Scott McClellan Testifies Before Congress; Midwest Flood Fears
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Chad Myers. A brand-new levee being overtopped in northern St. Charles County. Yes, that's the Saint Charles County that part is a suburb of Saint Louis. We will have more coming up.</s>KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Chad, thanks. And two months shy of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA comes through with a warehouse full of household supplies for survivors. If you have been following this twisted tale on CNN, you have got to see the payoff. Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in New York.</s>DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Don Lemon, live at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. First up, tons of water crashing through earthen levees, swamping more farmland, more homes and threatening more communities. This levee, well, this break happened today outside Elsberry, Missouri. It's one of dozens we have seen over the past week. The flooding is blamed for 24 deaths so far. As the flooding worsens, so does the weather. It's been raining off and on in Missouri today. And our Chad Myers is watching it for us. The state's governor also taking note as he tours Lincoln County. A lot of towns are fortifying levees or, in the case of Clarksville, Missouri, building a wall of sandbags to keep out the bulging Mississippi. Water that seeps through is being pumped back into the river. Chad Myers keeping a close eye on the mighty Mississippi. He joins us now with new information on that overtopped levee in Missouri -- Chad.</s>MYERS: Yes. Yes. You say Saint Charles County and people start to get concerned, because there's a lot of live in Saint Louis in a northern suburb up in Saint Charles County. But this is not really in a neighborhood. This is in a very rural area. But we will get to it. This is another overtopping that we talked about. We will move up to the north of Saint Louis. We will get a little bit closer here, the levee breach around Highway C. Notice, Saint Peters, that is where the city ends, I guess, and then you get into floodplains, a very beautiful part of the area, corn grown everywhere here, beans and also probably not too much hay, but certainly some beans and corn. And then you think about where Saint Louis is. And it's down here, not that far away for sure. And so we do concern ourselves a little bit with Saint Louis. But right now, it prepares from the latest NOAA forecast that I literally just pulled up that Saint Louis, you have crested. You are right there at 37.0-something. And you're not going any higher. You are going to begin to fall from here. You did have a little boiling across the river in East Saint Louis last night. That was so far so good, contained with some sandbags. We will see how everything else hold up. Boy, wouldn't that be nice if this was just the beginning of the end, Don?</s>LEMON: Yes, wouldn't it be nice. All right, Chad, thank you very much for that. While getting an eyeful of the flood zone, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt stopped to thank the many volunteers who have been helping fill the sandbags in Winfield. And wouldn't you know it? Our other meteorologist, Reynolds Wolf, is right in the middle of that crowd.</s>REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, guys. I'm coming to you from Winfield, Missouri, where we're still in the sandbag line. Sandbags are made way down there</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.</s>WOLF: They're making the most of a very dire situation. People look at this. They do take this very seriously, because we still have these flood warnings that are still in effect for the time being. So, they're not taking it easy. They're still packing the bags. There are still some communities that are really in danger for the time being, because the flood warnings</s>LEMON: All right, thank you very much for that, Reynolds. And I'm getting this information in from the producers, that since Reynolds filed that report within the hour, we have just received word from the Lincoln County Emergency Operations Command, sandbagging efforts have been suspended because all 2,100-plus tons -- 2,100-plus tons -- of sand has found its way into the bags and is either sitting on the secondary levee or stockpiled to respond to breaches or overtopping. So, all of that sand has been used. OK. So, if you would like to help victims of the flooding in the Midwest, want you to go to our Web site. It's our Impact Your World Web page, where you will find links to several organizations that are stepping in to offer assistance. That's at CNN.com/impact.</s>PHILLIPS: The price of oil up again -- late this morning, crude futures were up about four bucks a barrel. At last check, the price had fallen back somewhat to under $134 a barrel, up $1.78 from yesterday, by the way. And today's rise blamed partly on news of Israeli war games apparently meant as a signal to Iran. Also being blamed, the shrinking U.S. dollar, which took a big weekly against the euro. And in Washington today, a bill is being circulated that would tighten laws on energy speculation. And just for good measure, one lawmaker took a shot at big oil. Take a listen.</s>REP. PETER WELCH (D), VERMONT: The oil companies have us coming and they have us going. They have resources in the ground that are available for exploitation. They don't drill. But they call for more land to drill on. They have speculation in the market that's driving up the price. It increases the value of the assets that they're not bringing to market.</s>PHILLIPS: Now, on Sunday, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman will take part in a global oil summit in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are expected to announce a production increase of 200,000 barrels of oil a day. Well, he once spoke for the president. Today, he's speaking under oath on Capitol Hill. You will remember Scott McClellan. His White House memoir slammed his former boss and many of his former colleagues. Ed Henry joins me now on McClellan's testimony about the leak of a CIA agent's identity today. Hi, Ed.