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Erin Burnett Outfront
Donald Sterling Breaks His Silence; Sterling: "I Wish I Had Just Paid Her Off"; Deaths & Chaos Rising in Ukraine; Malaysia May Search Bay of Bengal
Aired May 02, 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 breaking news, Donald Sterling speaks out. What he is saying about his alleged mistress V. Stiviano tonight. Plus, who is the woman behind the visors? One of her friends speaks to OUTFRONT.
And a massacre thwarted. Pipe bombs, guns, pyrotechnic chemicals. How police say an elaborate plot to kill dozens was foiled with days to spare. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight on this Friday, breaking news, Donald Sterling breaking his silence. The owner of the Los Angeles Clippers speaks out for the first time after being hit with a lifetime ban by the NBA for making racist remarks to this woman. His alleged mistress, V. Stiviano.
She is being sued by Sterling's wife who wants Stiviano to return millions in gifts that Sterling had given her. Today Sterling spoke, telling "Du Jour" magazine, quote, "I wish I had just paid her off."
Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT along with "Bloomberg" sports business reporter, Scott Chosnik, media analyst, Steve Adubato, and our legal analyst, Sunny Hostin. Jason, you have been following this story. What more have you learned?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he spoke to that high-end magazine, telling "Du Jour" magazine editor, Jason Binn, not only did he regret not paying her off, but he also said he was surprised, Erin, that the story has become so big. Also, expressing remorse for the way that the situation unfolded. All of this as reports are also surfacing that he may have cancer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Sterling, if a majority of the owners wants you to sell the franchise, will you sell?
CARROLL (voice-over): Donald Sterling spotted late Wednesday night in Beverly Hills after dining at the celebrity hot spot, "The Grill" with a young woman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you apologized to the players and the staff?
CARROLL: Sterling not answering questions about his team or his health. By Friday, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Clippers could not confirm reports by ESPN and "The New York Post" that Sterling has had prostate cancer for years. If so, many on his team were unaware.
BLAKE GRIFFIN, CLIPPERS POWER FORWARD: I honestly didn't know that. But if that is true, you know, our thoughts and prayers with him. Nobody deserves to go through something like that.
CHRIS PAUL, CLIPPERS GUARD: Yes, that's the first I've ever heard of that and that's truly unfortunate.
DOC RIVERS, CLIPPERS HEAD COACH: Didn't know it until just now. You know, I don't have a reaction to that, you know. I hope it's not true.
CARROLL: In 2011, a Clippers assistant coach, Kim Hughes himself needed prostate cancer surgery. Hughes telling the "Journal Times" of Racine, I contacted the Clippers about medical coverage, and they said the surgery wouldn't be covered. They said if they did it for one person, they would have to do it for everybody else. According to Hughes, the players ended up pitching in to cover his costs, not the Clippers or Sterling. As for Sterling's reported condition, until the NBA banned him for his racist comments, he was still actively running the Clippers, still attending games and parties.
DONALD STERLING: The Clipper girls take off their clothes right here?
CARROLL: On Thursday, the league's ten-member advisory finance committee made up of owners said in a statement it unanimously agreed to move forward as expeditiously as possible on the process of terminating Sterling's ownership, and plans to reconvene next week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you ever attend a Clipper game?
CARROLL: For now, it doesn't look like attending Clippers games is in Sterling's future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Pretty incredible. I heard Jason saying and he just doesn't understand why this is getting the attention it is getting. Sunny.
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's remarkable.
BURNETT: Not I'm sorry, not I can't believe this has happened, I want to say I'm not a racist, whatever he might have said.
HOSTIN: Yes.
BURNETT: I wish I just paid her off.
HOSTIN: No remorse. No understanding of what is going on in the real world where all of us live and I think it really goes to show you that he really is a guy that plays by his own rules. He is completely out of touch. And I think what is so very fascinating, as you mentioned, it's just he hasn't said I am sorry. His first words are I should have paid her off. That's just remarkable.
Let's also remember, though, this is a lawyer. He was a divorce lawyer. So he is choosing his words I think very carefully. Many lawyers will tell you no admission, no admission. So an apology is akin to an admission and that may be something that is at play here.
STEVE ADUBATO, MEDIA ANALYST: I look at this not from a legal point of view, but from a public image point of view. You fight that battle, right. Even on a day when it becomes public. Doc Rivers didn't know.
BURNETT: They all were very sympathetic and empathetic, right.
