Don Sterling: CNN Exclusive; Escape from Terror; Ukraine Crisis: Rebels Claim Victory
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Sterling on the record, out loud, for the first time saying, "I'm sorry." It is a CNN exclusive with Sterling apologizing for the racist remarks that got him banned from the NBA. The L.A. Clippers owner opening up about what he'll do if he is forced to sell the team and talking about the woman he says has been secretly recording him for years.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Escape from terror. In another CNN exclusive, a young Nigerian girl kidnapped from school by armed militants explains how she managed to break free and make it back home. We are live in Nigeria with her harrowing tale.</s>BERMAN: And breaking news this morning -- Ukraine in crisis. Pro- Russian rebels claiming victory after eastern provinces vote on whether to secede from the nation. So, will that country now be split into pieces? What is the situation on the ground? We're live with the very latest. Good morning, everyone. It's Monday. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.</s>ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. May 12th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East. Let's begin with a CNN exclusive this morning, Donald Sterling on the record for the first time about the racist comments he made and the NBA's push to force him out as owner of the L.A. Clippers. Sterling sat down with Anderson Cooper, insisting he was baited by the woman named V. Stiviano, baited into saying she shouldn't be seen with black people. He called her a friend he thought liked him and he thought cared for him. And he apologized, calling what happened a mistake. His wife, Shelly, is also speaking out, telling ABC News she thinks Donald Sterling is suffering from early-stage dementia and she plans to get a divorce, but she says she doesn't want to give up her share of the team.</s>SHELLY STERLING, WIFE OF DONALD STERLING: I've been with the team for 33 years, through the good times and the bad times, and it's my passion and I love it. I guess, whatever their decision is, we have to live with it.</s>ROMANS: The NBA says under its rules, if he loses control of the team, she will, too. As for the Clippers, they mounted an amazing fourth-quarter comeback in their semifinal series against Oklahoma City Thunder, rallying from a double-digit deficit to win 101-99. Their series is now tied two games apiece. You can see Anderson Cooper's exclusive interview with Donald Sterling coming up on "</s>NEW DAY," 6: 00 a.m. Eastern, and this evening on "</s>AC360," 8: 00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on</s>CNN.  BERMAN: Now to another CNN exclusive. We're hearing this morning from a young Nigerian girl who escaped after being captured by terrorists when they rounded up more than 270 of her classmates. Those girls are still being held by Boko Haram. That is a terrorist group in Nigeria. This morning, hundreds of people, including U.S. troops, are out looking for these girls without any success yet. CNN's Nima Elbagir is live in Abuja, Nigeria, this morning. And, Nima, you were the first international reporter to reach this town where this all happened. Tell us what you saw there.</s>NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, I think what really struck all of us on the team was just how much that sense of fear still remained with the people, nearly a month after that attack. This young lady wasn't just incredibly brave for speaking to us, but she was risking not just the broader community's worries about what she might bring down upon them, because Boko Haram are still out there, they are still active in that region. We're hearing reports about their activities and their attacks all along the road they traveled, but she was also risking retribution from the Nigerian government, who have continuously doubted much of the version of events that the girls' families have been putting out. Listen to what she had to say to us, John.</s>ELBAGIR: Describe the men that came and took you. What did they look like? Were they wearing civilian clothing or military uniforms? What were they wearing?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know understand (ph).</s>ELBAGIR: But what was their dress? What were they wearing?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel afraid.</s>ELBAGIR: Did they look like soldiers?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel afraid.</s>ELBAGIR: You feel afraid?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.</s>ELBAGIR: You don't want to talk about what they look like?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.</s>ELBAGIR: It's OK. I understand. I understand. I'm sorry.</s>ELBAGIR: You can still hear that tremor, that fear in her voice, John, but what she was able to give us is new detail about really how incredibly well-organized this attack really was. She describes a convoy, effectively, of large vehicles and motorcycles and quite a well-equipped force coming on what one villager described as a shopping trip to pick up these girls. This is what she had to say. Well, she spoke a little bit more -- I'm sorry, I think we'll get to that later -- but she spoke a little bit more about what it felt like in that school and when she and her classmates were in that truck, she said she felt that there really wasn't an option. She couldn't bear the thought of not going home to her parents. So, imagine being young, alone, herded on to the back of that truck like cattle, effectively, and deciding it was safer out there in the dark, rolling through those dirt roads than being carried off by Boko Haram, John.