dangerous. fema chief brock long spells it out this way, citizens of texas, this is now turning into a deadly inland event. thoughts and prayers are with you. >> and this tweet coming in just moments ago replying to his fema director saying you're doing a great job. the world is watching. be safe. harvey, as we said, it is now even at this hour continuing to pound the texas coastline. but the white house has a lot of headlines coming out of it in the last 12 to 16 hours. first of all, president trump pardoned former arizona sheriff joe arpaio. and related to targeting undocumented immigrants and it's getting a lot of controversial reaction. both republican senators from arizona sounding off. we'll have more on that in just a moment. also, the white house announced that president trump's adviser sebastian gorka is now

out. the president signed an objective also banning transgender military details. and "the wall street journal" is reporting that special counsel robert mueller is examining the possible role that former national security adviser michael flynn played in seeking hillary clinton's e-mails from hackers. let's start with what's happening right now. that's hurricane harvey. we've got a team of reporters along the texas gulf coast and a bit inland where this storm came ashore. let's start with cnn's paolo sandro value in san antonio for us. paolo, we know there's hundreds of people who came to shelter there. maybe more. who were in hotels to get away from the coast. but the storm is coming that way. at some point, you're going to get the rain and the wind, too. >> reporter: absolutely, victor. that's a good point. at this point, we've only seen wind gusts a little rain. so the weather impact is not as severe as some of these individuals were especially

thinking. new numbers suggest 1400 people from coastal communities sought revenue in austin and san antonio, a total of 24 shelters the red cross has set up throughout eastern texas. to meet the needs of these people who have fled the coastal area. and those numbers are likely going to rise, because as the storm lingers and stalls over the lone star state, then some of that infrastructure would be affected like some of the power grids and power systems as well. which means, many of those people, even though their home may have fared fairly well in the storm. they may be without power which means some of the shelters may be the best options in san antonio which is why we're here, not only because there is that threat of flooding but also because the coastal major cities will be affected in the area, this will be now be home to many people over texas, guys. >> paolo sandroval. we appreciate that. nick valencia on the line in

corpus christi. and also the fire chief from rockport, chief sims. chief, i'd like to go to you first, because there are have been a lot of reports from your area. damage about buildinings and reports that some people are trapped. what can you tell us what's happening in rockport right now? >> well, right now, we haven't been able to get out and make any kind of assessment of what we've got. it's starting to break daylight. we've still got pretty high winds going. but we will be getting out here before too much longer and trying to see what we got left. >> all right. and to nick to you in corpus christi, we have you up in front of the camera, a little earlier. typically, on these situations when we get you on the phone, one or two reasons, you're either on the move or something has happened with a shot. is the weather picking up or are you out looking now?

>> well, victor, we drove just a few miles outside of corpus christi, on our way towards where the chief is there in rockport, and what we've seen a few miles out, there's no power anywhere. the sun is just starting to peek -- just coming up in the next 20 to 30 minutes. there are trees down, debris up and down u.s. 81. the damage, victor is extensive. we're waiting for the sun to come up to give us a sense of how wide ranging the scope of the damage is, but some of the worst to give you a sense of it right now this huge billboard toppled over. utility poles bent in half like toothpicks. it appears as though a tornado has ripped through here. that's what the damage looks like from my perspective. the wind is still blowing pretty aggressively as well. this storm system, it's still

clear that it's still hovering over us and causing problems. >> do stay safe there, nick. thank you for the update and be careful as you are out trying to assess what's happening there. ed lavandera is in galveston. el, i know you have been in the storms before, help us understand what the conditions are there. >> reporter: the rain has come and gone. it hasn't been as intensive and intense as we expected. we're on the far eastern edge of this hurricane here on the texas gulf coast. the real concern is, the kind of good news is, as you look behind me, power is still on here as we're waking up this morning. many parts of galveston island, power has gone off on on. but the fact that the power here on galveston island for the most part seems to be intact is a good sign. but the real concern is to communities to the west of where

we are, in areas, for example, if you look out here towards the gulf of mexico. this is the seawall. we're on seawall boulevard here on galveston island. so the storage surge never made it over that seawall. but the seawall keeps going several miles that way and eventually it stops. that's where you get in communities in the low-lying areas where you find the homes bit up on stilts and those sort of things. some areas to the west, not too far from here is where the mandatory evacuation orders were put in place. again, kind of a similar deal. not quite light enough out yet for emergency crews to venture out and still have enough time to get a full assessment of what kind of damage and what kind of situation they're facing. so, as you give us a little more time, those emergency teams will be able to get out and survey. we'll start getting more of those reports to get a better understanding of what the conditions are up and down this part of the texas gulf coast. >> hey, ed. one thing i'm noticing from before you are.

