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CNN Larry King Live

BP To Set Aside $20 Billion for Oil Spill; Could Joran Van der Sloot Die in Prison? Jennifer Lopez's Crisis-Turned-Crusade

Aired June 16, 2010 - 21:00   ET

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

LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, President Obama and BP execs face-off at the White House. The oil company makes a $20 billion pledge.

Is that enough?

We're live from the disaster zone.

And then, accused killer, Joran van der Sloot -- is he ready to make a deal and reveal what he might know about Natalee Holloway?

Could it save him from a living hell -- possibly dying in a notorious Peruvian prison?

We've got shocking footage from inside.

Plus, Jennifer Lopez on her family crisis that led to a personal crusade.

Next on LARRY KING LIVE.

Good evening.

We begin with news from the Gulf.

Anderson Cooper, host of "A.C. 360," is in Port Jackson, Louisiana tonight.

Phillip -- Phillippe Cousteau -- joins us from New Orleans.

And Edward James Olmos, the actor and activist, just returned from a trip to the Gulf Coast, who shot a video called "The Short Film BP Doesn't Want You To See."

Here's what President Obama and BP executives discussed today.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And this $20 billion fund will not be controlled by either BP or by the government. It will be put in an escrow administered by an impartial, independent third party. So if you or your business has suffered an economic loss as a result of this spill, you'll be eligible to file a claim for part of this $20 billion. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Anderson Cooper, is this -- has the reaction been some optimism down there?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I don't know about optimism. I mean, certainly this is a good development. When you talk to people here, they overwhelmingly support this idea of having this escrow account. The devil is in the details, Larry, of course.

I mean, how soon will this be set up?

How will payments work?

How do people apply for it?

There's been a lot of criticism about the system that BP has in place currently. A lot of people are saying, look, they -- they put in claims weeks ago. They're not seeing their claims paid in a timely manner.

BP says they have upped the percentage of claims for big commercial businesses that they paid out. But the state is complaining about -- about the speed and the data that BP has on these smaller claims.

Hopefully, that will get sorted out with this new process. But how long it's going to take is anybody's guess.

KING: Phillippe Cousteau, what's your read on this?

PHILIPPE COUSTEAU, OCEANOGRAPHER & ENVIRONMENTALIST: Well, I've been hearing largely the same thing, both -- a little bit of optimism from the communities and the individuals down here in the Gulf. But I've also talked to a lot of lawyers and organizations like the Ocean Conservancy. And there is a concern that, you know, this is a fund that's been set up for legitimate claims, many of which will be filed and -- and paid in due course, we hope.

However, there is real need on the ground now, both for the communities that have been impacted and the people's lives, not just, you know, a few weeks from now, but the people that got laid off two weeks ago or earlier.

There's also real problems with the environment. Restoration and damage assessment needs to happen now. And the funds for that still aren't available.

KING: Folks, if you remember the telethon we did for Haiti a while back, well, we're going to do another telethon. A LARRY KING LIVE special this Monday night for two hours, from 8:00 until 10:00 Eastern, 5:00 until 6:00 Pacific -- or 5:00 until 7:00 Pacific. And the subject is to help now -- what these gentlemen have been talking about, we're going to go at length with and raise as much money as we can to help as many people as we can.

Joining with us here in LA, Edward James Olmos, the actor and activist. He's just back from the Gulf. He produced a short video.

Before we talk about that, what was your reaction to what you saw?

EDWARD JAMES OLMOS, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: Devastation. I wasn't quite prepared for the humanistic understanding. I thought they would be angry. I thought that there would be a tremendous amount of energy being poured out there for...

KING: What did you see?

OLMOS: I saw people that had given up hope.

KING: Given up?

OLMOS: The lack of hope. Hope is the one thing that keeps us alive. And that's why we need it. And they don't have hope over there. And I think Phillippe said it very well and so did Anderson -- we need to really understand this. This is a human issue now, as well as, you know, an ecological issue.

But can I just say that one thing is that we have an opportunity to help over there. I love what you're doing in those two hours. And I hope that you'll invite me to be here to help you raise funds. And...

KING: Come aboard.

