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Rick's List

Will Latest BP Attempt Work?; Joran van der Sloot Captured

Aired June 03, 2010 - 15:00   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Ali. Great show today. Good to see Ed Henry in studio.

Joran van der Sloot has just been captured by police in Chile. The manhunt has been on since a Peruvian woman was found dead yesterday.

Here's what else we've got on THE LIST.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Here's what's making THE LIST.

ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD COMMANDANT: For the first time in a couple of days, I have got good news. We have just cut the riser off the lower marine riser package.

GRIFFIN: Well, that's refreshing, a success for BP, as they attempt to stop the gushing crude. They cut off a pipe and are trying another containment dome. Will this work?

Joran van der Sloot, he was the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Where is he? Former FBI special agent Harold Copus was on the Natalee Holloway case and joins me live.

A perfect game ruined by an ump's bad call. What was he thinking? And will baseball make this right?

The video you haven't seen: panic. This is inside Haiti's presidential palace as it comes crumbling down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Topping is the oil disaster list.

The Obama administration sends a preliminary bill to BP, $69 million -- $69.09 million -- for response and cleanup relating to the Gulf spill so far, and on the screen you are seeing BP's latest attempts to slow down that oil spill.

Today, BP says it successfully sliced off the top of a damaged riser, this after the blade of a diamond wire cutter became stuck yesterday. BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, you've been seeing him. Well, he spoke about cutting away the riser. This happened about just about -- well, actually, less than an hour ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY HAYWARD, CEO, BP GROUP: We made a very important step in being able to cut away the riser, so we now have a relatively clean wellhead on to which the cap can be placed.

And, as we have said all along, none of this has ever been done. So, there is always risk. The risk is reduced, but there's still risk as to whether or not it will be fully successful. And the next 12 to 24 hours will give us an indication of how successful this attempt will be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: What does it all mean?

Let's go to David Mattingly, our reporter in New Orleans who's been on this leak from the get-go.

David, we're going to try to show a graphic of what happened today, but maybe just bring us up to date on this step in yet again another process trying to stop this leak.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, read between the lines of Tony Hayward's comments. There are still no guarantees with this process, but so far we have some encouraging signs. They were able to cut that pipe off successfully now.

It's not the kind of cut they wanted. Remember, yesterday, they were using a diamond-tipped saw. That saw became jammed in there. They had to pull it out. And then they figured out that wasn't going to work anymore.

And that was really bad news, because they wanted a smooth -- as smooth a cut as possible across that pipe so that they could get a very good, tight seal with that cap. They're not going to get that. Now, instead, they sheared it off with another tool. It's sort of a rough cut.

They're not going to have that nice, tight seal that they were talking about before. Now they're going to put the cap on. There's a chance that oil is going to be seeping out from underneath it if the pressure overwhelms its ability to take that oil up to the surface.

And as we have been watching that pipe today, after they cut the top off of it, boy, it really started gushing down there. We were prepared to see this, but, really, the sight is quite disturbing. There were government estimates that the flow would increase about 20 percent. We have no figures right now to back up what we're seeing. But we are clearly seeing a gusher down there at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: Yes, David, and we can see this all live. I think BP has now 12 cameras up on this operation.

But when -- when we say that there's going to be a top on and it's going to suck the oil up through, but it could seep through the sides, obviously what they would like to do is just put another pipe on top of that and suck it all out.

Is there any estimates as to how much seepage will take place, if, in fact, they do get this right?

MATTINGLY: If they do get this cap on, no one has any guesses about what kind of seepage we're going to see coming out from underneath.

We have heard from BP that they expect to trap the vast majority of this oil. We're not hearing the same thing from the U.S. government, more tempered statements from the Coast Guard as -- as we move forward here.

But what we're looking at is, when they put that cap on, it's sort of like -- remember that containment dome from a couple of weeks ago.

GRIFFIN: Yes.

MATTINGLY: And then they came up with the top hat, the smaller version of that. This is son of top hat. This thing has chemicals injected inside. It's going to have warm water circulating down inside it to prevent any sort of crystals from forming that disabled that huge dome that they built a couple of weeks ago.

This time, they feel like they're going to be able to get it right and be able to siphon that oil right up to the surface, just like they have been siphoning the oil with that insertion tube up until a couple days ago.

GRIFFIN: OK. David, I just want to point out to our viewers, you're looking at the cap, the cap that's going to go down onto that plume of oil coming up.

