Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

McChrystal Meeting with Obama, Defense Secretary; Republican Nikki Haley's Victory Party; Dudley: BP's New Face of Crisis; USA vs. Algeria Today; Man Arrested for Rushing Wife to E.R.

Aired June 23, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Kyra Phillips.

The Truman/McArthur moment of our time could play out in the next couple of hours. Will he be fired or will he resign? General Stanley McChrystal's career on the line, thanks to a "Rolling Stone" article that's rocked the highest levels of power.

Fires burning wild out west. Hundreds of people wondering if they can go home today.

And it looks like BP's CEO is getting his life back. There's a new corporate face to the Gulf oil crisis.

We begin with breaking news that could change the course of the war in Afghanistan. All because of top brass with loose lips. The top U.S. commander there is reportedly ready to hand in his resignation over some big-mouth comments from his camp.

General Stanley McChrystal arriving at the Pentagon for a high- level meeting. But that's just a precursor to the main event. He has been summoned to the White House where he'll come face-to-face with his commander in chief, President Barack Obama.

And it's all because of this. A "Rolling Stone" profile. All sorts of insults right there in black and white. An adviser to McChrystal calls Vice President Joe Biden "bite me." An aide calls National Security adviser Jim Jones "a clown."

But wait. There's more. Those loose lips may now sink the general leading the fight in Afghanistan.

Retired General Honor and Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with more on this stunner of a story.

Barbara, is he at the Pentagon yet? And is he meeting with the sec-def?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, in fact, Kyra, just a short time ago we did see General McChrystal here in the hallways of the Pentagon deep in conversation with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

They are going to meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates this morning before everyone heads over to the White House for that meeting. By all accounts, still, the decision rest with President Obama.

Does he have the trust and confidence in General McChrystal to allow him to continue to command the war or is this a fatal mistake and will he be replaced? Nobody knows the answer.

PHILLIPS: Well, and General Honore, if McChrystal leaves, President Obama loses the man who's supposed to carry out -- and a very intense battle plan in Afghanistan.

GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. One of the authors of the plan. General McChrystal helped develop this strategy. Bought into it. Worked it through Washington to sell that plan that it would work. We would go from counterterrorism fight to a counterinsurgency fight.

His challenge continues to be how he takes the big conventional force that has come to him with years of experience and fighting in Iraq and get it turned to a counterinsurgency fight.

That's a significant challenge that the general is facing on any day in Iraq, in Afghanistan considering the complexity of that terrain and the government and the politics associated with it.

And the multiple bosses he had. I'm sure many given day with somebody said the bosses call it he was saying which one.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about this article for a minute. This freelance reporter for "Rolling Stone" magazine and how he may be responsible for changing the course of this war. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HASTINGS, CONTRIBUTOR, ROLLING STONE: What they were saying to that sort of agenda to it, is that -- it's very critical of many of the civilian policymakers. The General Jones -- trying to figure out, OK, am I being played here. Who this -- they're to push? You know, how am I -- you know, I'm trying to be as accurate and fair as possible.

Why are they saying these things in front of me? Is it just bad judgment? Or are they trying to get a message out to shake things up and the policies?

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: General, a lot of people not sure what to make of this reporter. You know, when you're embedded as a reporter, you're exposed to everything. I mean I was imbedded with you during Katrina.

You can make a choice of what to reveal and not to reveal. This reporter, obviously, decided to print off-the-cuff remarks, gossip, personal thoughts, that were happening in the moment.

These were not scathing comments about how the general was conducting his battle plan or purposely disobeying the president's orders.

So do you think this article should bring down McChrystal? Is it fair?

HONORE: This series of bad choices here. The bad choice to speak openly in front of a reporter as if he joined -- was a member of the team. He's got to remember, when you get a reporter in, I'm sure Stan understands that clearly now, this reporter is there to report what he hears. And he's on a list to win a Pulitzer Prize. And this guy might just win it breaking this story.

But you have to have a relationship with him. The bad mistake is to allow the staff to openly vent in almost barroom talk in front of this reporter who then takes it and puts it on the record.

