type of pain, and to see that destruction is something i've never lived through before and certainly makes me understand why so much help is needed right now in this gorgeous island, despite what it looks like right now. >> you're going so much for so many to raise that awareness. thank you for joining us, "ac 360" is next. good evening. with so many americans wondering what will become of their healthcare. we begin tonight with what president trump is focused on instead. athletes in the nfl and elsewhere taking a knee during the national anthem to protest what they see as racial injustice. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag, to say get that son of a bitch

off the field right now, out, he's fired? he's fired! >> president friday night in alabama. over the weekend protest spread across the nfl, suddenly sob's as he calls them were elsewhere. yesterday he was tweetding, quote, sports fan should never condone players that do not stand proud for their country. change the rules, fire the sob's. what colin kaepernick was doing last year, which is what the president said he had a right to do which he disagrees, now it's something to speak out against. someone must have forgotten to tell his press secretary however because she said that's not what he's doing at all. >> this isn't about the president being against anyone, this is about the president and millions of americans being for

something, being for honoring or flag, our national anthem and honoring the men and women who fought to defend it. >> this isn't about the president being against anyone she says. listen again to the president's words and decide for yourself. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a bitch off the field right now. out, he's fired? he's fired! >> again, you can decide for yourself what the president meant by his remarks which he made about predominantly african-american players to a audience of white people in alabama. decide for yourself what to make of what the parking light said yesterday about the racial dimension.

>> and you see those people taking the knee when they're playing out great national anthem. >> those people, the president said. he followed that up with a tweet raising nascar which in its entire history only had four african-american drivers in its premiere series. the president also tweeted with the nba, since speaking in alabama he's speeded 14 times either directly or indirectly about the players. jim acosta joins us from the white house. what's the latest. >> reporter: i understand the white house is clinging to the fantasy that everybody is out of bounds except the president. we saw that in the white house briefing room, i tried to -- when he spent the better part of

the weekend going after predominantly african-american athletes while early this morning raising nascar in the way of their fans honor and salute the flag. he's a bit of that exchange. >> is he trying to wage something of a cultural war? >> not at all. he's not talking about race, he's talking about pride in our country. what you saw yesterday were players and fans of all races joining together as americans to horn or service members. that's what the president talks about and focuses on. the president scouted an event here in a few minutes so we're going to close there. thank so much. >> couldn't get a follow-up question there anderson. we should point out i talked to a republican adviser who talks to this white house all the time and advises this white house. he said yes, the president is in fact waging a cultural war and winning by turning what he described as millionaire

professional athletes as hillary clinton. >> the chef of staff as i understand weighed in on this. >> reporter: that's right. he made a brief comment saying he believes everybody should stand up in honor of a flag as what he described as a lousy three minutes. earlier today we were hearing sources saying that john kelly, the chief of staff was not pleased with what happened over the weekend with what the president has done in igniting this controversy. the president registered his displeasure and put up a couple of tweets, we can show you the tweets anderson. here's one says general john kelly agrees with my stance on nfl players on the fact they should not be disrespecting our flag or our country. there's another one that says there's a tremendous backlash against the nfl and its players for disrespect for our country. with the hash tag stand for our

anthem. anderson, i was talking with an associate today who was saying listen, these are something that the cultural comments the president makes at rallies from time to time, he thinks about these in advance and he'll talk about these comments with his aids before he goes out and makes these kind of comments publicly. and sometime his aids and his advisers and friends will say, no no, mr. president don't do that. but the president often goes with his gut and will make these kinds of inflammatory comments and i think that's what you saw over the weekend here. keep in mind anderson we spent the better part of the day talking about the nfl and not the items you mentioned at the beginning of this newscast which is all the people suffering in puerto rico and healthcare and so on. >> so, he plans these things out, a lot of people raise the question is he just intentionally trying to do this to a, distract from failures on

healthcare or is it to stroke racial divide? is it about appealing to the base? he reference tho"those people" that what it's about? >> i can't tell you the president's heart covering this more a year and a half. the president questioned whether barack obama was born in this country, the first african-american president. he described people in the white supremacist movement as having very fine people. again, when i talk to advisers, aids of the president they claim and swear up and down he's not racist but they do say, they do admit privately that he does like to stoke these kinds of controversies because they do at time serve as a distraction and that bright shiny object from time to time and pulls our attention away from some of the more pressing issues out there. this is a president who is losing on healthcare tonight.

