Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Senator Robert Byrd Dies at 92; Elena Kagan Confirmation Hearing; Chicago Gun Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
Aired June 28, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: That is a live picture of the Supreme Court. Hard, really, to oversell how powerful are the decisions made inside that building, which is why it is so important that today, the Judiciary Committee has begun hearings on Elena Kagan, the president's choice to be the next sitting justice in that building.
We have been listening to these hearings, as well as the nominee, who has not spoken a word, as nominees don't, until all the members of the Judiciary Committee have their say. We want to give you sort of a brief review of some of the highlights that we've heard so far.
Jeff Sessions, Republican, is the ranking Republican leader on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He opened up with a very tough statement, basically outlining the Republicans' current objections to the nominee.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), RANKING MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: During her time as dean at Harvard, Ms. Kagan reversed Harvard's existing policy and kicked the military out of the recruiting office in violation of federal law. Her actions punished the military and demeaned our soldiers as they were courageously fighting for our country in two wars overseas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: One of the big objections that we have heard leading up to these confirmation hearings, John. There are others as well. Her position on gun rights will become quite an issue, and really her position as political operative. We've heard that a lot so far about -- what was the statement? She's more a political operative, she's more interested in politics than in the judicial system, that kind of thing.
So we're hearing basically the preview of where they're going.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: We are. And when the minority gets to its witnesses, you will have some former military people making that case.
But, Candy, I want to turn to a very emotional moment right now in the United States Capitol. Robert C. Byrd died this morning at the age of 92, the longest- serving senator, a legend in this town.
This is the Senate chaplain paying tribute to Robert C. Byrd.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
CHAPLAIN BARRY C. BLACK, U.S. SENATE CHAPLAIN: -- and publicly. And empowered him to oppose without bitterness, to compromise with wisdom, and to yield without being defeated.
I thank you that he was my friend.
Lord, we pray for his loved ones, our Senate family, and all who mourn his passing. May his many contributions to our nation not be forgotten by this and succeeding generations. May all of us who had the privilege of knowing our nation's longest-serving legislator emulate his passion, patience and perseverance. Give him a crown of righteousness and permit him to hear you say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
We pray in your merciful name. Amen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
KING: We're going to leave the Senate chamber there. You just saw the desk, the roses on the desk of Robert C. Byrd. He is the longest-serving member of the United States Senate, a legend in the building.
He knew the rules like no one else. He carried a copy of the Constitution in his pocket.
Candy, you covered him for many years. As the Senate begins the confirmation hearings into Elena Kagan today, they're all saying good- bye to a friend, a legendary lawmaker, not a perfect man, by any means. As a young man, made many mistakes. He was briefly a member of the KKK, also filibustered against the Civil Rights Act in 1964, said it was one of the darkest days of his career.
CROWLEY: He did.
We want to go back, I think, now to the Senate floor. There is a moment of silence going on now. And we expect that Senator Harry Reid, who, of course, is the highest ranking Democrat -- or the highest ranking senator at this point, Senate majority leader.
That is Senator Byrd's desk. I tell you, this was just -- you talk about a blast from the past. I took a trip around West Virginia with Robert Byrd at one point -- the Senate now in a moment of silence for him. Everything there is named after Robert Byrd -- the highways, the health clinics, the buildings, the FBI building.
I remember when I did an interview with him. We went back and looked at it today because he made a remark that I thought at the time, oh, my gosh, I have to remember this. And he was talking about his legacy, and obviously the Ku Klux Klan, and he expressed great regret that he was a member there and said, "I know when I die, that will be what people will talk about."
But he also said to me, "When I am dead and am opened, they will find West Virginia written on my heart," which is so Robert Byrd. He loved that state.
I mean, he was an orphan, his father gave him over to his aunt. I mean, just one of those incredible, incredible stories. But he knew how to wield power. He was on the Appropriations Committee.
And let me -- before we bring you all in with your memories, let's go to Senator Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- the senator from the state of Hawaii, to be president pro tempore of the Senate of the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without objection, the resolution is considered and agreed to.
Without objection, Senator Inouye will be escorted to the desk.
KING: The official business of the Senate goes on.
Robert C. Byrd was the president pro tem of the Senate, an honorary position, largely, as its longest-serving member. Now you see Daniel Inouye, senator of Hawaii, who will now take that job as the president pro tem of the Senate. You see him being sworn in now.
