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American Morning

RNC Chairman Michael Steele Urged by Some Republicans to Resign; Some Gulf Beaches Still Open for Swimming; Candidates Gone Wild With Political Ads; World Cup Hits Productivity; Madonna's Mission in Malawi; A Web of Spies; Healing By Example

Aired July 05, 2010 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning, and thanks very much for joining us in the Most News in the Morning. It's the fifth of July. Not officially the holiday, but people are taking it off today.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, yes.

ROBERTS: Some people.

CHETRY: It's about as cool -- yes, except for us. We're here to bring you the news. This is about as cool as it's going to get, though. It's going to be hot today, and we're going to be talking about that in a moment.

Right now, the East Coast bracing for what many meteorologists are saying is going to be a six-day heat wave from Boston, Raleigh, try to triple digit temperatures all day long, a week long.

Plus, a 50/50 shot of another tropical cyclone forming in the Caribbean in the next 48 hours. We're going to get a full update from the Weather Center coming up.

ROBERTS: With four months left until they try to win back the House and the Senate, some big Republicans are lining up against their party leader for saying we may not be able to win in Afghanistan, and that Afghanistan is President Obama's war. Can Michael Steele get himself out of this one? We're live in Washington this morning.

CHETRY: And along the gulf, thousands of beachgoers grappling with the bake question, is it safe to swim? We're going to hear what the head of the Environmental Protection Agency is saying a cooling off in the Gulf Waters.

ROBERTS: Up first, though, if you thought the Fourth of July was a hot one, we're sorry to say you have not seen anything yet. Up and down the East Coast all this week, we're going to see triple digit temperatures.

ROBERTS: A CNN weather team also tracking developments down in the tropics. More storms trying to form and the peak of hurricane season is still two months away.

(WEATHER REPORT) CHETRY: A developing story, it could be the last straw for Republican Party Chair Michael Steele. He's trying to clean up and survive a political mess after suggesting that we may not be able to win the war in Afghanistan, a war, he said, was at President Obama's choosing.

ROBERTS: It comes at a time when many conservatives are trying to get the White House to drop talk for a timetable for troop draw- downs and while several party leaders were in the warzone for the Fourth of July weekend. Our Jill Dougherty hey reaction from all sides live in Washington this morning.

And you know, Michael Steele appears to have had another serious bout of foot in mouth disease, one that could get him in an awful lot of trouble.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a way, it reminds you of Ronald Reagan, there you go again. But it is. It's a real furor. Let's start with exactly what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL STEELE, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: This was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not, this is not something that the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: So a little hard to hear. That video apparently recorded by kind of an undercover quiet secret camera, but the furor it's created has drawn condemnation from two senior Republican senators, and both of them on the Armed Services Committee. Let's hear what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: I think those statements are wildly inaccurate. I think that Mr. Steele is going to have to assess as to whether he can still lead the Republican Party as chairman of the Republican national committee.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: This made angry, upset, it was an uninformed, unnecessary, unwise, untimely comment. This is not President Obama's war. This is America's war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: So the question really is, as Senator McCain said, can he lead? And do you know his two-year term expires at the beginning of next year, but it's a real dilemma for the Republicans. What do you do with a comment like this?

ROBERTS: Jill Dougherty this morning. Jill, thanks. A lot of people will be asking that question in the coming day.

Also developing also this morning, even more gulf coast jobs hanging in the balance of day 77 of the Gulf coast oil disaster. This morning the government shut down even more fishing in the Gulf. In all now 33 percent of the Gulf is off limits. That means an area about the size of Kansas is now closed.

CHETRY: Also, BP announcing this morning it spent more than $3.1 billion since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded back in April. Also there are new concerns a shift in weather patterns could send more of the slick ashore. And as our John Zarrella tells us, it's raising new questions whether it's safe to swim in the Gulf water.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, just take a look behind me. This is the economic exclamation point on the Gulf oil disaster. On a normal Fourth of July, this beach would have been packed. Literally it was not. And folks here were not supposed to be in the water, but lifeguards allowed them in so they could at least cool off in the hot sun.

Now, down in Pensacola, whether people should be allowed in the water or not has become quite the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): More cleanup crews than we have seen in days scoured this section of Pensacola Beach. Perhaps just a coincidence, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson dropped by for a firsthand look at the work.

LISA JACKSON, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR: It is long gone out of there.

ZARRELLA: While it's pretty clear the beach is a mess, what isn't clear to people here is whether the water is safe for swimming.

(on camera): Oil impact notice, these are the signs that have been posted on all of 40 miles of Escambia County's coastline, and they say "Avoid wading or swimming or entering the water." But they don't say you can't get in.

(voice-over): What would administrator Jackson do?

JACKSON: Based on the fact that this beach has been oiled, no, I would not go into the water today.

ZARRELLA: Cindy O'Sullivan and Jamie King couldn't agree more. They've lived in Pensacola for years.

