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Rick's List
Gulf Oil Disaster Day 63; Joran van der Sloot in Court
Aired June 21, 2010 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(VIDEO TAPE IN PROGRESS)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: --With BP's cleanup at $2 billion and counting, who's handling the public relations part of this? Do you trust anyone to tell you the truth?
Joran van der Sloot in court. He says was tricked, signed a murder confession in a blind panic. Now his mother brings his mental health into question.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): If they want to kill me for saying this, then here I am. They killed me when they killed my son.
A mother blames police for taking her son too soon. Karl Penhaul with a special report on the war raging across the border in Mexico.
The lists you need to know about. Who's most intriguing? Who's making news on Twitter? It's why we keep a LIST. Pioneering tomorrow's news right now.
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LEMON: All right, everyone. It is hour two. Rick is off today. I'm Don Lemon.
And topping the list, we have new pictures from the hotel room where Stephany Flores was murdered, including a bloody shirt allegedly belonging to Joran van der Sloot. We will show you those in just a moment, but, first, a list of other developments in this case.
Van der Sloot went before a judge in Peru today and said his rights had been violated. He tells a Dutch newspaper he was tricked into confessing. And his mother tells the same paper he was scheduled to go into a mental hospital.
"In Session" correspondent Jean Casarez is in Lima, Peru, to tie it all together for us.
Jean, thanks for joining us. What happened in court?
JEAN CASAREZ, TRUTV: Well, it was a big day today.
This was a very important court proceeding. We were not allowed in. And it happened right here at Castro Castro. I'm right at the entrance of the prison where Joran van der Sloot is being held. Now, normally, the defendant would be transported to the palace of justice in downtown Lima, but because of the security concerns the judge came here.
And the judge was expecting that formal statement by Joran van der Sloot on the case, but he didn't get that. What he got was Joran van der Sloot making a formal statement, simply saying that his rights had been violated, his attorney by his side.
LEMON: OK, listen, Jean, we don't have that, but here is the interesting thing. He is apparently saying that he was tricked. Here's the thing, that he was tricked into signing the papers that they gave him because they told him he would be transferred to the Netherlands if he signed those papers.
Is that -- is that what's going on here?
CASAREZ: Well, let's look at the facts.
This is coming from an interview or at least something he said to someone, right? So, it's out of Joran van der Sloot's mouth.
We have seen the transcript of the confession, according to police. It is lengthy. It is not only the confession. It's a lot more than that. Nothing in that mentions that, if you tell us something, we will allow you to go back to Holland.
The only thing we see in that confession is he says, I have got an attorney by my side and I consent to him being here.
LEMON: And who knows what we can believe from Joran van der Sloot because he has said things and he has retracted them time after time.
Listen, Jean, I saw a very interesting report -- we actually aired this weekend on my show -- of you inside of the prison where Joran van der Sloot is spending time and could spend a very long time after this.
If he ends up spending years and years in prison in Lima, Peru, these conditions are not good. These are the worst of conditions. And you saw it for yourself.
CASAREZ: Well, you know, it's interesting. You look at the solitary confinement cell that he is in now, which is not bad, but the prison director told us that the goal is to work him into general population.
So look at some of the pictures of the inmates that we shot that are in the overcrowded cells, and that is probably where the concern would be, at least for van der Sloot himself and of his defense attorney.
LEMON: Hey, Jean, let's talk about this other new information that is coming in today, this bloody shirt and other apparent evidence in this case. Walk us through it. CASAREZ: Well, in his confession, he says that he took his shirt off and he used it to clean the floor because it had so much blood on it.
Well, you assess it yourself. Is there the blood of cleaning a floor or is it the blood of a violent attack? And it would be blowback blood or blood that actually spattered on to that shirt vs. cleaning the floor. Also, I think of note is the cell phone and the cell phone container. The phone is out of the container.
If that is Stephany Flores' call -- phone, who made the call from it? That could help determine a time of death. And that purse that's on the nightstand, that purse was Stephany Flores. That's what she had her money in that she won at the casino that night.
LEMON: All right. Jean Casarez, she is with the program "In Session," it is on our sister network truTV.
Great work, Jean. Thank you.
We want to get to some of our tweets now.