ADUBATO: But here is the thing. In Jason's report, the fact that the players had to come together and raise $75,000 because one of the others in the Clippers family also faced a cancer scare, and the owner said listen, I pay for you. We pay for you. We have to pay for everyone? Even on a day when he should get some public sympathy, it's hard for him to get it because you know the kind of person he is because what would have taken for him to do that? It was the right thing to do. He doesn't seem to know what the right thing to do is for the larger good.
BURNETT: Jason, have you in your reporting come across any -- it seems so consistent that he is a caricature of himself. Anything empathetic or sympathetic about this guy?
CARROLL: Not to date. One of the things we may have to realize is once again, this man is 80 years old and I have to say, anyone who is a person of color in this country at a certain point has probably in his or her life heard from a person from that generation saying these types of things and believing it. So perhaps he doesn't believe he has anything to be sorry for.
ADUBATO: But the federal court case wasn't when he was 80. It was a while ago.
BURNETT: True.
ADUBATO: It happened when he was discriminating against blacks and Hispanic.
CARROLL: He was still old.
ADUBATO: Buildings that he and his wife, Rochelle on the other hand that wasn't about age.
BURNETT: I think Jason is making he is a generational --
SCOTT SOSHNICK, SPORTS BUSINESS REPORTER, "BLOOMBERG: The only one at this table who has ever spoken to Donald Sterling. And of course, it was sports related. There was no recognition, this was ten years ago, that his Clippers were a laughingstock in the NBA and I was trying to discuss the status of the team.
BURNETT: And that was on a purely they stink --
SOSHNICK: Basic kind of thing. And there was no recognition of his standing and of his club's standing in the NBA, which struck me as so bizarre. So I made some calls to some owners. Two told me the same thing. He showed up at a meeting a while ago and he wore a construction hard hat for no reason. He showed up with a construction hard hat muttering about how the NBA is under construction and nobody addressed it. It was Donald being Donald and it was the elephant in the room. They all looked around.
BURNETT: There is something wrong with him?
SOSHNICK: We say people march to a different drummer. He is a little further down the drum line than others. That's just Donald.
BURNETT: When you talked to him, was he megalomaniacal like some of the reporting seems to indicate? I mean, what is the right word to use to describe him?
HOSTIN: Maybe he is just an eccentric racist.
BURNETT: You're right. Maybe it's that simple.
SOSHNICK: Eccentric is a good word to use, but I almost put detached. It almost that he wasn't partake manage the conversation that everyone around him was that your team stinks.
BURNETT: You talk about the different players. V. Stiviano, the one with the tapes. Someone approached her today on camera. So Donald Sterling has cancer. What do you think about that? And she actually answered the question. Let's listen to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
V. STIVIANO: Pardon me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you know that Donald Sterling was fighting prostate cancer?
V. STIVIANO: I love your sandals.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
V. STIVIANO: Where are they from?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Banana Republic.
V. STIVIANO: I love Banana Republic. They make nice things.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are you wearing the shield?
V. STIVIANO: Why are you holding the microphone?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's my job.
V. STIVIANO: Well, then, it's my job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOSTIN: So bizarre. ADUBATO: It's almost like, listen, we have to do this because she is a player in this story and she released the tapes. It's almost like you want to take a shower after you talk about this person. Because truthfully, she is disgraceful. She is disgusting and she doesn't have -- she doesn't even have the decency --
BURNETT: Why is she disgusting?
ADUBATO: She is disgusting because she doesn't even have the decency to acknowledge the fact that the guy she had a relationship with who she said she had feelings for has cancer. She has to play this game of being a media celebrity.
HOSTIN: I don't know about that.
ADUBATO: Why can't she just acknowledge that? It's not her job to wear a visor.
HOSTIN: So many people are blaming her. Granted she is not a noble character in this melodrama. However, she is the one person who was able to expose him for the racist that he is. So in some respect, I've said it before, she has done the country a service.
ADUBATO: Do you think that was her objective?
HOSTIN: To blame V. Stiviano, you know, I think --
ADUBATO: Do you think --
BURNETT: Jason was trying to get in there.
CARROLL: Well, I'm just saying, I think sunny raises a good point. Perhaps she just didn't want to speak to a reporter on the street. Perhaps she wants to do it in a dignified setting. I don't think we should be criticizing her for that particular comment. You know, when someone is coming at you on the street. But, you know, no one is looking particularly very good throughout this entire scenario. Not Stiviano, not Sterling. And, you know, I really go back to my original point.
