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Rick's List
Van der Sloot Confession Coerced?; BP and Obama Administration Under Fire Over Oil Spill Response; Judge Reprimands Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich
Aired June 10, 2010 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: As we begin this newscast, I'm honored to report that we are the news of record for American Forces Network at this hour. We so welcome all the troops watching us from all the different countries overseas.
Here now is your national conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Here's what's making the LIST on this day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to have to ask you to stop taking pictures.
SANCHEZ: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's more important for the animals.
SANCHEZ: Because they are worried about the well-being of the birds? What, their egos, not being captured in the right light? You can't make this stuff up. Do the pictures hurt the birds or BP's P.R.?
SEN. JOHN ENSIGN (R), NEVADA: We should just put some BP executives in the oil.
SANCHEZ: More on BP. Guess who has amassed the most egregious, willful citations from OSHA over the last three years? It's not even close. BP, 760. The next biggest violator, eight -- 8.
Then there's BP's government-approved plan for protecting the Gulf from a spill. They will be mindful of walruses. Walruses in the Gulf of Mexico. Who approved this?
Was Joran van der Sloot's confession coerced? That's what his attorneys are now saying. They want the judge to toss it out. We have got details live from Lima.
Carly Fiorina in a hairy situation, after getting caught saying this about her opponent. CARLY FIORINA (R), FLORIDA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: God, what is that hair?
SANCHEZ: Um, Ms. Fiorina, your microphone is on.
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, it is 4:00. Let's bang it out. You ready? Time to pick up the pace of today's LIST for those of you just now checking in.
And you're not going to believe what these papers in front of me right here reveal. I'm going to show you something that shocked me when I saw it. So, ready? Take a look. It says something about BP on these papers I'm reading. This is a tally of the violations that OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has filed against oil refineries in the last three years.
Look at BP's numbers. Look at BP's numbers: 760 egregious, willful violations -- egregious. OSHA hands out this type of violation when they see the same issue over and over again, a serious safety infraction that doesn't get fixed.
Again, BP has 760 of them. Now, keep that 760 number in your mind as you look at the violations OSHA handed out to some of the other oil and gas companies during this same time period. Sunoco, eight. ConocoPhillips, four. Citgo, two. ExxonMobil, one. That's crazy. BP, 760 egregious violations.
But there's more. This is BP's oil spill response plan that I have right here issued in 12/1/00, revised just last year. This is the paper they filed with the government explaining what they will do if there were to be a spill. Remember, we're talking about the Gulf of Mexico. It says right there on the form -- I'm reading it to you -- regional oil spill response plan for the Gulf of Mexico.
Now, you know that form also says that they're going to protect walruses and seals. That's right. You heard it right. They're going to protect walruses and seals. There are no walruses and seals in the Gulf of Mexico. It's almost as if they just repurposed their Alaska plan, and nobody in the government noticed. Walruses? Really?
BP's plan also includes using experts. And one of the experts caught my eye because, well, I'm from Miami. It lists this guy, Peter Lutz of the University of Miami, as a person to contact in an emergency. That's odd, because, if you Google Peter Lutz, as we did, here's what we found: his obituary.
Lutz died four years before this report was re-released. So, they're telling people to call a guy who is dead. Not only that: BP lists Lutz as a University of Miami professor. Guess what else we found out? Left -- Lutz left the University of Miami in 1991 -- 1991. This thing was out last year, 1999.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Jim Morris -- pardon me -- 2009.
Jim Morris is the project manager at the Center for Public Integrity, and he knows all about these violations, and he's good enough to join us now.
Mr. Morris, I'm not quite sure I know what to say after reading some of this information. Was anybody minding the store?
JIM MORRIS, PROJECT MANAGER, CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: Apparently not.
This all starts with the 2005 explosion in Texas City, Texas, the BP refinery, that killed 15 workers. And one would think that that would be enough of a -- a signal that, you know, you had to get your act together. So, OSHA has been going in -- into that refinery off and on for the last five years.
And one reason they proposed an $87 million fine against OSHA and issued all these egregious, willful and -- willful citations was because BP apparently didn't learn -- learn any lessons from that tragedy.
