most of the staples are out. a lot of isles are empty. >> the president and first lady are poised to get a firsthand look at the devastation. >> my husband sleeps in the truck. i sleep on the tailgate. >> not only is the water contaminated, it is highly contaminated. >> we will continue to coordinate with them and bring the relief and comfort and everything else we can to the gulf coast. >> special counsel robert mueller has details on why the

president fired fbi director james comey. >> there is a special investigation going on with the president of the united states. >> i don't have anything to add beyond that. >> all that whether the president brings to an end, deferred action for daca. >> i don't think we should do that. >> we love the dreamers. we love everybody. announcer: this is "new day" weekend with victor blackwell and christi paul. >> good morning to you. good to have you with us. today, a second chance at a look at harvey destruction. the waters there starting to recede. the misery and death toll are rising this morning. >> the president and melania trump will leave the white house at 9:00 a.m. eastern. their first stop is meeting with

victims of harvey. they will be at an air base. >> i want to tell them to be strong and everything will be okay. >> the president's promise of a swift government response is now in the hands of congress. the white house is requesting $7.85 billion in disaster aid, a few million more than expected. congress is expected to vote on the money next week. >> meanwhile, special counsel robert mueller has new details about the real reason president trump fired james comey. the justice department handed over a letter drafted to comey, but never sent, in which the president explains his rational for the firing. the white house counsel thought the letter dictated to the top aide was, quote, problematic. is this new information pointing to where the investigation is heading? plus, the futures of 800,000

young documents in the u.s. is going to be decided by the president next week. his decision on the dreamers program coming on tuesday. he's not giving any hints, thus far. >> must be worried? >> we love the dreamers. we love everybody. >> we are getting into all that this morning. we are starting with the aftermath of harvey. the death toll now stands at 50. let's go to george howell in houston at the george r. brown center. what are you seeing? i'm seeing a lot of activity behind you. >> reporter: that's the way it tends to go. most people on the other side here, in closed areas, where the lights are dimmed, they are trying to get a good nights sleep as they wake up and try to figure out the next steps to rebuild their lives. there's a sense of resilience.

people are determined to move forward. there's a feeling of uncertainty. as people go out into those neighborhoods, it's unclear what is left over, how bad the damage is to their homes as they go back to see them. here are the stats as we understand them. so many people going into these neighborhoods. we understand, according to the governor's office, governor greg abbott, 440,000 texans have asked for federal assistance. $79 million has been dolled out to people in need. when it comes to shelters, 42,000 people are in a shelter of some form or the other. the george r. brown center has been turned into a shelter. they were at 8,000 people. the numbers have diminished to somewhere around 2, 000. what you are seeing, victor,

people starting to go back into the neighborhoods to find out what's left. some are returning here. again, others go out, they assess the damage and they try to work out those next steps to start their lives over. >> george, how are those people getting back to their homes? is assistance being offered to them by boat? a lot of people, they are still under water. >> reporter: right. so, it's a matter of simply going -- from what i have heard from people, it's a matter of going to the neighborhoods and seeing how far you can get, quite frankly. when you get there, you find strangers, neighbors, officials, rescue teams in place who have the boats. anderson cooper got on one of those boats with someone. you'll have that story, perhaps. he got on a boat and followed it with a resident. it's a matter of getting there

and seeing how far you can get into these devastated areas. the good news, the floodwaters are starting to recede. the bad news, there's so much water that fell in this area, the streets, these neighborhoods, still impassable. >> all right. george howell, thank you so much. we appreciate it. in a few hours, the president and first lady will leave washington to go to the gulf coast. >> they are set to meet with the people affected by hurricane harvey in texas and louisiana. jeremy diamond, what do you know about this trip? >> reporter: in a few hours, the president will depart from the white house, headed to the gulf coast where he will be able to go to houston and southwestern louisiana. this comes after yesterday. he sends, his administration sends a $785 billion request for disaster relief aid. he sent it to congress, which he hopes they will approve. that is bigger than we were