there is frank thertraffic ther. i know from conversations with nick in corpus christi. the fire chief in rockport. they've asked people to stay off the roads, stay out of the way potentially of any first responders who have come out. has that same request come from authorities in galveston and people are just ignoring it? >> reporter: well, you know, we saw this throughout the day yesterday as conditions were kind of deteriorating. there hasn't been a sense here. very few people evacuated. there were only voluntary evacuation orders on the far west end of the island, and that's an area where it goes beyond where the seawall extends. the only time we saw authorities really cracking down and trying to get people to act differently is that yesterday on the beach, throughout most of the day, there was interest from people walking on the beach taking pictures, that sort of thing. later in the afternoon when the conditions had gotten to its

worst point there were crews coming by telling people to get off the beach. that's really been the extent what we've seen here on the island. >> all right. ed lavandera -- i mean, traffic is going by like nobody's business. you think where are they going, and what's open? i don't know what's open there. ed, do stay safe. i do keep in your live shot seeing that lightning behind you and that makes me nervous. do stay safe and your crew. our meteorologist allison chinchar has been tracking hurricane harvey. she's in the cnn hurricane center. two things she's looking at. one, the eye of the storm and whether it's dissipating. and two, tornadic activity. >> let's look at the first one, we may be looking at that eye until it finally closes up comple completely. that's a good sense that the storm is losing its intensity.

and now we look at the outer band. and it kind of concerns me near galveston and houston we're starting to get what we often call training. where the lines backfill. and behind it starts to fill back in. meaning the same places like galveston and houston are now going to receive continuous rainfall. some could be heavy and producing a lot of lightning as well. here's a look at the current statistics. we're now down to 80 miles per hour. still a category 1 storm. and still a very strong storm. and yes, going forward we may have a threat for severe tornados. the green areas in portions of louisiana, all the way down to corpus christi, texas. the main threat with that is going to be tornadoes. we have this tornado watch box right here which does include the city of houston until 1:00 this afternoon. the local national weather service saying if they're going to get it, this means the next coming of hours are really going to be the peak time for them to

have some of those supercells to produce those tornados. we're also looking at a wind threat as well, even though this storm is decreasing in intensity, we still could be looking at wind gusts upwards ever 60 to 80 miles per hour. even through the afternoon hours even as the storm continues to die back down, so, don't rule out that threat as well. some of the peak winds. we've had multiple reports of 110 miles per hour. some from 120 to 130. again, these were several hours ago but even still, the storm is expected to sit and stay put for as much as five to seven day. but it's also going to be a long-term threat. so the short-term threat, again, here's a look at the next five days. we're talking widespread rainfall totals of six to ten inches of rain. and there will be some pockets and a pretty wide pocket, this white color you see here of 20 if not 30 inches of additional

rain. again, this is additional on top of what we already have. we also have flash flood warnings in effect. the longer term becomes the rivers. right now, we have over 50 rivers at major flood stage. two of which have the potential to break record crests in several days from now. again, it's a long-term threat. we know it's going to rain in this region in the next five to seven days. over the first week, we've got the water that's going to accumulate in the rivers. it takes an additional week forever the rivers to crest. and two weeks after that for them to come back to normal levels. the problem here victor and christi, this is going to be a month long, a month from now before we see the rivers back to normal. >> allison, thank you so much. it's good to see what's. happening and what to expect, and what has been in the next few hours but in the next few days is where it could be really

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flood coverage of hurricane harvey as the sun is now coming up and people can try to assess what they're dealing with from this monster storm that crashed into texas. president trump tweeting this morning, chuck grassley. got your message loud and clear. we have fantastic people on the ground. got there long before harvey. so far, so good. remember, senator grassley had warned the president to be please on top of the hurricane. >> so, as we're watching the damage that harvey is doing. the hurricane center is saying, a storm surge up of 6 1/2 feet. we know they can go up to 14 1/2