CASAREZ: Thank you.
LEMON: People are really talking about this. This one is @DonLemonCNN. It says, "I would think that anyone who would murder a girl over something she found on a laptop would be mentally disturbed." That one is from Kurt (ph).
This is at -- from @RickSanchez, on @RickSanchezCNN. "He is a cold, calculating psychopath and if let out of the" -- can't see that -- "let out, he will do it again." Sorry, the camera is in the way. "And he will lie any chance that he thinks that it can help him. He will lie any chance that he thinks if it can help him."
Here is another tweet. "Van der Sloot will always be full of excuses. He is a psychopath."
A lot of people talking about this. And here's another one. "Tricked and mentally disturbed. Don't rule out murder. Actually, they all fit the equation, even more so."
Hey, thanks for you comments on this particular one, Joran van der Sloot. You're also talking about BP, and, of course, our big fund-raiser tonight for Gulf oil. It's #CNNHelpGulf. Go there. Let's make that trend today.
We have that, plus this.
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LEMON: Narco rappers praising policemen who have crossed over to the cartels. Just what's going on in Mexico? What is going on? We have an eye-opening report that you don't want to miss. That's ahead.
And what's a day like at the beach in the Gulf? Tanners side by side with tar balls? We will show you how the spill is drastically affecting vacations. That's next.
And then a reminder. Here it is. Tonight, Larry King presents an all-star telethon to help the people on the Gulf. The special two- hour live event starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. #CNNHelpGulf. Go to Twitter.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The tar balls from the Gulf oil spill are still washing up onto Florida beaches, but that hasn't stopped tourists from coming and keeping a daily watch out for the thick, black globs.
CNN's David Mattingly spoke with some tourists in the Panhandle who want BP to make good on its promise to keep Florida's beaches pristine.
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DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Blue water, sugar-white sand -- a perfect picture from the Florida Panhandle, except for those BP crews picking up tar balls.
(on camera): As you were watching these guys, what was going through your mind?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That they're on top of it. That's what I'm thinking. They're trying to get it before it gets --
MATTINGLY: No second thoughts about the vacation?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not yet at this point. Not yet.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Vacationers I talked to are making day- to-day decisions, go to the beach if the oil stays away, go home if it doesn't. So far, the tar balls seem manageable.
(on camera): They're literally cleaning up tar balls just a few feet away from where you're sitting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, and it's very sad.
MATTINGLY: But you're not worried about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, not right now. We're not stepping in it or anything.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): But these pieces of the BP spill are killing business -- down 30 percent to 40 percent across the Panhandle, worse around the beaches where the tar balls hit. The official strategy: clean it up, and fast. (on camera): This is what this is all about, right? Making sure people can still come to a clean beach?
COMM. JOHN JANNAZO, OKALOOSA COUNTY, FLORIDA: Exactly. And we're cleaning up. When we did have the -- we had some oil a couple days ago and we picked it up just like that. It's gone.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): But the oil threat isn't so easily forgotten. Everywhere I go, there's worry, a feeling of "enjoy it while you can."
(on camera): This is one of the biggest party areas in all the panhandle. This area is called Crab Island. It's not really an island. It's a sandbar just outside of Destin. Literally hundreds of boats gather here every day to enjoy the water and the sun.
Are you worried this might be one of your last weekends out there?
CROWD: Yes!
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Just like BP chief Tony Hayward who spent time on his yacht back home in the U. K. , people here can't resist the water when it comes to relaxing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's he putting his boat in?
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Why do you want to know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because he's probably in some really clean water.
MATTINGLY: What would you like to say to Tony Hayward?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love it here. And we wanted to stay clean and he needs get down here and make sure it stays this way so that we can bring our families out.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): But as the BP spill creeps eastward across the panhandle, questions grow -- not just about the future of this tourist season, but the seasons that follow.
(on camera): And this is what the enemy looks like here in the Panhandle, these tar balls that are washing ashore. Authorities say they're going to try and hit the beaches and clean them up as quickly as they possibly can, so that they can make them ready for whatever tourists want to continue coming here.
And it is a fight that authorities say they are prepared to wage this entire summer.
David Mattingly, CNN, Destin, Florida.