David, one final question. If this works, and if the oil continues to seep out the side, that's it until they get the -- the relief well dug, correct?

MATTINGLY: That's right. They...

GRIFFIN: And...

MATTINGLY: With this cap -- they're going to put this cap in place.

GRIFFIN: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Then they have got another procedure they're going to hook up. They are going to be using the blowout preventer that they have, the apparatus that they have down there, that they used for the top kill that didn't work.

GRIFFIN: OK.

MATTINGLY: Instead of pumping stuff into it, they are going to try and pump oil out of it up to the surface as well, so they will have two systems taking oil up to the surface.

GRIFFIN: David -- David, stand by. We have got breaking news.

We have our Kyra Phillips exclusively out in the Gulf now, along with Thad Allen. She is on the rig that is performing this maneuver. She is the only reporter who is out there right now.

Kyra, bring us up to date on exactly what is happening there out on this rig. Oh, I'm just told we lost her. She is miles, miles out to sea, obviously, on that oil platform. We're going to try to establish a signal with that.

But, David, as we continue to watch this situation underwater, again, this is the best hope right now.

OK. I'm being told that we do have Kyra? No. Again, we're going through -- there's Kyra Phillips live, an exclusive. We're trying to establish some kind of a signal with her. Obviously, the technology is a little murky right now, but Kyra Phillips is the only reporter who is out on that platform right now.

She's going to have an exclusive back -- back-scene interview with Thad Allen as he tries to manage this situation for the Coast Guard, and now she is on the rigs that are out in the Gulf. We will try to establish that link as soon as we can, as we continue to monitor this -- this another great hope for BP to try to at least contain some of this oil spill while they still try to -- handle on this cleanup.

We're moving on now.

The same Dutchman, different manhunt, and it has just come to an end. Police have captured Joran van der Sloot, a previous suspect in Natalee Holloway's disappearance. He's now the prime suspect in a murder case in Peru. We will talk to the private investigator who headed up the first case. That's ahead.

And three days after the deadly raid on a flotilla boat heading to Gaza, an aid ship heads to the very same place. Now we're hearing it's just turned around to dock. Why? We are live from Gaza City next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: We're just establishing a link now with Kyra Phillips, our reporter who has been embedded with Thad Allen. She's live above the platform which is now trying to seal this oil leak 50 miles out to sea.

Let's go right to Kyra Phillips for the very latest on what is taking place -- Kyra.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, what's up?

GRIFFIN: We're having some technical issues, but you can clearly see Kyra Phillips. She's above, directly above this oil leak out in the Gulf.

She's trying to get wired up as our crews try to establish communications. She's been embedded with Thad Allen, the Coast Guard commander, who's been in charge of this operation. And once we get an established link with her, we will go back for the very latest, exclusive look at the site of this oil spill, to determine what exactly is going on today and the other operations that are taking place, trying to contain, clean up, and stop this spill.

I'm understanding now we can go back to Kyra Phillips.

Kyra, what do you have for us?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, can we -- let's take it fast. Are we up live?

GRIFFIN: You are up live, Kyra. Go ahead.

PHILLIPS: OK. Well, there you go. Thank you. I appreciate it.

As you can see, that's live television. And we have been trying to get up here live, and you're seeing it for the first time since the oil disaster here in the Gulf.

We are actually live on one of the rigs that is building that relief well that is hopefully going to support sealing off that oil gusher we have seen here in the Gulf of Mexico. Right behind me is the Enterprise Discovery. That's where right now the cut-and-cap operation is going on.

And today, for the first time, a positive step towards ending that oil that's gushing out here into the Gulf -- they -- they -- they made that cut, and now, right now, they're in the process, the workers here on these rigs, lowering that top hat to seal it off.

I want to go ahead and bring in Admiral Thad Allen.

As you know, he is the incident commander of this oil disaster.

At this point, sir, it's pretty remarkable that we're here live watching this happen. No one has had the chance to be here since that explosion.

Tell me what's happening right now and the fact that you said we did see something positive today and it's happening right here where we're standing.

ALLEN: Well, our ability to cut that riser pipe and get the opportunity to cap with a containment cap the well is extremely important.

And I know they're working hard at it right now. Even as we're talking here, it's happening 5,000 feet below us. So, what I might do is explain what's going on here, if that's all right.

PHILLIPS: Please do. ALLEN: Behind us, we have the Discover Enterprise, which is -- has a riser pipe out the bottom connected to the containment cap trying to be put in place right now over the pipe that is cut off above the lower marine riser package.