OLMOS: And I -- I hope that everyone will give. But I hope that they'll spend time this year going to that region along all the Gulf -- all of it and continue to use that -- the hotels, the restaurants. Bring a lot of...

KING: Because they need it.

OLMOS: Let's make it the best year they've ever had.

KING: It's also a great place to go.

OLMOS: It's wonderful.

KING: Ed Olmos, by the way, shot some video. He calls it "The Short Film BP Doesn't Want To You See."

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once you all leave here, you all do whatever you all do with a documentary, three months or six months later.

When you all leave here, I need to get a job to save my house. My way of life is over. So I have to go to BP and beg them for a job. So six months, when this becomes public domain, what am I going to say to BP? Well, Rodney, you've been talking bad about us. You've been telling what people -- we don't want to hear. We don't need to you work for us anymore. Well, that's all fine and dandy, but somebody's got to say something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That whole film is on our Web site, CNN.com/larryking.

Are people afraid of BP, Anderson?

Are they?

COOPER: Well, you know, look, there's a lot of people who work for BP down here. And there's a lot of people who need work and want to work for BP as part of the cleanup operations. There's a lot of fishermen who can't find jobs anywhere else because they're fish, you know, can't go for shrimps anymore. They can't farm for oysters anymore. They need those jobs that BP is offering much.

And BP, you know, now they say, look, anybody can talk -- anybody who works for BP can talk. But that is -- is not the story that has been the case all along.

I mean for weeks with now, we've gone up -- and other reporters have gone up to BP, you know, contractors working on the beaches. And they say, look, we can't talk. We're -- you know, we sign a contract. BP told us not to talk.

BP says now they're free to talk. But, look, a lot of people are scared about speaking out, scared about just talking and getting their names out there because they -- they need work down the road.

KING: Phillippe, Edward said a lot of these people have given up.

Have you noticed that?

COUSTEAU: Well, I think there is a lot of anger and frustration here along the coast. I've been tracking a covering this story from the very beginning down in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama. And I'll be in Florida next week, where it's, unfortunately, headed. But most of what I've seen -- there is, as I said, anger and frustration. But there's still a lot of resiliency in these communities. People are -- are ready and willing to fight, but they do need help. And I think that's why these -- the telethon that we're doing next Monday is so important, Larry. People need help today. And they need to know that this country is behind them.

KING: Yes.

How do we let them know that, Edward, because the BP guy today said $20 billion and he's going to take care of everything?

OLMOS: Well, I mean...

(LAUGHTER)

KING: He's going to pay for it.

OLMOS: We...

KING: And there's bureaucracy.

OLMOS: Yes. You know, it's going to be very difficult.

KING: Do you have a lot of faith in BP?

OLMOS: I have faith that BP will do what's best for BP. I said that on the show with Anderson. I really don't think that they are doing the best for what's best for the humanity and the environment right now.

KING: What's the worst case scenario for the environment?

What is it?

We'll ask the people who are there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We want to remind you about our two hour special this Monday night, "Disaster in the Gulf: How You Can Help"

It begins at 8:00 Eastern. We've got a great lineup of celebrity guests who are going to help us raise money for our friends down South. We'd love to have your support, too, because they need your help now.

BP -- the BP chairman apologized today for what's going on.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL-HENRIC SVANBERG, CHAIRMAN, BP: I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the American people on behalf of all the employees in BP, many of whom are living on the Gulf Coast. And I do thank you for the patience that you have in this difficult time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We've been in this business a while -- Anderson.

Have you got any way to judge sincerity?

COOPER: You know, you have to judge based on -- on actions and also past statements. I mean, look, BP has made a number of statements about promising transparency. And I -- and I think that's the thing that most people down here just do not believe that they have followed through on.

Early on, Tony Hayward had said that he would be as transparent as possible. This is a company which clearly is not used to having the world watching what they are doing and clearly has not figured out what -- what transparency truly means.

I mean there's a number of things they have done which they could have easily made far more transparent. Their operations currently are not very transparent. There's a number of things we've never seen, very basic things.

So I think that's a lot of the frustration here. They have a remarkable story to tell. They are working extraordinarily hard. I don't think anybody here doubts that. They have people and engineers working around the clock. But I think the executives have not done a very good job of -- of letting people see the process and letting people see what is actually happening. And that's the only way we can know whether or not, you know, they -- they are doing everything they can.

