>> i believe i was fairly treated if that's your question. i reserve judgment until i see the final report. the exchange was professional and everyone was courteous. i have no complaints about anyone's conduct. >> have you spoken with mr. manafort? >> yes. he believes as i do that it is outrageous. they took the folders of the do you means that they had and photographed all of this custom italian suits in his closet. i cannot imagine for what reason. english is better than italian tailoring for my body shape. >> [inaudible]. . >> i don't and neither does he. >> you said she not --

[inaudible]. >> i think what's happening here is the special counsel will try to manufacture a crime and say look, manafort, we won't prosecute you for this if you simply admit you were colluding with the russians and donald trump knew everything. inside, bear false witness against the president. i have known paul manafort for over 40 years and i don't believe he is going to do that. he is not going to lie and that would be a lie. >> you are not familiar -- >> most personal not. there are far more extensive and complicated than mine. i have no idea what charge he could be indicted on or whether that is provable, fair, i don't know. there is no discussion of coming back, although i would be open it it under the right

circumstances. >> i don't know general flynn. anybody else? thank you all. >> roger stone controversial and long time aide or adviser and friend to donald trump. just stepped out of his testimony in the house intelligence committee welcoming clearly the chance to speak in public after answering questions about the investigation into russian meddling in the election. i want to bring in our senior correspondent to talk about this. this was pretty fascinating because as we know, roger stone is someone that is looking at and knows president trump very well. >> that's right. it was interesting. roger stone is known for floating some fairly strange conspiracy theorys and you heard

somehow the hacking at the dnc was an internal problem. it was some inside job. that was one of the remarks he made to reporters in the last several mondays. as flamboyant as ever and he said he had done nothing wrong and the campaign had done nothing wrong and there was no collusion with the russians. as you know, roger stone is one of many characters who will be sailing through the halls of congress over the coming weeks and months to testify. >> one of the things that would have been interesting in this case was that he had exchanged private messages on twitter with gucifer 2.0 who they believe to be fronting for russia. he said that those are communications that the contents of which are now known. there is a question about whether he complied with

releasing roars that this committee was requesting. >> that's right. i think that you are going to find coming up at the press conference with the president and the prime minister just within the next hour here at the white house that these questions could come up. it was just disclosed in the last couple of days that jared kushn kushner, the president's son in law and a top aide was using private e-mail messaging to talk to people here at the white house to do white house business. there were a number of other aides that were apparently using private e-mail accounts to conduct white house business. as of last night, we understand the white house has instructed staffers here to no longer do that. if they do conduct or receive e-mails on their private accounts that have something to do with official government business they are to forward the e-mails to their official white

house accounts. all of this is all interesting because during the campaign, there were a number of people at these rallies, i remember being at the rallies and i remember watching them during the clinton campaign and shouting lock her up with respect to her use of a private server. now there were a number of individuals using private e-mail accounts to do business over here at the white house. that is obviously going to be something of interest to these investigators on capitol hill bringing in roger stone is of interest, but they want to talk about paul manafort and members of the president's family potentially. and so on. they want to get their hands on the e-mails, i imagine, that were exchanged through the private accounts. as we see, one person is coming up to capitol hill. it seems the scope is just widening. >> thank you, sir.

stand by for us. president trump is facing backlash over his administration's response to the devastation in puerto rico. we are going to hear from the president about that and more in his news conference coming up shortly. he announced he is going to visit puerto rico next tuesday. >> puerto rico is very important to me and puerto rico and the people are fantastic people. i grew up in new york and i know many people from puerto rico and many puerto ricans. the island is devastated. some people say it's literally destroyed. the infrastructure was in bad shape before the storm and now in many cases it has no infrastructure. you are really starting for almost scratch. these are great people. wonderful people. hearty people. they will be back. we are helping. i think we are getting good

marks for the work we are doing. >> jim accost a the president is giving his administration high marks for the response. not everyone agrees with that. >> that's right, bryanna. you talked to officials down on the ground and the local officials there say the help is not coming quickly enough. we know the homeland security adviser was on the ground in puerto rico yesterday and briefing the president earlier today on all of this. the president made the surprise announcement he will be visiting the island come tuesday. that will be a herculean task for this administration and the secret service to get the president on that island. and obviously bryanna, the political standpoint wants to talk about how the administration is responding and how he is responding and there have been critic since last

friday night who have raised this question. why is the president so interested in the nfl and players protesting and taking a knee during football games and not spending as much time focusing on the devastation in puerto rico? the number of tweets the president put out on his comments on the nfl and players and patriotism, they dwarf the number of tweets he put out about puerto rico. he may get asked about that as well. he is trying to make it clear in talking to reporters and with the trip coming up on tuesday, that he is focused on what is happening? >> a lot of criticism and news of the planned visit is coming as this pricrisis is deepening. millions of begging for help and they are describing what is an apocalyptic skecene.

