that fits your budget. i told you to wear something comfortable! this is a polyester blend! whoa! uh...little help? i got you! unh! it's so beautiful! man: should we call security? no, this is just getting good. the name your price tool, still only from progressive. good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. we start this morning with monica lewinsky, the world's most famous intern breaking her silence after more than a decade, baring her soul in a "vanity fair" article released overnight in its entirety. in this article, details defined by scandal and devastated by fears that any day a long-ag low

affair would be once again drudged up as news, like when her name popped up over clinton era letters released calling her a narcissistic looney toon. the paparazzi have returned to the sidewalk outside this restaurant. i know what this means. whatever day i planned has been jettisoned. to leave the house only ensures the story will stay alive. she gives a look into the trouble she's had dating and even making ends meet, having to take out loans from family and friends. national correspondent suzanne malveaux joins us with more. >> reporter: good morning, carol. it was 16 years ago i covered monica lewinsky. we used to often see her outside the watergate complex. occasionally running into her in a coffee shop. she was always gracious and kind. clearly this was a very difficult and anguishing time for her. now she says she's speaking out now because at 40 years old, she wants to move on with her life,

give purpose to her past to show that those who experienced public humiliation like she did can survive. in her tell-all "vanity fair" essay, monica lewinsky says she's opening up about her scandalous past in an ef north to move forward. i would give anything to go back and rewind the tape she writes. she provides insight into the nature of the relationship beyond the shell lay shows details splashed across the headlines. it was an authentic connection with emotional intimacy, freak visits, plans made, phone calls and gifts exchanged. now 40, the world's most famous white house intern examines the situation with new perspective. i look back now, shake my head in disbelief and i wonder what was i, what were we thinking. lewinsky has remained mostly reclusive, an effort to protect herself from the shame she felt when the affair went public. >> i did not having sexual

relations with that woman, ms. lewinsky. >> reporter: following president clinton's initial vehement denial and subsequent admission. >> indeed i did have a relationship with ms. lewinsky that was not appropriate. in fact, it was wrong. >> i felt like a piece of trash. i felt dirty and i felt used. >> reporter: lewinsky says the scandal changed the entire trajectory of her life, making her virtually unemployable, remaining very much stuck in time, never getting married or having children. she writes, with every man i date -- yes, i date -- i go through some degree of 1998 whiplash. lewinsky says she considered the consequences of telling the story on the clinton universe and felt the need to speak out now before hillary clinton's 2016 presidential bid, something that means more to her than just

the possibility of having a female president. when i hear of hillary's prospective candidacy, i can't help but fear the next wave of stories. but should i put my life on hold for another eight to ten years? carol, it's interesting because lewinsky plans her life out in part on the political cal derks anticipating what is going to happen next, when is the next time she'll be thrown to the spotlight if and when hillary clinton decides to run in the 2016 election and all the books that followed. she said at one point she thought about tyler clement they, the rutgers student who killed himself after video surfaced of him kissing another man. she said she wishes she could have talked to him, showing that even in your darkest moments of humiliation that you can go on with your life. >> suzanne malveaux, many thanks to you. i want to bring in jessica vel len tea, founder of the blog

feministing. welcome. >> thanks for having me. in your guardian column you applaud lewinsky for writing the essay and ask if we collectively are brave enough to hear lewinsky's entire story. are we? >> i'm not so sure that we are if the comments on the "vanity fair" teaser page are any indication, we're not ready. there are already comments about berets and blue dresses. it goes to show as a culture we have a really long way to go with accepting women who have been considered to transgress in some sexual way. >> if this affair happened today, do you think it would have been the same? >> i think it would have been even worse. the public shaming and humiliation of women online is sort of commonplace these days. we see it almost every day from young women and even young men. i still think it would have been worse. monica says in her "vanity fair" piece she considers herself one

of the first women on the internet to be shamed and humiliated in this way. >> you're a feminist and i'll butt this by you. lewinsky seas she feels aband abandoned by the feminist movement, writing some girl on girl support was much in need. you think they would have spoken up but they didn't. why didn't they at the time, jessica? >> i was a sophomore in collegiate the time, so i can't say why feminists weren't speaking up at the tile. i think we should speak up for her now. i think that's what's important. she's putting herself out there and wants to talk about online humiliati humiliation, online shaming and tell her story. i think now is the time for feminists and everyone to get behind her. >> let's go back to one of the points you made earlier in this interview, one of monica's complaints is we will not let her move on. it's actually been reported monica lewinsky got offered a job selling cigars in a

nightclub. i bring this up because men have sex scandals, too, right? but they're treated very different. anthony weiner, for example, he was offered a position at business insider. monica lewinsky is offered a job selling cigars 16 years after her affair with president clinton. >> when they have sex scandals are treated like human beings. women are treated sub human, as a collection of cultural, salacious symbols. i think what she's trying to do is reclaim the humanity by addressing the humiliation head on. >> jessica val lenity, thank you for your insight. i appreciate it. >> thank you. house republicans eager to find out what happened in benghazi will up the en tea. they'll call for a vote to form a select committee. that committee will include both republicans and democrats unless, of course, democrats decide to boycott what some call

a kangaroo court. former secretary of state hillary clinton didn't go there, but she's not happy. >> despite all of the hearings, all of the information that's been provided, some choose not to be satisfied and choose to continue to move forward. that's their choice, and i do not believe there is any reason for it to continue in this way, but they get to call the shots in the congress. >> my next guest agrees. he's called this proposed committee, quote, a colossal waste of time, a red herring and waste of taxpayer money. he's congressman adam schiff. good morning, congressman. >> good morning, carol. how are you? >> i'm good. i'll put it right out there. it's nearly two years later and we still don't know who killed those four americans in libya. how could this be a waste of time? don't we owe it to the families of the victims to find out? >> certainly not a waste of time to be going after their killers.

that is something that we're doing, something we're following on the intelligence committee. but this subcommittee is really set up with a wholly different purpose. it's a select committee on talking points. it's a fund-raising vehicle for the republican party and that, frankly, is really destructive and yet again partisan exercise that gets us unfortunately farther from a focus on bringing these people to justice, farther from a focus of where are we in terms of protecting our diplomatic facilities around the world. that is really not what this select committee is interested in. it is really just interested in talking points and trying to embarrass the administration or trying to score political points against hillary clinton. >> well, i must say house speaker john boehner was reluctant to form this committee. but as "the washington post's" dana milbank writes, quote, if republicans succeed of turning the benghazi scandal in a nothing burger into a double big mac the white house can blame

its own seek seend control over information. what he's talking about is, had susan rice's tv talking points been released without a fight, this select committee would not be in the mix. to make matters worse, jay carney denied the memo was even about benghazi. listen. >> john, again, why did it take a court case for you to release this? >> john, i can say it again and again and you can keep asking again and again. this document was not about benghazi. >> but it was. if there's nothing to hide, why the secrecy? why not just get all the information out there and get it out of the way? >> when you say that the e-mail was about benghazi, that's true if you consider that only two sentences of a four-page memo were about benghazi. those two sentences in the memo about benghazi, made no mention of a video. it really is i think conflating all the rest of what was

