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Erin Burnett Outfront
Terrorists Abduct Eight More Girls In Nigeria; Senator Calls For U.S. Special Forces In Nigeria; Lewinsky Pens Article For "Vanity Fair"
Aired May 06, 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, more girls kidnapped in Nigeria. U.S. senators now pushing for boots on the ground. Plus, why did a pilot crash a plane into a home he once owned? Was it an accident?
And Monica Lewinsky breaking her silence, weighing in on Hillary and the dress. Why now? Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, breaking news, we are learning tonight at least eight more girls have been kidnapped by the terror group, Boko Haram in Nigeria, in addition to the 223 missing girls that were abducted from their school on April 14th. Tonight, President Obama finally breaking his silence on the horrific attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're sending in a team made up of our military and law enforcement and other experts, and we're very glad that Nigeria has accepted the help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: First, Vlad Douthiers is on the ground in the capital city of Abuja, Nigeria where he just spoke with the parents of one of the abducted girls. Vlad, I know you spoke to a family. They have two missing daughters, one of their own, one they adopted after her parents were killed by Boko Haram. I know that they had to travel through a very dangerous region for them to come to you. It was very hard for them to do this, hard to get this interview. These people were afraid to talk.
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. We're not naming the family that we spoke to today, parents of two young women who were abducted by Boko Haram on April 14th. They traveled over the course of almost an entire day to talk to us because they say they want the world to know the situation that they are facing, the situation that they are suffering.
What they told us, Erin, is that a couple of things I took away from it, number one, what it's like to live in Chibok right now. They say for the most part they can't even sleep in their own beds. Every night the village gathers in the bush, and that's where they sleep and that's where they eat.
Any time they hear any kind of commotion, gunshots that frequently ring out into the night air, they go scampering into the bush because that's how afraid they are. They also told us they have not seen any kind of significant military presence on the ground in Chibok or even supposedly Boko Haram has taken these young people, the forests.
They say themselves that they have tried to go. He said that he has gone out with bows and arrows to try and find his daughters, and if need be, attack whoever has taken them, and he hasn't been able to do that. We spoke to the mother and we asked her what it felt like to see the video by the supposed leader of Boko Haram, what it was like when she heard what he said, was that he was going to sell the women that he had kidnapped in a market for humans because Allah had told him to do so.
And she was just devastated. She cried and she said that she would hope that he would have a heart and that he would release them, and that maybe one of the girls that he kidnapped was going to be a doctor or a lawyer or a pastor, and that he should have a heart and let them go, Erin. Really heart breaking stuff.
BURNETT: I mean, it's heart breaking when you describe that they are so afraid in this town in Chibok, which of course is the town where the school was, that they're not even sleeping in their own beds. They're sleeping in the bush in a group that is really hard to hear, Vlad. I mean, are they -- do they think that their daughters are going to come home? Do they think that their daughters, did you talk to them about this issue of whether they're sex slaves, whether they're being raped?
DUTHIERS: We didn't go too much into detail about that. What they did stay to me is that their worst fears have been realized. For three weeks they've been imploring the world to do something. The father told us that's the reason he came all the distance to talk to us. He wants the world to know. He wants the United Nations to know. He wants President Obama and all world leaders to know what they are suffering in Borno State in Chibok.
He says they have been living a life of terror. That when they leave their homes, they have to sleep in the outdoors because they cannot go home. You know, there was something very chilling that he said at one point. I asked him if there are people who suspected that perhaps Boko Haram lives in the community. And he said Vlad, they live in the community for sure. The problem is they know who we are. We don't know who they are and that just left me speechless -- Erin.
BURNETT: That really does leave you speechless and shows people how difficult this is going to be and how terrified those people are. Vlad, thank you so much. You had the incredible opportunity to speak to a family who has two missing daughters. When you hear that story, how they travel the day just to have the chance to talk to you for the world to hear their story.
It may surprise you that President Obama has remained silent on the kidnappings for three weeks, despite calls from lawmakers and the public to speak out. Tonight during a series of interviews on climate change, reporters finally forced the president's hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Obviously, what is happening is awful and as a father of two girls, I can't imagine what the parents are going through. But this organization, Boko Haram has been one of the worst regional or local terrorist organizations in the world. We've long sought to work with Nigeria on dealing with them, and we're going to do everything we can to assist them in recovering these young women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The interview coming just moments after all 20 female senators, both Republicans and Democrats had sent a letter to the president asking him to do more. Dana Bash first obtained that letter for CNN today.