SANCHEZ: But -- but what -- how -- explain that for us. How do you not learn lessons? How do you continue to do the same things over and over again? And what is the environment that causes that?
MORRIS: Well, that's a very good question. After the -- after the 2005 explosion, there was an independent panel commissioned. And it was headed by former Secretary of State James Baker.
And, in 2007, that panel issued a lengthy report documenting all the sort of safety culture problems at BP. And one of the things they found is that workers felt that production came ahead of safety, that they were not in a position to raise safety concerns because upper management at BP was so insistent that production be kept high.
SANCHEZ: I -- I -- you know, that's interesting, but I -- I can't help but wonder, we -- we did have the MMS. We have government agencies. We have supervisors, regulators. We have, hell, politicians who are now all standing up and screaming, why did we -- why is BP doing this and why is this all going on?
And, yet, when I look at certain blogs to find out how much money the oil and gas industry gave out, I see pretty much all of those politicians' names on there, whether they're Democrats or Republicans or whatever they are.
I mean, have we set up a system where we almost knew this had to be coming around the corner because BP and other oil and gas industries have just become very powerful? MORRIS: I -- I think that's part of it.
Also, I should point out that there was a hearing in the Senate just this morning on the whole industry, not just BP, but there -- you know, I want to emphasize there are -- there have been problems, safety problems, in this whole oil refining industry.
And that is why OSHA launched a special nationwide inspection program just about three years ago.
SANCHEZ: Huh.
MORRIS: And, in fact, that's the data we got to do our analysis.
So, yes, BP certainly has far more egregious citations than any other oil company, but there have been -- there have been problems at other refineries, most recently, in April, a refinery in Washington State, the Tesoro, had a fire that killed seven workers. So...
SANCHEZ: We -- we -- bottom line, and before I let you go, we should probably -- and I'm not an expert -- you are much closer to it -- we should probably not allow these -- this -- this type of drilling to continue until we get guarantees that they're going to be doing two wellheads, a relief well drill and the actual top-down one, right? Because it seems to me, after everything I have read, that's what other countries do, and we should just do the same thing as a -- as a safety procedure.
MORRIS: Yes, I -- I think so. And you have to remember that 11 workers died on the Deepwater Horizon.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MORRIS: It is an environmental disaster but it also killed 11 people.
SANCHEZ: My thanks to you, Mr. Morris, for coming on and sharing your expertise on this.
MORRIS: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: All right. All right. We -- we welcome those of you who answer some of the -- we're going to be right back.
By the way, take -- take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That's Joran van der Sloot after his confession. It may get tossed. His attorneys are claiming coercion. That's coming up in just a little bit. Did you really expect that Rod Blagojevich would get through this trial without getting into trouble? Come on. The judge had to reprimand him now, and the trial has just started. The Blagojevich or the Blago trial, that's coming up next on the Roundup.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Pat (ph) from Louisiana.
BP is being selfish and greedy by not using their resources to take care of the oil leak quickly and to save the Gulf Coast. Plus, the Gulf Coast has -- has fallen prey to this foreigner who doesn't care about our coast or the people who live here.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Outside of the list you don't want to be on, this is one of the most important lists that we share with you every day. Ready?
Here's the roundup list.
Number one: Britain's new prime minister is in Afghanistan and got a taste of life in a war zone today. A military source said that they had to juggle David Cameron's -- David Cameron's in-country travel plans a bit after a -- quote -- "operational situation in an area he was scheduled to visit."
What does that mean? OK.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: I believe that's military speak for danger, warning, Will Robinson, as in there's a possibility something could be planned to attack him. Neither Cameron nor his entourage came under attack, though. We will watch it.
Number two: major, major goof-ups at Arlington National Cemetery, lousy management, and poor record-keeping. And the worst is this, some military graves were marked with the wrong names or not marked at all. That's the finding of an eight-month military investigation.
The secretary of the Army fired the two senior managers who oversee operations at the cemetery. We apologize for this video of just talking heads.
And, today, he apologized on behalf of the Pentagon to the families of the fallen troops affected by the mistakes.