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LEMON: And you can join the all-star effort to help people struggling in the Gulf tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE." Ryan Seacrest, Justin Bieber, if you have got Bieber fever, Cameron Diaz just some of the big names you will see on our special telethon. More details coming up. Everybody laughs when I say Bieber fever.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: there If they want to kill me for saying this, then here I am. They killed me when they killed my son.
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LEMON: Well, what she has to say will make you sit up and certainly take notice. She is fighting for him and for others who have been terrorized by Mexico's drug cartels just a few miles south of the U.S. border. That's all next.
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LEMON: Well, the town of Reynosa is one of several Mexican cities located next to the U.S. border. It is also getting a violent reputation as a very dangerous city caught in the crossfire of a drug cartel turf war.
CNN's Karl Penhaul got an up-close look at the people affected by the violence caused by warring cartels and rival gangs. Karl talked with one mother who is risking her life to speak out after her son was killed. Take a look.
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(CRYING)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maria Jesus Mancha has just buried her son. 27-year-old Miguel Angel Vasquez (ph) was gunned down as he drove home late one night. Another victim of a ruthless battle between drug gangs in the border city of Reynosa.
MARIA JESUS MANCHA, MOTHER OF VICTIM (through translator): Just think how many other people are being left without their children because of these damned people. They took my son, the thing I most loved in this life.
PENHAUL: Police sources told a local newspaper he was killed in cross fire when a drug gang ambushed police. Vasquez's mother doesn't buy that. She is convinced some of Reynosa's police are siding with one of the cartels.
MANCHA (through translator): I blame the authorities. Our bad government. And the police. You must realize, these people are disguised as police.
PENHAUL: She knows voicing such opinions to be a death sentence.
MANCHA (through translator): If they want to kill me for saying this, then here I am. They killed me when they killed my son. I'm already dead. PENHAUL: Few are as bold as Mancha, but her words are echoed by Jose Sacramento, out on the campaign trail, running for state governor
JOSE SACRAMENTO, GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): What we're seeing now is nothing more than the result of complicity between state and municipal police with organized crime.
PENHAUL: Senior police in Reynosa tell me off-camera that such accusations are politically motivated.
But the Mexican government, itself, acknowledges security forces nationwide are heavily infiltrated by the cartels. The violence in Reynosa flared when the Gulf Cartel and its former hit squad, the Zetas, began fighting each other for control of the stretch of the U.S./Mexico border on the Gulf Coast.
Gulf Cartel fighters, looking more like regular military than gangsters, post YouTube videos exhibiting what they say are captured Zetas. Reynosa seems a schizophrenic place, at times. There is fear, but, for some, the cartels have a dangerous charm.
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LEMON: So, what drives young people to this violent and dangerous lifestyle? More on Karl's report straight ahead.
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LEMON: We just showed you the story of a mother who lost her son in the mounting violence of Mexico's drug war.
CNN's Karl Penhaul risked his safety to get that story and one other. Now we take you -- a look at the squalor and the desperation that drives some young men to work for those cartels and musicians from the area using words to paint a picture smeared with blood.
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PENHAUL: This is a neighborhood of Reynosa that is full of social housing projects, where most of the people work in U.S. assembly plants, long hours, for less than $50 a week. It is perhaps by no coincidence that here, too, is the birthplace of a new form of protest music they call narco hip-hop.
(voice-over): I find rap duo Cano and Blunt in a luxury SUV blasting out one of their latest hits. It's a tribute to Gulf Cartel bosses and gunmen the rappers refer to as guerrilla fighters.
CANO NARCO, RAPPER (through translator): We just sing about what we see in the streets, and people identify with these songs and see for themselves what's going on. And that's the reality.
PENHAUL: And the reality on these streets is harsh. That's because, for some young men here, getting hired by the cartel offers the promise of easy money and escape from factory assembly lines. JOSE NARCISO, FACTOR WORKER (through translator): Many people prefer to work with the mafia and earn more money. It's less work and more money.
PENHAUL: Cano tells me they record some songs by special request. But he won't say who requested them.
(MUSIC)
PENHAUL: The most brazen tribute on their play list is to this man, Metro 3, a former cop who now heads Gulf Cartel operations in Reynosa. It includes the lines, "With his assault rifle, he will send you straight to hell."