Again, it is largely an honorary position in the Senate. And Senator Inouye and Senator Byrd were throwbacks to a generation in which pork was a good thing. "Pork" meaning a senator comes to Washington to bring the bacon, to bring the money, to bring the projects back home. "Pork" and "earmarks" have become a dirty word in our politics in recent years.
These are two men, the late Senator Byrd, whom we mourn today, and Senator Inouye, taking his spot as president pro tem, who say that's why they sent me here, and this is my job, and I will bring that home.
CROWLEY: He built West Virginia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're the greatest generation as well. You know, people probably noticed that Daniel Inouye is missing his right arm, which he lost fighting for his country in World War II.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it was also a period of bipartisanship across those aisles.
KING: Let's listen to the majority leader here, Harry Reid. Robert Byrd once held this job.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: -- lost one of the most dedicated Americans ever to serve this country, one of the most devoted men to ever serve his state, one of the most distinguished senators ever to serve in the United States Senate.
Robert Byrd's mind was among the greatest the world's ever seen. As a boy, he was called upon when he was in elementary school to stand before the class and recite not paragraphs from the assignment of the night before, but pages of the night before. He did this with memory.
From his graduation as valedictorian of his high school class at the age of 16, to his death this morning at the Senate's president pro tempore at age 92, he mastered everything he touched with great thoughtfulness and skill.
Mr. President, this good man could drive from his home here in Washington to West Virginia and back. It takes eight hours. He could recite poetry for eight hours and never recite the same poem twice.
I was asked by Senator Byrd to travel to West Virginia to do an exchange with the British Parliament. And there were a number of us there, eight or nine senators, and a like number of British parliamentarians. And I remember that night so well.
We had music up there, music he liked the best, bluegrass music. And they played. It was a festive evening.
And then it came time for the program. The program, Senator Byrd said, "I'm going to say a few things." And he passed out little notebooks, had notebooks passed out to everyone there with a little pencil. He wanted to make sure that everything was just right, that people -- they had something to write, they had something to write on and write with.
And he proceeded, standing there without a note, to pronounce the reign of the British monarchs from the beginning to the end. He would give the dates that they served. Some of the more difficult spellings, he would spell the name. And he would -- as I indicated, if it was something that really he wanted to talk about that they had accomplished that he thought was noteworthy, he would tell us about that.
That took about an hour and a half to do that. The British parliamentarians were stunned. They had never heard anyone could do anything like that. An American talking about the reign of the British monarchs?
Those of us who were senators, nothing surprised us that he could do from memory.
I can remember, Mr. President, that when he decided he was no longer going to be the Democratic leader, that Senator Dole did an event for him in the Russell Building, and all senators were there, Democrat and Republican senators. And he told us a number of things he didn't do. He told us a number of things he did do. For example, he read the Encyclopedia Britannica from cover to cover twice. He was bored one break and didn't really have something he wanted to work on, so he studied the dictionary. He read that from cover to cover during one of our breaks.
I've told this story on an occasion or two, but to give the depth of this man's memory, I had been to Nevada, and he asked me when I came back, "What did you do?" I said, "Senator Byrd, I pulled a book out of my library on the way back. I didn't have anything to read. It was a paperback, and I read "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe."
And as those of us who can remember -- and he looked at me and held his head back a little bit, and his eyes rolled back, and he said, "Robinson Crusoe." And he proceeded to tell me -- I just read the book -- how long he had been on that island -- 28 years, three months, a week and two days, or whatever it was.
I was stunned. I didn't know. I went back and pulled the book out to see if he was right, and he was right.
He probably hadn't read that book in 35, 40 years. But he knew that.
What a mind. It was really stunning, the man's memory.
The head of the political science department, Andy Tuttle, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, taught a graduate course based on Senator Byrd's lectures on the Roman Empire. He gave 10 lectures here on the Senate floor on the Roman Empire, the fall of the Roman Empire.
He gave the lecture because he was concerned because of the line item veto. And he felt that the line item veto would be the beginning of the end of the United States Senate, and he proceeded to give 10 lectures on that on the Senate floor. Every one of them from memory, timed just perfect. They ended in one hour. That's how much time he had been given.
Now, Mr. President, the original Roman emperors served for one year. He could do it from memory. He knew who they were, how long they served, knew how to spell their names.
A truly, truly, unbelievably brilliant man. He's the only person to have earned his law degree while as a member of Congress.
What he accomplished is really very, very long, but his thirst for knowledge was simply without equal. Senator Byrd once observed that the longer he lived, the better he understood how precious the gift was of our time on Earth.