Here's number three.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: A federal judge tells Rod Blagojevich, basically, pipe down and sit still. Day two of the former Illinois governor's corruption trial, and prosecutors say that Blagojevich was so animated and flamboyant yesterday with sounds and hand gestures to people in the courtroom, that he was causing a distraction, possibly affecting the jury.
Witnesses say Blagojevich began today's session sitting today quietly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLY FIORINA (R), FLORIDA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Lauder (ph) saw Barbara Boxer briefly on television this morning, and said what everyone says. God, what is that hair?
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And it conservative. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina gets caught in an open-mike situation, taking shots at her opponent, talking about her hair. And this mistake has been made before. But, this time, it's made and it's making its way onto one of our lists.
Also, why are South Carolina Democrats trying to get rid of the guy who just won their Senate primary? Could have something to do with obscene photos. That's just one of the reasons. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right, top of our follow-up list now: a political surprise in South Carolina.
I'm going to show you somebody right here. You see him right there? He's an unemployed Army veteran, Alvin Greene. He won the right to take on Republican Senator Jim DeMint in the fall. He won the Democratic nomination without raising any funds.
He didn't even need to put up a -- a campaign Web site. Well, here's the problem. There's other new information. He has a pending felony charge because he's accused of showing obscene images to a college student.
Peter Hamby has been following South Carolina politics for us for quite some time, which, by the way, can be a messy business, Peter. And now there's something messy again.
Who is this guy? Where is he coming from? What's going on with him, Peter?
PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Well, I think Gawker had the best headline the night he won the primary, which said, random unemployed dude wins the right to take on senator Jim DeMint.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Random unemployed dude. (LAUGHTER)
HAMBY: Right. No one had ever heard of him before he won on Tuesday night. He defeated the guy who was expected to win, Vic Rawl, although Rawl didn't really do any campaigning either.
And, all of a sudden, Alvin Greene won 60 percent of the vote. And he is unemployed. He says he was in the Army and the Air Force. He's currently collecting unemployment checks, but he still managed to find the $10,440 to file to be on the Democratic Party's ballot in South Carolina.
SANCHEZ: Well, what about this pending felony charge, accused of showing obscene images to a college student? I mean, that -- that could be many, many, many things, from something not so serious to something very serious. What is it?
HAMBY: Right.
Well, he -- he was charged with this felony for showing lewd pictures to a University of South Carolina student last year. He's being represented by a public defender at this, which again raises questions of where he came up with this filing fee.
But, again, Alvin Greene pretty much has zero chance of beating Jim DeMint in November.
(LAUGHTER)
HAMBY: So, the fact that there's a controversy surrounding him as well, it -- it's almost irrelevant in terms of the politics of it.
SANCHEZ: Well, but he's going to stay in the race, right, as far as you know?
HAMBY: Yes. Yes. The results became official at 3:00 p.m. So, Alvin Greene is the new Democratic Senate nominee...
(LAUGHTER)
HAMBY: ... against Jim DeMint.
I talked to two state lawmakers in Columbia today who said they meant with him privately to kind of talk about this. One lawmakers pressed him to get out. Another said he was concerned for his well- being.
But he told them, you know, I'm going to stay in this race and focus on the issues relevant to South Carolina.
SANCHEZ: I have got a question for you.
HAMBY: Sure.
SANCHEZ: You know, I -- I'm -- I'm writing a book about this, so, to me, this is very important. I think, sometimes, we all get caught up in this thing what we call conventional wisdom.
HAMBY: Yes.
SANCHEZ: And, half the time, I think it ends up being more like conventional idiocy. But it seems like everybody in the country was going around, running around, saying, oh, it's the day incumbents are all going to be destroyed. They're all going down.
Guess what? There was no anti-incumbency thing in this last primary. As a matter of fact, most of them won, right?
(CROSSTALK)
HAMBY: Every race is different.
And, yes, we -- you know, the -- the press corps...
(LAUGHTER)
HAMBY: ... we tend to make these narratives...
(LAUGHTER)
HAMBY: ... and develop conventional wisdom. You know, look what happened in Arkansas. A moderate senator won the Democratic nomination, and -- and sort of confounded everybody who assumed it was an anti-establishment year.