KING: Phillippe, T. Boone Pickens, on this show -- he's been right along on this -- said this could well go into mid-September.

Do you buy that?

COUSTEAU: Well, I do. I think what people are overlooking is the fact that the relief well is not always successful on the first try. So it could go beyond September.

The other thing that's very scary and scaring a lot of the residents down here that lived through Katrina is that this is predicted to be one of the worst hurricane seasons in several years. A hurricane comes through and deposits further oil inland and on the larger wetlands and marshes, causing further human and environmental disaster, is -- is a very possibility. And people need help. The restoration needs to start happening now. And people in the communities that are suffering need help now, because, in the long run, paying money for legitimate claims won't be helpful. And it's a good step in the right direction. But it's not dealing with the challenges and the -- and the very real pain that's happening today.

KING: Edward, what do you hope to accomplish with this short documentary film?

OLMOS: Well, we're just allowing people to experience the human outlook on it. And I know that they wouldn't talk to any of the reporters. These people would never talk to reporters.

KING: Why not?

OLMOS: For the reason...

KING: Afraid of BP?

OLMOS: Yes, they're afraid of BP. Yes. They own the Gulf right now.

KING: But now you're going to show it to people? OLMOS: Yes. Well, that's the courage that Rodney and Mark and Gina and Joe and B.J. and all the people who actually, you know, gave themselves to this sacrificed. They sacrificed themselves so that people could understand the humanistic side of this. And that's why I say thank you to them, because they have actually put themselves out there on the firing line. And -- and especially Rodney. And he said it very clearly. And, of course, you know, Joe's Landing is a beautiful place to go visit. And I hope that they will all go there. And also to C & M Fuel Dock, where B.J. works.

And those are places that have to be populated. They have to -- people have to go there and do their -- rent the boats.

I -- I wanted to ask you one question.

Did you ever hear of the Ixtoc oil spill of 1979, June 3rd?

KING: (INAUDIBLE).

OLMOS: The same thing that happened here happened there. And there was...

KING: Where was it?

OLMOS: Right here in Mexico, in the Gulf of Mexico.

KING: Oh, really?

I didn't know the (INAUDIBLE).

OLMOS: Yes, in 1979. It was called the Ixtoc. And I've got to tell you, Larry, that was only 160 feet deep. And they ended up going down 11,000. Once they broke ground, they went down 11,000 feet more. But the -- the oil, when it -- when it came out and it blew up and same exact thing that happened here -- they -- it took them almost 10 months to -- and they had to do two tap -- they had to tap in with two wells on the sides.

And nobody even knows about it. And -- and that's really -- they -- everything that we tried to do here was already tried with (INAUDIBLE).

KING: What company was it?

OLMOS: It was Pemex.

And I've got to say one thing. There is a real danger in -- in everybody that's working down there. And it's already been proven that, like during the Exxon Valdez spill, hundreds of people who worked that spill died after working that spill. And we know that. They need respirators down there.

KING: Anderson, you've almost lived there, it seems, forever.

How do you explain the resiliency of those people? COOPER: I mean, look, this is a -- this is a region that has seen a lot of natural disasters. This, of course, is not a natural disaster and that bears repeating, you know, often. This is a manmade disaster.

But -- but this is a place that -- you know, these are -- these are tough people. And it sounds cliched to talk about resilience. You know, we -- we reporters often talk about it out in disaster zones. But -- but it really is true. You see that in, you know, in generations of people who have carved a living out of the marshes, who've carved a living off the land here. And that's going to continue. I mean, New Orleans is a remarkable place. It's a city of memory. It's a place where it doesn't erase the past, even how painful the past may be. They incorporate the past.

You know, it's like walking -- walking down the streets. It's -- you see the past alive in the present.

And I think this city -- New Orleans will continue. The Gulf Coast will continue. But lives here are hanging in the balance and a way of life is hanging in the balance. And, you know, there's no...

KING: Yes, I'll say.

COOPER: There's no clock on this. There's no telling of when this is going to end.

