Agrees to $20b account to pay Gulf claims

American people,’’ Obama said. “BP is a strong and viable company and it is in all our interests that it remains so. This is about accountability. At the end of the day, that’s what every American wants and expects.’’

The agreement emerged after a more than three-hour meeting between White House officials and BP executives, whose relationship has grown increasingly strained as the spill nears the two-month mark.

Obama participated at various times in the discussions, which senior administration officials described as a “negotiation,’’ and met alone afterward with BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg. Attorney General Eric H. Holder also participated in much of the session, a sign of the potential criminal liability the oil company may face.

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