I don't know if you can say that this has -- this primary in South Carolina has much to do with it. There were 170,000 votes. Neither person campaigned very hard.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
HAMBY: Alvin Greene's name was at the top of the ballot.
(LAUGHTER)
HAMBY: And you know what? In South Carolina...
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
HAMBY: ... in races like that, people just tend to go with the guy at the top of the list.
SANCHEZ: You sound like you're saying, by golly, we're going to make this narrative work yet. You wait. Next election.
HAMBY: No, I'm not...
(LAUGHTER)
HAMBY: Yes, we will see.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Hey, Peter, always good talking with you. We will see what the voters decide to do.
And, you know, they're never -- you can never figure them out anyway. So, I appreciate...
HAMBY: Thanks, Rick.
SANCHEZ: I appreciate your time. Take it -- thanks for taking us through this whole South Carolina debacle.
HAMBY: That's fine.
SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, an American border guard shoots. A Mexican teenager dead. This video is amazing. And now the guard's defense is that he's being challenged by this new video. Brooke Baldwin is here. She's going to be drilling down on this tape for us in just a little bit...
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: ... as she looks at me from across the room.
Also, day 52 of the oil spill, but why did it get to day 52? You -- you hate to be redundant with this story, but why wasn't there a plan ready in case of a disaster? Other countries make sure they're ready for the worst-case scenario. Why didn't we, the good old U.S. of A., have one that was as adequate?
We're going to be right back. This is your national conversation, your list, RICK'S LIST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: This is interesting.
We have had part of this conversation during this newscast. A lot of you, including myself, are asking why the government, our government, the U.S. government, didn't require BP to have a backup system, you know, a relief well, just in case the first well and the blowout preventer, as we have been explaining on this show repeatedly, didn't work.
Well, guess what? It didn't work. And there wasn't a second well, another drill, a relief drill, as they say. Now consider this, most other countries do require this secondary relief when building rigs.
I'm going to show you some of the countries that we're talking about, countries that had the forethought to think this through, and we didn't.
Brazil, they figured it out. Norway, yes, they figured it out as well. And our neighbors to the north, Canada, they require it. And here's some irony. They, Canada, and their government have been under increasing pressure from lobbyists just recently to overturn this very expensive policy which the oil and gas companies didn't want to do. They were trying to lobby them to get rid of it just months before this oil spill in the Gulf.
Canada now gets to, well, learn from our lesson. Obviously, most people say, now, they won't.
Meanwhile, take a look at this: a teenager attempting to sail around the world solo is missing somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Her distress signal was turned on during rough seas. What happened after that is a missing. The story is breaking right now, and our Brooke Baldwin is staying on it for us. Wow. Some story.
Also, sugar, cream or cash with your espresso? The broken holdup at a coffee stand makes our list as well. We will be right back.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: This is your national conversation, RICK'S LIST, after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Some people absolutely must have their morning coffee. Well, some people also can't get through the day without seeing "Fotos Del Dia."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
That is an espresso stand in Washington State. But this guy wanted cash, not caffeine.
He jumped in the drive-through window, tied up the clerk, and took off with the cash. Can you believe this? Talk about brazen.
Officers believe the same man held up another store a few hours earlier in the same fashion. The suspect -- and nine other coffee stand robberies that apparently have taken place in the area. They're wondering what's going on.
You've heard of, like, a niche marketing? Well, this guy is into niche robbery.
Now, question: What do you get when you combine a hibachi chef with Ringo Starr? Answer: The most enthusiastic drummer that we've ever seen.
The band is Rick K. and the Allnighters. I love this guy.
The song is "Sharp Dressed Man," and, of course, "Wipeout," which we all played in my generation. This video was posted online nine days ago and has already had more than 1.5 million views. The guy is really good.
Now, this is just plain amazing. See this grainy old photograph right here? All right. It was taken over 30 years ago at Disney World.
The little boy and girl highlighted just happen to be part of the same snapshot, totally random -- they never met -- that is until decades later, when they fell in love and got married. They found this picture just before their wedding and realized their paths had crossed many years before.
Oh, I guess it really is a small world after all. Was it destiny at Disney? You've got to love that line, huh?
