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"Cut, Cap and Contain" Procedure Underway to Capture Spewing Oil; Oil Spill a Crime Scene: Feds Investigate BP Spill; Fergie: Needed Money for a Friend; Oil Spill Scam Alert; LeBron: Cavs Have "An Edge"; Obama's "Iranian Hostage Crisis"?; Next Oil Disaster?
Aired June 02, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning on this Wednesday, the 2nd of June. Thanks so much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. And a big news day it is as well. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. We have a lot of big stories we're telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
First, it's BP's "cut and cap" operation. It is well underway now at the bottom of the gulf. There you see some of the pictures. The robotic subs being used to make a clean cut through a leaking riser pipe. They'll then try to cap it. It's a risky maneuver and the stakes are getting higher with shores of two more states now coated with crude oil.
ROBERTS: Could oil executives go to prison? The administration now launching a criminal investigation of the rig explosion and oil spill as the president struggles to find the right tone to take in this disaster. We are live at the White House this morning.
CHETRY: And as the devastation spreads and the waiting game continues, critics of the Obama administration now said this ongoing disaster is less like the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and more like the Iran hostage crisis that slowly destroyed Jimmy Carter's presidency.
And the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation right now by heading to CNN.com/amFIX.
ROBERTS: While the shores of two more states are now stained by crude oil and we could know soon whether BP's "cut and cap" operation can put a dent in this growing disaster, let's get you updated on what's been going on overnight.
You're looking now at live pictures, a mile beneath the sea, where BP has been using robotic subs and a diamond wire saw overnight to cut through that leaking riser pipe. Later on today, on this 44th day of the spill, the oil giant is hoping to cap the leak and begin capturing most if not all of the gushing oil. And time is growing short here as well.
Crude has now come ashore on the beaches in Barrier Islands of Alabama and Mississippi. That ruptured pipe not the only thing hemorrhaging either. Since April, 40 percent of BP's market value has vanished, a breathtaking $74 billion hit. And now the attorney general is investigating whether the company committed any crimes leading up to this catastrophe.
Our John Zarrella live for us in Dauphin Island, Alabama, where oil was spotted on the beaches. And heartbreaking, John, to see how the slick is spreading far and wide across the Gulf Coast.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's no question about it, John. You know, as you mentioned, even if they are lucky enough to get it capped and stop most of the oil today, there's so much of it in the water now and the currents are moving eastward at this particular point in time that we're starting to see the oil show up in places like Dauphin Island, Alabama and in Mississippi. And yesterday the first oil spotted here.
I'm standing on the crest of a dune. And on the other side of the dune is the beach but it's about three football fields away. That's how wide the beautiful white pristine beach of Dauphin Island is. Well, as of yesterday, it was dotted with oil. And these are not just tar balls, not those hard tar balls that have been found in a lot of places, but this is gooey, sticky crude that looks like pretty much the way people would describe chocolate that had been left out in the sun and it melted. And not only that, there were people out there swimming. And not just a few people, a lot of people out in the water swimming in this as cleanup crews were working on the beach to try and get as much of it off of the beach of Dauphin Island as they could.
Now the entire beach is not covered. There are certain sections depending on where the current had taken it, where the winds had taken it that's where you find the oil. And again, there's quite a bit of it. But there are many sections of the beach if you walk it, when first light comes up, we'll try to do that again where you just don't see the crude. But now if we take a look at the map of the Gulf of Mexico, what we see now is clearly on the map oil all around Louisiana and, of course, encroaching now on Mississippi and Alabama. And we know that NOAA has now extended the fishing ban some 31 percent of the Gulf of Mexico, which includes the federal waters, all the way up and including Alabama -- John.
ROBERTS: You know, John, as we're watching what's going on on the surface of the water there, also -- and we had them up just a couple of moments ago -- seeing underwater pictures live as BP begins that "cut and cap" procedure. What's the latest on that as you know it?
ZARRELLA: Well, what we know now is what happened -- what was expected to happen happened. As they cut through that riser pipe with that diamond wire saw, they expected an increase in oil. When you look at the live pictures, that increase in oil took place immediately after they put those cuts in that riser pipe. Up to perhaps 20 percent is what scientists were estimating might happen. But I know as you in interviews you did with some BP people, they were saying that's kind of acceptable. They're willing to take that risk to get that lower marine riser package capped on top now of the blowout preventer. And that will be the next step. It hasn't started yet. But that may start today, take place today.
