Return to Transcripts main page

Rick's List

President Obama Pushes Immigration Reform; Hurricane Alex's Impact on Gulf?

Aired July 01, 2010 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone.

Topping my LIST today: immigration reform. Did you watch the president today? He spoke. America now waits. We will show you what he said in his major address.

First, though, I warning to play some sound for you. Let's remember Barack Obama as in candidate Barack Obama back when he was running for president. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2008)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know about you, but I think it's time for a president who won't walk away from something as important as comprehensive reform just because it becomes politically unpopular.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And that was Barack Obama then. Here's Barack Obama today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: What we have made clear is that this administration will not just kick the can down the road. I'm ready to move forward. The majority of Democrats are ready to move forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, he's ready. We're ready. So, when do we start? Mr. Obama didn't precisely say. We don't have a timetable, per se, but as we know by now, this really is an open field for states like Arizona which has taken off in its own and passed this controversial immigration law many, many consider very, very extreme.

But now listen to this. It is the Arizona Republican governor essentially taunting the president, taunting Mr. Obama, in this video clip that is as well making the rounds today. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JAN BREWER (R), ARIZONA: Two weeks ago, I met with President Obama. He promised that we would get word from his administration on what they were going to do to secure the border.

Well, we finally got the message: these signs, these signs calling our desert an active drug and human smuggling area. We will not surrender any part of Arizona. We need to stand up and demand action.

Washington is broken, Mr. President. Do your job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Do your job. Did you hear her? Mr. Obama is taking flak for not moving quick enough.

In fact, thanks to Jessica Yellin, I have in my hot hand this statement from Senator John Cornyn, Texas Republican. I want to read you just part of it. Here's what he said today on this immigration speech -- quote -- "Eighteen months into his presidency, he continues to deliver words, but no action," again, John Cornyn.

But as the president did remind us, he needs Republican backing to pass this whole thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Reform that brings accountability to our immigration system cannot pass without Republican votes. That is the political and mathematical reality.

The only way to reduce the risk that this effort will again falter because of politics is if members of both parties are willing to take responsibility for solving this problem once and for all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Members of both parties.

I know, Jessica Yellin, our lovely national political correspondent, I know you heard those words today. I know you're the one who passed along this Cornyn statement. So, let's talk about Republicans, because I, as did you, listened to this address today. And he specifically said, the president said, I'm ready to move forward, Democrats are ready to move forward, most Americans are ready to move forward.

So, who's missing in that? The Republicans. What's your take?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: OK. To be completely honest, Brooke, there are some Democrats in the Senate who don't seem to be fully on board either. And so that's part of the reason they need multiple Republican, not just one.

But the big question mark here is, where are all these Republicans who came out in the Bush years for comprehensive reform in 2006 and in 2007? There were at one point more than 20 Republicans ready to vote yes. And they have disappeared now.

And I want to play one -- an ad that is running right now in Arizona, if this is OK with you.

BALDWIN: Sure.

YELLIN: John McCain, Brooke, championed comprehensive immigration reform with Ted Kennedy back in the day in 2007. That would have included a guest-worker program, not just securing the borders.

But listen to him as he runs for the U.S. Senate in Arizona, where all this is happening. Here's his latest ad on the issue. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Human smuggling, home invasions, murder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're outmanned. Of all the illegals in America, more than half come through America.

MCCAIN: Have we got the right plan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plan is perfect. You bring troops, state, county and local law enforcement together.

MCCAIN: And complete the dang fence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will work this time. Senator, you're one of us.

MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Complete the dang fence. I heard that, too, Jessica.

YELLIN: Right?

BALDWIN: Right.

YELLIN: I mean, we have played this before, but it's so meaningful today, Brooke, because obviously, just a few years ago, John McCain probably himself wouldn't believe he would make this ad ever. And the politics have shifted.

BALDWIN: Well, let's talk about Arizona. We have seen this video that's making the rounds where you see Governor Jan Brewer saying, President Obama, doing your job, right? And then you have Obama finally today addressing the situation in Arizona.

