lose the coach and some players.

ADUBATO: Like Griffin, you lose those guys and you can't bring in free agents. They're the ones that put fannies in the seats, they lost 16 corporate sponsors already. You keep losing --

SOSHNICK: I don't know who's (INAUDIBLE) the team. If he remains in control then it is not for sale.

BURNETT: What is the highest price ever paid for a professional sports team -- $2 billion for the Los Angeles Dodgers. And Magic Johnson was involved in that.

SOSHNICK: That's right. And that was a media play. And let's look at what's in play here for the Clippers. You've got a media deal -- a local media deal that is expiring in two years, and a national TV deal that comes due, re-negotiating probably 2x, 2 1/2 x. Two times the value of what you're getting right now.

You're in the second media market and that's why there is more incentive for Magic and Guggenheim to go after this. They're synergy with what they're already doing and they're a regional sports network.

(CROSSTALK)

CARROLL: About timing, you are absolutely right. It is a tick tock thing that is going on here. Because the more time that goes on there is more damage to the team. The more that happens, you anger players and you anger the people of Los Angeles.

(CROSSTALK)

SOSHNICK: I disagree wholeheartedly. The problem with the Dodgers was the owner, he was out -- CARROLL: The fans came back.

(CROSSTALK)

SOSHNICK: If you can get your hands on this team whenever it happens, if you can get your hands on this team it is a second media market dynamo waiting to burst.

ADUBATO: Sooner rather than later.

SOSHNICK: Better buy it (ph).

BURNETT: Thanks to all of you.

And now to a story we have been following, 200 girls still missing in Nigeria, amid reports they're being sold as child bribes for $12 each. They were kidnapped 16 days ago by al Qaeda-linked Boko Haram, which is one of the most brutal terrorist groups in the world.

Our Vlad Duthiers is in Lagos for our coverage and I asked him about the efforts they are still ongoing to try to get these girls home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erin, outrage across the country as the Nigerians take to the streets to demand that their government do more to rescue the more than 200-plus girls abducted by Boko Haram more than two weeks ago. Now, we spoke to some of the family members of the missing girls, and they tell us that they've risked their own lives by attempting to track and find the girls themselves, but have been unable to do so.

Meanwhile, they also tell us that eyewitnesses have seen convoys filled with young girls and what they say are militants on a road leading into neighboring Cameroon, and into Chad. And now, the fear is that these girls may never be found.

Meanwhile, the government is under increasing pressure to do something and that pressure is only growing as more Nigerians demand a response from their leaders, which they say up until now has been inadequate -- Erin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: Vlad, thank you, from Lagos tonight.

And Vlad mentioned protests. Many of those protests have been spurred by social media. There is a Twitter hashtag now #bringbackourgirls. It was used at a rate of nearly 20,000 tweets per hour at one point today. That's a pretty stupendous thing considering this is a story out of Nigeria that's so often goes completely undiscussed.

For all the developments on this story, please follow us on Twitter @OutFrontCNN.

And OUTFRONT next, Jeanne Moos shows us why chivalry is not dead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Who says chivalry is dead?

Here is Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's one thing to give up your seat to someone on a crowded subway train.

(on camera): But it's another thing to become a seat on a stuck elevator.

(voice-over): Which is how this photo came to pass. 79-year-old Rita Young using 23-year-old Cesar Larios as a human chair.

(on camera): Was he comfortable to sit on?

RITA YOUNG: Oh, yes, yes.

CESAR LARIOS: No, she wasn't -- she was not heavy.

MOOS (voice-over): A hundred and forty-one pounds, Caesar was moving a load for his company. But this hunk ended up hauling more than junk when the elevator got stuck at Grand Court Senior Living in Tampa. Rita began to panic, claustrophobic and unable to stand for the length of time it would take to be rescued.

LARIOS: I told her to just calm down and if she wanted to sit, she can sit on my back.

YOUNG: And bless your heart, Cesar, I can hold you up to at least an hour, he said, I'm that strong.

LARIOS: She was sitting little by little, putting her weight on my back, and after a few seconds, she just sat on my back.

MOOS: We haven't seen a human bench since Sacha Baron Cohen playing a flamboyantly gay Bruno.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come and sit on my (INAUDIBLE) furniture.

MOOS: Tricked Paula Abdul.

UNIDENTIIFED MALE: If you sit, you'd have fun.

MOOS: Into taking a seat while she thought she was being interviewed for the Austrian Entertainer of the Year Award.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Helping other people is so vital in my life. It's like the air that is breathe.

MOOS: When the human serving platter arrived --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

MOOS: Paula ended the interview.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you play it? Come back.

MOOS: But this was no joke, Rita sat on Cesar for about half an hour until firemen managed to open the doors and saw this site.

YOUNG: But I would also like to thank his mother, because she raised a really good boy.

MOOS: And here you thought Pee Wee Herman was the only one with a talking chair.

(SINGING)

MOOS: Rita says it is special when you're 79 years old.

YOUNG: When a young man comes along and offers his back to you.

I call him my special angel.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: That is so nice, and we do all hope we can raise boys who would do that.

Anderson is next.