he is not going to repeal and replace obamacare, something he said he's do at the beginning of his administration. >> all right thank you very much. michael bennet, the political and personal side of this story overlapped for him. he say police in las vegas stopped him after he and others were fleeing, sounded like gun shots. he said the officer singled him out quote, for nothing else other than being a black man. the president says he saw no evidence that racism played in the decision. michael, when you first heard what the president said friday night, calling players who yield son of a bitches and they should be fired, i'm wondering what went through your mind. >> a lot of things went through my mind. the first thing i did was start

thinking about my mom and what she sacrificed for me as a child, what she did for me in a community and dedicated our life for attaching what she did in houston. i couldn't understand why thad come from a president. it will only shape us in the nfl we all came through together collectively and stood together and i thought that was a powerful message. >> two teams, the steelers, your team, the seahawkss decided not to take the field during the national anthem. can you talk about what was behind your team's decision to do that? >> we talked for maybe two or three hours. i think it was less about donald trump and more about equality in america, things that people saw what was going on with all types of minorities and just people in general, the hate and discrimination going on right now. we felt to show your unity, on

top of what happened with donald trump and more about the e qualities more of bringing our team together. we wanted to be able not to put anybody in the limelight. we made a decision as a team for what we believe in. >> i wonder if you think the president's comments were motivated by race or racial attitudes that he may have? >> i think it have lot to do with race, for us we want to find a way to change our community. i know a lot of people don't like it because we're empowering people of color, empowering people who chose what to believe in. >> and just to someone who doesn't understand the idea of taking a knee during national anthem or linking arms. to you what's the message of it, what is the purpose of it? >> it's about us taking a stand for equality in america all the

people that's being discriminated against right now. we want to break up the issues and have a conversation. people think we're attacking military, that's not true, we believe in the military and we do so many thing with the military from working with families, kids and camps, our families have been in the military. so, we love the military. all we're trying to do is bring the issues up in equality, police brutality, all the things against minority people in america and we want to bring up those issues every single weekend. people get mad about it, what are we supposed to do, these are challenges times and we can't let our jobs define who we are. outside of football we're human beings and we want to be able to express the love for other humans. >> so, to people say whose disrespecting the flag and patriotic, what do you say? >> no i think it's the opposite, we honor the thing people fight for. honor, liberty, equality and

justice for all. >> i wonder whether you saw andrew villanueva who was a former served in the military, he came out and stood during the anthem, everybody else in his team did not, i'm wondering what you thought of that decision. >> i thought, that shows of america, that's freedom to express what he believed in, that's what it really about. what's a difference between a guy kneeling for what he believes in and the difference between him standing what he believes in. i don't think we should be judged because we believe in equality. just like he believes in what he believe in i'm proud that he stood up for what he believed in and that's what it's about. >> i saw that his jersey has become a top seller just in the last 24 hours, i'm wondering what you make of that. >> kaepernick it's still the

number one selling jersey as the team of san francisco and he hasn't played all year. there's certain people that believe in what certain people do and other people believe in what other people do. that doesn't make it right or wrong. >> what about the incident of the floyd mayweather fight -- >> the issue -- it happened to me and it can happen to anybody. at the end of the day i don't hate law enforcement, i don't hate any police officers but i think there's people out there that will judge you on the color of your skin. i don't want people to say you're bashing every single officer, i don't believe every single officer is a bad person, but at the same time i know the issues happened to me there made me want to keep mushing toward and keep pushing forward no matter what happened and keep going forward. you can be scared or stand up. >> i understand you've been

having ongoing conversations with colin kaepernick whose been in silence since the president's comments. i'm wondering have you spoken to him since then? >> yeah i've spoken to him. i wish that unity that we showed for this weekend i wish we could have shown that unity for him when he was off the team. i wish we could have become a collective group and stood up for him in moments like this. we're talking about the moment where people come together i think that's want what he wanted to help. >> if the president was watching tonight what would your message be? >> i would love to sit down with the president and talk about these issues and be able to find a way to fix them or be able to find a way to have the voice of the people, the people that don't have the voice that they're not listening to. i can't sit here and say he's in the my president because at the