You know, this team of rivals that I'm not quite sure if it's a real team, there are issues with the strategy. It's a tough war. And this general has been at war consistently for almost four years. Fighting some very, very special ops and missions which you personally go on. Not watching it from a computer screen in a battle center.

He is personally wedded to win in this war and this is a lot of conflict going on about this strategy and the timeline. And this open talk, this open mike - reveal it may bring this general down. No good choices here today.

PHILLIPS: So, Barbara, you've been imbedded a number of times, obviously. How do you decide what to say and what not to say when you're privy to off-the-cuff remarks?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, let me just -- before I get to that, I do want to get to tell you that our Pentagon producer Mike Mount is now telling me that the meeting between General McChrystal and Admiral Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has happened.

It happened at 8:30 this morning. We do not know the results of that. This could signal a possible acceleration in today's schedule of events. We'll keep on it and get back to you.

But let me turn back to the question of embedding. Look, no one is saying that -- in any position of authority that this is the news media's fault. Let's make it very clear to our viewers what happens when a reporter goes with a general or the military on the road anywhere.

You and I both know this, you know it very well. Everybody sits down and talks about the ground rules. How will we know when things are off the record? We don't report that. When it's reportable, when it's on the record. All of this is discussed and agreed to.

There is no suggestion by General McChrystal that the rules were violated. That this was somehow off-the-cuff locker room chat which we all hear on the road that was not meant to be reported.

I have to say even if it's off the record, it is extraordinary to hear military officers speak disparagingly of the president of the United States. I don't think personally I have ever heard the types of remarks that we heard about the president in this article -- voiced by anyone in the U.S. military.

They just don't do it. So it's not clear to me at all that there were any rules violated here. The question is one of judgment on the part of General McChrystal and judgment on the part of his staff.

PHILLIPS: General, final question. If we lose McChrystal as the man that's leading this war effort, what does it mean for Afghanistan? And how effective the war is going to be?

HONORE: Well, throughout our history, we've lost generals through combat, through accidents, you name it. One thing a general will always remember is old Fred's saying, the graveyard is full of indispensable generals. You can always be replaced.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's -- it's a tough way to go down if indeed that happens. That's for sure.

Barbara Starr, Russel Honore, thanks to both of you so much.

So if General McChrystal does step down or he's ousted, the White House has reportedly asked the Pentagon to put together a list of replacements. Here's some of the contenders right now for his job.

Marine General James Mattis, commander of U.S. Joint Forces in Norfolk, Virginia. He has command, combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. But just last week, he was passed over as commandant of the Marine Corps.

Then there's Marine Lieutenant General John Allen. He is the deputy CentCom commander under General David Petraeus. Allen commanded the Second Marine Expeditionary Brigade in Iraq.

Next, Army Lieutenant General David Rodriguez. He's McChrystal's number two. He was sent to Afghanistan with McChrystal to manage the war day to day. Rodriguez earlier served as a top military aide to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

There's Army General Martin Dempsey as well. Commander of Army Training and Doctoring command.

And last up may be Admiral James Stravirdis. He's the top NATO commander in Europe.

Well, keep it right here. We're going to be following that story all day long. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, we're getting reaction from the White House ahead of today's big face-to-face.

And in the next hour, we're diving deeper into how this will affect morale among U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Now let's head to the oil disaster in the Gulf. It's day 65 and BP's operation to stop the gusher is under new management. Tony Hayward out. BP's Bob Dudley in. Meantime the U.S. government wages its own battle to keep the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in place. The White House is vowing to appeal a federal judge's ruling overturning that moratorium.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says that the moratorium is, quote, "needed and within the federal government's authority." But both Republican Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Democratic U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu are opposed. They claim that it will harm the region's already devastated economy.

Meantime, BP says it collected 25,830 barrels of oil during a 24- hour period Tuesday. The largest one-day total to date.

Another word of caution about that oil in the Gulf. Apparently there's oil in the water you can't see. Researchers at the University of West Florida say that samples taken from waters near Pensacola and Perdido Key in recent weeks tested positive for dissolved oil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK SNYDER, MARINE ECOLOGIST, UNIV. OF WEST FLA.: These are molecules that are dissolved in the water and you cannot see them. We've used a lot of dispersants on this oil spill and some of the oil will just naturally dissolve into the water. So we don't know how much of that there is. We suspect there is a lot.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Researchers say that it's not known if the dissolved oil poses any danger to anybody. There are currently -- there are currently no swimming advisories actually in place in that area.