We're standing on Development Driller III, which started the first relief well. And just in back of you, Kyra, is Development Driller II, which is drilling the backup relief well. So, in an area of about one square mile here, you have the containment process going on, on the Discover Enterprise and the two relief wells being drilled on Development -- Development Driller III that we are on and Development Driller II behind you.

PHILLIPS: Got it.

And I'm going to -- hold on for just a second. I'm going to let my producer Tristan (ph) know, I lost IFB, Tristan. I will not be able to hear the -- hear Atlanta. So, please let me know if they have questions for me as we continue our live shot.

Are we still live? Let me confirm that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: IFB has dropped.

PHILLIPS: IFB has dropped. Are we still live?

Tristan?

OK, I'm going to keep going as if we're live. OK? I'm told that we are, sir.

And, as a matter of fact, stay with me here.

Lee (ph), would you mind coming over, Captain Lee Crow (ph). Go ahead and stay with me, Admiral, there, on the right-hand side.

This is actually the first time that we have been able to talk to you and all the workers here on these rigs. This is basically your vessel. I mean, you are in charge of the workers here.

Tell me, how tough this has been on you guys. I know that there's been a lot of scrutiny, a lot of criticism. How are you guys taking that in? And how painstaking is this for you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a very tough job. You can understand that.

Development Driller III is working on the relief well. There's a lot of activity that's going right now around us, and we're trying to stay focused on what we're doing. It takes time to drill a well, a relief well, and do it safely and efficiently, and which is what we're trying to do, while all of these other vessels are actually trying to stem the flow of oil at this time.

So, yes, it's been very difficult. And the most difficult thing is to keep everybody focused on what we're doing here, keep them safe and get the well drilled.

PHILLIPS: And, Lee, everybody in this country wants -- is -- I mean, they're screaming, can't you work faster? Can't you do something? Can't you stop that oil from gushing?

And you said to me, no one wants this done faster than you guys that are on this operation. But explain why this is tedious and why it's so time-consuming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, from our end of it, as far as drilling the relief well, it's got to designed. It's got to be drilled. It's -- it's not a fast process. It's not a fast process to drill any well, and it's got to be developed and drilled.

Our goal is to stem the flow of oil for a long-term solution, not for a short-term solution, so that's what our main activity is right now.

PHILLIPS: And there are actually members of this crew that are related to the 11 that died in this explosion. How tough has that been for them to come to work? And do you think of those co-workers that you lost every day when you wake up and work these long days?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been very tough, especially for people that lost people.

We -- we all know somebody that worked over there. We've all relations. It's a small industry. It's a small company, relatively, when you -- when you think of the number of people and the rigs that we have. So, we have all got some association with members that were on the Horizon, both those that were lost and those that survived.

So, we try to stay focused on that. We're trying to give the support to the guys that lost family members, and -- and just kind of try to keep focused on what we're doing now.

PHILLIPS: What do the...

GRIFFIN: OK.

We have apparently just lost our signal with Kyra Phillips, but you saw, exclusively and live, Kyra Phillips standing on Development Driller III, one of the rigs that is actually drilling the relief wells, which is going to take, I believe, until August until that is in place, a long-term solution.

And, in the background, you saw Enterprise Discovery, which was doing the short-term what we hope is a solution, operating the cut and cap, operating what you're seeing exactly on the thing.

But, right now, we have other breaks news.

We have Larry King with us, who joins us from Washington. He's left the White House after having an interview with the president.

Larry, I thank you so much for joining us. Lady Gaga last night...

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": A pleasure.

GRIFFIN: ... the president today. And, tomorrow, you got LeBron James. I mean, you're knocking them dead.

How was the president today? And what did he have to say about this oil situation?

KING: Well, after the -- I interview him tonight, Bob Woodward will be with us, who is not only, of course, the Pulitzer Prize winner, but a man who is doing a book on Obama's first year. And we will get his thoughts on that as well. He's more incisive than me on this topic.

He is -- he is the -- he's President Obama. One bit of a sidelight here is that, when we asked about LeBron James -- you know, he had done an interview earlier in which reportedly he had asked LeBron James, the great basketball star, to go to the Chicago Bulls, which is his favorite team.

But, tonight, he says that, in retrospect, he thinks that LeBron James should stay in Cleveland. It's where he grew up. He's part of that city, important to that city.

So, here we have a president of the United States requesting of a basketball player that he remain, when he can go anywhere else.

GRIFFIN: Very interesting.