I quote Senator Byrd: "As you get older, you see time running out. It's irretrievable, it's irreversible. But one should never retire from learning and growth."
That was his quote.
KING: The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, leading the tribute there to a lost colleague, Robert C. Byrd. The veteran 50- year-plus senator, died this morning at the age of 92.
As the Senate pays tribute, flags across Washington flying at half staff today.
Among those who covered him over these many years is our senior congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, who, I believe about three and a half years ago, Dana sat down for what must be one of the final television interviews the senator has given.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It was back in 2006, John, and it was to mark the time where he became the longest serving Senator.
And boy, was he proud of that milestone. You can bet he was.
And at the time, he was taking me around his office, showing me some of the things he's most proud of. And just interestingly, what he had of all of the votes he took -- and we're talking between 17,000 and 18,000 votes that he cast here in the United States Congress -- what did he frame? He framed the vote he cast against going to the Iraq War.
And he told me that, "I'm ashamed the Senate on that occasion shifted its power to declare war to one man." And that gives you a sense of not only how he felt about war, but how he felt about the power and prerogative of the legislative branch.
You all were talking about the fact that he was known as the "King of Pork." And that's another label that he wore very proudly.
One of the watchdog groups noted that he sent $3 billion back to his small impoverished state of West Virginia. And I asked him in that interview how he felt about that label, the "King of Pork."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: You have gotten the label the "King of Pork." But you wear that as a badge of honor, don't you?
SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I do. I'm here to represent the people of West Virginia. And they want me to serve them. My state has been a landlocked state, a poverty-ridden state.
My memory is as good as it ever was. And it's stock full of recollections about the poor people of West Virginia, how they were laughed at. They were the laughing stock.
Yes, I'm a hillbilly. Proud of it. Proud of it. But I knew what the people of West Virginia sent me to Washington for. They sent me to Washington to represent them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And from his perspective, representing them was, first and foremost, sending federal dollars back home to, again, his impoverished state. And one other thing I want to mention just on the personal side of this man. He was married to his wife, Erma, for 69 years. And died just before we did that interview.
And he was weeping, openly weeping about his loss. He would go to her grave constantly. And many thought at that point he was just starting to get more frail. That from there on in, he would perhaps go downhill a little bit faster, because you hear about his love of the Senate, but he also had a real love story with his long-time wife.
KING: Our Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash.
And Candy Crowley, you've walked those halls many time. The congressional beat is so rare in Washington. If you cover the White House, you still have to talk to most people over the telephone. In the halls of Congress, you walk around.
I remember when I first came here. We lost Senator Kennedy last year. Now we've lost Senator Byrd.
There were some people, Senator Byrd among them, that no matter what you were doing, what you were covering, if you heard they were on the floor, you would just dart out to take a listen.
CROWLEY: Just go listen, because it was history. And everything I was listening to Senator Reid talking about -- and he would get on -- at the end of the day, when the senators go into their after- business hours, where they go on and talk about whatever they want to talk about, he could hold forth (ph) for so long on Roman history, on Greek history, on poets, on the Senate history. Wrote huge books like this.
And I think one of the things -- my last memory of him, the last time I saw Senate Byrd, to talk to him and see how he was, was the day they brought the hearse by the Capitol, passing the Capitol, carrying the body of Senator Ted Kennedy. And they were hours late.
And they had brought Senator Byrd out. He was in a wheelchair in his final months. And they brought him out.
And he was carrying an American flag, and he was going to be there for Senator Kennedy, to whom he was the closest of all those still there. And he was so late, that they took him back in.
But, boy, when the hearse finally came, he was out there to pay tribute. And as we all recall, broke down on the Senate floor when he first heard that Senator Kennedy had brain cancer.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, you talk about the institutional memory of (AUDIO GAP) introduced myself. And he said, "Young lady, you need to come to my office. You need to make an appointment."
And I got nervous, and I thought, all right. So I did it.
And I went up to his office, and he plunked down that volume that he had written on the history of the Senate and the processes that govern the Senate, and he inscribed it to me. And it said, "You are going to need this. Read it. Senator Robert C. Byrd."
(LAUGHTER)
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: There's a very interesting passage in Barack Obama's second book, "The Anatomy (sic) of Hope." Is that the one?
KING: "The Audacity of Hope."
TOOBIN: "Audacity of Hope." Right. Sorry.
(LAUGHTER)
TOOBIN: Anatomy? I read the book. I don't remember the title.
And he talks about how he sought out Senator Byrd early in his career in the Senate. And he used Byrd as an example of redemption, because he talked about how Byrd had been a member of the KKK, but he had turned into someone who was a very strong supporter of civil rights.