(on camera): Would you get in that water right now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no way. I don't understand why people are in it. It looks good, looks pretty, but it's not.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Well, that depends upon who you talk with.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now I would go in the water. ZARRELLA (on camera): Doctor John Lanza heads the county health department. Lanza believes the water is safe unless you see tar balls or sheen on the water, or you feel oily, and not from suntan lotion. For now the county commission is not banning swimming until the EPA gives them concrete guidance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until we get a standard from the EPA on the levels of the petrol coming from the water so that we don't suggest people go into the water specifically for that, we can't do anything.

JACKSON: There is nothing I'm going to be able to tell you in a chemical lab that you can't learn about the safety of the water from a bathing purpose by looking at it and smelling it.

ZARRELLA: It looked pretty good to this Von Schlitz family, vacationing from Oklahoma. They played in the surf. They hadn't seen the "avoid the water" sign, and no one told them not to go in.

(on camera): If they were warning you to stay out of the water --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We would not have gotten in.

ZARRELLA: You wouldn't have gotten in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): The bottom line seems to be this -- right now scientifically no one is sure whether the water is safe. You're on your own. Just smell it first.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: Next weekend in Pensacola is considered about even bigger weekend than the Fourth of July. That's Blue Angels' weekend, and the folks there are hoping that if the beach can't be a draw, at least the Blue Angels will be. John, Kiran?

ROBERTS: John Zarrella this morning. John, thanks.

CHETRY: Other stories new this morning, two big wins for two big Wimbledon contenders. Spain's Rafael Nadal won his second crown yesterday, beating Thomas Birdage of the Czech Republic in straight sets, Nadal's eighth grand slam title. And American powerhouse Serena Williams won her 13th grand slam title without dropping a set. That puts her sixth on the all-time list ahead of legend Billie Jean King attending that championship match.

ROBERTS: And for the fourth year in a row competitive eater Joey Chestnut who we saw Friday here on "A.M." won the Nathan's famous Fourth of July hotdog eating contest. Chestnut won by throwing back 54 dogs in ten minutes, 14 short of his world record 68 from last year's competition. He retains the mustard belt and pockets $20,000.

CHETRY: They made a reference, I think the 12,000 calorie mark six minutes into the hot dog eating, and the commentators were saying, this is what Michael Phelps training for the Olympics eats an entire day, and this guy housed it in six minutes.

ROBERTS: I ate one hot dog on Friday and that was plenty for me. And 54, that's just unbelievable.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: The real drama came from chestnut's longtime rival Takeru Kobayashi, who has won that six times. He was arrested at the Coney Island event. He rushed the stage after the contest, nabbed by the NYPD. You can see him watching from the stands.

He did not participate because of a reported contract dispute with Major League Eating. Kobayashi's handlers says the former champ wanted to prove he's better than the other competitors, and instead he was charged with trespassing and two misdemeanors, including resisting arrest.

ROBERTS: How does grabbing on to the barricade and whining about it prove you're better?

CHETRY: Most people thing it doesn't.

ROBERTS: You want to prove you're better, get up there and pound down those dogs. Come on.

Just ahead, battleground races at this year's midterm elections are inspiring, well, some very interesting advertisements to say the least. The surprising political stunts turning these commercials into viral videos, see how much bang for the buck some of these candidates are getting. It's ten minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Coming up on 13 minutes after the hour. There is anticipation on both sides of the aisle for the midterm elections, but it's the in-your-face campaign ads that are really getting noticed now. Here's why.

CHETRY: In spots that feature female candidates toting Tommy guns, actors playing our founding fathers, and the dirtier side of dairy farms, our Jim Acosta joins us from Washington a closer look at these political ads that are going viral. Hey, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John and Kyra. It's not exactly Charlie bit my finger, but it's getting close. Members of Congress are on break this week. But that doesn't mean Americans are getting a vacation from their politicians. Just turn on your TVs. With the midterm elections fast approaching, candidates are finding all sorts of new ways to target voters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): If the campaign season is starting to feel like open season, it's because the ads are already locked and loaded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rated 100 percent by the NRA, conservative Pamela Gorman is always right on target.

ACOSTA: Republican Pamela Gorman has racked up more than 100,000 views on YouTube with this spot showing the Arizona congressional candidate and her son taking target practice in the desert. That's Gorman sporting an old Tommy gun.

PAMELA GORMAN, (R) ARIZONA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: We'd never imagined in a million years that it would go as far as it did.

ACOSTA: We caught up with Gorman between fundraisers in California. She thanks left-leaning bloggers and talk show hosts for helping her ad go viral.

GORMAN: I think most of it is getting passed on by people that probably wouldn't agree with my conservative politics. If they stopped and thought about how much they're helping me they might stop.

ACOSTA: Are you packing heat right now?

GORMAN: I'm in California. I don't think anybody but criminals have guns in California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You, gentlemen, revolted over a tea tax, a tea tax.