KING: And don't forget our big special, two hours -- all the participants you see here and many, many others are going to be with us on Monday night. Ryan Seacrest will be back, kind of co-hosting, as well.

Accused killer, Joran van der Sloot -- can he help had solve the Natalie Holloway mystery?

Some sensational developments in that case, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back.

The Joran van der Sloot arrest in Peru has generated all kinds of incredible news.

Here to talk about it is Jean Casarez, our correspondent from "In Session." That's our sister network, truTV.

She's reporting from Lima.

What's the latest now?

JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: Well, the latest, we -- it's official. Joran van der Sloot goes before a judge next Monday, as, for the first time, a defendant in a murder case. And what's going to be happening is that under Peruvian law, he has to make a formal statement to a judge. So it will be one-on-one, the judge and him.

Normally, Larry, it would be done right behind me at the Palace of Justice, this very beautiful building with all of the courts here in Lima. But in this case, it's so high profile with such high security concerns, the judge is going to go to Casito -- Castro, the high security prison where Joran van der Sloot is.

KING: Speaking of that prison, there's a report, Jean, that he fears for his life if he stays in Peru.

Is he under special security, by the way?

CASAREZ: He's under very special security. He's in a protective custody unit. There are 10 cells. Two of them are occupied -- one by him, one by an alleged Colombian hit man.

But it's amazing the freedoms he has, Larry. He's able to go to a living room area and watch television. There is a weight room in there where there's Coca-Cola bottles that they put sand in with broomsticks and you can do weight training exercise.

And the food he's getting, Larry, is the food that the officials at the prison eat, because they're so concerned that someone could try to poison his food. And so a lot of special concerns to protect him.

KING: Well, we're going to show you in a little while the -- what the prison like there.

What's the latest on his legal team and his family?

Who's visited him?

CASAREZ: Well, that's -- that's the question. You know, the attorney that has been representing him -- and we've spoken with him several times here in Lima. He has told us that he wants off the case, that he's had threats to his life, that he's hiding out in Lima. And so, at this point, he's still the attorney of record -- we confirmed that late tonight. But I don't think he wants on the case. I think we could see new counsel come forward.

But as of yet, no one.

KING: Jean, if he is going to plead guilty, why -- is he going to go on trial of any kind?

CASAREZ: That's interesting, Larry. If he pleads guilty, all right, and he's already confessed, allegedly, according to police -- if he pleads guilty, it will be a shorter proceeding, maybe six months. Yes, it will still go to trial, but the trial will be shorter because he has confessed.

But under Aruban laws -- American law, the confession has to be corroborated. You can confess all day, but if your story doesn't add up with the evidence, they won't accept that confession and you will have to go further than to trial.

KING: Now, if he wants to give information about Natalie Holloway in exchange for whatever, can Aruba take part in this?

CASAREZ: Well, yes. Now, Peruvian officials aren't commenting, but Aruba submitted an official press release today saying that the Peruvian government has told them that they will help facilitate -- that's the word used -- a meeting between Aruban prosecutors and police, for them to come here and they can go interrogate Joran van der Sloot. But Peruvian judge -- Peruvian officials, they're not saying a word about that.

KING: But in view of the murder, they're not going to extradite him to Aruba, are they?

CASAREZ: No. No. This is a Peruvian murder case. A 21-year- old University of Lima business student was terribly murdered in this community. Lima backs Stephany Flores. This prosecution will continue right here.

KING: Thanks.

Jean Casarez, a top reporter.

She's with "In Session," our sister network, truTV.

When can he come back, we're going to meet a man who knows firsthand the hell that awaits anyone sent to a Peruvian prison, because we're going to give you a rare look inside.

Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back.

Michael Griffith is an international criminal defense attorney.

He's joining us from New York.

He has been to the Lurigancho Prison in Peru, where he believes Joran van der Sloot -- ver der -- ver der Sloot -- (LAUGHTER) -- could end up.

It's been one of those days.

He's been in more than two dozen prisons in foreign countries and he says it's the worst he's ever seen.

He represented Billy Hayes -- remember, the famous midnight express case?

