Return to Transcripts main page
Rick's List
BP CEO Speaks Out; Interview With Jean-Michel Cousteau; Burning and Looting: State of Emergency in Kingston, Jamaica; Engaged in Iranian Custody; From CIA to Senate Candidate
Aired May 24, 2010 - 15:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome back. You heard what Thad Allen had to say. He's the commandant of the Coast Guard.
Let's go now, if we possibly could, to Tony Hayward. This is that interview we did moments ago. He did it on the beach. This is exclusive tape of Tony Hayward on the beach. Let's take it now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TONY HAYWARD, PRESIDENT & CEO, BP: What I will be doing with my team immediately after this is understanding what more we can do to reinforce the defenses on the shoreline.
We have a lot of resources on location. We need to find a way of keeping the oil off the shore. We continue to fight this battle on three fronts -- to eliminate the leak in the subsea, to contain the oil on the surface, and to defend the shoreline.
As I said, it's clear that the defense of the shoreline, at this point, has not been successful. I feel devastated by that, absolutely gutted.
What I can tell you is that we are here for the long haul. We are going to clean every drop of oil off the shore. We will remediate environmental damage, and we will put the Gulf Coast right and back to normality as fast as we can.
There are a lot of people concerned about the longer term impacts of all of this. And today, we have announce add $500 million research program to begin immediately begin studying the impact of this so we can assess what needs to be done to remediate the environmental impact both along the shore and in the further offshore marine environments.
That work will be conducted by the best scientific minds we can bring together. It will be completely independent of BP, and it will help us establish the basis on which we remediate environmental impacts. And we will be here for as long as it takes to remediate any environmental impacts.
And I know reasons of enormous amounts of anger and frustration on the parts of local communities. I share that. This is something I never wanted to see. And we are going to do everything in our power to deal with it as fast as we can and return the societies and communities of the gulf coast to normal as quickly as we can. And we have put in place a comprehensive claims process to ensure that while people's livelihoods are impacted, they are kept whole economically.
QUESTION: The government is looking into a possible criminal investigation. Have you heard about that and what is your response?
HAYWARD: I think there will be all sorts of investigations following this, quite rightly. And we will deal with them as they come.
(INAUDIBLE)
We worked collaboratively with federal agencies through all this. The relationship on the ground is fantastic, and we continue to do everything we can.
Clearly, I am as devastated as you are by what I have seen here today. And we are going to do everything in our power to prevent more oil coming ashore, and we will clean ever last drop up and we will remediate all of the environmental damage.
(INAUDIBLE)
HAYWARD: There's been a lot of debate and speculation on the accident. I think it's right that we allow the investigations, of which there are many, to proceed, and allow the investigations to draw whatever is the right conclusion. And we are cooperating with the investigations.
I'm going to take two more questions, and then I need to go.
(INAUDIBLE)
HAYWARD: We are working through, in a very rigorous, scientific, and engineering way a series of options to eliminate the leak. They are being assessed from perspective of likelihood of success and the risk around them, so a risk-reward approach. And they are being prioritized.
So thus far, we executed two. One failed, the other has been partially successful in that we are not producing oil and gas to surface.
The third option is the top-kill. And we will be, in all likelihood, in a position to execute that in the middle of the week. It has never been done in 5,000 feet of water.
If it was on land, we would have a very high confidence of success. But, because it's in 5,000 feet of water, we need to be realistic about the issues around operating in a mile of water.
We rate the probability of success as somewhere between 60 percent and 70 percent.
QUESTION: But what do you say to the people of Louisiana? HAYWARD: Beyond that, there is a third and fourth and fifth option around both containment and elimination.
And, as I said, we are working through the options in a systematic, rigorous, engineering approach to ensure that we execute the best option with the greatest success, greatest likelihood of success, and lowest risk in a sequenced approach.
I will take one more --
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Can you tell how much oil is coming out?
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: What do you say to the residents of the area --
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: -- said that (OFF-MIKE)
(CROSSTALK)
HAYWARD: I'm trying --
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: -- BP (OFF-MIKE) And, secondly, Mr. Salazar has called this an (OFF-MIKE)
HAYWARD: We have used dispersants from the beginning that are on the EPA-approved list. Everything that we do with dispersants is with the explicit approval of the EPA, both in term of dispersant type and the quantity, volume applied over any 24-hour period. And that continues.
QUESTION: And as to the question of an existential crisis for BP (OFF-MIKE)
HAYWARD: I think this is clearly a major reputational issue for BP. There's no doubt about it. And we are doing everything in our power to respond in the right way. We are not limiting the resources that we are applying to this. We are trying to do the right thing. We are trying to do it the right way, and we are trying to communicate openly and transparently about everything that we have done.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Mr. Hayward, you have eight other --
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Mr. Hayward, you have eight other -- excuse me.