end of the day he is a president of the united states. for him to say there's a privilege we shouldn't speak on what we believe in because we're making munch he was a rich man too and all of a sudden he's speaking on what he believes in and so what makes him difference from us. >> michael, it's a pleasure talking to you. thank you very much. >> it's a pleasure talking to you. tha thank you man. lebron james in a tweet call the president in his own words, a bomb. and he said this. >> the thing that kind of frus sfrated me and pissed me off a bit is the fact that he's now -- he used the sports platform to try to divide us. and sports -- in sports it's so -- it's so amazing, what sports can do for everyone no matter the shape or size or race or ethnicity or religion or

whatever, i'm not going to let -- why have this platform to let one individual, no matter the power, no matter the impact that he should have or she should have ever use sport as a platform to divide us, because the people run this country not one individual. damn sure not him. >> two views from two cnn commentators, mccart sellers, and parish denard. mccorey so the white house says the president isn't against anyone it's pro flag, do you believe that? >> this isn't about the flag, the national anthem, the military, in fact all of us, i know paris included but everybody whose taking the knee has the utmost respect for

people who died for our freedoms. one of the freedoms that they shed blood for and fight for overseas daily is the freedom to protest and express yourself. this has fundamentally about police brutality and ine qualities for african-american people fa people face in this country every day. this knee we take is -- >> paris how do you see? >> i disagree with may corey on the sense the players are kneeling or refusing to acknowledge the national anthem or the pledge of agleejs. the past 48 hours it's been in protest to the president donald trump. we recall when colin kaepernick did this he didn't have the

support and people and the owners running to his defense because he was standing up and in this case kneeling down or in solidarity with white supremacy and thing of that nature. what we have seen over the past 48 hours is gross mischaracterization in my opinion. because instead of doing what mccorey is talking about, we're focusing on whether or not president donald trump is a racist. if we want to have a real teachable moment, if we want to have a conversation about culture, about american history, american pride, nationalism, pride in our country and president in our flag the president could be opening the door for that. instead what we focus on is whether or not he's a racist. >> but paris, opening that door and having a conversations a great thing, the president is the one who called these people sons of bitches, to use the

president's word, and said they should be fired, do you believe those sons of bitches, using the president's word can be fired. is it right for the president to say? >> he can say what he wants, if i were president i wouldn't use the term to describe someone in that setting. but you would say when you look at cooperate businesses you have standards. the nfl won't let players wear pink in the breast cancer month outside of october. so they have certain standards. when you are in the private sector the ceo or the owner can make decisions about what you can and cannot do. i think if donald trump or i were the head of an organization and part of what my team or my staff needed to do or required to do was we'd play the national anthem or say the pledge of allegiance, if that's what i

wanted them to do i have the right or progress tiff to do that in a private sector. the president cannot vidictate have anyone do. i think the nfl should come out and make a statement and say, if we're going to play the national anthem, which is knew, because it started in 2009, then players have to do x or y, if not they're going to have the slippery slope argument on whether or not they can do certain things or other things. which, in this case i believe is just offensive. that's the issue. let me just real quick, you can protest, you can be so upset at which i agree, with some of things that are going on especially to our community, but when you do something like protest in a way that is so offensive to the flag or to the soldiers -- veterans or to soldiers or to national anthem you detract from the message. i hope they can find a different message to keep on us message.

>> first of all, paris's view is not one that's new for some african-americans. 61% of individuals during the 1960s felt like the montgomery bus and freedom writers were unpopular. we're doing the wrong thing. when martin luther king jr., and others started a sit-ins, you think that was comfortable people were cheering them on, they were not. protest is messy, uncomfortable. it's suppose to shock the conscious and that's what we're doing. military people, they will tell you today, they go overseas to fight so we have the freedom to protest in this country. i'm glad that it's making you uncomfortable paris, because now we're dealing with the original descent of this country, we're dealing with race. if anybody thinks that donald j. trump went to alabama, he was in

alabama talking about black athletes and calls them sons of bitches, we've heard this before, it's the same tenor and tone. we've heard this language before from white people in the deep south preferring to aerchs and especially black athletes who they feel are taking their place. this wouldn't a dog whistle it's a bull horn. we're going to keep protesting. we're going to make sure that they understand there are fundamentally ine qualities in this country. oh presentation and white supremacist run a muck and we're going to shatter those systems. >> paris, when you see donald trump to mccorey's point in alabama to the history of what happened there not too long ago, calling, you know referring to