And you can see all of our "Fotos," by the way, by just going to my blog. And my blog is CNN.com/ricksanchez.
CARLY FIORINA (R), CALIFORNIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Lowder (ph) saw Barbara Boxer briefly on television this morning and said what everyone says, "God, what is that hair?"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Uh-oh. Hours after winning the California Senate primary, what does Carly Fiorina do? She goes for the throat, or, in this case, the hair, trashing her opponent's style. The only problem, the mike was on.
What list do you think she's going to be on today? We'll have it for you.
And then Brooke follows that which trends for us. And today, look, she's coming up with a friend. Because you know what? It really is a small world after all.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Your daughter is worried you're about to break out in song.
SANCHEZ: Is that right?
BALDWIN: That would not be cool.
SANCHEZ: Do you want to sing, Savannah?
SAVANNAH SANCHEZ, RICK SANCHEZ'S DAUGHTER: No.
SANCHEZ: OK.
Oh, she's so sweet.
BALDWIN: Dad (ph), you're embarrassing her.
SANCHEZ: I have to say that.
We'll be right back. Stay there.
RICK'S LIST continues after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: This is interesting. I'm joined now by my colleague, who brings us the trending stories every single day.
Glad to have you here, Brooke.
It's funny; Savannah came up a little while ago and everyone is tweeting about Savannah. You know, just show a kid or a puppy on TV, and you can't go wrong.
BALDWIN: It's awesome.
SANCHEZ: They say, "Savannah is adorable."
BALDWIN: There she is.
SANCHEZ: What do they say?
BALDWIN: Look, she's just chilling.
SANCHEZ: They say, "Hi, Savannah. You're doing just fine. Tell your daddy to move over and you do the show."
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: She's, like, sweet. She's just hanging out.
SANCHEZ: She'd probably do it well.
All right. We've got a couple of stories. And this is interesting. Both of these stories involve teenagers. One is a 16- year-old, and another one is a 14-year-old.
BALDWIN: Fourteen-year-old.
SANCHEZ: You're going to start with the kid in Mexico, right?
BALDWIN: I'm going to start with the kid in Mexico, because we have this incredible, very compelling video that's telling a bit of a different side of the story.
But, first, let me back up and just at least explain what's going on.
We have this story. It's out of Ciudad Jaurez. And it all involves this 14-year-old who was shot and killed along the Mexico border. This happened Monday night.
And basically, the man who pulled the trigger -- that is what is obviously making the news here -- was a U.S. Border Patrol agent. And he was responding to a call of possible immigrant smuggling into the U.S.
But I want you to -- let's walk through this video together, because this is what's new. And this is the cell phone video from one of the eyewitnesses on the Mexican side. Right? So, if you can see, a couple of these different individuals, they're racing back toward the Mexico side, which is on the left hand side of your screen. You can see the Border Patrol agent, and he's raising his arm, presumably with that firearm. Fires a couple of shots.
In fact, let's go to the sound. Let's roll the sound. You can hear those shots.
(GUNFIRE)
SANCHEZ: He hit him. He hit him. Oh, my God, look. He's firing at him, she (ph) said. He's firing at him.
BALDWIN: Yes. And they're talking about throwing these rocks. What's important to explain here, there is an edit --
SANCHEZ: All right. But hold on. I'm confused. The kid is where, on the United States' side of the border or on Mexican?
BALDWIN: It's on the Mexico side, so it's on the left hand side.
SANCHEZ: And the agent is on --
BALDWIN: The agent is on the U.S. side.
SANCHEZ: So, a U.S. Border Patrol agent fired into another country and killed a juvenile?
BALDWIN: Correct.
SANCHEZ: Who was throwing rocks at him?
BALDWIN: We don't know if it was the juvenile firing rocks. We couldn't even see the rocks thrown in the video. But the fact of the matter is, it was this 14-year-old on the Mexican side, and shot and killed.
SANCHEZ: Well, fair is fair. It seems to me -- and you want to defend your own guys, but that looks like excessive force.
BALDWIN: That's precisely what Mexico is saying. But the FBI is saying that he was surrounded. And they're not revealing the identity of this Border Patrol agent, because, of course, this investigation is pending right now.
