Medical Centers Across the country. Edward snowden, patriot or liar . Newly released emails are raising questions on whether the nsa leaker raised concerns about u. S. Security procedures to his bosses before exposing them to the world. Two very different versions of events there. Indeed. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to early start. Im john berman. Im Christine Romans. Its friday, may 30th. Its 4 00 a. M. In the east. Lets begin with the Donald Sterling saga. Could it soon be over . A source telling cnn former microsoft ceo Steve Ballmer has signed a binding agreement to buy the clippers for 2 billion, 2 billion. The sale was negotiated by shelly sterling, the teams coowner, must be approved by the nba board of governors. The question now is will Donald Sterling give it his approval . Overnight, his lawyer said no, at least for now. There is no sale, and he is not yet agreed to sign off, period. And earlier on the situation room with wolf blitzer, he said the nba went too far in painting sterling as a racist and he wants some form of vindication. Is entitled to his views about Magic Johnson, and they dont have to conform with your views or my views. The fact that he doesnt like Magic Johnson or doesnt have a lot of respect for him does not entitle the National Basketball association to confiscate his team, fine him and banish him for life. Those are draconian remedies. No one has ever, no sport has ever imposed remedies like that for a man expressing his personal opinion, however reprehensible the rest of us may think those opinions are. This is still the United States of america. We dont think the team can be sold without mr. Sterlings consent. Mr. Sterling is not going to consent unless the nba does something about the legal charges they filed against him, and so far, weve heard nothing to indicate that will occur. Feisty position from Donald Sterling and his attorney. Now, if the reported 2 billion deal goes through, it would be the most ever paid for an nba franchise. Sterling bought this team in 1981 for just about 12. 5 million. Imagine the tax bill to the state of california, the real winner if theres a sale here. The sterlings is going to do okay, too, at 2 billion. They will. Yes, they will have to pay Capital Gains taxes, but thats a hefty profit. Shed no tears for them, Christine Romans. Every nba owner is looking at that going, new peaks reached in the nba. New developments in the scandal at the va as more lawmakers call for va secretary Eric Shinseki to resign. He speaks today before a Homeless Veterans group, a day after going to capitol hill and speaking privately to lawmakers. This as he seems to be losing the support, perhaps, of his boss, the president , all after the vas own probe found a cnn investigation was true. Hundreds of vets in phoenix were kept off the official books and not given appointments, possibly with deadly results. Now, many people are asking, how long can the secretary keep his job . Jim acosta has more from the white house. Reporter john and christine, the writing may be on the wall for va secretary Eric Shinseki for the First Time Since the va scandal broke, the white house is declining to say whether shinseki has the confidence of the president. White House Press Secretary jay carney refused to answer that question of whether shinseki has the president s full backing. Instead, carney said the president wants to see the findings of an internal audit shinseki is expected to hand over to the president any day now. How does he run the department if he doesnt have the full confidence of the president . How does he conduct this investigation if he doesnt have the full confidence of the president . The president looks forward to the preliminary review that he asked the secretary to provide to him. Reporter a growing list of senate democrats, many up for reelection, are calling for shinseki to go. The last straw for those senators . An inspector generals report pointing to systemic issues in the va system, noting in phoenix, 1,700 veterans were never put on a waiting list and were likely lost or forgotten. As for the white house, an official cautions, the president s loyalty only goes so far. Mr. Obama stood by hhs secretary Kathleen Sebelius because officials were confident here that the broken obamacare website could be fixed. The white house is not so sure about shinsekis ability to repair the damage at the va. John and christine . All right, as the president waits to see the internal report from the va, for the first time a top House Democrat is calling for a criminal investigation, and for the first time, a member of the House Democratic leadership is calling on secretary shinseki to resign. Congressman steve israel tells jake tapper on the lead, there are simply too many questions right now about who did what at the va and why they might have been encouraged to manipulate the wait time for veterans. Hes now asked attorney general eric holder to look into it. Anybody, anybody at the va doctored papers, engaged in a coverup, withheld health care for veterans, they need to be investigated, they need to be prosecuted, they need to be fired. The inspector generals report finds the va awarded bonuses to top officials based in part on performance goals, including shorter appointment wait times. That may have been an incentive for some to cook the books. The nsa this morning firing back at Edward Snowdens claims that he tried to blow the whistle on the agencys spying practices when he worked there. During his interview with nbc news, the former contractor said he raised concerns on multiple occasions in writing and verbally. The nsa says it only has one email, one email from snowden to its office of general counsel asking about the legal power of an executive order but nothing about the spy programs. Snowden called the email