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puerto rico where the human need is so great in scope ask so urgent that it is written on the street in bold letters, sos. the president and fema administrator answered tough questions about conditions on the ground. exclusive cnn reporting on the russian probe. new cooperation between the special counsel robert mueller and irs and how it could bring mueller closer to the red line. we begin tonight keeping him honest, with the president's latest take on the wave of protests sweeping nfl, with his attempt in football terms to claim credit for moving the ball when, in fact, he was on the opposite side of the play. specifically this moment. >> cowboys players wanted to show unity but they were very adamant about wanting to separate that message from the national anthem. >> lisa, as they take a knee collectively, boos can be heard from this sell-out crowd in arizona. >> dallas cowboys last night owner jerry jones included linking arms taking a knee

before the playing of the national anthem. the president tweeted about it today. quote, the booing of the nfl game last night was the loudest i ever heard. great anger. so far pretty standard stuff. then he went on. while dallas dropped to its knees as a team they stood up for the national anthem. big progress being made. we all love our country. they all stood up for the national anthem. big progress says the president. keeping them honest. the cowboys always stood while the star-spangled banner was played. jerry jones might have found a way to split the difference. however, for the president to call it progress, it ignores a key fact. he ignores what sparked it in the first place. >> 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 in front of an overwhelmingly white crowd in alabama calling football players protesting what they see as racial injustice sons of bitchs, they should be fired. a protest simmering for months to boil over the president's own words. that's what it took to make an owner and a team of a long tradition of not protesting anything to protest this, the president's own words. now, you can agree or disagree with how or why or what the players are protesting and we're having a town hall on that subject tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. but for the president to claim big progress for being made, lately what's happened is progress is cheering on the bomb squad after lighting the fuse. jim, the president addressed this today during his press conference with the spanish prime minister. what did he say? >> that's right, anderson, he denied whether he's obsessed with this issue of nfl and

patriotism. he was asked if he's pre-occupied with the issue since friday night. the president has tweeted about this some 24 times, compare that with his five tweets on puerto rico since friday night. here's more of what the president had to say earlier today. >> i wasn't pre-occupied with the nfl. i was ashamed of what was taking place because to me that was a very important moment. i don't think you can disrespect our country, our flag, our national anthem. to me the nfl situation is a very important situation. i heard that before about was i pre-occupied. not at all. not at all. i have plenty of time on my hands. all i do is work. >> reporter: we should point out after the president made those remarks the white house became pre-occupied with something else and that's the devastation in puerto rico. not only did the white house issue several pictures of the president talking to officials on the ground in puerto rico, they also sent the fema administrator and the acting department of homeland security secretary out to the cameras to

talk to reporters what the administration is doing. in the last several minutes the white house has issued a statement a read out of the president's call with the governor of puerto rico saying that the governor there has quote repeatedly thanked the president for the federal response there. >> the president is at a fundraising dinner tonight in new york. has he said anything about this at all? >> reporter: we don't have a read out just yet what the president said at this fundraiser in manhattan. he's on his way back to the white house later on this evening. we should know more later on tonight. what we can tell you is last night he did have a dinner with leaders of the conservative movement over here at the white house and it was during that meeting i'm told by one of the attendees in the room that the president said a couple of times this is really caught on, this has really caught on in reference to his comments on nfl players and patriotism. he went on the say he's essentially saying what a lot of americans are thinking, according to this person in the room who was at this dinner last night with the president, he seemed pretty pleased with this uproar he's ignited over the last several days. wherever you stand on the issue surrounding it both the

protests and reaction to it including the president's views are deeply rooted. it's hard to forget the photo of two american medalists raising their fists at the 1968 olympics in a black power salute or john lewis tweeted out protesters led by andrew young taking a knee. nor is refusing to the stand for the national anthem anything knew. listen to what jackie robinson wrote after retiring. i can't stand and sing the anthem, salute the flag. i know i'm a black man in a white world. there's a long tradition of counter protest, all setting the stage for what we're seeing today. today i talked with pete carroll. president trump today in the rose garden said that the protest in the nfl were disgraceful, saying, quote, i don't think you can disrespect our flag, our country and our national anthem. do you feel that's what's going on here? >> absolutely not. i don't see it anywhere pointed in that direction. what's happening is players are

