Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Stopping the Oil Gusher; President Obama Facing Criticism About Handling of Oil Spill; A Conversation with CNN's Founder

Aired May 29, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Let me head it off to Fredricka Whitfield who I'm sure is going to be watching that gusher at some point this morning.

FREDRICKA WHITEFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. We never sleep either, right? We just keep going and going and going. Just like that gusher.

HOLMES: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Gulf of Mexico.

HOLMES: I'm going right now. OK?

WHITFIELD: You have a great day. See you. Thanks so much.

Right now of course we are keeping a close eye on this image from almost a mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Take a look. The ruptured wellhead has been gushing oil for days now. 40 days. You're seeing a few different views because there are many submersibles with video cameras on them so that you're able to see exactly what's taking place.

BP is pumping heavy mud and concrete into the leaks, hoping to plug it. What's coming out right now is sort of that muddy brown that you're seeing right there, which BP is hoping to say that the top kill method is actually working. We should know more definitively in 45 minutes when we get an update from Doug Suttles, head of BP exploration and production. See it live, that press conference right here on CNN.

Meantime, this oil disaster is really taking a toll on marine life and wildlife along the Gulf Coast. CNN's Reynolds Wolf is there, so what we're seeing is simply heartbreaking on many, many scales, birds, we're seeing fish washing up, coated with oil. What's the latest?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. It's been a horrible thing to see. Obviously the effect it's had on the gulf and the open waters in the gulf, the bayous and the beaches. One of the biggest animals, the oil would be the brown pelican.

Before we start talking about that, a little bit of house keeping to share with you and viewers across America. Just a little bit of departure. We have some polka music that was playing moments ago. It was blasting. There's a good chance during this live shot you may hear it again. At the same time, we have a developing thunderstorm that is right in the vicinity.

So between the polka music and the thunderstorm, you could be kind of interesting live shot. Certainly the biggest disaster is in the Gulf of Mexico and the one of the biggest issues we have is with the brown pelican. We had a chance to go out to a rehabilitation center just yesterday. There are three of them that are damaged in southern Louisiana.

They've been doing great work with the pelicans. They've been taking them in and cleaning off the oil. What the plan is to take care of them for seven to ten days and then release them back into the wild. Not in the same place when they pull the birds into the water from the oil slick. They take them farther down the coast near the pristine clean waters so the birds will have a fighting chance to survive -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: I wonder as they try to relocate a lot of brown pelicans, this is nesting season. A lot of pelicans they may grab and clean off and then want to relocate, they're unable to get back to those nests in some cases to sit on those eggs.

WOLF: No question about it. Live environmentalists have been speaking about that very thing, this is, as you mentioned, pristine nesting season. This is the time that these birds, again, lay their eggs. It is a very -- the timing could not be worse in many ways. It's awful, of course, because of the animals. It's also terrible when you think about the time of the year it happens to be.

Leading up into the brink of hurricane season, about to get under way, and the season could be just very, very Bonnie Schneider is going the give you the latest. Hopefully we will see the top kill method later today or tomorrow, find out it was a success. Then, once we have the success, finish the recovery period.

We have to take care of all this oil that is in the Gulf of Mexico, on the wetlands, beaches, in the bayous. It seems like a never ending ordeal. A lot of people will not be able to recover financially, too. You think about the fishing industry, $3.8 billion industry, tourism has taken a hit this weekend. Mind numbing.

WHITFIELD: Reynolds Wolf, thanks so much for joining us.

President Obama made his second trip to the Gulf Coast yesterday. He's in Chicago today. So is CNN's Dan Lothian. So Dan, the president is facing a lot of criticism over this disaster. How does he feel his trip to the gulf area went yesterday?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I did ask Robert Gibbs about that. He felt it was a very good trip. In fact, he felt that it was -- he was able to deal with some of the issues in terms of talking to these parish presidents and the regional governors, thing of concern to them. In particular, one of the big issues is what happens if this top kill procedure fails, is not successful? We didn't get any specifics in terms of what the reaction from the president was, what the answer would be in terms of next step, but that remains a very big concern, even as the president is trying to reassure all the folks there along the Gulf Coast that the government is doing everything that it possibly can to make sure that this situation is corrected, that their situation, their personal situations are made whole not only by the government but certainly by BP.