And what they're going to do is lower that cap over the top of that blowout preventer and then it will be able, they believe, to capture most of the oil. Most experts say they're not going to be able to get all the oil, John, as you know, until they actually get that second well drilled. And that will be the only way. And that's still a couple of months away -- John.
ROBERTS: I expect there's a lot of fingers crossed that this "cut and cap" operation works, John, because God forbid that thing should flow on like it is until those drill wells are drilled in August.
John Zarrella for us in Dauphin Island. John, thanks.
CHETRY: And it's interesting when you look at where they're enlisting help to try to solve this problem, this enormous oil spill, a disaster of titanic proportions and the Feds are calling on film director James Cameron, director of the "Titanic" for some help.
Cameron is considered an expert on underwater filming in the operation of remote controlled vehicles. He met with scientists and government officials yesterday in Washington as part of a brainstorming session. Cameron also studied physics in college and has helped develop deep sea submersible equipment for Hollywood blockbuster "Titanic," as well as two documentaries exploring the wreck of the ocean liner.
ROBERTS: There's a new idea being floated to deal with the Gulf disaster. It's the super tanker solution, also known as suck and salvage. And an expert on oil spill says it is time to give it a try.
At 6:40 Eastern, we'll be joined by that expert, John Hofmeister. He's the former president of Shell Oil. He says the super tanker solution has worked before in Saudi Arabia and needs to be implemented now.
CHETRY: Well, it's already by far the worst oil spill in U.S. history. It's a tragedy, a travesty. But now it may actually be a crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We must also ensure that anyone found responsible for the spill is held accountable. That means enforcing the appropriate civil and if warranted, criminal authorities to the full extent of the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The attorney general, Eric Holder, there saying that a criminal investigation is under way, part of a much more aggressive approach that the president laid out yesterday.
Our Dan Lothian is live at the White House. And explain where the criminality part could come in. It's something that could prove difficult to prove in a court of law.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It could be very difficult. And that's why you hear Mr. Holder talking about how they're going to go after all aspects of the oil crisis from the explosion initially and the 11 workers who were killed, looking into the possibility that there were violations of the Clean Water Act or pollution act. Looking into whether or not there were false statements that were made.
What you're seeing here though is this administration really taking an aggressive approach. And that's why you saw Mr. Holder go down to the gulf to make this announcement, saying that it's not only just a criminal investigation but also a civil investigation as well, something that has been ongoing for weeks. And President Obama talked about that yesterday as well when he was in the Rose Garden meeting with two members of his oil commission. He talked about how important it will be to get to the bottom of what went wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If the laws on our books are insufficient to prevent such a spill, the laws must change. If oversight was inadequate to enforce these laws, oversight has to be reformed. If our laws were broken, leading to this death and destruction, my solemn pledge is that we will bring those responsible to justice on behalf of the victims of this catastrophe and the people of the gulf region.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: Now one of the things you heard from this administration in recent days is that they've been unhappy with BP in terms of how transparent or lack thereof they have been in laying out the full scope of the oil spill. So that no doubt will be part of the investigation. For its part, BP is saying that it will cooperate with this investigation, Kiran.
CHETRY: And, Dan, what does the president hope that this commission will accomplish?
LOTHIAN: Well, he really hopes that they will go and get to the bottom of all aspects of this, somewhat like the investigation as well. The president wants to find out how this occurred in the first place. And then what can be put in place to prevent this from happening again. So he has these two co-chairs taking part in this commission. Also plans to appoint five additional folks as well to this commission. And then he hopes to hear back from them in about six months, hopefully having some key solutions, again, to prevent another major disaster like this from occurring again.
CHETRY: Dan Lothian for us this morning, thanks.
And tomorrow night, Larry King has an exclusive interview with President Obama. Now managing the worst oil spill in U.S. history on top of the economy and two wars, Larry King and the president, tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN. Also tonight, don't miss the start of "Toxic America", a two- night CNN investigation with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He'll be examining one of the chemical dispersants that BP is using. It is banned in other countries so why is it OK to use here in America and perhaps at levels that we've never seen before? "Toxic America" beginning tonight, 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: It's nine minutes after the hour now, and other stories new this morning. The Taliban claiming responsibility for attacks at a national peace conference in Kabul. Afghan police say suicide bombers set off explosives near the venue where President Hamid Karzai was addressing some 16 delegates. Karzai is trying to drum up support for his plan to persuade Taliban fighters to lay down their weapons in exchange for jobs and other incentives.
CHETRY: Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper are separating after 40 years of marriage. In a joint 3-mail to friends, the Gores say they made the decision together following a, quote, "process of long and careful consideration." The couple has four grown children and three grandchildren.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It really is -- it's such a shock. It's so sad and it's really kind of disappointing, too.
