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FBI Raids in Northeast in Connection With Times Square Bombing Attempt; Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies; Afghan President Visits Arlington

Aired May 13, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Afghan President Hamid Karzai giving a symbolic thanks to Americans who have made sacrifices for his country. Next hour the Afghan leader will be at Arlington National Cemetery visiting the grave sites of U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai leaves the U.S. today after high-level talks.

And here's something that caught our interest. The U.S. military considering giving medals to troops who show restraint in preventing civilian casualties. Barbara Starr is at the White House for us.

Barbara, what do we know about this proposal and isn't that the part of every man and woman's mission is to hold back from firing when not necessary?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kyra. It's called fire discipline on the battlefield. Troops are trained very much to avoid civilian casualties at all costs. They are a big problem in Afghanistan, of course.

Now General Stanley McChrystal and staff are looking at the possibility of whether they should award medals to troops who show that fire restraint on the battlefield. A McChrystal spokesman telling us, "In some situations our forces face in Afghanistan, that restraint is an act of discipline and courage, not much different than those combat actions that merit awards for valor."

But we've talked to a number of troops who I must tell you are raising their eyebrows at this. They are well trained. Troops are supposed to exercise that fire discipline and they want to know why they would be getting medals for doing the right thing and doing their job. This could be very controversial. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We'll follow the controversy. Barbara, thanks.

We've got a lot more for you. Ahead this hour, all angles of the oil spill from the source of the misery one mile down to the concern spreading in all directions. Jobs already disappearing along the coast. We're going to talk to two people seeing their livelihoods disappear and one man who has the biggest job of all, trying to keep the disaster from getting even worse, and a star high school athlete. He played basketball like a man among boys. It turns out, he was.

But happening right now this hour, let's take live pictures as we talk about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan back on Capitol Hill trying to convince senators that she's right for the job. Democrats are sold, Republicans skeptical. They point out that she's never been a judge on any level, and among those that she meets today, Arlen Specter. As a Republican, he voted against her nomination for solicitor general.

Now he's a democrat. Also on Capitol Hill, Attorney General Eric Holder, defending his decision to try terror suspects in civilian court rather than military proceedings. Critics have said that civilian courts afford the suspects too many rights and may be less effective in getting them to talk.

Now just minutes from now, Afghan President Hamid Karzai due to show his respect for America's war dead at Arlington National Cemetery. He is wrapping up a four-day visit to Washington as the two nations try to repair strained relations. The two governments have been at odds over the management over the war in Afghanistan and allegations of fraud in Karzai's re-election.

We also got the breaking news on the failed car bombing in Times Square. An FBI spokesperson has told us that search warrants have been carried out in several places around the northeast. Susan Candiotti is now joining me live with more on what we learned just about 45 minutes ago. Susan, what are you learning?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, there are more developments. The problem is we don't know exactly what's happening as to why they're hitting up these locations with search warrants.

But what we do know is this, it does have a direct bearing as you said, on the Times Square investigation, the attempted bombing in Times Square that happened a little over a week ago, and the latest we have is that a spokesperson from a local police department in Massachusetts, Brookline Police Department, is confirming that his local police are helping the FBI conduct a search warrant at a gas station on Harvard Street in Brookline, Massachusetts.

We also know that there have been some arrests, these are involving alleged immigration violations at a location in the Boston area. However, a federal law enforcement source tells me that these are considered collateral arrests that don't have any direct bearing on the attempted car bombing itself, but we do know that these raids are being conducted, search warrants, if you will, in both New York and in some areas of New Jersey as well as Massachusetts.

As we learn more, of course, we'll bring this to you, but it just goes to show that this is a very active investigation that is going on at this time. We know that the main suspect in this case has continued to talk with the FBI. He hasn't even appeared in court yet because of the level of cooperation that he has been providing and so it would appear as though information that the FBI is gathering as well as other federal law enforcement, and local law enforcement authorities are gaining is providing them with some information that has allowed them to get search warrants to find out more about what went into this. Does it involve other people who might have helped the main suspect who is in custody at this time or is it something else? We're waiting to find out.

