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Oil Leak: Jagged Cut, Gaping Cap; BP CEO Addresses Media; White House Press Briefing
Aired June 03, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Brand-new hour, brand-new "Rundown." Let me tell you what I've got right now.
Forty-five days of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. The pipe has been cut. Now it's time for the cap.
We're going to tell you what this all means. We're going to keep a very, very close eye on it.
Plus, Annie Lennox, you know her from the Eurhythmics and the song "Sweet Dreams." Well, now she's turning her dreams of global AIDS prevention into reality. She is our mission possible today.
Also, guess who is here? Ed Henry. President Obama's got a lot on his plate today, and so does our senior White House correspondent. Like Roland Martin, he's in the house. We'll find out what tie he's wearing.
But, first, let me get you to the biggest story right now, and that is the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Let me tell you what is happening.
It continues to leak. In fact, you might be alarmed to see that it's leaking more than it was earlier. But that was part of the plan, because they've cut off the top of that riser, as they had planned to do, and it is now ready to receive the cap, the top hat that we've been talking about for so long.
But there's been a problem. It has not gone as smoothly as they expected.
It was supposed to be a clean cut. That didn't actually happen.
You know, we talked about a diamond wire saw that was cutting the top of this. Well, it just didn't give it the clean cut that it was expecting to get, so they had to use sort of cutters, basically giant pipe cutters, to get a cut. It's not as clean as they would have liked.
So, we're following that very closely. It hasn't been lowered yet, but we are going to keep you posted.
That's the picture of it right now. That's the oil that's gushing out of the top of it is. It is more oil than was gushing out before they took that cap out. Hopefully, within the next few hours we will see some change here. We'll see that lid going on to the top of it.
BP says it's sorry in a series of ads that have been released on national television. You might have seen those out there.
Also, sand berms, these are artificial sand barriers. They've approved another five of those going into place. BP's going to pay $360 million for those.
And President Obama going back to the Gulf of Mexico. That's why Ed Henry's here. He's on the way. President Obama is going back there tomorrow to see what's going on.
Let's go straight to New Orleans, where the president's going to be.
David Mattingly is standing by with more on what the latest developments are.
David, are you there?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ali. That gusher that we're looking at, at the bottom of the ocean right now, is really disturbing, but as you said, this was expected.
As soon as they cut the top off of that pipe, the bend in the pipe that had been holding some of the oil back was gone. And so what we're now seeing is all the oil being pushed out by the natural pressure underground.
And the estimates that we heard going into this was that we could see an increase in the flow of oil up to 20 percent before they put this cap on. So, we're in that interim period right now.
They cut the pipe off. We've got the gusher. And now they're making what looks like the final preparations before they lower that cap in to catch this oil and siphon it up to the surface.
Now, there's going to be a little bit of a problem with this as we move forward for the next few weeks and into the next few months, because they were not able to make a clean cut. When they put that cap on there, some of the oil is going to leak out underneath. They're not sure how much. It all depends on how tight a seal, how tight a fit they can get.
But we're looking at the possibility of still seeing oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico every day until this August, when they get that relief well dug as this continues forward. We're looking at that possibility even though we have that cap in place.
So, not a perfect system. But the idea here is to catch a majority of the oil. BP says a vast majority of the oil. We'll wait and see how this turns out.
VELSHI: All right, David. We're all waiting on this one. If you get any new news -- and I know you've been very closely in touch with BP -- if you get any new news, let us know about that. David Mattingly is in New Orleans following this very closely.
I believe Gary Tuchman is joining us as well. Gary has been out watching the fishermen and the people who are cleaning up the oil spills. They say they're not getting paid on time from BP.
Let's just take a quick break. On the other side, Gary Tuchman -- oh, Gary is there. All right.
Gary, are you there?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I sure am, Ali. Can you hear me OK?
VELSHI: I got you. You know what, Gary? Stand by for a second, because you put together a good story on this. I want our viewers to see that, and then I'll get to you in just a second.
Gary Tuchman is there. Here's Gary's story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, look at it. You can't get that off.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Here in Venice, Louisiana, this 35-foot fishing boat was pulled out of the water so it could be cleaned of oil from the BP spill.
MIKE ELLIS, BOAT CAPTAIN: We still have to have our boats to make --
TUCHMAN: The boat's captain is Mike Ellis.
ELLIS: I'm running the boat through oil. I'm running it through a foot and half, two feet of water. I mean, I'm destroying my boat to make a living.
TUCHMAN: His entire adult life, his living has been to take people fishing. But there is now no fishing. Instead, he's working for BP. He's one of many people hired by the oil company so their boats can be used to help in the cleanup effort.
There's a problem.
ELLIS: I sent them an invoice and called the office four days later just to make sure. "We can't even tell you we have your invoice yet."
TUCHMAN: Mike Ellis says he's owed more than $15,000. So far he's gotten zero.
Mike Frenette is the president of the Venice Charter Boat and Guide Association and represents charter captains.