The president taking full responsibility for this saying that the buck stops with him. But he also pointed out that going forward, this entire process will continue to be quite difficult.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are going to be a lot of judgment calls involved here. They're not going to be silver bullets or a lot of perfect answers for some of the challenges that we face. Understandably, the feelings of frustration and anger, the sense that any response is inadequate is -- we expect that frustration and anger to continue until we actually solve this problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Fred, I asked the president after his remarks yesterday in his meeting with the parish presidents and also the regional governors if he was optimistic that this oil leak could be plugged quickly. And he said that the best minds were working on it and that they would be able to do this as quickly as possible.

So there is some hope. There is some optimism that all of these best minds will be able to sort of bring a quick resolution to this. But certainly, we don't have any answers yet. And we hear from, you know, folks on the ground there, BP in particular, that this could -- we could be getting some answers by tomorrow. So everyone is waiting. It's sort of wait and see to see if this works.

WHITFIELD: Answers by tomorrow to see if the top kill is working. We are expecting a press conference involving BP in 45 minutes from now. Really now 40 minutes from now. Hopefully we'll get other new answers on what's taking place, if anything is happening in a successful manner. Dan Lothian, thanks so much, from Chicago.

All right. Meantime, we are getting more first-hand accounts of exactly what happened on the deepwater horizon rig the day of the explosion. April 20th, on day four now of public hearings in Louisiana, workers who were on that rig the day of the blast are recalling the horror that led to the spill. The hearings are being conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard and the minerals management service.

The repeal of the don't ask, don't tell is now in the hands of the Senate. The house has approved the policy rollback. The vote, 229-186, even if the Senate signs off, the repeal still faces hurdles. For starters, it's attached to a defense bill that the president has threatened to veto. The repeal also must wait on the outcome of the pentagon study of gays in the military and that's due in December.

So what a mess this oil spill is actually creating in the gulf. Everyone agrees on that. But this is just the beginning of what promises to be a very long legal battle. Our legal guys, Richard and Avery are here to talk about how BP could be sued. They are coming to us from Cleveland and Los Angeles today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. We've seen countless images like these from the spill. Oil contaminating the water, washing up on parts of the Gulf Coastline. It's taking a huge toll on the wildlife and the workers in that area as well. What we haven't seen these pictures, families torn apart by the blast. Gordon Jones was one of the 11 workers killed. He leaves behind a wife and two young sons, one born just two weeks ago after he died.

So Gordon Jones' father spoke to the House Judiciary Committee this week and at times holding back tears when describing the lost of his youngest son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH JONES, SON DIED IN BP ACCIDENT: We know that Gordon's body was cremated. Then the fire boats washed his ashes out to sea. I admit that having nothing to say good-bye to is much, much harder than I thought it would be. Call it closure or whatever, something is missing for us.

If you want these companies, one of which is headquartered in Great Britain and another in Switzerland, to make every effort to make sure their employees don't act as these did, putting American lives at risk, you must make certain they are exposed to pain and the only place they can feel it, their bank accounts. As friend recently said, make them hurt where their heart would be, if they had a heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So earlier I spoke with Keith Jones about the loss of his son and his mission to change federal law to seek justice for the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: The law which is called the death on the high seas act is antiquated, passed in 1920. As it stands now, would allow Michelle and those two boys to recover only what are called pecuniary damages, that is to say the loss of Gordon's income, minus what he would have made in income taxes, minus what he would have consumed himself, reduced to present day value, and that's that.

Nothing to Michelle for the loss of her husband, the love of her life, the man she wanted to grow old with, nothing to those boys for loss of their dad to teach them how to play golf and play baseball and go to church and look another man in the eye with a firm handshake, all the things that fathers are there to teach their sons as they grow up. There's nothing in the law now that provides or would force BP or anybody else to compensate them for that. And it's just plain wrong.

WHITFIELD: So you want some sort of change similar to change that was made in the year 2000 as it pertains to plane crash victims, that there would be a legal avenue that family members could take. Did you get a sense while testifying that perhaps your testimony might indeed make a difference, create a pathway towards some change?

JONES: I don't know if my testimony did. I think that the fact that people are learning how unfair the law is and how back in 2000 an exception was carved out for airline passengers because this accident happened, but it doesn't apply to anybody else that dies on the high seas, including cruise line passengers, if they die as a result of the fault of someone else, no matter how egregious, they're limited to the same recovery that -- that Gordon's family is limited to. And so we want Congress to do the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So what would be next in any pursuit to change that law? Avery Friedman is a civil rights attorney and law professor, Richard Herman is a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor. Good to see both of you. Avery, coming from Cleveland. Richard, you in Las Vegas.