discussed in all that, which really was scudiscussed -- >> why didn't they turn it over? if it was only two lines, why didn't they turn it over? >> i don't know the explanation for that. the white house has said that the person who wrote the memo wasn't the subject of the subpoena. i'm not part of the production team. i can't answer that. i can tell you this, to use this e-mail as the justification for why all of a sudden the speakers had a change of heart really i think is just a pretext because the e-mail sheds absolutely no new light. those two sentences in terks mail about benghazi track the cia talking points about benghazi consistently. that's why this is a red herring. of course, the formation of this committee has a lot more to do with republican fund-raising and republican base motivation than it does in the e-mail. >> you are right about republican fund-raising, they

are trying to fundraise off this benghazi controversy. you've also said it doesn't make sense for members of your party to participate in this panel. if it's approved, will you boycott? >> look, i'm going to accept whatever the leadership decides on this and i know it's a tough question. there are obviously strengths from not participating in my view. the advantage is not giving credibility to this partisan exercise, but if leadership ultimately concludes it needs to have a seat at the table to make sure they don't completely distort what the witnesses say, i will accept whatever decision that the leadership makes. >> democratic congressman adam schiff of california, thank you so much for joining me this morning. i appreciate it. >> you bet. still to come in the "newsroom," troop movements and serious accusations along the ukrainian-russian border as both sides get ready for an all-important vote. matthew chance following the developments from matthew. hi, matthew.

>> reporter: that's right. the situation on the ground deteriorating further with the pro-russian separatist groups in eastern ukraine choosing to defy the russian president and press ahead with the referendum. we'll have all the details after the break. we asked people a question,

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this morning new signs that a military standoff is deeper into dangerous territory. it comes as russian president vladimir pult tin claims he's pulling back his troops from the ukrainian border.

he asked pro-russian separatists to declay a vote for eastern ukraine to secede. united states and nato are skeptical. >> while we have noted the russian's statement that they have started with to withdraw troops, so far we haven't seen any indications that they're pulling back their troops. let me assure you that if we get visible evidence that they are actually pulling back the troops, i would be the very first to welcome it. >> but putin's pleas for a delay in the vote are not working as separatists plan to go ahead with sunday's vote. cnn international correspondent matthew chance live in moscow. good morning. tell us more. >> reporter: good morning, carol. it is absolutely extraordinary that vladimir putin reversed his position so dramatically

yesterday calling for the pro-russian separatists in the eastern and southeast of ukraine to postpone the referendum scheduled for this weekend. they've come out and said, well, look, we're going to go ahead with it anyway, completely defying what the russian president asked them to do. that indicates that either they're not under control of the russian president as many in the west said they were, or it implies that the vlad meet putin said this on purpose, to try to put distance between him and what happens next in eastern ukraine. a lot of smoke and mirrors taking place in ukraine. that issue of the troops on the border as well, 40,000 or more russian troops sent by mr. putin have been moved back to their bases. no confirmation from nato or white house officials. the kremlin saying nato is trying to mislead cynically the international community by saying there's no troop movements in the area. so the war of words between east and west on this issue, carol.

>> he can't exactly hide 40,000 troops on the border. there are ways of spotting them. >> reporter: exactly. obviously i think anders fog rasmussen is absolutely right when he says if those troops were moving back, they would say they would be moving back because that would represent a symbolic victory from the western nato site. they're not seeing that. until they dorkts they're not going to verify it. the russian defense ministry issuing a statement saying that the kiev authorities are mobilized 15,000 troops onto the border or near the border with russia in eastern ukraine indicating that they believe that the kiev authorities are stepping up the potential for military confrontations. still a very tense standoff in that area of the world. >> matthew chance reporting live from moscow. still to come, nba hall of famer algin baylor says justice

has been served with donald sterling. >> of course he is. no doubt in my mind now. >> more from cnn's interview from the man who worked for sterling for 22 years.

donald sterling's estranged wrif is looking the stake her claim ton l.a. clippers.

shelly sterling thinks she's legally entitled to keep the clippers and retained a law firm for guidance. a committee of ten owners met yesterday moving ahead with the process to force donald sterling to sell the team. in the meantime a long-time friend sort of, kind of outrageously stood up for stermg sterling. get a load of what tommy lasorda had to say. >> he shouldn't have said it. he just hurt himself by talk too much and doing things he shouldn't be doing. i don't wish that girl any bad luck. i hope she gets hit with a car. >> seattle seahawks star corner back richard sherman has always been outspoken, no more so when he called out an opposing player in a postgame rant last season. sherman is talking about donald sterling, too. he tells "time" magazine, quote,

i wasn't really shocked or anything because of what i saw after the incident -- after the nfc championship game. you've got a lot of racial backlash and racist comments that were uncalled for. i can never see a time when racism is called for. it didn't shock me as much as it would have had i not experienced that personally, had i not seen those things. nba hall of famer elgin baylor defied gravity in 13 seasons with the lakers. many fans didn't know he spent a longer stint of time with the cross town clippers, general manager for 22 years. he worked under donald sterling. for the first time before a national audience, he's talking about the donald sterling he knows. he talked with anderson cooper. >> elgin, you worked with donald sterling for 22 years. what was your reaction when you first heard that tape? >> when i first heard it, it just brought back memories of some of the things that were said by donald. >> did it surprise you?

>> it didn't surprise me at all, no. >> that's the donald sterling you know? >> that's the donald sterling i know. he says a lot of things, different things. different mood swings. you never know what he's going to say or do. >> do you think he even realizes what he's saying? >> he's an intelligent man, great businessman. i'm sure he's aware of what he's doing and saying. there are times when i would say things to him and say, hey, you shouldn't say things, certain things. i would express my opinion. >> do you think he's a racist? >> of course he is. there's no doubt in my mind now. at the time -- i thought then and now that he is. i think he is. >> when you heard the recording that came out, what did you think? >> vindication. i'm glad he said it. he's hung by his tongue, no way in the world it would be proven otherwise. >> that's the donald sterling you know? >> yes. he's not running around with a

white robe on. he's not that blatant. he's a very smart man. he communicates how he feels and what he wants, especially to people who work for him. you know where he is andou know what he wants. if you're going to work for him, somehow or another, you're going to meet those requirements. >> when v. stiviano was asked about that, she said, well, i think he's from a previous generation. is that an excuse? >> i can't relate to what she says. i don't know where she's from. >> she makes no sense to you? >> none. i can't, i can't even make sense of it. >> i understand that -- i believe in your lawsuit as well, you said at some point donald sterling would bring women into the locker room and point out the black players. >> he did it on many occasions. >> what would he say? >> look at those beautiful black bodies. that's what he used to say. >> while the guys are half

naked. >> why the guys are showering and everything else. on several occasions i said not to. the players, they were mad. they were upset about it. i told him on several occasions. he kept doing it. eventually it stopped. >> why do you think he's this way? >> why? why is he that way? i don't know. one thing, to probably get attention. i know that. he likes that, attention. >> he likes the attention. >> he loves attention. >> do you agree with what the nba commissioner has done, bang donald sterling for life? >> absolutely. he's had problems when i was there, dave stern was there, not signing players, wanting to low ball players and the way he was running his organization. >> do you think donald sterling is going to fight this? >> probably. donald likes the limelight, whether it's good or bad. that's the type of guy he is. probably, maybe. i don't know. >> you were asked i think during a deposition about whether he had ever made racist remarks to you.