helps at capacity and homes are destroyed. almost the whole island is off the grid. and here is a picture of what was taken just yesterday. you coo see the majority of the island has gone dark. raphael romo is joining us from puerto rico. what are you seeing? >> there are many angles to this natural disaster and this tragedy. you can talk about the tact that people have no power, no water. they are uncommunicated. we have been hearing a lot of reports from different people about the medical tragedy unfolding here. just a few moments ago, i was talking to the director of a children's hospital here in san juan and they only have enough diesel for two days. what's the problem here? they have 12 children who rely on ventilators to stay alive.

at this point i'm looking desperately for anybody who can give me assurances that i may be able to get more diesel. they burn about 2,000 gallons of diesel a day. this is the children's hospital in puerto rico. it's the largest children's facility not only here on the island, but all of the caribbean. personally i was at the medical center and i ran into people with different kinds of injuries caused by the hurricane. i spoke with an 86-year-old woman whose kitchen exploded because the hurricane broke a gas line and that created not only the explosion, but a fire. she got severe burns on her legs and a young man who had an almost broken almost because the hurricane blew open the front door the his house. you start to see injuries pop up

around the island, but there is no official number of injuries. the deaths stand at 16. >> we are seeing the images of the people you are describing. the young man and the woman with the burns. tough folks there in puerto rico and we are thinking of them of course. joining us now to talk more about this is former disaster assistance jeremy. we saw this devastation. it's apocalyptic and this is a u.s. territory. >> this is the worst catastrophe on u.s. soil since probably hurricane katrina. it's worse than texas and florida because they had nowhere to go. with texas and florida, we had warning and people could get out of the way. after that if they didn't have power or services they could go where that's available. that's not an option here. >> if you compare that, puerto

rico as a u.s. territory in population and we have a map to show the viewers, the population is considerable. there are a number of states, 21 and over 20 have the same population or less than puerto rico. one being mississippi that would evacuate during the storm. what are the challenges that the u.s. government needs to tackle that so far have not been tackled? >> any time you had a disaster like this, it makes it more difficult. the logistics are so tough. you have to clear the ports and the airports. they're, working on it, but it's slow. they are still not diesel in hospitals. i hope they are on top of that. >> we have the hospital out of the hospital in san juan that two patients died in the icu

because they ran out of diesel. it's hard to wrap one's mind around that in the united states because two people died. why has it been so slow? >> dwroept do too much second gassing of fema because they are working hard and full out. i have been in their shoes and i responded to the philippines typhoon and it's tough to respond in such a remote location and it takes time. we are seeing the government ramp up today and elaine duke was on just a few minutes ago talking about the meeting. that's good. i'm glad to see a are ramping up and i wonder why they were not having the meeting on saturday. >> even if they do have the lag time and they talk about the logistical considerations of the island. it's important to get out ahead of time and even if they say this is where they are going that would give people

assurances. >> that's why i don't want to do the tweet counting, but the fact that the president's head space was focused on the nfl and not on puerto rico, how much that affected the response is open to question. we will see more of that when reports are done. it didn't send a positive message to people suffering. >> we do appreciate it. president trump is not backing down in the feud against the nfl and neither is the league. he told a group of conservatives that he is satisfied with the fight and pittsburgh steelers coach mike tomlin defended the decision not to take the field in the national anthem. >> there were guys within our group that felt strongly because of the comments made a week ago. we always had 100% participation and that created an issue for

us. maybe those who wanted to participate have not. they felt a little differently. i thought it created an opportunity for the team to discuss on saturday night. i told the team whatever it is that you do, you do it together 100% participation or we do business as usual. we won't let divicive times divide us. the team met and couldn't come to a decision about how to express displeasure with comments while at the same time respecting the anthem and they decided to remove themselves from it all together. they were not going to be goated into a disrespect towards the anthem and pressured into it by those who were opposed. we decided we were going to sit it out and not play politics. that decision was come to and in a means of doing that was to stay in the tunnel and not have a demonstration of any kind when