ACOSTA: Tea party backed Republican Nick Barber calls for revolution with this ad featuring actors playing the Founding Fathers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gather your armies.

LARRY SABATO, UVA CENTER FOR POLITICS: I know Thomas Jefferson. He's a friend of mine, and the guy in his ad is no Thomas Jefferson.

ACOSTA: Laugh all you want. Barber may be on to something.

SABATO: It's the year of the tea party. It's actually a good visual way to connect with the kind of people who may very well vote in a Republican runoff. That's what he's in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the times have been tough for Virginia families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Even incumbents like Democrat Tom Perriello are trying to go viral with this ad showing the congressman getting more than just his hands dirty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw (ph) new jobs at dairy farms and protect jobs here in law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Warning, the following is a paid advertisement from J.D. Hayworth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Buyer beware.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: In this ad, John McCain accuses his challenger, J.D. Hayworth, the former congressman who went on to host a late night infomercial of selling fringe ideas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: Or a Kenyan safari to find Obama's lost birth certificate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be great that people can confirm who they say they are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Duck and cover. Election year is only just beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA GORMAN (R), AZ CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I'm Pamela Gorman and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And I'm sorry to report the ads will keep on coming. That's because candidates are expected to spend more money than ever before on the upcoming midterms after the Supreme Court opened the floodgates or political contributions from corporations and special interest groups right up until Election Day. And, John and Kiran, our producer, Mike Milhaven (ph), tells me he's not aware where Charlie bit my finger is. I hope some of you out there know what that is. I hope, John and Kiran, you know what it is. It's not Charlie Crispin (ph).

CHETRY: It's the adorable little boy, right?

ACOSTA: Exactly.

CHETRY: His brother bit him.

ROBERTS: "Charlie bit my finger."

CHETRY: "Charlie bit my finger."

ACOSTA: That's it.

CHETRY: Well, now you just made that go viral even more than it has. OK?

ACOSTA: Sorry about that.

CHETRY: So, congratulations for your day after Fourth of July contribution.

ACOSTA: Yes, that's my fault. That's all my fault.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Jim.

CHETRY: Well, it's the iPhone glitch that stunned Apple itself. What is the tech giant going to do about it? Well, we're going to tell you what they have in store.

Seventeen minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Well, it's a different kind of bar but the same kind of headache for Apple. The tech giant says it was stunned. Stunned, we say, to discover a software problem that can make iPhones display more signal strength bars than they actually should have. Apple says that the formula that calculates how many bars to show is, quote, "totally wrong" but adds, they're working on a software upgrade to fix it. It's still not clear how this will impact the new iPhone 4, and complaints that when you hold it a certain way, it interferes with the antenna and dramatically decreases your reception.

CHETRY: Is this only with the 4 that has the problem with the bars or is it all the phones?

ROBERTS: I think it's all the phones.

CHETRY: Oh.

ROBERTS: Yes.

CHETRY: Do they fix --

ROBERTS: The iPhone 4 has the problem with the wraparound antenna --

CHETRY: Right.

ROBERTS: -- where you put your hand on it and it kills the signal strength.

CHETRY: Unless you purchase an additional cover --

ROBERTS: A little case to put it in.

CHETRY: Yes.

ROBERTS: For $29.95.

CHETRY: There you go. Christine Romans is here "Minding Your Business" this morning."

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Speaking of bars, I'm going to talk about the World Cup. Do you know that a third --

ROBERTS: You can't go anywhere near a bar.

ROMANS: I can go near a bar, I just can't -- I just can't drink.

Look, World Cup in the U.S., unbelievable numbers. The number of people who watched, a third. More than a third of everybody in this country has watched at least a few minutes of a World Cup game. 99.2 million viewers, this according to Nielsen numbers. The top market -- the top English-speaking, English language markets, Miami, New York, Washington, D.C. In Spanish language broadcasts, Miami also tops there, too.

$121.7 million lost in productivity in this country, so some lost productivity. I don't think that really compares with some of the big once that we've seen, like the Super Bowl and the like, but look at worldwide -- or look at the U.K. lost productivity, $7.3 billion with a "b." So, you know, we're catching up in our love of watching the World Cup, but not as much as the U.K.

ROBERTS: Well, that really explains how popular it is here versus how popular it is in the U.K. and other places?

ROMANS: Yes, doesn't it? Doesn't it?

And this is worldwide. This is according to inside view World Cup fever. Look at some of these numbers. Around the world, 60 percent request days off. Actually I know somebody who did this and did not tell his wife he was taking a vacation day to watch the World Cup, because he thought she wouldn't approve. Twenty-six --

CHETRY: Didn't she find out when he was sitting in the living room watching --

ROMANS: No, no, he went to a bar to watch it. Put on a suit, grabbed his briefcase and walked out --

CHETRY: Oh, that's not right.

ROBERTS: Oh.