CHETRY: Yes. When you make it through so much in life, and then --
ROBERTS: You figure 40 years --
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: What's the purpose in breaking up? Wow.
Jacqui Jeras has got a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. She's in the weather center for us in Atlanta this morning. And stormy weather for the Gores. How are we looking across the country?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Stormy there as well, John. Really some wicked thunderstorms ripping across the upper Midwest at this hour, bringing in some damaging winds and probably some hail to go along with it. From St. Louis into Chicago and making its way into Indianapolis, watch out for that threat. It will continue throughout the afternoon hours from the eastern Great Lakes all the way down to parts of the south. And we'll see those pop-up thunderstorms again up and down the eastern seaboard.
Getting kind of sticky out there. We've got a change in the winds in the gulf. We'll talk a little bit more about how that's going to impact the oil spill. That's coming up when I see you guys again.
CHETRY: All right. Sounds good, Jacqui, thanks so much. And still to come on the Most News in the Morning, the U.S. is backing an investigation into the deadly attack by Israeli forces on a flotilla headed to Gaza. We're going to get an update on that situation coming up.
It's 11 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fourteen minutes past the hour right now. Time for a quick check of the stories new this morning.
Arizona's Republican governor Jan Brewer will be meeting with President Obama tomorrow in Washington. The president has called the state's controversial immigration law misguided. Governor Brewer says that the White House hasn't done enough to secure the U.S./Mexico border and she spoke exclusively last night with CNN's John King.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, HOST, "JOHN KING U.S.A.": When you sit across the table from the president of the United States, what is your number one, I don't know whether to call it a demand or request, what is it?
GOV. JAN BREWER (R), ARIZONA: I think it would probably be, Mr. President, we need our borders secured. How can we work together to get it done? We need your help. We've been putting up with this for eight, 10 years. We need it now. We can't tolerate it any longer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Arizona's new law allows police to question and arrest people suspected of being in the country illegally. It goes into effect July 29.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning, the White House cautiously backing the United Nations Security Council resolution that would call for an investigation into Israel's raid on a flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza. We now know that 16 Americans were in that flotilla.
Officials say two already left Israel, the other 14 are still in Israeli prisons. Israel says all 600 activists will be free by tomorrow.
CHETRY: A tearful and apologetic Sarah Ferguson opening up to Oprah about being caught trying to sell access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew. The Duchess of York says that she took the $40,000 from an undercover reporter because she wanted to raise money for a friend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARAH FERGUSON, DUCHESS OF YORK: A friend of mine needed $38,000 urgently, though he had said I will give you that $38,000 for my -- for my friend, and that's why I needed the money urgently for my friend.
And so I was crying and I thanked him so much for helping my friend. And he knew the friend, knew of the friend. And -- and it -- so -- and I was just --
OPRAH WINFREY, HOST, THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW: That's the moment when you agreed to -- we've heard $40,000, so was it $40,000, $38,000?
FERGUSON: Well, it was $40,000, but it was $38,000.
WINFREY: OK.
FERGUSON: He gave me $40,000, but that was all going to my friend.
WINFREY: And you were doing that for a friend?
FERGUSON: I was -- yes. But this, for me --
WINFREY: Is that what happened to that money? What happened to that money?
FERGUSON: It's gone back to the newspaper. I suddenly felt very, very --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, Fergie says she was not drunk during the undercover sting but said, quote, "This is what you get too when you don't face your dark side."
ROBERTS: Didn't she say earlier that, yes, she'd been drinking wine?
CHETRY: Well, you know, she said she's been drinking, but she wasn't drunk.
ROBERTS: OK.
CHETRY: Parse that any way you will.
ROBERTS: OK.
CHETRY: There you go.
ROBERTS: Next up on the Most News in the Morning, we'll tell you how scammers are trying to make a buck off the BP oil spill. Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business", coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty minutes after the hour.
We're talking about Fergie saying she wasn't drunk. But she said, "So I'm aware of the fact I've been drinking. I was not in my right place. Clearly, I've been having too much to drink, but I wasn't drunk." OK.
Christine Romans here "Minding Your Business" this morning, talking more about BP --
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Dead sober. You've been dead sober for how many months now?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know what, I can count down the days, actually, if you like.
ROBERTS: And when can you crack your first bottle of --
ROMANS: I got seven weeks to the day, John.