South Carolina Republicans have their first ever woman nominee for governor. But the real buzz at Nikki Haley's victory party may have been about Mark and Jenny Sanford.

Plus, hundreds of folks in Arizona forced to take cover from a massive wildfire could head back home today. We'll have the latest from Flagstaff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Voters kicking out another incumbent and making history. We have gotten the results of two big Republican runoffs in South Carolina.

First, challenger Trey Gowdy easily won against Congressman Bob Inglis. Inglis becomes the third House incumbent to lose a reelection in this primary season.

And state lawmaker, Tim Scott, grabbed the GOP nomination for another House seat. If Scott wins in November, he will become the first black Republican to be elected to Congress from South Carolina in a century. Another political first in the palmetto state, South Carolina Republicans have their first woman nominee for governor. Nikki Haley had to do more than break the gender barrier. She also had to bust through allegations of infidelity and an ethnic slur.

CNN's Jim Acosta joins us live from Columbia, South Carolina with the story. Hey, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra. Folks down here are asking whether or not this is the new South Carolina after Nikki Haley, a little-known state lawmaker about six months ago, went out and trounced the Republican establishment, the good old boy network in this state; to go and really just destroy her Republican challenger in this runoff last night for the Republican nomination for governor.

She won with 65 percent of the vote. And when you consider the fact that she had just 7 percent of the vote; she was in the single digits when all of this got started, it was quite an accomplishment.

And at her victory party last night, Haley, who has faced, as you said, a slew of allegations about her personal life, also personal attacks; she said that this race, because of her conservative principles, has national implications.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: This is great night. But this is great night for a lot of reasons. This is a great night for the thousands of people across this state who believed in this underdog campaign and the message of reform.

This is a great night for the Republican Party, who is getting behind the people that have said we want a conservative government, and we want a government that is accountable to the people. But this is a really great night because South Carolina just showed the rest of the country what we are made of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: That was sort of a veiled reference to everything that she had to go through in this nomination fight. She denied all of those allegations against her. They were never substantiated. And yet she was able to win big, and part of that was due to the endorsement. She had the endorsement of Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin; also, Mark Sanford, the current sitting governor of South Carolina, who had a sex scandal of his own that nearly brought him down. But he stuck through all of the controversy down here.

I asked him about whether or not folks in this state are just sick and tired of hearing about the personal lives of their politicians. Here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MARK SANFORD (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: What I would say is that ideas matter in the world of politics. And regardless of the attacks, regardless of the innuendos, regardless of different things that get in the way; what she continued to talk about were a set of ideas that very much resonated with people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Mark Sanford was at Nikki Haley's last night. He was not the only one, Kyra. Jenny Sanford, Mark Sanford's ex-wife, was also at the party last night. They did keep their distance most of the time.

PHILLIPS: You bring up an interesting point; most of the time. I have to say, love is a battlefield, isn't it, Jim Acosta?

ACOSTA: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Yes, that that was the moment that we are talking about, the kiss.

ACOSTA: That is right.

PHILLIPS: It was like, oh, hi, honey; great to see you -- kiss. Yes. Hit the road, jack.

ACOSTA: Yes, it was a little like -- yes. It was not well received. And I have to say, shortly after that kiss, Jenny Sanford did leave the event. So, this is a difficult, tense relationship.

The state of South Carolina still lists Jenny Sanford on its Website as the first lady of the state. Although, for all intensive purposes, she is not. This is exactly what folks down here in this state would like to see move on, and they are hoping that Nikki Haley can do that.

And I have to point out, Republicans are awfully confident about this upcoming general election season down here in South Carolina. Take a look at this. Republican activists at Nikki Haley's victory party last night were handing out these T-shirts.

Does this look familiar to you, Kyra, the Greene family reunion T-shirt?

PHILLIPS: Alvin Greene, yes.