ROMANS: Yes, there are some other issues there, I'm sure. Some 26 percent, some time off work. Seventeen percent took shorter days and three percent of people reported in sick.

I've been on the phone like working the story here, and all of a sudden, whoa, you know. So people around here, I'm sure (INAUDIBLE) -- 100 percent here.

ROBERTS: So this was a person you know or you heard of that took the time off?

ROMANS: This is someone I know.

CHETRY: So you just sold them all down the river this morning.

ROMANS: Oh, I know a lot of people. No one knows who could it possibly be.

ROBERTS: And you said that there are other issues involved? What other issues?

ROMANS: No, no, no, I'm just saying --

ROBERTS: Come on.

ROMANS: I'm just saying --

CHETRY: World Cup? What else?

ROMANS: That's not what I meant. That's not what I meant.

ROBERTS: If you're going to dish on that, might as well tell us the whole story. Come on.

ROMANS: That's not what I meant at all. I just meant, you know -- that's not what I meant.

CHETRY: They're willing to clear up after the show if you like to talk more about this.

ROBERTS: Exactly.

ROMANS: Dr. Phil/Dr. Christine.

ROBERTS: We've got some time. Such a lovely shade of red.

ROMANS: I know.

ROBERTS: Red, white and if you can find some blue here.

ROMANS: Every one of my friends' wives right now is going, is she talking about us?

CHETRY: Just let us know how many e-mails you got next time you come out here.

ROBERTS: Yes. Getting a lot of conversations coming her way. Thanks, Christine.

Well, after adopting two children from Malawi, Madonna returning to the impoverished African country to give back in a very big way and she's talking about it in our special series "Big Stars, Big Giving." We'll have that for you coming right up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-five, almost 26 minutes after the hour now. Top stories just a few minutes away. But first, an "A.M. Original," something that you'll see only here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Madonna is still pushing boundaries. The superstar has a new cause these days; one that she says has changed her. And she's talking about it with our Alina Cho for Alina's special series "Big Stars, Big Giving."

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, there's no doubt that Madonna is ionic, a pop icon, a fashion icon, a bona fide superstar. She fully admits that early on she spent a lot of time thinking about herself. But these days she's committed to Malawi, a small African nation where two of her children were adopted. In fact, she cares so much she's broken ground on a school there, to empower girls whose future might otherwise be bleak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHO (voice-over): She's a woman who only needs one name.

(on camera): So you're Madonna.

MADONNA, SINGER: No, I'm not.

CHO: Yes, you are.

(voice-over): Madonna has spent most of her life being provocative. But these days, nothing is more important than her children. Two of them adopted from Malawi, a small African nation where more than a half million children are orphaned by AIDS.

CHO (on camera): All of those orphans, I mean, a million --

MADONNA: I would love to take them all home. Yes, if I could.

CHO (voice-over): Because she can't and because she's s Madonna, she made a documentary about the country.

MADONNA: People always ask me why I chose Malawi. And I tell them, I didn't. It chose me.

CHO: She also founded the charity, Raising Malawi, to help the orphans she can't bring home.

MADONNA: We found and met a lot of people who were sick and dying of HIV with no medical help. And it just felt like a death camp. And it was astonishing. And so, on the other hand, though, everybody that I met was also incredibly brave. So it's s a very confusing paradox.

CHO (on camera): It's s an interesting dichotomy because I know that Malawi is known as the warm heart of Africa.

MADONNA: Yes.

CHO: As much suffering as there is there, there's a certain spirit to the people. MADONNA: Yes, there is. Because on the one hand, I went there and I thought, I have to help. I have to save these people. And then I thought, wait a minute, I think it`s the other way around. I think they might be saving me.

CHO: Why do you say that?

MADONNA: Because they help you to get a sense of appreciation for life, for what you have. I mean --

CHO (voice-over): A new appreciation for life and a new sense of responsibility. Her latest project, breaking ground on a $15 million boarding school, the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, slated to open in 2012.

MADONNA: I never intended to go to Malawi and just sort of, you know, dump a bunch of, like, aid on people and flee the country. It's always been about partnership.

CHO: And she's putting her money where her mouth is. Every dollar donated to RaisingMalawi.org, Madonna will match.

(on camera): So you just said, hey.

MADONNA: Match my dollar.

CHO: I'll keep going?

MADONNA: Match my 100 grand. Yes.

CHO (voice-over): Make that $1 million and counting.

MADONNA: My biggest asset as a human being is, I would say, my resiliency and my survival skills. You know, that, you know, I'm like a cockroach. You can't get rid of me.

CHO (on camera): But that's helpful in philanthropy.

MADONNA: It is.

CHO: Yes, right?

MADONNA: It is. I mean, you have to -- you have to be pretty tireless.

CHO (voice-over): Her tenacity was on display back in 2006, when many people, both in Malawi and around the world, accused her of using her celebrity and her money to buy an adoption. She won. David, now four, calls Madonna mom.