And I think one of the benefits of serving for as long as he did is he grew and he changed. So much in politics is, "You're flip- flopping." You know, people should flip-flop more. They should learn and grow.
ED ROLLINS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: He took -- he had been the secretary to Senator Russell, who was the whip. And he did all the chores for Senator Russell, who was the most prominent member of the Senate, didn't want to do them.
And Senator Mansfield, who was the majority leader, encouraged Kennedy to go run for the whip. Jumped over Byrd. Byrd was very, very irritated by this. He still had to do the work because Kennedy was out.
In the course of the next two years, he put the votes together and took Kennedy out. They did not always have the great relationship.
I can tell you, as an adversary -- he was the majority leader -- the minority leader in the Reagan years -- he could hold his votes better than anybody. You talk about the "no" votes, he had 47, and he always had 47. One vote, maybe, he'd have to give the world to.
And his goal was to basically move Washington, D.C., to West Virginia. And he darned near did.
In my first experience as a congressional relations guy in the Department of Transportation, we're putting Amtrak together, and he wanted to put every train going across this country or coming back across this country through West Virginia. And the only thing he let us free on was the northeast corridor. And he said, "Aren't you sure you can't swing that train somewhere down here?" He was as tough a man and as fair a man as I have ever dealt with in all my life.
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, I experienced a little bit of Senator Byrd's power, because as chief of staff to the congresswoman from the District of Columbia, our job was to try to keep federal buildings and federal employees here in the District of Columbia. And one of our earliest fights, of course, was with Robert Byrd, a fellow Democrat who had decided to move the FBI's fingerprint lab to Clarksburg, West Virginia. And he won.
I mean, he had the votes. He took the facility across the border, and we never could recover. And many other federal agencies followed suit.
The one thing I want to say, he not only joined the Ku Klux Klan as an early man, at the age of 24, but he was the local chapter president. He really believed in it.
He fought the Army desegregation. He filibustered civil rights. He opposed Thurgood Marshall as a member of the Supreme Court.
So, he had a long record of being against civil rights and many of the causes that he later championed. He did flip-flop. And he led and began to become a champion so much, that I believe his long-time rating at the NAACP was a B plus or an A minus.
He became a real champion for civil rights and quality. He didn't always support all civil rights issues. On gay marriage and some other issues, he was never 100 percent there, wasn't there at all in many ways. But he did become a champion on equal justice --
(CROSSTALK)
ROLLINS: He endorsed Barack Obama not before the West Virginia primary, but after Obama lost the West Virginia primary. And he thought it was so important to this country to elect Barack Obama, that he came and endorsed him afterwards.
KING: A very complicated, sometimes controversial, but a legendary figure here in Washington.
We will join the tributes to Senator Robert C. Byrd on this day.
We're going to take a quick break.
When we come back, our coverage of the Elena Kagan confirmation hearing continues.
We're also tracking Tropical Storm Alex making its way through the Gulf of Mexico. Will it impact the oil spill? The projections currently seem favorable, but we'll get the latest on Alex when we return as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CROWLEY: Welcome back.
That is the U.S. Capitol. It is hot as anything here in Washington, D.C. I can vouch for it, even though we're all sitting inside.
But right now, going on inside, actually, near the Capitol building, at the Senate Judiciary Committee, are the hearings for Elena Kagan.
She hasn't said a word yet. That's because the members of the Judiciary Committee get to talk first and sort of frame their arguments, both pro and con, about this nomination.
So much going on in Washington today.
Not only do we have those confirmation hearings, we have the Senate, indeed the House, ,and all of Washington mourning the death of Senator Robert Byrd, the longest-serving lawmaker in history, more than 40 years.
And then on the Supreme Court, this was the last day of Supreme Court rulings, which means it was the retirement of the man that Elena Kagan hopes to replace, Justice John Paul Stevens.
Jeffrey, you were there because not only was there a retirement, there was a huge, it seems to me, at least from my point of view, a huge ruling from the Supreme Court. Very often we get these things and they would go, oh, it was narrow, it was narrowly-based.
This seemed like a very big gun ruling.
TOOBIN: You know, today seemed a perfect day to illustrate the paradoxes of the Supreme Court, because at one level, it's a very small institution. There are very few people who work there. And the court said good-bye to two of its favorite people.
One was Marty Ginsburg, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's husband, who died yesterday. And you could see Justice Scalia, a close friend of the Ginsburg family, crying as Chief Justice Roberts paid tribute to Marty Ginsburg.
