good morning, everyone. welcome to your new day. we begin with breaking news for you. two deadly natural disasters to report this morning. hurricane maria making landfall on puerto rico the last hour. packing 155-mile-per-hour winds. maria is the most powerful hurricane to hit the island in nearly a century. life threatening winds and torrential rain are already pounding that island. >> remember, you already have parts of that island all beat up

from hurricane irma. let's go to leyla santiago. she is in san juan, puerto rico. leyla, what's the latest from there? >> reporter: chris, this is becoming just ferocious. i mean, these are winds that are taking down debris. take a look around me. you can see limbs of trees that have come down, parts of roof that have come down. i want to take you up a little bit so you can see these palm trees that are being stripped of their leaves. let me take you a little further north so you can see these buildings. that is an apartment complex. and you can tell those windows will not sustain these winds and this rain. i can hear -- i can hear the roofing of buildings here in san juan coming off. as i look in the distance, it is hard to see beyond several feet in front of me.

but, you know, one of the things that is very telling, we are surrounding right now at this hotel by first responders. and i asked one of them if he could compare this to others. he was here for georgina, here for hugo. he said he has never seen anything like this right now. first responders getting calls for rescue, but it is too dangerous to go out to help people. we haven't received any immediate reports of injuries at this hour. we know there are more than 11,000 people in shelters right now. and of course the big question is the power system, will it hold up given the infrastructure here in puerto rico. we will keep an eye on this. as we get more information, we will certainly be bringing it to you. right now it is the worst i have seen. alarms are already going off in the hotel room.

people being moved out of their hotel rooms into other areas. alyson and chris? take cover. we will get back to you as needed. you have no idea what could fly off the building and hit you. leyla, thank you very much. she was talking about the power grid. >> already softened up by irma. that is going to create compound concern. it mitigates the ability of that government to respond to this. they're already tapped out. >> it made landfall in just the past minutes. what are you seeing, nick? >> this is the worst we have

seen. it is quite extraordinary. as you were hearing from chad earlier, the eye is upon us now. this is the most ferocious we have seen. you can taste the sea salt. you may be able to hear in the background. it was generated by hotel staff. we're told the sirens are generated by a drop in pressure that causes a storm like this, particularly in it's over warmer water. the warmth of the water provides the energy. it creates winds like this. and it is just extraordinary. i haven't seen anything like this. pulling away the

entrepreneurings that were holding up quite well the past hour. now it is pulling out. i guess you can probably see that on the camera. the most ferocious gust we have seen so far. looking down and seeing flood surge. but the sea is being thrown at us here. we are inside a concrete structure that is holding up very well. as is our signal and our satellite. but look at that wind. 175 miles per hour they were

saying. you can hear other parts of the building being torn apart now. this may be the worst of it. we don't know the wind speeds right now but estimated 175 miles per hour. it would make it the worst possibly in puerto rico's history. i'm going to pause here so you can see the ferocity again.

>> we can see it and we can feel it, thanks to your reporting. it is so intense. >> it is extraordinary the amount of salt taste in your mouth and in your eyes. >> i feel it right now. viscerally, i feel it. >> getting salt spray in the face of that water is another part of the problem. it's a problem for vegetation, for the buildings and the duration of this. chad myers, we should bring you in to discuss what the impact is of this experience on these structur structures. nick and his team are doing the best, staying in a concrete hotel. that's good. but when you're looking at these images, this is san juan.

not getting it as badly yet as where nick was on the southeastern corner of the island. but this duration with this kind of intensity and potential storm surge. and you keep telling us it's the water that kills you, what do you make of the situation so far? >> being concerned for nick and the rest of the people that live in that area. the winds will shift directions here in the next 15 or 20 minutes. they will be just as ferocious. but they're going to come from a different direction. all the debris that has flown by nick will fly back at him the other direction. so, nick, make sure you have a corn tore duck out of the debris. we believe the eye is right there. nick on that side. nick is trying to talk. i'll toss back to you, chris.