MIKE FRENETTE, PRESIDENT, VENICE CHARTER BOAT AND GUIDE ASSOC.: I'm going to turn to the contract. After the submission of the invoice, 15 days from that time, they're supposed to be compensated.
TUCHMAN: Frenette says many of his members have waited longer than 15 days and got nothing. Mike Ellis has waited more than three weeks.
ELLIS: But right now, we can't be too mad and we can't run our mouth too much, because then they could boot us out of the whole program and then we're totally stuck.
TUCHMAN: Indeed, some fishermen who haven't been paid were afraid to talk us to, because they feared getting in trouble with BP. But the man who did not want to get mad seemed to get madder as he continued to talk.
ELLIS: I think it is a combination of let's snow them and blind them with bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and put these people to work and say they're going to get paid. Yes, they will eventually pay us, sure, but at their time, not on our time.
TUCHMAN: Another charter captain who hasn't gotten paid is more forgiving.
LARRY HOOPER, CHARTER BOAT CAPTAIN: It's there. It's coming. I'm confident.
TUCHMAN (on camera): You're not worried about it?
HOOPER: No, no. Shame on BP if they turn around and start playing games with the money.
TUCHMAN: Many New employees have received their first paychecks from BP. But what about the ones who should have gotten paid?
BP press officer Darren Beaudo tells CNN, "Although I am not aware of specific instances when payment has been delayed, we'd request that vessel captains get in touch with BP for remedy. They can contact me personally if they wish."
ELLIS: We did not wreck our business and ruin -- run our clientele off.
TUCHMAN: And that is what Mike Ellis says he will do.
ELLIS: They made a mistake, which is fine. A mistake, it is what it is. Now, if you make a mistake, you've got to own up to it. Be a man, own up to it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: And Gary joins us now on the phone. He's continuing to travel with these guys and find out what's going on.
Gary, BP says if you're not getting paid, let us know and we'll get that money out to you.
TUCHMAN: That's right. I think one thing, Ali, that BP should be doing, they're busy, but they need a better accounts payable department right now, because, I mean, they don't need increased bad public relations.
What they're saying is that all these guys and women will get paid. And people don't seem to doubt they will get paid, they're just saying, hey, you promised us within 15 days after we filed the invoices, after all that's happened, do it within 15 days.
VELSHI: Yes.
TUCHMAN: BP says the checks are in the mail. We've all heard that before. But most of these people tend to believe it, but they just wish it came earlier.
VELSHI: Yes. Yes. And look, it's a tough time for folks. It's a bad time in the economy to be waiting, and in many cases this cash flow is particularly important to the people who do the work that you're showing.
TUCHMAN: Well, particularly important because this business, the charter fishing business, this is a great business, cash on the spot.
VELSHI: Yes.
TUCHMAN: And these guys get, $1,000, $ $2,000, $3,000 a day depending on the size of their vessel. So they rely on that money coming in instantaneously.
So, they knew it would take up to 15 days, but they counted on the 15 days. And the fact that they're not getting that money and they're being told they will, but they're not exactly saying, OK, we expect it tomorrow, they're still not sure when it's going to come. They believe it's going to come, but it's hard because they haven't had any income flowing for weeks. And this is not the kind of job where you get rich.
VELSHI: Yes, that's exactly right. And this is just one of those little economic sort of ties to the bigger story when we're talking about how much economic damage has been done.
You're out there and you're seeing little stories that don't sort of -- it's not a matter of not getting paid, it's just cash flow is just so important to a lot of these folks. Great job on that, Gary. Thanks very much for covering that for us and for all the stories that you're bringing to us from the Gulf Coast. We appreciate that.
Gary Tuchman in the Gulf Coast.
All right. Reading, writing and arithmetic for everyone, it's a big step forward in getting all U.S. public schools on the same page when it comes to teaching standards. We're going to talk about that in "Chalk Talk" coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: OK. You're looking at Tony Hayward. He's the CEO of BP, in the command center in Houston, Texas. We understand that he is about to address the media.
Don't know what he's going to say, but he is about to address the media. That is the CEO of BP.
We've got a couple of things going on that we're looking at. We've got Tony Hayward in Houston. Then we've got a bunch of cameras under the sea. We've got a couple of images, at least, of what's going on.
We've seen that the cut has been made to the top of that riser. And we are now waiting for the next step. Now, this could be the best thing to happen since this spill began 45 days ago.
Let's listen to Tony Hayward first, and I'll fill you in on the rest of it a little later.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
TONY HAYWARD, CEO, BP: We have cleared the riser from the top of the wellhead, and the team is currently working to complete the cleanup operation before we put the cap on to the top of the well. And it's an important milestone, and in some senses, of course, it's just the beginning.
This has been an extraordinary endeavor on the part of many, many people from the industry, from BP, from government, to get to this point. And over the next two to three days, we will be endeavoring to optimize the system, to stabilize the flow.