KING: On the subject that you're dealing with right now...

GRIFFIN: Yes, go ahead.

KING: ... of course, he's going to the Gulf tomorrow morning.

There's a lot of pressure on BP. He's talked about his hundreds of scientists that have been working on this. He said he's been on top of it since the beginning. I asked him if he was angry at BP. He didn't use the word anger. He -- he was -- you know, he's obviously very annoyed.

He said it's going to cost them a fortune in paying for all of this. Obviously, something went wrong. They have to investigate what went wrong. I asked him, what about the aftermath? What happens if a hurricane hits? And he was kind of sketchy.

Bob Woodward may have a different opinion on that, but he was -- he said, actually -- and this is an oddity -- I don't know how you will react -- he said, a hurricane would be better than a tropical storm, because a hurricane could somehow dissolve this -- I'm not an expert at all -- but a tropical storm could sing it along.

He never directly answered the question, what would happen if it rained oil? GRIFFIN: Hmm. Well...

KING: He also said on the -- on the -- on the -- when I asked him about Jimmy Carter condemning Israel for its actions against that ship, he said that there's a full investigation going on. He fully expects Israel to cooperate in that investigation, but he -- he's not condemning Israel out of hand, as former President Carter did.

GRIFFIN: Larry, let me ask you a question, having, you know, interviewed so many presidents, and you interviewed this president when he was running for the office.

KING: Yes.

GRIFFIN: He's now got a whole bag of problems on his head, from the economy, to the oil, to the crisis in Korea and Israel. Has he changed since you first met him? Does he seem more stressed?

KING: No. I can't wait to hear what Bob Woodward says about this. Maybe Bob will say something now. He will be on with us later.

But I'll tell you, he does -- no, he does not seem more stressed. In fact, he said, every day of his life, getting up in the morning is the best day, and this is the best job in the world. I will ask Bob Woodward. You got him now, too.

Did he seem -- oh, I'm sorry. He will be with us later.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

KING: I thought we had him, but we don't have him.

GRIFFIN: That's a good tease, Larry. That's a great tease.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: That's a tease.

GRIFFIN: Hey, Larry, thanks so much for joining us.

KING: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: It sounds like a real wide-ranging interview you had.

KING: It is.

GRIFFIN: And you're -- it sounds like you're going to make some news tonight. I'm going to check into that whole hurricane thing right now.

KING: OK.

GRIFFIN: All right, thanks, Larry.

KING: Thanks very much...

(CROSSTALK)

GRIFFIN: Appreciate it. See you later, man.

Well, speaking of the crisis in Israel, Ben Wedeman is live from Gaza City. There have been developments on that next relief ship that is trying to get into Gaza. And we're going to have him live next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: It's number two on the list. You're going to have to mind us all that breaking news, but Gaza and the uproar over the Israelis storming a relief ship earlier this week, and diplomatic fallout over the deaths of nine people on the ship.

Another relief ship is bound for Gaza delays its attempted arrival, only temporarily, though. The group Free Gaza says they want the next relief ship to be outfitted with video recording cameras. They say it's a matter of safety.

The Israelis say any ship heading to Gaza is going to be searched for contraband and weapons.

Our Ben Wedeman is in Gaza.

A bit of a satellite delay here, Ben, but, first, I want you to bring us up on what -- to date that you know about what could be the next confrontation. Any idea when this next relief ship could try to run into that Israeli blockade?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rick, we don't know specifically when it's going to be getting to Gaza. We understood that it was supposed to have arrived here either tomorrow or on Saturday.

But the organizers say that they now have proof, they say, that Israeli agents sabotaged some of the other ships that were in the previous flotilla, so they have gone into this dock. They're going to sort of bolster their protection measures. They're calling for more prominent personalities to join the ship, as well as journalists from around the world, so, in the event that Israel does try to stop this ship from coming to Gaza, at least they will have -- be able to document if that happens -- Rick.

GRIFFIN: Ben, on our show yesterday, we had conflicting information about what is happening to the Palestinians in Gaza.

I want you to listen to the leader of the Free Gaza Movement explain why -- why she's risking her volunteers' lives to bring in these supplies. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRETA BERLIN, CO-FOUNDER, FREE GAZA MOVEMENT: This is our ninth trip. We got in successfully five times. Five times, Israel did not stop us.