Avery, let me begin with you. What would be next in this legal fight? Yes, there were hearings involving Mr. Jones. But now what?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, there are so many aspects of the legal considerations and liability, Fredricka. What you brought out through Keith in talking about the loss of his son Gordon is very powerful. That will take acts of Congress.

The question is even if Congress changes the law, whether it will have any affect, and I have come question about that I think legally what's particularly significant right now is we all remember about an environmental catastrophe that took 40 days and 40 nights, I think you said this is the 40th day and we're still at the beginning. Under the oil pollution act, BP should be responsible for at least $1.5 billion in fines right now ...

WHITFIELD: It's interesting, actually, on that point because BP says they have doled out millions in claims already. And that's within this 40-day period?

FRIEDMAN: They haven't actually paid that part of it. Number one, some federal courts are not proceeding. They're staying proceedings. That's unresolved. Some cases are going forward. But in terms of violating the pollution act, every day that goes by because BP is underestimated the number of barrels, they're trying to minimize their liability. So that's why I say there's so many different fronts on legal liability issues here.

WHITFIELD: Avery, am I seeing disagreement here or are you frustrated like many Americans are about what is taking place in the gulf?

FRIEDMAN: I'm more than frustrated. I'm angry like every other American because the destruction is incomprehensible and we're going to continue to suffer it.

WHITFIELD: Richard, how do you see the road ahead here?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Fred, that top kill that they're doing now where they're showing us the pictures and looks like dirt coming out, that's oil, Fred. There's a million gallons a day being churned out into the gulf. This is day 40. The "Exxon Valdez" was 18 million gallons spilled. This is day 40 at a million a day.

This is beyond an abomination. There's going to be civil litigation. Avery referred to the oil pollution act. Here's something to consider. There is a cap on that act of $75 million. That's the cap. And the Obama administration is going to Congress to try to raise that cap so they can exceed that. But that's the civil cap, $75 million.

WHITFIELD: And if, say, BP were fined $75 million, that really is a drop in a bucket for a company that's making something of $440 million a week, by the way. $75 million would really not cause any damage. When you are fined, isn't that the point, that it's supposed to hurt?

HERMAN: Fred, that is absolutely the point. That rig itself does $500 million a day in revenue. This rig that exploded does $500 million a day in revenue. On all the litigation from the "Exxon Valdez" cases the punitive damage award, the punishing damage was $5 billion. That went on appeal to the Supreme Court. Back on further appeal. The end result was it was less than a billion dollars punitive. BP is the luckiest oil company in the world. They have a history of this.

FRIEDMAN: Richard nailed the issue. Part of the strategy is here is because BP is looking at the limitation that the Supreme Court built in because of "Exxon Valdez" and a restriction on punitive damages, they're not that worried about the big hit. But the fact is that there are a number of avenues that can be utilized to make sure that BP is accountable for what they've done to the environment.

WHITFIELD: Are these punitive damage, we're talking about punitive damages that impact the fishing industries as well, so all the people who are put out of work, who are unable to do their day-to- day thing because of what has taken place here, is that what we're talking about?

FRIEDMAN: Along with that -- that along with the individuals.

WHITFIELD: Civil suits.

FRIEDMAN: A loss of his son was so profound, multiply that times 11 and many, many thousands of others who have been effected by this. HERMAN: Fred, the way we get over the ceiling is, when there's criminal charges brought. There in the finds on criminal charges there is no ceiling. And that's what's going to happen here. That's why there's definitely going to be criminal charges brought here and BP is going to be called to task.

WHITFIELD: Before we leave, because I know we're out of time on this segment, we're going to see you again. Criminal charges, is that also under that umbrella, would that also impact their 400 species of animals that live along that Louisiana coast in particular.

FRIEDMAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And endangered species.

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

WHITFIELD: Normally, you're going to face jail time or fines. Would that fall under criminal charges, too, potentially?

HERMAN: That will fall under criminal.

FRIEDMAN: Civil and criminal.

HERMAN: And we are being misguided. We're not being told the truth how severe this is, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Richard, Avery, thanks. Sorry to cut you off. We are going to see you again and talk about something that's pretty interesting, Kansas State University, we're talking at members of the athletic department who are caught up in a ticket scalping investigation.

HERMAN: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: We're going get your input on that in a few minutes. Thanks so much, guys.

HERMAN: OK.