release incomplete. New details this morning of just who in china is responsible for hacking into servers in the u. S. The wall street journal says u. S. Officials believe many of those hackers were contractors for hire and worked for Defense Companies created on the fly to do the dirty work of stateowned firms. Security experts say because they arent government employees, it would be very difficult for the Chinese Government to stop them. All right, time for an early start on your money this friday. Heres stocks around the world. U. S. Futures are slightly lower but still near these records i sound like a broken record. The s p hit a record high of the year yesterday, topping 1,920, this despite news the u. S. Economy actually shrank last quarter. Revised data showed a 1 contraction in the winter, the first in three years. Most economists say its likely a weatherrelated fluke. Meantime, big news from ford, issuing a monster recall. 1. 4 million vehicles. The bulk of that, 1. 1 million, are very popular suvs. Here they are. The ford escape, ford explorer, the mercury mariner, all being recalled for a steering issue. Ford says at least 20 accidents and 8 injuries may be tied to the steering problem. Another 200,000 ford tauruses recalled for a potential corrosion issue that likely caused 18 fires. I say this is the year of the total recall for car owners. Nice, nice. Are you going to open your shirt and see a little man out of the stomach there . Because thats what i think when you say total recall. I digress. House republicans are trying to slow down the new School Nutrition standards backed by michelle obama. The House Committee advancing a bill allowing schools to opt out of the program, actually, it would give them a oneyear waiver, opt out for one year, if serving healthier meals to children is causing them to lose money. It would give schools a 12month grace period to comply. Under the current rules, schools are adding more fruits and vegetables and cutting salt and fat. School systems say kids are throwing away food and also its very expensive. Talk about a power lunch, Hillary Clinton stopped by the white house thursday for a meal with the president. The lowprofile meeting was not on president obamas calendar, but when word leaked out on twitter, the white house confirmed the visit, but theyre not saying much else about it, except to say this was a normal lunch between two very powerful people. Isnt its just lunch a dating website or something . Like you see the ads on tv, its just lunch, its just lunch. Nine minutes after the hour. Attacked on the street by a stranger. A College Student describes how he survived a massacre that left six others dead. And tourists sharing their story of an incredible scare nearly 1,500 feet in the air. What happened when the glass i have been in that platform what happened when the glass below them began to shatter. The question is, will you go again . Negative. Narrator these are the skater kid whoa narrator that got torture tested by teenagers and cried out for help. From the surprised designers. Who came to the rescue with a brilliant fix male designer i love it narrator which created thousands of new customers for the tennis shoes that got torture tested by teenagers. The internet of everything is changing manufacturing. Is your Network Ready . Chilling, new details this morning about elliot rodger. In the weeks leading up to the deadly rampage that left 6 dead and 13 wounded in california, police now say deputies questioned him about the disturbing online videos during a welfare check in april, but after speaking with rodger, they concluded he was not a threat and they did not bother to view the videos. Meanwhile, were hearing from a survivor of the attack run over by rodger while he was riding a skateboard. Nick pasichuke tells Anderson Cooper he had no warning. It was one of those things where im on a long board and im not really thinking like, oh, the car behind hes just going to come up and bear right into me, so i didnt really think about it. I was just talking with my friend. So, the car came from behind and hit you . Yes, it did. Wow, so you had no warning at all. None. Didnt even hear anyone yell, like hey, look out, or anything prior to that. We were just hit by the car. Pasichuke broke both legs and has multiple facial fractures. Hes out of the hospital now and recovering at home. Really wish him the best in his recovery. Lawyers for james holmes are asking for closed jury selection. Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing 12 people and wounding dozens more at a 2012 massacre at a colorado Movie Theater. Prosecutors agree the public and media should be barred during individual questioning but they want it to be open when 12 jurors and 12 alternates are chosen. Jury selection is slated for october 14th. A San Francisco giants fan nearly beaten to death at a dodgers game in 2011 is taking the team on in court. In opening arguments, lawyers for bryan stow claimed former dodgers owner Frank Mccourt was too cheap to provide Adequate Security at the time of the brawl. The incident left stow disabled and braindamaged. Mccourts attorney claims stow was aggressive and drunk and responsible for the fight that broke out. The top Law Enforcement official in texas says the state doesnt have to reveal the sources of execution drugs. Attorney general greg abbott responded to multiple requests for information about which pharmacies make the drugs that they use in executions. He says those facilities could face harm if their identities are revealed. Its a reversal. What he has said in the past and likely to be appealed to the courts. This morning, the cdc is warning of a dangerous surge in a disease once pretty much eliminated in the United States. Talking about measles. It is on the rise with 288 cases reported this year. That is