the anthem was playing and then take the field and go play. >> earlier president trump tweeted the nfl has all sorts of rules and regulations. the only way out is to set a rule that you can't kneel during the national anthem. the cover of sports illustrated sums up the feud. a nation divided. sports united. david aldridge is an nba tv contributor. thank you so much for joining us. the steelers are an interesting case study. a bronze star recipient did go out and stand for the anthem. now he is saying he is sorry he did that. he made the team and his coach look bad. what do you make of this? >> there was a person who has a

strong opinion and was trying to express his respect for the country and the flag and we all understand the need to do that. the issue was whether they do everything as one team together or not. i think the wizual visual of hi standing by himself, whether he meant that to happen did not create the illusion that he was against the team. they respect the fact that he wanted to do that and said so. in that case the optics probably overwhelmed the message. >> david, stay with me and we will talk about how the nba will handle this. we will be back with more on that after a quick break. ♪

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nba.com. when you look at how the nba is handling this debate with president trump, now you are going to see something more visual. they are going into training camps and the season is starting soon. is this going to be different than the back and forth we see with the nfl? >> certainly. the teams are much smaller. 15 teams as opposed to 53 and it's easier to achieve unity. the superstars drive a lot of the discussion so someone like lebron james has a lot of sway around the league and players will follow his lead. will they take knees or protest in another way, that remains to be seen. the nba tens to be more proactive. >> how do you see this playing out?

>> in the case of the nba, they will make gestures. >> with president trump, where does this go considering she still tweet being it today. this doesn't seem to be going away today or tomorrow. >> it's not going away. the issue that set this off was colin kaepernick trying to call attention to what he perceived as police brutality. that's not going to go away with some players. whether that gets conplated into military patriotism as they tend to get conplated, that is still out there, but players will try to get back to the origin story of this which was they want to tall keangz to what they believe to be police brutality. >> has it gotten away from them and it's about the flag and not about trying to use that moment? >> no question that is

overwhelmed over the last week or so by what the president said and the players and the team owners. that tends to get conplated when we talk about the national football league because the nfl has done a very good job the last few years of really making the flag and patriotism part of their parcel that they send out every sunday. >> good point. we appreciate you being with us and happening right now on capitol hill, senate republicans are having a meeting talking about their doomed effort to repeal and replace obamacare. shortly after, mitch mcconnell is expected to make a decision on whether to put that newest obamacare repeal, the graham cassidy bill up for a vote. mcconnell doesn't appear to have the vote after maine senator susan collins confirmed she will

be voting no. lindsey graham said that holding a vote was the right thing to do. >> we are going to press on. it's okay to vote. it's okay to fall short if you do for an idea you believe in. >> one of the bill's most passionate critics is late night talk show host jimmy kim em who kimmel whose son needed surgery. >> i can't believe we pulled it off, but it's amazing. >> phil matingly joining me to talk about this. phil, it seemed that when senator mccain came out, the writing was on the wall. now -- >> that started to spiral. i will note that mcconnell even though he was not enthused about trying health care again, they

were trying to find new pathways and they revised the bill and make maine a little bit better, but susan colins and rand paul said he wouldn't come across the line. it's a math problem. they don't have the numbers. this is the case for the last nine months. 50 senators don't agree on what should happen with health care. >> will they takele it again some. >> this is never dead. the ability to go on to phoenix and rise from the ashes, i think everybody made clear it was the worst kept secret in washington that this would go down. whether or not they have a vote is up in the air. a lot of senators prefer not to have one and they don't want another failure. >> why does he say it's going too vote and let it fail? >> let's put everybody on the record. if we campaigned on this and you

disagree, come vote no for this. this is something that the leadership has been dealing with. there is about a half dozen members who are not public lly t against this basketball, but they don't want to vote for or against it. why are we putting ourselves out for a vote that is going to fail. keeping his conference in a good place and that's why mitch mcconnell is the majority leader. he is aware of that and somebody like lindsey graham and he and bill cassidy brought it from dead to four votes away from passage. let's put it on the floor and see where it is. you campaigned on it, put the vote on it. he is not the majority leader. contrary to what he feels, he is not the majority leader. he and bill cassidy brought it

from nothing. they have a taste of how close they were getting it. how able they were to get the 44 or 45 republicans that would be there for this. the problem and this is the case in the past is you need 50. just because you get 46, doesn't mean you get over the line with the 50. right now it's clear they don't have it yet. >> thank you, sir. moments ago, one of the most outspoken confidants of the president spoke out on the russia investigation. i will speak with a congresswoman who questioned roger stone that said she needed to apologize to him. faculty members at georgetown kneeling ahead of jeff sessions's visit. sessions defending the president's nfl attacks with an interesting remark. stand by for that.