BLUNT NARCO, RAPPER (through translator): You can see how things have become lately. It's dangerous, and when you go out onto the streets, you have got to be careful.
PENHAUL: The people of Reynosa know about being careful. By 9:00 p.m., the streets downtown are almost deserted. Shadowy SUVs patrol or park down side streets.
(on camera): After dark, it's quite clear that the streets of Reynosa belong only to the cartel. Ordinary citizens prefer to shut themselves behind closed doors. We're following that advice, too.
(voice-over): As real-life ebbs, Reynosa's virtual world awaits.
On the Twitter stream the Reynosa follow, citizens hiding behind aliases warn of gangsters setting up roadblocks and the echo of gunfire.
In a surreal conversation officials at city hall join in. If tweets are false, Juan Triana tries to stem the virtual psychosis. More often than not, he's warning upstanding citizens to stay away from the danger zone.
JUAN TRIANA, REYNOSA CITY HALL, MEXICO (through translator): It was chaotic at the end of February and March. It was dangerous both day and night. But, just lately, the risky situations seem to be mostly at night.
Like the night Miguel Angel Vasquez (ph) was killed, and his mother was left to grieve.
(CRYING)
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LEMON: Both those gripping reports from CNN's Karl Penhaul.
Karl joins me now.
Karl, let's talk about the mom, and then we will talk about other things. She is really risking her life by speaking out. Have you -- do you know if she is OK? PENHAUL: No.
I had a -- I had a message from one of the people who spends a lot of his nights sending out tweets. And, in fact, last night, there was a tweet on the wire that the drug cartels had blocked one of the major highways there just outside Reynosa. It seems that there was no specific incident there.
As far as the mother, I don't know. She knows the kind of risk she was taking. We cannot understate that. She knows that what she...
LEMON: She wanted to be on camera.
(CROSSTALK)
PENHAUL: She wanted...
(CROSSTALK)
PENHAUL: Exactly.
(CROSSTALK)
PENHAUL: I said to her...
(CROSSTALK)
PENHAUL: ... you know that this is dangerous. I don't have to broadcast that part of the interview. And she pleaded with me, and she says, "Please, please, say it." And she says, "If they want to come," and he she sticks her chin out and she says: "Here I am. You know, I'm dead. They killed me when they killed my son."
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Yes.
PENHAUL: But, because of the problems there with corruption, of the security forces, as well as the cartels there, she very know -- well knows this is dangerous.
LEMON: And when you talk about the -- the theme corruption, complacency, when you talk about the drug cartels and the rival gangs, that comes up time after time. Anything improving at all there?
PENHAUL: I would say it's much worse, in fact, than I actually expected. We do know that the Mexican central government has said, yes, it does have a problem with corruption within some of its security forces.
I would suggest that corruption, even endemic corruption, doesn't come close to describing what was going on here. The infiltration of the cartels is so much that, at some points it looks like some of the security forces are actually working as the armed enforcers for the cartels. LEMON: Felipe Calderon said it was a priority to wipe out these cartels or at least try to limit them somewhat. Is that helping at all? Is that in place strategically? Is it improving in a sense from what he wanted?
PENHAUL: I think what's going on right now is that the Mexican government is not being honest about what is going on. I don't think that they're being honest about the scale of the problem, and so hence any solution that they come up with is going to fall short.
And I think one of the first things that as a government they have got to be very careful about is really the scale of infiltration of the drug cartels, both amongst the security forces in political spheres and also how deeply ingrained it's becoming in society and the way normal that people think.
LEMON: Just a few seconds here. I have left to ask you, people don't realize just how close this is to the United States, and it's -- and it's all raging right there.
PENHAUL: This lady, Maria Jesus Mancha, she took 20 minutes to get to the cemetery to bury her son. She could have been in Texas in 10 minutes.
LEMON: Karl Penhaul, thank you. Excellent reporting. We appreciate it.
PENHAUL: Thanks, Don.
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(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
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LEMON: South Carolina voters take another stab at elections tomorrow, including a primary runoff that could put embattled candidate Nikki Haley closer to the governor's office. That's ahead on our political list.