It is not (AUDIO GAP) oil or gas onto the surface (AUDIO GAP) and take it away and process it. And as I said, this is simply the beginning.
Our task is to contain the oil, ultimately to eliminate the leaking well, and, most importantly, to clean up all of the oil, defend the shoreline, and restore the shoreline where oil does come ashore, such that we return it to its original state. BP will be here for a very long time. We recognize that this is just the beginning.
In addition to all of that, we're going to be here long after the media is gone, the Coast Guard is gone, and everyone else involved in the spill response is gone, because our commitment is to work with the communities and societies of the Gulf Coast to give them back their livelihoods and their way of life as fast as we can. And we will be here until that task is complete.
QUESTION: So why are you spending so much money, the millions of dollars, on another ad campaign when there are people saying that there needs to be a greater effort to get the oil before it reaches the shoreline and the beaches?
HAYWARD: We're not sparing any resources in terms of the amount of effort, people and equipment we have to prevent oil getting to the shore. We have 30,000 people now involved in this effort, 15,000 people from BP, contractors, and the Coast Guard, 15,000 volunteers, in addition to several thousand National Guard. There are 5,000 fishing vessels involved in this effort, hundreds of skimmers, 50 or 60 planes spotting the oil, such that we can attack it on the surface. So there are enormous resources being thrown at this, and we will continue to do that until every drop of oil has been recovered.
QUESTION: What do you think of the idea that BP should stop paying (INAUDIBLE) until the scale of the effort and the amount of money being spent (INAUDIBLE)?
HAYWARD: We will meet our obligations to all stakeholders. We'll meet our obligations to the Gulf Coast to restore the environment, to clean up the oil. We'll meet our obligations with respect to restoring confidence and trust in the American people. We'll meet our obligations to all stakeholders.
QUESTION: After the previous failures to contain the leak, how confident are you in the effort going on right now?
HAYWARD: Well, we made a very important step in being able to cut away the riser, so we now have a relatively clean wellhead on to which the cap can be placed. And as we said all along, none of this has ever been done, so there is always risk.
The risk is reduced, but there is still risk as to whether or not it will be fully successful. And the next 12 to 24 hours will give us an indication of how successful this attempt will be.
Following on from this endeavor is a second containment option. It is using the subsea system that we built out to do the top kill operation in reverse. So, rather than pumping mud into the well, we're going to flow oil and gas back through that system. That will be in place by the middle to end of next week, so at that point we should have two containment operations under way, with the intent of maximizing the containment and absolutely minimizing the amount of oil and gas that is leaking into the sea. And then beyond that, at the end of the month, we will introduce a more permanent containment production system which will be a fully sealed production system, which will be better able to deal with hurricanes, should they arrive.
I'll take one more question. Then I'm afraid I have to go.
QUESTION: Is there any update on the relief well situation?
HAYWARD: The relief wells continue on plan. They're targeted to be at the reservoir horizon in August.
Thank you.
VELSHI: OK. That's BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, at the mission center, the control center in Houston.
Josh is with me now to just explain exactly what's going on.
Now, again, we've said this a million times, but you know what? If you're not following it as closely as we are -- in fact, we've said it so many times, that moments ago, I said that this might be the best thing that's happened since the oil first started leaking 45 years ago. Not days, years. I meant days, but that's what it feels like. This has been going on for so long.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Maybe it feels that way, yes. I know, it's supposed to be gone by now, right?
VELSHI: Josh, let's just start from brass tacks here. This -- oh man.
LEVS: I know. This thing is really sensitive today.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Come on. Work! I'm so mad at this.
LEVS: You've got a great new toy.
VELSHI: All right.
LEVS: This is it right here. I've got it. This is it right here.
VELSHI: I'm not touching this thing.
LEVS: This is the blowout preventer right here.
VELSHI: How comes it doesn't do that when you touch it?
LEVS: You know, we have a relationship. I've been spending more time with --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: All right. This is the bottom of the ocean.
LEVS: Yes, this is the bottom of the ocean.
VELSHI: It's 5,000 feet down.
LEVS: Five thousand feet down.
VELSHI: And this thing sits on top of the bottom of the ocean?
LEVS: Yes, this is the blowout preventer right here. And, you know, there had been this riser pipe attached to it.
VELSHI: This pipe. Cut it off, hanging around the bottom. Now, this was on top, and it was going up to the Deepwater Horizon.
LEVS: It goes all the way up.
Now, the image that we're looking at here is actually what they wanted it to look like yesterday. They were going to be using this diamond wire cutter, trying to make a really smooth stub right here, then put the LMRP cap on top of it. What ended up happening was this diamond wire cutter got stuck, didn't work. So they ended up using something a lot rougher, shears, hydraulic shears, and they made a rougher cut. But they still have the exact same ideas, the exact same principle going on.
VELSHI: The lid is off of this and oil is flowing out. It was just going to be a very nice, smooth, cut. Now it's a more jagged cut.
LEVS: Right. They wanted to it be a smooth cut, and the cap would ideally come on and just fit right on.