but they only allow you to respond behind closed doors and won't even allow the release of

a transcript. >> congresswoman jackie spear was there and you were able to ask questions of roger stoene, right? what was your take away? >> he was very responsible and answered the questions with the exception of one big question. the in between confidant was who was able to confirm when julian assange was going to release the e-mails. outside of that he was pretty cooperative. he gets kudos for doing that. what we don't know is what kinds of e-mails, facebooks and twitters he said there was nothing anything. that's hard to believe when you are engaged in a campaign. i will say he is truly off base

suggesting it was an inside job that hacked the dnc. we had 17 agencies that know with great certitude that it was done by the russians. we know that gusifer 2.0 was a russian operative. unless he sees the classified information, he will continue the fantasy that he weaved in that regard. there was indication he was in touch. at one point he denied and the founder of wikileaks. do you believe he had a hand and what did you learn today?

that could indicate that it may be difficult to prove. do you think that can be definitively proven that he had knowledge of these releases. >> he did have the confidant who had the conversation with julian assange. i think moving forward, that's going to require us to do another interview with yet another person. in this case it would be the confidant. you don't know who it was. >> he will think about it and see if the individual will release him and allow him to give the name. otherwise it would require him to subpoena him. >> he is saying he was indeed in touch through a middle man with julian assange and won't say

who? >> that's correct. >> they had the back channels. he said he produced records and what he is saying is because he didn't have a correct message with gucifer 2.0 that you have that information. the reason we did disclose this information in a timely manner, it's out there, but you are concerned there is more to it? >> he said what he said under oath. we have no reason to doubt it at this point in time. again, we will be talking to others who will be able to confirm or coordinate or not. >> you are congresswoman jackie spear, but he referred to you as jackie smear. this is essentially a campaign by you and other democrats.

what's your reaction to that? >> that's really regrettable he said that. shame on him for doing that. i didn't call him a name. i would suggest not doing that. i will say this. we are concerned and the reason this investigation is ongoing is because a cyber war took place in this country against every american voter. it would happen if we don't get to the bottom of it and prevent it from happening again. they did not hack into the vo voting machines. i'm not convinced that that is the case and we have to put this country first in terms of making sure our election system is not hackable. >> before i let you go, i want to ask you a question about this confidant as a connection to communicate. he told the committee with

julian assange. did he describe the process by which he was in touch with this confidant or describe the flow of information if there was any? >> probably not at liberty to talk about that at this point, but it will be something he could convey to you or others. >> did he describe it even if you can't tell us what it was? >> he did, uh-uh. >> you are certainly not able to reveal everything you heard, but we appreciate you giving us an idea about it. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> as the president gets ready to hold a news conference, a south korean official told cnn that north korea is moving planes after pyongyang accused president trump of declaring war in one of the tweets. the trump administration calls

that accusation absurd. the chief correspondent is here with me to discuss. our colleague asked the secretary of state rex tillerson whether trump's tweets are helpful or hurtful. >> we will continue our diplomatic efforts. >> when you hear this back and forth going on between president trump and pyongyang, there is a concern that this is pushing the u.s. and north korea to at the very least a place where there could be a miscalculation as you put it. >> that's not just the folks in the media. i spoke to foreign diplomats who are concerned. some of them bubbled out into public with the defense minster saying we want a diplomatic solution to the problem. what's happening there, the

counter point between trump's fiery tweets about north korea, we will wipe you out as comments with the un and the more commends from the secretary of state, the many generals or former generals are either part of an orchestrated good cop bad cop or it's more ad hoc. we don't know if it's part of strategy. >> the style is more ad hoc. the folks around him are dialling him back. >> we have seen evidence before and after the election that the president free lances and his advisers will walk him back. it's possible that that's part of a strategy. we don't know that, but the disconnect is causing concern among allies because they want to know what the u.s.'s step is. they are concerned that rhetorical escalation leads to a military escalation.