</s>BERMAN: Nima, the fear in that girl's voice is simply heartbreaking. Talk to me about the town. Do they have a sense that the Nigerian government's response to this has been satisfactory? And are they aware of the international outcry really on their behalf?</s>ELBAGIR: Some of that is trickling down to them. They're aware of the U.S.'s commitment to help, they're aware of the U.K. and France, and actually, that's given them a lot of hope, because to be honest, they weren't getting a lot from their government. You know, we arrived, and given how far along it's been since the incident, you'd expect to see reinforcements, you'd expect to see a definite presence, but there was nothing. There was very, very little out there. You know, night that we spent with them, it was the men from the village wandering around on night patrol with machetes and bows and arrows. They were the ones defending their families because they felt that no one else could be trusted to. And it's understandable that they feel that, that you know, if on the day before we came down, that road was still compromised, John. There was a shoot-out between Boko Haram and the Nigerian police on that road in which a police officer was wounded after they had come from an attack on another village. The fact that they are able to still operate with impunity so close to some of their more recent victims, I can't imagine what it must be like for those people, John.</s>BERMAN: I don't think any of us can imagine. Nima Elbagir, thank you for going to that town to tell that story and thanks for being with us this morning.</s>ROMANS: A really harrowing trip for her team. I think it took three or four days for them to get there because all of the obvious struggles and safety concerns.</s>BERMAN: I can't get over the fear in that girl's voice as she was talking to Nima. You can tell she still doesn't feel safe right now. We want to take a look at the weather on this Monday because there is a significant threat facing a big part of the country today from Texas to the great lakes. There could be more thunderstorms, more tornadoes.</s>ROMANS: Right. In Nebraska, significant damage being reported not far from Lincoln. These pictures are amazing. This tornado and others like it roaring across the ground. Take a look at these clouds in Grafton. No word yet on damage there, but those pictures are unbelievable. This farm in Sutton, Nebraska, destroyed. That used to be a house and a barn. It's rubble now. The owners, luckily, got away before this happened.</s>BERMAN: Missouri's still in the crosshairs this morning as many clean up after tornadoes raced through an area near Kansas City. The town of Orrick, there's significant damage, but officials and those who live there are grateful that no one was seriously hurt.</s>DAWN REZNICEK, ORRICK RESIDENT: My son and I were holding each other and the house was shaking. You can tell that it was, like, the structure was moving because dirt was coming down.</s>CALEB STEGNER, ORRICK RESIDENT: I was scared. I thought, like, the whole house was going to collapse on us.</s>ROMANS: These pictures from Colorado, heavy weekend snow near Denver leading to accidents. Some areas could get up to 10 inches of snow by the time this storm system moves out.</s>BERMAN: Jennifer Gray tracking all of this and the threat this morning at the CNN weather center -- Jennifer.</s>JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, severe weather has moved across the country for</s>ROMANS: Hello, spring.</s>BERMAN: Yes.</s>ROMANS: Thank you for that, Jennifer Gray. All right, happening now in Ukraine, we're just getting the first results from a controversial independence vote in two eastern provinces, a vote to pull away from the government in Kiev and declare a closer allegiance to Russia, that amid more deadly violence. Gunmen opening fire on crowds about 30 miles from Donetsk. And it's not clear this morning just who those gunmen were. Nick Paton Walsh live for us this morning in Slaviansk. Nick, what's the latest?</s>NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as I stand here in Slaviansk, we're about six hours away from where we were awoken by a tank, it seemed, rounds exploding for half an hour on the outskirts of this town. Now, the results of the referendum here never really in doubt, frankly. A large turnout endorsing the</s>ROMANS: Trouble with Nick Paton Walsh's audio, as you can hear. We'll get back to him in the next half hour for the latest on the complicated situation in Ukraine. I mean, really -- you know, Vladimir Putin said he didn't want that vote to happen. It happened anyway. Unclear what happens next. And in fact, who's firing into these crowds? No one knows. It's an interesting chess board there.</s>BERMAN: No, and we keep saying we're waiting for the results of the election. Well, the results aren't in question.</s>ROMANS: Right.</s>BERMAN: Everyone knows what this vote is going to say.</s>ROMANS: Right.</s>BERMAN: What we do not know is what the reaction on the ground will be, and that's why it crucial people watch this the next couple days. Twelve minutes after the hour. New this morning, the man in charge of the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 speaking to CNN after months of coming up empty. He explains what comes next in this search. We're live in Australia with the new plan, next.