"those people," "kneeling to our anthem" do you see a racial element in that? >> you can see a racial element in anything. >> do you see it? >> no i don't. only 8% of the african-american community gave him his vote, that's probably going to be the norm. i think what you saw in alabama, and you know very well that they take their football very seriously, was a president talking to the base and got them raled up about an issue that they knew they were going to care about, which is the american flag, which is the national anthem, which is pride in country, that's what that was about and they knew -- >> so about raling up debates? >> about an issue that is a very very important issue. and again, mccorey i agree with you. i wish the president would not have use that had phrase, son of

a bitch, but i say this we should be just as upset when we hear rappers and other individuals refer to women in that regard. if you're going to criticize one let's be consistent across the board. >> is it appropriate to use the flag that people have fought and died for to ral up the base? >> again, what i was saying was he used it as a point for a base that was going to respond in a way to raise awareness about this issue. so yes -- >> you said to ral up the base. >> because they were doing something so disrespectful the president knew by raising this issue with them that would get attention. >> right because he was using an issue about colin kaepernick, that was last season, he's not even employed as an football player because of of what he did, so the idea the president would reach back and to bring this up in front of this

particular audience to rile them all, as you say, doesn't that seem inappropriate? isn't that using the flag? >> september 9th a nfl player who happened to be caucasian walked out and tweeted about him wanting to stand for the national anthem was is going to right pat tilman's name on his shoe. this is not an issue that's somehow coming back mind set of the people. i think it's important moment for the president to make -- >> okay so, to use this about riling up the base? >> i mean it was about riling up the base. it was about the number one currency we have in this country right now. it's not gold or silver t number one currency we have in this country is race and the president used that.

he knew he did and where he was using it, yeah it raled up his base. the irony in this discussion anderson, people take more offense to a knee while we're singing a national anthem than they took to a knee in the back of freddy gray wen he was murdered in baltimore. you think about the fact that paris denard and others sat here over the last two weeks and defended confederate monuments up throughout the south and country saying they should be able to stay there, many of these same people in alabama fly the confederate flag. so you're telling me is that something is wrong with me and i'm not patriotic for actually protesting which is my first amendment right but yet you woont to glorify memorialize treason. we have to begin to deal with this issue of race in a fashion, that's why i'm glad that you had mr. bennet on before me because people need to see these are

real athletes and real people. lebron james goes home every day, a father to two sons and one daughter and he has to make sure he leaves this country for them as brown kids better than when he inherited. if they can write anythinger on lebron's fence think what they can do for poor black people like me and paris. >> and they did do it. i -- >> i marched from charles son south carolina to colombia, south carolina you can miss me with that argument. >> i'm not talking about the confederate flag i'm talking about confederate monuments. nine people died sod that flag could come down.

do not dear pabas tar diaz that. >> i'm pointing out the facts. colin kaepernick did this over a year ago, i missed all the owners and teams standing in solidarity then. i'm saying right now people are doing this because it's political expedient to go against the president. >> i want to continue this discussion. stay tuned. as we get ready for tomorrow night's cnn healthcare debate. i. and i can do it with what's already within me. because my body can still make its own insulin. and once-weekly trulicity activates my body to release it. trulicity is not insulin. it comes in a once-weekly, truly easy-to-use pen. it works 24/7, and you don't have to see or handle a needle.

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activate your within. ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity. more breaking news on the nfl. the cardinals connected arms and took a knee they did it before the national anthem that

happened a moment ago. so, baa can youry the white house says the president isn't against anyone. we've said that he's just pro flag, you argue that -- and he's also said that race is not part of this. you argue that race very much is at the center at this. >> there's no question about it. >> and when you say that do you mind both in why the players are kneeling and also in the president's use of this? >> correct. i think that he's using this as a wedge issue. first of all, i mean i don't know why on god's green earth the president of the united states has time to or wants to wage cultural wars. yes, the issue is about race, the issue is about race in this country and race relations in this country and more specifically structure inqualities that we had. you had environmental in east

chicago, indiana. kids punished because of of the neighborhoods they're born into. trayvon martin, that-mile-per-hour rice, sandra bland, no conviction for their murders. you have all of these systemic issues that leads people to kneel. i do want to point out something that paris was kind of right on in his own way. what you saw yesterday was observers coming down to the field. you have owners like daniel snider and jerry jones who donat donated $1 million to the president in his campaign. but when he -- they weren't looking arms with anybody. when he was talking about and picking on a "the washington post" reporter for being disabled. when he was talking about grabbing women by their private parts. the last goes on and on.

