from the public on the gulf of mexico oil spill. and the white house is saying what? >> well, it was a damning report, and the question today is when did the administration realize the magnitude of the disaster on their hands and whether they were candid with the american people about what was going on. >> reporter: a commission set up by the president, himself, to look at the administration's own response to the oil spill released a damning preliminary report. it stated that the white house vastly underestimated the tens of thousands of barrels of oil pouring into the gulf after the deepwater horizon disaster, and despite contrary information from scientists who used different measuring methods. the commission says that the white house stuck with the number of 5,000 barrels a day through may 27th, a month after the initial explosion, despite eestimates from outside experts and even, bp, itself, suggesting a much higher figure.