feet. so far, that's the numbers we're getting. more than 200,000 people we know are without power across texas. rockport, texas, tell us they're unable to get to people calling in. officials there actually told them to write their name and social security number on their forearm if they're staying at home, just in case rescuers find a body. >> so, representative blake van hold with the house oversight committee is from corpus christi. hope us understand where you are. >> well, i rode the storm out in my home. lost a couple trees in my yard. shingles off of my house. so, i'm counting mie ining myse. it's first light here. i just got in the car and visiting the homes of several of the friends who fled to san

antonio to make sure their property is sbaktintact. a lot of downs trees but that's the extent in my neighborhood. >> it people in your neighborhood, does they wait it out with you? >> some did, some doesn't. i'd say it's 50/50 in my neighborhood. it's a lot of high ground. and a lot of my neighbors felt confident to stay. folks in port aransas and rockport, some of those areas on the front of the bay, probably faced it a little bit worse than i did. i'm thankful now the winds have laid down enough, it's just a small light rain, and a little bit of wind in corpus christi right now. so, hopefully, we'll number a position where crews can get out and start making the necessary repairs to get electricity back. it's clearly safe for our emergency vehicles in corpus

christi now. >> congressman, stay with us for a moment. we've got live pictures up on the screen, courtesy of our affiliate ksat. and we're seeing some of the, i guess, damage, that's been caused. there we go -- some of the damage that's been caused bill the hurricane, actually, these are coming from another affiliate here. you see fencing that has been ripped down. and still, the wind, you know, we talked this morning about how 90-mile-per-hour winds is nothing to sneeze at. this is obviously some gusting that's happening here. but the damage we're getting, the first look as the sun is coming up. congressman back to you and where you are in corpus christi. did the authorities there, first responders, did they have and do they have the resources necessary to appropriately and adequately respond to some of these calls? we know that some of the neighbors cities have been unable to get out to get to

people? >> well, corpus christi is a larger area, 300,000-plus, it's something that we planned for. but you get into some of these smaller towns. i represent all up and down the coast, including rockport, aransas, and these areas. you've got police departments that are only a handful of people. the same is true for the sheriff's department. so, it's a little bit tougher for them than it is for the bigger metropolitan area like corpus christi. i'm -- weather permitting, i'm planning on heading up the coast to check out, you know, what is happening in some of those cities. meet with the mayors and make sure that they're getting all of the assistance they need from the federal government. that, quite frankly, with the storm still a category 1 hurricane year goliad, that's between the coast and where fema has staged their resources in

segu seguin. >> the light pictures that we're looking at here i believe are from victoria, texas. i just want to quickly ask you, the focus was on corpus christi going into the storm. but it seems like victoria, rockport, they're the ones struggling this morning. how prepared are their communities to take care of them? and how might you help in that regard? >> so, again, anywhere along the texas gulf coast we consider ourselves to be hurricane-prone areas. victoria is a little bit further inland. they would have had -- they would have had preparations. but, you know, you can't prepare for the amount of water that comes from some of these hurricanes. you've got the guadalupe river that goes through victoria and river flooding. the real loss of life typically in these storms is usually not from the wind. but from the water. >> very good point to make. >> congressman blake farenthold

has texas 27 is right there in your hometown of corpse kriftstkriftcorpus christi, thank you for checking in. >> meanwhile, i want to go to ed lavandera. he's in galveston. the wind, the rain, the seawall apparently not as bad. ed, help us understand what folks are dealing with there. and finally as representative farenthold said, first light is making its way in there. >> reporter: well, yeah, you're looking back towards the west. you take this road down, and you start making your way toward that section of the texas gulf coast where the brunt of hurricane harvey came ashore. and now, you look out this way, here you have the gulf of mexico. clearly, the surf out there, still incredibly intense. you see the seawall here. the good news here in galveston island, at least in this part of

galveston island, that storm surge never made it over that wall so that's good news, it extends out here towards houston quite a ways before it takes you awful the island. this is the area back in 2008, hurricane ike made a direct hit. a very similar storm to hurricane harvey. so many people around here very much accustomed to these types of storms. what's interesting and what's really the main concern, we're talked about, you talk to many people and they can rattle off all sorts of tropical depressions, and storms, much smaller storms that caused a great deal of widespread flooding, damage and death in many of those cases. that is the concern as the storm is inland. and is t starts dumping that rains. and it takes several hours for it to develop. as far as the wind pushing towards the north, it makes it hard for those tributaries to