Dana, what do the senators want the president to do especially when you hear what Vlad is talking about, about a family that says they're too scared to even sleep in their own beds. They know the people who took, some of the people who took their daughters are living in the town, but they don't even know who they are.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's unimaginable. The bottom line is that these 20 female senators want more leadership. They want the president to be more forceful on the world stage and help rally the international community. In their letter, they specifically urge the president to press the United Nations to add Boko Haram, the Islamist group you just heard about that of course claimed responsibility for kidnapping these girls, add them to the U.N. sanctions list.
One of those 20 senators, though, Susan Collins went beyond, that went beyond diplomacy. She says she wants the U.S. military to get involved. Listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: More can be done by this administration. I would like to see Special Forces deployed to help rescue these young girls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now Collins says she can't see why the Nigerian president wouldn't want U.S. Special Forces to come in and help rescue those 200 plus little girls since the U.S. has capabilities that Nigerians don't have. Now other female senators were more circumspect about being that aggressive militarily, Erin, but there is almost universal frustration with Nigerian government for not doing enough, being too tepid in their response. And the hope among the 20 female senators is that the bipartisan message is really going to push the president and signal to the world that this is just not going to stand.
BURNETT: All right, Dana, thank you very much. Of course, the Nigerian government says they have been scouring the forest. The Nigerian president only spoke out 24 hours before the president of the United States spoke out for the first time.
Now one of the senators who signed the letter to President Obama, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar joins me now. Senator, thank you so much for taking the time.
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR (D), MINNESOTA: Thank you.
BURNETT: Are you satisfied with the president's response? He is doing the interviews on climate change. He was asked in each of them about the situation, and he says he is paying attention to it. He talked about his own daughters. He says he is doing something. Are you satisfied?
KLOBUCHAR: Well, I think it's a start, but I really believe the whole world has to come together on this. We've had no U.N. resolution. I've asked with Senator Kirk have asked the U.N. -- the president to request such a resolution. And certainly the letter the 20 of us put together where we asked that the U.N. designate Boko Haram as a terrorist organization is key. We've already done that in our country.
But this is an organization in very name, and I'm sure you know this, Erin, but it means western education is sinful. That is the name of this group and they have not just done this in one incident. They have shut down 200 schools in Nigeria. They have hacked young boys who go to school. And in fact, this school was shut down until just recently when these girls went back just to take exams, just like high school girls are doing all over America today.
And so I believe that we need not only our country, and I know we are now in the process of sending over counterterrorism experts, we are sending over hostage negotiators, and we are sending over people who can assist with this crisis. But I also think having the world involved here because you can't just have bow and arrows go up against a terrorist organization.
BURNETT: And as you point out, that family, how they said they're going out trying to find them with bow and arrow. But my understanding, Senator, from a U.S. official I was talking to earlier today familiar with the situation said, look, you can count the number of people that we're sending in to Nigeria right now on one hand that counts the hostage negotiation help. It counts the intelligence help.
And obviously, it could get bigger than that, but it makes you think twice about what Susan Collins said. Special Forces on the ground. I mean, what is enough? Obviously, there is a feeling of outrage. But will the U.S. eventually just say look, there is nothing we can do?
KLOBUCHAR: Well, I think this is one of these operations which could involve Special Forces, but it could also involve U.N. forces. I believe that we just can't let this go. I made this argument two weeks ago at John McCain's McCain Institute, along with his wife, Cindy McCain and Senator Heitkamp. We have our own issues with sex trafficking and young girls in the U.S. We went down to Mexico, Cindy and Heidi Heitkamp and myself, and we talked to the federal police there, the authorities. This is a worldwide problem, and we have our own problem in our own country.
If we make this one of our major parts of our foreign policy, we not only lift girls and women into the roles into where they want to be, we also help our economy stabilize. We help our democracy stabilize because this is evidence of barbarity. And the world just can't stand by while this kind of barbarity is going on and say it's just OK. It's not our problem.
BURNETT: Senator Klobuchar, thank you very much.
KLOBUCHAR: Thank you very much, Erin.
BURNETT: OUTFRONT next, the latest on the search for Flight 370. We have an exclusive new poll here. Apparently, most Americans believe terrorists have that plane.
Plus, Hollywood's top stars protesting a man the president has called a good friend.
And a pilot crashes his plane into a home in Colorado. Did he target that house?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Did terrorists take down Flight 370? The majority of Americans say yes. Tonight, a CNN/ORC poll out just moments ago show 57 percent of people believe terrorists or people associated with a hostile foreign government are responsible for the missing plane.
OUTFRONT tonight CNN aviation analyst, Miles O'Brien and Arthur Rosenberg and Seth Jones, associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at RAND. OK, great to have both you have with us. Seth, the majority of people believe terrorists or a hostile foreign government, which I thought was interesting specific to add there, right? Could be responsible. I mean, who might that be?