But I want to play, so we can be fair, let me play what the FBI is saying here. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREA SIMMONS, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: There were subjects who were throwing rocks at one of the Border Patrol agents while they were trying to make these arrests. That is classified as an assault on a federal officer. So that's why the FBI is involved. That's part of our jurisdiction. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Wow.
BALDWIN: Yes. So, again, they're saying he was surrounded, and that's sort of not necessarily clear in this video, right? Because you see him, and when he lifts his arm, you see he's been dragging one of these individuals, but it doesn't appear that there's anyone around. And then you have this 14-year-old --
SANCHEZ: Surrounded, though. Wait a minute.
BALDWIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: She says that they were surrounded. So, she's saying there were people behind him, suspects. That would mean they were in the United States.
BALDWIN: Perhaps in the United States or on the Mexican side.
SANCHEZ: Well, then how can they be surrounding him if he's -- well, I tell you what --
BALDWIN: We don't know. But then you have the 14-year-old. Here's the video again, and we can walk through it.
SANCHEZ: Well, which one is the cop there?
BALDWIN: Right there, the one in the white shirt. You see that?
SANCHEZ: OK.
BALDWIN: So, he grabs this guy. Again, there's an edit. He's raising his arm, he's shooting from the U.S. side. We see the other individual is on the ground, and then that is the 14-year-old down.
SANCHEZ: Wow.
BALDWIN: So, anyway, that's the story. And then, quickly, this 14-year-old, of course the parents here --
SANCHEZ: This is a different story?
BALDWIN: No, this is the same story. I just want to play the parents. They are -- they can't believe this happened.
Let's play the parents sound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He was just a kid.
MARIA GUADALUPE GUERECA, MOTHER (through translator): He didn't even kill him in his land. He was here in Mexico. Why did he do it?
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: So, you're raising all the right questions. And it is clear. It's very nebulous still, and that's why the FBI is involved, you have Mexico involved, talking about how this is a disproportionate use of force. So, that's just the video we have, and that is beginning to tell one part of the story.
Story number two here -- and this is just developing now, we're just get thing in right now -- this involves the 16-year-old, you'll remember, who left southern California back in January, and she wanted to be the youngest person to sail around the world solo. In fact, this is an iReport from when he was leaving back in January.
This is Abby Sunderland. And today, it appears she may be in a bit of trouble.
CNN has learned that she triggered a distress signal right around 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time, just an hour after she last spoke with her family. She's been in contact with them because she has had a satellite phone. And now, as you can imagine -- you're a parent -- you know, her family is desperately trying to get the government involved, they have this massive rescue effort under way, the Australian government now involved, to locate this young woman.
Her sailboat is 40 feet long. It was in the Indian Ocean last. And according to this bother, it was in the middle of nowhere, 2,000 miles east of Madagascar.
And we checked her blog, because you know she's been blogging. And I just got off the Internet, and her last entry, let me read you the first line of the journal entry. It says, "I've been in some rough weather for a while with winds steady at 40 to 45 knots with higher gusts."
So, the weather here obviously might be part of the story. But, again, she started her journey in January, but the parents, you know, there was a lot of controversy over this. They took a lot of heat because the parents letting their 16-year-old go around the world.
It's frightening.
SANCHEZ: Well, yes. Sometimes people make decisions that I certainly wouldn't make.
BALDWIN: Well, hopefully she's OK.
SANCHEZ: Good stuff. Let's keep working on that story out of Mexico. You're right, there's a lot of questions in that stuff.
BALDWIN: Good question, yes.
SANCHEZ: All right.
What was supposed to be an interview with a Senate candidate, Carly Fiorina, turned into a now-viral video. She was caught, well, trashing Barbara Boxer's hair with an open mike. And that has put her on "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On." That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is RICK'S LIST.
There are absolutes in this business. For example, if you don't want people to hear something, well, then don't say it, especially if you're anywhere near a camera or a microphone, right?
Time now for "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On."
Carly Fiorina is a new candidate for the U.S. Senate in California. She handily and impressively won her primary election Tuesday night.
All she then had to do was go on TV the next day and appear dignified and competent and ready to take on all the serious issues; right? But what she did instead was, well, just the opposite, because the issue she has everyone now talking about is her opponent's hair.