(CROSSTALK) QUESTION: You have eight other rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. What are you doing on those rigs to prevent this from happening again?
HAYWARD: The only rigs that we have drilling today are the two rigs that are drilling the relief wells. They have undergone a very, very thorough and extensive testing of the blowout preventer, over and above that which has been promulgated by the MNS -- MMS in the aftermath of this incident.
I'm going to go now. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your time.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: Sir, do you have to go through decontamination, like we did?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Boy, there you go.
And he is asked a lot of the questions that a lot of Americans want answered, specifically questions about what is going on with some of the other oil rigs off the coast. And are they safe? And are we sure that this won't possibly happen again?
You heard him say that they are, in fact, by Wednesday morning, going to go ahead and try this next operation. It's not going to be the ultimate operation. In fact, that one might come a little bit later, when they try and do the -- drill the relief well.
But, in the meantime, this is what we got. This is the news that's -- that's being made. We have also got Michel Cousteau, who is going to be joining us in just a little bit. He's going to make news as well by telling us that he believes that there's still a whole lot of oil just underneath the surface.
And let me tell you this, as we get ready to begin this newscast. We are honored to be chosen by American Forces Television. We welcome you, all of you who are watching us in Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea, Europe, and around the world. Here is what we have for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Here is what is making the LIST today.
Forty-eight hours from top kill to try and plug the leak.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they're not going to help, get the hell out of the way. This is absolutely ridiculous.
SANCHEZ: Louisianans starting to get angry, as in, enough is enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was warned of that, so she knew it was very serious. SANCHEZ: Lindsay Lohan in court again. You will see it.
The man who says he can prove Dick Cheney and George Bush let bin Laden get away joins me live.
The lists you need to know about. Who's today's most intriguing? Who's landed on the list you don't want to be on? Who's making news on Twitter? It's why I keep a list.
Pioneering tomorrow's cutting-edge news right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: All right. Here we go. Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
What is top kill going to look like? We have got an animation. Let me start this newscast by showing you what it is that they are going to do, hopefully, early Wednesday morning. Put that up, Rog, if you have that. This is top kill, essentially a way of throwing cement into the area.
We are told we are about 48 hours away from a top kill. And as we get ready to show you that animation, let me show you some of the video that's been coming in from the Gulf. Some of this stuff is tough to look at. I think we have got a shot here of a dolphin that was just found a little while ago, dead dolphin, obviously, off the coast.
It's one of the many animals that have perished since the very beginning of this operation. And you see some of the oils on some of those islands off the coast.
This operation, which is going to take place Wednesday, is essentially an idea of trying to top this -- that's why it's called top kill, by the way. It's a way of stopping the flow of oil. There it is right there. Now, as you can see right there, what they will do is, they have got another of pipes.
And from those pipes, they will literally inject the mud and cement into that which will eventually stop, harden and stop the flow. All right.
A little while ago, we -- we -- we have been hearing a lot of things. We were hearing from Tony Hayward. He's the executive of BP. And then we were also hearing as well from the director of this operation, which is Thad Allen.
And, interestingly enough, what Thad Allen seems to be saying is that there are all kinds of plans that they are still going with. One of them is the possibility that they actually might try and see if they can -- if they can create barrier islands to stop the oil.
Hey, Chad, come on out real quick. We have got Chad standing by. He's walking out here now to bring us into this conversation. All of this is fluid, by the way, folks. We have got Brooke Baldwin who is standing by, because she has news as well, right, Brooke?
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
SANCHEZ: On the oil --
BALDWIN: Underwater, under the water.
SANCHEZ: -- that may have been found underwater. And you have got pictures.
BALDWIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: All right, Chad, do me a favor.
Before we go to Brooke -- I think she's got one of the Cousteaus standing by -- can you show us how these barrier islands might work? They are basically manmade islands. By the way, I grew up on a manmade island, or near one, Miami Beach.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Correct.
SANCHEZ: That's a manmade island.
MYERS: That's exactly what Virginia Beach did years ago as well, taking sand from offshore, pumping it on to the land, and reclaiming the beach --
SANCHEZ: Right.
MYERS: .. because, eventually, the beach gets eroded and it just kind of goes out there in the sand bar. They are going to try -- they -- this -- this is month's worth of --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Yes, he said -- I wrote it down.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: Nine months.
SANCHEZ: It's going to take six to nine months to get this done.
MYERS: And, hopefully, the oil is well stopped by then.
But, anyway, they're going to -- they are literally going to make a dredge, pile up a barrier, or make a long island, so that the oil only hits this. I don't think that that's --
SANCHEZ: So, they are going to make an island off the shore to catch the oil?