rallying to protest and set out a message that they want to set out. it has nothing to do against the flag or against the country. it's the opposite. i think they are talking on behalf of freedom of speech and the constitution and having a message that they want to impart on the rest of the people in the country. >> what your team did on sunday in nashville deciding not to go out on the field during the national anthem, i know you said it was the right statement for the moment. can you explain what you meant by that? >> we had to figure out what we wanted to do. we wanted to do something and make sure it was unified and try to dignify the moment. there's so much here to say. and that was the way that they decided to do it. they felt collectively about that. so that was the way we went about it. i know other teams, other organizations did things differently. that's the way our guys thought best to do. >> the coach of the pittsburgh steelers, mike tomlin, said

about his team, we're a group not interested in making statements. we're a group in making impacts. i'm wondering what you thought of that. does that apply to the seahawks as well? >> it's a very good statement that mike makes there. our guys in all of their efforts whether it's seen on the field or off the field our guys are so active in their community. the last thing they want to do is be offensive to the country, the flag, the military, they stand absolutely in total support. they understand that. they know what they are doing. they wanted to make sure and start the dialogue, start the messaging and then work to a greater opportunity that's coming because of the protests that have taken place. >> do you think the president understands that? >> i don't think so. i think it gets put back into other references. i think if we had the opportunity to share this new dialogue and this new conversation about freedom and about inequality and freedom of speech and he could see and feel what our players feel, i think it would make all the difference

in the world. could he? i don't know. that's up to him. but i know our guys are willing to try and share the message. there's an empathy here that needs to be understood if we're going to make any move forward and make progress, and our guys are tuned into that and do whatever it takes to get that done in the most peaceful and proper manner possible. >> how do you see this playing out in the weeks and months ahead? do you see players and teams continuing to protest like this during the national anthem or before the game and would you continue to support your players if they wanted to? >> first off, this is an opportunity for us to create a new dialogue. you know, anderson, there's so much here. there's so much that needs to be talked about, it's a dialogue that's been uncomfortable and one that people don't know how to venture into. our players clearly understand inequality. they clearly understand what it is to be marginalized, and they know that when they are not football players but off the field in their every day lives

and with their children, how they have to prepare their children to act properly and be safe because of things they are up against. this is a dialogue that's so important that whatever we have to go to the next steps our guys are willing to do that. >> the president watches a lot of tv, a lot of cable news. if you could just say something what would you say to him? >> i wish i had a chance to sit down and talk with him. i would love to do that. but basically right now i just wish that he would understand that this is a moment to be empathetic and to listen, listen to what everybody is saying and have a chance to feel what that's all about without passing judgment. that's what needs to happen. i see it as a empathy, preme from all different walks and all different opinions, we need to give ourselves the opportunity to hear the other side. that's the first step in creating change. this is about change. i'm hoping we can make progress and whatever it takes to get that done, you know, from the

president on down, we're ready to work at it. >> finally, we had somebody on the program last night who said they believe the protests that we saw this weekend were more about -- were more protests against president trump than they were protests against racial discrimination or, you know, allegations of police brutality or racial inequality in this country. do you believe that it was about the president, or was it about the issues this all started with? >> no. the issues have been here for a long, long time. the opportunity was presented. i think that's what you've seen happen. because of the statements that are made, the opportunity to go ahead and okay let's go for it right now, this is the time that maybe we can make a change and make a difference. this discussion has been coming for a long time. right now is maybe the best opportunity we've ever seen for really accelerating the discussion and accelerating the openness and creating a new dialogue to create changes that are so necessary. >> i appreciate your time.

thank you. >> thanks for having us on. quick reminder we'll be devoting an hour tomorrow night talking to some of the best and brightest and taking your questions. it's a cnn special town hall event, patriotism, players and the president. 9:00 p.m. eastern time right here. just ahead tonight the back story behind the president's decision to spotlight the decision. later cnn exclusive new details from the russian investigation. a development that could take it exactly where the president least wants it to go. you know who likes to be in control? this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy! oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from national. where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender. (vo) go national. go like a pro.