WHITFIELD: All right. It was 30 years ago this year that CNN made its debut. I know, hard to believe. I sat down with the man who started it all, face to face. Biggest regret for CNN?

All right, Ted Turner you saw a little bit more of me than you saw of him. You're going to hear more of him. He talks about his proudest moment and whether he still watches CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories. Security forces in Jamaica are getting set for phase two of an operation to arrest accused drug lord Christopher Dudus Coke. It has been scheduled for Monday to begin. The arrest attempt has triggered violence that has killed at least 76 people. Coke is wanted in the United States. And in the Middle East, Israeli warplanes launched fresh attacks today on targets in Gaza. Israeli military says the bombings were in response to an intended terror attack on Israel and a rocket attack from Gaza two days ago. No injuries are reported in today's attacks.

And the White House admits that it tried to sway Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak not to run. It used former President Bill Clinton as ago between. White house memos say Clinton raised the offer of a non-paying high profile position to Sestak if he would drop out of the race. The white house says what happened is neither illegal nor unethical. More top stories in 20 minutes.

Talking face to face now with someone who has made a huge impact on the world and the television industry, just to say the very least. It's been almost 30 years since Ted Turner launched CNN as the first 24-hour all news cable network. Just last week I took him on his first tour of our new Atlanta studio.

(BEGIN VIDE CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It's very modern and contemporary.

TED TURNER, CNN FOUNDER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: What catches your eye?

TURNER: Just a lot of TV sets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A man of few words, but powerful ones at that. I also sat down and talked with the visionary about his proudest moment, biggest regret, and what he would do differently if he were still in charge of CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: What is it like walking into this building?

TURNER: Like coming home.

WHITFIELD: You guys recognize this man right here?

UNIDENTIFIED FE MALE: Yes.

WHITFIELD: On this 30th anniversary of CNN, here's Ted Turner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.

WHITFIELD: Where are you guys from?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Memphis.

TURNER: All right. Hope you have a good time.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic. TURNER: That's good.

WHITFIELD: So they get a chance to look in the studio there to see as things ...

TURNER: It was my idea to do this tour.

WHITFIELD: It was?

TURNER: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: Well, fantastic. It is consistent.

TURNER: I know. Makes a lot of money, too.

WHITFIELD: When you started CNN did you think that it would have this kind of staying power with people or ...

TURNER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: You did?

TURNER: If you do it right, it should have staying power. I dedicate the news channel for America, the cable news network.

WHITFIELD: Did you look at it though as ...

TURNER: Sure.

WHITFIELD: ... this is a risk that I'm taking?

TURNER: What, starting CNN?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

TURNER: Of course. Of course. But I didn't think it was near as risky as other people because I had given it more careful thought.

WHITFIELD: What's your proudest moment looking back now 30 years?

TURNER: CNN?

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

TURNER: Proudest moment was when we had exclusive coverage of the Iraq War, the first one.

WHITFIELD: 1991.

TURNER: Uh-huh.

WHITFIELD: And looking at the product on the air, what do you remember about the images that you saw?

TURNER: It was a war. Live and in color. And nowhere before in history had news media from a foreign country ever been able to broadcast live behind the lines. From the other side.

WHITFIELD: Were you saying to -- at this point, you know, this is something America hasn't seen and I'm helping to facilitate this view of the war?

TURNER: Not just America, the whole world. The whole world was watching.

WHITFIELD: What was the responsibility perhaps you felt at that point, too, about how the coverage would be played out?

TURNER: We didn't do anything differently than we did every day. We just tried to cover it as honestly and fairly as we could. I think we did a good job.

WHITFIELD: This product evolved considerably. It really is. It's one that whether you're in the elevator or whether you are overseas at a hotel, you could be in a restaurant, CNN is on all the time. And when you get around town, whether it be in Atlanta or anywhere else in the world, do you look at that, do you look at the screen and say, I started this?

TURNER: I have said that from time to time. When I have time, I watch it.

WHITFIELD: What do you like about what you see on the air?

TURNER: I like political coverage, for the most part. I think maybe a little too much emphasis on it, but that's what the editorial people have decided to focus on.

WHITFIELD: And ...

TURNER: I miss the ball scores.

WHITFIELD: You miss the ball scores.

TURNER: It's across the bottom.

WHITFIELD: If there was anything you would want to change about this product, if you were still leading CNN, what would that be, besides, including those ball scores?