MYERS: I don't think it's --
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: But if they are even thinking about the possibility -- well, you know --
MYERS: But then you have -- you have a hurricane, you have flow, you have coastal currents, you have coastal currents that don't want those islands there because they are not there naturally. It's --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Well, I will tell you this.
There are some Louisianans, Billy Nungesser among them, who is saying, you know what? We want it and we want it now. So, I mean, the pressure that they are putting now on both BP and the government is certainly something we haven't heard before.
Let's go to Brooke now.
Brooke, take us through some of those pictures you have.
BALDWIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Chad and I have been talking about this for awhile. And that is the possibility that a lot of this oil may not be found because it's underneath the surface and we don't see it.
You say you may have photographic proof supplied to you by the Cousteau --
BALDWIN: Right.
SANCHEZ: -- Society --
BALDWIN: Right.
SANCHEZ: -- that may show it. Take it away.
BALDWIN: So, it's -- Jean-Michel Cousteau is famed explorer Jacques Cousteau's son. And he has this nonprofit organization. It's called Ocean Futures Society.
And his team of a number of people, they headed out to the Gulf region, to the -- Louisiana specifically. They started last week. And what they did was, they took this underwater camera, right? So, this is what you and I are used to seeing, the fingers of the oil from an aerial view.
But they were good enough to share with me under the water. So, this is what they told me they saw, some of the emulsified oil 10, as deep as 25 feet down. This is one picture. One more picture, I was out in the Gulf, and you see these all around, these barrier islands that you guys were talking about. A Portuguese man of war, right? You don't want to get near one of these, but look at it. It's coated in the oil. Another picture here, you see little fish, more of the oil. And I'm guessing from my time down there this is also the dispersant. So, this is showing how it's breaking the oil up.
Fourth picture, just all you see is the chunks of the red oil and the dispersants. And one more picture, this is sort of the underbelly of that Portuguese man of war. It looks to me kind of like an under shot looking up to the sky. And you see a fish down here.
So, this just begins to paint a picture for all of us.
And Jean-Michel Cousteau was good enough to call into our show from Fiji, nonetheless.
And, Mr. Cousteau, I know you were in Louisiana last week. Let me just begin with, what did you see when you were along the Gulf region?
JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU, OCEAN FUTURES SOCIETY (via telephone): Well, first of all, thank you for inviting me to --
BALDWIN: Sure.
COUSTEAU: -- to step in. I wish I was there.
I was in the Gulf last week. And I will go back, because this gigantic catastrophe is, unfortunately, what I have been told again and again by people who are trying to minimize the consequences. It's going to be there for decades. I was involved with the Exxon Valdez. And that was 21 years ago, and it's not over yet.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Right. So, that was 1989. And you say that doesn't even begin to compare to what we are seeing here with the Gulf.
And I believe you talked to Billy Nungesser, who is the president of Plaquemines Parish, who we saw touring the Gulf region with Bobby Jindal yesterday. And he said, this is ridiculous.
What did he say to you?
COUSTEAU: Well, essentially, it's going to be -- until we stop it, we have every four or five, six days a new Exxon Valdez spitting out.
So, let's not forget about that. And all this dispersant -- and we may want to argue about that, but it allows to say out of sight, out of mind. It's underwater. It's going to have gigantic consequences on the marine life, which means, at the end of the day, it's going to keep thousands and thousands of people out of work.
And -- and we need to stop talking. We need to take action. What are we going to do? We need to do it now. It's very great to have half-a-billion dollars to do research. Great. Let's do that. But we need to build that barrier, which is $350,000 -- $350 million. It needs three months to be put in place.
The hurricane season is about to come.
BALDWIN: Yes.
COUSTEAU: We're going to head toward another major, major impact.
And let's not forget that that water, which is coming out of the Mississippi, of the Missouri, and has to go somewhere, ultimately, it's going to find its way, together with the oil, into the Caribbean, into the Gulf Stream, and it's going to go all the way out to Western Europe.
That's the size of this catastrophe. We are all responsible. We need to roll our sleeves, stop talking, take action and make sure this doesn't happen again, because --
(CROSSTALK)
COUSTEAU: -- were no prevention and there was no plan in case of an accident at 1,500 meters, 5,000 feet, where nobody has ever been, to face up to a catastrophe.
SANCHEZ: Mr. Cousteau, let me ask you a question, sir. We thank you for being on.
We are trying to get a handle on how long we are going to have to deal with this, how big that oil under the surface may end up being, in other words, how much of a space it will end up taking in. Have you ever dealt -- and I'm sure you and your father and your brothers have seen situations like this around the world -- have you ever seen one comparable to this, and what was the effect of it?