empty out into the gulf of mexico. so that's why it's a concern. the longer the storm hovers over this area it will make it that much more difficult for those floodwaters to recede. you look at around me, power's intact. the wind has come down significantly here. even in the last hour since we've been out here this morning. occasional strong gusts. but this is, by no means, winds that would cause any kind of severe damage. and it actually makes it a little bit easier for those crews to get out there and start assessing the damage now that the sun is coming up. >> and getting a little sport for ed, with a honk. >> a little bit. ed lavandera in galveston, thanks so much. he mentioned the rivers. and now more than 50 river gauges showing major flooding. more than 50. and 18 with moderate flooding, we'll check with allison in a

moment. and also we'll check in with nick valencia on the road. >> he's on the road. he's giving us great perspective of what he's sayineeing. here's dash cam video. we're going to talk to him in a moment. stay close. it's time for the biggest sale of the year with the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses and automatically adjusts on both sides. the new 360 smart bed is part of our biggest sale of the year where all beds are on sale. and right now save 50% on the labor day limited edition bed, plus free home delivery. ends saturday!

>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome back to cnn's special coverage of hurricane harvey. fema is warning that this storm has turned into a deadly inland event. >> and it is now a category 1 hurricane. it hit as a category 4. here's the thing, 80 miller winds. >> the president is also facing

tough responses after a wave of developments from the white house overnight. including his decision to pardon former arizona sheriff joe arpaio, this move spares arpaio jail time after convicted of targeting undocumented immigrants. then after that, the white house announced the president's adviser sebastian goshg crkagor resigned. there are reports that john kelly actually fired him. some conflicting reports. and also a report that robert mueller is examining a role that former security adviser michael flynn played in keeping out hillary clinton's e-mails. and all of this as north korea fired several short-range missiles. a lot going on overnight here. but we do want to talk with fema administrator brock long on the

phone from washington. thank you, mr. long, for joining us. help us understand where in texas the real concerns are this hour? >> so, right now, this is a very dynamic forecast. there's a lot of uncertainty in the rain forecast. we've got to be careful, and focusing on one specific area. you know, we obviously had damage reports coming in from the coastal storm surge event and high wind event as the storm was making landfall last night. but, again, we've got to continuously watch this rainfall forecast over the next 72 to 120 hours. unfortunately, for texas citizens, this is going to be a devastating, long and frustrating event. >> devastating, long and frustrating. i just want to read your tweet here, citizens of texas this is now turning into a deadly inland event. first, do you know if it has indeed been fatal? and second, what led you to that really stark warning to the people of texas? >> you know, the best storm, you

know, the most similar storm, and all storms are different. if you look at what happened in 2001 with tropical storm alison when over 35 inches of rain occurred over a five-day period in texas. we saw death and we saw massive amounts of devastation. this is shaping up to be an inland flooding event very similar to that. >> any confirmation of fatalities that you know of? >> no, we do not confirm fatalities at this point. that's all done by typically local government corners at this point. >> so, what is fema's role from this point on? >> that's a great question. so, emergency management say partnership. all disasters begin and end at the local level. so, once the capacity to achieve response and recovery has been exceeded by the local government, the state will supply resources to reinforce them. and then once state resources have been -- have reached their

capacity, you know, fema has already mobilized and staged in the state to be able to help supplement and support the state with achieving the response and recovery goals. >> are you getting damage reports yet in? we know that from some of the localities that we've spoken with, that they've not been able to get out to see what's around. from, what your perspective, have been the reports of what has been the result of what we've seen over the last several hours? ? >> well, i think what we're going to see the large flood insurance program mission, we're going to see a lot of uninsured damages to public infrastructure. we're going to see a very sizable what we call individual assistance mission to helping citizens overcome some of the damages as well. it's really hard to gauge the amount of damage right now because of 9 way, you know, this system is still impacting the area. we can't fly resources in. you know, we can't move. we can't put our staff in harm's way to conduct, you know, joint

preliminary assessments and assessments with our state partners at this point. we do know that there are damages occurs, but as i said earlier, is this just the beginning of the event. damage is going to occur in the next 72 to 120 hours in my opinion. >> the president tweeted you're doing a great job, be safe. i know this is your first event. are you confident you have everything you need to respond to the people of the people of texas coast? >> i've got an amazing staff. it's my job, the president has given me the authority to be able to do that by expediting the governor's major disaster declaration request. we are moving forward. we are leaning forward. and we're trying to think of all ways to help our state and local partners at this point. >> aurllrighty. we so appreciate it. our fema administrator brock long there in d.c.

thank you, sir. best of luck to you and your team. >> thank you. >> you're seeing this video from victoria, texas. more coverage in a moment. yeah, well it was $30 before my fees, like the dog-sitting fee... and the rummage through your closet fee. who is she, verizon? are those my heels? yeah! yeah, we're the same size...in shoes. with t-mobile taxes and fees are already included, so you get four lines of unlimited for just $40 bucks each. and now get zero down on the hottest smart phone brands like samsung galaxy. more reasons why t-mobile is america's best unlimited network. when you really want to save just go to priceline. they add thousands of new deals every day up to 60% off. that's how kaley and i got to share this trip together at this amazing hotel. go to priceline and get the hotel deals you won't find anywhere else.