I know we keep talk about that he was eccentric, he was this, he was that but I have to say, so many people are just not surprised to hear that a man of his generation. And even though you were saying he was still an elderly man. Shares those types of views in this country. We have heard it before. I'm not surprised that we're hearing it now.
BURNETT: Scott?
SOSHNICK: You got a glimpse into what it's like to talk to Donald Sterling, right there. You confronted the woman with the man at the center of this controversy you were dating, whatever it is. He's got cancer. I love your shoes. You just got a glimpse into what it's like to have a conversation with Donald Sterling. That happens all the time and you walk away shaking your head saying this just does not jibe with a normal situation.
ADUBATO: The other thing she said with the visor, I'm running for president of the United States. I'm going change the law --
BURNETT: No one is saying that she is --
ADUBATO: I don't want to give her too much credit.
HOSTIN: Maybe very clever.
BURNETT: All right, we are going to talk more about that because we have new details. We do have new details about who Donald Sterling is in his relationships. Did he or did he not date V. Stiviano? One of her friends, someone who has heard all of these tapes is OUTFRONT.
Plus, one of Sterling's former tenants speaks out. He says he was argued the by Donald Sterling and Sterling's wife because of the color of his skin.
And police say a potential massacre involving bombs and guns was foiled at the last minute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very disturbed by the amount of items that he had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: More breaking news on Los Angeles Clipper owner, Donald Sterling, breaking his silence today to "Du Jour" magazine, saying about his alleged girlfriend, V. Stiviano, "I wish I had just paid her off," after she allegedly recorded him making racist remarks. Sterling speaking out just three days after he was banned for life from the NBA. We also have new details tonight about Sterling's relationship with the woman at the center of this scandal.
According to a close friend who spoke to OUTFRONT, you're going to hear, Stiviano was not Sterling's mistress and didn't leak the audiotapes to the media. Karrine Steffans said she heard the infamous tapes before they were released by TMZ, that she has also seen other recordings, including video of Sterling and Stiviano together.
Steffans spoke to our Deborah Feyerick shortly before the show. Deborah is OUTFRONT tonight along with Steve Adubato and Sunny Hostin. All right, Deb, please, how did her friend, her friend says she didn't leak these tapes on purpose. A lot of people watching are going come on. Sell me something else there.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No question about that. One of the interesting things is, look, you heard all the tapes and you've seen the video. She said the bottom line is both of them come off looking extremely badly. Like their behavior is completely inappropriate. This was a working relationship. The girl is described as sort of his personal assistant, taking care of his professional and his personal business.
BURNETT: What do you mean by working relationship?
FEYERICK: Yes, well, she was his personal assistant.
BURNETT: So you're not talking about some sort of a call girl.
FEYERICK: They were traveling together. They were together all the time. But she said one of the things she describes in these videos is inappropriate dicey -- she says I wish I could unsee them and I simply cannot. That's how bad she says they are and both are going to come off looking very badly. But apparently the relationship was one where, in fact the reason these were released is because she was very angry that Donald Sterling would not intervene and would not tell his wife to stand down with the lawsuit she filed against Stiviano.
The one she alleges stiviano had a sexual relationship with her husband and the one she alleges she was nothing more than a gold digger who was enticing a very wealthy man to transfer some of his wealth. Take a listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARRINE STEFFANS, FRIEND OF V. STIVIANO: His tone seems very fragile. He was shaky in his voice a lot. He declared his love for her several times. He seemed distraught by what was happening between them in court, as if he didn't want it to happen. He said a few times he just didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to -- how to fix what was going on there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOSTIN: Can I just add something? I don't like to female bash, but I think to put this into context, we should all know that Karrine Steffans wrote a book and was known as "Superhead" amongst the rappers and people in the music industry. The fact that they are friends I think speaks volumes. Birds of a feather. My grandmother used to say tell me with whom you walk and I'll tell you who you. These allegations that she is a gold digger, now making out with Karrine Steffans, that speaks volumes.
ADUBATO: But that's like -- let's be consistent here. V. Stiviano has credibility issues too, wouldn't you say?
HOSTIN: Absolutely. She has credibility issues, but the fact remains that she has what he said on tape. So we can believe that.
BURNETT: Why didn't he pay her off?
ADUBATO: Well, listen that is --
BURNETT: You would think the first thing that would cross his mind is --
ADUBATO: I would argue ego.