Also, I would like you to address, if you possibly could, the reports that we have heard from some here who say, you know what? Eventually, all of this will just settle down to the bottom of the ocean, and we won't see it on beaches, and it won't be as bad as people like you are arguing it will become. Can you handle those two issues?
COUSTEAU: I mean, I'm amazed. Even if it does settle at the bottom of the ocean, it's going to kill everything. And that will have an impact on the entire food chain. You're going to find it in the plankton. The fish are going to eat it. The shrimps are going to eat it. The oysters are going to eat it.
It's going to go and affect everybody. We -- the oil approach is out of sight, out of mind. And this is very unfair to the public, because we relate to things we can see. I can tell you, right now, we are dealing with somewhere around seven, eight Exxon Valdez.
I have been up there. You can give -- I can give you a shovel. And in 30 centimeters, one foot of depth, you are going to find the oil which went down there 21 years ago.
So, at Ocean Futures Society, what we do is to try to communicate, to have dialogues with decision-makers, so they stop hiding the facts, hiding the truth, and roll their sleeves and have regulations which will anticipate. You cannot ask a big corporation like BP or Exxon or whatever to be their own controllers. You can't do that.
It has to come from outside. It has to come from the federal government, international organizations, which will oversee before, during and after in case there's an accident. And that's what we didn't do this time. And now we are going to pay the price. Hopefully -- and that's my positive attitude now -- this will never happen again.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Positive, he says -- he says --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Jean-Michel Cousteau, explorer, environmentalist, joining us from Fiji with Ocean Futures Society. He says he may be back in the Gulf Coast region. I may be, too. So, Jean-Michel, maybe I will try to catch up with you there. Thank you so much for calling in.
SANCHEZ: And those pictures that he took that you've been looking at --
BALDWIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: -- he just took those over the last week, right?
BALDWIN: Just over the -- this was yesterday.
SANCHEZ: That was yesterday?
BALDWIN: This is his crew. Matt Ferraro, director of photography, I talked to him today on the phone. This was yesterday.
SANCHEZ: And for those of you who maybe didn't listen to part of our conversation where we brought Chad in to this around 3:00 or so, or 3:10 -- everything has been moving so fast over the last hour -- the fact that that water -- or that -- that oil is down there is significant, because it's not something we have been seeing before, correct?
MYERS: It's also not degrading, because it isn't in the sunlight. It's not evaporating. It's in the water column. So, now it's in the food chain.
SANCHEZ: And we don't know how much is there.
MYERS: We don't know how much is there. I talked to NOAA about this last week. And they put -- they put little bottles down and they -- and they took core samples. And they looked for this oil. They didn't see it physically. This is the first I have ever seen oil under the water. And that last picture that you have, Brooke, that is quite disturbing, when you literally can't see through the water because it's just -- that gook is everywhere.
SANCHEZ: Well, this is what you and I and Brooke have been talking about over the last week.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: Go to that last -- that's what I'm talking about there, that one right there.
BALDWIN: This one. This one.
MYERS: Yes.
BALDWIN: It's everywhere, everywhere.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Can you imagine being sea life under there? It doesn't give you much of a chance, does it?
MYERS: Not for long.
SANCHEZ: All right.
We're going to put this conversation on hold. There's a lot of news that is taking place now. Obviously, if there's any other developments on the story, we're going to bring them to you immediately.
In the meantime, Rog, let's show this next clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very tense here. Lots of persons are afraid to venture in sections off downtown Kingston.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right, this is part of Jamaica? Can you believe this? This is Kingston, Jamaica, you're looking at. A drug cartel has stepped up the violence. And the result is too much for police down there to handle. We have been drilling down on the chaos. And we are going to have a live report from Kingston. That's coming up in just a little bit.
Also, Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal gives veterans and a nervous Democratic Party what they have been waiting for. Finally, after claiming that he fought in Vietnam, he apologizes for that. It's about four days late. That's next. Stay right there. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back. Before we do anything else, let me give you a programming note here.
First of all, Rog, if you could, give me that shot again of the oil, that streaming video as it's coming out. There it is, right behind me, as a matter of fact. I didn't know it was there.
Part of the reason we are showing you this is because we have got two -- two updates for you on what is going on.
A, Ed Markey, congressman from Massachusetts, is saying he wants this picture put up constantly. He wants the American people to be able to see this streaming video whenever they want, and most certainly Wednesday morning, when the top kill operation is put into effect.
So, there you see it. That's what it looks like right now. He wants BP and the U.S. government to be as transparent as they can possibly be on this.