between them and ray lewis and jim brown, it's all good and dandy but we're out here protesting systemic injustices they were protesting their feelings being hurt. >> paris, i want you to be able to respond. >> yeah, you know what, listen, i think he makes excellent points as to why some of the people, especially colin kaepernick takes the knee. my only point is, the act of taking the knee or not putting your hand over your heart or not standing for the national anthem or the pledge is disrespectful and it takes away from the original message. look, when muhammad ali was upset about his injustice and tossed his medal into the river where he lived that was a medal he earn requested fought for. when you do this about the flag, whether you do this against the national anthem you're doing

this to something that people bled and died for -- >> hold on. muhammad ali was a -- we can rewrite history, he was a dispaized figure in the united states when he refused to serve in the war. >> and years later muhammad ali came to the george w. bush white house, stood there and allowed the republican president of the united states to put the highest honor around his neck on behalf of a grateful country. >> but it's very easy in retrospect to look at protest in the past and say, i would have taken part in that, i would've done, that was the right thing to do at the time it is dedispiesed. you made the comment about 60% people didn't think there should be a march out of washington.

>> they weren't disrespecting the national flag. >> the argument that muhammad ali was disrespecting the flag. >> right now we're not rewriting history we're whitewashing it. muhammad ali was a decembispies figure. he decided he wasn't going to vietnam because he felt like it was an unjust war. they took everything from him. he had to earn it back. my father cleveland sellers, they took months away from his life, he charge tried and convicted and went to federal prison for that. there are people that paid an ultimate price. do not give me we are disrespecting our country because we're not. what we're trying to do is make it a more perfect union. there are people in this country who have given a check for liberty, justice, and freedom and it's been marked

insufficient funds. what we have to do is make sure that we understand, i don't want anything from anderson cooper, i don't want anything from any white person in this country to be plainly plainly blunt. but what i do want is an opportunity for equality. i don't want to bring anderson down, i just want to have the same playing field. that's all we're asking more, that's why people take a knee. >> all the president is saying when you're on the playing field don't disrespect the flag of the national anthem. if you want to protest don't do so in such a way to the -- >> but paris. >> if it had been a white person that kneeled -- >> paris, you would have been making that argument against muhammad ali back then and yet your praising george w. bush for giving him -- >> no no what i was actually saying was muhammad ali came to the white house because he understood that the honor was

not about president george w. bush doing it it was about an entire nation, it was about the presidency -- that nation dispiesed him decades before that. he had to earn that back. bakry i want to ask you, you spoke eloquently before about the need for a conversation and we all talk about the need for a conversation of race in thisically and we only talk about it when it has been a racial situation that brings it to the forefront. it should take place not just when there's a headline about it. do you really think though that president trump is adding to that conversation in a positive way by calling people, you know referring to them as "those people" who are refusing to stand during "our" national anthem and calling them sons of bitches? >> again, for the third time anderson, i do not think the president used the right term to

describe the people who did not stand for the national anthem. when you look at the action taken today and the presidential memorandum that talk about computer science. in that 200,000 grant for superintendents across the school districts it's specific language that says you must look into supporting african-american children and women children -- >> how many tweetsz that the president send about that today? >> you know what i'm not controlling the president's twitter. but i know sandra huckleby talked about it and a lot of -- >> it doesn't seem like the -- the president's not talking about it. >> he signed that presidential memorandum today. my point is this, that is a way for us to talk about what the administration is actually going to do. we can talk about the flag, which we should. president obama as we know -- about the redskins because he felt that was something

disrespectful. >> and candidate trump criticized the president for pining about that saying he should have more important thing to talk about. we have to leave it. there. ahead we'll take you to puerto rico islands of americans is in trouble of a hit from maria. they need help, officials say they need it right now. cnn's bill we'ir is south of sa juan. next.