We have no obligation to tell Israel that we're coming. We're going straight from international waters into the waters of Gaza. We are delivering supplies that Israel refuses to have the people of Palestine, the people of Gaza to have, cement, olive trees, paper, crayons for the children. That was what was on our boats. And Israel had no right to stop us in international water and murder us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Ben, I got to ask you, because you are there in Gaza, is there desperate need for these things among the people who are living there?

WEDEMAN: Well, certainly, things like crayons, like cement are very hard to come by. The Israelis don't want cement to come in to Gaza because they're afraid that it -- it will be used to build bunkers.

But there's a list of banned products, products that Israel will not allow to come into Gaza. And it's sort of mind-boggling: instant coffee, chocolate, dried fruit, A4 paper, basically printing paper.

So, these things are hard to find. Now, by and large, Gaza -- there's nobody starving in Gaza. You go to the stores, they have -- the -- the shelves are stocked. But it's a problem of basically there's a limited amount of things that people can afford.

It's not that the stores are empty. It's that people's pockets are empty. Eighty percent of the population here, Rick, according to the United Nations, is dependent on food aid. And, in fact, this morning, we were at a U.N. center that hands out this food.

And these people really do depend on the U.N., on charities and others to basically keep them alive. But, really, the problem in Gaza is that it's not what's coming into Gaza. It's what's not going out of Gaza. Factories, farms that used to export to Israel can no longer do that, so people don't have work.

The only work you can find, really, is to work for the Hamas-led government. So, ironically, Israel's embargo on Gaza is really bolstering Hamas, because people know the only place they can get a job, make a living, really, is working for Hamas, so, a bit of irony here in Gaza -- Rick.

GRIFFIN: All right, Ben Wedeman live in Gaza, as that next relief ship has been delayed, not stopped, we're told, but delayed. So, we continue to watch this situation in both Gaza and Israel.

Ben Wedeman, thank you.

Well, a bad call that has everyone talking. A young baseball pitcher, that guy right there, a perfect game, it gets stolen from him. And get this. The ump, he admits he blew the call. That's ahead on the LIST.

And that's not the...

(CROSSTALK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had an inappropriate physical relationship with Nikki Haley.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: I got -- what is going on in South Carolina? That's not the first allegation. Is it true, or is this a case of boys talking out of school? What is going on in that state?

Jessica Yellin has the latest on the allegations against the state's married gubernatorial candidate.

What a mess, Jessica. We will get you right back.

(LAUGHTER)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A mess.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go right back to Kyra Phillips. She is on the development driller number three 50 miles out in the Gulf, directly over the operation in which BP is trying to at least close or mitigate this leak. Kyra joining us by phone now as a big storm is approaching there.

Kyra, just we got the latest from Thad Allen. Tell me how difficult it is to work in that environment.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, as you could see, Drew, you know, it was the first time that any reporter was able to get up live right here at the explosion site since it happened more than 40 days ago.

And as you know, with our business, when the weather moves in, it's hard to operate out here without the satellite. So, we got knocked out immediately and had to clear the deck. So, we're now inside obviously, a couple floors down. We're still able to watch the operations going on.

But there was two things that I wanted to make clear while we were here talking about the workers and actually seeing the operation unfold right here in front of us. The point was brought up, Drew -- as you know, not only is there an active mission going on here to respond to the worst oil disaster in this country, but we're also right now floating above a memorial site where 11 of the workers died, something that not one of these workers forgets every single day they get up to work.

And the third thing is there's an active, a possible active crime scene. And as you know, the Attorney General Eric Holder is considering weighing charges against what happened here, charges against BP. So, it's very important to find out what happened with that blowout preventer and bringing that BOP to the surface.

Just real quickly here, I'm going to have the admiral explain why that is crucial and why workers here want to see that blowout preventer to see exactly what went wrong. Admiral?

ADM. THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: Kyra, I don't want to get in to the investigative part of this, because that's something beyond my purview as the person running of my response here.

However, in the interest of the board of investigations going on and trying to understand the nature of the action itself, it will be extremely important that we be able to recover the blowout preventer from the bought.

And so there's a lot of reasons to want to get this well killed from the bottom, if you will, put mud down in it, equalize the pressure and be able to remove the blowout preventer and bring it to the surface.

ALLEN: And we've been able to see firsthand the blowout preventer that is being created -- or as they're drilling the well here, this relief well, we're seeing that new blowout preventer and how it's being attached, so when this is up and running, obviously it's a very crucial part of the success to this process, correct?

ALLEN: Well, blowout preventer are critical to any drilling operation out here, and I think everybody understands that probably nationally right now.