I believe, just off the top of my head, the words were the fact that this law is ill-conceived and divisive. What do you make of this back and forth? How does that make the president look that he's pointing fingers?

YELLIN: Well, it doesn't hurt him politically with his base, to be sure. Jan Brewer is the symbol to many Hispanic voters and to much of the Democratic base of the most what they view as punitive immigration policy in the country and something that has to be done away with.

So, a lot of president's base voters who are angry with him for not taking action on immigration reform more quickly can be pleased that he's really going head to head with her, but they want real action and Arizona is just ground zero for this right now, but we're seeing these issues pop up in other states. So, it's going to be an ongoing fight into the election.

BALDWIN: Right. Right. I think the president said it's more like a patchwork right now and we all need to come together, referring to comprehensive immigration reform.

YELLIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Final question, talking about the Arizona law, and we know it goes into effect, I believe it's July 29, what do we know as far as the Justice Department filing any kind of suit against the state?

YELLIN: Right.

Well, one would expect them to file that before the law goes into effect, which would make it in the next week or two, and possibly week or two or three. But that's part one has to assume of the motivation for laying down his markers now on where he stands on immigration reform.

The conservatives will accuse him once he takes on -- once the federal government files this case, they will accuse the Obama immigration no doubt of being too soft on immigration. So this speech lays down where he is. He wants to strengthen the border, but he also wants a guest-worker program, but the fight is going to only build from here with that lawsuit and with these ads. It's messy.

(CROSSTALK)

YELLIN: Yes, I was about to say, the battle rages on.

Jessica Yellin, great to talk you. Thank you so much.

(CROSSTALK)

YELLIN: We're not finished also of course with immigration. We have more on that and this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wall came down back in early '90s. Everybody said, hey, the KGB is gone. We don't have to worry about Russia anymore. And that's the furthest thing from the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: The alleged Russian spy roundup netted a total of 11 arrests, many before federal courts here in the United States. But what happened to that 11th person arrested in Cyprus? Yes, he was freed on bail, but then did what most spies tend to do, disappeared. That's ahead on the LIST.

Also, the first Atlantic hurricane of the season now downgraded just -- I say just carefully -- just a tropical storm. But what did it do to the Gulf and the efforts to contain this thing, those huge massive waves? What about the booms? What about those skimmer boats? Chad has all the details next coming up here on the LIST.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: As Rick would say, stand by, Chad Myers. We have got more now on immigration, all right? More now on the president's speech today on immigration.

And joining me now from Washington, Congressman Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas.

Congressman, I don't know if you were coming or going out of that vote, but, hey, I appreciate you jumping up to our camera nonetheless. Good to see you.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R), TEXAS: Thanks for accommodating me.

BALDWIN: Of course.

Let's start first with -- I'm sure you watched the speech right around 11:00 this morning. Congressman, just out of the gate here, what struck you about it or perhaps what might have been missing?

MCCAUL: It was a good political speech, but there were not a lot of specifics in the speech.

And what I was disappointed not to hear was how he intends to secure the border. It was all about immigration reform, which we can have a healthy debate in the Congress on that. But we have an emergency urgent situation down on the border. And I'm from the state of Texas. We just had shootings that hit the El Paso City Hall yesterday.

And I would have liked to have heard more about how this president intends to secure the border. But, instead, he said, you know, we have pretty much secured the border as well as we can. Let's move on to an amnesty bill.

And that's where I disagree with the president.

BALDWIN: Well, let me just stop you just for a second, because he did say, and speaking of border security, he did say that the border is safer than it has been I think he said in U.S. history. In fact, we have a chunk of that part of the speech. Let me run it. We will talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Today we have more boots on the ground near the southwest border than at any time in our history. Let me repeat that. We have more boots on the ground on the southwest border than at any time in our history.

We doubled the personnel assigned to border enforcement security task forces. We tripled the number of intelligence analysts along the border. For the first time, we've begun screening 100 percent of southbound rail shipments. And as a result, we're seizing more illegal guns, cash and drugs than in years past.