you said that he hadn't directly said anything to you. is that true? >> not to me personally, not to me personally, no. i would have knocked him out. no, he didn't say anything to me personally. >> he's smart enough not to do it directly. >> i would get into arguments with him all the time about it. he would say, well, that's the way i feel. >> the issue of race would come up a lot? >> not a lot. occasionally it might come up about players. >> donald thinks if it weren't for him, all those guys would be playing basketball in the ghetto somewhere. actually when elgin first started, he told elgin to go out in the inner city and see if he could find some players on the basketball courts. >> he said just go out -- >> go out and find some great black players out there, go to playgrounds and stuff to scout and look at players. >> it was like crazy, really crazy. >> do you feel like this is vindication as well?

>> well -- >> it's all right to feel good about it elgin. >> well, justice has been served. justice has been served now. they know what donald is like, and thinks i said before about donald is absolutely true. >> when he was on the witness stand, he claimed he didn't even know your history with the nba. i'm not a smorts guy. i know your history with the nba. >> that's donald. i know. that's donald. >> you have no doubt he knew. >> it's nothing new. >> it's got to be difficult to come forward with allegations, to launch this lawsuit against somebody very powerful and wealthy, spends a lot of time in court. >> yes. >> and then to not really be able to have it play out, to not feel like justice has been served. >> it hadn't been. in one case donald had been

exposed. >> v. stiviano was reportedly under investigation for allegedly blackmailing donald sterling. if she's found guilty, could that help sterling keep the clippers? we'll talk about that more in the next hour of "newsroom." breaking news just in to cnn, the house veterans affairs, secretary eric shinseki may be forced to testify before lawmakers. he's accused of instituting a secret waiting list for certain veterans in phoenix. much more throughout the day on cnn. i'll be right back. (mother vo) when i was pregnant

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monica lewinsky is telling her story in this month's "vanity fair" with an extremely personal and intimate essay, detailing a life defined by

scandal and blocked from moving on by anyone who can't let her history stay in the past. lewinsky writes, i was so young that i had no established identity to which i could return. if you haven't figured out who you are, it's hard not to accept the horrible image of you created by others. now lewinsky is taking the opportunity to recreate her own store richlt it's not the first time. jean casarez has more. >> reporter: good morning, carol. she says in the article the reason she wrote this -- people are wondering, she says she wants to give a purpose to her past and the country and the world has learned, she's 40 years old. she says she can't get a job. she hasn't gotten married like she wants to do. so the experts now are debating are the result of her life, which could be half of her life, purposefully driven by society or someone not letting her get ahead, or is it the product of her own choices? this isn't the first time monica lewinsky has tried to reinvent

herself. >> hi, handsome. >> reporter: from "saturday night live" back in 1999 to interviews. >> i was a 22-year-old foolish kid. >> reporter: the resulting were uneven at best. she now tells "vanity fair" i was arguably the most humiliated person in the world, an endorsement for the diet company jenny craig doesn't last long because of negative reaction. a line of hand bags is a flop and a tell-all book does little to leave the scandal behind. reputation expert mike paul says at first she makes all the wrong decisions. >> she ran towards reality television, she ran towards making sure she had a book out to deal with the situation. she didn't say, i'm done with this, i really want to get my life back and to prove that i want to get my life back, i'm not going to touch this issue at all. >> reporter: to escape she heads to grad school at the prestigious london school of

economics and largely avoids public life for ten years. >> she reached a level of fame, notoriety, that has just proven impossible to overcome. she is simply too famous it seems to have a normal life. >> reporter: after getting a masters, lewinsky tells "vanity fair," i moved between london, long angles, new york and portland, oregon, interviewing for a variety of jobs. yet because of what my potential employers so tactfully refer to as my history, i was never quite right for the position. she says concerns about potential backlash from the clintons hurt her in job interviews. cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin says other key figures in the scandal damaged her more. >> the people who made monica lewinsky a public figure were ken starr's prosecutors. the last thing bill clinton wanted was for her to be a public figure at all.

paul agrees it stemts less from the president. >> bill clinton didn't ruin her life. public opinion didn't ruin her life. her decision to have a relationship with a married man who happened to be the president of the united states ruined her life. >> lewinsky now says it is time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress and move forward. what advice would you give to her from this point on? >> i think the biggest piece of advice i would be giving her right now is unless she owns her behavior 110% and isn't seen as blaming others, this crisis will continue. >> reporter: carol, we now have read the entire article. i know you have, too. the first line of the article, carol, it is so vulgar, we can't even say it on television. that's how the article begins. that's the question she was asked when she was taping her documentary "monica in black and white." does this help her or continue

the cycle she's been in for 15 years now? >> i can't help but think in listening to your report that clearly she was wrong to have an affair with a married man. that was completely wrong. take out the fact that it was with a famous man who was controversial in his own right, it just seems wrong to blame her -- continue to blame her 16 years after the fact. she can't escape this thing, this terrible thing she did 16 years ago still. the gentleman in your piece seemed to be blaming her for the entire thing. it's not entirely her fault. it's just not. >> that's why we want to show both sides because this is a controversial issue. she's a controversial person. it's just something you keep thinking about and talking about. there's two sides. i think even as a person, you vacillate on both sides, trying to find whaut the truth is in her life here. >> jean casarez, thanks so much. still to come in the