BURNETT: But the guy clearly uses money to get what he wants. ADUBATO: In his mind, with a guy who thinks that way, with a guy who plays around with money that way and money is such a powerful tool, I have to say it. It sounds so crass for him to say that but in some way, I'm not going to say it's honorable, but he is being awfully candid. I, quote, should have paid her off. A guy like him, that's what he should have done.
FEYERICK: It was massive miscalculation on his part.
BURNETT: What gifts he gave V. Stiviano?
FEYERICK: That was also something very interesting. She basically said look, this is Los Angeles. This is Hollywood. This is what rich men do when they can't offer anything else but their money. So take a listen as to what he said. Take a listen to what she said.
ADUBATO: I thought she worked for him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEFFANS: He lavished her with gifts, you know. Be they for Christmas or work bonuses. She did work for him for his organization. You know, for Clippers and for his non-profit. She was an employee. They did, however, have a personal relationship, very friendly relationship. I didn't see that relationship as being a mistress kind of relationship. More of just he seemed very doting on her and she on him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: She explained the Ferrari and things like that.
FEYERICK: Basically said look, this was nothing to him. This was nothing to him. They worked very closely. They were spending all the time together. This is something he did to reward her.
ADUBATO: And the house?
BURNETT: And in the original tape you heard her say but you love me and I'm a person of color. She used the word love.
ADUBATO: She switches on and off as to what particular color she is. It seems to me in one case she said I'm Mexican and black. Really? Is that what you are? I thought she was something else in interpretation of her ethnic background. I thought she said in the opening she was his personal assistant and she worked for him.
FEYERICK: Right.
ADUBATO: Not many personal assistants are told by the boss that I love you in that way. They get a duplex. They get two Bentleys. They get a Ferrari. They get a Mercedes-Benz. Even in Los Angeles that seems kind of odd.
HOSTIN: It's very murky at this point.
FEYERICK: It went much, much deeper.
BURNETT: Maybe he wanted it to be sexual, but it wasn't for whatever reason. That is the equivalent of that, vis-a-vis the gifts and her dependence on him. I'm getting into shrinkland here. I'm just saying.
FEYERICK: You can analyze it all different ways. But look, they were very close. They knew exactly what each of them were getting into. They knew exactly what they were doing.
ADUBATO: You don't think she worked him pretty good?
FEYERICK: I think they both were equally guilty.
ADUBATO: They were meant for each other?
FEYERICK: Yes, there you go. It's perfect.
ADUBATO: A perfect -- but listen, I do want to say thinking a love match.
FEYERICK: This woman Karrine says Stiviano was very loving, very doting, very kind, would try to make you happy. So you just don't know what the intricacies of the relationship were. But in the end, she felt betrayed by Donald Sterling, who had given her all these things, had taken care of her and she had taken care of him. Whatever you define that as and the wife basically said --
BURNETT: The wife may be the person who is actually in charge of all of this, the Lady Macbeth as someone said with the puppeteer. OUTFRONT next, a man who says he was victimized by Donald Sterling and his wife because of his race. You're going to hear what the wife did.
And an OUTFRONT investigation, meat not fit for human consumption in our food, a romance between an inspector and a factory foreman may have caused the contamination.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news, Donald sterling speaking out for the first time tonight about his mistress, telling "Du Jour" magazine, quote, "I wish I had just paid her off." The owner of the Los Angeles Clippers was banned for life this week from the NBA after the racist comments surfaced. But this is not the first time he has been involved in racial controversy.
In 2003 in a lawsuit, tenants of a Los Angeles apartment complex, one of many owned by the multibillionaire claimed they were repeatedly harassed by the Sterlings personally because of their race. Kyung Lah spoke with one of the tenants who filed that suit for OUTFRONT today, and here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you take a picture of those two?
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The video is a bit dark and grainy, but you hear her voice loud and clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said Shelley from the Health Department?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir.
LAH: The man recording this video from 2003 is tenant, Darryl Williams.
DARRYL WILLIAMS, FORMER TENANT OF DONALD STERLING: I thought that it was awful strange that somebody from the Health Department would have an entourage.
LAH: It is because Shelley is Shelley Sterling, according to a judge, the wife of the building's owner, billionaire, Donald Sterling and she is certainly not from the Los Angeles Health Department. On the video, Mrs. Sterling goes door to door. The housing rights center claims to harass and scare black and Latino tenants.
CHANCELA AL-MANSOUR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HOUSING RIGHTS CENTER: I think it was a measure of last resort to try to claim that they were government agents in order to intimidate them.