ACOSTA: That is right, the T-shirt worn by Alvin Greene; on the back of the T-shirt, Alvin for Senate. Republicans feeling very confident about their prospects this fall. They are making light of this very little-known Democratic contender who is vying for Jim DeMint's senate seat here in South Carolina.

PHILLIPS: I will tell you, there is still a lot of mystery around that event. I have to tell you, Jim. Then again, everyone must --

ACOSTA: Never a dull moment down here.

PHILLIPS: Exactly.

ACOSTA: That is right.

PHILLIPS: South Carolina is full of that. Jim Acosta, thanks so much.

Straight ahead, hundreds of people in Arizona right now, forced to take cover from a massive wildfire, could head back home today. We will have the latest from Flagstaff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Still waiting any moment now for General Stanley McChrystal scheduled to arrive at the White House for his one-on-one with the President of the United States since the scathing "Rolling Stone" article - news of that article came out yesterday; eager to see how that conversation is going to go. And if, indeed, the general, the main general in Afghanistan, will keep his job.

Today may be homecoming day for hundreds of residents forced out by a wildfire raging near Flagstaff, Arizona. The three-day-old blaze has scorched 14,000 acres. Calmer winds, cooler temperatures yesterday may have helped some of those 800 firefighters that are battling that blaze right now.

But so far, we are told it is only 20 percent contained. Many residents have found temporary shelter at a middle school in Flagstaff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rural residents really like our lifestyle. We like being out. We like roughing it a little bit. We like our animals a lot. And we like our wide-open spaces; and love the forest. And the saddest thing about this fire is the forest, from this view, will never be the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer says that she will seek FEMA grants to help pay for the massive firefighting efforts.

I know you are going to talk about 51 reports of tornadoes overnight -- oh, my gosh - in the Midwest. But you want to start with fires first?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEROLOGIST: Why wait? Why don't we start with fires?

PHILLIPS: Because there was no containment; no word of containment, what was it, a day or two ago; and now 20 percent?

WOLF: Which is good progress; the problem is --

PHLLIPS: Stay with me for a minute. Just stay, Reynolds, don't go away. Just stay with me. WOLF: I am not going away.

PHILLIPS: Just to bring our viewers up to date here. This is what is going to be happening in the next couple of hours is, we have live cameras up around the White House at a number of different locations. And we are trying to figure out exactly where General Stanley McChrystal is going to enter in from. We are not quite sure.

But this is one of our stakeout positions. Why are we paying attention to this; because all of us are eager to know whether the main man in Afghanistan is going to be able to keep his job or not. We have been talking a lot about this "Rolling Stone" magazine that is out, with scathing remarks; loose lips, basically, from his various advisers and aides within his camp about the President of the United States, about other leaders within our government.

And we all want to know what is going to happen. He has already been to the Pentagon; he has met with the Secretary of Defense. He has met with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

So, as soon as he does arrive -- and it doesn't look like this is him, but we are monitoring this live picture for you. As soon as he does arrive, we will be able to give you first-hand word, and hopefully not long after that find out how that conversation went between the President and General Stanley McChrystal; and if, indeed, h is going to keep his job.

All right, Reynolds, thanks for rolling with me there. This is going to be kind of non-stop throughout the next couple of hours.

WOLF: We are the world's news leader. It happens, breaking news.

PHILLIPS: There you go. So we are on top of that. By the way, here is the article, "The Runaway General" that is coming out in "Rolling Stone."

WOLF: Yes.

PHILLIPS. I think it is set to release on Friday. Is that right, Carrie (ph)? It is coming out on Friday? We will work on confirming that.

But it was released early. We are hearing about it, pretty scathing.

But, while we are following that, you are also following the reports of tornadoes in the Midwest; and then, of course, Arizona and the wildfire that has been spreading.

WOLF: Absolutely. The conditions look a little bit better in some ways for the wildfires. However, the winds are going to pick up today. And, as you know, from southern California, that is not what we want; dry and windy, not a good thing.

The speed of winds, even stronger winds, across parts of the Midwest. Get this, as you mentioned, 51 reports of tornadoes; 11 states in two days. Six days in a row that we have had that kind of rough stuff.