Also, we have just gotten word from the White House. You have heard from Thad Allen. You've heard from Jean-Michel Cousteau. You've also heard from some of the other officials who are following the situation both with BP and the government. You heard from Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP.
Well, we now understand the president of the United States is going to deliver a statement in just a moment. And what he's going to be addressing when he talks about this is the fishermen and the people who are going to be impacted -- and the people who are going to be impacted there on these beaches that you see there.
Now, this is brand-new video that we have just gotten in moments ago. New video is what it is. And this is Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP, meeting with volunteers and talking. Look at that there in front of him. See that right there? Let's listen in. That looks like just sludge and oil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, get out of there. Get out of there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (OFF-MIKE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get them out. Get them out. Get them out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (OFF-MIKE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Look at that. Look at that, and right in front of the CEO of BP. Look at these pictures. Wow.
Now, I'm almost positive -- and you guys in the control room can confirm this for me -- I'm almost positive the voice we heard get them out of there, get them out of there was that of Tony Hayward.
Now, I'm not sure if he was referring to a volunteer or a cameraperson. And there have been some questions as to whether or not BP has been transparent enough and allowed media to go in and take pictures that they probably don't want you to see.
But you and I both heard the get them out of there, not on just once -- one occasion, but it seemed like two occasions.
Can we get back to this video? Yes, let's -- let's watch this, again. I'm just going to shut up. And let's listen again. What's really going on here?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (OFF-MIKE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (OFF-MIKE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch it, guys.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (OFF-MIKE)
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to go a little bit further to the right. (OFF-MIKE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, guys, if you can't go back and stay over there, I'm not going to do a (OFF-MIKE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will come back to you in a second.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, guys, we're going to go back to the press briefing right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. We will do it right over here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone go back to do the press conference back here now, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: So, that's what it was. It seems like that was prior to the press conference or the news conference. And before they were in place for that, they didn't want the cameras following them around as he was going around and looking at this disaster that his company has caused for the very first time.
And, boy, I will tell you, that was ugly to see that sludge on the beach and to know that you are the executive of one of the biggest oil companies in the world, profits of something like $20 billion to $25 billion a year, and here you are looking at the beaches of Louisiana or the shoreline, I should say, with this sludge and oil accumulating on it.
That's -- that -- talk about a picture being worth 1,000 words. We are going to stay on top of that. If we get any more video coming in, obviously, we're going to be sharing it with you.
Meantime, from our celebrity list today, Lindsay Lohan. Did you hear about this? She was in court today. Did you see this? You may have been at work. We got it for you. Not without a delay and a whole lot of trauma. That could put a judge in a mood to crack down. We're going to share this with you right there. Yes, that's what she looked like. That's how she dressed for court.
Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Reading is really super swell. Reading is great, so let's shout out loud. Reading helps you --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: (AUDIO GAP) right now in Arizona, as you can see, this has nothing at all to do, one would think, with the immigration law in Arizona. Oh, but it does. That's a new ad being put out by the governor of Arizona complaining against all of those people who haven't read the law.
And she uses -- she uses a Kermit the Frog-like character to make her point. We will show it to you when we come back. Stay right there. RICK'S LIST continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Hey. Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
I have got to tell you, to see this video just moments ago, which, by the way, my producer, Andreas (ph), who is filling in for Angie (ph) today, just said, we just got some brand-new video of Tony Hayward walking around on the beaches. We didn't even know what it was. Look at this. Look at him. Look at the sludge. Listen to the reaction from him and his assistants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, get out of there. Get out of there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: So, he was telling a photographer to get out of the way.
It may not have been Tony Hayward. It may have been one of his associates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get them out. Get them out. Get them out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Get them out. Get them out.
Now, those are the photographers trying to get -- trying to compose pictures of the sludge and the oil on the beaches, and probably trying to incorporate it with a shot of Tony Hayward in it. There you see the cameras. There you see the oil. There you see the volunteers. Look at that.
It has got to be difficult for him, Tony Hayward, CEO, and he is -- then, after this, makes his way over to that press briefing. For those of you who missed it, we will see if we can get a clip of that and show it to you in just a little bit.
Now, let me tell you about another part of the world where there's a bit of a situation. Let me who you what's happening right now in Jamaica, and then I will give you a full explanation. Let's take this up, nat sound up, if we could, guys.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(GUNSHOTS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Yes, Kingston, Jamaica. Violent gangs and their backers are burning and looting. They are shooting up police and blockading roads. They have got two police dead, troops in the street, and a state of emergency in parts of Kingston.
Now, the apparent cause of the problem is this guy. He is the aptly named Christopher Coke, who is wanted in the country for allegedly shipping massive amounts of cocaine and marijuana -- marijuana to the United States.