LAH: Why? Multiple plaintiffs in the 2003 civil lawsuit against the Sterlings claimed they wanted to change the complexion of the buildings.
AL-MANSOUR: He preferred Asians over African-Americans and Latinos. He told his management staff that African-Americans smelled and they smelled like beer man whereas Hispanics, all they did is drink and smoke all day long.
LAH: This inspection part of the campaign to get rid of the unwanted tenants. Tenant says the Sterling turned off heat, shut down elevators to the disabled and stopped trash service, even refused rent and then forced evictions. This latest controversy with the clippers may reveal who Sterling is to the rest of the country. Lawyers in Los Angeles consider his past actions worse than his words.
AL-MANSOUR: What he did to his African-American and Latino residents in the buildings that he owned was life-changing for them. It took away a fundamental right that people have and the security they have, and that's the safe haven of their homes.
LAH: Al-Mansour regards it as one of the largest cases of discrimination as any housing agency had ever seen in the country. The lawsuit eventually settled out of court. While the terms are confidential, the settlement is estimated to have cost the Sterlings millions.
WILLIAMS: This was my apartment.
LAH: Ten years later, Williams remains mystified why a billionaire's wife would bother to do this, and why they would want to evict him so badly.
WILLIAMS: We rent his buildings. We support his basketball teams. We play on his teams, but he is oblivious to that. As far as he is concerned, he is like a plantation owner.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Kyung, it's just incredible to hear that he talked about how people smelled and called them vermin. The level of how despicable this is hard to imagine. And also, if the Sterlings own so many properties, and obviously he is worth $2 billion so, they own a lot, why would Mrs. Sterling herself actually personally show up to do this, to go door to door and figure out who is black, who is Hispanic, who is Asian?
LAH: That's really the lingering curiosity here. Even for lawyers who were involved in the case ten years ago, they say the same thing. It appeared to be so personal in nature that as you say that they went door to door and personally wanted to see it themselves, as if taking a census. And we're talking about not just people with one property. They have an estimated 160 multifamily units across Southern California. They are very rich. You mentioned the word billionaires. Billionaires with a "b." It is certainly very curious behaviour -- Erin.
BURNETT: Kyung, thank you. It shows how personal and deep seated it was.
Still to come, breaking news, the deadly violence exploding in Ukraine. President Obama standing together with the German chancellor against Vladimir Putin. But it is all just for show?
And a company that says it found a plane in the Bay of Bengal may be gaining credibility. Malaysia now says it may investigate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news: violence and chaos in Ukraine tonight. Pro-Russian separatists reportedly shooting down two Ukrainian helicopters. More than a dozen killed. Dozens wounded in street fighting.
And at the White House, President Obama stood side by side with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The two threatening new sanctions if Russia interferes with Ukraine's election on May 25th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The next step is going to be a broad sectoral regime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What does it mean? What does it mean for when sanctions will actually kick in?
Michelle Kosinski is at the White House tonight.
Michelle, you know, the president had said, look, there is going to be sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine. Now, he's saying new sanctions if Russia just interferes with the elections. So, how significant is that rhetorical change?
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we were really surprised by that, because we had been hearing the same thing for weeks and weeks. And there has been pressure from members of Congress. There has been pressure from the press as well asking, well, this is only going to happen if Russia full-on invades Ukraine. Haven't they essentially invaded part of Ukraine? You know, questions like that.
And then today, the administration said. This it was like oh, wow, did I hear that correctly? That there is going to be a lesser benchmark, if you will, for imposing those more sweeping sanctions.
And the question wasn't really asked today, and the administration or the president didn't really explain why that timing had changed for these sanctions. But obviously, events have necessitated that they change the plan. And we could now see this coming much sooner.
Today, it was sort of explained that when these sectoral sanctions would happen is if Russia is seen to interfering with this very crucial elections in Ukraine on May 25th. So, that's going to have to be parsed out a little more. What's going to constitute exactly interference? I mean, the situation as it stands now, if that doesn't going to change, couldn't that be setting the stage immediately really.
But we'll just have to wait and see what the administration decides to do and what triggers their action this time around.
BURNETT: And it's kind of amazing, because obviously, you know, Germany is the biggest trading partner for Russia, and German companies have been lobbying hard. Maybe they want the sanctions early so they can get them over with early. I mean, it's hard to think about the logic here.
But the White House says the sanctions have already had a significant effect on Russia's economy. True or not, Michelle?