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libbed this whole thing. >> sure. what we learned in the course of reporting is the president literally did just throw this in at the rally. >> he wasn't planning. >> nope. >> it wasn't on the teleprompter. >> not planned with aides. not done in advance. he threw it out there. he liked the way it sounded. he liked the way the crowd responded. and on the way back he was talking about how well it did. he was planning to stick with it. he talked to a couple of people. he had dinner with a small group of people at his private club in new jersey. he asked a few members what do you think of this nfl issue. he got pretty muted responses from people who didn't think it was needed. nope, this is great with my base. he did that again at a white

house dinner last night with attendees. he said this had caught on. he feels very good about it. >> also in the article you reported on other details. he was talking about everything at the event about crowd size, about even the color of his tie. >> he was reliving the sort of physical attributes related to both himself and the rally. he was speaking very little about luther strange who is the candidate he was supporting. an appearance occasionally at this rally but mostly about trump. trump was talking about the crowds. the crowd was not as big as he hoped to be. he was questioning whether the pink tie would play well with this crowd in alabama. he was reliving all these greatest hit moments before this southern audience. remember, one very important context note. we actually didn't get into this. in alabama that was where he saw his first big outside of the east coast rally, outside of iowa rally during the campaign. in his mind he had some special connection to the place. >> so is it fair to say that he felt like his nfl comments were the highlight of the evening? >> for him. i don't know that it was the stand out on its own if you had

to take it down piece by piece but he felt it played the best with the crowd. so he was excited by it. >> do the people in the white house, do they talk about as the president kind of pushing culture wars? the president igniting his base? >> they do. and pretty bluntly. people both inside and outside of the white house who are either in contact with the president or know him very well or are in contact with their aides all put it pretty simply this is somebody who is focused on stirring up his working class white base and he thinks this is the way to do it. he did this once before in the campaign in january 2016 during the height of the primary season when the votes were about to begin. he made some reference to this issue. it sort of died down, but he has decided this is a way to stir people and it's interesting because you see him do this time and again where he rebels against the norms that are being put in place around him.

staff, had a put in some semblance of order in the white house. he had gotten the president towards, you know, some semblance of normalcy on certain aspects of the presidency. not many. kpt control the tweeting. but the president took a very baby and not permanent step towards bipartisanship and now rebelling against that because he's getting concerned. frankly even if he hadn't done this nfl thing, during that rally, he was very equivocal on luther strange. you could see the president doubting his own choice and what it meant for him. >> fascinating to me the people you talked to are very open and this is about appealing to white working class base and getting people riled up. >> there is not a lot of veneer in this white house about what exactly they're up to and the president is up to and what his

thinking is, is one of the areas for better or worse most candid. >> thank you very much. joining us now cnn political commentator who served in the white house during president bush's term. appreciate both of you being with us. dr. west, the president says his comments had nothing to do with race. you hear maggie hash brman reporting. how do you see it? >> well, i think the president needs to get off the symbolic crack pipe and have a sense of reality. the reason why these courageous young people are standing up is because they have a love for black people, a love of justice and a love of fairness, and they are concerned about a racist criminal justice system. it's a beautiful thing to see this kind of moral, spiritual awakening taking place among the athletes. they represent not just athletic

excellence, but they're now aspiring to spiritual and moral excellence. excellence is about love. you step down and let the world know you have a love for these people not being treated right. you have a love for these people being treated unfairly. i'm a christian brother. so every flag is under the cross for me, and the cross signifies one apologetic love. when it's gays, lesbians, scapegoats, black people and brown people, then there's a critique to bear. and the name of truth in the name of love it's fairly clear that president trump has a disrespect for the american people. he has a disrespect for the flag when he scapegoats american people and when he lies to the american people. mendacity is a form of violation in patriotism.

