witness pope john xxiii and pope john paul ii become saints. we'll have more on that in a moment. first we want to start with the controversy getting attention outside the nba, the root of it, but the athletes, fans and politicians including president obama. today during his visit to malaysia he spoke out about the firestorm in the u.s. this man, donald sterling, the long-time owner of the l.a. clippers, he's at the center of this. the team is a contender for the nba championship. sterling is not the focus because of that, but instead because of some remarks he's accused of making, some racial remarks. >> very slander ous racial remarks. sterling's alleged comments, they're part of a conversation with his girlfriend made public by tmz and allegedly sparked after his girlfriend posted a

picture with magic johnson. please let me forewarn you, i know it's sunday morning. you have kids in the room. some of this language here is indeed offensive. here we go. >> i saw someone admire -- i admire magic johnson. >> okay. good. >> he's made a lot of changes for his community, for the world, for the people, for the minorities. he's helped a lot of people. >> why are you forcing this down my throat? i'm finished talking to you. i have nothing more to say. >> i took a picture with someone i admire. >> good. and he happens to be black and i'm sorry. >> i know him well and he should be admired. i'm just saying you can't admire him privately. and during your entire [ bleep ] life. bring him here, feed him, [ bleep ] him. i don't care. but don't put it on the internet so the world has to see so

people have to call me. don't bring him to my games. >> as you can imagine, the comments are pouring in even from the president of the united states. here is what president obama said during his malaysia stop of the asian tour. >> when ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything. you just let them talk. that's what happened here. >> magic johnson, the subject of part of sterling's rant, airing his thoughts on twitter, causing the remarks a, quote, black eye for the northbound. adding my wife and i will never go to a clippers game again as long as donald sterling is the owner. >> another nba hall of famer and tnt sports host charles barkley says adam silver should not wait to take action against sterling. >> this is the first test of adam silver. he's got to suspend him right now.

>> so let's go to oakland, california, where cnn's dan simon has more on the nba's response here. dan, good morning to you. what are they saying? >> well, good morning. first of all, some think the clippers should boycott this game this afternoon. coach doc rivers said it was discussed in the locker room and quickly dismissed. he said the play will be the protest. in terms of what the nba commissioner is saying, he said, number one, they need to determine that, one, the tape is authentic, and number two, try to understand the context in which these highly offensive comments were made. take a look. >> the audio recording posted by tmz is truly offensive and disturbing. we intend to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible. all members of the nba family should be afforded due process and a fair opportunity to

present their side of any controversy which is why i'm not yet prepared to discuss any potential sanctions against donald sterling. >> well, silver says that sterling will have his due process and that the investigation will take place quickly. that, of course, is going to need to happen because right now you're seeing this major uproar across the nba. so this investigation he says will take place in an expedited manner. victor, christi. >> one of the clippers' players, chris paul, one of the top players in the league, he's also president of the players association. what are we hearing from him? >> well, he actually issued a statement, and we have a full screen of that, and i'll read it to you. it says, on behalf of the national basketball players association, this is a very serious issue which' eel address aggressive live. we have asked mayor kevin johnson to expand his

responsibilities with the nbpa to determine our response and our next steps. this game is take place at 3:30 pacific time. it's going to be very interesting to see how the players react. they're going to have to do something, one would think. of course, they're going to be playing this game, not going to boycott it. you wonder if there's going to be some sort of symbolic gesture at least at the beginning of the game or at least the end. victor, christi? >> dan simon, thank you so much. we know nba commissioner adam silver is not ready to disclose what punishment could be handed down to clippers owner don sterling. he did say the league has broad powers to decide what to do. >> for that part of the story we're joined by andy shoals. what are their powers? could they remove him, do they fine him? >> highly unlikely he'll be removed as owner of the clippers.