SETH JONES, RAND CORPORATION: Well, there are a couple of organizations in the region, like Jamia Islamia which have the capability conduct an attack like this. They have been involved in bombings in the region and certainly have the capability and intent and the capability to conduct an airline strike along these lines.
So, it could be, you know, these groups do exist. And they certainly could have been behind this. We just don't see a lot of evidence yet.
BURNETT: And Arthur, what about this in terms of the thing you stuck with the whole time, the deliberate act? Sixty six percent of people according to this new poll say the disappearance was due to action business the pilots or the flight crew.
Interesting obviously, some of those might think that some of those individuals were involved in a terrorist group because there seems to be some overlap on those two stats. But, this is -- what you think, right? ARTHUR ROSENBERG, AVIATION LAWYER AND ENGINEER: Well, I've always maintained that the flight path, the route that the plane took, this was done by some very smart people and manifested a deliberate intentional act. You know, there is a juxtaposition implicating the captain, possibly the copilot. I never went that far. But I am convinced based on the proof that someone on that airplane intentionally and deliberately flew this plane the route that we know.
BURNETT: Miles, what do you make of that specific line added, or a hostile foreign government?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yes. You know, there is a lot of stuff kicking around the internet about there's as you well know. The state sponsored terror, you know, there is some crazy notions about, you know, who might have done that or who might have been behind that. I mean, there was one crazy one I got that, you know, Russia might be behind this to distract our attention from what is going on in Ukraine. And somehow that's why the airliner is now in Kazakhstan, or some crazy notion.
But these things are kicking around the internet. And in the absence of any hard evidence to the contrary, they get a lot of traction. And people would tell you the plane is in Pakistan or Kazakhstan or Christmas Island or Diego Garcia, I could go on. And so the notion that somehow state sponsored terror could be a part of this is in the panoply of all that. And frankly, you know, you can't like everything else, you can't discount it.
ROSENBERG: And I would just add to that that within the last few days in Malaysia, they arrested 12 suspects who allegedly were involved in terrorism. And around that, the opaque nature of this investigation by the Malaysian authorities I think adds to this and has create and fomented an environment where everything is suspected. Terrorism, nationally sponsor order otherwise.
BURNETT: That's right. And we all saw the headline. Everyone jumped. And then they said, it may not be. They're trying to say it's not related to the plane. But then, we obviously, it was a significant set of arrests.
Now, what do you make of this. One in five people believe that the people on this plane are still alive.
JONES: Well again, the case the fact that we haven't found definitive proof that the plane, about where the plane is, and there is still lots of questions about the motives of taking this flight down that this, as Miles just noted, this is fodder for conspiracy theorists. And so, they jumped into this vacuum. I think that's what we're seeing with this.
BURNETT: Miles, are you surprised by that, still one in five?
O'BRIEN: I'd like to compare those numbers to the numbers of people who's watch "Lost." You know, I think this is frankly, you know, there is very little reason to believe that these people are on an island somewhere alive, frankly. And I know that's very difficult for the families to accept. But, you know, we don't have evidence exactly what happened on this plane, but there is every bit of reason to believe that the plane is in the ocean.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks very much to all of you. Arthur, tomorrow.
ROSENBERG: OK.
BURNETT: Still to come, Hollywood's heavyweights speak out against the sultan of Brunei. Is it time for President Obama to back away from his friend?
And more fallout from Donald Sterling's racist rant. Another member of the L.A. Clippers loses his job tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Hollywood heavyweights Jay Leno and Ellen DeGeneres calling for a boycott of the iconic Beverly Hills hotel. They're protesting the sultan of Brunei who owns the hotel for passing the passage of Sharia law in his country. A law makes homosexuality and adultery a crime, punishable by death.
Our Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He is a sultan worth more than $20 billion, the absolute ruler of Brunei, a small southeast country, but one of the richest nations per capita in the world. He is courted by America's most powerful leaders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This gives me a good opportunity to renew the long-standing and warm friendship.
LAH: That friendship is being strained as Brunei installs a new Islamic Sharia law that punishes adultery, abortions, and same-sex relationships with flogging and stoning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody is going to set foot in that damn hotel until he is out of it.
LAH: He is the sultan, and Hollywood protesters like Jay Leno want the sultan's money out of the storied Beverly Hills hotel. The hotel chain, called the George Chester collection is partially owned by a Brunei investment agency. Hurt the investment, hurt the sultan.
Richard Branson tweeted no virgin employ will stay at Dorchester hotels until the sultan abides by basic human rights.
JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: That's people being stoned to death. Hello? It's all economic, you know. How big an economic impact will it have? Let's find out and see. It's just a matter of doing the right thing.
LAH: The hotel says a boycott is the wrong thing, hurting not Brunei, but the locals. CHRISTOPHER COWDRAY, CEO, DORCHESTER COLLECTION: It's going to hurt our employees. And they have -- this is nothing to do with them whatsoever.
LAH: But the boycott and the celebrity power is bringing attention to the sultan's new law, a law that surprises Jillian Lauren, who says she knows the sultan like few others. She details in her book "Some Girls: my life in a harem", that at 18 she was a mistress of the sultan's brother for a year and a half in Brunei. One night Lauren says in her book she was gifted to the sultan, who she says broke his own Sharia law.
JILLIAN LAUREN, AUTHOR: I am a witness to the fact that, you know, the sultan was drinking, was committing adultery, was, you know, not exactly living on the straight and narrow.
LAH: For them to then pass this harsh law.
LAUREN: Right.
LAH: How do you view this?
LAUREN: It's maybe indicative of the way that a lot of people in power behave, which is it's one rule for them and another rule for the rest of the people who don't have so much money and don't have so much power. And that's why I felt compelled to tell my story.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Now Kyung, I know that Beverly Hills as a town is supposed to be taking action. Are they going to?
LAH: In about two and a half hours, they're actually going to be meeting for a city council meeting, and they're going to be passing a resolution that condemns the actions of the country, saying that these are inhumane laws that are going to be passed. But the question is that going to do anything? No. They have no jurisdiction over that country and over the sultan himself. And that's also the argument about the boycott of this hotel and other Dorchester hotels around the world, is it going to affect anyone who is worth an estimated $20 billion -- Erin.
BURNETT: $20 billion. All right.
Thank you very much, Kyung Lah.
Well, OUTFRONT next, what caused a pilot to crash his plane into a home he used to own?
And Monica Lewinsky breaks her silence on Hillary and the infamous dress.
And breaking news on this teenaged stowaway who survived the five-hour flight in a wheel well. Well, we just have in video of the moment he fell out of the plane. We're going to show that to you right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And we have breaking news. Video just in of the teenaged stowaway jumping out of the wheel well of a Boeing 767. Let me just show you this. We have it highlighted. He survived the five-hour flight from San Jose, California, to Hawaii back on April 20th.
So, the 15-year-old boy told authorities he was trying to get to Somalia to see his mother. She said he crawled into the wheel well of the Hawaiian Airlines jet and lost consciousness when the jet took off. Authorities believe he actually did the impossible, surviving freezing temperatures at oxygen depleted, as high as 38,000 feet.
I want to bring in Miles O'Brien and Arthur Rosenberg.
We'll show that again so you can see it. We highlighted it because it's obviously surveillance video, Miles. We have zoomed in so you can actually see the boy as he gets out.
There it is. You see him climbing off the side, and he is going to drop down. And then once he drops down, everyone, you can see he starts to walk away underneath the belly of the plane.
And, Miles, it's kind of -- this is beyond incredible to actually see him climbing out. I mean, for those who question as to how he really traveled, does this resolve that? Did he really do it?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yes, if there are any conspiracy theories on this one, there it is. He did come out of the wheel well, all right. He's rather woozy. He kind of falls and you can imagine being oxygen starved for five and a half hours, you know, at an altitude far above the peak of Everest, with no ability to, you know -- I mean, your useful consciousness at that at Arthur knows from going through flight school, is about 30 seconds or less.
So, it's no surprise he would have been unconscious for that whole period of time. He is just lucky perhaps because of his age he went into sort of a, you know, the mammalian diving instinct takes hold where you go into a kind of hibernation which preserves your organs. It's extraordinary.
BURNETT: I mean, it's extraordinary. Arthur, you were -- as we watch this again, you see him walk away is a generous way of describing it. He is sort of stumbling and swerving. And --
ARTHUR ROSENBERG, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Right. He is clearly stumbling. But you know what's interesting? Really, the only way you could survive this, it's a form of hypoxia very similar I think in profile to what they do in medicine when they're trying to prevent brain damage, prevent anoxic encephalopathy.
But also what is very interesting too, you can't -- is how he got in there in the first place, and how it was not discovered when the copilot usually does the preflight and walks around. When the fairing -- there you go. When that fairing, which is a piece of wing structure underneath that, opens to let the wheel out and then when the wheels down, it closes back up when it's on the ground, when you're looking at it right now, it's in the closed position.