We are going to walk over here to the weather wall. We are going to show you the latest action. As we do so, we are going to put this into motion, and here we go; right to the Great Lakes. Kind of hard to miss, everything lit up like a Christmas tree, driving west to east across the Great Lakes.

It has already been through parts of Milwaukee; southward to Chicago; we go along the Dan Ryan Expressway. The rain is coming down, and we can expect heavier activity in terms of showers; eventually in Detroit, I would say within the coming hours.

The reason why we are seeing this is pretty simple. We have plenty of heat, which makes for a very unstable atmosphere. That is only part of the story. The second part of the story that we are dealing with is that we have an area of low pressure and this frontal boundary that you can see set up right over parts of the Great Lakes.

And by late afternoon, I would say between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and then 6:00 p.m. in the early evening, and that is where things could come down like a big hammer. We could see strong storms all across parts of the Great Lakes; the Ohio Valley also. And we can rule out portions of the southern and central plains by late in the day.

One good thing that we have in our favor in terms of the heat, things will be a little bit cooler along parts of the Gulf Coast. We have had highs that have been in the upper 90s. But for New Orleans, it looks like 87 degrees the expected high. A few showers along the coast may also cool things down, but it is also going to increase the humidity level. So, you have a little bit of a tradeoff there.

105 in Phoenix; 75 in Los Angeles; 75 in Seattle; and 84 degrees in New York. For Washington, D.C., where things are certainly hot enough on a day like today, 94 degrees the expected high, high humidity sweeping right off the Potomac; steamy day, no question, in the nation's capital.

Kyra, that is the latest. Let's send it back over to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, appreciate it. Thanks so much, Reynolds.

WOLF: You bet.

PHILLIPS: All right, it looks like we won't have Tony Hayward to kick around anymore. BP has a new point man to handle the Gulf oil crisis. The CEO might be getting his life back after all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Wall Street paying close attention to the economy today. New housing report comes out at the top of the hour, and later today, the Federal Reserve decides on interest rates. Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange checking (ph) preview of all of the action. Hey, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. You know, Wall Street hasn't been able to pull off a win so far this week. So, we are seeing stocks at least in the Dow Industrials open to the positive. However, yesterday, we saw stocks jump out of the gate. Strong start yesterday but ending sharply lower. Now, those reports that you mentioned, Kyra, will come into play as far as moving the markets.

This afternoon, we're expecting the Federal Reserve to once again hold key interest rate near zero. Taking a look at the broader markets now, the Dow Industrials up about five, already losing team, the Nasdaq down about 30, it could be one of those crazy volatile days. Kyra, back to you. We'll keep an eye on it.

PHILLIPS: Sounds good. Alison, thanks.

It's half past the hour now, and General Stanley McChrystal still the top commander of the Afghan war, but the day is young. The general meets with the commander in chief in just about 15 minutes. We're looking at live pictures right now from the White House.

The potential Truman/MacArthur moment of our time maybe 15 minutes away. We'll find out if President Obama rejects or accepts McChrystal's offer to resign. In case you haven't heard by now, the general and his team were a bit of too candid, shall we say, with the "Rolling Stone" reporter who was embedded with them. The article portrayed them as being disrespectful of top civilians at the White House.

The general was at the Pentagon earlier today. He actually met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen. The big meeting in the oval office comes next, and then after that, assuming the general still has a job, they'll be in the situation room for a meeting with the national security team. That meeting will be interesting, no doubt. Some of those team members were among the dissed in the article, by the way.

Like the vice president and also National Security Adviser Jim Jones. He was called a clown. Also Richard Holbrooke, special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Karl Eikenberry, the Ambassador to Afghanistan

The White House has asked the Pentagon to make a list of possible replacements for McChrystal. Let's check in with CNN White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux. Suzanne, the White House has already asked for a list of replacements, and we've actually named handful of those individuals. Do you want to go ahead and lay out what you're hearing thus far?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, what's happening here at the White House is really everybody is looking to those entrances. All of our cameras are train on several entrances in the White House to see when General McChrystal is going to arrive. We have been told that this meeting is going to take place at 9:45 between the president and General McChrystal in the oval office. We have not seen the general yet. So, we're still awaiting for his arrival.