>> nick, how are you doing right now? >> reporter: we're fine, chris. it is clear it is torn apart. the question we have to ask yourself, how long is this going to go along for? we don't know quite what's happening. the volume of water. we haven't seen the flash flooding surge. they are warning for that to expire in an hour and 25 minutes.

we are in a pretty good concrete structure here. >> nick, let's try to get that answered for you. chad, if you're still standing by, nick wants to know how long this is going on for? you said it is a slowmoving storm. >> nick started feeling the effects five hours ago. so another hour and a half. the wind shifts direction. as the wind will come in from the south. then finally from the southwest. i'm concerned about that. it will be just like this. and sometimes worse for 90 minutes. >> chad, what about the rainfall total. you already warned about the storm surge to expect between six and nine feet. what are you expecting for the rainfall? stphrt surge there should be

just north of pamas del mar up toward el conquistador. there's five inches of rain coming down in one hour. chris, you experienced this in naples. you said where did the water come from. it only rained for an hour. >> it rained five inches in one hour. so easily 20 inches on the mountaintops. i want you to take notice here. we hope nick is out of the way. the northern part of the storm, that's the eye right there, it is rotating into san juan. i think the pictures will get extreme in the next 15 or so minutes. >> nick, you know this. your experience being in these kind of situations. just to review the highlights from chad. as you know, the wind is going to change direction. you're going to have to rethink your position. you will have a moment of calm that could last a few minutes

with the eyewall. you have the back end of the storm to deal with afterwards. this is a slow moving storm. so you have hours of this in front of you. how does it seem to be holding up outside that window? >> reporter: i'm trying to put my head around this wall and i have to immediately retract it because of all the saltwater. that's indication of how much the sea is being involved here. we're here in a very supportive concrete structure.

it has been going on for hours. 90 minutes, chad, for the storm to continue. if it does change direction, we're pretty well secured. water is all around us here. i have never seen anything quite so violent. extraordinary. and persistent. impossible to tell really. >> we hear the alarms going off behind nick there. nick, you have another hour and a half of these kinds of

conditions. we'll check back with you as often as possible. please take cough. be careful during this time. wowza. our next guest rode out hurricane maria in st. croix. judy goodrich. thank you for being here. >> good morning. how are you? >> doing well. how about you? is. >> we're all safe here. that is what is important. we lost part of a patio roof. many trees and branches are completely gone. looking around the valley, lots of leaves and everything blown off the trees similar to what happened in hugo. i see a lot of buildings on the north shore standing. my neighbor last nearly their entire roof. i'm going down the hill as soon as i get off the phone with you to check on them. nobody has heard from them.

there were posts on facebook all night long, people asking for help, their roofs are blown off, they're crowding in pantries and bathrooms with children begging for help. and obviously there's not a lot that first responders could do. the governor did a great job. he was on the radio constantly updating the folks all night long. he warned even to be safe, batten down. we didn't have much time for the storm. it was pretty rough. we thought we were going to lose it the a few times in the middle of the night. it didn't let up until 4:00 in the morning. we're receiving rain and bands and lightning and high gusty winds at the present time. >> that is really scare, particularly since you were trying to ride out the storm, as i understand it, with your mom who is 82 years old. >> yes. >> and your 63-year-old neighbor and your dogs. so in the throes of it, what was that like? >> well, she was nervous, of

course. my mom went through hugo so she kept envisioning similar stuff happening. i don't think it's quite as bad but we can't tell because we can't leave the house and won't be able to drive around. the driveway is completely impassable. overall, i know she's grateful. i came down here from arizona june 2nd to spend the hurricane season with my mom knowing that it is getting more difficult for her. and i know she's grateful that i was here. our tphauneighbor terry was her. our storm shutters opened up and terry and i used mops and canes and ropes and tied it shut and battened it down again. i sat in the kitchen for a long time just watching our roof lift up away from the foundation, up and down, dancing, swearing it was going to blow off but she held on. >> oh, my gosh. that's scary to have to watch