So, you can imagine how a copilot walking around, unless he actually got up in the wheel and poked a flashlight in there, that is way back towards the center section of the fuselage. You would not have seen it.
BURNETT: I mean, Miles, one thing, you see him as he is kind of -- first of all, this is a 767. So this engine as he is climbing off of it, that's a huge -- that's a huge jump he is taking to the ground.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
BURNETT: So, after this hibernation or this incredible story of survival and no oxygen for five and a half hours, Miles, we now watch him climb do you think, doing a huge jump from that engine to the ground. And able to -- even though he is woozy, able to walk and move. I mean, I really am just amazed.
O'BRIEN: Yes. It's -- you know, let's think for a minute here about this walk around. He could have snuck in after the copilot did his walk around for all we know.
But this does point out an important thing. There is a serious thing to consider here. This is serious on a couple of levels. But, you know, we go through on a day-to-day basis, those of us who fly, what I refer to as security theater at the front end of the airport. And the back end of the airport is wide open.
And I don't believe we properly addressed the security that is required on the back side of the airport where the caterers and all the people who service the aircraft go. There's a lot -- it's a much more porous environment. And the fact that this -- you know, thank God this is just a young man who is trying to get to Somalia, although that wasn't exactly -- he didn't get very far to Somalia, having said that.
If this had been some sort of, you know, person with a bad intent, imagine what would have happened.
BURNETT: Well, that's a very fair point.
Final word, Arthur.
ROSENBERG: And in terms of him thawing out, as the plane came down and was at below 15,000 feet, he would have actually started to become conscious. So, he would have had a period of time let's say between 15,000 feet until touchdown, it could be a half hour, 45 minutes to kind of get his wits about him and then stowaway when the opportunity presented to exit the airplane's wheel well. Incredible.
BURNETT: Absolutely, absolutely incredible. The study of the human body. Thanks to both of you.
And now, new developments in a story we first brought you last night when we showed you these pictures of a plane that crashed into a house outside Denver. The plane burst into flames, quickly spread through the home. Tonight, we have learned the house the pilot crashed into used to be his.
Ana Cabrera is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The charred frame and a wing is all that is left of a singer engine Piper Pawnee that plunged into this suburban Denver home.
HILARIE AUSTIN, NEIGHBOR: The whole thing is just so surreal and crazy.
CABRERA: Shock hardly describes the reaction of neighbors and witnesses to the fiery crash.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just boom.
CABRERA: Especially shocking, the pilot survived. Brian Veatch (ph), also a firefighter, somehow walked way from the crash, and then grabbed a garden hose and tried to douse the flames.
Witnesses say this is the pilot talking with first responders, seemingly unscathed.
The current homeowners weren't home at the time.
MATTHEW RICHARDSON, HOMEOWNER: It's bizarre and unfortunate, but there is no loss of life. And my animals are OK. And it's all immaterial.
CABRERA: It turns out this very home once belonged to the pilot more than a decade ago.
(on camera): Now, did Brian tell you he used to own this house?
TOM MACE: No, he didn't remember. Again, he landed inverted. So, again, he wasn't looking at where he was going.
CABRERA (voice-over): Tom Mace, the owner of Dragonfly Banners, who hired Veatch, is convinced this is an accident. Mace said the plane towing a GEICO banner was headed to fly over the Rockies baseball game when the plane, no known history of mechanical problems, lost power. He says Veatch, who is an experienced pilot tried to turn back to the airport and away from homes but simply lost all control.
Mace says the fact that the plane ended up in Veatch's old home is pure coincidence. That will be proven as the investigation unfolds.
MACE: They can definitely get into the engine. The engine is in a sealed case. And they'll probably take it apart.
CABRERA (on camera): And in your mind, that evidence will then back up Brian's story?
MACE: Absolutely, yes. CABRERA (voice-over): Investigators have now taken the plane and its engine from the home as evidence. The NTSB is working to determine the cause of the crash.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: Now, that pilot tells investigators it was really just by chance that the plane went down here. He owned this house from 2000 to 2003. We're told he has no connection to the current owners.
Again, amazing he even survived the crash. He crashed into here and apparently it was that Piper Pawnee, that roll cage that helped save his life. It was designed specifically sort of like a race car because of the kind of work that Piper Pawnee does in addition to flying with the banners. It also is a crop dusting plane.
So, there sure are a lot of coincidences and a lot of maybe flukes as some people put it involved in this whole story. But amazing all around, Erin.
BURNETT: Incredible in how he was saved by that cage, as you describe it. What a miracle, and the story about the house. I mean, bizarre.
Thanks to Ana.