it's a form of violation in the face of truth and in the face of love. so the question becomes how wonderful to see the white brothers and sisters, all different colors standing up out of a love for black people who are being victimized too often by a racist criminal justice system. >> paris can you respond? do you see this as standing up against racism? >> no, anderson, because a year ago and i said it before. a year ago i didn't see pete carroll on your program talk about this issue as it relates to racial injustice, criminal acts or the brutality by police departments or white supremacy or things of that nature. i didn't see the dallas cowboys taking a knee in solidarity with colin kaepernick. they were silent. the nfl was mute on it. now what you see is president donald trump at a rally in alabama raise this issue.

and there are certain things called unintended consequences. as dr. west just pointed out the beauty and unity that he's articulating, that white brothers and sisters are joining hands, locking arms and doing this all in the name of what colin kaepernick was originally doing is because i believe the president is challenging the norms. he's actually become a catalyst for this conversation. so it actually is to dr. west's point an unintended consequence of his statement, which i still believe to be factual. i have no problem with colin kaepernick or the rest of the people that are protesting wanting to protest and wanting to stand in solidarity with those people who have been victimized repeatedly by the system. that's why a lot of republicans and conservatives have joined hands to talk about criminal justice reform because it's an important bipartisan issue. that said, i don't see how their response a year ago matches what the response is today because it wasn't there. >> dr. west, what about that? colin kaepernick was the only

one doing it for a long period of time. >> no -- >> well, a football player, i should say. and didn't get rehired. >> and that's unfair to brother colin. brother paris has a point. there's no doubt that an awakening has taken place in the last 12 to 18 months. just because people are in solidarity now in an explicit way and weren't before doesn't mean it's still wrong, still unjust and still requires somebody to stand up. at that time we had a voice in the wilderness, brother colin. we have a magnificent op-ed piece. he stood there with colin. sometimes just a few speaking the truth. sometimes the truth catches fire and that's what's happening now. so brother paris, you're right, a year ago they didn't. they were still sleep walking. i'll say to you, brother paris, are you sleep walking? are you going to deny that the

victims of a racist criminal justice system are not part and parcel of the reasons why these brothers are kneeling down? you know that racial injustice is an integral part of why they are expressing their love the way they are. >> and doctor west, i've never denied that. all i said was i question and wished the manner in which they are protesting because i think they have done it in a way that, in my opinion, and millions of americans feel is disrespectful to the flag, to people who the national anthem and things like that, it's a distraction. i do not deny these injustices happen. they happened to me. i just don't like the tactic. >> my dear brother all i'm saying your president that you

have this liking for he denies it and if you defend him then you're defending the denial. you and i know that it happens all the time. you and i know these brothers are standing up as they kneel in order to put on a spotlight on this issue. that means race is very much, not just race, justice, fairness. justice, fair domestic, treating black people with dignity and decency. that's a fundamental issue as to why they are doing what they are doing. the president denies it. you support the president, therefore you support the denial as i understand it, unless you are breaking with the president publicly at this moment. that would be a beautiful thing too. >> paris, can you respond? >> i'm not breaking with the president. i agree with him. >> time to break. >> it's not breaking with him. i think he's right. they are disrespecting the flag. they have a right to protest. they have a right to be upset with the justice system, be upset with things that they see happening to people that look just like me and you, but i think they are going about it the wrong way. the examples that anderson put out on the videos that he played

before this, a couple of segments ago, none of those incidents involve people disrespecting the flag. >> paris, at the time -- >> they could have. >> players get accused of being unpatriotic. in their time it's only in ret row spect people look back and say, yeah, i would have done the same thing. when those athletes held up a gloved fist at the olympics, they were called out on it. at the time it was hugely disrespectful. >> all i'm saying is the actions that we're seeing right now of nfl teams -- look, i think the dallas cowboys -- jerry jones is a smart man. they had it right. they took a knee because that's what they wanted to protest before the national anthem. then they stood for the national anthem. we got to take a quick break. i want to continue this conversation. it's important. we'll be right back. pregnant.