Specifically, if you live in New York City, there's a real good chance, say the feds, that whatever drugs you get, you got because of him. You see, the problems started when reports went around that Coke was on the verge of being extradited to the United States.
Joining me now from Kingston is reporter Kirk Abrahams of RJR News.
First of all, as an American who's traveled to Jamaica, would you please tell us if this is something that's limited to Kingston, the capital, or would you find this kind of situation affecting parts of Negril, Ocho Rios, et cetera?
KIRK ABRAHAMS, RJR NEWS: No, no, no. Ocho Rios and Negril and Montego Bay is fine at this point.
The situation is pretty much confined to Kingston. And a section of St. Catherine had some difficulties.
St. Catherine is about 20 minutes outside of Kingston. They had some problems this morning. I think that situation has cleared up by now.
SANCHEZ: So, if I have a vacation to Montego Bay, or any of the other cities that I just mentioned, I shouldn't cancel it, I'm going to be just fine. Right?
ABRAHAMS: You should be fine. You should be fine if you're going to Montego Bay or Ocho Rios.
SANCHEZ: Don't go to Kingston, though?
ABRAHAMS: Safe to say right now, it's not very safe to come to Kingston if you are vacationing.
SANCHEZ: I don't understand how it is that when the United States seemed to be making a move toward getting this fellow, Coke, that he was able to muscle up enough people around him to literally create this disturbance on the streets. I mean, how does he have that much support or that many people seemingly going to bat for him? And why?
ABRAHAMS: Well, Coke is from an area in West Kingston. West Kingston in Jamaica. And he is from an area known as Tivoli Gardens.
And pretty much all the persons there know him personally. They back him, they support him 100 percent.
They told us that Coke has been providing for them financially and otherwise. So, they had a protest last Thursday, and one woman said that residents out there are saying that they would buy (ph) for Coke. So he's a very influential person in that section of the city.
SANCHEZ: What are the chances that these Jamaican troops, or police officers, can get this thing handled by themselves, or will the U.S. have to be called in, maybe just in the form of, if nothing else, the DEA, for example, to try and help get this guy out of there?
ABRAHAMS: Well, as we are speaking, it's an all-out assault to retake Tivoli is now on with the security forces here. That assault is being led by the Jamaica Defense Force, which is taking charge of the operation. This has a wave (ph) of balance (INAUDIBLE) within the last couple of minutes. But the security forces maintaining their presence down there, hell-bent on getting Coke.
SANCHEZ: "Hell-bent" is probably the best way of describing it. Well, it's intensified in the last couple of minutes. We're glad you told us that.
We'll keep an eye on it. If there's anything else, let us know.
Reporter Kirk Abrahams of RJR News there in Kingston, Jamaica.
Meanwhile, take a look at this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shane proposed to Sarah. And, of course, she said, "OK. Yes, sure."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Shane and Sarah are engaged and in custody in Iran. What a story. These are the two American hikers who have been jailed for months. They're getting married. Big trending story, which means you're about it, which means Brooke Baldwin has got it on her list.
Stay right there. We're coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is your list, this is your national conversation. This is RICK'S LIST.
She wishes that she could somehow have it back. But like the toothpaste in the morning, once it gets out of the tube, good luck. It's too late.
Time for "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On."
Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, she was a royal princess because she married Andrew, the younger son of Queen Elizabeth. You know how they say access has its privileges? Well, it also comes with responsibilities, as in the responsibility of not abusing the privilege by trying to sell access to the royal family.
But that seems to be exactly what she was caught doing by a British tabloid. Fergie, here, in this video, who appears to be in need of cash, is seen taking the bait, not to mention the money.
This is almost too embarrassing to watch. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH FERGUSON, DUCHESS OF YORK: If we want to do a big deal with Andrew, then that's the big one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do. Of course. OK. No, of course.
So you need 500,000 in pounds?
FERGUSON: But that's in wire transfer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That has to be in wire transfer. I mean, obviously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Oh, boy. The price, $724,000, with a $40,000 down payment. Today, the duchess is apologizing. She says she regrets "the situation and the embarrassment" that she has caused. She goes on to say that "It is true that my financial situation is under stress. However, that is no excuse for a serious lapse in judgment, and I am very sorry that this has happened."
Trying to sell access to her former husband for big money. We're preparing a detailed report on this, by the way. For now, we wanted you to know why today she is chosen to head "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On." .
How could you make Arizona's controversial immigration law more controversial? Well, you throw in a puppet that looks like Kermit the Frog. That's how.
We'll have that for you in just a little bit. It's fun to watch. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: What do you do when you pass a law that becomes controversial and there are some people who come out against it? Well, what do you do about it? You hire a puppet. That's what you do.