hearing earlier in the day when we heard a figure closer to $6 billion. of course, this trip is an opportunity for this president to go in and do what many critics said he failed to do during the first visit to the region earlier this week. that is when the president went to corpus christi, texas, austin, texas, received briefings from responders local and federal state officials but did not have a chance to meet with survivors suffering from the storm. he didn't express a lot of empathy or sympathy for the victims. he spoke about the crowd size of the people who turned out to make brief remarks outside the firehouse. today will be a very different picture. the president expected to meet with many of the survivors from the flooding and the hurricane, of course, that hit that area in houston, in particular. he'll also be meeting with

survivors in louisiana as well. this, of course, comes two days of vice president, mike pence headed to the area and did what presidents are expected to do which is meet with victims, express sympathy. he helped clean some debris. the vice president really setting a higher bar for the president to meet today. it will be interesting to see if he's able to meet it. >> jeremy diamond for us there at the white house. thanks so much. >> of course the clean up is continuing in harvey, there is a new storm forming. it's called irma. allison is joining us live. the trajectory of this is very much in question, yes? >> that's right. at the same time, irma is keeping us on our toes. at one point yesterday, two points, actually, it was a category 3 storm. it is pulling back but you have to pay attention to it. here is where irma is, in the

open atlantic, nowhere near land. that's going to change. winds around 110 miles per hour. the high end, a category 2. it is going to an eyewall replacement cycle meaning it tries to tighten up, regroup and intensify later on today and as we go into the day sunday. the question is, where does it go? we follow the track. basically, west and dips a little bit south. that's very important because as it takes the southerly dip, it's going into slightly warmer water. in doing so, it will intensify and get up to not just a category 3, but a category 4 or category 5 storm. then where does it go? okay? here we take a look at the models we go to, the american versus the european. in the short term, they stay in line. once you get toward puerto rico,

dominican republic, they split. the european model takes a southerly track and would bring it to miami and into florida. the american model tends to stay farther north and east. this would be more at play for the carolina coast up toward a land fall around new york city. again, both scenarios not good. the point is, we don't know which is the more likely scenario. we have to keep a close eye on it over the next seven to ten days. >> all right. thank you, allison, glad you are on it. there is a mandatory evacuation in los angeles. firefighter are working to protect homes from a wildfire that burned 2,000 acres thus far. at least 200 homes have been evacuated. this is burning in the mountains of burbank and moving down. the firefighters in the area say the strong winds are fueling this fire, causing it to burn in four directions. >> the reasoning behind president trump's firing of fbi

director, james comey, now having new questions this morning. "the new york times" is reporting a problematic letter revealing why the president dropped comey, just as the russia investigation began to heat up. plus, the president's decision on an obama program protecting young, undocumented immigrants could be coming in a couple days. why paul ryan is telling people to hold off on that program. oh, you brought butch. yeah! (butch growls at man) he's looking at me right now, isn't he? yup. (butch barks at man) butch is like an old soul that just hates my guts. (laughs) (vo) you can never have too many faithful companions. introducing the all-new crosstrek. love is out there. find it in a subaru crosstrek.

about to see progressive's new home quote explorer. where you can compare multiple quote options online and choose what's right for you. woah. flo and jamie here to see hqx. 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." it's home insurance made easy. how much money do you think you'll need in retirement? then we found out how many years that money would last them. how long do you think we'll keep -- oooooohhh! you stopped! you're gonna leave me back here at year 9? how did this happen? it turned out, a lot of people fell short, of even the average length of retirement. we have to think about not when we expect to live to, but when we could live to. let's plan for income that lasts all our years in retirement. prudential. bring your challenges.

hey, i'm the internet! i know a bunch of people who would love that. the internet loves what you're doing... so put your idea online with a domain name from godaddy. enter your idea and we'll find you a one of a kind name. we've helped 17 million people find the perfect domain name for their website. get your domain name and start building your website for free! at holiday inn express, we can't guarantee that you'll be able to contain yourself at our breakfast bar. morning, egg white omelet. sup lady bacon! fruit, there it is! but we can guarantee that you'll get the best price when you book with us. holiday inn express. be the readiest.