Then, at the end of the day, the Court said farewell to John Paul Stevens. And in a wonderful note signed by all the justices, including the two retired justices, David Souter and Sandra Day O'Connor, Chief Justice Roberts pointed out that John Paul Stevens had served for one-sixth of the history of the Supreme Court, which is what 35 years is.
And in between those two, you had one of the biggest decisions in many years. Justice Alito, in the first big decision he's written in his five years on the Court, wrote that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms doesn't just bar the federal government from passing gun control laws, but state and local governments are now banned from passing gun control as well.
What that means in the real world? Does it mean that tomorrow you can go out and by a Stinger missile or a tank? I don't know because the Court doesn't spell it out. But there is no more gun control, at least in its traditional sense, in the United States as of 10:00 this morning.
CROWLEY: So, this came on the basis of a Chicago case, right?
TOOBIN: Correct.
CROWLEY: Where handguns were banned, essentially.
TOOBIN: Correct.
CROWLEY: So, tomorrow, nothing happens. This is something that the -- because didn't they also say, at least as far as I read this, that this doesn't necessarily mean there can't be restrictions?
TOOBIN: Right. I mean, as they often do, they sent the case back to the lower court to figure out the details. But if you read the opinion, clearly this law in Chicago is out the window. It has been overturned. And the question is, what is now permissible?
I happen to believe there is some way they're going to figure out to say you can't buy a Stinger missile and hang out by the airport. But there is not anything in the opinion that tells you exactly how such a law might be written.
KING: So then, Donna Brazile, how does this play out if gun rights groups now can go to any city, any state, and test any restrictions that are in place? The Court's standard is you can have reasonable restrictions, and I guess we'll have many more cases to determine what reasonable is.
BRAZILE: Well, I haven't read the opinion, but I'm sure that today, many people are worried that the gun lobby will use this ruling to strike down sensible gun laws across the country.
As you know, mayors and others have worked hard over the years to come up with commonsense reform measures to ensure that guns are not in the hands of criminals and others who shouldn't possess them. This will cause, I think, people to really worry how far the courts will go to just basically tear down all of these rules across the country.
VICTORIA TOENSING, FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ATTORNEY: As I understand the Chicago case, it was a complete ban. It was like Washington, D.C. I mean, in effect. I say almost because, in practice, it was a complete ban.
TOOBIN: It was. But if you have the right to a gun, you have the right to a gun. And that's the question that they're going to try to figure out.
TOENSING: Well, the Court has always said you could take reasonable measures.
BORGER: But that's what's going to come up in the hearings for her, for Elena Kagan. Because she's going to be questioned about the Second Amendment because conservatives have already suggested that she's hostile to gun owners. And this goes back to a memo she had written, or notes, actually, she had taken.
And it was in a product liability case during the Clinton administration. And the KKK and the NRA were listed as "bad guys." She was actually talking to someone on the phone at the time.
The question was, would they also be protected under this law? And so conservatives have said, you know what? She's not for gun owners.
ROLLINS: I will concede the KKK are bad guys. I'll say the NRA are good guys. And they're joyous in drinking lots of champagne, and they are prepared to challenge, I'm sure, right out of this box here, New York City, Washington, D.C., and any other city that has restrictions.
TOOBIN: You know, this is a tremendous victory for the conservative movement in this country. In 1980, when Ronald Reagan and Edwin Meese came to Washington, the idea that individuals had a right to bear arms under the Second Amendment was considered crazy, out there, nuts.
And Ed Meese in particular, an underrated figure in the history of American constitutional law, pushed this the argument that the second amendment gave individuals a right. And today, it's the law of the land in all 50 states and it shows how the constitution changes over time.
BORGER: And I predict that her answer is going to be a farce and vacuous --
(CROSSTALK)
TOOBIN: I didn't read the briefs -- I will -- I accept that's the court's ruling, that's the law of the land now. Oh, come on
KING: We'll continue this conversation. As you can see it's a fascinating, contentious issue, a big decision today. Perhaps to be back before a Kagan court-a court on which Kagan is a member. Let me to try to speak.
We'll continue our conversation and we'll continue to track the Kagan confirmation hearings when we concern. You see the nominees sitting patiently.
Soon she will get to give her opening statement to the Senate judiciary committee. We will be there live when that happens.