TURNER: I would put more emphasis on the environment. We had an environmental unit with about 18 people and after I was let go, they disbanded that unit and they just cover the environment with the regular reporters, which is a good job but not as good if they were concentrating on it. I would like to see more international news and more -- a little more serious, less yellow journalism. A little less who shot who.

WHITFIELD: Does it bother you when you turn on the other cable networks that there may be a political persuasion that the other networks are taking? Are you pleased?

TURNER: I don't like that. WHITFIELD: Do you see that the other networks make a decision whether to broadcast more right, whether to be more left -- do you think that ultimately that might influence CNN, which ...

TURNER: Of course, I think it's influenced it already.

WHITFIELD: You don't see CNN as being down the middle?

TURNER: I think from the political standpoint, I would say CNN is pretty much down the middle, which is -- which I agree with.

WHITFIELD: Are you happy with the way cable news, not CNN but cable news in general has blossomed? The big three television networks, all of them are suffering from a reduce of viewerships.

TURNER: They don't -- they didn't have much news on to start with. So, they had nowhere to go but down.

WHITFIELD: So, do you see cable news future as a bright one? Do you have any worries ...

TURNER: The field generally?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

TURNER: Yes, I'd say so. I'd say so. You know, the internet's cutting in, but they don't have the basis for a really viable news gathering organization, they don't have a financial model.

WHITFIELD: What's your biggest regret for CNN or is there anything that while you were leading this network, anything that happened or didn't happen under your purview that you think the direction this network should have taken?

TURNER: My biggest regret would be in losing my association with Turner Broadcasting and CNN. But at the time, it was the right thing to do, we merged with Time Warner and there was no way that we could see that we were going to merge with AOL because as long as we were part of Time Warner and I was part of Time Warner, before -- before AOL, everything was going really well. The merger was a good merger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, my conversation with Ted Turner face-to- face continues at 2:00 Eastern time. He talks about an issue very dear to his heart, the environment, his thoughts on the Gulf spill, drilling, and of course, have you been to Montana's Grill yet, Ted's Montana Grill? He talks a little bit more about that.

All right, he also talks to me about why his views and the views of others may have changed as a result of the gusher in the Gulf.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: What's your view on what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico right now? Does this change your mind about drilling? TURNER: Oh, yes. You know, I was always concerned about drilling way offshore like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That part of my face-to-face with Ted Turner continues today 2:00 Eastern time.

And we've all heard the descriptions of how big the Gulf oil spill really is. But what exactly does it look like from a bird's eye view? A unique animation shows us the scope of the disaster in vivid detail. We'll show it to you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, take a look right now. Live pictures of that broken BP wellhead that has been spewing as much as 19,000 barrels of crude into the Gulf every day. Right now, crews are trying to plug it with mud, a technique known as "top kill." BP says we may know tomorrow if it is indeed working.

Meantime, the company is holding a press conference in about 10 minutes from now. We'll carry that live. The chief operating officer Doug Suttles, you've come to now his face and his name, he will be part of that press conference and we'll carry it live.

But first, the scope now of this disaster, just how bad has it gotten since the wellhead first broke more than a month ago now? CNN's Josh Levs is here to show us a little bit more about it. People have just kind of gotten used to that little black blob ...

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

WHITFIELD: ...on a map just off the coast, you know, of Louisiana and this big huge mouth of the Gulf of Mexico. But give us an idea really what we're looking at and how do we measure the scale of this spill?

LEVS: It's different -- yes, it's different when you see what I'm about to show you. You see how it's this growing, crawling amoeba-like.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEVS: It's got a shape, that's in this area and what happened is you know, since the beginning of this, I've been looking for ways to try to help all of us wrap our minds around the size of it, particularly how it's grown. There's a really great animation right now from noaa.com, which is it right here.

Look at this little black splash. That's all the way back to April 22nd where it begins. And I'm going to reach across the screen for a second, I'm going to click play on this and then, we can watch it go. And basically, what you'll see is the way it grows every day. Look at that. They have every day, the size and shape of it leading up to today. And you can see the extent to which it grew. And what they're doing is they're using all the images that were provided by officials on each day throughout this entire thing for all these weeks. And you're seeing here all the thousands of square miles that ultimately this oil slick, the oil leak is taking up.

And what's also great about this at noaa.com is that you can click on any day down here. You say OK, what was going on on some specific day, boom and you can get this right here. And I'll skip ahead to the end. This is basically where it is now. We don't have the absolute latest satellite imagery, but this is where it's believed to have been as of yesterday.