He said Lurigancho makes the Turkish prison Hayes lived in look like a resort. It's profiled in "National Geographic's" "World's Toughest Prisons," which airs on that channel next Wednesday night.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY NATGEOTV.COM) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lurigancho is one of South America's toughest prisons. Conditions are appalling. Built for 3,600, it now houses nearly 10,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Peru, officially, we assume that criminals had a second chance and they have to be rehabilitated. But, unfortunately, the reality, it's not normally like that, because we don't have enough phones, we don't have enough money and budget.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With mass overcrowding, Lurigancho's 21 cell blocks can easily explode into civil war. In 1986, in just one day, 124 prisoners died. With only 100 guards to police 10,000 violent criminals, the Peruvian prison service turns power over to the inmates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Michael Griffith, Peru is a civilized country.

How do they put up with that?

GRIFFITH: Well, they're one of the poorest countries in South America. And they don't give too much money for the prison system, Larry.

KING: Is that the only prison in Lima?

GRIFFITH: No. There's another prison called Miguel Castro Castro, where the prisoners brought a lawsuit against the -- in the international -- in the Interamerican Court, where Peru was found guilty, where 600 prisoners were abused, 135 women were humiliated and stripped and some of them were killed. Their bodies were never returned.

And to tell you how bad this prison was, they got a new warden there now willing to go. And the first day on the job, the warden was murdered.

KING: Is that definitely where Joran would go?

GRIFFTH: Joran is there right now, but I suspect that after he is sentenced, he is going to go to Lurigancho, and I've been to Lurigancho. And as you've said, I must be the prison maven. I've been in prisons in over two dozen countries. This is, by far, the worst. It's entering, Larry, the gates of hell. If you want me to give you a thumbnail -- they got 10,000 prisoners but 3,000 spaces. There dormitories (ph) housing 600 prisoners each on three floors. When I visited my client who was a cocaine pilot on a plane, they caught him, he was in a room 25 by 15 with 35 prisoners.

Seven had to sleep on the floor. The toilet was a hole in the floor. The sink of the stone was just a concrete slab with a hole. If you want to survive there, you have to have food brought in from the outside, so he is going to have to make friends with someone and pay for food to be brought in. If you want to try to eat the prison food, they got these giant vats, the size of hot tubs, where hoses come out of the ground where there's excrement and insects around the hoses. You cannot eat the prison food. When I went to visit my client, I went through a territory of what's called the Sendero Luminoso, the Shining Path guerillas, who tried to take over the country a number of years ago.

I had to hire two guards to take me through this territory. When I went back the next day, I certainly didn't want to go back again, because I got there a little late to get back to the main gate, and the guards said that the gates were closed for the night and that I had to stay in. So, I gave him a couple of cigarettes and I got out. But the following day, I asked to see my client in the visiting area and ten feet away from me, one prisoner stabbed another, plenty --

KING: Michael Griffth is with us. Hold on a second, Michael. Let's see some more of this Peruvian Prison from National Geographic's world's toughest prisons which he's been describing. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even inside a cell block, prisoner safety isn't guaranteed. All of the blocks are in competition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, each of us is like a pirate ship. They try to take care of their boat, you know what I mean?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each is run as a business, selling drugs and prostitution to make money. Three times a week, visitors are allowed. This is when many inmates get their money and drugs are smuggled into the jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Have they -- Michael, this is incomprehensible, incomprehensible, even for Joran Van Der Sloot and world (ph). Everything that he did is incomprehensible for a human, or an animal.

GRIFFTH: Larry, they got -- he is going to be put in the tourist section. They got 600 prisoners in the dormitory where there are 12 showers for 600 prisoners. The showers when I was there work once a week for 15 minutes. You can get drugs, guns, knives, anything you want in that prison. I can tell you a quick story. I know a Canadian --

KING: Quick.

GRIFFTH: A Canadian woman whose husband was killed the brother, and he was the head of a gang and he was sentenced to 25 years. After a year in prison, the guards brought him home to the wife's house one night. When he went inside, made love with his wife, and then left, and he was taken back to the prison. Money can get you anything there.

KING: Michael, thanks so much. We will calling you again. Michael Griffth of international criminal defense attorney.