And on the other side of the break, we check in on the track of the first tropical storm of this hurricane season--Alex.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: We'll continue to watch the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings. We're also of course watching the 70-day anniversary, if you will, of the oil spill in the Gulf. It's also been 20 days into the hurricane season. Over the weekend, big concerns about a tropical storm Alex. Chad Myers, our severe weather expert here, looking at what's going to happen. Is it tracking towards the Gulf?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's tracking toward Brownsville. So the answer is, yes, but not the Gulf that we're so worried about. So, yes, the answer is yes. But here you go there's Cuba. Here's the Yucatan Peninsula. And that would be Cancun.
And yes it's now moving across the Yucatan Peninsula and back into very warm water. This is the bay of Campeche, part of the Gulf of Mexico way down here.
Can you get rid of all this? And kind of gives you a reset. Where are we going from here? If it did come across, went up over Belize, maybe you'll see cruise ships go to Belize you'll see that on an itinerary every once in a while. Across the Yucatan peninsula and now back into very warm water.
This storm will get to be a 100-mile-per-hour hurricane with gusts over 125 miles per hour and then forecast to turn to the left and then eventually back up to the right. So, Richard, yes. Will it affect it, yes, only because at 100 miles per hour it will still be a very large hurricane here in the Gulf of Mexico and the wind will be drug in from this way across the oil slick and moving all of that oil back out toward the northwest from these southeasterly winds coming from the southeast and that's a lot of oil even at 15 to 20 miles per hour.
That oil will move toward the shores of Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama.
LUI: When you look at this, is there any consider about surge coming from there?
MYERS: No
LUI: Not -- nothing whatsoever, only winds
MYERS: And there should not even be one day that they have to stop pumping this because of the waves. It is far away. There will be some roughness but that's it.
LUI: Good point made there. Because they would have to stop the pumping then they have to move the surfic (ph) equipment out of the way. Chad Myers, thank you very much the latest on tropical storm. . Alex, more details now in terms of what we're watching in the Gulf. That oil spill that's now 70 days old, let me give you some more numbers here, tar balls are now washing up on Mississippi beaches for the first time.
Pascagoula Mayor Robbie Maxwell has says that they've been planning for this moment for weeks. Clean-up crews were ready to attack and are already hitting the shore there. And we're hearing that vice president Biden will be in Louisiana and Florida tomorrow to assess the recovery effort.
OK. Let me give you some numbers now in terms of what we got in the latest there. As for the leak itself, it's estimated at 35,000 to 60,000 barrels gushing out each and every day. That's the number that really hasn't changed from that coalition that came together -- group of experts that have updated that estimate for us.
Over 70 days when you take a look at the math, that's up to between 2.275 million barrels to 3.9 million barrels. A lot of oil that has come out of that BOP . BP says 39,000 people are now out there working on the spill. That's up from before, as you remember, 22,000.
They've got 5,000 vessels as well that are out there on the surface trying to battle that clean-up effort. And 652,000 barrels have been skimmed off the surface so far to date. 275 controlled burns is what we understand right now. And that has taken care of 238,000 barrels of oil.
And 460,000 barrels have been saftened (ph)--rather siphoned off the leak down at that BOP. At the bottom as they use the Q4000 and the LMRP cap. But high waves from storm in the Gulf are delaying the plans to beef up the siphoning operation.
Though they do have one floating riser that will be able to work well during a hurricane situation. They also have flexible connections with that Q4000 that's also attached add the moment.
Now as for the cost BP says it has spent $300 million in just the last three days. We totaled that up for you. That's $2.6 billion so far at least. That's where we're at on 70 days since that initial leak.
A frightening moment in Kentucky today. During a speech by vice president Biden, more on that after a quick break
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: Our top stories right now, start with an update on the Gulf oil disaster. BP saying that crews are making progress on the long- term solution, hat's a pair of relief wells very key to solving this problem. Officials saying one of those wells is now just about as deep as the ruptured well but they still have to dig sideways about 900 feet before the relief well can go into operation that's going to take until August, and they may not hit it on the first go.
Senate confirmation hearings going on right now for supreme court nominee Elena Kagan and battle lines being drawn at the moment. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham questioning whether Kagan can keep from channeling a political agenda, when it comes to ruling on cases.
And then it was a frightening moment in Louisville Kentucky today -- during a speech by Vice President Biden .
All right so, the man who had introduced Biden, GE appliances and lighting President Jim Campbell, collapsed as Biden was talking. GE says Campbell fainted but immediately regained consciousness. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution. You could hear some of the reaction there in the audience.