So, you can see how much huger it was. I mean, look at this now and then I'm going to go back to that first day, all the way back to late April. So, you can see the stark difference right there.

WHITFIELD: Oh my God.

LEVS: I'm going to put up a link for all of you. I think we have my screen. Let's show everyone because I'll give you a direct link. It's a very long web address you'd never memorize, but I've got -- I'll get it up for you at the blog, Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN right now so you can check it out for yourself, Fred, see it interactive there.

WHITFIELD: Oh, we'll look for that. Thanks so much.

LEVS: You got it.

WHITFIELD: All right, the new Atlantic hurricane season starts just three days from now and some folks are a little concerned about that, particularly as we try to contain this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Of course, the Atlantic hurricane season does, indeed, impact the Gulf of Mexico as well.

Bonnie Schneider is with us now. I've heard, you know, different psychologies -- some environmentalists who say hurricane in that area would actually be good in terms of breaking up the oil and allowing it to dissipate and perhaps lifting it out of the marshes. And then, of course, the other mindset to that is not so good because it would mean pushing the oil perhaps on a different path further and it would still be a detriment, even on land.

So, you know, you're not really sure what to think about this Atlantic season.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METOEROLOGIST: Right. Fredricka, really, there are positives and negatives. Obviously, a hurricane would be devastating in the Gulf of Mexico in any solution. And what we're looking at hurricane season 2010, wow.

I mean, all indications are that this is going to be an extremely active season. You can see the latest forecast that has just come out from NOAA is already bringing eight to 14 hurricanes and major hurricanes, category 3 or higher, possibly three to seven. So, this is an enormous prediction. Looking at what's happening now in the Gulf of Mexico, some of the currents that actually influence the intensity of hurricanes are affecting the oil spill even right now. An eddy has formed just north of the loop currents and what that's doing right now is localizing any oil that would spill into this area rather than taking it down to the Keys. So, temporarily it is containg the area.

But these currents are very volatile and changing and this is an animation I wanted to show you of the past year. Here's the loop current and as this animation plays, you'll watch the shape change and move and that's exactly what could happen in August, in September, when we start getting into the peak of hurricane season.

So, to break it down, some of the major effects I think that people are most concerned with are that most hurricanes, you have to remember, are much wider than this spill itself. While this spill is large, it doesn't cover the entire Gulf of Mexico as we did see with major hurricanes like Katrina and Rita back in 2005.

Also, high winds may distribute the oil onshore, over a wider area. This would obviously be a very negative effect. Oil onshore depends on the track of the hurricane. And this is also important to note, Fredricka -- a lot of people are wondering would the rain actually contain oil when you have those rain bands coming in from the storm.

WHITFIELD: Sure. Evaporation from our oceans.

SCHNEIDER: Right. But the answer is if the size stays the same, the way it is right now, the answer is no because when the hurricanes coming over a large area of the Gulf of Mexico, it's pulling up a lot of moisture from a wider area, not just that concentrated spill. So, there will be some interaction, but we really don't know exactly how it'll all play out. And timing is a big factor in this.

WHITFIELD: Plus, I'm no scientist, but oil doesn't evaporate.

SCHNEIDER: No, but you know, small particles could get into the air, but generally speaking, the impact right now would be minimal. But like I said, August and September could be a different story.

WHITFIELD: Right, all right, fascinating stuff. Thanks so much. Of course, we always get a little nervous around June 1. But we know it's always coming and anything can happen during the Atlantic hurricane season.

SCHNEDIER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right, Bonnie, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

All right, well, take a good look at this picture. Would you trust him with your millions? Millions of dollars, you'd be surprised by celebrities who did just that, not because of what he looked like but because of the expertise that he was bringing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right, as promised, our legal guys are back. This is like our No. 2 favorite segment. The first favorite segment of the hour is when they first appear at the beginning of the hour. Now, it's part two. Avery Friedman ...

HERMAN: Very sweet, Fred.

FRIEDMAN: Very nice.

WHITFIELD: ...civil rights attorney and law professor and Richard Herman, criminal defense attorney out of New York, but coming to us from Vegas, as well as a law professor. All right, good to see you guys.

Well, glad to hear that you all were not duped by this man who is an alleged financial adviser who is now the centerpiece of a Ponzi scheme. He was the adviser to the celebrities like Uma Thurman, Annie Leibowitz and Martin Scorsese and now Kenneth Starr, not the special prosecutor but this investor, investment adviser, is now facing some serious charges, Richard. This is right in your backyard. Well, not today but on other days when you're in New York.