This is our list of the best videos of the day. We call it "Las Fotos del Dia."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you read the Arizona law?
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I have not had a chance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you read the law?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have I read the law?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: No, they have not read the law, and they say so.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is channeling Jim Henson in the most recent ad. Instead of defending what's in the bill, she just goes after those who admit to not reading the bill. It is well done and may prove to be highly effective for the governor.
Now take a look at this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right. What you're seeing there is another impromptu attack. This is not the first that we've shown you on this newscast.
That's Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He was disrupted by an angry crowd during a speech in Tehran. The crowd chanted, "Unemployment! Unemployment!" The anti-government movement continues to grow there.
Now take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After the warm-up, the fans reacted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's (ph) reacted too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is that, a cancan situation?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought it looked like a Spanish Flamenco dancer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Is it a Flamenco dancer or is it a cancan outfit? I don't know. But Europeans, they know what they say. When they think it, they say it, and they often do it by whistling and -- look at this.
That is what they did to tennis superstar Venus Williams when she unveiled her newest outfit at the French Open. The outfit revealed her -- once again, revealed her -- once again, revealed her -- once again, as one of the best tennis players in the world because she won the match. Why else did you think I used the word "revealed"?
As for what else she revealed, well, I'll let you figure it out for yourself.
You can see all our fotos, by the way, on our blog. That's at CNN.com/ricksanchez.
As we mentioned earlier, Sarah Ferguson went from royal bride to someone so desperate, she tried to cash in on her ex-husband's name.
Our list of other outrageous royal scandals -- and we list things for you -- is ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
At the top of our political list is Gary Berntsen. Now, you probably remember him as the commander on the ground in Afghanistan. He was the guy who knew where bin Laden was. He asked for more troops so that he could get him out of there in Tora Bora, but was turned down, basically, he says, by Vice President Cheney and President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld.
Well, he is now a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in New York. He is running for Chuck Schumer's seat, and he's good enough to join us once again.
Good to see you, sir.
GARY BERNTSEN (R), : Hello, Rick. How are you? Nice to be with you.
SANCHEZ: I'm just wondering, as a guy who was -- you have been on this show. You have come on. You've told the American people. You have written about this, just how frustrated you were in that situation in Tora Bora.
Is that the exigence which is pushing you to want to get into politics?
BERNTSEN: Well, the reason I want to get into politics is that the country -- there's risks. We're in great danger, you know, economic and physical.
I'm a person that's dedicated my life to public service, and I just saw this as the next step. I want to help rein in out-of-control spending, I want to help people get jobs. I want to restore the country's foreign policy to a place that makes sense -- no appeasement, no apologies. And I want to help small business.
I want to do those things. I'm a conservative, and I'm proud of it, and I'm going to make my case.
SANCHEZ: You probably will darn well, given your experience and everything. But you just mentioned the word "appeasement," and I can't help but wonder if that's what you believe happened when you were there and you walked away knowing we could have taken out bin Laden, but we didn't.
BERNTSEN: Well, I think back in that period, it wasn't appeasement. It was just miscalculations, mistakes made by that particular administration.
But the point is, is we need to defend ourselves. We need to have a strong national security. We've got to worry about that border.
You know, we've got narcotraffic and cartels down in Latin America, along our border with Mexico, almost seven of them that present a serious danger to us. We've got to work against them. We've got to secure that border.
Those are some of the issues I'm interested in and people in New York are interested.
SANCHEZ: That was, by the way -- that was a Republican administration. And I want to ask you about that because --
BERNTSEN: Of course. Of course.
SANCHEZ: -- you're running as -- well, exactly. And what you are doing is something that, you know, makes a lot of sense.
You are saying, ,you know what? I'm a conservative. That doesn't mean I can't take on conservatives with my words while I also take on Chuck Schumer.
I want to ask you about both when we come back. Stay right there.
BERNTSEN: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Gary Berntsen has been with us before. He's running against Chuck Schumer, running as a conservative Republican.
Mr. Schumer in trouble? If so, why?
BERNTSEN: Well, I think that New Yorkers believe, as I do, that he is more interested in his own political ambitions as becoming the majority leader of the Senate than serving the best interest of New Yorkers. We have had tax increases again and again. I expect that he's going to be a point man for the Obama administration, and a VAT tax on the American people, value-added tax.
You know, we have had an issue with security funds for New York. He didn't stand up and defend us on that.
I think that he is extremely vulnerable to a candidate like myself, who has actually spent their life doing things. I've actually spent my life defending the American people, as opposed to sitting back and writing legislation.