PHILLIPS: All right. Susan Candiotti. We'll keep checking in with you for more information on that investigation as it goes forward. Susan, thanks.

Now, Arizona has done it again. The governor signed another bill into law that's stoking anger and this time student protests. 15 people arrested for trespassing right here at the state education offices and they're just a portion of the parents, students and teachers that are outraged over HB-2281.

That's the law that restricts ethnic studies programs in public schools. And here are two points that really grabbed our attention. Number one, that law bans classes that are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group. Number two, the law bans classes that advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.

The man who pushed for this bill for years is Arizona School Superintendent Tom Horne. He appeared just a short time ago on CNN's AMERICAN MORNING along with a state lawmaker opposed to that ban. Let's hear his side first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HORNE (R), ARIZONA SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: Well, my philosophy, I believe, is the fundamental American value is that we're individuals. We're not exemplars of the race that we happen to be born into. What's important is what we know, what we can do, what is our character and not what race were we born into, and in Tucson what they did is they divided the kids into different races, so African studies for the African-American kids, Raza studies for the Latino kids and Raza means the race in Spanish, Asian studies for the Asian kids, Indian studies for the Native American kids, and particularly in the Raza studies, they taught a very radical agenda, separatist agenda and we have testimony from teachers and ex-teachers that they were teaching kids that they lived in occupied Mexico, that the United States is oppressive. They were making them angry.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Kyrsten, you say that this is a complete overreaction and in fact, you voted against this. This bill passed. This was signed. It is law, but you voted against this, why?

KYRSTEN SINEMA (D), ARIZONA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: That's absolutely right. First, I want to point out that Tom is actually incorrect when he states that students are divided into these courses. The fact is very clear that these courses are open to all students. So any student of any race or ethnicity can take an African-American studies class and learn about the history of slavery and the civil rights movement, similarly they can take an Asian-American studies class and learn about the history of Japanese internment camps and the exclusion of Chinese-Americans from our country and that's an important part of the American education system. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now, the U.N.'s even getting into this fight saying that all people have the right to learn about their culture.

New pictures now of the growing disaster in the gulf. BP just released them and CNN requested this video weeks ago and finally after a lot of pressure, we got it. You can see the oil and the natural gas pouring from the broken well. The natural gas is the lighter-colored stuff coming up, by the way, and the Mineral Management Service, the government agency in charge of inspections says it has checked the other rigs in the gulf.

Those quick inspections turning up minor issues so far. And BP is moving closer to hopefully getting this thing capped. The smaller - well their smaller efforts could be in place late today. There's also - they're moving in on a new pipe. I'm being told to try and join the broken one. That made no sense. I apologize. I'll try and get that information correct for you. Bottom line, they're going for another plan to cap the leak. Plan a and plan b still not working well.

President Obama wants $118 million for oil spill relief. Some of that money would go to compensate fishermen who are being kept out of the water. It would also help pay for environmental studies of that affected area. The White House also wants oil companies to put more money into their emergency liability fund. BP says that they won't access the $1.6 billion fund to help pay for that disaster.

And Florida's governor wants BP to pay up for an ad campaign. He's trying to get the word out that there's no oil on Florida's gulf coast, but the tourism industry is still getting hammered. Canceling vacations, empty hotels, charter boats docked. Florida wants $35 million to let people know that it's safe.

Well, it's not just the economic toll of this disaster, but the human toll. Coming up in about 30 minutes, we're going to talk to a hotel owner and a fisherman who are stuck. No place to go, no one coming to visit. We're also going to ask Coast Guard commandant Tad Allen (ph) about BP's response to the oil spill.

In China, a new sight, armed guards watching over schools. It's a reaction to another brutal attack on kids. The latest one, a man with a cleaver killing nine people, seven of the victims were students at kindergarten. Eleven other children were injured and we're now hearing that the killer was embroiled in a property dispute with the school. He owned the building and he wanted them out. Meanwhile, the Chinese government ramping up security and media censorship. They say they're trying to stop copycat killers.