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russian president putin claims he's pulled 40,000 troops from the ukrainian border because he wants to open dialogue. he says it's the only hope for the solution. sounds encouraging, right? according to nato there's no evidence that russia has withdrawn the troops from the border. simon schuster is a correspondent for "time" magazine. he's long covered ukraine. he was born there, actually kidnapped that past monday in ukraine. in time's latest cover story, he writes about what putin really wants to happen in the region. simon, welcome. >> thank you. >> first of all, glad you're okay. first of all, tell us about this kidnapping incident. >> it's become a fairly common occurrence for journalists in parts of ukraine that are essentially taken over by

pro-russian separatist rebels. they set up checkpoints at random all over the towns they control, on the roads between the towns. if you aren't lucky in who is manning that check point when you go through it, you could easily be detained or beaten up. this is actually the second time this has happened to me. during my coverage of the crisis in eastern ukraine, and it's happened to probably a dozen journalists. >> tell us more in detail about it. it was chilling, someone hit you over the head with a gun? >> yes, that's right. the check point was manned by about a dozen guys in civilian clothing, just local men. it was hard to call them anything more than thugs. one of them became extremely aggressive and agitated when he saw that i had a bulletproof

vest, a flak jacket with "press" clearly written across the chest. he pulled me out of the car and without saying a word to me, clocked me on the head with the butt of his gun, kicked me under the chin and only then asked for my documents. then they called their commander over who drove up. he was wearing camouflage. so he looked somewhat more like an identifiable militant or combatant. he had a large shotgun. he took me back to their basement headquarters in the city hall building of that town which has been occupied by the pro-russian militants now for about ten days, two weeks. >> oddly, at one point a nurse attended to you and tended to your wounds and apologized. after that happened, how did you manage to escape? >> i managed to escape with the help of my russian colleagues in

eastern ukraine. the militants didn't take away my cell phone. i put in a call to one of my russian colleagues on the ground there, a photographer. he basically put the word out. obviously russian journalists have an advantage in working in the pro-russian areas of eastern ukraine because they're seen as friends of the pro-russian separatists. whether that's true or not, depends on the journalist. but my friends are able to basically call the people who are holding me. we knew all the guys who had kidnapped me. we had interviewed some of them before, and they called and sort of vouched for me and said he's a friend. he's fine. he's an objective journalist, leave him alone. they got even a bit spooked at the fact that they had injured an american journalist, and some

of them apologized and let me go. >> the stranger thing about this is it wasn't clear in your mind if these people who kidnapped you were actually connected to russia and vladimir putin, or were they just angry at the ukrainian government? what do they want? >> that's really the more enlightening part of that whole unpleasant experience. i got a close firsthand look at the interplay between them, how they interacted with each other inside their own headquarters and the various types of people who were involved in this rebellion, inser rex, whatever you want to call it. it became quite clear that it's really, really difficult to tell the difference between militants who have come from russia and are well armed and better trained and just random thug whose have joined this out of

some personal desire to claim more turf in some gang war and a lot of civilians. for example, the nurse you mentioned, she would like her town to become a part of russia. she would like her town to split away from ukraine. she volunteered to serve at the infirmary of this occupied city hall building. what is she? is she a combatant as well? is she a hostage to the situation? it just highlighted to me the difficulty that ukrainian authorities are going to have trying to parse all the different kinds of people involved in this rebellion. >> absolutely. simon schuster, we're glad you're okay. thank you for joining us, simon shuster from "time" magazine. new details of an attack raise ominous doubts. i have low testosterone. there, i said it.

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is the smell of perfectly level, fresh-cut grass. that yellow seat's my favorite chair. you wanna find a john deere dealer? just set your gps to tractor expert. when my grandson grows up, it's his. but it's all mine now. that's how we run, and nothing runs like a deere. get 600 dollars off all john deere four-wheel steer lawn tractors now at a dealer near you. nigeria's president says the militant group boko haram's abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls may be a turning point in his country's fight against terror. >> i believe that this will be the beginning of end of terror in nigeria. >> the group's latest attack has more than doubled. villagers burying more than 300 people in mass graves. some victims hid behind locked

storefronts only to be burned alive when attackers torched the buildings. international outrage is growing. the first lady, michelle obama, showing her support for the kidnapped girls on twitter. former first lady hillary clinton also speaking out. >> the government of nigeria needs to get serious about protecting all of its citizens, girls and women as well as boys and men and ensuring that every child has the right and opportunity to go to school in security and safety. that is a fundamental responsibility of any government, and nigerians should hold their leaders accountable for it. >> cnn's vladimir duthier joins us live from nigeria. how is the president backing up this statement? is he backing it up with any action? >> reporter: that's a great question, carol. in fact, as you said, the president saying that this

abduction of these 200-plus girls in northeastern nigeria is a turning point. it's a point where he thinks terror will end in this country. a lot of people are scratching their heads and saying strong, confident words, but we have not seen any of that backed up with any kind of activity. in fact, the parents that we've spoken to of those abducted children tell us they've seen no significant search and rescue operations. they haven't seen any kind of significant military presence on the ground. and then as you mentioned, just this week alone on monday, 300 people killed in a boko ha rauch slaughter in a market town not far from where the girls were taken. they arrived in armored personnel carriers with rocket-propelled grenade launchers. those that went into their shops, they were burned alive. people hacked to death. the town in mourning now. continued impunity of boko haram across northeastern nigeria and even in the capital. just in the last three weeks alone, there have been two bombings, two explosive devices that have gone off in the capital. so people are saying yeah, mr. president, sounds confident, sounds like you're doing the

job, but what are the actions on the ground? and so it's going to be interesting to see going forward if this international support coalesces into something meaningful to the people in the northeastern part of the country who have been living under a reign of terror. "cnn newsroom" continues after a quick break. i'm j-a-n-e and i have copd. i'm d-a-v-e and i have copd. i'm k-a-t-e and i have copd, but i don't want my breathing problems to get in the way my volunteering. that's why i asked my doctor about b-r-e-o. once-daily breo ellipta helps increase airflow from the lungs for a full 24 hours. and breo helps reduce symptom flare-ups that last several days and require oral steroids, antibiotics, or hospital stay. breo is not for asthma. breo contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma.

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this is cnn breaking news. >> and good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. we begin with breaking news. the house veterans affairs committee will force veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki to testify before lawmakers. lawmakers will subpoena him. he's accused of instituting a

secret waiting list. shinseki talked about the controversy with nbc last night. >> are you willing as the secretary of veterans affairs to accept full responsibility? >> i am. i have and that's the reason the i.g. is down there doing the investigation. >> they want you to resign or be fired. will you resign? >> i would say i serve at the pleasure of the president. >> at issue here is a cover-up. cnn's drew griffin has been following the story. he joins me now by phone. tell us more about this controversy, drew. >> reporter: well, the controversy really blew up over allegations at the phoenix v.a. where two v.a. physicians have come forward and said look, there's a secret list. it's a list to prevent the v.a. headquarters like shinseki and others to know that veterans have been waiting 14 months, 21 months just to get a doctor's appointment. and the allegation is that 40 veterans died while waiting on

that list. they don't know why they died. they just know that they did die, and they were waiting for these appointments and these appointment times with these excessive waits. you know, this unfortunately, not the secret list portion, but this waiting time and vets dying on waiting lists is a pattern that we've seen across the country. >> well, i know that lawmakers want e-mails. they want to read these e-mails. do you know anything about them and what they might say, what they might show? >> reporter: well, the e-mails -- we have had those e-mails for several weeks now. and they seem to show that the v.a. director in phoenix knew and was warned about these wait times and the fact that this list, this secret waiting list, made it seem like they were trying to hide from the public, certainly from the veterans that these excessive waits were going on. so it shows some complicity.