that all night and not know what's going to happen. you also described what it sounded like at the height of the storm. what was that? >> you just thought everything was coming at you. you didn't know if it was a car, a tree. we have lost palm trees. mostly -- a whole patio roof crashed down with cinder block walls. entrepreneurings with metal poles banging around. lights. everything. it's all of the yard. you just didn't know what was going to come at you. you didn't know if the windows were going to break. we were downstairs from midnight until 3:00 in the morning. it just didn't stop. you're sitting there going when is this going to end? being at nighttime, it makes it that much scarier. you can't see what's coming at you, you know? >> yes. we can only imagine how scary all of that that you're describing is. jodie, thank so much for taking

time. i'm sure your mom was very happy that you went down and rode this out. thank you for joining us. we're happy you're all safe. >> ye is. we hope even on the virgin islands and our sister islands going through this too. i hope even weathers the storm as we move forward. >> we do too. thank you so much, jodie. >> thank you. a lot of families kphebgted to the commonwealths and territories. puerto rio a commonwealth of the u.s. congresswoman stacy plaskett. what do people know about what this combined toll has done to the islands? >> thanks so much. we just finished cleanup. are beginning the cleanup from irma on the islands of st. thomas and st. john, which were heavily damaged.

we lost our hospital on st. thomas. most utilities were lost on that island. and we saw the island of st. croix being the base being the recovery. now with maria being a category 5, we are just beginning to get reports based on what that damage is going to look like on that island. the wall was 10 miles off st. croix. so 175 miles per hour winds gust thraoug the island of st. croix. we're hearing loss of roofs, loss of buildings, people trapped. elders have had heart attacks. this is going to be a tremendous work for the virgin islands. we have tkus pairity in terms of our treatments, along with puerto rico and how we receive federal funding. post fema, the tax relieves that

will come will be enormously important. as you can see from this devastation, we're going to have lost our tourist season for this year on all of these islands. >> what are you looking at in terms of recovery timeline. sure, this season is going to be a tough haul to get anything ready in time. what about next season? >> well, you know, that's the hope of virgin islanders. we're aoeouslyl ll ll lly enorm resilient. since there was no swimming pool after that, he became a basketball player. so we adapt and change. but in this instance, we're going to need the federal government's support. we're looking at some of the appropriations that are coming right now. the cuts that we are going to be receiving. that can't stains.

we will need an injection of support, public/private partnerships to grow our islands to make the next season. we know we're going to be out of power on all three islands for several months. hopefully we'll be able to get ourselves back up and running before spring and start rebuilding at that time and see where we go from there. this is an opportunity. chris, as you can see throughout the caribbean, there's devastation. this is an opportunity for the united states that the virgin islands, that san juan can be the beacon of light in the caribbean at this time. that will need the support of the federal government. >> absolutely. in a big way. all of these budget battles with fema, dealing with power and temporary powers. you say weeks and months without power. that is such a punishing, punishing reality for people on the ground. stacy, we'll stay on it on. congresswoman, give us updates as you see necessary. >> if i may. >> please.

>> i just want to let you know if you have family and they're trapped please call 340-773-2244 or 340-774-2244. that is the emergency management agency. the phones are still working. and once they get that information and the winds have died down sufficiently, they will get first responders out to you. i will tweet it out. >> 340-773-2244. or 340-774-2244. >> okay. >> thanks so much. >> thank you. and please come to us with information as you get it. we have more breaking news. a powerful earthquake in mexico city where the death toll is soar to go over 200 people. at this hour, there is a frantic seven for survivors.