From coal mining countries to the KKK to Capitol Hill, the story of Senator Robert Byrd's path, long and winding to say the least. We've got some highlights and some lowlights, too.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: As much a part of the Senate as the marble bust that line its chamber and its corridors, that line coming from President Obama's warm tribute to senator Robert Byrd. West Virginia democrat, that West Virginia democrat passing away earlier today at the age of 92.
He was elected to the Senate before Mr. Obama was even born. Now more on his long life and political legacy from CNN's Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) Reporter: Robert Carlisle Byrd was often called the dean of the Senate. Elected in 1958 The West Virginian was an eloquent speaker. Perhaps a better nickname for Byrd, would have been the bard of the Senate
SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: All freshly steeped in morning dews, so wrote the poet Robert Byrnes.
JOHNS: Colorful language aside, in the political arena, the source of Byrd's influence in the Capitol was his long tenure on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, his home state reaped generous benefits.
He came from modest roots:
BYRD: I lived in a house without electricity, no running water, no telephone. A little wooden outhouse. I started out in life without any rungs in the bottom of the ladder. I married a coal miner's daughter.
JOHNS: Byrd was born on Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr. on November 20th, 1917. He was raised in West Virginia's coal mining communities by his aunt and uncle Byrd and took their name.
His hard scrabble start may have been one of the reasons that Byrd made his mark as a hard-line conservative on national spending issues.
BYRD: We can't afford to give this administration or any other administration a blank check.
JOHNS: And a reformer on campaign financing.
BYRD: To rise above partisanship and really do something about our present sorry system of financing federal campaigns.
JOHNS: A student of history, Byrd dressed as a confederate officer in a cameo role in the film "Gods and Generals". But it was a real life role that caused him lifelong embarrassment. His membership decades ago, in the Ku Klux Klan
BYRD: That was an albatross around my neck I would always wear.
JOHNS: He later condemned the Klan. A two time majority leader in the Senate, Byrd serves 12 presidents, some he liked, some he didn't.
BYRD: Mission accomplished? The mission in Iraq as laid out by President Bush, and Vice President Cheney has failed. Even more disturbing, the disdain for international law and the military bombast of this cocky, reckless administration.
JOHNS: In 2001 for the third time in his life, Byrd was sworn in as president pro tem of the Senate. The honor briefly put him three heartbeats away from the presidency, behind the vice president and the speaker of the house.
While he thought about seeking the Democratic presidential nomination once, it was the Senate floor that served as his bully pulpit, referring to the hostage crisis in Iran in 1979 --
BYRD: I think we would be justified in waiting 444 days before we get too serious about fulfilling Iran's need for trade.
JOHNS: And America's modern-day dilemma in neighboring Iraq.
BYRD: Instead of keeping murderous Al Qaeda terrorists on the run, the invasion of Iraq has stoked the fires of terrorism against the United States and our allies. Najaf is smoldering, Fallujah is burning and there is no exit in sight.
JOHNS: He spent his life as a senatorial Don Quixote. Yet he was modest about his impact. So why did he stay so long?
BYRD: As Cato said, there's no greater honor than that of serving the commonwealth.
JOHNS: Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: We've got much more on senator Byrd's long and distinguished career at CNNpolitics.com. Meanwhile, West Virginia governor, Joe Manchin, also a democrat will appoint senator Byrd's successor.
The question here is, how long will that person serve? The remainder of Byrd's term that's more than two and a half years. Or just until a special election can be held it all hinges on when the Senate seat is deemed officially vacant. West Virginia law is a little vague on that and the details as well.
And that's got election experts arguing amongst themselves on that. All right. Not one, not two, not three but four Ivy League schools want her as a student. We'll talk to a young lady who's making her family and the rest of us very proud. She's our "Mission Possible" and she's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: We get to do this here on CNN. We get to introduce you to some very interesting people, inspirational individuals. Today, we have Fatima Hyacinthe, she's a Brooklyn girl, the daughter of Haitian immigrants and she'll be going to Harvard this fall after being accepted at four Ivy League schools. Not one but four.
The others were Yale, Brown and The University of Pennsylvania. She joins us live from New York. Fatima, you know I was reading about your background and I was just like, my word when I was your age, I was just trying to get into one school and you've gotten into four Ivy League schools. How did you do it?
FATIMA HYACINTHE, A "BETTER CHANCE" SCHOLAR: Honestly, I can only say that it was luck and perseverance and hard work. And I guess the bravery just to actually apply to those schools. A lot of support from my family and friends and teachers.