Well, Donald Sterling has just cost someone their job. The NBA announcing tonight that Los Angeles Clippers President Andy Roeser is out, taking an indefinite leave of absence. It's what they're calling it. The league says it's to allow the team's new CEO to begin with a clean slate.
But the NBA may be getting a little ahead of itself because, you know, to have a CEO and all, you have to have a new owner. And Sterling, of course, is still the owner, and may be putting together a powerful legal attack against the NBA.
We've got Sunny. We've got Don. We've got Deb Feyerick.
And we begin with Deb Feyerick OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEB FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If he has any chance of keeping this, Clippers owner Donald Sterling has to fight this.
DONALD STERLING, CLIPPERS OWNER: And don't bring them into my games.
FEYERICK: And he is going to need a go for the jugular, no holds barred lawyer, the kind who defends clients like embattled celebrity chef Paula Deen, after she was caught using a racial slur in 2013.
PAULA DEEN, CELEBRITY CHEF: I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I've done.
FEYERICK: That lawyer, according to TMZ Sports, is Patty Glaser, who would not confirm she is working for Sterling, but who is certainly a logical case. Glaser got the racial charges that nearly destroyed Deen's career thrown out.
Glaser also successfully defended Kelsey Grammer. A grand jury refused to indict the "Frazier" star in 1995 after he was accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He doesn't want to be treated specially because he is a celebrity, but he doesn't want to be penalized for it either.
FEYERICK: And Glaser also successfully represented Conan O'Brien in 2010 during contract talks when he left as host of "The Tonight Show."
CONAN O'BRIEN, COMEDIAN: How can I get NBC to screw me over?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he comes in there and represents the interests of the trust, I think she is on much more solid legal ground than if she comes in and just represents Sterling.
FEYERICK: And it's not just Glaser. CNN has learned Sterling is talking to a number of high profile lawyers. One of the first orders of business for any lawyer Sterling potentially hires in the NBA action will likely be figuring out whether the tapes were recorded legally under California law. Secondly, whether it's legal to force the sale of such a valuable team.
L.Z. GRANDERSON, ESPN SR. WRITER: The players association for the league needs to start thinking about the contingency plan. What are you going to do for those Clippers players who no longer who want to play for a man profiting off of their abilities and skills and talents?
FEYERICK: Strategically, some experts say Sterling's lawyers could hire investigators to dig up dirt on the opposition, one-time friends, now potential enemies.
DANNY CEVALLOS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: These owners may have to give up information that they may not want out there in the public. That's why part of any litigation is about whether or not Donald Sterling will win. But part of it also is what do the other parties have to lose if this case goes to litigation?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: That's a crucial question. Deb, of course, is here with our legal analyst Sunny Hostin and Don Lemon.
What about the point, Deb, just raised? This issue of OK, this is all on tape. What if in California's state where if I tape you, you have to agree to it for it to be admissible in court to be used in any kind of a legal case. What if it turns out this wasn't done with his approval? Then, all day, is there a case at all?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think there's a case against V. Stiviano. I don't think that is going to have any bearing on the NBA case.
But when I read the NBA constitution, I don't think they're on strong legal footing, actually. I mean, I think this is unprecedented. We're in really unprecedented territory in sports law. And that NBA constitution seems a little squishy to me when it comes to being able to force someone to sell their team.
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A case against V. Stiviano. What are you going to get, a couple visors?
(CROSSTALK)
FEYERICK: TMZ, which is really driving this story, they're the ones who got the audiotape initially, now they're reporting that, in fact, V. Stiviano, the alleged girlfriend is under investigation by the D.A. for possible extortion.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: -- for handing over a tape.
FEYERICK: Whether in fact those tapes were recorded with Donald Sterling's consent, and if so, why? Was she asking anything from him because he said --
HOSTIN: It's already public, though.
LEMON: Right.
HOSTIN: And the NBA can act on it.
FEYERICK: He said I should have just paid her off.
LEMON: But that's separate and apart.
FEYERICK: Did he pay her off or did he basically say? Who knows?
LEMON: But the NBA case is separate and apart.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: So, let's just -- say there is a case against her. Say she did this and she wasn't allowed to do it. So she gets sued. But you're right. It's out in the public domain. Everybody knows, and he didn't deny it, right, as Adam Silver of the NBA.
But then forcing, what point are you try to make about squishy ground? Are they not going to be able to force him to sell?
HOSTIN: I think it's unclear. I really think it's unclear. And again like I said, uncharted territory, no one has ever done this before. The NBA constitution just became public.