That's right, a critique of Barbara Boxer's hair is what she, Fiorina, said yesterday when she didn't realize that she was being recorded even though she was in front of a camera, she was wearing a microphone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIORINA: Lowder (ph) saw Barbara Boxer briefly on television this morning and said what everyone says, "God, what is that hair?"
(LAUGHTER)
FIORINA: So yesterday. You just --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: So yesterday. That's her right after making the comment. She obviously is a little concerned. Should be.
In fact, I was interested in watching my wife's reaction to this tape. So I asked my wife about it this morning, after breakfast.
By the way, my wife is not exactly a political junkie, all right? She doesn't really follow the U.S. Senate races in California, barely even knows much about Carly Fiorina. But she knows women, and here's what she said.
"That will hurt her. Not so much with men, but with other women." She suggested it pushes forward that ugly stereotype about women being catty, especially with other women.
By the way, you know what my wife's other reaction was? "So, what is with Barbara Boxer's hair? Was it that bad?"
All right. We've got the video. I want to show it to you. That's the closest we could find to Barbara Boxer when or about the same time that Fiorina was criticizing her hair. Not my place to call, folks. She was making the morning rounds that day. You decide whether that's appropriate hair or if that haircut is yesterday, whatever that means.
By the way, Carly Fiorina ran a huge corporation, Hewlett Packard. But the general consensus in the business world is, well, not well. Packard's stock tanked under her leadership.
We contacted Carly Fiorina's campaign headquarters today. Her spokesperson told us, "This was nothing but early morning small talk."
Regardless of the time of day, Carly Fiorina, newly elected Senate candidate from the state of California, on this day tops our "List That U don't Want 2 be On."
President Obama has been criticized for not visiting the Gulf early or often enough. Now he's taking heat for not attending a specific memorial.
This is on the list of things that we're going to be talking about next. With whom? Why, with Wolf Blitzer, that's whom. That's next.
This is your national conversation.
As we go to break, by the way, I want to show you we've got some guests in the studio. Not just my daughter Savannah, but some folks who came in a little while ago who will wave as we go to break.
We'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
An interesting exchange in the White House briefing room which could cause some -- well, some embarrassment for the president of the United States. And that's making our political list today as well.
Let me first play it for you.
Go ahead. Hit it, Dana (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERYL GAY STOLBERG, "NEW YORK TIMES": When the miners died in West Virginia, the president went to the memorial service. There was a memorial service last month for the victims of the BP disaster. Why didn't the president go to that?
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I would have to look at the schedule, Sheryl. I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: Now, this is interesting, because, you know, we've done a little investigating on this just to find out where the president was at that time. And Wolf Blitzer is joining us now.
Wolf, as I understand it -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- the president was around out West at the time. I think he was in California. Was he not at a fund-raiser?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: He went out to San Francisco for a fund-raiser for Barbara Boxer, the Democratic senator from California. I don't know if that was exactly the same time as that memorial service done along the Gulf Coast.
I suspect, though, if they had a do-over, if they had to do it over, knowing what they know now, they would have wanted the president to be at that memorial service. He did not attend.
He did have, earlier today over at the White House, some of the family members of the 11 men who were killed in that rig explosion. He met with them privately at the White House today.
He's going back there Monday and Tuesday, to Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. He's been to Louisiana, I think, three times already. So I'm sure he would have -- knowing what we all know now, I'm sure he probably would have liked to have been at that memorial service.
SANCHEZ: Do you agree, I mean, that some presidents are more adept at the perception game than others? Bill Clinton was fantastic.
BLITZER: Yes, I covered the White House when Bill Clinton was president, and all of us remember, it was a turning point in his presidency after the Oklahoma City bombing of the Murrah Federal Office Building.
SANCHEZ: Right.
BLITZER: That memorial service that occurred a few days later, on that Sunday, I remember I was out there, I was working with Bernie Shaw. He was our anchor at the time. And it was one of the moments that really began to turn things around for Bill Clinton in his bid to get himself re-elected, because he showed so much emotion.
He felt the pain of everyone in Oklahoma. Indeed, all over the country. And people responded very, very favorably to what he said that day and how he behaved.