we are at the scene of a collapsed office building. what's happening, rosa? >> reporter: well, alyson, death, destruction and despair in mexico city as these intense search and rescue missions continue. dozens of buildings have collapsed here in mexico city. the one that you see behind me is one of them. this is an office building. there are dozens of people here waiting to hear if their loved ones will be indeed rescued from this building. from talking to first responders, they tell me 28 to 30 people have already been rescued. but as you can see, this rescue effort continues. there are first responders going through the rubble, dancing a delicate dance of trying to save people without causing greater harm. now, one of the things we have been hearing from people here waiting for hours, some of them

in tears with psychologicalen eyes they, say every now and then the first responders ask for a moment of silence because they're trying to listen for signs of life and trying to follow those signs of life. this is mexico city. we're 75 miles from the epicenter of this horrible earthquake. that just gives you an idea of the magnitude. there have been school closings in seven states. the mexican government has issued what's equivalent to a disaster declaration in the united states that allows federal resources to come in. more than 3,400 soldiers have been deployed to all the areas that have been impacted by this terrible earthquake. alyson and chris, from talking to some of the people here, they are desperate. >> look, obviously there's lots of complications in these natural disasters. we'll check back with rosa. we will stay on all of this

breaking news. this massive hurricane is hitting puerto rico as we speak. we will go back to that as we can. all sorts of things are happening in politics on the international stage we need to talk about as well. president trump went where no american president has gone in his first speech at the general assembly to the u.n. he said he would totally destroy north korea if provoked. >> the united states has great strength and patience. but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. rocket man is on a suicide mission for myself and for his regime. >> joining us now to discuss this is cnn national security analyst general michael hayden, previously the director of the cia as well as the nsa. what did you think of the

speech? it. >> was fairly complex. a lot of emphasis on the style, which was con front aeurbl, combative, national his particular. that was an important message. it looks a lot like the domestic version. you get this over the top language with regard to north korea, rocket man, total destruction. but if you sit and you read the speech, i think there's some important distinctions here. in that part of the speech, and i think this is critical, the president used that very aggressive language which i think was a bit excessive. in terms of defense against a north korean attack. but when he got over here to talk about the denuclearization, he emphasized diplomatic need, economic needs, political means, political isolation. so for the first time we got the president frankly sounding a little bit like secretary mattis, who has been really tough.

but he has also made the a clear distinction between responding to an attack and working to cap the north korean nuclear program. >> that's why what has been said by the president about the iran deal looms large. make the connection to why what the u.s. does with respect to whether or not they should stay in the iran deal. what's your take on that? and how that projects onto the north korea situation. >> sure, chris. that was the other real substantive, concrete, specific part of the speech. he really criticized the iranian deal as an embarrassment to the united states and so on. again, i think the language is a bit over the top. now, truth in lending here, i want a real big fan of the deal. but i don't think it's a good idea for our going in there now and frankly what the president threatened was to decertify the deal for us to walk away with it. look, if the off-ramp over here

because we don't want to go to war in northeast asia, if the deal is negotiations with the united states, why are you over here trying to prove to the world that the united states is not a stable negotiating partner? but we would walk away from a deal made by the previous administration? >> do you feel a speech like this does move the needle somehow? do you think what the president said did sway some other leaders's thinking? >> you know, i was thinking about that, alyson. there are three groups, two of them small. a couple of groups of here. the iranians and the north koreans who really got some messages there and were totally opposed. frankly, their khrefs of delegation didn't even show up. and benjamin netanyahu in the seats cheering the president on. i think for the vast majority of the general assembly, they left the meeting yesterday still

unclear about presidential policy. you know, the president ran more on attitude than he did on specific policy directions? we kind of that had that yesterday in the u.n. general assembly. so i think a lot of folks in there were made a bit nervous because not all the ambiguity was cleared up by the president's speech. >> let's get your take on what's happening with special counsel mueller and the revelation that manafort had a pfizer warrant, maybe several warrants on him. what do you make of that? >> yeah. obviously it's very important, chris. and kudos to the network for many kg out with that a couple of days ago. i'm trying to get clarity on what is going on here. two kinds of warrants that the u.s. government can go get in order to listen to the conversations of an american. sometimes our language isn't quite precise. so i really would like to know, i'd really like to ask the