the highest number since 2000. Now, more than half of those cases are among adults, which is interesting. Almost all are linked to travel overseas. Health officials warn that measles can be deadly and are urging people to get vaccinated. If you do not know your status, they say its safe to get another shot. One of the issues here is people are not getting vaccinated anymore. A lot of people on all economic suspect rums are looking at this and deciding not to get vaccinated. When i had my third baby, i remember my doctor in the hospital said you dont have measles immunity anymore, youre going to have to have a booster before well let you leave, so i couldnt leave without a booster. So, a lot of people who had the first shots 30 years ago, maybe they should revisit it. Vaccines are a contentious issue in this country like never before. All right, new safety warnings coming to tanning beds. The fda now requiring manufacturers to put a socalled black box warning on those devices, saying they should not be used by anyone under the age of 18, but the agency stopped short of prohibiting minors from using tanning beds. The fda also reclassified the devices so they can have stricter oversight. That gives federal regulators more power to review their design before theyre sold. Six days away now from samesex marriage becoming legal in another state. Starting sunday, some samesex couples across illinois will be able to say i do. Some of the counties there have been issuing marriage licenses for months after a court ruling, but a state law officially takes effect june 1st. One think tank expects samesex marriage in illinois will generate up to 75 million a year in new wedding business. Also in illinois this morning, part of the biggest tourist attraction in chicago will be open again for visitors. One of these glass boxes hanging off the Observation Deck on the willis tower there are four in total one had to be shut down after this. The glass seemingly started to crack, terrifying those inside. I hear the crack and i feel the crack on the palm of my hand and my hand, i feel like glass just completely shattered or cracked, however you would like to say it, and i just feel that. And as soon as i feel it and i hear it, i look down and im like, oh, my god. Officials at the tower insist no one was ever in danger. It was just the coating that cracked, not the underlying structure. Those ledges, by the way, hang some 1,300 feet above the ground. I recently went on this, as a matter of fact. It was so funny. My three kids, one of them went right in and was looking around. The other two got to the edge and went right back. You know . Terrifying the question is will you go again . No. No. I mean, i guess its just the coating there . I have an extreme fear of heights. Im not going because i think its unsafe. Im not going because i did it once and its really scary. I jumped out of an airplane once because im scared of heights. I never have to do it again. The cracking is a little bit of a deterrent to me, even though its not like the bad kind of cracking, apparently, its the okay kind of cracking. Before the cracking, it was the 1,300 feet down that was the deterrent for me. 18 minutes after the hour. Lets get an early look at our weather now. Karen maginnes with that. Big problems along the gulf coast, where for days now we have seen 6, 7 inches of rainfall along this gulf coast region. More on the way. Doesnt look like its giving up any time soon. Temperaturewise, at least going into friday. Well, 74 for friday afternoon, 84 in minneapolis, 85 dallas, San Francisco 63. And if youre traveling to miami, 86. Now, heres the problem. We start to see things clear out in the northeast. Thats good, but along the gulf coast, stubborn area of low pressures still going to be triggering heavy rounds of rainfall where the ground is absolutely saturated, and the potential for flash flooding is very apparent as we go even into saturdays forecast. Temperaturewise, look at this, 70 new york, 81 washington, d. C. , chicago 82, denver 84, San Francisco in the 60s. Back to you guys. All right. Karen maginnes, thank you for that. All right, breaking overnight, it is a tie. We have cochampions in the Scripps National spelling bee. Whoa in the end, 13yearold ansun sujoe and 14yearold sririam were competing against the dictionary, really, not each other. They spelled so many words correctly, the judges ran out. They got to the end of the dictionary. Sujoes final round winner was sticomethia, which means altering lines of dialogue, and then feuilleton is a feature section from a newspaper. So, congratulations to these two. Im going to have a cronkite moment and come out against the spelling bee. Why . Because everyones always for it, everyone celebrates the winner here. I think spelling, theres too much emphasis placed on spelling in our society right now. We need to change our ways. Leave it to siri. She spells it right every time. Spellcheck. But congratulations to these two young men. Smart young men. Congratulations. Violence escalating in ukraine. A military helicopter shut down, more than a dozen dead, bloody battles between troops and prorussian separatists raging on. Were live with whats happening right now this morning in ukraine, next. In the real world, security surrounds us. There are cameras, police, guards. But who looks after us online, where we spend more than 200 billion dollars a year. American express can help protect you. With intelligent security that learns your spending patterns, and can alert you instantly to an unusual charge. So you can be a member of a more secure world. This is what membership is. This is what membership does. There are new worries this morning in ukraine, a day after militants apparently armed with a Rocket Launcher took down a Ukrainian Military helicopter, leaving at least 14 dead,