after all, you have the north koreans threatening to shoot down war planes. is that a threat they might act upon? we don't be, but the u.s. military takes it seriously. >> the president said iran test fired a ballistic missile and they are working with north korea. not much of an agreement we have. there is no indication of a ballistic missile launch. what's going on with this tweet? >> we have the president tweet being a launch that didn't take place. his tweets are not just tweets. they're official statements of the elected leader of the free world. those have consequences. >> he is reacting to something he hears from iran, but is not actually vetting it with what he is getting? he has the best information of anyone. >> the white house people did ask if the president was briefed on the iranian missile launch before the tweet and they said

we don't comment on intelligence matters. either he was not or did not base the tweet on intelligence. they have no indication of that. that intelligence comeses quickly with missile launches. that is detected in realtime. in terms of credibility to have the president tweet about a missile launch that didn't take place, that's an issue. >> maybe not unusual for him. jim, thank you so much. not the first time. we are awaiting the president's news conference and will talk to reporters in the middle of the feud with the nfl and other professionals. we are waiting at the rose garden for the president to appear. we'll be right back. es rodney. he has a new business teaching lessons. rodney wanted to know how his business was doing... ...so he got quickbooks. it organizes all his accounts, so he can see his bottom line. ahhh...that's a profit. know where you stand instantly. visit quickbooks-dot-com.

>> we are moments away from a news conference that begins in a mu minutes. the firestorm between the president and the nfl is certain to come up. the attorney general is taking on the issue of free speech, but in a different way. students and faculty members at georgetown university protested a speech by jeff sessions by taking a knee in this public demonstration. after his address, sessions was asked about the president's feud with the nfl. >> well, the president has free speech rights too. he sends soldiers out every day

to defend this country under the flag of the united states and under the national anthem and unity that the symbols call on us to adhere to. i agree there is a big mistake to protest in that fashion because it weakens the commitment we have to this nation that has provided us this freedom. >> i want to bring in senior political reporter henderson and editor at large and amy stoddard and columnist for real clear politics. let's take a look at this. you have donald trump saying the nfl needs to say you can't express yourself in this way. jeff sessions is making a point that the more controversial figures on the right who have not been able to speak on college campuses and that's not

sn something that should happen. some free speech should be protect and some shouldn't. >> paul ryan when asked about this this morning said he doesn't like the method of the protest, but agrees it is an expression of free speech and should be protected this. goes to show a lot of republicans are going to get this question. we will see what they say. the loudest megaphone on this is always going to be the president and he tweeted about it already. we will see what he says at this press conference and maybe the president will say i'm done with that and will focus on puerto rico instead and put the attention there. >> maybe. >> what do you think? >> i mean we all know that. >> they targeted the nfl for different reasons. >> i would say pro sports because the steph curry

disinvitation that happened over the weekend. why? professional athletes are rich. many of them -- at least from the outside looking in are quite entitled. in both of those two leagues are 70 plus percent black. i don't know about given his failure to condemn david duke in a quick manner, given a lot of the racial coding and language he used in the campaign, for him to say it's not about race, that's kind of tough. and then to say the nascar drivers -- the nascar drivers -- there have been four black drivers in the history of nascar. he is far from alone in making, but your experience is the calming experience. i grew up in connecticut and went to prep school and georgetown university. that's not -- to assume

everybody has those opportunities is not true. usually people get beyond it. he grew up in wealthy son of a developer. >> he looks at folks who have not had his opportunities and he taps into something. he made it a lot about the flag and painted nfl players as being disrespectful to their i just think that he may be, i don't want to say winning but i think he has some appeal to a lot of americans, too. >> i think he can't wait to talk about it. last night when he met with conservative leaders was that he was just thrilled with the reaction, the response. he has the majority opinion on this. the majority of americans, it doesn't matter if they're in the trump coalition or not, agree that this is disrespect have to

the flag and wants everyone to unite behind the anthem just as we do when we go to a stained of the but it is a constitutionally protected right of the and i hope they ask about nuclear war. the most reckless thing he's done since he took office, that is this constitutionally protected freedom allows for the sports freedoms to stand up and do the same thing at games. and i believe that's part of the reason he blew this whole thing up. i think somebody gave him a little talking to after the tweet he intent the north korean foreign minister. >> day after day after day. five days where he still wants to talk about it. i agree. this binds him to his base. they love this kind of talk. the question is not about the president's relationship with his base. what about his relationship with the broader country? and is he going to be a uniter? a divider? >> that got answered in a way.