question, was this a warrant we got for criminal purposes which suggests this is just part of that long money laundering relationship with the ukrainian government thing, or did we get a warrant because we believed mr. manafort to be the agent of a foreign power, which then suggests we've got a much warmer trail in terms of collaboration with the russians. my instincts are it's over here. it's a criminal warrant for activity not directly related to the campaign. but i can that's a big question. >> all right. general hayden, thank you very much. always great to talk to you. >> thank you. hurricane maria is batter puerto he rio as we speak. heavy rains pummeling the island. the late tpreft our cnn crews in the field experiencing this, next. and life's beautiful moments. switch to flonase allergy relief. flonase outperforms the #1 non-drowsy allergy pill. when we breathe in allergens,

our bodies react by overproducing 6 key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. flonase helps block 6. most allergy pills only block one and 6 is greater than 1. with more complete relief you can enjoy every beautiful moment to the fullest. flonase. 6 is greater than 1 changes everything. woman: we demand a lot from our eyes every day. i should know. i have chronic dry eye caused by reduced tear production due to inflammation. so i use restasis multidose®. it helps me make more of my own tears, with continued use, twice a day, every day. it's also what i prescribe to my patients who have this condition. restasis multidose® helps increase your eyes' natural ability to produce tears, which may be reduced by inflammation due to chronic dry eye. restasis multidose® did not increase tear production in patients using anti-inflammatory eye drops or tear duct plugs. to help avoid eye injury and contamination, do not touch the bottle tip to your eye or other surfaces.

wait 15 minutes after use before inserting contact lenses. the most common side effect is a temporary burning sensation. ask your eye doctor about restasis multidose®. savings card holders pay as little as $0 for three bottles. start saving today at restasis.com. >> all right. next. ♪ ♪ integrate any part of your business, and have your systems work as one.

the ibm cloud. the cloud for enterprise. yours. the cloud for enterprise. we believe in food that's anaturally beautiful,, fresh and nutritious. so there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. we believe in real food. whole foods market.

okay. we have a lot of breaking news. welcome to our viewers in the united states who have been watching us, as well as those around the world joining us. this is new day. hurricane maria made landfall in

puerto rico as a storm category 4. leyla santiago is in san juan. the winds are powerful there. we lost nick paton walsh's shot at the moment. we believe we have leyla's up. they come and go, as you have been watchng. >> obviously you're going to have transmission issues. it's in the a safety issue. nick paton walsh is okay. laila santiago, negotiating with police to do her shot. what have we seen so far in terms of what was predicted? >> pretty much right on the money. this thing landed on the southeastern coast of puerto rico. the american model and european model had this within five miles. i don't think you can get better than that.

let me zoom into this latest satellite picture. if you weren't with us earlier, the radar went out in puerto rico when a heavy band of weather moved right over it. right now that radar sight is there. they don't have time to fix it. they are seeing significant weather. tphubg peyton walsh there. what concerns me about nick, not that we don't have a shot. we send this man he every bad place a hurricane is going to hit. he said today this is the worst he's ever seen. that's a big deal. winds 115 miles per hour. they will last for hours. that's the thing. here is puerto rio. everywhere you see white, that is over the entire island.

everyone on this island will likely see wind gusts well in excess of hurricane strength and many in excess of 100 miles per hour. move it ahead to watch and show you the dr where it goes here. tkpheupb were can republic. the northern side of that country getting pounded by 60 to 70 miles per hour. we saw one tidal gauge. storm surpge is five feet and still going up. significant rainfall with this. places have been hurt so badly by the wind and you have to deal with water coming through as well. we still have maria in the atlantic ocean. some of the computer models overnight are hypotheticaling at a slight left shift. and left is that way.inting at slight left shift. and left is that way.