And one laundromat has a new twist on the spin cycle, this car spinning out of control. We will tell you what happened. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. So, washing laundry is never too much fun, but, sometimes, it's downright scary. Time for our video list, "Fotos Del Dia."
This laundromat patron in New Hampshire almost got taken to the cleaners permanently. John O'Sambo (ph) jumped out of the way just in time. A minivan plowed right through the laundromat wall next to him.
The driver says she was on the phone. Police say she did not put her van into park and her foot slipped off the brake. No charges were filed.
O'Sambo (ph), who was not injured, told reporters he would finish his laundry elsewhere. Probably a wise decision.
And another close call to tell you about. This time, window washers left high and dry in downtown Houston, Texas.
Part of the scaffold broke and plummeted 44 stories to the street below. Luckily, though, no one was hurt. Rescuers knocked out windows on the 45th floor and pulled the workers to safety. Talk about a stressful day at work.
OK. This video is both amazing and it is terrifying. But before you cringe, I have to tell you, no one was killed. I want you to watch and to listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my word. Oh, my gosh.
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LEMON: I'd be saying a lot more than "Oh, my word, oh, my gosh." There would be some expletives coming out of my mouth.
That is MetraPark, the entertainment complex in Billings, Montana. The twister ripped the roof off it and other buildings, causing millions of dollars in damage.
You can see all of our "Las Fotos del Dia" on CNN.com/ricksanchez.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is he floating his boat at?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you want to know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because he's probably in some really clean water.
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LEMON: You can see that Tony Hayward's yachting weekend didn't go over well with Gulf Coast residents, but his image was battered long before that.
Why do BP managers keep making the wrong PR moves? We'll have that for you straight ahead.
And a little good news for the Gulf Coast. Tonight, superstars from music and the movies will be raising money for Gulf relief efforts, but they need your help.
That's next.
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LEMON: You know what? You should just grab your popcorn and something to drink, and your wallet, of course, your checkbooks, your credit cards, whatever it is, and tune into CNN tonight, because it's going to be great.
Right, Brooke?
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, total star-studded cast. Of course it's Larry King, so what more do we expect. Right?
This is the Larry King telethon, and they've got all kinds of people, including Ian Somerhalder, who I have graciously enough to call us here at CNN. You may know him from his show "Vampire Diaries." I definitely know him from "Lost." I'm a bit of a "Lost" geek myself.
But, Ian, you're calling in from L.A. And I know from what I've read about you, you're a hometown boy. When we talk about the Gulf, you are from Louisiana.
LEMON: OK. We'll chat.
BALDWIN: We'll chat.
LEMON: He'll chime in.
This is the picture that was going around the newsroom with every woman, "Hot," "Love it," "Oh, ,my gosh, know him from 'Lost,' 'Vampire Diaries.'" And I'm like, who? What are you talking about?
BALDWIN: Whatever. I know who he is.
Anyhow, Don Lemon, let's go to his tweet.
Thanks, Andrea (ph).
She's talking to me in my ear. She's, like, "Go to his tweet."
So, one of the issues we heard from one of the "Hey Rick" earlier was, "Why should I donate if BP should be picking up the tab?" And that was something he was just tweeting about.
Look, it was, like, 16 minutes ago. And he said, " A question that I keep hearing is: 'Why give donations to this telethon when BP is footing the bill?' The answer: BP isn't footing the whole thing."
And do we have him, guys? Do we have him on the line?
LEMON: A better question though is, why shouldn't you? I mean, if you can help, why shouldn't you do it? Right?
BALDWIN: Well, I think when we were talking to Larry last hour, it's the whole immediacy of the thing. Look, we know they're getting that escrow fund, the $20 billion, the extra $100 million because of the moratorium, but it's the immediacy of the money. A lot of red tape involved in getting that money to them.
LEMON: Yes.
Other celebrities -- hey, before we ask about other celebrities, when you're tweeting this, and when you and I tweet, we want you to #CNNHelpGulf, because we want it to start trending. We really want people to help.
Other celebrities, Brooke?
BALDWIN: Other celebrities -- I think we heard Larry say Sting will be singing, Ryan Seacrest will be hosting, the TweetSuite, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw.
LEMON: Bieber. I've got Beiber fever.
