CNN "Larry King Live" - Transcript

Interview

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REP. ED MARKEY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: I thought he did an excellent job. He laid out a battle plan to -- to ensure that the well was plugged. That there is a response that is put in place so that the oil is sopped up so that the people who have been harmed are compensated, and he then laid out a battle plan for a renewable energy agenda for the future, wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, plug-in, hybrids, all electric vehicles. So, I think he laid out the two things the American people want to hear that their president is working on. And I thought he did so in a brilliant way.

KING: All right. Keith, I don't know that you can think clearly on anything these days, losing a child, but what did you think of the speech?

KEITH JONES, SON KILLED IN OIL RIG EXPLOSION: I was pleased with the speech, Larry. I, I agree with a good deal of what the president says. I agree for the time being with the moratorium on deepwater drilling. I see a little bit quicker solution than most do, I think and that the president has said what he needs to have is to be convinced that deepwater drilling can be done safely. And if it can be done safely, the way for him to learn that is for BP to stand up and act like men and admit what they did wrong. They made bad decision after bad decision after bad decision, always erring on the side of making more money and against the side of safety.

And the result was what you saw on April 20th. If they would step up and be like men, admit what they did wrong, take their medicine, I think the president might be convinced that it could be done safely. It just can't be done like they did it.

KING: You lost a son. Have you contacted BP personally?

JONES: I've had no contact, whatsoever with BP. They haven't -- I have no reason to contact them. They certainly haven't contacted me when I testified before the House Judiciary Committee, a gentleman from BP was five chairs down, four chairs down maybe, never looked my way. A lady from Transocean was, at least, nice enough to come and speak to me and very sincerely express her condolences.

But the BP, I expect, is fairly unhappy with what we're trying to do in Congress, and that is to change the death on the high seas act and make them answerable with punitive damages.

KING: Let me great a break and come back. It's time for tonight's CNN Hero, a former crack addict, six-time prison inmate, got out, clean, transformed a life, created a program to help female offenders do the same. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN BURTON, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: We all leave prison saying, I'm going to get my life on track. And you end up getting off a bus downtown Los Angeles, skid row. Many times, you don't even make it out of the skid row area before you're caught up into that cycle again. My name is Susan Burton. After my son died, I used drugs. I went to prison six times. Finally, I found rehab and I thought I can help women come home from prison. I picked them up, bring them back to the house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She offered you a warm bed, food. Like a real family. She made me want to change my life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You proud of me, Miss Burton?

BURTON: Sure. You came a long way.

This is life. That's what it's all about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Since 1998, Susan Burton has helped more than 400 women get their lives on track. To nominate someone you think is changing the world, go to CNN.com/heroes. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Congressman Markey, how tough should the president be with BP? Some say, as Keith Jones thinks obviously very tough, but some like T. Boone Pickens says that that wouldn't pay. What do you think?

MARKEY: I think that it's impossible to be too tough on BP. My heart goes out to Mr. Jones and his family for his loss because we now know that BP was running through all kinds of red lights, warnings that had been going off in the hours and days before this accident occurred. And so, I think it's important for the president to force BP to put together a compensation fund. It's important for BP to be told that they won't be making the decisions. It will not be the chief counsel of BP who decides who gets compensated.

That an independent evaluator of all the claims will make those decisions and that we will also repeal the death on the high seas act so that families like Mr. Jones can be properly compensated. It's impossible to fully compensate, but to just ensure that BP has to pay for what they did to these families.

KING: Keith, on a personal note, I guess, it's impossible to answer this, but how do you keep going after you lose a child? What keeps you functioning?

JONES: Larry, what's kept me functioning so far, I think, is that my son and I, who were the only lawyers who were immediate family members of any of the 11 took it upon ourselves to go to Washington and try to get this unfair law fixed and to see to it that these families could be more nearly compensated. The congressman is right. They cannot be fully compensated.

You can't make it up with money. But they can be more nearly compensated if they -- if Congress will dramatically change the death on the high seas act and make certain that if the proof is there as to BP's wanton and reckless misconduct that we can recover punitive damages and make BP regret that they made such bad decisions. Perhaps, they won't do it again. That's what's keeping me going right now.

KING: How is your son's wife and child?

JONES: They're great. His youngest child, of course, was born a couple of weeks after Gordon died and that was the ultimate bittersweet experience when Maxwell Gordon came into the world without his dad, but he is a perfectly healthy, happy, big boy and just like his older brother, sleeps through the night, from night one. I don't know how it is. Michelle has such good babies all the time. But they are that. And so, they've got a lot of family support, a lot of it. And we're making sure that that that's going to stay that way.

KING: Thanks, Keith. Ed, we only got about 45 seconds. T. Boone Pickens says it's going to take till September maybe longer. What do you think?

MARKEY: It's not an easy thing to be able to drill and to find such a small target. I think we have to hope. We have to pray that they get it right the first time. Because if they don't and a hurricane hits the Gulf, we could have a Katrina-hit Exxon Valdez and the consequences will be catastrophic. So, let's just pray that they are successful but also understand the logistical difficulties that they face.

KING: Is Congress doing all they can?

MARKEY: We are on BP every day. We are going to make sure that BP stands for bills paid. And we are not going to relent. We're going to have Tony Hayward in, the CEO, in another two days. And this will happen every day until, one, the leak is plugged, and two, all of the victims are compensated and we've cleaned up the Gulf.

KING: Thanks, Congressman Ed Markey and Keith Jones. Jennifer Lopez is here tomorrow night. Here right now is Anderson cooper and "AC 360" -- Anderson.

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