Look, I'm talking about job scams, and, you know, this happens when we had Katrina. Whenever we have a big spate of -- of hurricanes or tornadoes or in Nashville (ph), you have scammers who descend on people who have -- are concerned and have -- are out of luck after -- after a disaster. No change here. You're already starting to see the scammers descend on the Gulf Coast.
BP yesterday telling us that they have seen job scams. There are people going around the Gulf Coast region, mostly in Louisiana and Alabama charging you to train and get hired by BP and BP says we don't charge you any money to get a job with us for the cleanup. BP does not charge to train and hire applicants.
You would be surprised, people who are reaching into their pocket, paying money to someone who they don't know so they can get a job with BP. There is no job. Deepwaterhorizonresponse.com is where the legitimate jobs are listed.
This is what you need to know. You've got to be concerned about people asking for charitable donations, insurance claims, cleanup services, and investments. (INAUDIBLE) we've already seen some of the -- the agencies, the regulatory agencies warning of penny stock scams. For example, you get an e-mail --
ROBERTS: BP is going to be a penny stock pretty soon.
ROMANS: Yes, exactly.
No, you get an e-mail saying look, we have the -- we have the solution. We're working with BP on a solution to how to -- to have microbes eat up the oil or whatever and you can get on the stock on the ground floor. Well, it's a scam.
It's a scam, so be very, very careful. And -- and so on a lot of different levels there are people who are trying to take advantage of a huge population who are affected by this.
CHETRY: And when you're -- you're most vulnerable, too. That's where they're going for the kill. It's unbelievable.
ROMANS: Absolutely. Absolutely.
CHETRY: Do you have a "Romans' Numeral" for us this hour?
ROMANS: I do, and it's -- and it's a number that represents 13.9 million. It represents how many people are so vulnerable and why there are so many scammers descending, because there are 13.9 potential victims. That is -- the Gulf -- the Gulf of Mexico population. Thirteen point nine million people living along the -- so if you --
The other big one is the roofers, you know, like after a hurricane or after a tornado, who come in and say, you know, $14,000 and I'll be able to replace your roof. I'll be back with my crew tomorrow. They take your money and never come back again. Be very, very careful about people coming to your house and saying --
CHETRY: Never pay up front for a job.
ROMANS: -- I'm going to -- I'm going to come back. I'm going to help you and make sure we clean this up. I'm going to make sure -- I'm going to a berm in front of your -- you know, I'm going to make sure the oil never gets on your property. No. Nobody's going to do that.
ROBERTS: All right. Thank you.
ROMANS: Welcome.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Next up in the Most News in the Morning, NBA star LeBron James opens up about his future, answering the question that everyone wants to know. It's the interview you'll see only on CNN, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
On the eve of the NBA finals, no one is talking about the league showcase event. That's because one of its marquee players, LeBron James, has stolen the spotlight, sucked all the action out of the room.
CHETRY: Yes. James can become a free agent July 1st, and so everyone from Cleveland to Chicago to New York is wondering, will he go to my team?
Well, here's what LeBron told Larry King last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Do you lean at all to the place you know the best? I mean, do they have an edge going in, your home team?
LEBRON JAMES, BASKETBALL PLAYER: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely because, you know, this city, these fans, I mean, has given me a lot in -- in these seven years, and, you know, for me it's comfortable.
So -- I got a lot of memories here and -- and so it does have an edge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That's the main (ph) interview. The full interview is going to be airing Friday night on "LARRY KING LIVE".
(INAUDIBLE) talk more about it, Max Kellerman, who's been following this closely. Thanks for being with us this morning.
MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: My pleasure.
CHETRY: So were we reading too much into this, what Larry asked him, or is it just obvious that Cleveland would have an edge? What do you think?
KELLERMAN: No, Larry asked him a leading question. He sort of boxed LeBron, but he didn't say who has an edge, or does someone have -- he asked, does Cleveland have an edge, and the LeBron was very quick on his feet, it seems to me, because in LeBron's answer, he boxes the Cavs.
In other words, hey, if I leave Cleveland, it's not my fault. They must have messed up because, going in, they had an edge. So it leaves fans something to hold onto in Cleveland in the event that he leaves.
ROBERTS: You know, this is a guy who doesn't want for money. When he first came into the league he signed a $90 million with -- deal with Nike. But there is a difference between the money he can make if he stays with the Cavs or if he went to another team.
I think it's $127 million over six years if he stayed with the Cavs. He maxes out at $97 million if he goes with another team over five years. But is money really an issue for him? Will -- would that really enter into the equation?