(vo) nutritional needs...og's all in one. purina one. healthy energy, all in one. strong muscles, all in one. highly digestible, and a taste he loves, all in one. purina one smartblend is expertly blended... with 100% nutrition, 0% fillers, always real meat #1. lifelong smart nutrition. it's all in one. purina one. welcome back. 15 minutes after the hour. according to "the new york times," the special counsel investigating russia's meddling has a draft of a letter explaining why president trump fired former fbi director james comey. >> according to the report, robert mueller obtained the letter weeks ago. it says the white house counsel did not use the letter publicly because the angry tone was,

quote, problematic. the president would admit on television, he was thinking about the quote when he fired comey. >> the man who hand delivered the official letter firing comey to fbi headquarters is now planning to leave the white house. cnn sources stress that chillers reasoning is primarily financial. there is a source that says he's frustrated with the lack of president trump under the new chief of staff, john kelly. >> this comes as the fate of dreamers is in jeopardy. president trump heavy considering scrapping daca designed to protect young, undocumented children. >> joining me to discuss, errol louis, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> first, i want you to listen to something ryan lizza said about mueller's investigation.

>> we are talking about here both the letter that comey has now excuse me, mueller has gotten in this meeting between the special counsel and lawyers, there is a serious obstruction of justice investigation going on against the president of the united states. >> what do you make of that? do you agree? >> absolutely. there have been dire warning signs. there's so much news out there. we kind of lose track of it from time-to-time. when you consider a whole team of top irs investigators have been brought into the team that mueller has assembled, if you consider that this letter and questions around it are being considered by the special counsel, when you consider the fbi raided the campaign chairman's home a couple weeks ago, paul manafort, that stuff comes and goes and we make note of it. it all amounts to a very, very

serious set of charges that are being investigated and could possibly, in fact, be brought against the president. >> there are a lot of individual elements we are learning from "the new york times" report. let's remind people of what the vice president said back in the second week of may, what has was the rational for the firing of the fbi director. this is what he told the american people. >> the president took strong and decisive leadership here to put the safety of the american people first by accepting the recommendation of the deputy attorney general to remove director comey as the head of the fbi. >> accepting the direction of the deputy ag. this reporting shows it started with the president and the vice president was in the oval office and given a copy of the letter before it went to rosenstein. >> we have so many different versions of this.

the president undermined what the vice president given. a couple days later, he went on national television and said he did it on an entirely different basis, nothing to do with national security. what we know about the letter is i don't think "the new york times" says they have seen it. >> they haven't. >> the contents of it reflected in the reporting according to those who have seen it said it was an angry, some described it as a ranting. it has everything to do with russia, nothing to do with national security or nothing to do with advice from the national justice. assuming it is accurate, victor, the department of justice had nothing to do with it, the white house council had nothing to do with with it. it was political and a group of non-lawyers, including family members advised the president,

informally and then the whole thing turned into an unprecedented act of firing the fbi director based on entirely political grounds. it's really and extraordinary kind of story. >> i played that soundbyte and included that element in the story. up to this point or the several months after the firing of comey, that from the vice president and the interview with lester holt where the president was thinking about russia, the vice president was cast as a victim here. he had been misled. the reporting showed he was in the room at the time when the initial draft was handed out. let me switch to something else. i want to talk about daca, the obama deferred action on childhood arrivals the president has to make a decision on. by tuesday, he says the decision will come out, at least the white house does. this does not fall along party lines. some republicans believe he

should hold off on that. one of them, the speaker of the house, paul ryan. listen to what he said. >> i don't think he should do that. i believe this is something that congress has to fix. >> does this potential fix give the president time here? what do you make of this interjection? >> the president always -- keep in mind the tuesday deadline is artificial. this is based on sort of a threat, frankly, by the attorney general of texas and nine other states to go into court into a forum that was going to be unfriendly to the white house and force the president's hand on this question. it's not as if there was an expouring deadline he had to meet, it was under political pressure. he's getting more pressure from the speaker of the house. the speaker has different considerations. my sense of it is that the speaker would like to have, congress would like to have the