But just to stress the importance of the work that's going on, develop driller three and development driller two which are drilling the relief wells and the backup relief well, it's critically important that we take permanent steps to stop that flow of oil.

Regardless of the success of the containment cap that's being worked on very hard out here this afternoon, we really need to get these relief wells dug.

PHILLIPS: And, Drew, as you saw from the live shot we were able to show you, we're watching the efforts firsthand right here, every single one of these workers, they said it's a painstaking process. It's a stressful process, but they are doing everything possible to move quickly, but in a safe manner.

We saw what happened more than 40 days ago, and that's the last thing that they ever want to see happen again. And so I can tell you at this point right now, the operators are diligently working to put that top hat above where they sheared off the pipe so they can stop the gushing oil, Drew.

GRIFFIN: We have you exclusively now out on this rig. And it's the first time we're ever -- we're really getting a reporter's view of what's happening. So, I have a couple of questions. Number one, are you surrounded by oil? Are these workers having to work with the oil around them, with the oil in their noses? And is that hampering any of their efforts?

PHILLIPS: That is an outstanding question. And we actually have the visuals to show you, as soon as we get back off the rig. We have -- we've been seeing the efforts to tackle that exact issue.

When you fly in to the scene, it was about less than ten minutes out, you could smell the oil, Drew. It was so strong. It smells like fresh tar.

And as soon as we touched down on the rig, and I'm going to have the admiral explain this, we saw vessels out there spraying the water onto the oil. And I'm going to have him explain how that's helping with -- you know, eliminate those toxic fumes that these workers are having to breathe.

ALLEN: When the oil comes to the surface, it releases volatile organic compounds, and that has an impact on worker health. One of the ways you can reduce the impact of those compounds is to put water over the top of the oil which diminishes the vapors coming up.

There was a lot of that going on today while we were making the tour and conducting the interviews. They'll continue to do that, and there's a thunderstorm coming through that will accomplish that for them, but prior to the arrival of the thunderstorm it was necessary to put a water blanket over the top of the oil.

PHILLIPS: And you'll see that as soon as we're able to feed in that video of that process, Drew. And as you can imagine, there's about 500 workers out here on these rigs, it's all something that they're experiencing.

GRIFFIN: My second question, Kyra, you are on one of the -- the vessels that is drilling the relief well. We've been hearing --

PHILLIPS: Correct.

GRIFFIN: -- a lot about the capping operation, which was on the vessel that was behind you. But on the relief well, which could provide a more permanent solution to this leak, how is that process moving along? And do they think they will be able to update when they will be able to have that relief well drilled, hopefully before August, which is the last I've heard?

PHILLIPS: And that's exactly what these workers told me. August has been the date that we have heard obviously from the various sources involved in this operation.

But I have talked firsthand with these workers. And it's interesting. They won't say an exact date, say, in August. What they will tell me is that they're doing everything possible to get this finished as soon as they can.

And I will have the admiral explain to you the importance of these relief wells and how that operation's going 24/, as we observe the operation on Enterprise Discovery. You know, that's when we talk so much about, because it's happening right now, and that's the oil that is coming through at this moment at that exact site.

But these relief wells, as you mentioned, that's the final solution. Admiral, explain how these relief wells are a part -- we're sitting here, right here, above the final solution.

ALLEN: Kyra, the goal of the relief wells is to go down and intersect the wellbore of the original well and be able to pump mud down to counterbalance the pressure of the oil being pushed up from the reservoir below and in effect put the plug in to basically cap the well below the blowout preventer so they can actually stabilize the well, and at that point they can actually remove the blowout preventer.

We looked at the possibility of a top kill last week. That was not successful. This is what would you call a bottom kill to put mud into the wellbore to kill the well.

PHILLIPS: And that is something I learned firsthand here, Drew, as soon as we touched down, it's basically being referred to now as the "bottom kill."

GRIFFIN: All right. Kyra Phillips, I just want to stress to our audience, this is the very latest, late-breaking news, on this oil spill. You can't get any closer to the source of the information than right now, here on CNN, Kyra Phillips live with the guy in charge, Admiral Thad Allen 50 miles out in the Gulf aboard development driller number three, with the Enterprise Discovery in the background trying to cut and cap this well while they also try to drill two relief wells. And that's the very latest, live, on the scene, with Kyra Phillips, exclusively on CNN.