BALDWIN: You're all about the Biebs.
LEMON: I love the Biebs. I love the Biebs, man. He's a cool dude.
Alyssa Milano tweeted earlier.
BALDWIN: Yes, Alyssa Milano. I wish I had the list in front of me.
LEMON: Kathy Griffin is on that list, Chelsea Handler.
BALDWIN: Chelsea Handler.
LEMON: "Chelsea Lately," which I watch every single night. It's going to be great.
BALDWIN: The Trumps, Randy Travis.
LEMON: Yes. Who did we have earlier? Adkins -- Trace Adkins.
BALDWIN: Trace Adkins.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Lenny Kravitz.
BALDWIN: And they're giving. It's really neat, because they have selected three different charities that they will be raising money for. It was the United Way, it was the Wildlife Federation, and Nature Conservancy. So, you get to choose when you call in.
And I'm hearing --
LEMON: There's Ian.
BALDWIN: -- Ian is there.
Ian, do we have you on the line?
IAN SOMERHALDER, ACTOR: Hello.
BALDWIN: Hello. Hello, Ian Somerhalder.
So, what you missed earlier, but what I was saying was -- you know, and we talk about how you're this big actor and we recognize who you are, but when we look at where you come from, you're a Louisiana boy. You're a hometown boy.
This story is personal for you, isn't it?
SOMERHALDER: I am a bayou boy. I really grew up on a bayou where it meets Lake Ponchartrain. So, I grew up in the same marshes that are basically being hammered right now.
BALDWIN: And you've been down there recently. What, you were down there shooting a PSA? You have a close relationship with the Humane Society.
I mean, talk to me about some of the people you've met in going down there since this thing has been -- what is this, day 63 since that rig explosion? Talk to me about some of the images that really resonate with you.
SOMERHALDER: I just got back. I was down there at Grand Isle. (INAUDIBLE). I met the park manager (INAUDIBLE). The most important place in Grand Isle, which is a natural beach. (INAUDIBLE)
LEMON: Yes, we're having trouble with his phone.
BALDWIN: Oh.
LEMON: We'll try to get him back. We'll try to get him back. But Ian, he's from -- I wonder where he's from.
BALDWIN: Covington, Louisiana.
LEMON: From Covington. I'm from Baton Rouge. So, yes, I wonder if we ran in similar circles. He is probably much younger than me.
BALDWIN: You might have, passing ships once upon a time. But, yes, so he is very familiar with this. And we'll talk more about his tweets. Maybe we can get him back on the line.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Yes. If we can get him.
BALDWIN: But Ian, thanks.
LEMON: Yes. Thank you, Ian.
BALDWIN: Thank you, Ian.
LEMON: We all have trouble with our cell phones, and even the expensive sat phones we have here, we have issues.
BALDWIN: I know.
LEMON: It happens.
BALDWIN: It does.
LEMON: It happens.
Yes, tonight at 8:00, from 8:00 to 10:00. I know I'm going to be watching.
BALDWIN: Me too.
LEMON: I'm sure Ian is going to be watching, he's going to be participating.
BALDWIN: Ian will be part of it in L.A.
LEMON: And a lot of folks. So, we'll be back to talk about it tomorrow. You will be. Finally, I'll get a day off.
BALDWIN: Yes. You deserve it.
LEMON: Yes. I'll get to have a couple of adult beverages while I'm watching "LARRY KING LIVE," and my popcorn.
BALDWIN: Nice. You enjoy that. Cheers, Don Lemon.
LEMON: And maybe I will open up my own checkbook and credit card and give as well.
BALDWIN: We all should.
LEMON: That is a promise.
BALDWIN: We all should.
LEMON: Yes.
Thank you, Brooke. Always good to see you.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
LEMON: We're going to move on and talk about -- because more stars are on board for our big telethon, and they've been all over Twitter with messages for you. That is next. We're going to share some of that.
And why is the White House defending the president's golf games? Which takes priority, golf or the Gulf?
THE LIST scrolls on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. On the political list, voters in three states head back to the polls on Tuesday for runoffs, and there is an election in a fourth state.
Our Wolf Blitzer is going to join us in just a little bit. Of course, he is part of the best political team on television.