daca as possible bargaining chip as they try to move toward immigration reform. it's ease stoi look good on. the 800,000 or so dreamers are a sympathetic group of people. most folks, if you talk them what it means to be here under daca don't see a sense in taking a 30-year-old korean, law-abiding resident and sending her back to south korea just because somebody brought her here when she was a child. i mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense. so, what they are doing makes a lot of sense. he is going to try to take parts agaye or some of the initiative away from the president to find out if he's determined to own the issue with the different political perils that come along with it. >> quickly, is there anything to indicate that the president would make a decision that does not suit his base? when we look at the tpp, when we

look at the paris accord and pardoning joe arpaio and many things we have seen over the last seven months plus, is there any indication the president won't end daca? >> i would be surprised if he walked away from this. this is at the core of the trump appeal. immigration is core to his message. he's never waivered on this. even during the campaign, early on, he said look, they have to go back. it's simplistic, doesn't make sense and cruel in applications, but it is what he promised. it doesn't sound like it's a promise he is likely to give up on. >> the decision will come tuesday. good to have you. we are going back to houston where texas residents are facing new evacuations this morning. shawn evans: it's 6 am.

40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get.

outer layer of your enamel tooth surface. white, the thing that's really important to dentists is to make sure that that enamel stays strong and resilient for a lifetime the more that we can strengthen and re-harden that tooth surface, the whiter their patients' teeth are going to be. dentists are going to really want to recommend pronamel strong and bright. it helps to strengthen and re-harden the enamel. it also has stain lifting action. it's going to give their patients the protection that they need and the whiter teeth that they want. ♪ (con artists...) they'll try anything to get your medicare card number. so they can steal your identity, commit medicare fraud. what can you do? guard your card? guard your card? just like your credit card.

nobody gets my number, unless i know they should have it. to protect your identity, new medicare cards without social security numbers will be mailed next year. visit medicare.gov/fraud stay sharp people! you don't let anything lkeep you sidelined. come on! that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein, and 26 vitamins and minerals... for the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. ensure, always be you.

live-streat the airport.e sport binge dvr'd shows while painting your toes. on demand laughs during long bubble baths. tv on every screen is awesome. the xfinity stream app. all your tv at home. the most on demand your entire dvr. top networks. and live sports on the go. included with xfinity tv. xfinity, the future of awesome. allergytry new xyzal®.ou have symptoms like these

for relief is as effective at hour 24 as hour one. so be wise all take new xyzal®. just about 28 minutes past the hour. we are so grateful to have you with us in the morning, i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. president trump has a busy day. he will start in texas and louisiana to talk to victims of harvey, i like to call them survivors of harvey. he is pushing congress for $8 billion in the first round of the recovery funds. >> "the new york times" says they have a draft of a letter from president trump for firing comey. they will say if it was part of an effort to obstruct justice.

>> the president will have a decision on tuesday about daca that products undocumented immigrants brought to the u.s. as children. paul ryan is urging him not to end that program. >> let's talk about what's happening with harvey. texas officials ordered mandatory evacuations in areas where the water is still rising. stephanie elam is live outside a houston shelter. how is everybody doing there, stephanie, first of all? >> reporter: the one thing that's been helpful is they have a concerted effort to get the shelter up and quickly. they planned on opening wednesday, but they opened tuesday with six hours notice because the need was there. what we can tell you is since the shelter has been open, they have had over 4,000 people that have been staying here. right about now, the numbers are 1600 people. they are saying they have seen people who are here who have been able to go find relatives they can stay with or friends.