The family of the woman Peruvian police say was murdered by Joran Van Der Sloot is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Joining us now from Lima is Enrique Flores. He's the brother of late Stephany Flores who was murdered in Peru last month. Joran Van Der Sloot is accused in that case. Carpolina Jorge is Stephany's sister-in-law, and as I said, they join us from Lima. Enrique, how have you been coping now, dealing with this tragedy?

ENRIQUE FLORES, BROTHER OF STEPHANY FLORES: Well, this is still hard for me and for all the family. The pain that we are feeling will never go away. We just hope that the process that they are taking here in Lima is be as quickly as it can. It's very, very hard to --

KING: Carolina, how well did you know your sister-in-law?

CAROLINA JORGE, STEPHANY FLORES' SISTER-IN-LAW: I know her since she was 9 years old, she was a little girl. And I know the family 12 years ago because we were girlfriend and boyfriend since that time. So, we were very close.

KING: What are your feelings, Enrique, toward Joran Van Der Sloot? What can you think about him?

FLORES: I really don't have a feeling for him or something. I just want justice to be made. I know that he -- my sister was very -- he hit her and she wasn't all her body, her face and everything was -- you can't even recognize her. So, it's hard. I just hope that justice is made here in Peru.

KING: Carolina, have you heard anything from the police about a motive? Does anyone know why the accused may have done this?

FLORES: The thing is he keeps telling so many lies and each time he is changing his version for us as a family. He just killed her. I mean, I know he roughed her. He took money from her. He took his car -- her car. So, to think that he has a motive -- I mean, he sounds like a serial killer. So, I don't have much to say about that. It's - he's just a killer. You don't have feelings. He has killed people.

KING: Carolina, do you worry that he might get special attention?

JORGE: I am not worried. I trust the justice in Peru. So, we are just waiting for the judgment, the judgment. We are praying for this case and that will for us and that will for Natalee's family, too.

KING: Yes, Enrique, do you think he might try to make some sort of deal, giving information about Natalee Holloway in return for some leniency in Peru?

FLORES: He is going to try to do everything that is in his head. I know that there are a lot of evidence that they are finding every day. I mean, they have to talk with the owners of the hotel, the people that work in the hotel. My sister was dead in there four days, four days. And there are a lot of things that they have to keep looking. My sister won like $10,000 in the casino the day before and she had it with her.

There's so many things that -- this process is going to take a long time. And we just hope -- I know that he tried to reach all the best lawyers in Peru and no one take his case. So, I know he is trying to do everything that is in his head. So, this is going to take a while. It's going to be a difficult case here in Peru.

KING: Enrique, have you heard from the Holloway family at all?

FLORES: Yes, I talk with her mother, Natalee's mother, Beth and also with Dave.

KING: What did they say?

FLORES: Well, they -- they keep looking, everything that's happened here in Peru. We hope some times he can say where Natalee's body. It is very hard that I think the pain they are feeling, it's very hard, because we have a pain that you can describe it, but we know -- we saw the body of our sister. They don't have the body of their daughter. So, it's --

JORGE: That's worse.

FLORES: That's worse. And she is -- yes, that's even worse.

KING: No closure.

FLORES: It's very difficult.

KING: Thank you both. We will keep in touch. Best of luck to you. Enrique Flores and Carolina Flores, the brother and sister-in- late of the late Stephany Flores.

Jennifer Lopez is here. She is going to tell us about her daughter's health scare and how it led to a much larger crusade. She and her sister, Linda, are next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Ahead on "360," faceoff at the White House today. BP executives meeting with the president, they agreed to put $20 billion into an escrow account to cover the claims of those affected by the spill. Sounds good on paper, but the devil (ph) is in the details. Is it a good deal for the American people? We are keeping them honest.

Also tonight, local officials upset their impromptu efforts to vacuum up the oil. They can put on hold by the coast guard. We'll have coast guard rationale and the response from those who are trying to do whatever they can to cleanup the oil. All that and the latest efforts to rescue wildlife at the top of the hour. Now, back to LARRY KING LIVE.