KELLERMAN: I think it is an issue for him and it will enter the equation and that's why I think New York probably has the best chance to get him. It seems to me that -- that the money that you can make in New York, based on the fact that it's the number one media market in the world, will far outweigh -- in that one year -- we're talking about a one year $30 million difference, and, in that one year, he'll be able to -- over that time, he'll be able to more than make up that money.
ROBERTS: Just because of the exposure he gets here?
KELLERMAN: Of course. It's the --
CHETRY: But he also said that money matter less than winning a championship. He said, you know, to secure my place in history, I have to bring home a championship. Where does he have the best shot? What city, what team? KELLERMAN: The answer's, again, New York likely, because of how far they are under the salary cap. The history of the league has been that occasionally you get a team that's so well structured that -- it's usually the Pistons, as it turns out, that they can overcome a team with greater superstars.
But, generally, the easiest way to construct a winning team is the two superstar system. And since the Knicks are that far under the cap, they can afford LeBron plus one of his buddies, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh --
ROBERTS: So -- so, on that point, there's talk that Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnston, Amare Stoudemire, may get together with LeBron, have a little summit, sort of talk about, you know, where do we want to go? How can we make the game better?
Larry asked him about that, and he didn't seem to dispel the notion. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: He can tell you not to do this.
JAMES: Right.
KING: What if you go there and I go here and we go here? Is that possible?
JAMES: I don't know to that extent, but it will be fun. It will be fun to get all the free agents together and, you know, figure out a way how we can make the league better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Antitrust laws prevent the owners from doing that. It's called collusion. But could the players do it? And -- and do you think that would happen?
KELLERMAN: It's already happened.
ROBERTS: I -- I think Dwayne Wade and Bosh's representatives last week said, no, it's not going to happen.
KELLERMAN: It's already happened. They played on the Olympics together. I mean, it's been happening all summer.
When you just put yourself in -- in LeBron's position, you're with these guys you play with in the Olympics all summer. You know that your contracts are coming up. Everybody has opt out clauses anyway around the league nowadays. What, are you not talking about your plans ever over the summer? Of course you are.
They've discussed it, all of them, I'm quite sure, already. The summit's -- the summit has already occurred.
CHETRY: If he's Batman, who is his Robin? And what team can afford him?
KELLERMAN: Well, I mean, the ideal situation for any team would be LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. They just played on the Olympics. They were the two best players on that team, and that includes Kobe Bryant. They won a gold medal. They showed they could play together very well.
But for various reasons, it may be unlikely that they wind up on the same team. It seems that Dwyane Wade would have to kind of play second fiddle and he's not a second fiddler. He's a lead. I think Chris Bosh is more likely.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLERMAN: Yes, he is. I think Chris Bosh is more likely.
CHETRY: He should go where?
KELLERMAN: I think it's LeBron James and Chris Bosh, you know, in New York City.
CHETRY: In New York.
KELLERMAN: You look at where else the possible destinations are and it's funny because media types -- and I'm New York and I'm media type, and I think he's going to New York. When they are from Chicago, they think he's going to Chicago, et cetera.
But there's something the great literary critic, Howard Bloom, talked about, called the anxiety of influence. Very quickly, it's just how writers and poets are always influenced by what came before so they're derivate. Very few can kind of break out and be original. And they have this anxiety that, can I get away from the influence. Usually, it's Shakespeare that turns out.
Michael Jordan is the NBA Shakespeare.
CHETRY: Right.
KELLERMAN: Everyone, and including, and especially maybe Kobe Bryant, has that anxiety of influence. They try to model themselves after Jordan.
LeBron, it seems to me, is the first superstar who's come along on that level and has escaped that anxiety of influence. He's completely doing his own thing. His game does not mirror Michael Jordan's exactly. He's an original.
I doubt he winds up in Chicago. (INAUDIBLE) done by everybody that lives in New York.
CHETRY: There you go. Something you're pulling for probably, right?
KELLERMAN: Of course, I'm a Knicks fan.
CHETRY: All right. Great to talk to you this morning, Max. Thanks so much.
And also, you can see Larry King's full interview with LeBron James. It's airing "LARRY KING LIVE" Friday night, 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Crossing the half hour, it means it's time for this morning's top stories.
Nearly two months after the deadly blast that killed 29 coal miners in West Virginia, inspectors will enter the Upper Big Branch mine this morning to determine if it is safe to begin the investigation. Dangerous gases, dust and smoke have get crews out of the mine. The April 5th blast was the deadliest mine disaster in 40 years.