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what's happening right now to more than a few million people that live in puerto rico, no election, desperate need of food, water, medication. more than 95% of wireless cell sites are out of service, people are having trouble just getting in touch with your family members. weir is there, here's what he's found. >> reporter: it is so hard to

move around this island because puerto rico is a tangled mess of shattered trees and down power lines and endless gas lines where the desperate can wait half a day under the blazing sun for a few precious gallons. in the south of capital it looks like a bomb went off. once lush green hill tree side -- had no choice but to shelter in place and pray. this camper is tossed like a toy, diana and her family were huddled in their home across the street. >> how are you, how is life are you are you surviving? >> reporter: i thank god i'm still alive she tells me. it's hard to tell from the road but the back end of this house is built on concrete stilts

driven to the highly side. imagine the anxiety as maria picked up strength. diana inside, he's caring for inzero lent husband. she moved the whole family into the living room. they hear the crash of this power tower go down on the neighbor's roof. water coming in through the shutters, she's trying to keep it up. at one point she tells me they prepared to die together. which is scarier, combat in vietnam or hurricane maria? >> translator: the hurricane is worse. >> reporter: miguel survived a combat tour in cam doed ya and now deana worries about the last vile of his insulin. yet with text book hospitality she takes the time to make us coffee. a few miles up the road, more kindness and much more misery.

here's a drone shot of this area before maria and here it is today. this is what a category 4 hurricane will do to wood construction. the roof, who knows what happened to the roof. it's amazing the walls held the way they did. trophies earned by the grand kids still stand in a room with no roof. he was held up with his whole family in a local church and they all survived. now he has little left but his faith. how would you describe people's deputies ration? >> looting, anger. >> reporter: there has been looting the mayor tells me. when it comes to the fear of the people in this town we're saddened because we're still looking for people. >> as american i'm wondering how puerto rican feel about being in

americans in this. do you think they'll come help you? yes, he said. we will move forward with the help of the united states. >> what they can give us we'll receive with a lot of love. thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: we're thinking of you. >> bill weir joins us now from san juan. it seems like a lot of people you met, obviously you're strong in the face of it, how bad can it get given the outlook and the difficulties getting around? >> reporter: it can be so bad. don't let the resolved toughness of the puerto rican people deceive you. they're grateful to be alive, they don't want to create a bother but we are at the brink of a major humanitarian crisis. this is so much worse than irma, the storm in texas because we're a thousand miles away from miami. the only way to get aid in here is by boat or plane.

there are search and rescue efforts that haven't scratched the surface of what's out there in the central part of this island. 3 million fellow americans, they fought in wars, they manufactured most of your pharmaceuticals down here. and now they need help. >> it's extraordinary we're glad you're there. thank you very much. such devastation in that island, as bill said, large parts of the island very difficult for reporters to get to and certain relief efforts. we'll continue to span out to many parts of puerto rico on the days ahead. in the past few days the president's tweeted more than a dozen times about sports and zero times about puerto rico. when asked what message that send the secretary had this to say. >> when it comes to puerto rico the president has sent people to

puerto rico today, they're on the ground to assess the damage. we've done unprecedented movement in terms of federal funding to provide for people in puerto rico. we'll continue to do so and continue to do everything we can possibly under the federal government. >> joining me now from san juan, the governor of puerto rico. governor thanks for being with us. did you hear the administration saying the president has done movement in terms of funding to provide that for puerto rico. are you seeing an impact of that on the ground yet? >> yes, anderson we have had great collaboration with the federal government, particularly with fema. the administrator was over here today seeing the damages. of course, this is an unprecedented situation and we're going to need an unprecedented response. our petition is to continue. the next step is for congress to

act and to let them know we are proud u.s. citizens. when other citizens were in need puerto rico was a base of support. gave others shelter, food and had them go back to their home. >> so, in terms of where things stand right now, what is the greatest need? >> what is the greatest need, well, of course there are several things. number one, food, water, and fuel are some of the needs. but, we have plenty of them we just need to distribute them appropriately. right now, because of the storm, this is a supply chain effort, we don't have as many bus drivers. we don't have as many operators in the gas station because some of them are still stuck. what we've been doing is assessing where they are, making sure they get to the operation stations, making sure they have police escort getting them to

different places so we can get food, water and supplies to those that mostly need them. >> the lack of electricity obviously causes huge issues for you. do you have any better sense how long it's going to take to restore it and is there any help for people until it can be restored? >> well, the devastation has been enormous anderson, and this is something that the fellow viewers have to understand. this is an unprecedented event. literally two category 5 storms came to puerto rico in the span of two weeks, the devastation of the infrastructure has been severe. we already have weak infrastructure in puerto rico, now after the storm i can tell you that the transmission lines have been devastated, severe infrastructure damage, and in some areas of puerto rico t going to take months to repair. >> governor appreciate your