HERMAN: He's facing 45 years in prison for investment fraud, wire fraud, money laundering. Basically, he held himself out as this investment guru. He controlled about $700 million ...

WHITFIELD: Oh boy.

HERMAN: ...of people's funds. $30 million of that he's charged with funneling basically to himself for his own lifestyles. You know, Madoff got hit with 150 years. This guy is looking at a real 45-year prison sentence. The judge denied ...

WHITFIELD: Oh yes, that precedence is not going to help him, is it?

FRIEDMAN: But he -- you know, but he ...

HERMAN: He denied bail.

FRIEDMAN: ... he's really small potatoes. And compared to Bernie, this guy is small -- actually, he looks like the mailman in my neighborhood. But I think the way it works, Fredricka, it's called build-up. You get a couple of famous investors, clients, and they tell other people and then he brags about representing other individuals that are famous and that's where the build-up is.

And Richard's exactly right, that's how the scheme works. He says he's innocent, but it's interesting, when federal agents went into his place, guess what, they found him cowering in the closet.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's right, hiding in the closet.

FRIEDMAN: Yes, I mean that's not exactly the kind of manifestation of innocence that you want to see. But the magistrate judge won't even let him out on bond. There's going to be a hearing coming up, I think, on June 10th, to see if they can get him out.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

FRIEDMAN: But this guy is in a big bowl of trouble.

WHITFIELD: Well, with that kind of money or the track record of Having that kind of money, I mean you are always going to be a flight risk. And so ...

FRIEDMAN: Sure.

WHITFIELD: ... the judge would say, no way. You're not allowed to go anywhere.

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

HERMAN: And you know, Fred, there's about 30 high net worth investors, but the rest of the investors were not and they lost their money and now, they can't find the money. So, you know, this guy ...

WHITFIELD: Good luck on trying to recover it.

HERMAN: Exactly, exactly.

FRIEDMAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: OK, well, let's talk about something else that's still controversial -- Arizona's immigration law expected to kick in not long from now. But right now, the Attorney General Eric Holder who had already expressed and the White House expressed that they weren't that crazy about this new law.

Well now, an aide is saying that Holder thinks that the police chiefs in that area actually have a good point, that perhaps the argument from some police chiefs is that this law is going to stand in the way of them being able to be good law enforcement agents and that it compromises their relationship betwee they and the community.

So Richard, is this an argument that the attorney general can make and successfully use against Arizona to get this law going?

HERMAN: No, Fred. In fact, recently ...

WHITFIELD: No?

HERMAN: ...the attorney general disclosed for the first time that he hadn't really read the statute even though ...

FRIEDMAN: Wait a minute.

HERMAN: ... he was threatening the federal government was going to potentially sue Arizona. Look Fred, it's down to this. It is a crime in the United States to be an undocumented immigrant. It's a crime, it's the law.

FRIEDMAN: Got nothing to do with it, nothing to do with the saw (ph), Richard, nothing.

HERMAN: It's the law, though. All Arizona ...

FRIEDMAN: No.

WHITFIELD: It's the enforcement of this law and the way it -- the language.

FRIEDMAN: Exactly. Let me -- hold on.

WHITFIELD: And the way the language is has really kind of ruffled feathers, though, correct?

FRIEDMAN: Let's make it clear. The issue is that under the constitution of the United States, it is exclusively the function of the federal government, not Arizona. And yesterday, Fredricka, yesterday, the Justice Department filed a brief in the Supreme Court attacking part of Arizona's law which tries to regulate immigration concerning employers.

Take it to the bank. Justice Department is going to be in there. It violates supremacy, that is Arizona's law, violates racial profiling, that's what the chiefs of police told them. Justice is going to be in there for very good constitutional reasons.

WHITFIELD: OK.

HERMAN: It does not violate profiling and it is going to be deemed constitutional. It's going to work in conjunction with the federal law because the government is doing nothing about this problem. Arizona is trying to do something (ph).

FRIEDMAN: Because they're doing nothing, doesn't give Arizona the right to do it.

WHITFIELD: And that's what the government said. OK, real quick though before I let you go because I know we're going to talk about it again, it hasn't kicked in yet but it will.

FRIEDMAN: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: And this is just kind of the latest little wrinkle in it, but Kansas University athletic department employees, staffers who are now accused of scalping tickets.