Contrary to some of the reports that you see, crime along the border is down.

And statistics collected by Customs and Border Protection reflect a significant reduction in the number of people trying to cross the border illegally.

So the bottom line is this: The southern border is more secure today than any time in the past 20 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: More secure today than any time in the past few years, Congressman McCaul, is that true? You're there on the front lines in Texas. Is it true?

MCCAUL: Well, I am. I serve on the Homeland Security Committee.

BALDWIN: Right.

MCCAUL: And it is more secure, but it is not secure.

And that's the point I'm trying to make. I would invite the president to come down to the border, which he has never done, and talk to the ranchers and the people who live down there and the Border Patrol agents. I think he would get a different view in terms of the urgency and the emergency situation down there.

When I asked the chief of Border Patrol at our hearing the other day on Homeland Security if he had ever talked to the president about what the needs are to secure the border, he said the president has never had a discussion with him. I think that's...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: That's a great point. You're down there. We just heard Senator McCain's new commercial saying, let's finish this dang fence. What does need to be done, in your opinion? How can we fix this situation? How can we improve border security?

MCCAUL: I think certainly more boots on the ground is necessary. The president is deploying 1,200 National Guard. I think we need more. The technology piece is far from being completed down there. We need more unmanned aerial vehicles down there.

And we -- frankly, I think the thing that would secure it is what we did in Colombia that ended the drug war there, and that is to have a joint military program with Mexico, which I think could eradicate these dangerous drug cartels.

Let's not forget there's a war raging in Mexico. The violence is spilling over into the United States. And more people died at the hands of the drug cartels than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

BALDWIN: What about the fact, though, that the borders -- some argue, look, the borders are simply too vast, that, yes, while we need to have more boots on the ground and, yes, Mexican drug cartels are indeed a massive problem, if they're coming across the border, what about comprehensive immigration reform. What is it about this concept that may perhaps be holding you up, perhaps some of your Republican colleagues, perhaps even some of the Dems?

MCCAUL: No, we're willing to debate immigration reform. I think it should more incrementally and not in some huge, monster bill.

But, again, I think we need to address the more urgent emergency that is down there. And that is secure the border. Remember, in the 1980s, we pass an amnesty bill. But the secure border piece was never enforced. And that's why we're stuck in the situation we are today.

I'm concerned with this debate or this talk about amnesty again, you're going to see a flood of illegal immigrants coming into this country trying to get in under the umbrella, just like we saw in the late '80s.

We have over 25 million people unemployed in this country. I think the last thing we want is encourage more illegal immigration to come into this country and take those jobs away from Americans.

BALDWIN: Sir, point well taken. And I know a lot of people out there, I know they agree with you. And perhaps we will see the president at some point making his way down to the border, as he and you agree we need stronger security.

Congressman Michael McCaul, good to meet you and thank you.

MCCAUL: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: All right, also this.

Witnesses for and against Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan lining up today. She has already spent, can you imagine, 17 grueling hours answering all these questions, right, from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Well, now the senators are hearing from scholars, other experts. We are monitoring that closely for you. We will bring you more. That is, of course, ahead on the LIST.

Also, talking about Hurricane Alex, what did former Hurricane Alex now tropical storm, right, Chad Myers, tropical storm do to the Gulf, do to this oil spill, do to all these booms, do to all these skimmers?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You're on it?

MYERS: Yes. A hurricane is not like a Marine. You can be a former hurricane.

BALDWIN: You can be a former hurricane.

MYERS: Yes. So, you got it right.

BALDWIN: Well, we will talk about this former hurricane coming up on the LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Hurricane Alex is losing its punch, now officially downgraded to a tropical storm.

And let's talk Alex real quickly here. It did come ashore in northeastern Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane late, late last night with winds in excess of 100 miles an hour. Look at this video, but Alex kicking up fresh concerns about flash flooding in South Texas and adding to the worries -- you know everyone is thinking about it down there -- about that oil recovery effort, right, under way, what, is this day 73 now, in the Gulf.