some found out their homes were okay and they were able to make it out. another thing that's been happening, there were a lot of shelters throughout the region, smaller shelters at a place of worship or a school. they are getting ready to go back to normal business, hopefully. they are seeing some consolidation from people coming to the locations here. what makes this such a useful location is fema is inside. you have the public library inside with computers so people can look up how to attack what's going on as far as paperwork and what steps are next. there's a kid zone. they are working to keep families together until they are able to get on their feet and move on to a new normal for them. >> a good picture you are giving us. i wonder with the people sitting there, what do they do if they can't get out and see what they have to deal with yet? do we know how long the shelter is planning on staying open and

available to these folks? >> reporter: right. it's overwhelming. where do you go? how do you decide? if your house was everything to you and you have everything in it, where do you go? we have people here who worked with other disasters to make those decisions. they will keep this shelter open as long as they need to. what they start working with the folk that is are here, they work with them early to start figuring out that path forward, look at the paperwork and helping them so there isn't a day they are left from here and out on the street. they do not want that to happen. from each hurricane or natural disaster, they learn something and incorporate it into the next one. they have benefited from katrina and rita and they are able to take the lessons and help the people here in the houston area. >> thinking about those people every day. thank you so much. >> we bring in sarah stephenson,

her organization is collecting necessities for law enforcement officer who is are working. we have seen them working all week tirelessly in texas. good morning to you. >> good morning. thank you so much for having me. >> certainly. i want to talk about the collection in a moment. first, i want to just make sure that people remember, i'm sure they understand, but remember, not all the law enforcement helping in texas and louisiana is coming from somewhere else. these officers, these state troopers are dealing with many of the same challenges of having to recover their items and find their loved ones, as everyone else. after 12-24 hour shift, help us appreciate the psychological challenges they have when they finally make it home. >> actually, when we are talking to the agencies around the houston area, a lot of officers don't have a home to go back to. their families evacuated, so they are with extended family in the area.

a lot of officers, after their shift, are going back to the police department and either sleeping there or at a jail cell. it's really a heart breaking thing to see right now. >> there was the report earlier in the week of officer steve perez who died while working two hours to try to get to work. his family told him he shouldn't. he was a traffic enforcement officer, but still found a way to try to get to work. unfortunately, he died trying to get there. as the spouse, the families of the officers watch their loved ones go out, from your perspective, as law enforcement support, what does that feel like as you watch them walk out that door? >> it's mentally and emotionally draining. sometimes you don't even want is our job as their spouse to - support them. of course, it is always in the back of our mind that something might happen. but, it thooz stay in the back

of our mind. we can't let it cloud our judgment or tell them no, stay home today. stay home here, it's safe. this is their job. they made an oath to protect and serve. we support them in that. it's definitely emotionally draining for any spouse or family member that has someone in law enforcement. >> let's talk about this collection here. you are taking up donations of specific items that some people wouldn't remember or think about. tell us about it. >> right. we are collecting socks for our law enforcement officers in houston. that idea came about when one of our volunteers came to our ceo and stated, they really need socks in texas. they are thought process behind it was, back in the day, in world war i, vietnam era, a lot of soldiers lost their feet, their legs to trench foot.

it's when the foot in the boot is submerged in muddy water for a long period of time. there's bacteria that grows and infection and even gain green where the foot eventually has to be taken off. so, she thought of the idea, brought it to our attention. that was earlier this week. now, it has boots and we have people in canada, florida, all over the united states, other countries sending us socks to send down to specifically the houston area. >> we talked about the contamination in the water. we are going to talk more about how people can stay safe there. the other element is, even if there are dry socks somewhere, it doesn't mean the officer can get to it. it's important to bring it to them. >> correct. >> how can people support and offer up donations? >> absolutely. you can go to our website at

www.nailstough.org to donate. you can e-mail donations@nailstough.org. on our website is a mailing address that you can mail the items, too. we will ship them out to the department. we are in contact with ten in need of socks. some only need eight, some need over 300. there is definitely a need there. we are getting more inquiries about other items. you will see a list on our facebook page, our website of items they are in need of as well. you can e-mail me with questions community@nailstough.org. >> how do i do it? we have just given them several ways to get involved. sarah stephenson, good to have you on. >> thank you so much. >> all right. thousands of people are going back to their homes to clean up after the storm.