VELSHI: I'm going to just try and show this cap.
LEVS: OK.
VELSHI: Just watch, because this is how I do it.
LEVS: Go for it.
Boys and their toys. All right.
VELSHI: This thing comes down --
LEVS: Yes.
VELSHI: -- on top of that.
LEVS: Yes. That's the idea.
Now, what ended up happening is, instead, you got a little rougher cut. And they're using a different cap.
And we can go to that live video now, because this will explain what you're seeing. All right?
So, they're using a different cap instead of the one they were going to use yesterday. They're using a cap --
VELSHI: OK. So now you're looking at the arm.
LEVS: Right.
VELSHI: And a saw.
LEVS: Right.
VELSHI: This is not the big diamond cutter saw. They is a saw that is trying to take that jagged cut and smooth it out a bit. Right?
LEVS: That's right. Well, smoothing it out. And also, it's doing some things around the exterior of that area.
What needs to happen in order for this new cap, whether you call it a top hat or an LMRP cap, either way, the idea is that they want it to fit as well as possible and they want it to seal as well as possible.
VELSHI: Yes. So that oil doesn't seep out the bottom. It goes right up.
LEVS: It won't be 100 percent. It's not even designed that way. But they want as much as possible for the oil that's in there to, instead of going out into the waters, to just keep going up to through this channel, all the way up to a ship that's on the surface, collecting as much oil as you can.
So, when we -- I've are watching all these feeds all afternoon. What we're seeing in all these different cameras is these underwater vehicles, these remote-operated vehicles, these ROVs, that are robots. And what they are doing is they're going to that blowout preventer, to that section where the oil is leaking, and they're doing very specific things.
BP does not provide play-by-plays. What they do is they'll have news conferences every several hours telling us what has happened so far. So, we're watching it carefully ourselves.
VELSHI: So that's the pipe. You can see the pipe at the bottom there.
LEVS: That's right.
VELSHI: You can see all sorts of debris. The shot changes constantly.
LEVS: Yes. And there's also 12 different cameras.
And I'll tell you, they have just made all this available on their Web site. And I'll tweet it out when I'm off the air. But if you go to BP.com, look on the right side of the page, you're going to see, you can watch all 12 video cameras yourself.
They have so many cameras down there. We're watching all of these, and what we keep seeing is various activities that, as we understand it, are designed to try to prepare the top of that blowout preventer so that when that top comes down, it will fit as well as possible and seal as well as possible.
VELSHI: And it's heavy, by the way. Part of what's going to hold this thing down is weight. It's got its own weight, it's all steel, but it has got 20,000 pounds of lead added to it.
So the idea is that once it's down there, they don't want to start messing with this thing. They want it to fit on top of this thing, ,and you want to hear a nice -- you know, like, you want to hear it as tight as you can over this thing. And then, hopefully, it sucks all that oil back up to a vessel on the surface.
LEVS: And the scale we're talking about is huge. That blowout preventer I was talking about is five stories tall. I mean, it's basically a giant building --
VELSHI: Right.
LEVS: -- that's a mile under water. And all of this is happening in ways that have never done before. None of these procedures have ever been done, ever.
And so what everyone's hoping is that this will get sealed to day. That's why we're standing by for potential drama. Today may possibly be the day they actually get something on there.
VELSHI: Yes. Let's hope. And that's why I said this could be the best day of the last 45 days. If this works, then at least we've got something.
OK, Josh. Thanks very much. You're monitoring all those different 12 camera feeds.
Stay with us. We'll be back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: CNN is your place to get all the latest news on the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
It's day 45. Today, BP making strides with their new capping operation.
They successfully cut the riser people, although it was a rough cut. They're in the process of lowering a new cap into place over that riser pipe.
Just minutes ago, BP's CEO said the company has reached an important milestone.
In Turkey, a hero's welcome for hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists who are returning home this morning. They were arrested by Israeli Defense Forces as part of that flotilla that was attempting to bring aid materials into Gaza on Monday. Nine people died in those raids. Turkey's president said the incident has forever changed his country's relationship with Israel.
We'll go to Istanbul in a moment for a report on the latest.
At the White House, President Obama welcomed Arizona Governor Jan Brewer for a meeting today. It's the first time they've spoken face- to-face since she signed Arizona's controversial immigration law.
Moments ago, Governor Brewer came out of the meeting saying it was a good conversation on immigration and that they agreed to disagree on some issues.
All right. We're going "Globe Trekking" to the Middle East, where emotions are at a fever pitch over Israel's deadly raid on that flotilla that was bound for Gaza. Live reports from Israel and Turkey, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (JOINED IN PROGRESS)
QUESTION: -- confirmed cases of the White House actively seeking to encourage Democratic candidates to bow out of primary challenges.
How can you pretend that this isn't politics as usual?
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, Ben, I think the leaders of parties have long had an interest in ensuring that supporters didn't run against each other in contested primaries. That's what was done in this case.