Young, but resilient. The eight-year-old Dutch boy who was the only survivor in that plane crash in Libya is getting several medical scans today. The boy identified as Ruben van Assouw (ph) has been on safari with his parents and his brother in South Africa when that passenger jet crashed. Well, his family was among the 103 people killed. He was a star high school basketball player, but he had a big secret. Now he's behind bars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right. We're going to take you now to Arlington National Cemetery. Live pictures. Talk about perfect timing. This is the shot we were looking for. You've got Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai. He's getting ready - he's actually speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace, but what he's doing now is he's arriving there at the cemetery with, as you can see, the U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and also you see Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Also, the man in charge of all action in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal and what they're going to do is get ready to visit the graves of Americans that have been killed while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And if you've been listening to the meetings between Hamid Karzai and the president. Yesterday he mentioned visiting soldiers at Walter Reed, one in particular that had lost both his arms, both his legs fighting against terrorism in Afghanistan.

Barbara Starr joining us now live as we look at these live pictures. And Barbara, maybe we can talk about Karzai is going to make his way over to Section 60 and quite a powerful place to be if you've never had a chance to go through there. I know you have and you've actually talked with widows and families and children. Let's talk about why it is so important that he strolls through this particular section.

STARR: Well, this is where they are right now, Kyra. In fact, the Afghan president being briefed there by John Metzler, the superintendent of the cemetery showing him now through Section 60. Section 60, Kyra, is often called the saddest acre in America. There are hundreds of those killed, fallen in action in Afghanistan and Iraq buried here. Some quite young, 19 years old, teenagers themselves.

I should tell you, many people don't realize, Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen they have come to section 60 privately, more than once. Admiral Mullen and his wife, Secretary Gates, have privately attended funerals here. Always a very emotional place. This is a section of the cemetery that is just simply different than any other cemetery anywhere.

Young widows come here, babies in their arms to visit the graves of husbands their children will never know. Parents come here. We have seen young parents who have lost their children in the war as young soldiers at their child's graves. We have seen football coaches come to visit the graves of students they once had, fallen in action in the war.

The secretary, the chairman, General McChrystal there very familiar with all of this. We often see generals come by to visit young troops that they lost in action. It's a place of great sadness, Kyra, and also a place of great remembrance and great love. The thing that is so different here that we always see. You don't just see flowers. You see teddy bears, pictures, personal mementos and perhaps really one of the most touching things you will see more often than not, buddies come by and look for the grave of their fallen buddy in the war and we have seen it, they will open a bottle of beer and have a toast all around and then leave the bottle for their buddy who has fallen.

One of the most interesting things is just in the last few weeks the Army has started collecting some of this memorabilia, much like they do with the Vietnam War Memorial. They want to collect it. This is really the history of those fallen in the war. Very emotional and that is why it's called the saddest acre in America. Very tough to go visit there, but it's one of those places that you just have to go see. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: And you know, as we watch this, Barbara, you know, I think that we - I think Americans like to see the president of Afghanistan here on our grounds seeing exactly what our men and women are dying for. I mean, they're dying not only for a fight against terrorism but they're dying for his country. They're dying for what this war resembles and that is hopefully peace in that country, in Iraq and the Middle East.

But at the same time, we can't play down the fact that there's a lot of tension between Hamid Karzai and the president of the United States and as we're approaching July 2011, there's supposed to be a major draw down of U.S. troops hoping that more of our men and women will come home and come home alive and that we're probably going to see a lot of intense fighting between now and then.

STARR: General McChrystal walking right there behind Hamid Karzai has been saying throughout his visit to Washington, the violence is going to get worse. That there will be more casualties on both the U.S. and Afghan side. Of course, the U.S. military making plans now to move into Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan.

Marines, U.S. Army, British coalition forces leading the way along with Afghan forces, but make no mistake, this is going to be very tough and one of the questions certainly many Americans ask is why is this war still going on eight and a half years later?