Efforts to skim the oil and burn it have been disrupted. Many of those big sections of the booms -- they are designed to block the oil -- they are now damaged. And they have halted spraying of those dispersants, at least until the winds and the waves calm down.

Wow. It's a lot of factors here, Chad. And I was down there. I saw those booms. They're about this thick. So, even on a windy day, that oil can get into those sort of eco areas. And now what? Now the waves are just gigantic.

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: And those waves can go right over those booms and spray over them.

BALDWIN: No problem.

MYERS: No, there's no containment there whatsoever.

So now these seven-foot waves are crashing on shore into the bayous of Louisiana, the big -- Chandeleur Islands, where you were...

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: ... and then back in Mississippi and Alabama, and pushing this oil that was only a few miles offshore in the first place, pushing it closer and closer and closer. BALDWIN: So, not only is it pushing it onshore, which is bad news. It also means that the booms are not necessarily effective. Those skimmers, they are out of there. They can't do that controlled burn.

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: Correct. You can't -- literally, this oil is only about that thick. Even when they burn it and they contain it, it's only a couple millimeters thick.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MYERS: So, if you have waves that are five feet, and you're trying to skim it off the front of a boat, you're only skimming about 10 percent of it because the rest of it, you're just getting water. You only want it -- you want that water to be flat. You want to just take the very, very top off.

And if it's doing this, you're not getting the flat part, right?

BALDWIN: No.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: Take a look at this. The alleged Russian spy plot captures the world's attention. So, what happens when an accused spy does, well, what he does best, disappears? That's ahead on the LIST.

And Bill Clinton is a fan of our most intriguing person of the day in the news. I will tell you why here on RICK'S LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And, now, I know you're always wondering kind of who is this person, right? Time to check the list of the most intriguing people in the news.

OK. OK. I will be honest. He's not really so intriguing apparently all by himself. This is more about who's in his corner. Let me tell you about him. He's a Democrat in Colorado running for U.S. Senate. But Colorado already has a Democratic senator who is running for reelection. And that makes our most intriguing person today a challenger.

The national party likes the incumbent, as does President Obama, but former President Bill Clinton likes the challenger and has endorsed him. Read this with me -- quote -- "He worked harder than anyone in Colorado to put Democrats in positions of power and to use that power to benefit every single citizen."

And now the big reveal. Let's see him. Strong words and a strong endorsement for this guy. This is the underdog candidate, Andrew Romanoff. He has Clinton power behind him, but a question he's asking and maybe you is, will that help him win the nomination? We will have to wait and see. The primary, by the way, is the 10th of August. But the lack of unity between White Houses past and White Houses present is just as intriguing, we decided, as Andrew Romanoff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: BP has for a long time been a company that is interested in profits, first and foremost. Safety and health and environment are subjugated to profit-making.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Hmm. Did you hear that? Employees have accused the company of putting profits over people, profits over people.

But now is BP making it hard for independent researchers to study that spill? That's what they're been accused of. That's also ahead.

And, yes, if you're a parent, this is kind of scary. We were all teenagers once, right? But teens jumping off a bridge from a moving car, yes, I didn't so much try that. It is a dangerous stunt that's apparently becoming a trend.

That is next here on the LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK, OK. Like I said, so, we were all teenagers once, and some of us kind of did some silly things. And, parents, if you have teenagers at home, you know that some of them definitely do some stupid things.

Here we go. Let's go "Fotos."

As if I need to say this, but hello. Look at this. Kids, please do not try this at home. Look at him jumping off the moving car into the river below. Please don't try this from home or on vacation or anywhere. Some of these kids, here's what they're doing. They're riding on top of this car. Obviously, you saw it's moving.

Guess what? It can be moving up to 40 miles an hour. They spring into action. I think I saw a guy doing a somersault plunging into this river 30 feet below. Plenty of others leap from the edge of the bridge.

Either way, police say look, I can tell you this, it's dangerous. And PS, it's illegal.