at least that's the allegations. and from what i've read in the e-mails, the intent, but that is what the inspector general's office has been investigating in phoenix. and i might add we keep waiting for this i.g.'s investigation to be over. it started last fall. so i don't know what kind of urgency there is there. >> okay, drew griffin, thanks for filling us in. we appreciate it. joining me now on the phone, darren selnick with concerned veterans of america. thanks for joining me, sir. >> thanks for having me. appreciate it. >> i appreciate your being here. i know you've been pushing for this for quite some time. so just tell me how you're feeling this morning. >> well, i'm feeling that this is the right thing. i used to work at the v.a. i was a special assistant for three secretaries. and this stuff just doesn't happen for years without anybody knowing it. besides sharon helman, i don't see why they have not relieved of duty her boss, the director, and he's had warnings.

there's been testimony by the gao about this for the last couple years about cover-up stuff and other things. there's been other preventable deaths around the country as you guys have reported. nicholas tolanto, v.a. administrator in 2012, so it's not like this is shocking and new. and i think he has been totally -- shinseki has been totally uncommunicatative unlike the other two secretaries i worked for. and congress wants to find out what's going on, and he won't talk to them. i think it's the right thing because he needs to know that he does have to communicate, and we need to know what he knows. we need to know what he knows. >> this is -- it's ironic because shinseki is a veteran, a decorated veteran. are you surprised he stands accused of doing these things? >> well, i wouldn't say he's accused of doing it. he's probably accused of not really being communicatative and not knowing. inside and outside the v.a., he

is known as having the palace guard around him and being disinterested and unengaged. so as all this stuff's been going around, he's been letting the ship drift, and that's surprising that he just doesn't want to pay attention to these things until it's too late. he makes the common mistake that many generals make when they go to the v.a. the v.a. is not the military. it does not respond the way the military is. i'm an air force veteran. the general tells me to do something, i do it. in the v.a., they don't. they salute and then they do what they want to do because they're a career bureaucrat. >> i can understand that. darin selnick, thanks for being with me on short notice. i do appreciate it. >> my pleasure. thanks. at this moment, capitol hill is opening for business and benghazi once again at the top of the agenda. the house of representatives poised to vote on a republican proposal to create a special panel to investigate the attacks. some democrats are crying foul, saying this is all about the politics.

here's what one of them had to say. california congressman adam schiff. he told me this moments ago. >> it's a select committee on talking points. it's a fund-raising vehicle for the republican party. and that, frankly, is really, you know, destructive and yet again partisan exercise that gets us unfortunately farther from a focus on bringing these people to justice, farther from a focus on where are we in terms of protecting our diplomatic facilities around the world. that is really not what this select committee is interested in. >> but in an interview with cnn's jake tapper, the chairman of that proposed committee, south carolina republican trey gowdy, he pushed back on those claims. >> you will be able to have confidence that this will be run much like a trial was run with respect to fairness and process. this is not going to be a kangaroo court. and if i thought it were, i wouldn't have participated. >> chief congressional

correspondent dana bash live in washington with more on this. but the truth is republicans are using this as a moneymaker. >> reporter: they absolutely are. they have, on their website, information about benghazi and about this proposed select committee and, you know, press here to donate to the republican committee in charge of electing house democrats. and they're not backing down from it. they're completely saying that this is okay. i should say that trey gowdy, the man you just heard from, also told jake tapper that he does not think that that's the right thing to do. that is one of many reasons why democrats are poised to potentially boycott this committee. and we're going to find out more later this afternoon before the house is going to formally take a vote to put this committee into place. and that's probably going to happen later today. it's not -- it doesn't -- from all my discussions with democrats who are involved in this, it's not just a threat, that boycott. it's a potential reality. >> dana bash reporting live from washington this morning. hillary clinton, by the way, also making her first public

comments on the committee, saying she's satisfied with what she knows about the attacks. but in an interview yesterday, the former secretary of state hinted that republicans in congress might have other motives. >> despite all of the hearings, all of the information that's been provided, some choose not to be satisfied and choose to continue to move forward. that's their choice, and i do not believe there is any reason for it to continue in this way, but they get to call the shots in the congress. for his part, the committee's chairman vowed to get the full story. you heard him moments ago. he's speaking to clinton along with susan rice whom he called, quote, major players will be a key part of his efforts. let's talk about the boston marathon bombing suspect. he was questioned without being told his rights while being treated for a critical gunshot wound. now the lawyers for boston

marathon suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev want all of those statements thrown out. that's not all. tsarnaev's lawyers also want the possibility of the death penalty thrown out as well. susan candiotti has been follow these latest documents. i know you pored through some court documents. tell us more. >> well, as you said, his defense attorneys are doing everything they can to get their client a fair trial, which is set in november. so they're saying now that all of the statements he made when he was in his hospital bed should be thrown out because he was in no shape to give a statement. remember that just before this, tsarnaev had been cornered in that boat. he was shot and critically wounded, rushed to the hospital. the fbi interviewed him the very next day. we're now learning new details about tsarnaev's medical condition. for example, his eyes were sewn shut according to the defense. he had several medications, and they said he was too groggy to be talking. he had had a tracheotomy done. he could not speak. and they had given him a notepad to communicate.

and that's how he was talking with them. their main point is this. that he had asked for, according to the defense, a lawyer. and i want to show you a quote from the court document. they said in part, quote, in all, he wrote the word "lawyer" ten times, sometimes circling it. at one point, he wrote, "am tired. leave me alone." now, for the government's part, they said, look, we have something that we call the public safety exception. and the reason we were allowed to talk to him without a lawyer is because we didn't know if there were more bombs out there. we didn't know if there were co-conspirators out there. and in this case, we're allowed to interview him without a lawyer present. the defense says huh-uh. the defense argues it had been about five days since this happened. so far there had been no other evidence of anything else showing up. therefore in this case the public safety exception should not apply. now it's up to a judge to decide. >> let's bring in our legal analyst. what do you think about this?