KOSINSKI: Well, you really have to look at it from two senses. I mean, for weeks, again, the administration has been citing things like the weakening ruble, weakening Russian stock markets.
Well, we talk to people who really know international markets and that was going on already. And also, it's really hard to separate out what problems would have been the results of Russia's own actions in Ukraine and what would be because of sanctions.
But they have hurt, absolutely, the people and the entities targeted. For example, banks that are now essentially shut out of doing business in the dollar and the euro.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Michelle Kosinski, reporting live from the White House tonight.
In the meantime tonight, Malaysian officials say they may send a ship to investigate claims the missing plane may be in the Bay of Bengal. That's where an Australian company says it believes it saw a plane wreckage a month ago.
Now, this comes as the Bluefin has only days left to look for the plane in the southern Indian Ocean. It will be over.
No more searching, unless Australians and U.S. officials sign an agreement to keep using the drone, which costs the Defense Department $40,000 a day to operate.
Richard Quest, Miles O'Brien and Arthur Rosenberg are all with me tonight.
Arthur -- Rich, let me start with you, because Malaysia now says, look, we may send ships to investigate this place. Oh, my gosh, it's like something about to do the gun and they're going to take off. Like a derby horse this weekend.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: I know where you're going with the question.
BURNETT: OK, then take it.
QUEST: They have to. And before you start chiming in, we'd be the first people that would criticize --
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: No, we wouldn't.
QUEST: Wait, if -- you would.
O'BRIEN: No, we wouldn't. I would not! I think it's awful that they're wasting a single ounce of fuel and resources to go to the Bay of Bengal. That's crazy.
ARTHUR ROSENBERG, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: No, no, no.
O'BRIEN: That's crazy.
ROSENBERG: First of all, the science of spectral imaging is real. The technology maybe nonsense --
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Arthur, don't start with me on this. Do not start with me. It is impossible. Impossible.
ROSENBERG: The problem is you don't know the technology.
O'BRIEN: I do actually know the technology. I've done a lot of homework on it.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, Richard.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: It's why they have to go. ROSENBERG: Exactly.
QUEST: Because --
O'BRIEN: No, they don't.
BURNETT: Because you have the Arthurs and the Miles of the world, and therefore the only way to adjudicate it is to go.
ROSENBERG: There is an easy answer to this. This area is about 100 miles off the shore of southern Bangladesh. You send a ship out. It will take seven hours to get there. Assuming they're smart enough to bring those deep towed side-scanning sonar units, we will know very quickly --
QUEST: Exactly.
ROSENBERG: -- if there is anything there. And we will make the families happy.
And while all this is going on, the brain trust down in Australia can scratch their head next week and figure out where we're going to search next.
O'BRIEN: You don't need to send a Malaysian ship there. That's crazy.
QUEST: But Bangladeshis are also going out there to look at it --
O'BRIEN: That's enough.
BURNETT: They only have two ships they inherited from China, you know?
ROSENBERG: The whole Bangladesh navy is going to be out there looking.
O'BRIEN: They have a former British frigate. I think it's fine to send the Bangladeshis out there. It's a great training mission to them.
BURNETT: All right. Miles, Monday, the Malaysians, the Australians, and the Chinese, as Arthur refers the brain trust, they're all going to meet to decide what's next and this is a really important thing. But here is the important thing. They say it's going to take eight months to find the plane. I understand they need to buy themselves time.
But why put a time-out there? I mean, how do they even know? They don't know where it is. Their best guess so far has turned up nothing.
O'BRIEN: I think it's about calibrating expectations, you know? I think, you know, it wasn't long ago we heard the pings and thought any minute now we would find the wreckage. And this is -- again, I just keep thinking of these families and their expectations. So, for them to throw eight months out I think is appropriate. And it hopefully allows people to sort of settle in for the slog, as Richard called it a little while ago. And, you know, frankly, this pause that is going on right now to renegotiate might be a good thing. Because it will give an opportunity for everybody to take a fresh look at all the data.
You know, sometimes you get your blinders on. And maybe there is something missing, or there is something there I should say that they've been missing.
BURNETT: This is a significant moment, you say, Richard.
QUEST: Absolutely. It's significant because we have come to the end of what I describe is the very long first phase. It hasn't been successful. Now, they're regrouping on all sorts of fronts, the meeting in Canberra, the new searches, the more assets, who is paying, the families going home. We're coming into a new phase.
ROSENBERG: Well, I characterize this as rescue engineering. If your first job at engineering something doesn't work, you retool, you reengineering, and that's exactly what they're going to be doing next week.