LUI: Let's just say you're talking to other 17-year-olds, what's the piece of advice you have for them on how to get this done?
HYACINTHE: I think that everybody should find something that they're passionate about and then make that thing theirs. Just do the best as what you can and just make sure that you're very interested in what you're doing.
LUI: OK, what are you passionate about then? What's that magic ingredient that you're talking about?
HYACINTHE: I love community service. I've worked with the philanthropy board at my school. I've worked with Hope Shines, which is an organization that runs a summer camp in Rwanda. I like also spreading awareness.. And through that I've worked with a lot of Haitian cultural organizations
LUI: All right so you're keeping busy. Also you're part of what's called "Better Chance" and let me just give some of our viewers some of the background about "Better Chance" . "Better Chance" is founded in 1963, it's a mission-its mission is to increase the number of well-educated young people of color who are capable of assuming positions of responsibility and leadership in American society.
And throughout the years, the "Better Chance" scholars have included African-Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans. How did "Better Chance" give you a better chance?
HYACINTHE: Sure. "Better Chance" -- when I first applied to independent schools in the seventh grade, "Better Chance" was the program that helped me go about that process. So that's how I ended up at Hewitt, which was my school, in New York. And through that, I was given so many opportunities that I wouldn't have gotten at another school and also I stayed in contact with " A Better Chance". I did different new scholar orientations. Well now that I'm graduating I'm in the "Better Chance" alum. So they were there for me throughout every year of my high school career, making sure that I had something to do and putting me in contact with other scholars.
LUI: And then you took off like a rocket is what happened there Fatima. How many hours did you study every day? Twenty, 22?
HYACINTHE: That's a hard question. It varies, depending on whether or not I have a test that I procrastinated for.
LUI: Be honest with me, how many hours? Is like three hours, are you a whiz or does it take you 30 minutes to kind of learn everything?
HYACINTHE: No, no, no. It's probably - depending probably maybe five hours, three to five.
LUI: And what's your secret? Do you study just by rote memory? What's some of the things that you do that people like myself might want to learn about?
HYACINTHE: I like to make connections to things that I see in the real world. So if I'm learning about -- if I'm writing an essay for an English class, I think about the character as a real person. Just because it's easier for me rather than memorizing random facts just to put them in context.
LUI: OK. So what are you doing to do when you grow up? You have got a lot of opportunity here.
HYACINTHE: That is a very difficult question. I'm interested in international relations. I'm also interested in becoming a psychiatrist. So maybe I'll work for the world health organization and kind of mesh the two.
LUI: OK, I was expecting to say president of the United States or something like that. Why aim low, my friend? Fatima Hyacinthe, thank you so much. You truly are inspirational, you are "Mission Possible" there in New York, wherever you go, and I hear you're going to go to Harvard, have a good time and enjoy yourself.
HYACINTHE: Thank you very much. Have a great day.
LUI: You too. Instant replay, yes or no? In case you missed it, I said instant replay, yes or no? My "XYZ" is up next for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: All right. Time now for the "XYZ "of it. Instant replay, what we armchair sports fans love to watch, debate we love to debate, and yes we love to hate sometimes. After all, it's TV. We like the details, we like pause, we like rewind and the ability to see exactly where a ball landed, a toe touched or a hand grabbed.
Blame it on Monday night football and John madden at least I do, we want our slow-mo our frame-by-frame completely with telestrator and other high tech gizmos, and the graphics too don't forget that.
Bring it on. It is our right, instant replay. So when it comes to watching World Cup play on TV over the weekend and the coming days ahead, maybe some of us are feeling a wee bit cheated. The U.S. made to it round 16 truly unexpected after an exciting come-from-behind surge on the pitch before losing their next match.
But beyond the vuvuzelas, there was another sound growing from the U.S. audience, the rumbling request for that beloved instant replay. Questionable calls brought this to light.
There was that off sides call in the U.S. game against Slovenia and two that could have helped the U.S. advance instead of coming home. Now purists will tell you such technology takes away from the game, it slows in down. Those in major league baseball are hearing the same call once again for mighty the instant replay too, after the missed call that cost Detroit Tigers' Armando Galarraga's perfect game .
But the U.S. audience is relatively new to watching soccer on major broadcast TV. The World Cup has been a part of this sporting planet for 80 years. And Team USA has shown it's going to be a contender sometime in the future. But instant replay? Not so sure about that. For now, Team USA has four years to become faster, stronger and who knows? By 2014, maybe they won't need instant replay.
That's my "XYZ". Time now for "RICK'S LIST."