you would expect mold and mud, but what about this? a gator, in the house. texas wildlife officials captured and removed this one. the homeowner found it in his dining room. others have shown up in backyards. they say gators and wildlife are displaced by the storm as well. they are going to try to make sure they are making their way home, though, as the water recedes there. >> we are hearing from russian officials who say there is nothing to see here except black smoke rising from their consulate hours before they are kicked out. people would stare.

psoriasis does that. it was tough getting out there on stage. i wanted to be clear. i wanted it to last. so i kept on fighting. i found something that worked. and keeps on working. now? they see me. see me. see if cosentyx could make a difference for you- cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...find clear skin that can last. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability

to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. never give up. see me. see me. clear skin can last. don't hold back... ...ask your dermatologist if cosentyx can help you find clear skin that lasts. we're drowning in information. where, in all of this, is the stuff that matters? the stakes are so high, your finances, your future. how do you solve this? you don't. you partner with a firm that advises governments and the fortune 500, and, can deliver insight person to person, on what matters to you. morgan stanley. with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis? how do you chase what you love

do what i did. ask your doctor about humira. it's proven to help relieve pain and protect joints from further irreversible damage in many adults. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira has been clinically studied for over 20 years. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ready for a new chapter? talk to your rheumatologist about humira. this is humira at work.

certainly unusual. a smokey send off in the united states forces russia to vacate in san francisco. look at this. black smoke there coming out of the building's chimney. firefighters showed up to investigate this. look what they were greeted by. a man, seeming to assure the fighters, listen, nothing to see here. >> the incident here happened just hours before the russians were forced to leave the building. "the new york times" says american security forces are going search the building later today. this is the latest tat in the tit for tat for election meddling. the united states and south korea are increasing pressure on kim jong-un as he is threatening nuclear war. >> president trump agreed to sell moon jae-in. talking to north korea is no

longer an answer. let's talk about it with bruce, a political science professor and author of the kim jong-un era. thank you for being with us. first of all, what do you make of this agreement between south korea and the u.s.? it's certainly going to aggravate kim jong-un. >> good morning. thank you for having me. i think the agreement is very important because president trump will be working with president moon jae-in on getting more modern systems that they actually need and included in those systems will obviously be upgraded ballistic missile defense because south korea falls behind japan in systems right now talking ballistic missile defense. and the north korean threat to south korea is far more compelling than it is to japan. i think it's a good thing. there will be other systems,

conventional and artillery which is a threat to seoul. armor and infantry. i think this is a good thing and sends a message to north korina they can't push around their neighbors to the south. >> i want to read you what president trump tweeted on wednesday. the u.s. has been talking to north korea and paying them exportion money for 25 years. talking is not the answer. there are a lot of people who may agree with this saying diplomacy does not work. it aggravates kim jong-un and seems to inspire him to threaten the u.s. what can the u.s. and its allies do in this? >> well, there's a couple things. first of all, i concur that diplomacy does not work with kim jong-un. that's been with the obama administration and the trump administration. two very important things we can do is get our ballistic missile

defense up to snuff. right now, the effectiveness of our system, for example is 65% to 80%. it's not enough. we need to get them more effective. it's a tactical movement we can make to defend ourselves and allies, but that's going to take a year or two. another thing we can and should do and i see small things on this already is put economic pressure on north korea's elicit financial activities. they raise money to keep building modernized systems, by their standards. we need to go after banks in places not just in china but africa and angola where they are friendly to us, malaysia and singapore and places like vietnam as well. so, that's a more long term thing that will probably take

months or even years, but that would definitely put pressure on north korea's system that they use to help build these weapons. >> all right. professor, thank you for your insight today. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. the first big saturday for college football. andy scholes has a look at a big game in atlanta. >> hey, victor. they are calling it the biggest opener in college football history. number one alabama taking on three florida state at the brand-new mercedes-benz stadium. we'll have more in the bleacher report.