do defense attorneys have a point? >> i think defense attorneys have a very strong point in this case. this idea of a public safety exception to the miranda warnings came about in 1984 when a rapist was arrested in new york outside of a supermarket. and his holster was empty. and the cops thought maybe the gun was inside. couldn't pick it up. so they questioned him about where did you drop the gun, okay? the court said that's an emergency situation, okay? the gun is close by in the supermarket. somebody might get hurt. now, what's happened post-9/11 is that the federal government is expanding this doctrine tremendously to say if there's any danger to the public at large, we don't have to give miranda warnings. we don't have to let you have a lawyer. and frankly, it's never gone to the u.s. supreme court. and i don't think they're going to take it this far. five days post-arrest, asking for a lawyer repeatedly, heavily drugged. i don't see it. i just don't see how the justice

department can be correct on this argument. >> in terror cases, too, remember when we had the underwear bomber, suspected bomber. >> yes. >> in detroit. and the government -- a similar argument, we had to talk to him right away and find out who else might be involved. >> there have been two cases -- i think there's a third one also out there -- in the federal circuit courts which are the courts right under the supreme court where these courts had been friendly to expanding the doctrine to allow more extensive interrogation in situations where there's an imminent threat. but the question is, at what point does it not become an imminent threat? and here, five days later, i think they pretty much knew what the whole story was on the boston bombing. and i think they're going to have a hard time with that argument, susan, in court. >> also didn't he write things on the boat wall, right? he wrote those things. so there is enough incriminating evidence out there. >> certainly manifesto, but i remember that our sources told us at the time and even now in

court, arguing we didn't really know. sure, we knew a lot, but did we know for sure? they were still trying to find out who else might have been involved. tamerlan, the older brother, was dead. did he have other people? >> there are lots of things. >> connected to some terrorist group, right? >> they always like to know about lots of things in criminal conspiracies. i think the thing we should focus on is that he can still be convicted even if all of this stuff is thrown out. this is sort of like, you know, the cherry on top of the case against him. all that miranda means is if you violate miranda rights, you can't use the confession itself. but there are independent witnesses, individual knvideota. >> what about the death penalty? >> the death penalty is an entirely different matter, and this would not come into play into whether the death penalty gets imposed or not. that has to do with the

background of the defendant and whether the government wants to seek the death penalty. a totally different question. he's still convictable even without this evidence. >> paul, susan, many thanks to both of you. still to come on the "newsroom," just days before an important referendum in ukraine, russia claims its troops are leaving the border. well, are those troops leaving the border? hmm, that's pretty much up in the air. jim sciutto has the story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, nate. nato's secretary-general says there is no sign of pulling back despite putin's promises. we'll have more right after this break.

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this morning, signs that a

military standoff is varying deeper into russian territory. that comes as russian president vladimir putin claims he's pulling back his troops from the ukrainian border. he even asked pro-russian separatists to delay a vote to secede, but the u.s. and nato are skeptical. >> why we have noted the russians' statements that they have started to withdraw troops, so far we haven't seen any indications that they are pulling back their troops. let me assure you that if we get visible evidence that they are actually pulling back their troops, i would be the very first to welcome it. >> and putin's pleased to delay the vote are not working either as separatists now plan to go ahead with sunday's referendum

vote. chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is in washington with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. you did have what could have been interpreted as hopeful signs yesterday that putin's promise to bring back those troops and also his encouraging separatists in eastern ukraine not to hold this referendum this weekend. u.s. officials have been skeptical because promises like this have not been followed through on before, and that appears to be the case now. no indication from officials either that those russian troops are moving back in any numbers. and of course now that referendum going forward. at the same time, ukrainian officials releasing what they say is more evidence of direct russian involvement with and direction of those separatists on the ground inside ukraine. have a listen to this. >> reporter: the ukrainian security service says this alleged intercept catches a russian official giving direct orders to proceed with a referendum on joining russia.

more signs of the pro-russian push inside ukraine. on a day that in one town ukrainian flag torn down -- the pro-russian flag paraded through the crowd. and with that one fleeting success of government forces in eastern ukraine reversed as pro-russian separatists retake part of mariopol. ukrainian troops moved in hours earlier unceremoniously marched out. this tug-of-war between east and west inside ukraine is growing more intense and more deadly. u.s. officials say russia remains the driving force behind the crisis. but russian president vladimir putin continues to sell a very

different narrative. >> translator: a necessary condition for the start of this dialogue is the unconditional stopping the use of any violence for both the use of military force and the use of armed illegal units, extremist elements and forces is absolutely unacceptable in the modern world. >> reporter: with crucial national elections now less than three weeks away, the administration's critics in congress are increasingly calling for tougher sanctions against moscow. >> i don't understand. i just -- i truly don't get it. we've got 40,000 troops intimidating people on the inside. we've got black ops, little green men, doing the things they're doing on the inside. i don't understand. i really don't. i just don't understand the thinking of waiting until the damage is done. >> reporter: i'm told that the obama administration gave what was described to me a very sobering assessment of the outlook of ukraine to u.s. senators. and included in that assessment

was the judgment that russia is now expanding its ambitions to include odessa, the port of odessa. this is in southwestern ukraine. so away from that eastern area that we've been talking about. in fact, that the russian intention is to keep that under russian control, that they don't want it under ukrainian control, and that's a real problem going forward because you're now seeing this expanding just from that part of the country bordering russia to the part that's getting closer to europe. >> jim, will it mean anything if separatists carry off the referendum this weekend? >> reporter: it's a good question because no one's going to recognize it. u.s. officials have made that clear. european officials have made that clear, but it will mean something because they also didn't recognize, you remember the referendum in crimea where people there voted for annexation by russia. but there are also questions about whether you can carry off, you know, a credible vote in light of all the violence that is going on and do the separatists have the ability to even get, you know, these polling stations together. but as with a lot of things

here, this is performance art, right? it's about sending messages. it's about propaganda. it's not about carrying off necessarily a credible vote. it's what they can claim rather than what the international community will recognize. >> jim sciutto reporting live for us this morning, thank you. >> thank you. still to come in the "newsroom," the day kidnapped survivor michelle knight was rescued, she almost didn't believe it. >> i hear a noise, but anybody can say police. and then i noticed some form of a big person. i was, like, okay. maybe this might be. >> knight details the rest of her incredible rescue next. i'm on expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way.

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attorneys for ariel castro are offering some surprising and unbelievable details about the man who kept three cleveland women captive for a decade. in an exclusive interview with wkyc, one of castro's attorneys claims castro actually wanted his victims to escape, but he was too afraid to turn himself in to police. >> he intentionally was becoming much more negligent in the house about locking the doors and keeping them inside. he knew that he left that front door unlocked and not bolted like he would normally bolt it. >> but in contrast to castro's cowardice, michelle knight sat down with anderson cooper the day she realized her nightmare was over and why even as it was

happening, she almost didn't believe it. >> to me and geno, we actually thought somebody was breaking in. >> you heard what, noises downstairs? >> mm-hmm. >> what happened? >> there was crash, pounding on doors. then we didn't hear no sound. >> did you know that amanda had run out of the house? >> no. we didn't have no clue. whatsoever that she had tooken off. >> did you know that he was gone? >> well, yeah. we knew he was gone somewhere, but we thought it was a trick. you know, like he was just in the backyard, but he was waiting for somebody to be stupid. >> reporter: but this time it wasn't a trick. and amanda berry was able to break through the front door with her 6-year-old daughter, jocelyn. >> help me! i'm amanda berry! >> do you know police, fire or ambulance? >> i need police! >> okay.