But, you know, all eyes, really, are going to be on South Carolina. Because what in the world is going on with that state?
We're going to be talking about Nikki Haley when Wolf joins us, and we're going to talk a little bit about Alvin Greene and the accidental politician who really got into the race in South Carolina and won, at least on the Democratic side, a runoff there. But again, this is going to be a big Tuesday, tomorrow, as a lead-up to the midterm elections in November.
And we're going to get to our Wolf Blitzer in just a bit here on CNN and talk about everything tomorrow.
And I also want to tell you, there is a good write-up. If you want to find out about this, I just read one. It's on CNNPolitics.com. And it says, "South Carolina Tops Drama Tops Three Primaries on Tuesday," and it will walk you through everything you need to know.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LEMON: I told you Wolf Blitzer would be joining us because Primary Day is tomorrow in Utah and South Carolina. Really, all eyes on South Carolina, because what in the world is going on there?
Hey, Wolf, let's talk about the Tea Party, Palin impact on the race in South Carolina, if any at all.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right. Well, it's obviously a significant impact. And there's no doubt Sarah Palin has an enormous amount of support and followers in South Carolina, a lot of other states as well.
And the Tea Party movement has been very impressive so far, especially in these Republican contests, in getting out the vote and generating excitement. And if you're a Republican candidate running in a primary, whether in South Carolina or in Utah, or any place else, for that matter, right now it's good to have the support of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.
Now, once you win that Republican primary and you go to a general election, where there are a lot more moderate or liberal voters out there, and it's a bigger base you have to appeal to, then you may find yourself shifting from the right towards the center a little bit. Certainly, we've seen that happen in California, in the Senate contest, as well as in the gubernatorial contest.
It's one thing to win a Republican primary in California. It's another thing to win a general election in California if you just have, let's say, Sarah Palin and the Tea Party behind you. You're not going to win the general election, but on the other hand, it certainly helps in these Republican primaries. LEMON: Hey, Wolf, I want to stick with South Carolina, because you and I have spoken about Alvin Greene before. That's on the Democratic side. But how about Nikki Haley? Are the personal attacks behind her, are they still an issue in the Republican runoff election?
BLITZER: I'm sure it's an issue, but it seems she has really gotten beyond that, and I think a lot of the voters. She has been so firm and categorical in her denial of these allegations of an extramarital affair, and she has got the support of Sarah Palin, as you point out. So, I think that's not necessarily going to be a huge issue in South Carolina.
She's very popular. A lot of folks down there like her. And so, presumably, she'll do rather well. I don't think it's necessarily going to be the decisive factor by any means.
You point out the Alvin Greene contest. That is such an amazing story.
And I know you did an interview with him. It was very good. But it's hard to believe what's happening on the Democratic side in South Carolina. When you think who their nominee -- not just a potential nominee, this is their nominee -- got 30,000 more votes than the establishment Democratic candidate, he's going to face Jim DeMint in that Senate election in November, it's an amazing story.
And I suspect, and I know you do as well, Don, there's a lot more to this story than meets the eye. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
LEMON: Yes. And I wish someone would just -- I want us to analyze it a little bit more, and we're working on that to figure out, was it a vote against Vic Rawl, or exactly what it was.
BLITZER: It may have been as simple as his name is Alvin Greene, and people say, oh, well, that sounds like a nice name.
LEMON: Al Greene.
BLITZER: We'll vote for Alvin Greene. They never heard of the other guy. So maybe we'll vote for Alvin Greene.
LEMON: Yes. And Al Green, you know, the singer.
BLITZER: Right.
LEMON: I mean, there is that out there as well.
BLITZER: He's a great singer.
LEMON: Yes, he is.
(singing): Since we've been together --
Thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: Can we hear a few more bars?
LEMON: No, no, no. You'll hum it for us at the top of the hour, because I'll be watching for that.
Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks.
LEMON: All right.
A president is entitled to enjoy his day of golf, right? And aren't CEOs expected to go yachting from time to time? Some say those rules don't really apply during an environmental catastrophe.
That's next on THE LIST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) .
LEMON: Hey, let's get right now to CNN Senior Political Analyst Mr. David Gergen.
Hey, David, let's talk about what's going on down in the Gulf of Mexico.