BURNETT: Arthur, before we go, that report from Malaysia, there was a lot on it, the manifest, the cargo, the 17 minutes it was missing before anyone missed. But you found something very significant that was not in that report.
ROSENBERG: Well, if you compare to it other preliminary reports, I think the families would have liked to see and I would have liked to see some information about the flight crew. We do know something about the captain. We do know --
BURNETT: Right, but they didn't put anything that that report.
ROSENBERG: There is nothing about maintenance. The general rule is if it was discoverable before a crash, it's discoverable and should be revealed after a crash. Some of the maintenance history of the airplane, some of the meat just was not there. They gave us something which is better what they have done before, but it doesn't enough in my mind.
BURNETT: Thanks to all.
And still to come, our OUTFRONT investigation into one of the largest beef recalls in history. Exclusive details next of cancerous cows, bad meat, and an elicit romance.
And a massacre planned by a teenager involving bombs and guns. Police say it was thwarted just days before the attack.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He intended to set off numerous bombs during the lunch hour, kill the school resource officer as he responded to help, set fires and shoot students and staff.
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BURNETT: A teenager allegedly plotting a brutal massacre caught by police just days before carrying out his deadly plan. Officials say 17-year-old John LaDue had assembled a huge arsenal of firearms and homemade bombs. But a witness noticed suspicious behavior, and police intervened, discovering just how far the teen was prepared to go.
Nick Valencia is OUTFRONT.
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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John LaDue appeared to be just a typical teenager. His Facebook page showed the 17-year-old playing an electric guitar with a skull on his shoulder strap. He liked assault rifles. The list of his favorite movies dominated by blood and gore. Not so different from many others his age.
But LaDue had a darker fascination, and in a journal discovered by police at his home, the high school junior allegedly detailed his deadly plan for committing mass murder.
OFFICER CHRIS MARTENSON, WASECA POLICE DEPARTMENT: His plan was to kill his family members, start a diversionary fire in rural Waseca to distract first responders and travel to the Waseca Junior/Senior High School. And once there, he intended to set off numerous bombs during the lunch hour, kill the school resource officer as he responded to help, set fires, and shoot students and staff.
VALENCIA: The attack was thwarted by Chelsie Shellhas, a watchful resident who reported what she believed to be suspicious activity at a storage facility.
CHELSIE SHELLHAS, NEIGHBOR: He shut the door and I thought it looked funny. And normally we see people come here. It doesn't take ten minutes to open up a storage shed. So, that's why I called it in.
VALENCIA: That led police to LaDue. And inside, police found a locker with bomb-making materials.
MARTENSON: Numerous guns, ammunition, prepared bombs and paperwork documenting his plans were recovered and removed from the home.
VALENCIA: The investigation started in late March when police began discovering explosive devices at an elementary school playground. A place police believe LaDue used as a testing ground. They say his deadly plan was to target students at Waseca Junior and Senior High School. And they say expected SWAT teams to kill him.
A plan officials say he originally wanted to carry out on April 20th to commemorate the massacre at Columbine, but didn't because it was Easter Sunday and school was not in session. TOM LEE, WASECA SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT: We can either believe that this occurred as a result of a lucky break or as I do choose to believe that God was looking out for all of us.
VALENCIA: A small Minnesota town thankful this day their town didn't become just one more on the list of tragic school shootings.
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VALENCIA: CNN did reach LaDue's mother, but she was not able to comment about her son. What's also unclear at this point is if LaDue has an attorney. His first court appearance is on May 12th, he will be treated as a juvenile.
Just very quickly here, Erin, He is being charged with four counts of attempted first degree murder, two counts of attempted criminal damage to property and six counts of possession of an explosive -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Nick, thank you very much.
And now breaking news in the story we have been closely following on this program. In Nigeria, police now confirm a total of 276 girls were kidnapped by Islamic extremists 17 days ago. That is more than originally thought. Some of the girls have managed to escape, but there is still no sign of 223 of them who were taken by a group that's been linked to al-Qaeda called Boko Haram.
On the ground, Nigerians are demanding their government do more to find the girls.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a young mother. So, I can't seem to (INAUDIBLE). It is happening. It is shocking that our government has not even made any official statement. All we keep hearing are lies. Everybody is saying one thing or the other. But they are not sure. We need to hear the truth.