the houston sports teams have been chipping in to try to raise money. for the first time since ake the field this morning. >> we have more on the bleacher report. >> houstons made it back thursdays night after being away a week. they postponed their opener with the mets for a day to have a day to recover. many players spent the day off visiting those that have been displayed by hurricane harvey. many managers heading over to the george r. brown convention center being used as a shelter. the team playing games with kids, signing autographs, taking plenty of pictures. they are doing everything they can to raise the spirits of the

city. >> to try to steal a smile, participate. we are having a rough time right now, but, you know, we are trying to do everything we can to help them. >> we need to make sure we are there for them and not just an off day in september that they reallyta the rebuild process. >> the astros play a doubleheader with the mets today. the first game is this afternoon at 2:10 eastern. texas star j.j. watts released funds $16 million mark. today, the money is going to work. the first load of supplies has landed. the rest is on the road headed to houston. watts says he has about nine semitrucks filled with food, water and clothing. he and his teammates are going to distribute that this weekend. he says this is just phase one of the recovery plan.

congrats to serena williams and her fiance. she gave birth to a girl yesterday. no pictures are out there, yet. also, no word on a name. today is the first big saturday for college football. the game taking place behind me at the mercedes-benz stadium is called the biggest college football opener ever to take place. you have number one alabama taking on number three florida state. this is a game between two old friends. seminole head coach jim bo fisher was the offensive coordinator at lsu when they won the national championship in 2003. this is the first time they have squared you have as head coaches. speaking to jimbo he said how great it is. >> they have a great program. we have a great program.

>> called the greatest opener of all time. is this the direction you see college football going, having huge, big games the very first week of the season? >> i think it is at times, but determines how the playoff committee rewards the games, when you play and lose. what it becomes has an impact on the future. >> speaking of the playoffs, the national championship game is going to be at the brand-new mercedes stadium on january eight. they are starting the year with the biggest opener and end it here with the national championship game, alabama and florida state hoping, no matter who wins today, they could have a rematch of the same game come january. >> andy had to travel a long way today. >> to the 14th floor. >> it is a beautiful stadium. every day i come in, i think they have done a great job. thanks so much. the best way for us to understand what's happening with

hurricane harvey and everything they are going through today, is through the pictures and video and stories coming in. we have pictures you may not have seen yet, captured by a photographer on cnn digital. stay with us. hey grandpa. hey, kid. really good to see you. you too. you tell grandma you were going fishing again? maybe. (vo) the best things in life keep going. that's why i got a subaru, too. introducing the all-new crosstrek. love is out there. find it in a subaru crosstrek.

if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis,... ...isn't it time to let the real you shine through? maybe it's time for otezla (apremilast). otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,... ...with reduced redness,... ...thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has... ...no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. tell your doctor if these occur. otezla is associated with an increased... ...risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have... ...a history of depression... ...or suicidal thoughts,... ...or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla... ...reported weight loss.

your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. other side effects include upper... ...respiratory tract infection and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take... ...and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your dermatologist about otezla today. otezla. show more of you. [man] baby, i swear [burke] fright-ning bolt. seen it. covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

moving on from texas now. the region is trying to get a true understanding of the level of devastation. we use that word so often, devastation. >> yeah. >> if you look back at the picture, we have seen people, look at this. this is just one of the many shelters. we see people carrying items, carrying children. >> standing in front of these homes. the man who took these images is tim, a photographer on assignment for cnn digital covering the aftermath of harvey

and he's covered hurricane katrina and an earthquake in haiti. to all of you standing in these pictures, we are thinking of you and fighting for you. >> next hour starts right now. >> most of the staples are out. a lot of isles are empty. >> the president and first lady, melania trump are going to look at the devastation. >> my husband sleeps in the truck. i sleep on the tailgate. >> not only is the water contaminated, it is highly contaminated. >> we will continue to coordinate with them and bring the relief and the comfort and everything else we can to the gulf coast. >> special counsel robert mueller has the reason president trump fired fbi director, james comey. >> there is a serious obstruction of