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the bipartisan debate on health care. just tonight republican senator susan collins said she'll vote know. fill mattingly joins us from capitol hill. what do we know about what god collins to "no"? >> the interesting thing about collins is it's never been a secret what her priorities were. after he voted tonight and put out the statement opposing the bill, she made very clear it was the fact they were overhauling the medicaid program without a significant number of hearings or a deep look into why they were doing it. when it came to the graham cassie proposal itself, she made the point just because you can dolgts do this in a partnisan fashion now, what's going to

keep it going a couple years from you from now? preexisting conditions has been a concern for her. it's been a way to cut back on those. it underscores inside the republican conference, ideologically they are not unified right now. >> does graham believe it's over? >> he's still trying and working. it's still clear, phone calls are still being made. but the difference on lindsey graham from today and the lasting couple days is instead of guaranteeing there would be a vote, saying they would get to 50 votes, when he was asked whether they would be a vote, he said i don't know. he's still working on it but it's clear if you talk to anybody, there's no clear pathway forward.

the numbers right now just don't add up. >> fill mattingly, thank you. joining us is rick santorum. also kirstin powers. senator, with collins a no vote, is this fight over. >> not by a long shot. whether this week this bill is going to pass, it's looking less likely, but i'm not even 100% sure of that. what i can tell you is that i think what's been determined today, there's broad support among republicans for this approach that does two things. number of one another, block grants, a cap grant on medicaid which bill clinton proposed years ago. and the second thing it does is it takes the money from the affordable care act, puts it in a block grant and says, state, you deal with this problem

instead of federal government and gives them resources to do it, dividing the money on a per capita basis across the countr . these are things that used to bipartisan. when you hear susan colin, i get it, she would like it to be bipartisan. but these ideas used to bipartisan, and now we need a little bit more time to drill that message through. >> kirstin do you see any chance of this going forward? >> not in the immediate. i would be interested to know, senator, what they could do to move along a susan collins or john mccain. john mccain obviously has complained -- he's upset with the process. he does think it should be more bipartisan and, bringing amendments, and he's, not

movable on that. it's slowing the growth of it which is a cut in her eyes. how do you move these people? rand paul doesn't seem movable and ted cruz says he might not vote for this. how would you move all those people? >> look at rand paul. rand he suggested that he vote for the medicaid per capita caps, but that he had some concerns. if you think about from a logical standpoint it's unsustainable and puts it on a budget, puts on a cap. what we do with obamacare is the same thing, it's open ended and puts it in a block grant with a cap. so he can say that i like one but not the other, but from a logical point of view, they in a sense do the same thing. i think there's some room, particularly with ted cruz, with rand paul and others to work on

this. whether we can get that done this week, there's still a couple other votes that are unsure. again, i'm not sure that are necessarily decided against us. so bottom line is, again, it's getting tight this week, but overall i think this is the bill that's most likely to be the bill that replaces obamacare whether it's now, in a couple months or six months. i think this will be the bill. >> senator santorum, chuck schumer a while back at the last effort had said if republicans came to them, seems like that he had couple preconditions for any kind of bipartisan effort on the democrats side in essentially not doing away with obamacare, just trying to fix it. is that for any republican a nonstarter. >> you can't run election after election saying you'll repeal obamacare and then make a tweak and keep it in place. at the bottom is if you talk to senator alexander and others on

the health committee, they'll say the democrats will say there's nothing wrong, and that's not going to happen. the president said he's not going to sign continuing payments. the speaker have said they're not going to pass a bill. so there's going to be nowhe mo to prop this up. $5 billion of taxes on 90,000 ploishz a employers are going to go out if you didn't provide insurance. now you'll see a whole new wave of taxes that have not been assessed before. you're going to see insurance markets that are going to be unstable because you're not providing federal support for them anymore, and i think maybe in a couple months there might be a prime time to come back and look at this bill. >> it's clear the republicans haven't been able to do this given the seven years of campaigning on this.

>> yes. before you a make a campaign promise, you should probably have a policy you can offer up. and i think that's been the problem, and they don't have enough ideological cohesion to agree on anything. >> the fight over obamacare starts right now. [ applause ] live from washington, i'm telling you jake tapper. >> i'm dana bash. we have breaking news from congress as the state of obamacare hangsz in the balance. >> support in the republicans' last best hope for repeal. now appears to be disintegrating. susan collins said she will vote against it. rand paul told me that he is also a firm "no." >> of cour