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see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com. a few moments ago we showed you a photo that john lewis tweeted of civil rights leaders taking a knee in prayer and protest. someone replied with the phrase fits inmoment. it reads if you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the civil rights movement and what role you would play, you're in it right now. back now with dr. cornell west. dr. west, to paris' point this is disrespectful to the flag, what do you say? >> brother cooper, two claims being made by the president. one is race has nothing to do with it. that's a lie.

second is it's disrespectful. no. my father served in an army in a jim crow army but served in the name of truth and freedom so that that flag signifies at its best a freedom for people to dissent if they can do so with a love and with a concern with the least of these. so there's many people in the army who in no way feel disrespected if people are fighting for justice because the flag is not the monopoly of one group. it's for the expression of those who are fighting for truth, liberty and freedom across the board. so this idea that somehow disrespect is a motivation for kneeling, i mean good god in the 1960s we had a whole host of folks who turned their backs on the flag because for them it signified criminality, vietnam, signified a whole host of things that were violations of

humanity. and so in this sense the idea of disrespect especially coming from donald trump, he is the disrespecter par excellence. so by what moral authority, what spiritual authority does he have to talk about disrespect? he's been disrespecting the american people and the flag ever since he won in many ways when it comes to precious mexicans and arabs and jews and black people and gays and lesbians and transexuals and others. so in that sense let's be honest. >> paris, you heard maggie's reporting people around the president are saying this is about appealing to white working class base and getting them riled up. is that respectful of the flag? to use patriotism, to use the flag if that's what the president is doing to rile up supporters? >> i think that politicians of both sides go to -- i remember

when secretary clinton would go to predominantly black churches and president clinton did it too and they all of a sudden would get this southern drawl and change their cadence and bring up issues that were particular to that crowd because they knew their base. they would talk about -- that's what politicians do. i think what you saw, what president trump did is he knew that in alabama, at a state that takes football very seriously and at a campaign rally, that was going to be a sound bite that was really going to gain because he knew the base at that time in that place really took the issue of american patriotism very seriously and the flag very seriously. and so he was playing to his base. but -- >> you don't think it's a racial component by saying those people, our anthem, calling them sons of bitches in front of an overwhelmingly white crowd in alabama? >> i think from now until the end of the year if the president has a rally, the majority of the

people, political rally the majority of people will be white. we have to get used to fact that only 8% of african-americans voted for him. most times when there's a rally, it's going to be white. >> you don't think race had anything to do with this? >> i don't think race had anything to do with him calling them out. if it was white athletes doing it, being disrespectful to the flag it would still be wrong. still be disrespectful. dr. west, with all due respect my grandfather from georgia served in the military and when he died honorably, when he died, the flag was put across his casket because he was discharged from the military honorably. he taught me and many in our family when you walk into a restaurant you take off your hat. when a woman gets up from the table you stand up. when the flag is flown you put your hand over your heart. you show respect. and also when the black national anthem is sung you stand up and respect that. i was at an event with the president when i worked for

president bush for african-american history month he didn't know when the black national anthem played you stood up. he looked over to secretary rice and she nodded and he stood up. it was the respectful right thing to do. i think that what we have in this conversation has nothing to go the ethnicity of the people doing the act. it's the act itself which i find to be disrespectful. >> dr. west? >> yeah, but the idea that it doesn't have anything to do with race, my brother, that's what we're talking about. god bless your beloved grandfather, though. i know he lived with dignity in his own way. but you and i know when it comes to the black national anthem, if that anthem was associated with a black supremacy that mistreated white brothers and sisters that had police, that had economic, civic, educational expressions