QUESTION: Do you think that the White House has been transparent about this? It seems like the details of this, if, in fact, it's legitimate, have rolled out later --
GIBBS: If, in fact, what is legitimate?
QUESTION: Has the White House been transparent about these offers? If, in fact, nothing was done wrong, why has it taken so long for all this to come out?
GIBBS: I think you all have received quite a bit of information over the past week on this, and I do believe we've been transparent.
QUESTION: You do?
GIBBS: I do.
QUESTION: So, is the president -- overall, does the president stand by these?
GIBBS: Stand by?
QUESTION: Stand by these offers to --
GIBBS: Again, the president has -- as the leader of the party, has an interest in ensuring that supporters don't run against each other in contested primaries, yes.
QUESTION: But that makes it sound like he did know about the (INAUDIBLE).
GIBBS: No, no. He's not aware of the individual circumstances.
I don't think it's -- we went through a pretty contested primary. They're not altogether fun things. Does the -- again, does the leader of the party have an interest in ensuring that primaries that tend to be costly aren't had so that you're ready for a general election? Of course.
Yes?
QUESTION: Can you talk about what the president hopes to accomplish on tomorrow's trip? And can you talk a little bit about what he's going to be doing down there and what does he accomplish that he didn't do on the last two trips?
GIBBS: Well, look, I think -- and we'll have some scheduling details for you all shortly. I think the president will likely see governors again. I think the president will speak with individuals and business leaders, likely, that have been affected directly by the economic consequences of the spill and continue to get from Admiral Allen a firsthand update on our progress, both in dealing with the well and in dealing with -- with the spread of pollution that has leaked from the well.
GIBBS: I think the president believed that last week's trip was tremendously productive. We had about a two-hour meeting with parish presidents from Louisiana affected by the spill, senators and a congressman from Louisiana, governors from many of the Gulf states, and I think -- along with the Coast Guard. And I think the president believed it was a productive atmosphere in ensuring that everybody's causes and concerns were heard, and ultimately met.
QUESTION: Can you talk about the criticism that the president isn't making that emotional connection with people over this spill?
GIBBS: You know, I -- this one is -- I said this last night: If jumping up and down and screaming were to fix a hole in the ocean, we'd have done that five or six weeks ago. We'd have done that the first night. I think we're going to be judged and the president will be judged on our response and our recovery efforts to what we all know now is the worst environmental disaster in our nation's history. But pounding on a podium isn't going to fix a hole in the ocean.
I think what the American people and the citizens of the Gulf are expecting are -- are results. And I think that's what the president will be measured by.
I'll leave emotional psychiatry to others.
QUESTION: I just had a quick question about the -- you mentioned the May jobs report. And I was wondering where things stand with that effort to get that jobs bill through. Some Democrats have worried about the budgetary implications of that, and tying it into the Gulf, are you concerned that his political capital is a little -- is a little weakened from this, in that he...
GIBBS: How so?
QUESTION: Just the fact that he's -- he's dealing with a lot of criticism over this right now, and that's taking a lot of time -- a lot of White House time. Maybe...
GIBBS: No, again, look...
QUESTION: Maybe it's possibly a distraction?
GIBBS: No. Look, again, I said this earlier this week. I think you -- no White House, at any time, has the luxury of picking the events that it deals with, both on a domestic and an international -- and on the international scene. That's -- that's part of the job.
But the American people don't elect somebody, I think, that they don't believe can walk and chew gum at the same time. Sometimes it feels like we walk and chew gum and juggle a unicycle all at the same time. I get that. But I think -- I think, if you look at the progress that we've made over the -- let's go back to the past six weeks. We've seen -- we've seen sanctions introduced in the U.N. Security Council that we believe will be voted on next week and approved by the U.N. Security council. We've passed financial reform through the Senate, and I think it's likely that that bill will be signed into law before the July 4th recess.
We've nominated a Supreme Court justice that I believe will be confirmed before the August recess. We've completed, fairly recently, a new START treaty that we believe will be ratified by the end of the year. We'll get a chance tomorrow to evaluate the progress that we're making through the jobs report on our economic recovery.
So we have had a very full agenda, not just in the past 44, 45 days, but for the past 16 months. But I -- there's a whole lot of people working on a whole lot of things in the White House.
GIBBS: And we're able to do more than several things at once.
Yes, sir?
QUESTION: The -- it's clear that the U.S. government knew about the flotilla before the Israeli army confronted it, the Israeli navy confronted it. What does the administration think the purpose of the flotilla was? Does the administration -- the Obama administration think it was on a humanitarian mission? Does it think it was trying to provoke Israel into a reaction? What was the opinion of the government when it was talking to Israel about...
(CROSSTALK)
GIBBS: I have not asked the NSC that directly, Jake. I can try to have NSC find out what -- again, there's a blockade, as you know, to ensure that -- that weapons are not brought in for -- for Hamas. At the same time, you've heard the president recently, and certainly the secretary of state, discuss what we believe is an unsustainable humanitarian presence in Gaza.