and what's going on there? >> i've been kidnapped and i've been missing for ten years, and i'm here. i'm free now. >> reporter: the police arrived, but inside their boarded-up bedroom, michelle and gina were hiding from what they thought were burglars. >> i hear a noise, but anybody can say "police." and then i notice some form of a big person. i was, like, okay. maybe this might be. and i see a badge. i see numbers. and then i hear the police radio. i just said -- i ran right into her arms. and i literally choked her. >> reporter: into the police woman's arms. >> yeah. >> reporter: do you remember saying anything? >> i said "please don't let me go. please don't put me down." >> reporter: you were actually in her arms? >> yes. i actually had my legs wrapped around her and my arms like this. she was, like, "that girl literally choked me." >> reporter: did it seem real to you? >> at the time, no.

it didn't. it seemed unreal. >> reporter: at 32 years old, michelle walked out that front door for the very first and last time. rushed to a hospital, she was treated for a long list of health issues due to the years of beatings and neglect. although she was free, she was also all alone. estranged from her family when she was released from the hospital, she took refuge at an assisted living facility outside cleveland. far away from the media, it gave her the space to gain strength to face her captor in court. >> i spent 11 years in hell. now your hell is just beginning. >> reporter: when i saw you in court that day at the sentencing, i was blown away. were you determined to do that? >> yes. it was important to me to express how i felt about what he

did and how he did it and let the judge know that he needed to be punished for what he did. >> reporter: the man who had held her for nearly 11 years was indicted on 977 counts and sentenced to life plus 1,000 years. just a month into that sentence, however, he was found hanged in his jail cell. >> i understand why he did it. he couldn't face what he did with his head held high. he had to face it like a coward because he was ashamed and embarrassed at what he done. and he didn't want what he did to us to happen to him. >> she's just incredible. knight says that right now she's focused on starting over. she's changed her name to lilly, which is her favorite flower, and she's gone back to school.

she hopes one day to open up her own restaurant. still to come in the "newsroom," the woman heard on the audiotape with donald sterling is reportedly being investigated for allegedly blackmailing him. we'll talk about that next.

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i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. this just into cnn. we've been waiting quite some time to hear from the man himself, and i'm talking about donald sterling. he has responded to racist remarks made in the privacy of his own home to radaronline. we don't know who sterling is talking to or the circumstances surrounding this tape, but it is interesting to listen to. so here it is. >> you think i'm a racist? you think i have anything in the world but love for everybody? you don't think that. you know i'm not a racist. >> what about when i hear -- >> i can't hear you. >> what about when i hear that tape, though? that tape i heard? >> i grew up in east l.a. east l.a. is dying to get out of there. i got out of east l.a. i was the president of the high school there. i mean, and i'm a jew, and 50% of the people there were blacks

and 40% were hispanic. you been to boyle heights? >> yeah, i've been to boyle heights. >> so people must have a good feeling for me. >> did you talk to griffin or anybody yet? >> i didn't talk to anybody. i'm in my house in beverly hills. >> yeah. >> i mean, how could you think i'm a racist, knowing me all these years? how could you be in this business and be a racist? do you think i tell the coach to get white players or to get the best player he can get? >> the best player he can get. >> i mean, you -- i don't expect anything from anybody, but i do from you. i mean -- it breaks my heart that magic johnson, you know, a guy -- a guy that i respect so much wouldn't stand up and say, well, let's get the facts. let's get him and talk to him.

nobody tried. nobody. i'm here on beverly drive and sunset across from the beverly hills hotel, you know. >> i think they're going to -- they're probably trying to force you to sell. that's the thing. >> you can't force someone to sell property in america. well, i'm a lawyer. that's my opinion. >> in, i'm just saying, i think they've got sean combs, diddy, he's the one that's seeking, him and oprah. >> who? >> diddy, sean combs and oprah are the ones trying to -- >> all right. that's donald sterling talking to radaronline. don't know exactly who he was talking to, but it was interesting, right? because you heard him clearly say that he's not going to sit back and let somebody force him to sell his team. that was very clear to me, and it was also interesting that he didn't know who oprah was. jason carroll is with me and also darren kavinacki and on the

investigation discovery network. welcome to both of you. darren, i'll start with you because you can speak freely, as you listened to this, what went through your mind? >> that he seems a little bit detached, and i don't know if he is two full scoops of crazy, in the clinical sense, or if he's just somehow not getting it. but here's what's interesting. he mentions that in america, you can't be forced to sell your property, and he may actually find support for that proposition, carol. i mean, look. donald sterling, in my estimation, is an idiot, but i will defend idiocy not because i love idiocy, but because i love freedom. and there may be people who align with the point of view that, look, these are his privately expressed views in the privacy of his own home, illegally leaked, and he may find backers just because of that. >> all right, so i'm going to go to jason carroll now who will

give us a more measured response. so donald sterling clearly does not think he's a racist. you know the area where he grew up. you're from california, right? >> east l.a. for those unfamiliar with it, east l.a. i would say is predominantly latino at this point. perhaps when he grew up there, it was predominantly split between latinos and blacks. but clearly, you know, he's got some explaining to do. i mean, because in one sense, you have him saying don't bring blacks to my games. if that cannot be interpreted as a racist comment, then i don't know what could be. he's telling this man, whoever this person is, how can i be a racist when i grew up in boyle heights? it sort of reminds me of people who say, well, you know, some of my best friends are black. how can i possibly be a racist? he has some explaining to do. >> well, he kinda sorta said that, darren, right? because he said i hire african-americans. i pay them really well. why would i hire and make these people part of my business if i didn't love them? >> right. well, but the logic doesn't hold

up, and history doesn't support that proposition. and by the way, this is yet another thing that may be a thorn in the nba's side that now there's this notion from adam silver that oh, goodness, we've just learned of his racist views. there have been lawsuits both relating to basketball operations and also relating to his private real estate dealings that suggest that everybody knew, and certainly the nba knew for a long time that he held these views. and it's ridiculous to think that just because he grew up in a particular area of los angeles amongst a certain population that therefore he's not a racist. i don't think anybody's going to be buying that, carol. >> the curious thing, jason, is he decided -- now, we don't know who he's talking to at radaronline. we don't know if that interview, too, was taped by someone else and they gave it to radaronline, which it could have been for all i know at this point, but what a strange forum. >> you know, very odd. and what's interesting to me, too, is his quote where you

can't force someone to sell property in america. clearly that means the nba is in for a fight. but also remember, if he did what we are hearing, which is that, you know, he signed off in this contract where basically it says if you bring shame or, you know, disgrace in some way to the nba, we can take action against you. i mean, this is a man who used to be an attorney. he, more than anyone else, will know if you do do something that does bring shame upon the nba, the nba is going to fight you for it. >> it looks like he has an out because his wife, shelly, is positioning herself to buy the team and become the sole owner. so it remains in the family. >> but this adds a whole other layer of complexity, and it's so interesting because shelly sterling has made some very public statements where she's held herself out as an owner. these statements that owners would make concerning team policies and so forth. but there's a misalignment between what she's saying