that somehow was subordinating other folk, many black people wouldn't stand for that anthem either. it's not just a question one anthem versus another any flag, any anthem if it stands in the way of truth or love it should be criticized. it's a question of morality and spirituality. the problem is president trump, he's all spectacle, no moral substance. he's cold hearted. he's mean spirited. he's involved in scapegoating as a way of manipulating and dividing american people in order for him to keep his visibility, he's a frankenstein created many ways by mass media and now he's locked into it. there are no grounds, my dear brother paris, for any kind of serious defense or such behavior. i think ten years from now when you watch yourself on television, god bless you, you'll go, oh, my god was i defending this kind of behavior of this kind of president. stirring such contempt towards the weak.

such contempt for the vulnerable. that has no spiritual or moral grounds whatsoever. i don't care what color the president is. i don't who the president is, it just happens to be president trump. >> dr. west, i appreciate you being on the program. paris as well. up next breaking news about the russian investigation. new details about what information robert mueller may be getting from the irs. new details from politico about the extent of those private jet trips that tom price took. why he may have chosen to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on the trips when we come back. hey, man. oh! nice man cave! nacho? [ train whistle blows ] what?! -stop it! -mm-hmm. we've been saving a lot of money ever since we switched to progressive.

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breaking news. politico is reporting some stunning new details on the extent of secretary tom price's private jet travel according to politico price arrived for speeches and other events days early to combine work trips with personal visits with friends and family. politico said price took two dozen trips since may that cost taxpayers around $300,000. most were on routes easily serviceable by commercial flights. so, dan, secretary price not only took a private jet to these places but doing both government and personal business? >> there was blending of the two, anderson. price took a trip to georgia. a resort that he and his wife have gone to every year since

august, except this time he wept on the taxpayer dime. he also took a trip to nashville, $18,000 round trip for six hours on the ground and notably he also had lunch with his son despite only having 80 minutes or so of meetings scheduled with folks around nashville. so we drilled in, and my partner and i have tracked more than two dozen of these flights and drilled in specifically and found this blending is more common than we've seen with other cabinet secretaries. >> the idea secretary price would use a private jet to travel to saint simon's island on friday when his official business wasn't until sunday it flies into face of your earlier reporting who suggested his use of private planes is based on how unreliable he felt commercial flights are. >> that's right. we found connecting flights. nice to be at a resort a few days early. talking about taxpayer trips,

it's very hard to justify. >> it's important to point out, price's use of private jets isn't illegal. just ethically questionable, right? >> reporter: once upon a time that was enough for a scandal in washington, d.c. we're seeing a shifting of what's out of bounds not just with price but this administration. one ethics expert told us president trump does a fair amount of shifting between personal and business when he is traveling, too. with tom price is the story has shifted. first he was only traveling for emergencies, for the hurricane and the opioid crisis. and we've increasingly been able to find these trips that are not emergencies. >> secretary price over the weekend admitted quote the optics of some of this don't look good. he went on the say he doesn't think he'll be taking any more chartered trips until the investigation is completed, barring emergencies. is that good enough?

>> first, anderson, we had asked price, we asked about these charter trips. before our story came out he then took another charter flight and took another one after that. so even though they were aware this was under some scrutiny, price was flying under charters. but i do know the investigator from the oig and also the white house has said they are looking into it too. i have a feeling there will be more to come over what price did, who paid for it and how much this has been going on. >> fascinating reporting. thanks so much. appreciate it. breaking news now on the russian investigation. cnn exclusive. we learned the irs is now sharing information to special counsel robert mueller. that includes tax return on paul manafort and former national security advisor michael flynn. this comes after the irs and special team clashed over the scope of the investigation and raid on manafort's home. these new details raise questions about whether the irs would turn over the president's tax returns for mueller's investigation. joining me now is pamela brown.

what have you learned? >> reporter: we learned the irs is sharing information with investigators working with special counsel robert mueller and this comes after the two sides were at odds for months. they went back and forth over the scope of mueller's investigation into russia meddling. mueller's investigators wanted information we're told on several people associated with the trump campaign. including former trump tam pain chairman paul manafort and michael flynn, the former national security advisor. and we're told by sources, anderson, that the irs had concerns, reservations initialing because of what they saw as far reaching and broad request for information from mueller's investigators. in the case of manafort scope includes financial crimes that date back to january of 2006, ten years before the russian meddling in the russian election last fall. >> your reporting indicates the dispute centers on the july raid of manafort's home.