MADONNA: It seems that a lot of the things I do end up being controversial even when I don't mean them to be.

CHO (on camera): Right. Does it hurt your feelings?

MADONNA: Hurt my feelings. I don't know if it hurts my feelings. I think sometimes I'm pretty prepared often for some of the things I say and do. I go, I know this is going to freak some people out. But the other things I do, like adopting a child who's about to die, I don't think I'm going to get a hard time for it, and I do.

CHO (voice-over): Yet, Madonna says she'll take the criticism if it means one more child in Malawi gets to go to school, survive and thrive.

(on camera): Do you get overwhelmed by all the work that needs to be done? Because it seems you help one kid and there's like 1,000 more standing in line.

MADONNA: Yes.

CHO: And it can be overwhelming.

MADONNA: Yes, it can. I mean sometimes it stops you dead in your tracks. And you think, oh, my god. I can't do this, but then I see the success rate. I talk to the people in Malawi whose lives have been changed and that just helps me and keeps me going.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: Madonna continues to travel to Malawi periodically to check on the progress of the school she's building. She most recently went back in April to lay the first brick and she looks forward to returning when the school opens in 2012. John, Kiran.

ROBERTS: Alina Cho for us this morning. Alina, thanks. We're crossing the half hour. That means it's time for this morning's top stories.

Three mortar rounds hit inside Baghdad's green zone on Sunday during a visit by Vice president Joe Biden and his wife. No damage or injuries reported. The strike happened about 10:30 p.m. local time.

This morning the vice president met with Iraqi leaders. During his trip, he said Washington plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq will continue as scheduled.

CHETRY: U.S. Army General David Petraeus is now officially in control of NATO forces in Afghanistan. In a speech during Sunday's ceremony, the general said that NATO's strategy in the war-torn nation has not changed adding that this nine-year-old war, now the longest in U.S. history, is at a "critical moment."

ROBERTS: And the oil spill adding more hardship on top of an already difficult economic situation. More of the gulf now off limits to fishing. Over the weekend authorities closed nearly 1,100 square miles of federal waters off the coast of Louisiana, south of Vermillion Bay, far to the west towards the spill is and that means nearly a third of the gulf is now closed to fishing.

CHETRY: BP also announcing this morning that the oil spill has cost them more than $3.1 billion and counting. The oil giant has come under heavy criticism for its response and its safety procedures on the Deepwater Horizon. But we're learning that's not the only site where BP's safety operations have been questioned.

Our Allan Chernoff is live in New Orleans and you've been investigating a tragic accident in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska as well?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kiran. We have the story of Michael Phelan, a man who was killed while working in BP operations in Alaska. His family said he never should have died. They say BP has been uncaring even insulting, by blaming Mr. Phelan for his own death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF (voice-over): Oil worker Michael Phelan, father of three, was killed last November at BP's Prudhoe Bay, Alaska operations when his pickup truck pinned him against a pipeline he was inspecting. "This was a tragic accident," BP told CNN. "Our hearts and thoughts at the time and since are with Mike Phelan's family and friends," but Diane Phelan says she hasn't felt any compassion from BP.

DIANE PHELAN, WIDOW OF BP SUBCONTRACTOR: I would say that they've been callous. I think they've been lacking in their - to me it even seems that they don't have competent help.

CHERNOFF: Phelan was an employee of BP subcontractor Mistras Group, which provided employees to work under BP control in Prudhoe Bay. His family says Michael was very safety conscious, as illustrated in this video he sent home from the BP worksite.

MICHAEL PHELAN, BP SUBCONTRACTOR: -- main entrance, make sure to use the handrail when going up the steps.

DIANE PHELAN: It didn't make sense what they were telling us what happened. My husband's been in the oil refinery business for over 35 years. He's received numerous safety reports.

CHERNOFF: The truck that killed Phelan was found in drive. In BP's investigation report laid the blame for the accident squarely on Phelan. "An inadvertent decision error or memory error allowed the running vehicle to be left in drive. Exiting the running vehicle was done without conscious thought." The Phelan family was stunned.

MICHAEL C. PHELAN, SON OF BP SUBCONTRACTOR: If you just turn around and disgrace my dad. It's very heartening. It's heartening, it angers people. It's - I'm just at loss for words on it actually. I don't even know - that's how angry I am.

CHERNOFF: How can a man be hit by his own truck after he'd stopped it and gotten out? A sudden unintended acceleration would have been most likely in high four-wheel drive mode. But a BP investigator found the vehicle in four-whole drive low position. The BP report concluded "Mr. Phelan was probably operating his vehicle in four-wheel drive high."

After investigators made the assumption that first responders entering the vehicle may have brushed the four-wheel drive shifter to move it from high into low. And Phelan's family says there are other disturbing things in the report. The emergency kit first responders used had no oxygen mask. "A bag valve mask was not available in the medical oxygen response kit," says the report although there's no evidence that would have saved Phelan's life.