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BURNETT: Getting the girls back will not be easy. A source in Nigeria tells me the government believes the girls are not together anymore and that many have been moved across the border to serve as sex slaves in Chad, Niger and Cameroon. He told me that if by, quote, "some miracle", a larger group of the girls are still together, the fear is that Boko militants would kill them if security forces approached.
Another source told me that Nigerian army is so afraid of fighting Boko Haram militants in the northern part of the country, that they literally draw lots to see who gets sent on mission against them. They say the brazenness with which Boko militants operate right now is at unprecedented levels.
Pentagon sources tonight telling me they are not doing anything because they have not been asked by the Nigerian government to get involved. The State Department also confirms to me that they haven't been asked either.
Does it matter that the people are asking? The Twitter #bringbackourgirls has been used 120,000 times in the last 24 hours. People are outraged as they should be and perhaps should have been for many years. These kinds of things have been happening. It's just this raw number that now surprised them. These terrorists are some of the most ruthless in the world and are selling the girls access slaves for $12 apiece. Only 53 girls have so far escaped the horror of that as of tonight.
For more on this story, please go to our blog, CNN.com/OUTFRONT.
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JEFFREY BORNSTEIN, ATTORNEY: -- properly being handled.
FRATES: Bornstein says his client is sorry. But the owner had no intent to hurt the public.
BORNSTEIN: He takes responsibility for mistakes in judgment that were made. He made mistakes in judgment. He regrets not being better able to recognize, respond and to stop some of these alleged bad practices.
FRATES: Bornstein says his client is cooperating with the federal investigation but wouldn't discuss specifics of what went on in the plant.
Neither will the federal officials who are conducting a criminal investigation.
That has Congressman Hared Huffman wondering if the USDA has something to hide.
REP. JARED HUFFMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: One would speculate at this point that in order for there to be deception allowing the meat to get certified for sale, someone at the USDA was deceived, right? Something must have broken down in their process, too.
So, in the absence of more information, I'm left to believe that they may be they're a little concerned that they dropped the ball, too.
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FRATES: Now, the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco is investigating. A law enforcement source tells CNN that charges against the owner have, quote, "been decided." So, Erin, an indictment could come at any time.
BURNETT: I mean, Chris, it's incredible. You show that picture of the cow and how they put the fake heads on the cancerous cow. I mean, that is -- how does a cancerous cow get to a slaughter house in the first place?
FRATES: Well, I'll tell you, Erin -- cheap meat is often made from what's called cold dairy cows. These are old cows that don't produce much milk anymore. Because they're older, they're more likely to have cancer, usually cancer of the eye. So, these cows are supposed to be condemned by the inspectors at the plant. But our sources believe the cattle was processed when inspectors weren't present.
Now, fortunately, there have been not reports of the rancho meat making anyone being sick.
BURNETT: Ugh, that we need of.
All right. Thanks very much, Chris Frates. A great report there. Of course, you can see it on our blog.
And still to come, millions of Americans expose themselves to spying every single day. You may not even know it. I'm talking even those of you who are terrified at the NSA. Morgan Spurlock is next.
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BURNETT: Every day, millions of people log onto their computers and expose themselves to spies. But there are things you can do to avoid them. For that, we turn to our "INSIDE MAN", Morgan Spurlock.
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BURNETT: Are we being tracked more than ever, or are we just hearing more about being tracked more than ever?
MORGAN SPURLOCK, HOST, INSIDE MAN: Yes, we are hearing --
BURNETT: The answer is yes.
SPURLOCK: Yes, the state of paranoia we live in is justified, one, because, as you know happened with every (INAUDIBLE), we are being spied upon. People are watching us. People are tracking our every move. There's cameras everywhere you go, shooting you, filming you, no matter where you go in the building.
The bigger thing that I think we reveal in this episode is how much of our personal information we give up unknowingly, through the Web, through Web sites. Every time you click a terms of service, we say, yes, I agree to the terms of service. You're letting them sell that information about you to anyone. And that's what's the scary part.
BURNETT: I can't wait to see this one, though, because I think that's the scary thing, that we don't realize what we're giving up.
SPURLOCK: On a daily basis.
BURNETT: By just existing, it's incredible.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
BURNETT: All right. Can't wait to see it.
SPURLOCK: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: It's one of those things that might be really hard to watch, but you need to watch. Find out what you're sharing. An "INSIDE MAN" privacy is this Sunday at 10:00 Eastern, with awesome Morgan Spurlock.
Thanks so much for watching. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
"ANDERSON COOPER 360" starts right now.