>> reporter: that's right. there were some tensions between the irs and the special counsel behind-the-scenes of that fbi raid on manafort's home in alexandria, virginia. you'll recall that happened in late july. multiple sources tell us the irs didn't participate in that july raid because of irs objections that the search would interfere with a separate irs investigation of manafort that had been going on even before the election. we're told that the irs and the fbi initially were cooperating in their own manafort probe and this was of course before mueller was appointed the special counsel's office. and they went ahead, anderson, we're told with search on manafort's home despite objection with only the fbi carrying this raid out. that's unusual for the irs to sit out on an investigation that centers on tax and financial matters. >> do mueller's investigators have access to tax returns including possibly the president's tax returns, do we know? >> reporter: that's what everyone is asking. it's not entirely clear whether

the special counsel has asked for or obtained the president's tax returns. sources say if mueller's office have those returns then the deputy attorney general likely would need to sign off on that given the sensitivity. as for manafort and flynn, given the scope of those investigations, it's more likely that mueller has obtained those tax records. i spoke to a former high ranking justice official that tax returns are so highly guarded and information shared about this would require a lot of work, normally a subpoena would have to happen for the irs to turn it over. some of the information that could be shared right now are real estate, banking records, meta data, anything to do with tax returns specifically as it has to do with manafort or flynn. we don't know whether mueller has obtained the president's tax returns. >> when we come back the growing humanitarian crisis in puerto rico. many parts of the island people only have enough food, water and fuel to survive a few more days.

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president trump has been facing criticism of the amount of time he's been spent tweeting about the nfl compared to what he said about the humanitarian crisis in puerto rico. he said he'll travel to the island next week, an announcement that came as a

surprise to some aides. a press conference with the prime minister of spain this afternoon. >> the governor of puerto rico is so thankful for the great job we're doing. we did a great job in texas. a great job in florida, a great job in louisiana, we hit little pieces of georgia and alabama. and, frankly, we're doing -- it's the most difficult job because it's on the island. it's on a island in the middle of the ocean. it's out in the ocean. you can't just drive your truck there from other states. and the governor said we're doing a great job, he thanked me specifically for fema and all the first responders in puerto rico. >> even with fema and first responders, on many parts of the island, the situation is dire. bill weir has more from puerto rico. >> reporter: besides a highway this is the most dependable utility in rural puerto rico these days. a pipe, tapped into a mountain spring, is now the watering hole for a community over 30,000.

it's a natural spring. >> it's always here. >> reporter: are you boiling it or drinking it straight? >> just clean it. >> that's good. >> this is cleaner than that. >> how's everything else in life? you got enough food? >> awful. there's people that have a shortage of food. the national guard is not working out the way it should be. they're standing there doing nothing. no electricity or water for the city. it's going to take about maybe six or seven months for anything to happen here. >> reporter: while safe from coastal storm surges, maria brought hellish mud slides cutting off families for days and forcing desperate decisionmaking. do you burn precious fuel searching for supplies or stay put and pray for help? lydia has two cars with no gas, two grandkids to keep alive on a ration of crackers with no way to reach the highway pipe they drink rain water.

no water, no food she tells me. it's nobody's fault. it's the weather. you have to go on. my heart breaks for you. what worries me the most is my family doesn't know how we're doing, she says. we don't have cell phone connection. on a scale before it one to ten, ten being horrible, desperate, where are you? >> eight, yes. eight -- >> reporter: and getting better, the young mayor tells me. if the gasoline arrives it will help us because people are starting to get desperate. gas more precious than water up here. national guard vehicles can't move. ambulances sit idle. the hospital was one day's worth of generator fuel left and one volunteer doctor because the rest of the staff has no way to get to work. are people starting to turn on each other?