And what was interesting, Kyra, this morning, was the fact that a senior administration official told me that the White House has requested a list of potential replacements for McChrystal in case the president decides that, in fact, he's going to fire him because the president is very much prepared to do that. Of course, it's his decision. A lot is going to depend on what happens inside that room in the oval office. But today, make no mistake, Kyra, this is a game changer. This is decision time. The president's -- the rest of his schedule, very much packed with a series of meetings with Secretary Clinton, with Secretary Gates.

There's going to be a lot of follow up discussion. You had mentioned before about whether or not he keeps his job and whether or not he'll move on to that meeting in the situation room. It's our understanding that either way, he's going to be the general in that meeting in the situation room to answer to some of the charges, some of the criticism that he is leveled against his colleagues. So, you will have in that room seated around him the national security adviser, Jim Jones.

You'll have Secretary Gates, Secretary Clinton, and a host of others who are going to listen, whether or not he's going to offer his resignation, whether or not he doesn't have a job. He will be there in that room to answer those questions. But the first meeting, first and foremost, obviously, is the one with the president as expected to take place within moments -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Suzanne, we've heard Bob Gibbs when he was holding the White House presser when this article -- when he actually handed the article to the president, and he basically said the president was angry. And then we saw the president's response. Do you have any idea about the president's mood today as he gets ready to actually have a face-to-face with McChrystal?

MALVEAUX: What we do know is the primary thing that the president is thinking about now, we know that he's angry. We know that initially he was very upset with what had happened, but we know that his thinking now is whether or not General McChrystal has so damaged himself or those around him or his reputation, whether or not he can continue forward with credibility here and advancing the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. If that is damaged, if that's not possible, he cannot keep his job. That is the one determining factor here.

The other thing that we know, Kyra, is that the president yesterday, we saw him come out very measured, saying the very least, he was going listen to the general before he decides his fate. He made a point to tell and prepare the American people for his decision.

By saying that the focus is on fighting al Qaeda and keeping in mind that we have to make sure that the sacrifices of the men and women in Afghanistan are worth it in this mission. He's preparing the American people for his decision, whether or not McChrystal goes. That this is not just about one man, but this is about the mission. That is what the president is focused on today. PHILLIPS: Got you. We're following it. Let us know if you see the general entering the White House. Suzanne, we'll get right back to you. Appreciate it.

Want to update you now on the oil spill. Day 65. The fight of deepwater drilling moratorium. It's in high gear. The White House vowing to appeal the federal judge's ban on the oil drilling. Also, the Interior Secretary Salazar says that he'll issue a new moratorium and Republican Governor Jindal and Democratic Senator Landrieu are opposing the moratorium saying that it hurts the economy.

BP's CEO finally has his life back. Tony Hayward handed over the reigns of the Gulf oil crisis to an American guy, Bob Dudley, a yank. CNN's John Roberts talked -- OK. Stay with me, John. We'll talk about that in just a second, but we just got the live picture of General Stanley McChrystal. The lead man in Afghanistan arriving at the White House right now, getting ready for his face-to-face with the president of the United States. You know, he's still the top commander of the Afghan war, but as you know, the day is young. It's only 9:40 eastern time.

The general getting ready to meet with that commander in chief. As we've mentioned, potential Truman/MacArthur moment possibly of our time. As you see, General McChrystal already now through the gates at the White House. In case you're just tuning in and you don't know about the "Rolling Stone" article, bottom line, freelance reporter embedded with the general, off-the-cuff comments made about the president and his high level counterparts. Suzanne Malveaux there at the White House.

Suzanne, there they go. They're going to have their face-to- face. General Stanley McChrystal already met with the sec def and also the chairman of the joint chiefs. It'll be interesting to find out how that discussion went, but this is where it really comes down to the wire. We may find out today if he's still going to be the man in charge in Afghanistan.

MALVEAUX: And one of the things that we've noticed, Kyra, is obviously in talking with his White House aides and most notably Robert Gibbs yesterday, very, very critical of General McChrystal and big questions whether or not he's going to keep his job. We've heard things like his -- he's made a profound mistake. That the president wants to know in that face-to-face meeting what on earth was he thinking and allowing for those remarks to move forward. That all options are on the table here.