KING: We welcome the founders of the Maribel Foundation to LARRY KING LIVE, Jennifer Lopez, actress, singer, producer, entrepreneur, and if I have to tell you who she is, you have a major problem and her sister, Lynda Lopez, the Emmy-winning journalist and she's Jennifer's younger sister. They join us from the fame Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. Let's get right to it, Jennifer. What -- what is the Maribel Foundation?

JENNIFER LOPEZ, CO-FOUNDER, MARIBEL FOUNDATION: The Maribel Foundation is a foundation that Lynda and I have talked about forming for years, and when we both got pregnant, we decided it was something we wanted to really just do now. Obviously, when you become a mom, your perspective and your whole kind of view on life changes. And it did for us, and we always wanted to form a foundation that helped women with and children in education, in health care, and tonight, we're here, like you said, at Cipriani's, doing a big Samsung fund- raiser as part of helping our telemedicine program with Samsung.

KING: All right. Lynda, why Maribel?

LYNDA LOPEZ, CO-FOUNDER, MARIBEL FOUNDATION: We begin the foundation, the Maribel Foundation, because it has special meaning for us. Maribel is Mark's sister, was Mark's sister who passed away when she was 9 years old of a brain tumor and Mark was 8 when she was 9 years old, and when Jennifer and I were pregnant at the same time, she said we thought a lot about the kind of care that mothers want to be able to give their children, the kind of health care and the level and quality of care that you want to have available when it's your baby and we wanted that for every single mother everywhere in the world.

And Maribel was a real inspiration for us thinking that and thinking that we wanted to do more from there for children.

KING: Which every mother wants to do. So, Jennifer, what's the foundation's missions?

J. LOPEZ: The foundation's -- I mean, we have a lot of missions, but right now, what we are focused on with the children -- along with the children's hospital of Los Angeles is called the telemedicine program. And what that is, it has a very, very big dream, Larry, which is to bring the best, most advanced health care to every child in the world, on the planet. And through this -- through this technology, what it is, is it allows specialists from anywhere in the world, so long that they have this technology in the clinic setup, you can go in remote areas of the world that they have one of these machines.

They can talk to specialists anywhere in the world, and they can confer, and something is -- somebody's like I don't know what this is or what this child has, they can call the children's hospital and hook up through the telemedicine program and then they can read the charts and they can look at x-rays and they can examine the child and they can do so many things where they can actually help save a child who wouldn't normally have that type of health care. So, that's what the telemedicine program is.

And children's hospital of Los Angeles has been developing it and talking about it. And when we came to them with the Maribel Foundation, we said we -- because I've been involved with the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles for many years.

KING: I know.

J. LOPEZ: And helped them raise money and all this kind of stuff. We decided to do our own foundation, we went to them for advice like what could we do? What would really make a difference in this world of health care for children, for moms, for everybody? And they were like, well, there's this thing called the telemedicine program that we're really excited about and that we really need help with to get off the ground.

And so, that's what we've been doing, and we've been doing it, you know, one step at a time. One step at a time. It's a big idea and it's a lot to get the clinics out there. We're going to have to raise a lot of money and we're going to have to have great partners like Samsung help us.

KING: I want to ask about that.

J. LOPEZ: And as you know, Larry --

KING: This interview, by the way, was taped Tuesday afternoon, schedule to play Tuesday night, but because of the president's address, we're playing it on Wednesday night. So, this gala happened last night. And the Samsungs hope for children. Why of you -- that's four seasons of hope. Give me the background, Lynda, of you and Samsung getting together on this.

L. LOPEZ: You know, they actually found out about what we were doing and were excited to help. What we do, as Jennifer said, needs a very specific kind of technology and a very specific kind of equipment. We want doctors at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles to be able to have video conferencing and some kind of technological hookup to places like Puerto Rico where we're setting up the telemedicine program, hopefully, kind of other countries that we're going to move into. We need to get all of that equipment to any site that we need to set up so that children can have that care in that remote location.

So, they were as excited as we were about the possibilities for telemedicine and for the technology to sort of spread this kind of health care. You probably know that Children's Hospital of Los Angeles is one of the top in the country. They have the top pediatric oncologists and hematologists, some of the top pediatricians. So, that's the level of care that will be available now in Ponce, Puerto Rico or San Juan, Puerto Rico or if we move into Panama City or anywhere we go, those doctors will right dial up, they'll see charts. They'll see different cases of children that they can confer on and examine and diagnose and treat immediately.