He's been a career politician since he was 23 years old. And I think that the American people -- people will -- my message will resonate. People will cross party boundaries to vote for me, because a lot of these issues are issues that aren't Democratic, Independent or Republican. They issues that make sense to all of us. And I'm hoping that people will accept that.
SANCHEZ: I'll tell you, one of the things that he probably has going for him just from a regional standpoint, just like, perhaps, a conservative or a Republican would do well in a southern state, we are talking about New York. New York tends to elect Democrats. And here you come along running as a conservative Republican.
What are you going to have to do and say to convince people in New York that, you know what, I'm a Republican, I'm a conservative, but here is why you need to listen to me?
BERNTSEN: People will recognize that the economic problems that we have go right at the feet of Senator Schumer and his peers in the Senate. They are bankrupting the nation, Rick.
We owe $14 trillion. We will owe $20 trillion by 2015. These numbers are astronomical, and we can't continue on this path.
We have to control spending. This is something that he has demonstrated no interest in.
And it's not about pork. Once he said a statement the Americans don't care about these porky amendments. Well, we do care about how our money is spent. And I intend to be frugal with our dollars and attempt to make sure that every dollar and every penny is accounted for properly, and used in a fashion that benefits the American people and not special interests.
SANCHEZ: Candidate Gary Berntsen.
My thanks to you, sir. Good to see you again, sir. Thanks for being with us.
BERNTSEN: It's always great to see you. Great to see you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Certainly appreciate it.
And obviously, we'll give Chuck Schumer a chance to respond to any and all of the accusations that he just heard right there. And we'll reach out to him if he's not reaching out to us already.
We'll be right back. This is RICK'S LIST, your national conversation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Wolf Blitzer is joining us now.
Wolf, I'll tell you, what a day it's been. Just in the last couple of hours, have you seen the people getting in front of microphones and talking about what's going on in the Gulf of Mexico?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I'm sick about it.
I'm sick about when you see those live pictures of the oil simply spewing out of those pipes 5,000 feet below the sea, it just makes me sick when you think that all that oil is going to be so disastrous to the environment, to the economy. It's just literally an awful, awful situation.
SANCHEZ: I understand the president, during your newscast coming up here in just a little bit, if people want to hear what the president has to say, I understand he's going to come out with a message for the fishermen and all the folks being impacted down there environmentally.
BLITZER: As soon as he does, we'll of course have that live.
The president has got to show that he really is on top of this situation, because there is some concern out there that the administration may be floundering. So, he really has to show the American public that he is all over it, this is priority number one right now.
We know there's a lot of issues on the president's agenda. There's a potential, God forbid, of a war between North and South Korea. There are 30,000 U.S. troops along the DMZ, as you know.
So, he's got a lot going on right now, the economy, and the jobs, all of the situations, nuclear tensions with Iran, if you will. But right now, this crisis in the Gulf of Mexico is urgent. And we just hope that they can get this resolved quickly.
SANCHEZ: It's interesting, because a lot of the heat that he seems to be getting is not just from the right on this, but, in fact, from some of the old friends that's he had on the left.
So, Wolf, you're going to have that covered for us. We'll look forward to seeing you on "THE SITUATION ROOM."
And, by the way, this conversation that I'm having with Wolf, I think every day there's a key moment in any newscast. The key moment in the newscast today seemed to me to be the situation with Tony Hayward.
When we come back -- stay right there, folks. When we come back, we're going to let you hear that and see that for yourself again. Tony Hayward facing that sludge. His assistants trying to back reporters off. Cameramen out of the picture as well.
This is one heck of a story captured in that one scene coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
I have got a few friends here with me.
How are you all doing?
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you?
SANCHEZ: You good? Well, that's nice.
Hey, move over there, you. What are you doing?
(LAUGHTER)
These are some of the folks that visit with us here on Mondays.
Have you seen these new pictures coming out of the Gulf? Watch. Take a look at these videos as we go to Wolf.
That's the president of BP right there. That's Tony Hayward. That's the guy right there in the white shirt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY HAYWARD, PRESIDENT, BP: Get out of there. Get out of there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: "Get out of there." He doesn't want to be photographed next to that sludge.
Would you? Would you? I mean, can you imagine? I mean, look at this.
This is one of the little islands off the coast of Louisiana. The oil is coming ashore. His company that makes about $25 billion a year is right there upon it.
He's about to hold a news conference. And this is, like, the last visual in the world that he wants to see. What a mess.
Are you guys sick about this? It's incredible. I mean, it's one of those things that just doesn't seem to want to go away.
Wolf Blitzer is coming up in -- you guys ready to do this? Ready? Ready?
Wolf, take it away. Ready, one, two, three, go.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Wolf, take it away.
SANCHEZ: There you go.
Take it, Wolf.