the nba constitution, while it's confidential, no one knowing exactly what is in there, but the only way you can remove an nba owner is if they basically go broke and can't pay their bills. we saw that happen with the new orleans pelicans where the nba took over the team and ended up selling them. there's no -- apparently no language in there to remove an owner based on his behavior like we're seeing now with donald sterling allegedly. what's likely to happen here is a hefty fine and suspension. no nba owner has ever been suspended. that would be the first time that would happen. donald sterling is reportedly worth about $1.5 billion. so that's not going to mean anything. if he's suspended indefinitely, maybe all of next season, he's in his early 80s. he doesn't have much basketball left to watch. that's the scenario, fine and suspension. >> you still own the team and reap the rewards of the black players running up and down the court. >> you know what the nightmare scenario would be i think for

the nba, i hate to say if, but if the clippers won the nba. >> and you have to hand the mic to done sterling. >> right when the team wins, the first person to get the troef fi is the owner. >> what if that changes? what if they don't allow that to happen? it sounds like when you listen to the tapes image is everything to these guys. >> doc rivers said these players have worked -- this is what they dream for, to win an nba championship. that's why they're not going to boycott the games. their playing for themselves and playing for the fans. it's definitely an interesting dynamic because you know they don't want to win a championship for donald sterling. >> they go out and win it for themselves, for the fans, you hand the mic to one of the players or somebody else. >> clippers fans have been waiting a long time, a long time. >> they were the running joke of the nba for nearly 20 years, losing 50-plus games every year. clippers fans have had it worse

probably than any team in league history. now they've got the best team they've had in forever. you hate to see this story taking away from the team. they're playing probably the best out of all the western conference teams. legitimate chance to win an nba championship and now we have to talk about this. such a distraction, game four today at 3:30 against the warriors. see what happens. >> andy scholes, thank you so much. we have to talk about the 50 thank you ukrainian troops surrounding a key city held by pro-russian troops. is the crisis in the region headed toward a military face-off. we can't get away with that question. >> also, pope francis greets the crowds in vatican city. millions gather to celebrate two new saints in the catholic church. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, like me,

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russia has not lifted a finger to help. in fact, there's strong evidence that they have been encouraging the kinds of activities that have been taking place. >> that's president obama there speaking in malaysia overnight. the president said the world is united against russia in its actions against ukraine. >> the tension between kiev and pro-russian separatists in eastern ukraine it is heating up. russian state news is claiming kiev mobilized 15,000 troops in the suburbs of slavyansk to, and this is a quote, wipe out the city and its residents. >> on the russian side of the

border there are 40,000 troops conducting military exercising according to moscow. cnn's phil black is live in kiev. are the claims of what's going on on the border in slavyansk true? >> reporter: we've certainly seen a buildup of the ukrainian military over the last week or so. we can't say for sure whether this 15,000 figure claim is true. we haven't seen anything to support that. we have seen more ukrainian military, set up more roadblocks around the town of slavyansk. definitely an uptick in the ukrainian government is seeing the next phase against the pro-russian separatists. definitely more ukrainian military, but not on the scale that is alleged to exist across the border in russia where, as you say, russia is still thought to have somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 troops.

>> phil black in kiev, thank you so much. meanwhile millions of people around the world are celebrating the two new saints in the catholic church this morning. >> a member of the cnn team is there and we'll have his impression of the historic day just ahead. i'm m-a-r-y and i have copd.

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vatican city. i almost still said good morning. almost a million people made the pilgrimage for the canonization ceremony this morning. our vatican analyst john allen describes it as, quote, catholic mardi gras on steroids. >> you know who really enjoyed this? pope francis, taking to the popemobile after the canonization. riding among the crowd there. you see him waving, accepted a few items from folks in the crowd. >> they're saying as many as 800,000 people packed into vatican square and the surrounding streets alone. that, of course, joining the millions of faithful around the world celebrating today. this is his any the making we're watching here. let's talk about that with crossfire host newt gingrich who is in vatican city to witness today's canonization. >> newt, we saw it on cnn. tell us some of the things we

did not see and more importantly, what was the feeling there? >> well, i think first really big moment was when pope benedict came out. people were not totally sure he would show up. you suddenly realize you're in a doubly unique moment. the canonization of two popes on the same day and two popes being present for the canonization. in many way this is is a tale of four popes. i think the whole crowd responded immediately when pope benedict showed up. that was sort of the first big wave of excitement, if you will. second, the scale of the crowd, the enthusiasm of the crowd, particularly the number of people from poland who had come where pope john paul ii is a national hero for helping liberate them from the soviet empire. think of it as a million people around the vatican and another billion-plus people around the world all paying attention to this particular event.