So, all the legal geeks like me were poring over this, and I can't find a precedent that says you can do this on this basis. We're not talking about a financial basis where he is running the game into the ground. We're talking about statements made arguably during a private conversation that show that he is probably a raging bigot and racist. I don't know that that's -- LEMON: I think if it doesn't work with the NBA contract, I don't think he'll have a team, because as one attorney said, they will claim a hostile work environment.
HOSTIN: They will.
FEYERICK: The team will walk out.
LEMON: He won't have anybody to work with.
HOSTIN: They all have contracts.
LEMON: They will win under the hostile work environment.
HOSTIN: We don't know.
LEMON: I don't want to work for this person because of hostile environment.
FEYERICK: Here's another issue, the greater issue is this -- that we don't know exactly how this ownership breaks down, whether it's only Donald Sterling, whether it's his wife Shelley, whether it's owned by the Sterling family trust. And trusts are created for sole purpose of making sure principal and property is not taken away from the family.
HOSTIN: Yes, thank you for saying that.
FEYERICK: The way it's worded, they may say, look, this team is protected and should something happen, they're going to separate. It's going to go to another family member. That's exactly what a trust does.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I asked Jeffrey Toobin specifically about that and he has much more confidence in the NBA.
HOSTIN: Let me agree with you, OK?
LEMON: He says it doesn't matter if there is a trust, it doesn't matter anything, the bylaws are specific. He has no legal recourse outside of the NBA.
HOSTIN: Totally wrong. I want to mention something --
LEMON: He is not here to defend himself.
HOSTIN: He's totally wrong, too. You know you're wrong.
One thing that I think is interesting to Deb's point is this family trust, right? Everyone initially said Shelly Sterling wasn't a player. I want to read her little statement that she just gave because I thought it was so fascinating. She said, "As a co-owner, I am fully committed to taking the necessary steps to making the Clippers the best team in the NBA." She goes on the say, "That has been my aspiration since 1981." Guess what, everyone? What does that mean? I have been the owner, everyone, since 1981.
(CROSSTALK)
FEYERICK: Not only that, because you raised this point, which she is the Lady Macbeth in all of this.
BURNETT: She is.
FEYERICK: And it was fascinating. Even with Silver who is a very smart man, this is going to be a dogfight between the NBA and -- but also, she said we welcome his active involvement. As if, you know, we're so on top of this, and we are going to make this right.
BURNETT: She is making it clear. It's always the woman. It's always when there is a man --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Nobody wants you in front of the team. Nobody wants you there.
BURNETT: It's always a woman running things.
HOSTIN: It is.
FEYERICK: Every successful man has a successful woman behind him.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Thanks for legal advice.
LEMON: I was on a show with Jeff Toobin and I asked him about the trust.
BURNETT: We're going to leave there it because Toobs is not here.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT next, Monica Lewinsky breaks her silence about the Clintons. I bet she wishes she had had adviser back in the day. Well, tonight, how she really feels about Hillary.
And a major cover-up in Times Square. This one will not disappoint.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Monica Lewinsky opening up about her affair with then- President Clinton.
In an essay for "Vanity Fair" titled "Shame and Survival", Lewinsky maintains even though she was an intern, the affair was between two consenting adults. Writing, quote, "Sure, my boss took advantage of me, but I will always remain firm on this point. It was a consensual relationship. Any abuse came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position."
OUTFRONT, Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian, and CNN political commentator Hilary Rosen.
All right. Douglas, why is she doing this now?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, you know, I think if she did it any closer to the election in 2016, it would cause more of a ruckus. The timing seems right. She was going to come up. Hillary Clinton is the biggest politician going in America right now so she wrote I think a very sensible essay saying where she's at and what she's done.
The key word there is survival. She survived being Monica Lewinsky and I think people will find the article interesting.
BURNETT: I certainly found it interesting, Hillary. I mean, you went through all of this. Why do you think she's doing it right now? Do you agree it's sensible and the appropriate time to do it?
HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I guess I'd rather she do it now than wait a year or two. Look, my guess is this has been, you know, rough on her the last couple of years, but, you know, it's -- the country is salaciously interested in this, but I don't think very politically interested in this. So, I'm not sure it will matter that much.
BURNETT: Well, let me ask about that, because Lewinsky also wrote, "Yes, I get it. Hillary Clinton wanted on record that she was lashing out at her husband's mistress. She may have faulted her husband for being inappropriate. But I find her impulse to blame the woman, not only me, but herself, troubling."
It's an interesting point she raises. You have people like Rand Paul out there trying to make this an issue yet again. Do you think this could become an issue for Hillary Clinton?
ROSEN: You know, Hillary Clinton is worrying more about the Nigerian girls that she has about Monica Lewinsky.