Having this opportunity to see the Afghan president at the graves of fallen American troops and paying his respects along with the secretary, along with top U.S. military leaders is something that the U.S. certainly wants to see. They want it out there that Hamid Karzai understands the sacrifice of young American military personnel.

He is continuing to walk amongst the tombstones. Superintendent Metzler, his back to the camera there, very experienced in this cemetery and the history of the cemetery. Oversees each funeral of every person buried at Arlington, whether they are elderly World War II veterans who passed away or those killed in combat, and he, I can guarantee you, I know Mr. Metzler very well, is explaining to Hamid Karzai, just the breadth and depth of those who are buried in Section 60. All services, as you see, continuing to pay his respects. Everybody, this is a place, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, the most decorated heroes, medal of honor winner Russ McGinnis and the lowest level enlisted person.

PHILLIPS: Barbara, what do you think? Hamid Karzai is here at Arlington National Cemetery and he went to Walter Reed and met with soldiers and he mentioned one in particular yesterday when he was briefing with the president about a soldier that he met who lost both his legs, both his arms, fighting in Afghanistan. What kind of impact, if any impact at all do you think this will make on this sort of tense relationship between the president of the United States and Hamid Karzai? Between U.S. military leaders and commanders and Hamid Karzai and what is happening in Afghanistan?

STARR: Well, as we continue to watch, you think that, you know, this will be to the good for that relationship. He is paying his respects, not just to those who have fallen, but their families and all of those who continue to serve today.

Military people around the world will see these pictures and they will see Hamid Karzai walking amongst their fallen. So this is going to have within the military ranks, some real breadth, but you know, this is a photo opportunity that will pass and tough as it is to say, I always like to say, the hard work remains to be done. It really does.

There is no question Hamid Karzai is under fire in the U.S. politically for not cracking down on corruption enough, not cracking down on the drug trade enough and he really has to demonstrate to the American government that he can govern his country. That he's not just some titular figurehead. That he can fundamentally govern Afghanistan because that is the only way U.S. troops responsibly, officials will tell you can withdraw and come home some day.

So, you know, the relationship after eight and a half years, hard to believe, but it's still very sticky and they're still looking for a way to make it better, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr, appreciate it.

A final look here at Arlington National Cemetery. By the way, the final resting place for 468 of our men and women who have fought in Iraq and 140 buried there from Afghanistan.

I want to tell you more about our breaking news now and that failed car bombing in Times Square. You're looking at live pictures right here of Watertown. It's a suburb of the Boston area where authorities are now searching a gas station. There are aerials - these are aerials from our affiliates in Boston. We appreciate WCVB right now bringing us these live pictures as we try to cover this story with more detail.

Here's what we know so far. According to the FBI, search warrants have been carried out in several places around the northeast. The Justice Department is now saying that these searches are the product of evidence that's been gathered in the investigation subsequent to the attempted Times Square bombing and do not relate to any known immediate threat to the public or active plot against the United States.

So, two people, we are told, have been taken into custody for alleged immigration violations and possibly tied to that attempted bombing in Times Square. Now, as you know, a Pakistani-born man, this man, Faisal Shahzad has been charged in that failed attack and investigators have been trying to figure out if anyone else has been involved.

We'll keep following the story. The live pictures and all the details as we get them. We'll let you know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Checking top stories. If at first you don't succeed, keep on trying. How many times have we heard that? I think they really need to keep on trying here in the gulf. A new smaller cap to try to stop the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico is on the sea floor. BP also says it has a couple of other plans if that cap doesn't work.

And this hour, Afghan President Hamid Karzai paying respects to U.S. troops at Arlington National Cemetery.

And Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan back on the hill today. She's doing the whole meet and greet thing with senators. It's all part of the confirmation process, as you know.