MICHAEL C. PHELAN: Not having a gas mask, oxygen mask for somebody if they went down, that just - I just can't even explain it.

JOHN PHELAN, SON OF BP SUBCONTRACTOR: It seems to me they do whatever they can to cut corners and make the most money and they don't care about the employees that are working for them.

CHERNOFF: Mistras Group flew John and Michael C. to Alaska to retrieve their father's body. The sons say BP wouldn't even tell them who found their father and they say the company allowed them only 15 minutes to speak with their dad's co-workers who were on the scene before they were flown out.

MICHAEL C. PHELAN: We only had limited time with them. We had to be really quick with it.

DIANE PHELAN: Still to this day we've absolutely had no contact from BP whatsoever. They've never even called and said anything to the family.

CHERNOFF: BP tells CNN its investigation was thorough and it cooperated fully with Alaska's Occupational Safety and Health Office. Mistras Group says "Michael Phelan's death was a tragic accident and our condolences go out to the Phelan family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: To magnify her pain, private attorneys have told Mrs. Phelan that she is entitled to a claim only under Alaska's Workers' Compensation Law and under that law, she is entitled to $528 a week, a fraction of what her husband had been earning. Both BP and Mistras group declined CNN's request for an on camera interview. Kiran, John.

CHETRY: And the Phelan family member mentioned they were only able to speak briefly with the co-workers. Does anybody else have a theory as to what they think really caused the death?

CHERNOFF: It's obviously, it was just a terrible accident. I mean, the cause of the death clearly was the pickup truck pinning Mr. Phelan against the pipeline. The question is, well, who was really at fault? What exactly happened there? Beyond the horrible, horrible facts of that death.

CHETRY: Just very, very traumatic for the family and as you said, afterwards as well what they say, is a lack of response by BP.

Allan Chernoff for us this morning, thank you.

ROBERTS: The case involving the Russian spies here in the United States, is it just the tip of a very big iceberg and is Russia the only country that's spying on America? We'll talk to a man who ought to know. He spent a lot of years in the spy business, coming right up.

38 minutes now after the hour.

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ROBERTS: 20 minutes now to the top of the hour. As far as their neighbors and friends were concerned, the accused Russian sleeper agents were everyday Joes. But now that the fed's busted up a decades-old spy ring, it's enough to make you wonder if there are more spies among us.

Joining us from Washington this morning to help answer that question and talk about future threats is Peter Brookes. He is a former CIA officer and former deputy assistant secretary of defense. Peter, great to see you this morning.

PETER BROOKES, FMR. CIA OFFICER: Good morning.

ROBERTS: Do you think this is a wake-up call? You said in a recent column, if there were 11 alleged Russian agents operating here in the United States, does it logically follow that there may be many more?

BROOKES: I think there could be. And there's certainly other people from other countries as well, especially the Chinese. In fact, if I recalled correctly, John, a Department of Justice official said this was the tip of the iceberg in terms of Russian spying. We've known for quite some time that Russian spying in the United States is at post-cold war highs. So this is a wake-up call. That's a phrase used a lot. I hate to use it again but the fact of the matter is that we have serious counterintelligence issues that we have to deal with, including cyber spying.

ROBERTS: Do you have any idea, Peter, how many spies there may be here?

BROOKES: No, I don't. But you know, of course, in Washington, there's a lot of spies, obviously because there's a lot of things (INAUDIBLE) but there's another issue out there, John, that we need to be concerned about. And that's industrial espionage.

ROBERTS: Sure.

BROOKES: The United States is a great economic power, or has been in the past and it's made us and gave us a status in the world that we have today because of our ability to innovate, because of our ability to design new technologies and harness them and use them. And there are people that are trying to steal those spies, especially folks from overseas such as the Chinese who want to improve their economic status in the world and we need to be worried about that, because that will undermine American power.

Our ability to innovate has made us a great power. And if somebody stealing our intellectual property, we have some real problems.

ROBERTS: Peter, when it comes to these 11, there are still no charges of espionage.

BROOKES: Right.

ROBERTS: So how much of a worry do you think this whole operation really was?

BROOKES: Well, the fact of the matter is that it's been going on for two decades bothers me. The fact is that they were able to put people here who were able to assume identities and operate under the radar for some time is troubling to me.

In fact, the FBI earlier this year, John, in congressional testimony, if I remember correctly, asked for greater resources to deal with the counter intelligence threat that they're dealing with today because it's getting out of control. You know, the FBI for many years who is responsible for our counterintelligence here, you know, had issues about doing counter terrorism. Remember, before 9/11. Well, now, they're doing that. They're still doing white collar crime but they also have to do counterintelligence.

And if they don't, we're going to have something even much more serious than this happen to our national security.

ROBERTS: Yes, you also said in your column that the time to tackle these infiltrations is now, but how do you go about doing that? With counter terrorism being the number one law enforcement task and with competition for dwindling resources, how do you put so much focus into spying?