BURNETT: Well, she hasn't spoke about that yet. Maybe tomorrow.
ROSEN: I just don't think she's thinking about this. I think, you know, there's been presumptions about what Hillary thinks because of the notes of her, you know, now deceased friend, you know, Diane Blair. But we don't really know what Hilary thought at the time. We just know what someone thought she thought. So, you know, this like multiple sort of analysis about her view of it, I think it doesn't make sense and I just don't think she's going to address it.
BURNETT: Douglas, I want to read something else. She wrote about how she compared herself to Tyler Clemente. I don't know if you remember him, but the Rutgers freshman who committed suicide in 2010 because of bullying. She said his death had an impact on her but also her mother, who was afraid that Lewinsky would take her own life as a young adult because of this, which I found really powerful. And this is how she wrote. She wrote, "I too was suicidal. The shame, the scorn and the fear that had been thrown at her daughter left her afraid that I would take my own life, a fear that iw would be literally humiliated to death."
What do you make of that comparison?
BRINKLEY: Well, I think it is moving and it's about global humiliation. I mean, she was really the first big Internet scandal. The Drudge Report is the one who broke it and she became like an insect in a jar in the 1990s. Everybody was shaking Monica Lewinsky up.
She was really kind of pulverized by Republicans, by Clinton Democrats, by the media, and I was touched a few years ago. Christopher Hitchens (ph), who died recently, a friend of mine, received a letter from Monica Lewinsky, thanking Hitchens, he used to write for "Vanity Fair", for defending her, the only major journalist defending her in any way and going after the house of Clinton a little bit.
So I think that might be a reason why she decided to do this in the "Vanity Fair" publication. Hitchens was a hero to her.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thanks very much to both of you and, of course, that full essay is coming out later this week on "Vanity Fair."
Still to come, cowboys and underwear. The most famous cowboy making the most incredible choice. Jeanne Moos is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: So, the man known only as the naked cowboy has entertained tourists in Times Square for ages. Now, the fruits of his labor have paid off in a big way.
For more, here's someone who knows him very intimately, Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT BURCK, THE NAKED COWBOY (singing): Well, I'm the naked cowboy --
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's still the naked cowboy, but he has finally changed his briefs. Remember how he strutted around Times Square in his tighty whiteys?
BURCK: In my boxer briefs, Fruit of the Loom is the sponsor of my cheeks --
MOOS: After all those years of freezing his butt off, going into a car in a parking garage to change into his skivvies and posing for tips --
BURCK: All right. Don't touch the squishy parts. MOOS: He's ditched his olds uniform.
And if you ask the naked cowboy --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it boxers or briefs?
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: Usually briefs.
MOOS: It's boxer briefs for this cowboy.
BURCK: It's funny because they said are you willing to change your underwear? I'm like, you think I wore the same pair for 12 years?
MOOS (on camera): Let's see them.
(voice-over): His old tighty whiteys are now blushing red.
BURCK: Easy, buddy. Watch that thing.
MOOS: Fruit of the Loom touts their no ride-up leg.
(on camera): You've come a long way.
(voice-over): Robert Burck started out putting tips in his boots on a shoe string budget.
BURCK: I like to call it a G-string budget.
MOOS: Now, he's got deals ranging from naked cowboy oysters to Fruit of the Loom.
(on camera): He's contractually obligated to wear them how long?
LINDSAY PORTER, FRUIT OF THE LOOM: The better part of six months or so.
MOOS (voice-over): Folks waiting in line to pose with him.
BURCK: Let's keep it professional, folks.
MOOS: Seem to like the longer leg.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little bit more coverage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It leaves a little more to the imagination.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: It's flexible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ain't taking no picture of no man in underwear.
MOOS (on camera): But you're in line to take a picture of a man in underwear.
(voice-over): Photos were shown on a billboard high above Times Square. Does he miss his boys' size medium tighty whiteys?
BURCK: And actually these, feel liberated in them. You know, I think they're probably healthier.
MOOS: Turns out the naked cowboy used to wear two pair of Hanes.
BURCK: This is my underwear. This is my outerwear.
MOOS: Once got arrested in Indianapolis and learned that without two pairs.
BURCK: It could be considered indecent exposure.
MOOS: In the 13 years since we first interviewed him, his face hasn't changed much, but his underwear has.
(on camera): Not everybody gets to do that. Maybe they do.
BURCK: Only the best. Only the best.
MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN --
BURCK: I finally changed my underwear, folks, now shouldn't you --
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: And, Jeanne, as I said, she knows him well, can report that the cowboy only needs to wear one layer of underwear now, he's in boxer briefs.
Thanks for watching. Anderson is next.