There are not a lot of people here at the White House who are betting that he's going to keep his job, but ultimately, it is up to his boss, the commander in chief, President Obama. The president yesterday, Kyra, seems to give himself a little bit of wiggle room here. Because from all the other comments, it was just President Obama who said, well, let me first listen to what he has to say. I will allow him to explain himself before myself and before those in the national secure team, before I make up my mind. The president wants to be -- cast himself as very deliberate in this process, that he is not prejudging. It's not surprising. It's kind of a typical Obama style, if you will. But that does not mean that he is not ready or willing to let General McChrystal go. We already know that he got a list in his hand of those potential replacements. The White House has asked from the Pentagon. So, he is equipped if he makes that decision to, in fact, let him go. We'll just have to see how this meeting plays out, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let us know as soon as you get word of what happens within that meeting. Suzanne Malveaux, we're standing by waiting for the latest. Appreciate it. Right up after the break, as we mentioned, BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, out. Looks like he's getting his life back. Bob Dudley is in. And our John Roberts had the first interview. We'll have that coming up in just 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: BP CEO finally has his life back. Tony Hayward handed over the reigns of the Gulf oil crisis to an American guy, Bob Dudley, a yank.

CNN's John Roberts actually talked with the new guy in charge just a little bit earlier this morning. What do you think, John?

He got a lot to take on.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: He certainly does. You know, of all the titles in the business world, one of the most coveted would be president and CEO of a company, but when you have been named the president and CEO of BP's Gulf Coast restoration organization, you know that that tile comes along with the huge challenge.

Bob Dudley is putting in place a permanent organization now to deal with that Gulf oil spill to better integrate with the Joint Incident Command and Admiral Thad Allen. The Joint Incident Commander, work with Ken Feinberg on getting payments out of that escrow account and put in place a response infrastructure that will look at this in terms of years as opposed to weeks or months.

Now, Bob Dudley comes to the company. He was the managing director, previously worked with AMOCO. He was also in charge of BP's Russian operations. And that now he takes over from Tony Hayward who as you said Kyra, goes back and gets his life back.

And we've seen over the past few weeks a real series of gaffes by senior people at BP: from Tony Hayward saying he wanted to get his life back and then being spotted out on his racing yacht over the weekend; Carl-Henric Svanberg, the Chairman of BP, saying the other day that he cares about the small people.

It's created a sort of an impression that BP is really tone-deaf to concerns that people on the Gulf Coast have about what's going on. I asked Dudley about that, whether he thought that was the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB DUDLEY, CEO, BP GULF COAST RESTORATION ORGANIZATION: Both of those men are -- one, deeply disturbed by what's happening in the Gulf and fully committed to making sure that BP meets all of its commitments not only now but for years to come.

They may have said the wrong things. The chairman's native language is not English and he meant small businesses and has been taken and run with. But they are fully committed to this as BP's response to what is a tremendous disaster.

And I think that response, quite frankly, is unusual. To put aside $20 billion to make sure those claims are paid for years to come and restore the Gulf. So this is the right thing to do for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: It has been a real perception Kyra, over the past 65 days that BP is looking after shareholders first and foremost. Bob Dudley says in his new position he will be looking after stakeholders.

PHILLIPS: All right, so as we pointed out, Mr. Dudley is an American. So do you think that BP thinks playing the gate card here is going to help its image?

ROBERTS: You know, it's -- it's not saying that that was the reason. But you can't help but believe that that would be a good reason to put Bob Dudley in charge. He also has not been beset with the foot-in-mouth disease that other executives at BP have been.

But he says -- that this is not about PR, this is about the response. But no question, BP has had some horrific public relations problems and perhaps putting Dudley in charge and having an American looking after this as opposed to a Brit or a Swede may be the way to go.

PHILLIPS: John Roberts. Thanks.

Critical day for the USA at the World Cup, they could advance to the second round. But it all depends on what they do today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Big game for the Americans at the World Cup in South Africa. They play Algeria in just a few minutes. And a win will mean that the U.S. can actually advance to the second round.