Kyra, I can't thank you enough, can't thank the admiral enough for the update. We'll be right back with Jessica Yellin in South Carolina.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: A strange election in South Carolina has just gotten more strange. I want you to listen to Nikki Haley. She is the Republican frontrunner for governor speaking last night just days before her party's big primary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: It's absolutely false. Secondly, it screams of the disgust in South Carolina politics when five days before the paid consultant of an opponent comes out and makes an allegation like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: She is talking about an allegation of an extramarital -- I wouldn't call it an affair. It's just a one-nighter. It is the second such charge against Nikki Haley in less than two weeks.

We reported on the first one. Political blogger Will Folks alleged late last month that he and Haley shared an inappropriate physical relationship in 2007. He released some late-night texts that he received from Nikki Haley which the Haley camp hasn't denied. But he hasn't produced anything to trump Haley's denial.

And things seemed to die down until yesterday when a second man now comes forward, saying, oh, yes, he slept with Haley during a conference in Utah in 2008.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY MARCHANT, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: We had several drinks. We went to dinner. We went to a couple of bars. We were with a lot of people. And, you know, we -- it just happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: I can't tell you who is asking. Here's the thing, Larry Marchant, like Will Folks is a well connected Republican who might have an interest in Haley being defeated. Marchant was a consultant to Haley's chief rival, this guy, Lieutenant Governor Andre Bower until bower fired him yesterday for what the campaign is calling inappropriate conduct.

Nikki Haley is saying that Bower is orchestrating a smear and she said they fired Marchant to make his sex allegation more believable. Bower is denying that.

Two words, Jessica Yellin, "hot mess." What is going on in South Carolina? Oh, you're in Los Angeles? Sorry.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm in Los Angeles.

GRIFFIN: Wherever.

YELLIN: But this story we got to cover. We got to cover this story.

A few words, you can't make this up, Drew. It's unbelievable. So, let's point out a few things. One is Nikki Haley has surged to the head of the pack politically there. She is the frontrunner. So, this is clearly something that could harm her chances and help everyone else.

She's backed by two very popular women in the state, Sarah Palin and Jenny Sanford, the wife of also troubled Governor Mark Sanford. Clearly someone's lying here, right? The men say something happened. The woman says nothing happened. It's a he said, she said, but with lots of political implications, Drew.

GRIFFIN: I don't care who said, what said, she said -- where's the gentlemanly discretion here? Whether or not it happened, why are the guys talking? We're accustomed to covering sex scandals involving men. This is kind of a new territory. YELLIN: Isn't it? Yes. And it raises some questions. Obviously this woman is seeking the governor's office. She is playing in the big game, and we need to treat this the same way we would treat any allegations, not of impropriety in their personal life, but public hypocrisy.

Nikki Haley, while family values isn't the theme of her campaign -- she's a fiscal conservative and those are her messages -- she has hit on her family messages as part of her public image. I think we have an ad, so if Roger -- I'm going to channel Rick Sanchez here for a minute -- Roger, you have that ad?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALEY: I've seen the dark side of our state's politics and I know the bright side of our state's people. I'm Nikki Haley, and this is my husband, Michael. I would be deeply honored to serve as your governor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: So she's a family woman. She's actually said she's a family values candidate. I should add that her campaign manager has issued a statement saying, Drew, that this is the good old boys in South Carolina are trying to do because she's taking down their, quote, "tax-payer-funded fraternity party," politics.

GRIFFIN: Yes, she's a woman who has a husband is what I got out of that ad.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, big deal. I guess the question I have, is this hurting her at all? Or is it increasing her lead in the polls?

YELLIN: There haven't been any good polls since this has all broken, so we're not sure. She is the frontrunner. This is likely to come down to a runoff where the top two vote-getters will still have to compete. But, you know, this is a state that's used to Mark Sanford and tons of scandals, and so maybe it's just par for the course there.

GRIFFIN: All right.

YELLIN: We're going to have to see, but it's definitely got us talking.

GRIFFIN: Jessica Yellin, you got us talking all the time. Thanks a lot for that.

YELLIN: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: Live from California somewhere.

Well, once a suspect in an American teen's disappearance in Aruba, Joran Van Der Sloot captured and now the prime suspect of a woman's death in Peru. What does a private investigator in the first case think about that? I'll talk to him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Joran Van Der Sloot under arrest right now in Santiago, Chile. I want to show you the picture of the guy, because he changed looks. He almost looks like a skinhead now, the young man suspected of Natalee Holloway's disappearance five years ago now suspected in the stabbing deal of a young woman in Peru.