publicly perhaps through a publicist and what she's saying privately. you know, publicly, she's saying that he's a racist, and i support the nba's action against racism. and then privately, if you'll remember, carol, when paparazzi was in her face as she's leaving a restaurant, and she's saying oh, he's no racist. so there's in fundamental misalignment and fundamental mistrust. and i don't think the nba is going to sit by and allow that to happen, but it does add a whole other layer of legal complexity about the ownership because it is held in a family trust and what could be a huge hand grenade in the garden, of course, is if there's a divorce filing which then makes the family trust under the jurisdiction of the california family courts. i mean, this is not going anywhere any time soon. >> well, i don't think that will happen any time soon either. i mean, this woman has stuck by him through many, many controversies, let's just put it that way. and a lot of women, right? so the other interesting thing out there is v. stiviano, the

woman that started it all, is now being investigated criminally for blackmailing the sterlings. and tell us more about that, jason. >> well, look. the l.a. district attorney would not comment on whether or not they are looking into these allegations that she tried to extort money from donald sterling for keeping quiet about these tapes. sterling's representatives, one of whom i spoke to yesterday on the phone, says this is not true, saying there is no way in the world that, you know, that she tried to give up the tapes or hold on to the tapes in exchange for money. basically saying that this is a man who had given her gifts in the past, willingly gave her gifts in the past, and this is just another attempt to shift attention away from him to her. >> although donald sterling gave an interview to some newspaper, some smaller newspaper, and i'll pose this question to you, darren. and he said -- there i am -- he said i should have paid her off. why didn't i pay her off? which sounds to me like he could

be hinting that she really was trying to blackmail him. >> that's right. the quote that i should have paid her off suggests that he had the opportunity to pay her off. and had he paid her off, he wouldn't be in the mess that he now finds himself in. and of course, extortion, under california law, basically means gaining property in exchange for your silence. and so clearly she would meet this definition of extortion if she's saying, look, i'll be hush-hush about this if you give me this money. and i'm sure in 2020 hindsight now since donald sterling clearly views all matters in life through this business set of lenses, if he could have paid her anything shy of the $2.5 million check he's got a right to the nba, it would have been a better business deal for him. >> ugly. >> this could be a big mess for her. >> all right. i got to end it there, but it's been a fascinating conversation. jason carroll, darren kavinoky,

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check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. the obama administration is reminding school districts nationwide that they have to educate all students, even those who cannot prove u.s. citizenship. officials held a conference call with reporters on the issue just moments ago. attorney general eric holder and education secretary arne duncan also outlined the requirements in a letter to educators. this after reports of some districts denying children admission to public schools. cnn's evan perez is in this washington with more on this. good morning. >> good morning, carol. you know, this is an issue that, you know, could well have some political blowback for the administration. there are many states, for

example, alabama that have passed laws to try to limit public schools to legal residents and citizens. and the courts have blocked the alabama law. but on this call just a moment ago, officials said that they're still getting reports of undocumented kids being pulled out of schools because of paperwork requirements. the supreme court has said that kids have a right to public education, even if they're undocumented or their parents are not in the country legally. there are about 1 million undocumented kids in the u.s. according to the homeland security department, carol. >> so how widespread is this problem? >> well, the education department just said that they have about 17 complaints over the past three years of schools asking for driver's license from parents or other paperwork requirements. the department -- the justice department says that it's made legal agreements with school districts in henry county, georgia, and palm beach county, florida, in the last couple of years. but they say that there have been problems in places from texas to washington, d.c.

and they say most of these problems have been unintentional. basically schools trying to verify that the students actually live in the districts or their age, carol. so it's not necessarily something that they're trying to keep the kids out. >> evan perez reporting live from washington, thank you. still to come in the "newsroom," nfl cornerback richard sherman doesn't hold back with his remarks. now he's talking about the donald sterling scandal. andy scholes is here to tell us more. >> he says things would be different if he was an nfl owner. what sherman has to say about it and what the washington redskins have to do with all of this after the break. quiet! mom has a headache! had a headache! but now, i& don't. excedrin is fast. in fact for some, relief starts in just 15 minutes. excedrin. headache. gone.

rumors are swirling about a possible return to the "today" show for katie couric. here's what she told bill weir on "cnn tonight." >> the dirty little secret is i never got up that early. i got up at, like, 5:30. and they'd be, like, uh, is she coming in today? >> would you ever go back? >> i don't think so. no, no. no. >> earlier this week, couric was said to be in talks to fill in for "today" anchor savannah guthrie when she goes on maternity leave. we'll see. seattle seahawks star cornerback richard sherman has an interesting take on the nba banning donald sterling for life for racist comments. sherman tells "time" sterling

would not get the same punishment in the nfl. really, andy? >> that's right, carol. we all know richard sherman is not shy when it comes to speaking that mind. in that interview he was asked if an nfl owner made comments similar to sterling, would roger goodell ban them for life? this was sherman's response. no, i don't because we have an nfl team called the redskins. i don't think the nfl really is as concerned as they show. the nfl is more of a bottom-line league. if it doesn't affect their bottom line, they're not as concerned. that's an interesting take because a big reason the nba banned sterling and trying to force him to sell the team is because all the sponsors started pulling out and the financial backlash the league will have to deal with. sherman did add in his interview that he hopes what is happening with the nba right now will help bring the redskins' name debate back to the foregone, but he's not very optimistic about it.

>> didn't daniel snyder say the team name was just not an issue? >> he did. he told the a.p. just last month, he understands the issues facing native americans. and the redskins' name, not one of them. this is what he said, basically they have real-life issues, real-life needs and people should start focusing on reality. and you know, carol, snyder is on record saying he will never change the team name, never. he told someone to put that in all caps once. >> wow! andy scholes, thanks a lot. i appreciate it. and you thank you for joining me today. i'm carol costello. "@this hour with berman and michaela" after a break. colace® capsules, for comfortable relief from occasional constipation, announces the $50,000 spa wellness give-away. couldn't you use a spa treatment? visit colacespa.com to win weekly! peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons.

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we want to play a tape of donald sterling talking on a phone to an unknown speaker. this all comes from radaronline.com. >> so we hear a male voice. it's said to be sterling. to us it sounds like the voice from the previous recording that we heard. on this new recording, he denies he's a racist. also importantly, he vows not to sell his team. we want you to listen to it. here it is in its entirety. >> you think i'm a racist? you think i have anything in the world but love for everybody? you don't think that. you know i'm not a racist. >> i know i got the -- i mean, when i heard the -- >> i can't hear you. >> what about when i hear that tape, though? that tape i heard. >> i grew up in east l.a. east l.a., you'd die to get out of there.