We head now to CNN's Richard Roth, he's been on the World Cup beat -- joining us from New York. I think he just likes going live from a bar at 9:49 in the morning. But that's a whole another story -- Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SOCCER GURU: Yes, it is. And I don't even drink. World Cup fever passion, of course, in this bar at this early in the morning.

Let's ask Chris. What are your hopes for the United States today? What are you worried about? CHRIS: I'm worried about Algeria that they're going to get England, it was a zero, zero tie. I like to see the U.S. win 2-0 today, to get two goals. That's what I'm looking for.

ROTH: All right, thank you. We're going to go elsewhere, Kyra, in this bar. You may be more familiar with this path than I am, I don't know, I don't mean anything by that as we fill time moving through people.

PHILLIPS: Yes, unlike you, I don't order Shirley Temples, Richard.

ROTH: Excuse me sir, this is like being at the U.N. in the Security Council.

Yes, Joseph, what are your -- what are your thoughts pregame here?

JOSEPH: I'm a little bit nervous. The U.S. has never ever gotten any points from the third game in the World Cup group stage. I think they got the size and the speed to beat Algeria but it's -- the U.S. has to get off to a really fast start.

ROTH: I mean if they tie with England in points and all of the deciders, are you ready to accept the fact that they're going to draw a lot, or move the ball out of a hut, to determine who advances?

JOSEPH: I think the chances of that happening because the U.S. has such a huge ball scoring advantage are very little. But I mean, those are the rules and we have to live by whatever the rules people make.

ROTH: Are you supposed at work today?

JOSEPH: I'm about to start working in a couple of days. I just graduated college.

ROTH: Oh, ok, well, hopefully you're above age. Very briefly Tyler, what are you worried about today?

TYLER: Getting off to a good start. The last few games, we've given up early goals. And hopefully we'll be able to get off to a better start this time.

ROTH: All right, thank you very much.

Kyra, that's at little bit of the mood here at a place called Stout very near Penn station, good access for train passengers who still want to come in. Some of these people have flooded here.

There are places all over Manhattan obviously and in the United States right now packed with people who normally would be somewhere else. United States playing one match, England playing another match at the same time; both games, matches affect each other.

PHILLIPS: We'll be watching, that's for sure. Richard you can make a little extra money as a bouncer there and check IDs.

ROTH: Yes. I was already asked if I was a bouncer once.

PHILLIPS: You'd scare me if I came through the front door. Richard Roth, we will be checking in throughout the afternoon. Of course, the game starting in just about nine minutes. Thanks so much.

So if you had a choice, stop for the red light or get your sick wife to the ER ASAP, which would you pick? One guy chose life over the law and got in some trouble. We've got more to tell you about this doozy.

But first, flashback, 1944; on this day, World War II raging on both fronts. D-Day happened just about two weeks prior. FDR signed the GI bill of rights authorizing a broad package of benefits for the World War II vets. One year later, the Pacific theater, the long bloody battle for Okinawa ended; more than 12,000 Americans and 110,000 Japanese killed.

Also this day 1969, Judy Garland died. She was just 47 years old, by the way. Songs like "You Do Something to Me" just part of the legend that lives on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So, what would you do if you were his shoes? A Chattanooga man, a veteran and paramedic thought his wife might be having a stroke. It was a risk of her chemotherapy. So he puts her in the car and rushes here to the hospital; doesn't feel like he can wait for an ambulance. He runs a couple of red lights along the way and he says he had his blinkers on and blew the horn to let other drivers know he was in a hurry.

Well, the cops bust him upset about the red light issue. Then get him for making a scene at the hospital; writes him up for charges like evading arrest, assault on a cop, disorderly conduct -- seven felonies in all. Driver goes to jail and bails out. The wife lives and the cop is now on paid administrative leave.

All right. We have an update to that story. You've been lighting up my blog about it. The Chattanooga PD has dropped all the charges and he wants to meet with the driver, Jesse Wright (ph) to talk about what happened. We're actually going to talk to him next hour. We want to get his side of the story.

The officer? Well, he's still on paid leave while his bosses investigate the situation.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)