QUESTION: Has the president -- I assume the president knows that one of the dead was an American.
GIBBS: He does.
QUESTION: Did -- what was his reaction?
GIBBS: I'm told that upon being told this, obviously, he expressed his deep condolences, and we certainly express our deep condolences to -- to his family.
GIBBS: Obviously, this is extremely -- extremely horrible news for them.
Our ambassador has been in touch with -- with his father. And I would reiterate that we have with the U.N. Security Council condemned the acts that have led to these deaths.
QUESTION: The -- we talked about this before, and I understand that it was written the way it was, but by condemning the acts, that could condemn the people on the flotilla to a degree.
But since I know that's something that's not going to lead anywhere, let me just ask this: Does the fact that one of the victims was an American, born in Troy, New York, change at all the U.S. view of what happened or the U.S. position on what happened?
GIBBS: Well, not to somewhat go down the lane you were talking about, I don't know -- I would reiterate we've condemned the acts, and believe...
QUESTION: You can go down that lane, actually.
(CROSSTALK)
GIBBS: I understand.
Well, I'm -- I'll go down the other side of the street, but...
(CROSSTALK)
GIBBS: I know, but I -- look, we -- we have called for, and the U.N. Security Council presidential (ph) statement calls for a full and credible investigation, so that we have a -- we have all the facts about what happened. And that is -- that is tremendously important.
And we have -- I said here just a couple of days ago that that could include international participation in that investigation.
QUESTION: Doesn't it change it to a degree, the fact that one of the dead, one of those killed by the Israeli armed forces was an American? Doesn't that, by necessity, change the view of the U.S. government, of the American government, as to this...
GIBBS: Well, again, I'd -- we...
QUESTION: It's different. I mean, I don't mean to sound callous, but...
GIBBS: No, no, I understand.
QUESTION: ... if 10 Greeks are killed, or 10 Turks are killed, the U.S. government might condemn the act and think it's a horrible thing, but it's different than if an American is killed.
GIBBS: Which is why I started the answer to this question by expressing the deep condolences of the United States government and the president's condolences. QUESTION: Robert, there continue to be concerns about the deep water moratorium, drilling moratorium, and the impact that it could have over the next 12 to 18 months on jobs, existing jobs, oil platforms moving away and what that would mean to high-paying jobs.
What is the White House reaction to the potential loss of employment?
GIBBS: Well, this was something that the president discussed with his team prior to the release of the report that halted the 33 existing drilling actions, a situation we didn't take lightly, but I think it's important that -- I think it's important that we understand exactly why this accident happened and ensure that if there is something that was preventable, that we ensure that every one of these activities -- these drilling permits takes any of that into account.
GIBBS: Understand that what got -- what happened on -- in this instance on the Deepwater Horizon was after the drilling reached the reservoir of oil in the process of capping that well. So each of these 33 deep water permits are in some -- are at some depth toward reaching that well. So let's have an investigation to ensure that the capping of those exploratory wells with proper blowout preventers, fail-safe mechanisms that mean fail-safe, that -- that we have a full investigation and that's what the commission is going to look into -- a regulatory framework that can ensure safe drilling.
I think that's important. The president thought that was important. I think that the citizens of the Gulf think that's important. I will say this, you know, I think Governor Jindal sent that letter. Governor Jindal has been very critical, rightly so, of B.P. Four of those drilling permits were either solely or jointly operated by B.P. I don't know if he's got more confidence in their drilling procedures than he does in their response efforts, but the president certainly believed that that was something that needed to be looked into before those permits were continued.
QUESTION: So the White House acknowledges, then, that there will be a loss of jobs...
GIBBS: I don't think there's any doubt.
QUESTION: ... but this investigation has to go forward to prevent this from happening again.
GIBBS: Understand this, there are -- there are loss of jobs because of what's happened. Right? Your network and everybody else is interviewing fishermen that can't fish. Right? You're interviewing hotel owners whose hotels -- whose reservations have been cancelled.
So this is not a zero-sum game. And again, let's ensure that, as the president outlined and what he wants the commission to look at, is there a regulatory framework that makes drilling as fail-safe as B.P. and other companies say it is. That's what's important.
QUESTION: Does the White House believe that it was a mistake for the president not to meet with fishermen or other local business people during his last visit?
GIBBS: He met with fishermen on May 1st when we went down there.
QUESTION: What about on -- there's been some that criticized that he did not spend enough time to, you know, the quote-unquote, "real people" on the ground.
QUESTION: Was that a mistake not to do that?
GIBBS: I will say the mayor of Grand Isle told -- well, first of all, I think there was a pretty large representation of people in that room. The mayor of Grand Isle, who generally has, as he said, 10,000 people on his beach for Memorial Day weekend wasn't likely to have any, as he said.
He talked about putting his own credit card out to help fishermen who can't fish meet their expenses, similar stories that the president got several weeks earlier from fishermen in the Gulf region.