Now, in the nation's heartland about 150 U.S. Marines answering the call to duty. They're members of Lima Company, a Columbus-based Marine reserve unit and they're shipping out to California. They'll train for their assignment overseas and could land in such trouble spots as Iraq, Afghanistan or even the horn of Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a roller coaster ride of emotions, but we're very proud. I could not be more proud. Just praying there's protection over them and we're just, and I just know they'll all be back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: We agree with those sentiments and those Marines will spend the next few months training and then spend about a year in their assignment overseas. We lift up every man and woman fighting for our freedom both in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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PHILLIPS: All right. Don't look for the genetic testing kits at Walgreen's. Not yet, anyway. The drugstore chain is holding off on selling those home kits. The decision comes after the FDA said it hadn't given the manufacturer approval to sell the kit. Manufacturer said that people can use the kit to tell if they're prone to chronic diseases or maybe a bad reaction to a common drug.

We're back in a moment.

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PHILLIPS: He was a star on the high school basketball cart -- court, rather. Big star, but he was actually living a lie. The young man that many thought was a high school student wasn't, and he fooled a lot of people. Eddie Garcia, CNN affiliate KOSA in Odessa, has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EDDIE GARCIA, KOSA-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For more than a year, he successfully convinced school officials, students, even law enforcement that he was 16-year-old Jerry Joseph, an immigrant from Haiti.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't imagine not playing basketball right now.

GARCIA: He flew under the radar in plain sight as a basketball star, even being featured in a news story after the devastating Haiti earthquake. His coach, Danny Wright, had sympathy and took him into his own home.

Two weeks ago, rumors began to circulate that Joseph may be older than the other boys and may not be exactly who he said he was. Tuesday, he was identified and arrested by school district police and I.C.E. as Guerdwich Montimere, a naturalized citizen from Haiti. Seven years older than many of his classmates.

LT. MARK ROWDEN, ECISD POLICE: A 22-year-old being in our schools is very much a concern. That's why this has been an ongoing investigation, and that's why we have not dropped it, and that's why we weren't going to let go until we found out the truth.

GARCIA: The smoking gun came from a fingerprint match from his original immigration papers. A direct contradiction to the false documents he gave to the school district.

ROWDEN: All of the information we had identified him as a 16- year-old Jerry Joseph.

GARCIA: The investigation shows that Montimere mingled with even younger students when he enrolled at Nimitz Junior High at the age of 21.

So, how did it happen? the school district says they're bound by state law to allow anyone an education as long as they prove that they are the proper age. ROWDEN: Anyone has to be attended -- at least for the first 30 days without any identification. They have to be admitted, so we really don't have much of a choice. That would be a matter of changing the law.

GARCIA: Montimere is now in the Ector (ph) County jail, charged with presenting false identification to a peace officer. More charges could be coming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: He faces up to six months in prison for hiding out in high school. As for the school, well it may have to forfeit its entire season.

Four months to the day after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, some of its youngest victims are getting a chance to be kids again. They left their hospital beds in Miami for a special trip to Universal Studios in Orlando. The foundation for Miami Children's Hospital is footing the bill. That group says the adventure is almost unimaginable for the kids from the impoverished nation, and they say it will go a long way toward helping them cope with the emotional scars of their ordeal.

The Coast Guard on point leading the investigation in the Gulf. We've got the commandant on the line, ready to tell us if BP is in over its head.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

We've got breaking news that we're continuing to follow on that failed car bombing in Times Square. Live pictures coming to us from our affiliate out of Boston, WCVB. We thank them for this picture. It's the aerials -- the only, actually, live pictures we've been able to get of the scene. We'll try to bring that back. There we go.

According to the FBI, search warrants are being carried out right now in several places around the Northeast including the Boston area. This is one spot, as you can see, where agents within the FBI checking out a car. We'll try and confirm the area of where they are right now.

The Justice Department actually says these searches are the product of evidence that's been gathered in the investigation, subsequent to the attempted Times Square bombing. And they don't relate to any known immediate threat to the public or an active plot against the United States.

We want to let you know now this is not about any sort of immediate threat. This is a possible tie to that failed bombing attempt in Times Square. We are told two people have been taken into custody for alleged immigration violations. And as you know, Pakistani-born man Faisal Shahzad, this man has already been charged in that failed attack. Is he tied to those two men that were arrested today? We don't know, but investigators have been trying to figure out if anybody else has been involved in that attempted attack.