Take a look at this now, big pop under the big tent. Not a circus. This is a fireworks tent. This was an early Fourth of July celebration. I say that loosely. This is Troy, Missouri. Flashes of red, white and blue and orange and green and yellow and purple and -- you catch my drift here. The whole spectrum was a display after two men allegedly torched this tent Tuesday.

Amazingly, no one was injured. Firefighters snuffed out the blaze and arrested two suspects after a hot pursuit.

And no, these aren't the real Village People. They are real firefighters using hot moves instead of a hose. The Luther, Oklahoma, volunteer fire department has a burning need for equipment. So what do they do when part of their tanker blew up? They exploded into action, rocking some moves.

One of those guys is Rick Sanchez. They became dancing machines, competing for a new fire engine, and hopefully after these move, they will smoke the other six finalists.

You can see all of our photos in Rick's blog, by the way, at CNN.com/RickSanchez.

And from fun photos to a real live photo. Bob Dudley is the main guy at BP running the clean-up show in the Gulf. He's a gulf coast restoration organization head guy. He's answering some questions, you can hear it, from the public live via YouTube. This is the first time BP has taken questions directly from the public. Let's listen.

BOB DUDLEY, BP GULF COAST RESTORATION ORGANIZATION: I saw it on the beaches and saw the oil in the marshes where the Pelican rookers were. I see the devastation that's down there.

We're going to make good on the claims from individuals and businesses down there. Anyone who has been impacted like you've said should go to the claims offices immediately, file the claims. Just have some documentation for it. We're writing the checks. We've written as of this morning $138 million of checks.

So we are going to make good for it. We put aside $20 billion in an escrow account that will be used to pay claims not only just for now, but for as long as the impact is there on your businesses. And that will be not only after we shut the well off, but this clean-up is going to take some final. So it's not a one-time claim. It's claims that will go through the months where your businesses are impacted.

We also realize the seasonality of business down there. The summer is when a lot of earnings come from. And we're going to take that into account and try to make people whole.

We're there for the long term. There's no intent to cap this. We haven't capped the well yet. It's hard to talk about a limit to claims certainly before we continue to have this spill in the Gulf.

RAY SUAREZ, "PBS NEWS HOUR" SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: You know, those claims can come from an almost unimaginable range of people, and Kirk made the reference to when does BP close the checkbook? You know, there are places in Florida that haven't even seen oil yet, but they've seen significant drop offs in their business because of the anticipation that the spill is going to affect it.

If you're a motel owner, can you say to BP hey, last year I had 75 percent, 80 percent of my rooms full. This year, I had 20 percent. I think it's the oil spill. DUDLEY: If you can demonstrate cancellations, there will be a track record and a trend line there. Take that into the claims sessions -- centers around the coast. We've got 33 of those claims centers around the coast.

We're transitioning the claims process to Ken Feinberg who's one of the better known, in fact, probably the best known independent oversight of our claims process. He's coming in with a rigor and formulas of how these things are calculated.

It is a little bit beyond our capability to maintain this, because we need that sort of expertise. He'll be looking at that. He'll make those determinations. But that's the intent is to make sure that businesses have been impacted are reimbursed.

SUAREZ: Lou writes from Pensacola, Florida, "BP can promise the moon, but in the end, file bankruptcy and skip out on its unpaid obligations. Is BP willing to immediately transfer all the clean-up money, including what it receives from catastrophe insurance carriers, to the government now?"

DUDLEY: Lou, I don't think anybody wants or expects us to do that. Bp is a very strong company in terms of its cash flow. It needs to have that strength to be able to fund these claims. And we're putting aside $20 billion over four years. We're going to securitize that with assets in North America. It can still be increased in the future.

One of the things that is important and the president said it two weeks ago, it's important to have a strong and viable BP. We need to have some certainty for our investments so that we can continue to generate the cash that will actually allow us to make good on our obligations and commitments and claims. I think that's the better way to approach it.

SUAREZ: But as you mentioned, the oil is still flowing. So your obligations are increasing even as we're sitting here talking to each other. Lou is trying to anticipate a moment where it just becomes too much for the company to bear.