I -- the president is -- is well aware of the pain and suffering that this accident is causing, and that is why he's asked that we do everything we can. That's why, on -- very early on in this process, the Small Business Administration set up a process for many of those small-business owners to obtain very low-interest loans while economic damages are recovered from B.P.
I would say this, too. The -- the federal government will, at some point today, send what I would call a bill for $69 million of expenses incurred up to this point to B.P. to be reimbursed to the taxpayers as a part of the Oil Pollution Act, for expenditures in response, for DOD expenditures and moving assets to the region for a whole host of things that -- that B.P. will be paying the taxpayers for. QUESTION: $69 million?
GIBBS: $69 million.
QUESTION: And how much time do they have to pay that? Is that...
(CROSSTALK)
GIBBS: I will -- I don't -- I don't know what the time limit is on that.
QUESTION: OK. And then...
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
GIBBS: That is the first bill, yes.
(END OF COVERAGE)
VELSHI: OK. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs right there in the White House daily briefing.
We got a guy on the scene right here. Ed Henry is with me. Let's just take a quick break. Ed's going to give us his views on what we just heard and a whole bunch of other interesting things. Plus we've got a big surprised for you. Right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for the "Stakeout." How does that sound?
HENRY: Sounds like a good name.
VELSHI: I think we should call the segment "The Stakeout," because you're like attached to the President, when he's there, you're there.
HENRY: Stakeout -- A-K-E, not E-A-K. It's not about my (INAUDIBLE)
VELSHI: Right. It's not like a take-out steak. It's like you're staking out the President. Let's try that out for size. I'm just going to refer to Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent as the "stakeout."
All right. Your colleague, our colleague Dan Lothian, was in the White House and he was sort of pressing Robert Gibbs moments ago why the President is going back tomorrow, what wasn't achieved in his trip last week to the Gulf of Mexico.
Why is he going back?
HENRY: I think Dan hit it right on the head when he was pressing Robert Gibbs on, did he make a mistake last Friday? I was there. The President basically did a series of briefings; governors, federal officials. Didn't meet with the fishermen, didn't meet with a real person.
You can overplay it, you can say, oh, real people, this, that. But the fact of the matter is those are the people who are hurting. And the President sort of walked through this rather quickly as, sort of, fine, you've got to coordinate things. We all understand that. Everyone's been beating on the President. He's got to make sure everybody's got the ducks in a row.
But the fishermen who's lost his livelihood?
VELSHI: Let's take this a little further. I've been hearing it -- I heard it today, I heard it a few days ago -- this constant refrain of whether or not the President needs to be angrier or more frustrated. I'm not sure where I fall on this. I mean, do I care that the President's not banging on desks?
HENRY: Tight. There's two parts of it. One, should he be banging on desks, expressing outrage? The White House's position is, look, this is a cerebral president, who wants to get the job done, who wants t plug the damn leak.
VELSHI: As Gibbs said, if it would have helped to be banging on desks, he would have done that the first time. HENRY: Right. And that might not help matters. But, you know, it would help politically and that's sort of the rub there. Because if it at least looked like the President was pretty darn mad about this, maybe that would help a little.
They're saying, look, we're not caring about this short term political, we want to fix the thing, right. But I think also it's not just anger, it's sort of the outrage and whatnot and the emotive factor when you talk about it, kind of the Bill Clinton, "I feel your pain," that gets back to the fishermen. That's where the President -- he connected so well in the campaign, obviously.
VELSHI: Right.
HENRY: But in some of these key moments as President, he doesn't seem to be getting that emotional aspect of it. It's like, look, I checked the box, I met with Governor Jindal, I did this, I met with the Parish president. What about the guy who's lost his livelihood? And that's something he'd probably do a better job. I would anticipate he does tomorrow.
I just got off the phone with a senior White House aide who is saying, you know, pushing back on the notion that they're losing the PR battle, saying, look, people are still -- this aide was saying -- blaming BP, not blaming us.
I'm not so sure about that. We'll see.
VELSHI: Well, Governor Jindal's gotten into that game a little bit. There was a little bit of back-and-forth. We're going to talk about that when we come back. We're going to take a quick break. Then, when we come back, more of the "Stakeout" with Ed Henry.
HENRY: Sounds really dire.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for more of the "Stakeout" with Ed Henry.
We're just trying out a new name for you, by the way, because Ed's here and we thought we'd play around it. If you like the idea of "stakeout" e-mail me or Tweet me.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: OK. We were just talking about how much outrage the President should have and this constant theme. President Obama has just finished an interview with Larry King, CNN's Larry King. And he has said -- I don't think the President and Larry King knew that we were having this conversation. The President said to Larry King, this is a quote, that he is furious at the entire situation in the Gulf of Mexico, because, quote, "Somebody didn't think through the consequences of their actions," end quote. Obama also said that he has not seen enough of a rapid response from BP.