We will continue to follow up on all of the details as we get them. Also the live pictures and thanks to our Boston affils for bringing us those aerials as those search warrants have been executed.

All right. Other top stories right now.

Doctors are taking a closer look today at the sole survivor of the plane crash in Libya. We're talking about this little boy, who lost his entire family in that crash. Investigators trying to figure out what caused the accident that killed his family and the 103 people onboard.

Trying to cap the broken well. Here's what it looks like down there in the Gulf. BP says hopes to have the latest fix in place today. But just to be safe, it's setting up a new drainpipe to attach to that gusher.

We've got some remarkable video to share with you, but first, we want to warn you that it's pretty disturbing. It's footage from Thailand. And the leader of the anti-government group Red Shirts was shot as he attended some of those protests. Last word is that he's in critical condition. The gunshot appears to have come from a nearby rooftop. We're following that developing story right now out of Thailand for you.

Now, the massive leak in the Gulf of Mexico pumping 210,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf every day. Since day one, though, we have made a commitment to you to keep on top of the human toll, the tourism, the fishing, the real-life effects and the real people at the center of this oil disaster.

Lou Karris is one of them. He's a fifth-generation fisherman based in Gulfport, Mississippi. He says he's been on boats since he was old enough to stand up, but right now he can't even go shrimping.

And we also have Baker Clark. He's a hotel owner in Pensacola, Florida. His hotel sits right on the beach, a beautiful spot, a beautiful spot to vacation. But now, almost no one is there to enjoy it. These are just two of the thousands of people now dealing with this disaster, and I thank you both for joining us.

Luke, let's start with you. In all of the generations of your family, have you ever seen anything this bad?

LUKE HARRIS, OYSTER AND SHRIMP FISHERMAN: Well, we've been through disasters before. We have hurricanes, but the day after a hurricane comes, you pretty much know what you have to deal with. With this disaster, we don't know what will come in here. We don't know if we can stop it. It's a wait-and-see situation to see what's going to happen.

PHILLIPS: So what are you dealing with right now, Luke? Are you able to work at all? Has everything been closed down? Give me a feel for what you're dealing with day by day, and are you bringing any money in at all? HARRIS: Well, no money's coming in. The shrimping is closed right now. Our oyster season is closed. There's a lot of boats that are able to get hired on by BP to help with the oil cleanup. We have a lot of people that are on standby waiting to make a difference.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Including you.

Baker Clark, your hotel, what kind of -- I mean, the oil hasn't even hit your beaches yet, right? But you've seen a drastic drop in people checking in.

BAKER CLARK, HOTEL OWNER ALONG GULF OF MEXICO: We have. There's no oil from Pensacola to the east as far as all of the way around Florida. The problem we're having is people are not coming down here for fear of the oil being here, and I don't know why they're canceling the reservations. I was on the beach this morning, and it's absolutely gorgeous out there. The sand's clean, there's no oil in the water, there's no smell. It's just like business as normal, there's just nobody here.

PHILLIPS: So, put it in perspective. Usually right now, how full is your hotel and where is it right now?

CLARK: We're running -- normally this time of May, we would be running 60 percent to 70 percent occupancy and I believe we had 15 percent last night.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Are you telling these people when they cancel, "Hey, the beaches are beautiful. There's no oil here. Everything's all right."

CLARK: Yes, we are. It's beautiful. This stretch of beach from Pensacola down as far as Panama City is the most beautiful beach in the world. And right now it's like it's always been in the past. It's beautiful, the water's clean and there's just nobody here.

PHILLIPS: Well, Baker --

CLARK: I don't know why.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Well --

CLARK: There's plenty of rooms this weekend, and it will be a gorgeous weekend. People ought to come down and take advantage.

PHILLIPS: Absolutely. There's a lot of fear out there, and I'm glad you're making it clear that your beaches are beautiful right now.