DUDLEY: Well, I think --

BALDWIN: We've been kind of listening a little bit back and forth to this discourse. That's Bob Dudley basically is running the spill response effort on behalf of BP in the Gulf of Mexico. What he's doing is sitting down with a correspondent, one of the senior correspondents with "News Hour" in this interview format.

And they're taking questions from you, Americans. This is the first time that Americans are finally allowed to ask some of these tough questions to BP ever since that rig exploded back on April 20th. So again, that's happening live, and I believe it happens a half an hour or an hour or so. So you can find that online happening now. But of course, keep your TV on us, right?

Also, here's what's coming up ahead. Several accused Russian spies go before a federal court, but not the one that got away. That is ahead on the list.

Also, police reopen an investigation involving Al Gore. Have you heard about this? There's a masseuse out in Portland, Oregon, and basically she's claiming he sexually assaulted her, touched her inappropriately. What is the former vice president saying, what is she saying? Is her story even credible? You will hear that in your own words ahead.

This is your conversation. This is "RICK'S LIST" here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK so we broke this news to you during our show on Tuesday, the big spy story. At least 11 people arrested, suspected of spy on the U.S. for Russia. It has unraveled like a piece of cold war fiction.

One man was actually arrested in Cyprus and was released, and guess what. Poof, he's gone. The guy's disappeared. Several of the others arrested in the U.S. They are having hearings. That's happening today.

But then there's this femme fatale of the group. She's known as Anna Chapman. And CNN's Deborah Feyerick brings us face with her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Describing herself as the founder of a real estate business, 28-year-old Anna Chapman She comes across engaging, ambitious, coy, and at times flirtatious. Watch this clip as she does a sound check for the camera.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just tell me what you're going to do later today.

ANNA CHAPMAN, ALLEGED RUSSIAN SPY: I will shop. I will have a business meeting at 2:00.

FEYERICK: In the interview, she says she was an investment banker living in London and came up with an idea to start a website pulling together open source apartment listings because she had such a hard time during her own search to buy an apartment with money she saved.

CHAPMAN: It was very personal how all this started, because I wanted to bring value to all these people who wanted to get a new place to live in. So I wanted to help someone.

FEYERICK: She arrived in Manhattan sometime in the fall of 2009 after first stopping in Russia to get a business model together. This interview is from an entrepreneur's conference in April. She talks about her plans and why New York City is such a great place to do business.

CHAPMAN: I think that is the best choice I ever had to do in my life, and I never would go back. And that's something I never regret to do.

And actually to be completely frank with you, I studied a lot to be an investment banker and to really understand something in finance. It was very competitive all the time even though I do have a lot of success in doing so.

But I think the most challenging part started when I quit all my jobs, really cut all my salaries, and really did something that I wanted to do. I was something who just arrived to New York basically, just arrived. I didn't know anyone.

Maybe in Europe, I know most of the people. But here, I knew no one. This was something to start with. And that really made a difference to me. Now I know a lot of people who have introduced me to someone else.

And, you know, it's all about solving problems. It's not just going for it for your dreams. It's not just being successful all of a sudden. It's solving problems.

FEYERICK: The interview was done by an independent producer John Fallacio, hired to cover New York City entrepreneur week.

JOHN PALACIO, PRODUCER: How did she impress me? She clearly is well-spoken, very flirtatious, very attractive. She walked in the room and she knew the power of her looks and was able to connect with all the people in the room, male and female, you know, give them that wink, that smile, and understood the power of her sexuality as well as the power of her information.

And so clearly she makes an impression when she walks in the room.

FEYERICK (on camera): Chapman says she's met a lot of people willing to give her advice and help her raise money. She says the world should understand New York City is the place to do business because it's a place where people care.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Well, yet another chapter, if you will, of this story, compounding his murder charge in Peru, Joran Van Der Sloot is now facing extortion charges in the Natalee Holloway case. That is ahead.

Also, we're all talking about this today. President Obama, Mayor Bloomberg, even, yes, Jay-Z, what are they all talking about today? LeBron James. Everyone has an opinion where LeBron James should be going in terms of a team.