SANCHEZ: That's an interesting part of the conversation. Sometimes perception can become reality in terms of a president's ability to show his leadership by showing that, you know, it's a cliche, but he's got to look like he feels the pain, so to speak. So we'll follow this and we'll see how it develops.
Wolf, thanks so much. Appreciate your time.
BLITZER: Thank you. We're going to, by the way, speak with some of the widows of those who were killed. That's coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
SANCHEZ: Wolf Blitzer, "THE SITUATION ROOM," coming up in just a little bit.
Making our crime list, developments in the Joran van der Sloot case. There's new video of him with the woman that he confessed to killing. And get this -- now his attorneys are saying that that confession is no good, can't use it.
We're live in Lima, Peru, next.
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SANCHEZ: All right. Take a look at some security video we're going to show you here. These are from security cameras inside a casino in Lima, Peru.
That's Joran van der Sloot sitting at the table. See him right there? And that's Stephany Flores walking up to him and shaking his hand.
See that? All right. Watch as she walks around, looks around, then slowly works her way into a seat at the table.
This is the moment the two met, just hours before the young woman was beaten to death in Van der Sloot's hotel room.
Right now, Van der Sloot is sitting in a jail at the prosecutor's office in Lima, waiting for formal charges to be filed against him and for them to decide which jail they're going to put him in, because apparently his attorneys want to put sure he's put in a "safe" jail.
Jean Casarez is a correspondent for "In Session" on truTV. She's good enough to join us now.
Jean, I understand you've talked to Sloot's lawyers today. They're hoping to get the confession thrown out. Is that because they really have a reasonable chance of doing so, or simply because they're lawyers and every lawyer would want the confession thrown out? Of course they would.
JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION," TRUTV: Well, when we talked to them today, it appeared as though they definitely think they have a chance. Now, whether they do or not probably remains in the hands of a judge here in Peru. But they're saying that when Joran van der Sloot underwent this interrogation that lasted days, and even hours, that he did have an attorney by his side, but it was a public defender, somebody they told us that was a buddy of the police. And although he is there to enforce rights, he is not really there to enforce the personal rights of Joran van der Sloot.
In addition to that, he told us that Joran van der Sloot didn't want him there and didn't agree to having him there. And that may be a key to their case.
They also say they believe that some of the evidence collected at the scene has been tainted. That is very common with the attorneys, but I think we're going to see it here with this case in Lima, Peru.
And the only question at this point, Rick, is when are formal charges going to be filed? Because this case is now in the hands of prosecutors. They have that criminal investigation that has been worked on all week by Peruvian national police. They are looking at it. And we believe formal charges will come soon, we just don't know exactly when.
SANCHEZ: Here's a question for you. And I know it's somewhat rhetorical, but nonetheless, I mean, I'm thinking as people at home are probably thinking, since he was the last one seen walking in and the last one seen walking out, and she didn't leave the room after that, if he didn't do it, what could his lawyers possibly say -- who could his lawyers possibly say then did it?
CASAREZ: Well, normally an attorney would say that someone else could have come in, in the two days. But we were able to confirm with Peruvian authorities, Rick, that they went through the entire surveillance videotape of that hallway, and they said nobody else entered that room. So that's going to make a difference.
And, you know, Rick, in the United States, we usually don't have surveillance cameras in hallways, but they sure did at this hotel. And that's something that is going to make it much simpler for prosecutors.
SANCHEZ: Down to 40 seconds, but that means it would be a slam- dunk with or without the confession, then, right?
CASAREZ: But according to his attorney, Maximo Alonso Altez Navarro, he is going to mount a fight. He told us today that, "We're going to trial. This is not a case where we are going to confess. We are going forward."
So I do think there's going to be a battle between the attorneys, and it will come in that trial.
SANCHEZ: Well, given what we know so far, good luck to him. It certainly looks like the odds are against him.
Good stuff covering this story, Jean, since you've been there for us, and for "In Session" on truTV.
CASAREZ: Thank you. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Look forward to talking to you once again.
Meanwhile, my colleague Wolf Blitzer is ready to take it away. He is in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