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flo and jamie request entry. slovakia. triceratops. tapioca. racquetball. staccato. me llamo jamie. pumpernickel. pudding. employee: hey, guys! home quote explorer. it's home insurance made easy. password was "hey guys." all right. pictures here coming in from victoria, texas. that's where what is left of the eye of hurricane harvey is now. you see some pretty strong wind gusts actually, some substantial sustained winds here. have ripped down fencing there as well. fortunately, this is protective of a building there. still, the winds have come down from category 4 to category 1.

still causing significant damage. and the story for the next several days will be the rain. >> the world is watching. the that's one of the latest tweets from president trump this morning talking about the hurricane. and george w. bush writes, a storm response can derail a government. and he is author of "the great deluge." thank you for being with us. your assessment so far of what we know about the president's response, fema's response, since they have a new head there, and what is was deemed the early hours of the storm? >> i'm here in texas and govern abo or got a good jump on the hurricane. there are talk about why it was not a mandatory evacuation in

corpus christi. but as the lights begin to shine we'r he here. we'll see how the damage is to port aransas and the hubs out there, like key west, really just stuck out into the sea. and we'll have to see how much damage has occurred. there's going to be a need here, in the next 72 hours, for a lot of emergency relief operations to get to people. that stayed. people that now may be without electricity. may not be able to be on their ventilator or respiratory. and people who are disoriented. you can get dehydration. that can kick in. and also water soaks everything. so, possibly fires, for example, often happen with this kind of flooding. and water contamination, is the water safe, you can wade in it? we'll have to see how all of that plays out in the day. >> and doug, you're the perfect

person to have this conversation with. you've written a book about katrina. you know presidential history. you know texas. we just received this tweet that came out from the president this morning about his new fema director brock long who we spoke with. he tweeted, you're doing a great job, the world is watching. of course, that is so reminiscent to what president bush said in 2005 to his then fema director michael brown. the president told him, brownie, you're doing a heck of ajo job. here's how president bush looked back on that moment. >> these two governors saying this guy is doing a good job. basically i said, brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. good job. you're doing what we expect you to do. >> it's not what we were seeing? >> exactly, i understand, i understand. the only thing i can tell you, you're right. >> you're right that critics turned your words of

encouragement into a -- was that good reason? >> as president, sometimes, your intentions get overwhelmed by perception. my intention was to say somebody working hard, keep working hard. it turns out those words became a club for people saying, oh, this guy's out of touch. >> douglas, how important is a president, and an administration's performance in situations of natural disaster politically? >> well, it's politically crucial. i mean, you have to stay on top of it, george w. bush was in san diego when katrina hit. he stayed out there. gave an irrelevant foreign policy speech. and when he finally made a big decision, he never went into louisiana or mississippi. he did a flyover. and then when he finally landed in mississippi, he did that brownie quip. fema was awol. they were nowhere to be seen. the superdome was packed with people. there was a hole in the roof.

all of the buses had been drowned because they were below sea level, parked. nobody had the keys. so, new orleans had turned into a real crisis. and here, bush was trying to do attaboy brownie kind of lines. i would warn president trump not to overpraise your head of fema. fema doesn't kick in until the storm dies down. and we see if they can assist the community in a quick fashion. whether people can get the funding they need. communities and individuals to be able to be helped by the federal government or not. we just don't know who's doing a good job at this point. >> and we don't know what the damage is yet. if it is extensive, if there are deaths, how soon do you think the president should wait before he goes? >> i would get down there on monday, if i were him. this rain is going to be continuing. there are going to be some fatalities out of harvey. the real concern, though, is that, you know, the long-term