But LeBron is not the only big name in the free agent market today. Many are calling this the most talented free agency class in all of NBA history. Actually my team collected, compiled this list for you from our sister company, the top ten free agents. Here we go, number 10, 6'9" power forward David Lee. Number nine, small forward Rudy Gay, number eight on the list, you know this guy, Yao Ming. Who else made the list? That is next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And welcome back to "RICK'S LIST."

I know we're journalists here and we've been telling you about immigration and talk act the Russian spy story, but let's also be honest. This is just one story everyone in our editorial meeting and beyond have really been talking about today, and that is LeBron James and the fact that he's now a free agent as of 12:01 this morning.

As of today teams can officially try to woo the players to their cities. And there's a lot of big names in the mix. CNN.com has listed the top ten free agents. So you've hung around and you want to see who else is on the list.

Here they are, at number seven, 6'9" power forward Carlos Boozer, number six, 6'10" Amar'e Stoudemire, number five, 6'8", two- guard Joe Johnson, number four on the list, hey, had dinner in Miami with the top two free agents on this list. This is 6'10" power forward Chris Bosh. Number three plays the four, seven footer, you recognize this guy, Dirk Nowitzki.

At number two, 6'4", shooting guard Miami, hello, Dwyane Wade. And the number one free agent in 2010, I think we've heard of this guy as well, LeBron James. Where will he go next? Everyone is wondering.

Also this story -- Alex no longer officially a hurricane, but what in the world did it do to those clean-up efforts under way in the Gulf? That is ahead.

Also this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BART STUPAK, (D) MICHIGAN: The logic was we'll make things better. Well, we don't see --

GRIFFIN: Their logic was trust us?

STUPAK: Trust us.

GRIFFIN: You don't?

STUPAK: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Wow. BP, trying to eliminate its internal watchdog unit, but is the company doing everything to try to improve safety? That's a question Drew Griffin is asking. That story is next on "The List."

And hey, by the way, why wouldn't you want to be on the show, right? Maybe not to see me. Maybe my pal Rick Sanchez. But either way, call this number, 1-877-4CNN-tour. And the list rolls on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, let's talk about what's going on in the Gulf. Of course, more worries for BP on top of this massive oil spill. Here's the question -- could the company be right for a hostile takeover? Its stock prices have just totally plummeted since that disaster in the Gulf April 20th, which means it could be an attractive target for a rival.

Also keep in mind this comes as the company is dogged by another issue. After setting up a watchdog unit to investigate safety concerns, the company is now trying to shut it down. Our Drew Griffin with the CNN special investigations unit explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For 26 years, Jeanne Pascal was a lawyer for the environmental protection agency, investigating and helping to prosecute some of the worst environmental polluters in the northwest, including oil companies in Alaska. And the worst of the worst, she says, is British Petroleum.

GRIFFIN (on camera): You described BP as a serial environmental criminal?

JEANNE PASCAL, FORMER EPA ATTORNEY: I have.

GRIFFIN: Do you believe that?

PASCAL: I do.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Bp has pled guilty to illegally discharging oil in Alaska and also faces a criminal complaint alleging it violated clean air and water laws. Pascal retired earlier this year, so she is now free to speak out about a company she says repeatedly violates environmental laws.

PASCAL: From my perspective, BP has for a long time been a company that is interested in profits first and foremost. Safety and health and environment are subjugated to profit-making. And I do not think that has changed.

GRIFFIN: In Congressional hearings after the fatal explosion at BP's Texas refinery in 2005, lawmakers asked BP's then CEO, did workers warn about safety issues at the plant? He said they had not. There were then questions about whether they feared retaliation for speaking up.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Bottom line, after pressure from lawmakers BP opened an independent ombudsman's office to manage and to hear the safety concerns of its workers. It's run by a former federal judge, just not here in Alaska. It's a very small office tucked away inside this office building here in Washington, D.C., but British Petroleum has been running this employee complaints program for several years.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The independent former judge who runs the unit refused to comment to CNN. Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak was one of those who pressured BP.