BROOKES: Yes, of course we have a couple of wars overseas that we're dealing with as well. Now, obviously, what you need to do is to make your, use your resources efficiently as possible. You need to put an emphasis on cyber security. You need to put more people on the streets looking at counterintelligence.

But you're right, there is a tremendous competition right now for resources. But you're going to have to put it towards counterintelligence, because it is becoming a growing problem. The FBI has been talking about this for years. Congress needs to pay attention to it and we need to put some efforts towards it.

ROBERTS: And you mentioned just a little while ago, Peter, that the Russians certainly aren't the only ones who are operating in this country. That you believe the Chinese are, too. How much of a threat are the Chinese compared to the Russians, do you think?

BROOKES: Well, the FBI will tell you that the Chinese are the greatest counterintelligence threat we face today. And they will tell you how aggressive they really are. And it's not just human intelligence like the spy ring but also cyber intelligence where they're able to pick your pocket, or get into your computer and take everything you have in there without you even knowing it. So this is really a challenge. The Chinese are doing things a little bit differently than the Russians do, but the fact of the matter is, there's probably more Chinese agents here in the United States than Russians.

ROBERTS: You know, the federal government ran this simulation, I believe it was earlier this year, or maybe late last year checking out America's ability to deal with a cyber attack and found that we are woefully inadequate with this you say so much Chinese espionage going on here, particularly in the cyber front. Does that leave us in a very vulnerable position?

BROOKES: Oh, yes. There's a lot of aspects. There's cyber warfare where you may want to shut down a system. We know that the Russians and the Chinese have mapped our electrical grids. They could shut them down, like what happened in the - the northeast a few years ago, which wasn't a cyber attack or that sort of thing if there were to be a, you know, conflict. There's also espionage that's going on. So - there's also an opportunity to get in and play with systems, putting false information in there.

So there's a lot when you talk about cyber. The cutting edge of an espionage is a cutting edge of warfare.

ROBERTS: And Peter, just before we go, I've - I've got to ask you about this, because, really, the face of this Russian spy ring has been this 28-year-old, Anna Chapman. And today, in many newspapers around the world, we're seeing a lot more than her face. Some - some nude photographs have - have emerged, apparently courtesy of her - her ex-husband.

You know, when you talk about spying and trade craft, where - where does posing for nude photographs fit in in the panoply of things that a spy would either do or not do?

BROOKES: I - you know, that's - I'm kind of baffled by that whole thing. But if you are a spy, you want to keep your profile quite low. You don't want to stick up and - and raise your profile because you could come to the attention of counterintelligence individuals. So that whole thing is - is quite - quite baffling to me.

ROBERTS: All right. Peter Brookes, good to talk to you this morning. Thanks so much.

BROOKES: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks.

Forty-six minutes past the hour. Reynolds Wolf will be along. He has the travel forecast right after the break. We are looking at a heat wave up and down the East Coast and he's also monitoring what could perhaps be the second named storm of the season, still ahead.

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CHETRY: Beautiful picture of Washington, D.C. this morning, 71 degrees right now, going up to 99. I bet - I bet they break 100. I bet they -

ROBERTS: At least on the humidex (ph), for sure.

CHETRY: Yes. I bet you they do today. Boy, it is going to be a scorcher out there up and down the East Coast.

ROBERTS: Let's get a check of this morning's weather headlines, find out what else is going on. Reynolds Wolf is in the Weather Center in Atlanta.

You know, when we talk about this heat, I looked at my forecast on one of my iPhone apps and it said Tuesday, 100 in New York City in terms of temperature. That's going to be brutal.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Unbelievable. I mean, you're going to walk across the Avenue of the Americas, drop by Columbus Circle, it's going to feel like you're melting out there. You're going to feel like the witch on "Wizard of Oz". It's going to be just awful stuff.

But, you know, the heat's not going to last for just one day. It's going to be - actually last for a good part of the week for - for many people, especially in places like New York and Philadelphia where in New York the heat index is going to range anywhere from 98 to 101. In case you don't know, the heat index is that thing where you combine the high heat with the high humidity. There's going to be a little bit of both.

Also in Philadelphia, the same situation, but it's going to be a little bit warmer for you, the heat index from 98 to 106.

That's going to be the situation through Wednesday, but for the nation's capital, I'd say it's going to be a week-long event, so try enjoying that one. Ninety-nine degrees the expected high, 93 in Raleigh.

Take a look at this, too. In Tampa and Miami and even New Orleans, it's actually going to be cooler there on the Gulf Coast than it will be up in parts of the northeast, Chicago with 85, 79 degrees in Kansas City. The reason why Kansas City and Denver may be a bit cooler is all due to a frontal boundary that's going to be draped right across the center of the country, with that frontal boundary colliding with the daytime heating, some scattered showers and storms may develop and no such luck for you in parts of the northeast.