Harold Copus is watching this video with me, the former FBI agent who worked as a private investigator in the Holloway case. Interesting to say the least. You've been tracking this guy's whereabouts, and you were just telling me what he's doing in Peru. He's a gambler.

HAROLD COPUS, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: He's a gambler, he was on a junket in some gambling deal, down there for seven or eight days. The question is, how do you finance all this? How do you finance all of his traveling?

GRIFFIN: Authorities never charged him in Aruba with the murder. The family all along has said he did it. The family of Natalee Holloway -- did it. I think Natalee Holloway's uncle just came out with a release saying we can't believe it happened to another girl.

Have you been tracking him all these five years and his whereabouts? And has he shown any kind of remorse or any change in his lifestyle?

COPUS: No change in lifestyle. No remorse. And I guess about every year or so there's something else comes up on the radar screen and you do a little bit more work on him. But nothing has stuck. He's sort of like Teflon. It will be interesting to see what happens on this one.

GRIFFIN: This case, you know, you're a former FBI agent, you've investigated these kinds of cases. There seems to be a lot more circumstantial and certainly physical evidence connected to him if we're to believe the authorities down in Peru. There's blood, right?

COPUS: Yes.

GRIFFIN: There's a hotel room in his name. There's video of him with this woman, who he was last seen with, and then he's fleeing the country.

COPUS: Well, you put all that together, and you have one thing we didn't have in the Natalee case, we have a body. And that in itself is the most interesting.

So, it will be interesting now to see what happens with the evidence that's going to come out in this trial. What did they do and what do they have to connect Van Der Sloot back to this young girl?

GRIFFIN: Anything that happens now, could it help resolve the Natalee Holloway case or is that pretty much over? COPUS: I think it's two different cases, but if I were the investigator in Peru right now, I'd try doing a little trading. You know, maybe I can get you two eggs for breakfast or something for the next 50 years you'll be in jail, can you tell me and let's get some closure for Beth and tell us about the Holloway girl.

GRIFFIN: Among law enforcement officials in different countries, do they really want to solve a crime in Aruba if they're down there, too?

COPUS: Certainly. It's just like anything else. There's a parent somewhere. That police officer probably has some children, and he's thinking if that were my daughter in Aruba, I certainly would like to know what had happened to her.

GRIFFIN: You said this guy's slippery, this guy's crafty. We're talking about Van Der Sloot. Do you anticipate him falling on his sword, confessing, and giving up?

COPUS: Van Der Sloot is a narcissistic, he's arrogant. I cannot believe that he will confess to anything unless they have hard evidence.

GRIFFIN: It sounds like they might.

COPUS: It sounds like they might.

GRIFFIN: Any U.S. involvement with this prosecution at all?

COPUS: None. Let's just see what happens in Peru. Peru doesn't have a death penalty, but it has a horrible prison system.

GRIFFIN: Yes. Howard Copus, thanks for joining us.

COPUS: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: On the arrest of Mr. Van Der Sloot.

Well, terrifying moments. Get a load of this video. The Haitian palace hit by the earthquake. This video just released. We'll play it for you.

And Wall Street delivers another blow to BP. The oil giant's debt rating is slashed again. Can BP survive? Poppy's got that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Time to check the list of the most intriguing people in the news today.

Intriguing because he got robbed, he got robbed, I tell you. He's a pitcher in the big leagues. And if you're not a Detroit Tigers' fan, you probably never heard of this guy until today. Last night he was making baseball history a perfect game, right until the bottom of the ninth, two outs. That's when this happened. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hitters in the line-up to face here against the Indians. And a swing and a high fly ball toward left center field. Jackson is on the run. Still going, he makes the catch!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, he gets it!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ground ball. Right side. Cabrera, will cut it off. He's out. No, he's safe! He is safe!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Did you see -- take a look at this. He is not safe. He is out. That was a runner being called safe, but, come on, clearly out. It's a bad call by the ump. It cost our most intriguing person his spot in the history books.

Read with me from a "Sports Illustrated" writer today. He calls the play, quote, "The most heartbreaking miscall in baseball history" and says "immortal fame was his."

Who are we talking about? This guy right here, Detroit Tigers Armando Galarraga. The umpire did apologize to him tearfully, we're told, and admitted it was a horrible call, but rules are rules, for now, anyway, that that call stays.

The league commissioner just put out a statement that he's going to look at it, study it, maybe will overrule it. If he does, Armando Galarraga will have pitched only the 21st perfect game ever in the majors. That's intriguing.