Luke and Baker, I want to ask you both for your response. As you know, BP and Transocean both are being held accountable on the Hill. A lot of grilling going on among our representatives here on the Hill and Lamar McKay from BP spoke directly to the representatives, saying exactly what he was going to do to try to make up for the losses that both of you are seeing. Take a listen at what he had to say, and then I want to get both of you to react.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAMAR MCKAY, PRESIDENT, BP AMERICA: We're paying people that say they're working -- or they can't work because of this impact and they can say, here's where I work or here's what I do -- and we're paying them. We're being very, very aggressive and responsive about this. The -- we have been very clear, and you're exactly right. Tony Hayward has said we will pay all claims that are legitimate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. Luke, you've got legitimate claims. Your business has totally been shut down. Are you getting any money from BP?

HARRIS: I've put in for my money. I haven't got it yet, but like everything, we're optimistic with the future with what we can get done, so we're willing to work hand in hand with BP.

PHILLIPS: Baker, how about you? Have you seen a dime? Are you going to put in a claim?

CLARK: I've already put in a claim, but we haven't followed up because it's really hard to tell what the claim's going to be at this point in time. I don't know how --

PHILLIPS: : Go ahead.

CLARK: I don't know how we'll compare it unless we use our last year's sales taxes to compare to -- to get a number because a lot of the reservations -- they're not necessarily canceling, they're just not making them.

PHILLIPS: All right. Luke and Baker, hold on a second because I know you might have some possible questions here. Just stay with me, if you both don't mind, because this actual oil slick is still sitting out there, as you know, in the Gulf right now. And the Coast Guard is on point for this, keeping an eye on bp and the clean up efforts. Also helping lead that investigation in the Gulf.

Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Fatalen (sic) has briefings morning, afternoon and night. And we've been lucky to get him to call. He joins me now from Washington.

And Admiral, let me start by asking you. We're seeing the booms. We're seeing the oil but we're still seeing this massive slick. What are you doing right now to try and skim that oil and get it off the water, because we haven't seen fires like we saw at the very beginning. Where is your focus right now on that?

ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD: Kyra, first of all, I'm not in Washington. I'm onboard a drilling unit in the Gulf of Mexico, the second one being put into place to do the risk mitigator for the first fuel unit, the for the well down to relieve the pressure and cap the well. I'm on scene to take a look at what's going on. I'm here with (INAUDIBLE) Marylandry who is leading the area response down here and my deputy (INAUDIBLE), Pete Nepenger (ph). PHILLIPS: I should have known better! Of course, you'd be out there, and you'd be on a drilling unit. You're never sitting in an office in Washington. Forgive us for that mistake, Admiral. So, there you are on the drilling unit. Tell us exactly what that drilling unit is doing.

ALLEN: This is the second unit that will be put into place to drill a second well, and that's a risk mitigator in case there's a problem with the first one. It's a step that BP has taken to make sure that we get some final closure on it by capping that well.

In the meantime, I can give you an update. We just flew out here via helicopter from New Orleans. The winds, 14 to 18 knots and are 4 to 5 foot seas. Things like (INAUDIBLE) burning, mechanical skimming and dispersant delivery. We're all dependent on-scene conditions -- largely the sea state and wind. And the reason there having been insitu (ph) burns in the last few days is it takes a certain sea level and it's got to be fairly calm so you can use a fire-retardant boom. And we also have to honor the air protocols as far as where the plume goes when we're burning.

So we're in one of those areas right now because the conditions on the water are a little rough. We're kind of precluded from what we can do on the surface. In the meantime, we're trying to drive the closure across the federal government and with state and local governments on the impact of using dispersants at the sub-sea level. And if we can get agreement on that, that'd be one way we can mitigate the amount of oil coming to the surface.

They're also putting what they call a top hat in place to try to collect the oil at the bottom and siphon it off. We had a problem with the first drum with the (INAUDIBLE) hydrates had formed. This time, they're actually going to pump ethanol into the sea to remove the ice crystals before they bring it to the surface, but that's a quick update.