rarely can the computers get 48 hours right. we will keep it from here. >> chad, can you put back up the radar so we can see where laila sani leyla santiago is show us what that looks like. we will show you a bit of tape just experienced. >> i would love to show you radar but the radar broke an hour and 45 minutes ago. we have not had radar since the eyewall made landfall. but i can show you the go 16, the latest, greatest satellite that doesn't go out in a storm. just like in tv, it goes out when it starts to rain. here is the big part of the storm. everywhere that you see pink, they had winds over 100 miles per hour. lela is right there in sap juan seeing all the winds pouring right down in there. there you see is the island. there you see the pink running right through sap juan.

the worst possible scenario. the eye getting smaller. the figure skater pulling her arms in because making contact with land, that's the friction from the land and the friction around the eyewall still very much there. i just is can't show you the eyewall rainfall because there is no radar left. it's gone. and i can call up melbourne if it goes out. there is only one here on the island. >> another big storm too, chad. even if you're not in the pink, you're still getting a beatdown. here's what leyla santiago was dealing with in san juan. >> that's where we lost her signal. she is grabbed and pulled in to a little bit more shelter. but obviously the winds, 115,

that is really intense. that's where things are flying. >> half that is really intense. we get caught up in the numbers in this. chad said it beautifully. the wind gets the headlines, the numbers, the 100 or whatever it is. it's not what kills you. it's the duration, the storm flow, it's the water. it's that combination effect that makes hurricanes so deadly. that's why we watch all the different fact oers over time. >> the incident command post, coast guard captain eric king. captain, can you hear stphus. >> yes, i can. good morning. >> where are you hunkered down? >> we're 10 wiles southwest of san juan. we stay here so we can quickly follow the storm after maria's passage. >> what kind of safe room are

you in? >> if my wife is listening she would be happy to know i'm in the downstairs bathroom padded with cushions around and wearing a hard hat. >> oh, my gosh. and so, i mean, obviously, captain, you guys are tasked with helping people and rescuing them. but, you know, right now, as the eye is crossing, what could the coast guard do if somebody were in trouble? >> unfortunately, we're limited in our response capabilities. we try to warn mariners well in advance 72 hours of a storm is. certainly our larger ships in ports, we have them leave, not only the coast guard cutters but also ships in port. obviously warning mariners to be wary not only the coast guard but other agencies we work with down here in puerto rico and the sreurpbl in islands, they pull their assets out as well. >> what is your biggest concern

at this hour? >> my concern is primarily for my people, especially suring that 600 coast guard men and women weather the storm. next is trying to help the public as much as we can with search and rescue. this type of environment in the islands. i heard you talk about storm surge. we're certainly going to expect storm surge here. islands are a little bit more mountainous. however, given our role of the coast guard down here, we may be respond to go kwreup land search and rescue as well. so prepare for that. obviously to open waterways to bring commodities and goods to puerto rio and the virgin islands. >> we are just getting an alert that it just crossed from the national weather service. extremely dangerous floods are imminent. rivers are going to be

overflowing, as well as the storm surge. what will the challenges be there? >> we're fortunate that we partner with the emergency operations managers here in puerto he rico. fema is down here. other agencies are prestaged given what happened with irma. so i think we're in good position to respond post storm collectively. >> captain, before we let you go, anything you want to say to our family? >> no. we have several -- >> captain? >> man, we keep -- he said earlier that he was safe and he hoped his wife knew that. he is hunkered down in his bathroom. but all the technology -- >> the last person you want to talk to in that situation is your spouse. there is nothing good he could say in a moment like that.