damage for the area that this could end up being a 30, $50 billion dilemma that the united states has. and the president needs to let people know i care. the point of the president, we've been calling them counselors in chief, or hand holers. the people want to know that the president represents all of us and they're keen a wear of what's going on. president bush was widely criticized, why didn't he get that federal help early. he waited almost an entire week before that happened. >> professor, let me get your response to something that senate minority leader chuck schumer tweeted out overnight. of course as we're watching what's happening with harvey, there's a lot of news out of the white house. a series of tweets from chuck schumer as millions of people are prepping for the hurricane, the president is using the cover of the storm to pardon the man

who violated the court's order to stop discriminating against latinos and ban conservative men and women from serving in the nation's armed forces. the only way to use that now is to yuluse the cover of harvey. the timing is not lost on the minority leader. what do you think of it? >> i find it inexplicable that president trump right about when a category 1 hurricane is about to pound shores that he's doing controversial bits about joe arpaio pardoned. it's obviously a lightning rod. it's going to eat up a lot of oxygen about the storm. i don't know why he would have chosen to do that. i would have waited days or weeks to just be focused on the storm. he wasn't. i think senator schumer takes a fair tweet from now on when anyone writes about the week,

the hurricane will be intermixed with intereretrogressive moves president trump has made. >> we always appreciate your voice. and for being here. thank you. >> thank you. >> so, we're going to keep obviously our eyes on harvey, on texas. because there's a flurry of news out of washington as well as we were just talking about, talking about the pardons. about another white house departure here. and new details involving russia, michael flynn and the investigation. and of course, north korea fired off three new missiles overnight. we'll talk about all of that. stay close. straight talk wireless lets you keep your phone, number... ...and 4g lte network... ...for a lot less, with the bring your own phone activation kit. find out more at straighttalk.com.

we'll continue our coverage of hurricane harvey throughout the morning. but let's now talk about all that came out of the white house

overnight. the pardon of sheriff joe arpaio, the resignation or firing, depending upon which white house official you ask of the adviser sebastian gorka. the president's transgender theme, that the transgenders are not allowed to serve in the united states military. and reporting from "the wall street journal" reporting that special counsel robert mueller is examining the possible role former security adviser michael flynn played in looking for hillary clinton's hackers. and joining us now, your reaction from what wall street is saying about all of this, particularly from "the wall street journal"? >> well, look, i think this probe by special counsel robert mueller is really heating up. not only from mike flynn, the national security adviser but also from paul manafort. a company in "the wall street journal" with a report from the "washington post" indicating that robert mueller is issues

subpoenas and seeking testimony from the grand jury, from public relations executives who worked with paul manafort closely during that time, when he was lobbying for a pro-russia/ukrainian political party. so there's a lot of focus on what these two individuals, paul manafort and mike flynn who seem to be in the most precarious position, what influence they had on the campaign and what they were trying to do. whether they were soliciting e-mails from russia of hillary clinton that had been on the server obtained through malicious means. and whether they were trying to set up meetings from the trump officials. >> so, no comment from the flynn attorneys. i wonder earlier in the probe, we know that the president had sent a message to michael flynn to hang in there. i'm paraphrasing in there. is there still any indication from the white house and the former national security

advicer? >> no, i've seasoner to a few sources in the white house said the president has been advised not to be speaking or in contact in any form with mike flynn. so, they have truly severed ties. although, i think this message that was sent last night with the pardon of sheriff joe arpaio is that, look, president trump is always keeping an eye on what's happening to those loyal to him. and perhaps would be open to doing something similar if mike flynn was ever indicted. >> john mccain tweeted about arpaio. and let's remember john mccain is from az. potus pardon of joe arpaio who illegal profiled latinos undermines his respect of rule of law. how genuine does this pardon look on the surface? and why now? usually, we don't hear about pardons from a president, et cetera specially not a first-term president in the

first seven months. >> yes, to the first point, there's been a lot of pushback, not just from lawmakers in arizona. but people who really felt that sheriff arpaio was guilty of participating in racist activities. and that this should have, at the very least, this pardon should have been withheld, until we saw his sentencing which was set for october. so, john mccain, arizona senator jeff flake both of them not only felt like this flies in the face of president trump's commitment to enforcing the rule of law, but also undermines the judicial system of which president trump already has. with the previous criticism. >> yeah, the so-called criticism it's and that the justice department weighed in, or review of this pardon. kelly, with the "washington examiner" we've got to wrap it there. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for being with us.

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♪ i'm michael smerconish, sheltered from the storm, hiere in philadelphia, we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. against the back drama of a powerful storm hurricane harvey which hit the coast as a category 4, the white house