J. LOPEZ: And, again, the idea is to bring that not just to one or two places but to every place and make this system a general practice which, of course, is a few years off. We're going to be working on it. We're getting there.

KING: Children's Hospital of Los Angeles is one of the sister hospitals of the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, which your husband, Jennifer, Marc Anthony, is a major supporter of. We hope to get you involved, too because we help a lot of people, a lot of kids with cardiac problems.

J. LOPEZ: Absolutely.

KING: We will be back with more moments with Jennifer Lopez and Lynda Lopez right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Jennifer Lopez and Lynda Lopez. Is your mom living, Jennifer?

J. LOPEZ: Yes. Yes.

KING: All right.

J. LOPEZ: She is very alive. Very full of life. Watching right now, in fact.

KING: What kind of, Lynda, mother was she growing up in relation to all you're doing for mothers now, how were you raised?

L. LOPEZ: You know what? My mom is a mom that's full of joy. She was always singing. She was always dancing. She was always keeping the happiness level up in our house. It was very energetic.

J. LOPEZ: She was the most fun, amazing person, you know, who taught us -- like I said, when I said alive, that's the first thing that comes to my mind. She's the most alive person I know. She's just amazingly inspiring in that way. She's always lived her life that way, and she taught us to live that way as well.

L. LOPEZ: She's an incredibly generous person, too, and it's from a very natural place. She never taught us to be generous. I can literally just think back to times where I saw her doing and giving to people, but she never made a big deal out of --

KING: Do you have a website, Jennifer, on the Maribel Foundation where people can get more information?

J. LOPEZ: Yes.

L. LOPEZ: We do.

J. LOPEZ: Go ahead.

L. LOPEZ: We do. It's MaribelFoundation.org. Maribel is spelled with one R and one L, if that helps.

KING: Speaking of motherhood, Jennifer, how are the twins?

J. LOPEZ: They're great. They're awesome. They're getting big. And talking a lot. And like I'd like to say, bossing me around, but I love it. KING: What kind of big sister was she, Lynda?

L. LOPEZ: Awesome. The kind of big sister who did you hair and make-up and then you gets mad if you borrowed her jeans. The good guy (ph), I got lucky.

KING: Jennifer, any true (INAUDIBLE) that you and Tom Cruise are going on "Dancing with the Stars" next year?

(LAUGHING)

KING: Not yet.

J. LOPEZ: I think we're both kind of busy to go on "Dancing with the Stars". He's done, I'm sure, 25 movies line up, and I'm planning a tour for next year, so I don't know. I don't know. That's a far away (INAUDIBLE).

KING: Lynda did you choose to write because your sister went the other route?

L. LOPEZ: No, I don't think so. I think it was just what I love. You know, growing up, our heads were in very different places. Jen loves to perform and sing and dance.

J. LOPEZ: And her head was always on the book.

L. LOPEZ: Pretty much. And I was never want who likes to perform or be in front of people too much. So, I think we just --

J. LOPEZ: Gravitated so --

L. LOPEZ: I'm very much my dad's personality where she's my mom's.

KING: Hey, guys. Good luck with the partnership with Samsung's hope for children. Much success with the Maribel Foundation. MaribelFoundation.org.

J. LOPEZ: Thank you.

KING: Thank you, both, very much.

J. LOPEZ: Thank you so much, Larry.

KING: Jennifer Lopez and Lynda Lopez. Bye, guys.

A sad note about a heart-breaking loss in the LARRY KING LIVE family. Brian Edward Kelly, son of one of our producer/editor, Sean Kelly (ph), died last week in a tragic accident. He was just 19 years old. Brian was a loyal son and a loving brother. He had a zest for life, special passion for music, paint ball, and making people smile. We mourn Brian's untimely passing and his unfulfilled promise.

Our deepest sympathies go out to his family, including his surviving brothers, Jamie, Evan, and Patrick and his mom, Ava. And our thoughts are with his many friends among them, Nick and Lauren. Brian Kelly will be much missed by everyone who had a chance to know him.

Time now for Anderson Cooper in "AC 360."