hopefully he was just playing quiet there. we will check back in a little bit. we will keep you on this hurricane. they have never seen anything like this in puerto rico. they are already banged up from irma. we will take you through it all morning monk. cnn learned the special counsel investigation into president trump's former campaign chairman paul manafort is examining activities going back more than a decade. it comes as we learn more about the tactics that bob mueller's team is using. let's bring in our panel. david greggry and chrigregory a. they were both pfizer warrants, which means they had to go before a imagine state and make a probable cause show. sit notwilly-nilly. the surveillance stopped for

lack of evidence of a crime. there was then a second warrant specifically connected to potential pressure and/or tactics of collusion with trump officials during the campaign. >> you have the campaign manager for trump who is an agent of u foreign power, russia, who has experience with the ukraine with a regime friendly to putin and russia. president-elect is less than

candid about those connections. they are trying to manipulate and interfere with the campaign. it is ties that he may have and collusion, interference going on with the help of those who are very close to trump. as the investigation continues, there's more people pulled into this. and i think it only adds more ballast to congressional. >> speaking of aggressive, the new cnn reporting about what happened when they went into manafort's home. parentally guns were drawn. he and his wife were in bed. his wife was searched for weapons. this is sending a very strong message. >> right. it is standard procedure when entering a home. but you are right. i think all of this, and we have

learned the last 24 hours a lock being picked to get into the house. an extensive search. lots of documents taken. i think it speaks to david's point, which is a lot of this i think is mueller and his team making clear here, number one, that they're going to be aggressive. number two, as it relates to manafort, they don't really trust him, right? you don't do what they have done to paul manafort if you think that he is being entirely forth coming. if you think that at the end of the day -- you know, he might be involved but there is no real there or there, it seems the folks in the investigation or at least a focus of the investigation i should say is clearly on manafort. and i think the question going forward now is can, will manafort become more of a cooperating witness? they clearly feel he is not cooperating as much as they

think he could. what does he know beyond what he has told them. they seem to think there is more there. and he mike flynn seem to be the two central players. and the question always with this is how high up do these accusations go and what can you prove and what do they know? this is the stuff of sort of spy and detective novels what we have seen in the last 24 hours. >> david, there is a political backlash potential here also. they're going so hot and heavy against manafort. if they don't get the goods on him and all the reporting keeps suggesting at the tail end they anything conclusive yet, at least that's what the reporting is, boy will it be a good thing fort democracy that mueller is a represent. because, otherwise, you know trump and his supporters will say this was a witch-hunt. >> well, they have already laid that groundwork. they will go after mueller hard in a way that a lot of people

around bill clinton went after starr. i think you're right about the political backlash. the big question, as chris said, what does this lead to? do they indict manafort and take him to trial? does it come about him and whatever crimes he may have or may not have committed? how far is that from the president and other people on the inside of the campaign? ultimately, these will be the important questions. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. fine print. the last ditch gop effort to repeal and replace obamacare. what is the fine print? what is it really going to do? are they going to get this passed? we have experts to break down the details, next. u and life's beautiful moments. flonase outperforms the #1 non-drowsy allergy pill. it helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause symptoms. pills block one and 6 is greater than 1. flonase changes everything.

so what is happening right

now with the republican senators and the white house? this last-ditch effort to repeal and replace obamacare? why last ditch? because at the end of the month, they will lose their opportunity to have a reconciliation process. so is in the bill and why is there this controversy and rush. let's break down the bill with chief washington correspondent for kaiser health news, julie rove inner, and sarah cliff. good to have you both. julie, what are the major pluses for the republicans to sell to their constituency? >> the biggest plus is to say they did something on health care. over the summer when it looked

like it was dead the republican senators went home and were hammered by their base because they were unable to follow-through on the promise to repeal and replace the affordable care act. >> sarah, am i being too much of a lawyer when i say how can they do this without the cbo scoring? isn't that in the law about how you get through something in the reconciliation process, that the cbo scores it? >> it's certainly in the rules but the rules are left to the senators who are sitting and one of the things they could do which would be a little unprecedented but would be in their power to say we were up against a deadline, and we will pass it now and get the cbo score later, and we have seen a lot of unprecedented things happen in the health care