HENRY: It falls right in with what this White House aide was just telling me, not surprisingly they'd be on the same page. But basically, this White House aide to fill it out was telling me, look, look at the response on the beaches and on the ground, the White House believes -- and there's been some criticism at the state level -- but they believe that response has been good. That it's the leak, which they believe is BP's responsibility.
All well and good if you make that distinction. I'm not certain. I don't know the answer yet. But I'm not certain that the American people are going to ultimately make that distinction that this is all BP's fault. Maybe they will and the President politically will be OK on that. I think, bottom line though is, everybody wants to put aside politics for a second here and get this thing done.
The other thing I wanted to say, I went down to the Turner store, because I said, do you have something with Ali Velshi on it? They didn't really have anything. But they said, we have his book. And I want to get it signed. So give me my money back.
VELSHI: Oh, I'm totally going to sign it. It is the inaugural day -- what's the date is it today?
HENRY: The 3rd of June. And it's my dad's birthday.
(CROSSTALK)
HENRY: If you sign it, it will be a great birthday present.
I was looking under the desk, Ali, when I surprised you and came to Atlanta to do our little segment here, I brought you a necktie.
VELSHI: You did.
HENRY: And you were in D.C. and I brought you some gifts.
(CROSSTALK)
HENRY: So, are there drawers here or something that I can -- I was looking --
VELSHI: Here's a newly minted autographed copy of my book.
HENRY: But I paid for that.
VELSHI: Available on Amazon and gift stores everywhere, including the Turner Store. Specially minted. I want you to present that to your Dad for his birthday.
(CROSSTALK)
HENRY: Baseball last night. Pretty interesting right?
VELSHI: That Tigers game. The Tigers and the Cleveland Indians, you know, just last weekend we had another perfect game in baseball.
HENRY: Two in one year, which is rare. VELSHI: Two in one year. They're very rare. And then last night we almost had a perfect game in baseball.
HENRY: Until -- you got the clip?
VELSHI: Let's see if we can show what happened last night --
(VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: He's out. No, he's safe.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: He was out. Everybody thought he was out, except one very important person.
HENRY: the umpire.
VELSHI: The umpire didn't think he was out.
So, the umpire wrecks the perfect game. We don't do much in the way of instant replays in baseball. I'm not quite sure why everybody's against this whole idea. The bottom line is ultimately the umpire has come out and said --
HENRY: I blew it. He sensed the mistake and he apologized.
VELSHI: Which is fine. Making a mistake in baseball is one thing. Blowing a perfect game for a pitcher.
HENRY: So now Bud Selig just put out a statement -- Major League Baseball Commissioner -- a couple moments ago saying, we're reviewing this, reviewing whether instant --
VELSHI: Right. Which is very unusual, to have the review plays like that.
HENRY: But in this day and age, I know they care about tradition of the game, they don't want to change it but you got to get it right.
VELSHI: It's 2010. Honestly, we've got the technology.
HENRY: Here's the other thing that kills you is that before that play, there was a center fielder for the Tigers who preserved the perfect game with an over-the-shoulder catch, it's sort of like Willie Mays, 1954. He nearly breaks his back to make this catch, right, and then the umpire blows it all. I mean, this is unbelievable.
VELSHI: So Bud Selig -- hey, I got to cough, read that.
HENRY: Bottom line is he says, I congratulate Galarraga, the pitcher, et cetera, but says we're going to be reviewing whether or not there should be instant replay used the umpire's actions, et cetera.
It still seems like it's going to be a long shot that they're going to overturn it because they don't usually do it. But this was a big one. A big one.
VELSHI: Good to see you, my friend.
HENRY: Nice seeing you.
VELSHI: On the inaugural day of --
HENRY: Thanks for this present.
VELSHI: The "Stakeout" with Ed Henry.
I'm going to talk about the oil disaster solutions in my "XYZ" after the break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Now time for my "XYZ." In case you haven't heard, we're battling the worst environmental disaster in the history of this country. Every day for the past 45 days, millions of gallons of crude oil are blasting out into the Gulf of Mexico. Oil is washing up on shore. Wildlife is devastated. People are getting sick. We've got to get the oil leak capped, hopefully today.
BP wants to get it fixed, but BP isn't getting it done. Plan A didn't work; B, C, D, E, they all didn't work. BP's got teams of experts, researchers, scientists working night and day to get it capped. No doubt. They're losing millions of dollars every day that the disaster isn't fixed.
So how about this. Let's address some of the ideas from the masses. On this show we focus on big solutions to big problems. Every day people are posting ideas on how to cap this oil leak on my Facebook page, ideas that sound that they could really work. We've checked a lot of them out. We're going to be bringing them to you to make sure they're being heard around the country.
As people provide information, they want information. We want to know what's been tried of these other ideas. What's been ruled out, what's being considered. We've got to have transparency on this. We've got to have access to that information. These are our lands and our shorelines. This is our responsibility as a country to do everything we can do to fix this.
That's my "XYZ."
Time now for "RICK'S LIST." In for Rick, Drew Griffin.