What we're hoping is that our luck is going to hold out in terms of this storm that we might be seeing in parts of the Caribbean. We're hoping that it does not form. However, right now, a 50/50 proposition that this cluster of clouds, this development we're seeing here, may become the next big storm. It could be a named storm, possibly Bonnie, in the next day or so. Other recent development, northern gulf, also east of Florida and over towards the inter- tropical convergence zone.

That's a wrap on your forecast. As always, it's going to be a holiday for some, but another busy day in the Weather Department. Let's send it back to you in the studio in New York.

ROBERTS: All right. It will be a busy day for - for people in big cities, too, who are manning those - those cooling centers, because -

WOLF: Absolutely.

ROBERTS: -- a lot of those will be open as well over the next few days.

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ROBERTS: This morning's top stories just minutes away now, including open season on campaign season. A pistol-packing Congressional candidate, actually a Tommy gun-wielding Congressional candidate going viral on the web. Could YouTube help tip the scales in 2010?

CHETRY: Also Madonna talking to our Alina Cho about her mission and her passion. It's an "A.M. Original", "Big Stars, Big Giving".

ROBERTS: And right after the break, generations bonded by battle. Bob Dole rehabbing and inspiring at Walter Reed, giving words of wisdom to veterans some 60 years his junior.

It's nine minutes now to the top of the hour.

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CHETRY: Fifty-five minutes past the hour. One of the most famous veterans in our nation's history is now inspiring a new generation of wounded warriors. Former Senator Bob Dole is recovering from knee surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and he's living proof that even the most severely wounded soldier in that building could one day aim for the White House. Here's CNN's Ed Henry.

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ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Air Force Sergeant Christopher Curtis arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he was in desperate shape after his CV-22 Osprey crashed in Afghanistan.

SGT. CHRISTOPHER CURTIS, AGE 32: From a coma state, getting into the rehab was a - it really a long - a long road, but one that definitely, you know, kept my spirits up.

HENRY: That determination was sparked in part by another patient at Walter Reed who almost didn't make it off the battlefield himself during World War II.

CURTIS: From where he was back then to being, you know, possible president of the United States at one point, that gives me a huge inspiration.

HENRY: Have you voted for him?

CURTIS: I did. Absolutely.

HENRY: Eighty-six-year-old Bob Dole is at Walter Reed for physical therapy connected to double-knee replacement surgery, but a bout with pneumonia lengthened the stay for the former Senate majority leader. He passes the time listening to Sinatra, watching cable news, and just like the old days, wise-cracking with new friends like Curtis.

BOB DOLE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: The first thing out of his mouth was I voted for you in '96. You're a smart fellow.

HENRY (on camera): But you also told me there's not a lot of those around or -

DOLE: No, I hadn't looked for long.

HENRY (voice-over): The pictures of Curtis now and Dole back then are striking.

HENRY (on camera): Does that remind you of what happened to you 65 years then?

DOLE: Yes, a little bit. Because I couldn't move. I was in a body cast. That's all behind me, but it - yes, it does give you pause. I think about, Jimmy (ph), and was I ever in as bad of shape as Chris.

HENRY (voice-over): Army Sergeant Lee Langley, 26, was hit by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan and marvels at Dole's determination.

ARMY SERGEANT LEE LANGLEY, AGE 26: He got hurt a long time ago, and now he's - he's fighting another battle. You know, and he's at - he's at an older age, and a lot of people would have gave up, but he didn't.

HENRY: Army Specialist Levi Crawford, 23, was badly wounded in Afghanistan and has now bonded with Dole whose whole right arm was paralyzed so long ago.

ARMY SPECIALIST LEVI CRAWFORD, AGE 23: Same thing (INAUDIBLE). I'm trying to keep moving them. It's hard, though.

HENRY: Dole co-chaired a 2007 presidential commission that investigated shoddy conditions at Walter Reed, but he has nothing but praise for the medical care.

DOLE: It took me nine hours to get off the battlefield. It took me weeks to get home. OK, here he goes. These modern medical miracles you see them every day here and they're - if they are wounded on one day, they could be in Walter Reed on the third day. HENRY: He's eager to get back to work at the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird. His failed bids for the White House a distant memory.

DOLE: You've got to move on, you know.

HENRY (on camera): Yes.

DOLE: Life is short. You have to keep pushing. You don't realize that we live in a great country and, you know, we had - just one chapter ends, another chapter starts. You keep on going.

HENRY: Good advice now being passed on to a whole new generation of heroes.

DOLE: This is what America is all about right here.

HENRY: Ed Henry, CNN, Washington.

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ROBERTS: Bob Dole is a great American.

CHETRY: You know, it's great that he's getting a chance to sort of pass on his advice to the some of the younger ones coming up behind him.

ROBERTS: He - he certainly has a lifetime of it to be able to pass on as well.

Top stories coming your way in just about two minute's time. Stay with us.

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