CHETRY: B.P.'s cut and cap operation is well underway on the Gulf floor. Robotic subs are being used to cut through a gushing riser. Then B.P. plans to cap it and hopefully contain most of the spewing oil. We may know if the operation succeeds later today.
Meanwhile, oil is washing up now on the shores of Alabama, as well as Mississippi. And a sheen of crude is now lurking within 10 miles of the coast of Pensacola, Florida.
ROBERTS: With 11 people dead and miles of coastline destroyed, the White House has now launching a criminal investigation of the rig explosion in the oil spill. And in a possible sign of the way that things are headed, the government announced it will no longer hold joint briefings on the disaster with B.P.
CHETRY: And the criminal investigation is just an example of how tensions between the White House and B.P. have seemed to reach a breaking point. Aides say that President Obama is enraged by the failure to stop the oil spill.
ROBERTS: And now, 44 days into this disaster, critics say this crisis is less like the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and more like the Iran hostage crisis.
Our Jim Acosta is live in Washington for us.
An interesting analogy, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very interesting, John and Kiran.
And nobody is predicting the oil spill will last as long as the Iran hostage crisis. There are plenty of differences between the two events. But the point is, the longer the disaster goes on, the tougher it will get on the president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): First comparison between the oil disaster and Hurricane Katrina. Now, a new analogy, that's no more flattering.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The danger isn't that this is his Katrina. It's that it's his Iranian hostage crisis. That happened to Carter in his first and it turned out only term.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In fact, there was an ABC program that rose up, what was it, Hostage in the --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "America Held Hostage."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A nightly program that became "Nightline." And all of that held the presidency captive.
ANNOUNCER: The Iran crisis, "America Held Hostage."
ACOSTA: The fact that a TV show was created to track the Iran hostage crisis after militants took control of the U.S. embassy in Tehran is a sign of how a painful ongoing political drama can slowly eat away at a presidency. As that crisis dragged on 444 days, far longer than the oil disaster now at day 44, overtime, historians note it wasn't just 52 Americans being held hostage but President Jimmy Carter, too. The hostages were freed the day Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president.
ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The longer the crisis goes on without a solution, the more people are likely to blame the president and his administration rather than just B.P.
GOV. ED RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA: The president is a funny guy. He doesn't like to appear to be grandstanding. So, the optics aren't quite as good as they could have been.
ACOSTA: While Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell doesn't buy the comparison with the hostage crisis, he does think it would do the president some good to spend more time on the Gulf Coast.
RENDELL: The president I think hasn't done as good as a job as he could have in explaining to the America people and doing those sorts of visual events to get across what he's done. But the response here has been, I think, very, very good and something that I think the American people will weigh.
But sure, as time goes on, does it become more of a problem? Sure, it does.
ACOSTA: Which may explain why the White House is distancing itself from B.P. and no longer hold joint press conferences with the company.
ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: We need to be communicating with the American people through my voice as a national incident commander and I think that is the way we ought to be community.
ACOSTA: And why Eric Holder is opening a criminal probe into the disaster.
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who has violated the law.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Now, the president can do more than just stay on top of this crisis. He can also change the agenda and remind the public there are other problems to tackle. Still, if it takes until August, as some experts predict, to stop the oil spill, the crisis will have lasted more than 100 days. In other words, a summer of pure presidential hell -- John and Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. We'll see. Hopefully this one doesn't. That's for sure. Everyone is hoping that this latest operation will work. We should find out within next couple of days.
Jim, thanks.
ACOSTA: You bet.
CHETRY: And coming up on the next -- coming up next on the Most News in the Morning: from top kill to cut and cap. It seems like there's a new solution for the oil spill every day. They just got to get one of them to work. We're going to talk to John Hofmeister and why he thinks that the answer could be supertankers.
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ROBERTS: Thirty-nine minutes after the hour now.
The top kill tanked, then the B.P.'s cut and cap operation can't contain the oil spill in Gulf, it might be time to consider the "suck and salvage" plan at least for the oil that's escaping. Our next guest says more needs to be done on the ocean surface to capture the crude that has already y escaped and will escape in the days and weeks ahead.
John Hofmeister is the former president of Shell Oil. He joins us from Houston this morning.
Before we get into your idea of how to clean up the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, let's talk a little bit about this cut and cap operation, John. Do you have any faith after everything that's been tried before and see their maybe five or six other tries at getting this well stopped, that this is -- this one is actually going to work?