PHILLIPS; All right. You know, Americans have been piping in and saying, okay. We have a lot of faith in the Coast Guard. We know that they know the waters. They know how to handle something like this.

But at the same time, Admiral, a couple of days of grilling on Capitol Hill, BP getting grilled, Transocean getting grilled. I just want you to listen very quickly to a piece of sound that came from Representative Ed Markey during the grilling session, and I want to follow up on a question for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I think they're making it up as they go along. I think that most people believe that this is a very sophisticated industry with a very deft command of technology.

But in fact, as they think about old rubber tires and golf balls to be shot down into this leak, we realize that we're really not talking about M.I.T. here. We're really talking about the PGA. They're doing things that you would think someone out in the backyard would be thinking of doing, not an industry with the level of revenues and research capacity, which obviously has not resulted in a system of safety being put in place which can guarantee that this leak can be shut down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Is that fair to say, Admiral, that the efforts that are taking place right now are just being made up?

ALLEN: No, I don't think so. We've been in complete partnership and oversight with British Petroleum. This is something nobody can do by themselves. They own the means of production at the bottom. There's no human access to the point of this leak, and everything is done through ROBs at a depth that's never been tried at before.

So, there's this tension between working together and holding people accountable, but the first order of business is to stop the leak; hold BP accountable to do this. And I can tell you there are several, several options being exhausted here. We have engineers on scene in Houston with British Petroleum conducting oversight. Secretary Salazar and Secretary Chu have been down there dealing with senior leadership and making very clear what our expectations are. And the types of technology being deployed to get the jump shot, if you will, down there, are extraordinary. It just happens to be the items they're going to be putting in the blowout preventer are the types of things that will stick and actually clog the well and that's the reason those items were picked.

And I would add that the senior engineer I'm working with, Mary Landry, is an M.I.T graduate, as am I.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Well, well point, and so that totally goes against what representative Ed Markey said, obviously. He has no idea the kind of intellectual leader that he's dealing with.

All right. Looking ahead, okay? The dome, didn't work. Top hat, didn't work. Stuffing junk, so far hasn't worked.

So, I want to just look ahead, if you don't mind because of course, there's hundreds of others -- hundreds of other rigs out there. And there are blowout preventers that haven't been checked and possibly couldn't work. As you're dealing with this, at the same time, are you thinking to yourself, okay, we have to have a better plan in place with BP, with Transocean, with government response if this ever happens again?

ALLEN: Kyra, there are three or four things going on. Let me just summarize them.

The only thing that hasn't worked at the bottom has been the attempt to put the copper dam over the leak site. The top hat solution will be in place sometime today, and in the next 72 hours, they'll attempt the second method of collecting oil at the bottom of the ocean.

In the meantime, they're making preparations, and we'll know in the next 72 hours if we have the go-ahead on one of three options. Either to go with the junk shot or the top kill, as they call it. They've also been taking pressure readings at the top and bottom of the blowout preventer to see whether or not there's enough pressure reduction that they can actually sever the block preventer or cut the pipe - block preventer or put another one on. There are a lot of diagnostics.

We've been using gamma ray radiography that's been provided by the Department of Energy to actually take an X-ray of inside the blowout preventer. We do know now that most of those valves are closed and whether they did it right away or later on, we're not sure. But there's enough obstruction in there to stop the junk and reduce the pressure - allow us to cut the riser pipe and put the valve or blowout prevent or top of it. So, a sequence of events are going to be occurring over the next week that will be very, very determinant of where to go on this.

PHILLIPS: Well, we sure haven't gotten details like this from BP, but we're getting details from you, and we're so glad you are overseeing the effort.

Admiral Thad Allen, U.S. Coast Guard, we appreciate you calling in. We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Thanks for joining us. I'm Kyra Phillips, and I'll be back here at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time. Meanwhile, Fredericka Whitfield in for Tony Harris today. Hello, beautiful!

FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Kyra. Thanks so much! Good to see you. All right. Take care! Have a great day, lovely.