</s>ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Kyra. Scott McClellan just wrapped up several hours of testimony. He was grilled by Republicans who were skeptical of his claims, some accusing him of selling out and telling his story in order to make money through his big book that came out in recent weeks. At one point, Scott McClellan, through this process, you find out who your true friends are, acknowledging a lot of people in this White House have now basically disowned him. And sure enough, today, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said, when asked whether he would be paying attention to the testimony -- quote -- "I think Scott has probably told everyone everything he doesn't know" -- a tough shot, referring to the fact that people in this White House believe Scott McClellan was not really an insider, and thus doesn't really know what happened. McClellan testified that he does not know specifically whether any White House officials committed a crime by being involved in the leak of Valerie Plame's identity, the former CIA agent. But he did say that, in general, he thinks that the White House has to come clean. And, in his words, he believes that the White House has been concealing information. In fact, take a listen to what he just said a few moments ago about whether he believes Karl Rove, the former White House aide.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you trust Mr. Rove if he were not under oath to tell the truth?</s>SCOTT MCCLELLAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, based on my own experience, I could not say that I would.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And, in fact, if Mr. Rove were under oath, would you have complete confidence that he would tell the truth?</s>MCCLELLAN: I would hope that he would be willing to do that. And, as you point out, it doesn't seem that he's willing to do that. But, based on my own experiences, I have concerns about that.</s>HENRY: When asked about the president's potential role in the CIA leak, McClellan said that he does not believe the president did not have any knowledge of the leak. But when pressed about the vice president's role, McClellan left the door slightly by saying he didn't know. And he was asked several times about the vice president. But he still did not present direct evidence suggesting the vice president was involved. But he said he believes Vice President Cheney should come forward and testify to Congress about his own role. The chances of that happening, though, I can tell you, are just about slim and none -- Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: All right, Ed Henry live from the White House -- thanks, Ed.</s>HENRY: Thank you.</s>LEMON: We have a developing story to tell you about on Capitol Hill. The House of Representatives has passed an overhaul of domestic wiretap law. The compromise measure passed 293-129. It grants legal protection to telecom companies that help the government eavesdrop without warrants. A lot of the Democrats say the changes go too far and put civil liberties at risk. But President Bush insists the law is a critical tool in the fight against terrorism.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The enemy who attacked us on September the 11th is determined to strike this country again. It's vital that our intelligence community has the ability to learn who the terrorists are talking to, what they're saying, and what they're planning.</s>LEMON: Well, the bill now heads to the Senate, where it's expected to pass as soon as next week. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, has been around a long time. But not many people had heard of it until a few years ago. The law was created by Congress in 1978. At its core is a special court to hear government requests to do wiretaps inside the U.S. The FISA law operated mostly out of the spotlight until 2005. That's when "The New York Times" reported the Bush administration was eavesdropping without getting warrants from the FISA court.</s>PHILLIPS: And we head back out to the campaign trial and our Friday Political Ticker. John McCain has taken his free trade message north of the border to Canada. He told an audience in Ottawa that he's a firm believer in free trade, a not-so-veiled reference to Barack Obama's criticism of the trade deal among the U.S., Canada and Mexico.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The best American statesmen have always understood that Canada is not some adjunct to America. We are firm and fast friends. We are allies, partners in success and adversity alike. And a great deal depends -- a great deal depends on preserving that unity. Trade is just a part of what unites us, but a very important part.</s>PHILLIPS: Obama is also talking about economic issues. He discussed his plans for the U.S. economy this morning with a group of Democratic governors.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have laid out a comprehensive economic agenda over the last few weeks. I just want to highlight a few issues that I think are of particular importance to the states before we open up for discussion. To start with, I think you would all agree that we need to pass a second round of fiscal stimulus, relief that can't wait until the next president takes office. I have called for an immediate $50 billion stimulus that would send out a second round of rebate checks to help families pay for basic necessities. But it also includes $10 billion in a home foreclosure prevention fund.</s>PHILLIPS: And it's the photo-op many Democrats have been waiting for. The Obama campaign says, a week from today, Obama and his former rival, Hillary Clinton, will hit the campaign trail together -- no details yet. The two met privately the night of June 5, right before Clinton officially ended her campaign. And check out our political ticker for all the latest campaign news. Just log on to CNNPolitics.com, your source for all things political.</s>LEMON: Gloucester, Massachusetts, made famous in "The Perfect Storm" -- it was a movie -- it's back in the spotlight now to an outbreak of teen pregnancies. Why would young girls want to start some kind of pregnancy club?</s>PHILLIPS: Hurricane Katrina survivors in Louisiana are getting supplies they need. It only took about three years. The supplies were there. The demand was there. So, what on earth got in the way? Our investigation straight ahead.