JOHN HOFMEISTER, AUTHOR, "WHY WE HATE THE OIL COMPANIES": Well, I think it has to be -- obviously it has to be tried. From the beginning, B.P. created with the most brilliant minds in the industry a whole litany of possibilities, and they've gone progressively down this whole litany trying each and every one of them with all of engineering, all of the parts making, all of the manufacturing required to try to make it work. It has as good a chance as anything we've seen. I think the people of America need to see a success here.
ROBERTS: As good a chance of anything we've seen is not exactly a vote of confidence, John.
HOFMEISTER: No.
ROBERTS: But when you take a look -- when you take a look at the engineering here, does this have a legitimate chance to work?
HOFMEISTER: Well, the chimney stack, I think, taught them about the importance of the gas hydrates and how to combat those hydrates. I think the flange around the base of the blowout protector is probably the right idea, along with the methane that they will pour into there to keep the gas hydrates from forming into a solid mass.
So, there should -- there's every reason to believe that in principle this will work.
ROBERTS: You know, when you look back on what happened in the Gulf of Mexico on the Bay of Campeche on the Mexican side back in 1979, that Ixtoc well that was spewing 30,000 barrels a day for 10 months, they tried virtually everything that B.P. has been trying to kill the well. Nothing worked until they finally got those relief wells drilled and full of cement.
How is it that in 31 years, the only thing that we've learned how to do when it comes to oil is learn how to drill deeper?
HOFMEISTER: You know, I think the industry has basically been forced into deeper and deeper water because it's been prohibited from shallow water on 85 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf. This is a brilliant industry in terms of putting the best engineering minds to work, and they've figured out how to go deeper and deeper. Now, they're out at 10,000 feet of water, twice as deep as this well.
And, you know, at 35,000 wells drilled and 2,400 or so deep water, this is the first time we've seen this --
ROBERTS: Sure.
HOFMEISTER: -- apart from the Campeche situation.
ROBERTS: But, you know, at the same time, John, you learn how to drill deeper and deeper and tap into oil reserves that are further and further offshore. But isn't it incumbent upon you as a company, to say, OK, if we're going to drill in 5,000 feet water, or 8,000 or 10,000 as some rigs are now, that we better have a darn good disaster plan in place in case something goes wrong?
HOFMEISTER: And that's clearly missing here. The disaster plan up until now has been 100 percent reliance on the blowout protector. And we have to find out what happened that this didn't work, because, somehow, it's been compromised because it should have worked.
ROBERTS: Well, let's talk a little bit about the supertanker idea. This is something that you and Nick Pozzi have been talking about. Nick handled an oil spill for Aramco Company, which is the Saudi's national oil company. They used a supertanker with big hoses through the mouth there. I guess it was either in the Persian Gulf or off the shore of Saudi Arabia somewhere, and suck up a lot of this oil on the surface.
Would that work here? Have you spoken to B.P. about it? What has B.P. said about the idea?
HOFMEISTER: Well, we've spoken to B.P. We've also spoken to the Coast Guard. If the idea has worked somewhere else in the world, it should certainly work here.
What I'm worried about is this is a paradigm shift and big institutions like the Coast Guard, like B.P. have this problem with NIH, not invented here syndrome.
ROBERTS: Got you.
HOFMEISTER: You know, the oil that's washed up on the Alabama and Mississippi outer island beaches now, there's no reason that that could not have been sucked off the surface either by a line of barges with pumps or supertankers that are moving around the Gulf.
The idea surfaced more than a month ago. It's not going to be a quick remedy to get supertankers to get the pipes installed to get people practiced and up to speed with how to do it. But I think we've lost a month. The people of Gulf Coast deserve better than what they've been getting, burning and skimming and dispersing obviously isn't working.
Why do we keep repeating what doesn't work? Let's try something different, the symbol of it would I think give people a lot of encouragement and hope. And the substance of it could actually collect a lot of crude oil.
ROBERTS: Now, B.P. is disputing whether or not it would be good because of the way that the dispersants have created long ribbons of oil. But, John, maybe it's an idea who's time has come and maybe they'll finally get the message.
John Hofmeister, good to talk to you this morning. Thanks for coming in.
HOFMEISTER: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Appreciate it. Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, John.
Well, it's 44 minutes past the hour. Jacqui Jeras is in for Rob Marciano. She's going to give us a look at the morning's travel forecast -- coming up right after the break.
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CHETRY: Welcome back. It's 48 minutes past the hour. You may have played the videogame like guitar hero or rock band and you know that you have that guitar shaped controller, but what about one real guitar that controls an entire stage full of instruments.
ROBERTS: Grammy award winning musician, Pat Metheny, shows you a real life one man band. It's today's "Edge of Discovery."