yes, he says. there's situations where people are stressed out crying, folks with dialysis, patients with cancer, patients who need ventilators. >> i need gasoline and diesel. >> reporter: i will tell the world. the fuel shortage is even more evident in san juan where lines are miles long. they opened this particular service station at 6:00 in the morning. they run out of gas by 3:00 p.m. so some people at the end of this line may not get the fuel they need. the folks here are telling me that a local ring of gangsters come and took over two lanes so their guys could get the fuel. how would you describe the desperation? >> the highest, not only here this area, but the other areas. it's very, very bad.

they are suffering. everybody's suffering. let's see how we can work it out and begin again. >> reporter: you're putting a big smile on. >> i will always do that, of course. >> reporter: and someday after the most primal needs are met, parents will have to figure out how to send their kids back to school. and at this academy, this is what awaits. there is so much to rebuild and so many now considering leaving this island for good. what message would you have for folks back on the mainland? >> we have to keep calm. that's all i can say. keep calm because, i told my family if this week we don't see anything getting better, i'm going to have to leave the island. i've been here 20 years and i'm going to have to leave the island. i don't have a choice. >> what are you hearing about gas coming to the island, gas

stations opening up? >> we're getting such conflicting reports, anderson. the governor down here said that there were 185 open yesterday, but that's grossly inflated according to our colleagues at cnn español. they said 108 gas stations operational today. beyond the fuel, it's more about security. a lot of the drivers either accountant report to work because they can't get there or they don't want to go out unless they have someone riding shotgun. a police officer. the good news is 90% of puerto rico's cops have reported for duty, although 5 of the usually 13 command centers are operational. but that's a police force that's probably taxed on a good day. i can't overstate the level of need on this island. i know i covered a lot of these over the years, and this one just in terms of pure logistic

nightmares, the fema guys who are staying in this hotel, they want to help, but they're still working on search and rescue while others are hoping to file for claims and get their life back in order. this is a months-long recovery process on the horizon for a really hearty people, but increasingly desperate people. >> bill weir, appreciate you being there. when we come back, president trump rejecting criticism he's preoccupied with the nfl, with preoccupied with the nfl, with evidence to the contrary. riti . for her to prepare for a healthy baby and for him to support healthy sperm. be in it together.

dale! oh, hey, rob. what's with the minivan? it's not mine. i don't -- dale, honey, is your tummy still hurting, or are you feeling better to ride in the front seat? oh! is this one of your motorcycling friends?

hey, chin up there, dale. lots of bikers also drive cars. in fact, you can save big if you bundle them both with progressive. i'd like that. great. whoo. you've got soft hands. he uses my moisturizer. see you, dale. bye, rob. the president versus nfl players kicks off the hour. the president defending his remarks from friday. players taking the knee, with so much else going on. it's topic "a" of a town hall this time tomorrow night. it's where we begin with jeff zeleny at the white house. can you walk us through the latest in the back and forth between the president and the nfl? it started with morning tweets, right? >> reporter: it did start as things often do at the white house, with a round of early-morning tweets, about the "monday night football" game that was last night.

the president on the same theme he has weighed in for several days, the national anthem and the players. he said, the booing at the nfl football game last night when the entire dallas team dropped to its knees was the loudest i've ever heard. great anger. shortly after that, he went to say this, while dallas dropped as a team, they stood up for our national anthem. big progress being made. we all love our country. it sounds like the president taking credit for the progress being made there. but the reality is, anderson, they likely would not have kneeled had he not injected himself into this controversy, had he not started talking about this last friday evening at that rally in alabama. of course, one of the reasons he is talking about it is because there's a lot of things going wrong here at the white house. the health care bill collapsed today. there's that primary in alabama, we're watching very closely, yet tonight. the white house is worried about the outcome of that. the president