>> what does it mean for a country that has a leader that actively tries to divide? that's where we are. and polls show that. there was a "washington post" poll. is he a unite order a divider? 66% said he is more a divider than a uniter. you have had presidents who end up being seen divisively. they're viewed through partisan lenses but they're actively trying to divide. particularly around racial lines. that's something that we haven't seen in decades. and it is something the republican party has really tried to get away from over the last decades. they've had a history of playing footsie with racial politics. and i think the president is now setting will then back. >> i do want to tell viewers, we're looking at live pictures of the rose garden. the president will come out and answer questions.

no doubt about these very topics we're talking about. >> and we're seeing some of the members of the cabinet being seated. >> i think he wants this fight. i think that's evident by the five days of tweeting and commenting repeatedly. but i'm with nia. this is a seed change in a presidential approach. i think we suspected this during the campaign. many campaigns are extremely divisive. it is the nature of campaigns. but the eight months that he's been president, he has routinely chosen the path of division. whether it is direct or a little more subtle. over and over again. at some point, you have to be judged by your behavior. you can't just say, i never meant that. the context matters. look at the sweep of donald trump talking about race or not talking about race in this country. forget the campaign. from way back when when he was a

businessman to now. it is very hard to conclude based on that, just happens that these are two leagues where there are 70 plus percent are black. >> what does this mean for politics? does this make sense politically for donald trump? let's show that for a moment and i wonder what you think this discussion means just for the collective american psyche. >> right. i think he wins politically no matter what but that doesn't matter. if they kneel, he wins. if they stop kneeling, he wins. it is intentionally divisive. he called them sobs and called for a boycott. this is not something you're supposed to do as a president. what will the effect be long term with people saying i too, want to stand at the anthem. i want my fellow americans to stand and not think about red state, blue state. it is the way that he did it.

it will be interesting to see if he reins in that tone or is emboldened and doubles down. >> he will feel emboldened of the this idea that he fees like it is kooching and he is winning this argument. i don't know what the victory is or looks like for him other than keeping this conversation going. >> we will see. we have what's called the two-minute warning. the two-minute warning is sometimes a ten-second warning. sometimes it is a five-minute warning. a lot of times he'll walk right out. he'll be in the rose garden shortly answering the questions of reporters. >> i was going to say, yes, the people who are for him. they will see it as anti-politically correct. we're talking to those entitled athletes. how dare they and their military. has donald trump ever been in danger of losing his base? yes. this will help his base.

i don't think anybody disputes a chunk of his base. lots of people booed. and they were in arizona. they booed. right? but the point is, those people are going to be for hip no matter what of the and he seeps to operate under that at all times and not worry about the rest of the people in the country. >> let's listen in. >> thank you very much, everybody. he good afternoon. i'm greatly honored to welcome president mariano. it is a great honor to have you at the white house. even just concluded a very productive conversation on a crucial range of economic and security issues. before we begin, i would like to take a moment to send america's hearts and prayers to the people of puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands.

both have been devastated, and i mean absolutely devastated, by hurricane maria and we're doing everything in our power to then hard hit people of both places. puerto rico and the virgin islands. a massive effort is underway and we have been rae treated very, very nicely by the governor and by everybody else. they know how hard we're working and what a good job we're working. fema, our great first responders, including the military are being marshalled to save lives of the protect families and begin a long and very, very difficult restoration process. i have directed all response agencies to assist in the recovery effort. as the governor justed me this morning, the entire federal work

force is doing great work in puerto rico. and i appreciated his saying it. he is saying it to anyone who will listen. our team has been incredible, after having gone through texas and florida with other stops along the way. and he further went on and said through the trump administration's leadership, the relationship between fema and my team is very, very strong. i will be going to puerto rico on tuesday. i'll also be going to the u.s. virgin islands. over the last several weeks, our nation has been tested by the destructive force of mother nature but we will respond to it with an even mightier force. the resolve of the american spirit. texas, louisiana, and florida are in really good shape and moving along well. we thank all of the first responders and volunteers who have risked their lives, that's what they did. they risked their lives of to

all of those impacted by the trouble in these horrible hurricanes and storms that have affected and impacted our country. i thank you. the recovery process will be a very, very difficult one. we will get through this and we will get through it together. we will be stronger. we will be bigger. we will be better. thank you very much. the united states and spain are great friends and close aize. our bonds, culture and commerce go back many centuries. our excuse teach american children about spain's history of exploration. our muse eaches have great works of art and architecture, music and film admired all over the world. it is a greatly admired country.

it is a strong foundation for lasting cooperation. on behalf of the american people, i want to express our support and prayers of those affected by the vial terror attack in spain last month. i want to assure the people of spain that america stands with you in confronting this evil that threatens all of humanity. we will continue to deny the terrorists their funding, their territory, and any form of support for their wicked ideology. in this common fight, america greatly appreciates spain's contribution to the coalition to defeat isis. spanish troops and police have trained more than 30,000 members of the iraqi security forces west also thank the spanish people for being such gracious hosts to the american service members