Clippers Controversy; World Cup Countdown
QUEST: Donald Sterling is looking at a huge payday as he begins the process of selling the Los Angeles Clippers, whichever way you parse it. At least five bidders are preparing offers, and some are up to $2 billion plus, according to one source at CNN. Sterling's been banned from the NBA for life for making racist remarks last month. CNN's Rosa Flores joins us now from New York. Rosa, when we look at these numbers, first of all, let's just clear up one issue. Is he selling or isn't he? Because his wife is supposed to be having the authority to negotiate, but at the same time, we've got this very long document in which appears to be a defense. So which is it?</s>ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of very interesting pieces, and moving pieces, if we will, Richard, to this story. But let me start with this. So, there are five bidders who are out there willing to pay some mega bucks for the Clippers. We're talking offers to the tune of $2 billion. And then you said it right. Shelly Sterling is saying let's sell, sell, sell now. Let's close this deal. Well, so, who are these five bidders, right? Well, those names are a secret for now. However, take a look at your screen, because of course we've done some digging, and these are the names of people, groups, entities, who have expressed interest in the Clippers. Now, here's the interesting thing. Look at those two first names. Now, these are not in any particular order, however those first two names, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and former NBA All Star Grant Hill. According to sources -- CNN sources, they tell us that Shelly Sterling met with those two individuals this past weekend. Now, meantime, while all of this is happening, Donald Sterling and his attorney writing a 26-page letter to the NBA in response to the charges from the NBA. And I'm going to read you a quote, because this really sums up what this letter is about. He says, "In reality, Mr. Sterling is being banned for life, fined $2.5 million, and stripped of his ownership for a purely private conversation with his lover that he did not know was being recorded, that he never intended would see the light of day." Now, he makes a couple of very interesting points that I want to talk to you about. First of all --</s>QUEST: Well --</s>FLORES: -- that the NBA morals clause doesn't regulate private speech. So, what he's saying there, Richard, is OK, he's having a private conversation in his living room, he's expecting privacy. Number two, that the NBA rules limit fines to only $1 million. He asks why is he being fined $2.5 billion. But the one that I think you are going to find most interesting, Richard, is this one. "The forced sale of the Clippers causes an egregious tax hit to this family." So he's thinking, OK, if it sells for about $1.5 billion, let's say, $500 million tax hit. Now, I don't know that viewers would feel sorry for him, because that is a lot of money, but --</s>QUEST: Well, it's because of the capital gains increase, isn't it?</s>FLORES: Correct.</s>QUEST: From when he bought it for a handful of millions of bucks and --</s>FLORES: For about $12 million.</s>QUEST: For 30-odd years ago, and now it's worth -- so, it's the profit over the capital gain that we're talking about there. But here's -- the issue really comes down to, look, I'm no defender of Donald Sterling's views, so I'm going to be devil's advocate here to a certain extent. But Rosa, he has a point. These were private views, repugnant though they may be, that were said to his lover with an expectation of intimacy and confidentiality.</s>FLORES: You're absolutely right. And that is his point, his main point in this 26-page document. He says look, yes, I understand that what I said was stupid, I should not have said it. However, in America, what America stands for, which includes the right to privacy, it was in my living room, and I have an expectation of privacy in my living room. And then he adds, so this is an illegal conversation, so if this conversation is illegally recorded, how can you use it against me in these charges that they're saying? So, he's saying everything that the</s>NBA --  QUEST: Right.</s>FLORES: -- is basing their decisions on is something that was recorded illegally, is his point.</s>QUEST: Interesting things. The moment you know who's bought it or bidding, come back with some more. Many thanks, indeed.</s>FLORES: Certainly.</s>QUEST: Now, in Brazil, FIFA's general secretary, Jerome Valcke, says at least one stadium isn't ready for the World Cup. He tweeted, "Just completed visit at Arena das Dunas. Race against the clock. Still lots to be done for #WorldCup fans and media." There are, of course, just two weeks left. The World Cup trophy has begun its tour of Brazil. The national side is training for whatever fans are hoping will be a victory in the tournament. And 90 kilometers away, very different preparations are being made in the favelas of Rio. Our correspondent, Shasta Darlington, who has spent the last few years really covering this story upside down, inside out, backside and front side, and now she explores this other side of Brazil.</s>SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vibrating hips, children dancing in flip-flops, and the occasional assault rifle. Just another funk party in the lawless favelas on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. By day, even more brazen.</s>DARLINGTON (on camera): They're selling drugs right here behind me on the corner in the middle of the community in broad daylight while life really goes on around them. They're selling to housewives and workers and teenagers, while kids walk home from school.</s>DARLINGTON (voice-over): The local dealers agree to talk to us while they carry on with business. Marijuana, an inhalant containing ether, hashish, cocaine, and for just $2, crack. "This is the famous powder for 20 reals," he says, closing a deal. While buyers snort coke and lookouts stand guard, children play in the streets. Jorge says he's been dealing for five years. "I was born in the middle of trafficking," he says. "My childhood was trafficking, my adolescence was trafficking. I didn't see any other alternative." For decades, favelas were virtually abandoned by the state, teeming shanty towns without sewage systems or schools and hospitals. Neglected by police, warring drug gangs proliferated. "If I told you I wasn't afraid of dying, it would be a lie," he says. "If I told you I avoided it, it would also be a lie. I wouldn't be here trafficking if that were true." In 2008, Rio launched a pacification program to secure the city ahead of this year's World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Police, backed by the army, have seized control of dozens of favelas, expelling drug gangs, most of them near the beach and tourist hot spots. But hundreds more haven't been touched at all. We found Wagner, a former trafficker, at a drug rehab shelter. "My community lives in a constant war zone," he says. "We make the headlines every day." He says he won't go home until the police occupy his slum as well. The pacification campaign does have its critics, who say more schools and more job opportunities need to follow the tough-knuckle tactics, especially if they want to convince people in favelas like this one that police won't just pack up and leave once the big sporting events are over. Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.</s>QUEST: Fascinating story, bearing in mind that the World Cup is just a couple of weeks away. Coming up in a moment, it's the search result that Google is not proud about. We'll explain in a moment.