Early on, you were critical of the president. You said that the administration was a little slow on the uptake. What about since the developments on Friday and over the last week?
What do you think?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the administration and the president, ,in particular, deserve a lot of credit for persuading BP to put up that $20 billion and getting Ken Feinberg -- excellent man -- to oversee the claims. And Ken Feinberg has now said in the last 24 hours that they will lean very heavily in the direction of the claimant on these early emergency claims. So that's all good news.
But on the rest of it, on the cleanup and on the spill, itself, I think the White House still looks like it's not in charge.
LEMON: Why is that?
GERGEN: I don't know. I think one can be more forgiving about trying to stop the leak because the White House does not have the technology. But the White House does have command of the manpower and the womanpower it would take to protect the coast and protect the wildlife in a much more efficient and --
LEMON: Authoritative manner, you think?
GERGEN: I think there's been a sense that, you know, in contrast to our military, which has had now some 65 years to be well prepared to handle emergencies, the domestic side of the government just isn't well prepared to respond to emergencies. And this is yet another example after Katrina. And I think we're all a little stunned that after Katrina, the government still is sort of falling all over itself to try to respond.
LEMON: Well, David, I wonder if this has anything to do with it. I'm sure you saw Rahm Emanuel out speaking yesterday.
GERGEN: Right.
LEMON: He was asked about Tony Hayward being out on his yacht, and he said, well, Tony Hayward has had some bad PR. He's made some missteps. This is one in a string. But he said what we want to focus on is moving on, getting it stopped, cleaning up the Gulf.
And then, just today, Bill Burton said, oh, well, you know, the president deserves some time off, didn't really mention Tony Hayward. And I want you to listen to this and then I'm going to ask you, do you think maybe this is why you might believe that it doesn't look like the president is being authoritative?
Take a listen to Bill Burton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL BURTON, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think there is a person in this country that doesn't think their president ought to have a little time to clear his mind. And so, after a week where the president was taking on the oil spill, got an historic agreement with BP to put aside $20 billion to pay claims, after a day on Friday, when he strengthened lobbying and ethics rules in the White House, after going to Ohio to talk about the economy and see the progress that's being made in some of those stimulus projects that are happening around the country, all of the different issues that the president is dealing with, I think that a little bit of time to himself on Father's Day weekend probably does us all good as American citizens, that our president is taking that time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, David, a question and then a follow-up here.
Does he have a point? And might this be factoring into your perception? Is it fair to compare Tony Hayward with President Obama out golfing? Tony Hayward being on a yacht.
GERGEN: The White House spokesman has a point. Americans cut their president some slack with regard to taking a little time off. They do not want presidents chained to the desk.
They saw with Ronald Reagan that, when he went out to (INAUDIBLE), and went out to California, it made him more effective. All the way back to Franklin Roosevelt, after the 1944 elections, when urgent decisions were necessary, he went off into the Chesapeake for a couple of weeks, and he came back and made some pretty tough -- it was the 1940 elections, sorry -- and he came back and made some pretty tough decisions. And Americans appreciated the fact he went out there.
So -- but here's what I also think. I think that President Obama would have been far better served to have taken more decisive action on setting up a command and control structure and having it in place, and then going to his baseball game and his golf, than the way they've done it. I do think that, yes, it does help to keep the story alive that they're not as aggressive and urgent as they should be.
I think most Americans cut him some slack, but it doesn't help them. They should have taken decisive action first.
As for Tony Hayward, listen, that was bone-headed beyond belief, again, to allow the guy to go off to this yacht race in England. What I think these people completely fail to communicate was that he actually went to England on the way to do some important, legitimate business, and that is to get his company back on track.
LEMON: David, that's going to have to be the last word --
GERGEN: OK.
LEMON: -- because as you know, we have got to get to our friend in Washington, Mr. Wolf Blitzer. He's going to join us in just a little bit.
GERGEN: OK. Good handoff, Don.
LEMON: Yes, good handoff.
Thank you very much.
Our senior political analyst, Mr. David Gergen.
And as I said, that's the end of this program.
Thank you for watching. We'll see Rick back here soon.
Time now for Wolf Blitzer and "THE SITUATION ROOM."