FRIEDMAN: Love this.

WHITFIELD: And we're talking about over five year -- oh, University of Kansas, I'm sorry. And they were talking about over a five-year period. $20,000 in basketball and football game tickets. Richard, how in the world ...

HERMAN: Oh no.

FRIEDMAN: 17,000, $3 million.

HERMAN: Yes, no, 20,000 tickets ...

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, really?

FRIEDMAN: $3 million.

WHITFIELD: 20,000 tickets, that's why I have you all here to straighten me out. Let's get it right.

FRIEDMAN: We do that together.

HERMAN: You knew that, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK, very good. Richard, you first, then. What in the world? How in the world are these staffers going to be able to defend themselves when you've got this kind of ...

HERMAN: Well ...

WHITFIELD: ...evidence lined up?

HERMAN: Well, you know, the problem is one of their inside people was getting ready to go to prison on an unrelated bribery and drug charge and in order to reduce his 18-month prison term, he decided to come clean and disclose this particular crime. So, the feds jumped on it. They corroborated it, and everybody got arrested. And you know, it's going to be corroborated -- yes.

FRIEDMAN: Five people in the athletic department were involved in this fraud scheme going on for over five, nearly six years. All under a guy named Lew Perkins who is the A.D., and he said I'm responsible, I'm accountable and everybody thought he was going to say, and I'm going to resign. But he said, no, I think I'm going to stick around.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy.

HERMAN: $1 million to $3 million lost revenue to the university.

WHITFIELD: $1 million to $3 million, all right.

FRIEDMAN: Right.

WHITFIELD: Richard, Avery, thanks so much, guys. Good to see you. Have a great holiday weekend.

FRIEDMAN: We'll see you soon. You too.

HERMAN: We have to congratulate the class of 2010, Fred. They're all graduating now.

WHITFIELD: We should.

HERMAN: Especially my niece, Danielle. So, congratulations.

WHITFIELD: Oh congratulations, Danielle.

FRIEDMAN: And looking forward to the Ted Turner interviews coming up at the 2:00 hour. That's great, Fredricka. First class.

WHITFIELD: That's right, there's more. He really is a very fascinating man, but ...

HERMAN: Absolutely.

FRIEDMAN: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: ...nobody needed me to say that. Everybody knows that part.

FRIEDMAN: Right.

WHITFIELD: I just got a chance to sit down and talk with him. All right, thanks so much, you all. Appreciate it.

FRIEDMAN: All right, guys. Happy Memorial Day.

WHITFIELD: All right, live pictures right now from Fourchon Beach, Louisiana. This is where that BP press conference is expected to take place. The COO will be taking to the microphones, among others. And of course, when that happens, we'll be able to bring that to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, illness or injury can certainly throw a wrench in your vacation plans, especially if you're overseas. Well, what about those travel health insurance plans? Here's what you should know when you are "On the Go."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Amanda Sheronas was vacationing in Italy with her family a few summers ago when she had a medical emergency.

AMANDA SHERONAS, HAD MEDICAL EMERGENCY OVERSEAS: It turned out that I had a large, very large fibroid tumor inside of me that was actually blocking my bladder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A nurse had to fly with Sheronas back to the U.S. for surgery and the bills were more than $22,000. But her mother had bought her a travel health policy.

SHERONAS: It was probably one of the best gifts that she could have ever given me unknowingly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Medicare does not cover medical costs outside the U.S. and most major health plans cover emergencies only.

CHRIS MCGINNIS, TRAVELSKILLS.COM: You do need to call your insurance company and ask if you are covered overseas and what the extent of that coverage is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When buying a travel policy, know what you're getting.

MCGINNIS: Be sure you know what's included in your insurance policy and what's not included.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amanda Sheronas is sold on travel health insurance when she's abroad.

SHERONAS: You never know what can happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, take a look right now. The mic stand's there. This is Fourchon Beach, Louisiana. This is where a press conference will get underway momentarily involving BP's COO. And is, of course, when it gets underway, we'll take that live. Presumably, there will be more conversations, more questions being asked about whether indeed the "top kill" method is working.

This is the mud that is being pumped in to the oil well that continues to gush oil there in the Gulf of Mexico. Is that working and then eventually, it would be plugged up with some sort of cement. We understand that they'll be talking about that and other measures and when that happens, we'll take that live from Fourchon Beach, Louisiana.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Right now, it's time for "YOUR MONEY."