in that sense it was -- you had a feeling that you were a part of history in a way that very seldom happens. >> newt, was there anything in particular that pope francis said that resonated with you or with the crowd there? >> first of all, i think just going through -- realizing you're sitting here and they go through the formal process of saying, the recommendation is there, it is now up to you. and the pope then says, i am not cannonizing john 23rd. they both become saints at that moment. the language changes immediately. both of their tombs will change immediately. you realize that you were there at the moment that it happened. the crowd was really deeply into this event and really felt that they were being allowed to participate in history. if you saw the size of the

diplomatic delegation, including that from the white house, there were people from all over the world who had come for this canonization, and that really again gave some sense of the importance of it. i also think to a peculiar degree, pope francis is the right person to have done this. in many ways he has the simplicity and the directness and the love for people that john xxiii had. john paul ii really accelerated. in many ways this was the perfect pope to pre size over this. i think you had that feeling from the crowd. the enormous affection in the catholic church for what pope francis is doing and for pope francis as a person, this sense that this man is really trying to reach the heart of everyone and is doing it in very direct and very simple ways that are

very, very effective. >> many correlations that can be drawn between those canonized today and the two popes who were there for the event. newt gingrich, we appreciate it. >> enjoy yourself, sir. thank you so much. >> good to be with you. >> you, too. boy, i hate to go from that to what we have to talk about next. but you need to know about these tornadoes that are ripping across north carolina this weekend. they're knocking out power. look at the pictures we're getting in. flipping over homes and the threat may not be over. >> we'll have your severe weather forecast. stay with us. vo: once upon a time

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26 minutes past the hour. new this morning president obama is defending the malaysian government's handling of the flight 370 investigation which is a flip from what most people are doing with all the criticism out there. >> exactly. earlier today at a joint news conference he says he believes the malaysian government has been forthcoming with the information to the u.s. he also vowed to provide assistance and support to that search. meanwhile the high-tech

robot bluefin-21 is scouring the ocean floor. so far not a single piece of debris has been found. also this morning, violence in ukraine escalates. president obama is calling on the international community to stand together against russia. >> earlier today the president said countries have to be united if sanctions are going to work. i want to bring in cnn ""state of the union"" host candy crowley. >> good morning. >> russia seems unfazed by the threat of sanctions. do you think the president's tough talk is going to work? >> i think probably what the president is focused on now is the general art of persuasion. it's interesting to me that he's not sending messages to russia right now. he's sending messages to allies. that says to me that they're still working on getting western europe in particular united fully behind the next step in

sanctions, to more directly say does tough talk work? not unless it's followed up by tough action and the white house says we've got more sanctions ready to go, but again, he's going to have to convince allies to come on board. >> who else are you talking to this morning, candy? >> we'll be talking to a member of the president's national security team and also with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, middle east peace talks, secretary kerry has been at it for nine months pretty intensively they've fallen apart over the palestinian decision to unite the two factions. this has caused benjamin netanyahu to walk away from it. >> candy crowley, thank you so much. you can catch "state of the union" today, 9:00 a.m. eastern. also, you need to know this weekend and probably most of the week about the powerful string

of tornadoes that ripped across eastern north carolina this weekend. thus far left about 200 homes damaged or destroyed. even more severe weather could be on the way. >> karen maginnis, what do you know at this hour? >> we have thunderstorms across oklahoma city. they expected to run a marathon. now severe weather expected to move across the region. it looks like they'll run the marathon after the weather moves through. we have several severe thunderstorm watches which have been issued. today the risk for dangerous, maybe deadly weather is in store right across the central u.s. we'll keep you updated throughout the day. >> we appreciate it, karen. you all go make some great memories today. we're glad you shared it with us. "state of the union" with candy crowley starts at the top of the hour. right now stay tuned for "inside politics" with john king.

hillary clinton offers advice to women of all ages and maybe to herself. >> there are times in all of our lives when we're either given an opportunity or we see one that we can seize and we get nervous, we worry. >> does she worry about mounting conservative criticism she's too old to be president. if she's grandma hillary, why didn't anybody label this guy grandpa mit. in washington speaker boehner blames obama for the immigration deadlock. back home a candid boehner says the real problem is cry baby fellow republicans. oh, don't make me do this. oh, this is too hard. mocking his colleagues endanger boehner's hold on the speaker's gavel? "inside politics" the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters, now.