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PAT METHENY, MUSICIAN: Hi, my name is Pat Metheny and welcome to the Orchestrion project. This whole thing hatched from my brain as a 9-year-old because my grandfather had a player piano, and I always kind of wondered why hasn't anybody really looked at that potential and that was what this ideas. The guitar is the control device for everything. The process works that I play a note and then that tells something what to do. I can add in drums. I can add in a bass.
When I play, it plays. It's all acoustic instruments so that it gives an infinitely more complex musical sound. You know, it's kind of alive. I mean, it's not like just something that's sitting here. I mean, it's smacking around and beating and hitting things. The audience reaction to this, I have to say, has been unlike anything I've ever experienced because this is so off the beaten path.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: That is hilarious.
CHETRY: Pretty cool, right?
ROBERTS: You can get a little box of this big that does the same thing, but that Rube Goldberg-type machine with all of the real instruments, that's fantastic. Way to go path.
Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Jacqui Jeras is in the Weather Center for us. Did you see that, Jacqui? That's pretty fascinating.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I did. It is cool. Not as fun as playing it though I'm thinking.
ROBERTS: When you get to play all those instruments simply by playing one, I mean, why not?
JERAS: it does the thing, when you have your own band all by yourself. Hey, we're kind of making some noises and music in the weather department so to speak today with the showers and thunderstorms, probably getting a whole lot people out of bed a little earlier maybe than you wanted to. Look at this line of thunderstorms that just ripping across parts of Indiana and Illinois at this hour and some real nasty stuff out west towards Kansas City as well. A real concern about flash flooding with these raining thunderstorms here, and we've got a ground stopper ready both at O'Hare and Midway due to these thunderstorms that are moving through.
Wind damage can be expected with them and with the heavy rainfall we've got flood watches across the area from India over towards Chicago and even towards the quad cities. This cold front is moving through today, and we're going to expect to see severe weather from the eastern lakes stretching down towards the southern plain states and that wind damage with these strong lines (ph) is they move through will be the primary threat. Now, high pressure controlling a lot of the east, but we have all kinds of moisture trapped underneath it.
So, a lot of fog from New York all the way down towards Atlanta. So, if you're trying to travel today, a lot of delay is expected at the airports in addition the ones we already told you about the Chicago from D.C. down towards Charlotte. All of the Florida airports will see some thunderstorms as well. So, we're going to expect to see a lot of problems here. Pretty sticky temperatures, lots of 80s and 90s on the map. The winds are changing in the Gulf. We got a special segment coming up near the top of the next hour, guys, where we're going to talk about how those winds are going to be affecting that oil spill.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to hearing that. Thanks, Jacqui.
CHETRY: Also, this morning's top stories just a few minutes away, including cut then cap. This is BP's latest long shot attempt at stopping the worst oil spill in U.S. history. We'll show you the robot subs working 5,000 feet under water and where it's already in some places too late.
ROBERTS: Plus, at 18 minutes after the next, deep water horizon, a BP rig that had lawmakers worried before this catastrophe, what experts say could make this devastation look like a hiccup. Those stories and more coming your way at the top of the hour.
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ROBERTS: Minutes after the hour now. This morning, we're showing off a special new section of CNN.com called home and away. It's dedicated to honoring the brave men and women who gave their lives for this country. Here's a map of Afghanistan, on the right, map of the United States, and the left, there are circles here of the map of Afghanistan. That's where American service members have perished. Over here, these many, many, many dots across the map of the United States, their hometowns. We got it for Afghanistan. We also got it for Iraq as well.
You can go online, and by clicking on these little dots, you can also find out some of the home towns like see here we have -- that was one there. This is -- it's not quite working here when I put my finger on it, but it works much better when you use your mouse. One of the people that we want to talk about this morning is Sergeant First Class Richard Henkes II from Portland, Oregon. He died of injury suffered with a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle during combat operations. That was September 3, 2006. That was near Mosul, and if you go back to that map, you see the number of casualties in Mosul.
What's great about this Web site is by using our iReport facility, you can upload your personal memories, photographs, video, whatever of your loved one, your service member who's perished. When it comes to Sergeant First Class Richard Henkes. We have some memories from his mom here talking extensively about how into sports he was. Said that he didn't want to be the best necessarily, but he wanted to be the best that he possibly could. So, if you've got a loved one, a friend, or other relative who might have perished in one of these wars in either Afghanistan or Iraq, log on to the Web site and give us your memories of their service.
Full address, CNN.com/homeandaway. Coming up now on 57 minutes after the hour. We'll be back with our top stories right after the break.
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