debate, so it wouldn't -- would be unprecedented. >> it's clearly an end run around debate, and we have been talking about it for so long. no, you have been talking about that you won't debate it for so long. i don't envy you sitting through the obamacare debates, but it was a protracktive process so the lawmakers could get through it. the jimmy kimmel test, does it pass it? >> it does not. jimmy kimmel made it clear last night. it takes all the money in the affordable care act and bundles it up and gives it to the states and says you can do whatever you want and they can waive the requirements that was part of the jimmy kimmel test, and that's not necessarily the case

under this. i should point out, the cbo said they would have a preliminary score. what the cbo won't have are analyses of the full impact of this, how many people might lose coverage and what might happen to premiums. >> i know many of you are saying jimmy kimmel, is that a politician or late-night guy? no, that's the late night guy. he was pushing the bill, and kimmel believes that this senator lied to his face. here's what he said. >> i don't know what happened to bill cassidy, but when he was on the publicity tour he listed the demands for health care clearly and his words were coverage for all and no discrimination based

on pre-existing conditions, and the new bill does none of those things. this guy, bill cassidy just lied right to my face. do you believe every american regardless of income should be able to get regular checkups and maternity care and all of those things that people who have health care get and need. >> yep. >> so yep is washington nope, i guess. stop using my name, because i don't want my name on it. there's a new jimmy kimmel test, it's called the lie detector test. you are welcome to stop by the studio and take it anytime. >> giving the gop the best defense here, kimmel is passionate but not a policy guy. cassidy will say you can get those things and you just have to pay for them and the rates may be different and the scaling of costs could make it while it's available to you impossible

to pay for. isn't that the right criticism? >> i guess so. i think, really, i agree with jimmy kimmel here particularly on pre-existing conditions which are important to a lot of americans, that the cassidy graham bill would let insurance companies charge more for cancer and -- >> that's what i'm saying. don't say you can't have it. you can still have it. we are not ruling out pre-existing conditions like we used to, and it just will cost differently. they will make a fairness argument. >> yeah, for me it doesn't hold water because at some point from premiums are getting to $500, $1,000, $2,000 a month, and it's a mute point if you are being offered. >> i didn't say it would be a

good argument but it's going to be their argument. we will test it when they come on the show. >> do they have the votes? >> not yet but they are close. this is going to be up to the states. let the states decide what to do. in some states you might have the protections and in some states you might not, and that's their argument pushing this. there are a couple senators everybody is watching, senator mccain, and the senator in alaska, if they could get those two onboard they might be able to pass this. >> collins vote up in maine said she would be oppositional but has not given us any opinion on this bill. there's a lot of news. the hurricane maria is battering puerto rico. we have it covered. let's get after it.

>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome to you in the united states and around the world. this is your "new day." it's wednesday, september 20th. 8:00 in new york. we are following two deadly natural disasters. you have hurricane maria now making landfall in puerto rico. it beat up the u.s. virgin islands. it's now a category 4 storm hammering the island with all of the rain and the wind and the storm surge yet to come. the eye of the storm about to go over san juan. we are getting our first images. take a look at your screen. this is from a storm chaser mike taoeus. >> just incredible to see the streets turn to rivers. more breaking news at this hour, the death toll soaring to 216 in mexico after a earthquake rocked the mexico city area. dozens of children are reported missing at this hour. the deadliest earthquake to hit

in decades. let's begin with nick paton walsh on the southeast coast of puerto rico. we do not have communication with him right now because of all the conditions. he is getting the worst of those and let's see what is happening with him. cnn's raffaele romo is going to join us from puerto rico's east coast. what are you seeing? >> reporter: alisyn let me show you what this hotel had to do to prevent catastrophic damage. they had to tie ropes to their front doors because they were afraid at one point that the air currents were so strong they would completely destroy the lobby, and in a way that has already happened. let me show you what flying debris has done to the lobby. they broke the glass above me and right