GRIFFIN (on camera): The entire reason that office came to fruition was because of safety?

STUPAK: It was because of safety, yes, and the safety concerns continue yet today.

GRIFFIN: Since the ombudsman's office opened, 112 BP workers have come forward to file reports, 35 of them deal with, quote, "system integrity or safety issues," and the ombudsman's office say they are extremely serious.

But keeping them honest, sources close to the ombudsman's office says BP doesn't like it and its independent investigators, and that it doesn't like employees reporting safety problems outside the company. A union representative says some BP workers who complain face retaliation. Jean Pascal agrees.

PASCAL: Many of the employees who have actually reported safety, health, environmental and safety issues, particularly in Alaska, have been retaliated against. They have been demoted. They have been terminated. And they have also been blackballed.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): A BP spokesman says BP has, quote, a zero tolerance policy regarding retaliation. The company, he says, is unaware of any unresolved cases that violate the policy. And there's this. Not long after he took over as chairman of BP America, Lamar McKay met with Congressman Stupak.

STUPAK: One of the first things Mr. McKay said is I'm going to replace the ombudsman. I'm going to shut it done. What do you mean? He wasn't even on the job, a few weeks or maybe a month or two, and he started wanting to shut down the ombudsman. We encouraged him not to do so.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Doesn't it stun you that he would make that remark?

STUPAK: Yes, it did. We were shocked that they would even bring it up in the first meeting and then the second meeting we had with them. The logic was we'll make things bet.

GRIFFIN: Their logic was trust us?

STUPAK: Yes.

GRIFFIN: You don't?

STUPAK: No. GRIFFIN (voice-over): BP has said it can do a better job investigating complaints through an established internal system without the ombudsman's office.

PASCAL: I think at some point a reasonable person has to come to the conclusion that this is a company that has no intention of changing its mode of operation, that the dollar is going to be paramount, and that the health, safety, and safety of American workers and the American environment are a secondary or tertiary concern.

GRIFFIN: Before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP promised Stupak in writing that its watchdog unit would be in place for at least another year. But a source inside the ombudsman's office tells CNN, "Frankly, I'm surprised we're still here."

Drew Griffin, CNN, Seattle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Now I want to take you live to a picture that we not often see. That is the casket of former West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd. He is really referred to as the "dean of the Senate." I mean, this man served longer than any congressman in U.S. history. We're talking 51 years in the Senate.

His body, his casket had been placed in the Senate chamber. It's a ritual that had not been conducted, I'm reading here, for nearly half of a century, and his casket, when it was in there, it rested on the same wooden platform that actually elevated Abraham Lincoln's casket 145 years ago.

So, as we're watching his body, it is moving from there. Of course, then ultimately to West Virginia, a state he served for those 51 years. President Obama, Vice President Biden will attend those funeral services in West Virginia where his coffin will be headed next, and, of course, will be honored by his colleagues.

And then finally he will be laid to rest in a private -- in private in Arlington National Cemetery next to his wife of 69 years, Erma. She died back in 2006.

I tell you. I lived in West Virginia. I lived in Charleston for a couple of years, and it is amazing. That man's presence is everywhere. It is on many a bridge, many a building. He has done so much for that state. He will certainly be missed. Robert C. Byrd, dean of the Senate, amazing, 51 years.

"The List" will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, the second quarter was a rough ride for investors. All three major indices took hits, and today's jobless report doesn't really help here. First-time claims were up 13,000 last week, that and the third-quarter outlook tops the CNN Money List.

Alison Kosik, and Alison, let's talk optimism. Is there any reason to be optimistic as we roll forward?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Brooke, Wall Street is trying to stay positive, but, you know, I'll tell you what. They are not very hopeful about the near-term outlook. Traders say they really want to hear reassuring news on the economy. They think this market is oversold.

All they say they need is one bit of good news, and they will see people buy back into the market. I'll tell you, we've gotten lots of gloom and doom, a constant drumbeat of disappointing reports -- jobless claims up, pending home sales down, construction spending down, manufacturing activity down.