to have about 30% of the energy by the end of the month. by the middle of next month, about 50% and so on. because we want make sure that people have that knowledge of where we're going to go. that they can stay in puerto rico and they can be part of the rebuilding process. what's going to keep the people there and keep this going is know thag we have the backing of the white house and knowing that we're going to have the backing of congress so that we can have the resources appropriate to attend to the storm and then be smart about it. be innovative and restore puerto rico to a better position than before. leveraging over stake hoholders private stakeholders, nonfor profits. people that want to innovate. this is our opportunity. again to showcase that puerto rico, u.s. citizens of puerto rico can come out of this catastrophe stronger than ever before. >> i just want to make ask you a

question because in the spirit of these people that have worked so hard and so long like tom and like brock and so many others, did the united states, did our government, when we came in, did we do a great job? military? first responders? fema. did we do a great job? >> you responded immediately, sir, and you did so, tom and brock, they have been on the phone with me essentially every day since the disaster. we recognize there are some logistical limitations. we didn't have the airports working in full capacity until about a day or two e ago. so that was always a very limiting step, but if you consider we've gone even with those obstacles, we've gone b about 15,000 personnel in puerto rico, about 2,000 fema personnel. hhs and others. the response is there. but we need to do a lot more?

of course. and i think everybody here recognizes there's a lot of work to be done in puerto rico, but with your leadership sir and everybody here, we're committed to achieve thag in the long run. >> in the last 50 days though to put this in the context for america, from the virgin islands to california, we've been working in 20 different states, disasters in 20 different states. in the last 50 days under the president's administration, we've registered close to 4 million americans for individual stance. that's more than katrina, rita, wilma and sandy combined. it's been a tremendous effort. >> mr. president, is this bigger than anything we've seen and yet i think our response was better than anyone has ever seen. again, we were given an a plus by the man who did this. did what you were doing for the clinton administration. and while i don't know him, i would like to thank him for what he said.

yes. >> government loans to build the power plant? not grant sns. >> we're talking about possibly combinations. congress is working right now with the people and representivities of puerto rico and we're talk about possiblily cpossibly combinations. >> any thoughts on president bush's speech? >> i didn't see it. i didn't see it. >> talked about the alexander murray plan, health care plan, as a good and short-term solution then in the speech to the foundation and press secretary said yesterday that you -- >> no, i like people working on plans that are -- i think ultimately, block grants is the way to go where we block out the money to the states. you get better health care, get it for less money. it will be more specific. a state is a smaller government and it can better care of its people. especially where you have well-run states, where you have governor that is do a great job and states that do a good job. if you look at florida, maiainm.

maine was very much anxious to do that. various states. kentucky. various states really wanted that block grant money and for the most part, i think we have the vote for that. there will be a transition period, so anything they're working on will be short-term, absolutely short-term because ultimately, it will be, it's going to be repeal and replace. so i have great respect as you know for both of the senators. you mentioned. and if they can come up with a short-term solution, what i did say though is i don't want to insurance companies making anymore more money because than they have to because you holookt the stock prices of the insurance company frs the creation of obamacare with 300 around 400% and even more than that. increases in their stock. they made a fortune off obamacare. the people that need obamacare are decimated.

premiums are up 40, 50, 60%. in some cases, over 100%. in lalaska, premiums are up ove 200%. so anything they're working on is very short-term. one year to two years max. because i think we have the votes or we're within one vote. senator cochran is an example. he's not feeling great. i can tell you that. he got on a plan to go vote. i have great respect for that man. votes are very fragile. i've learn ed that. i thought we had it the last time and somebody came out of the blue and vote ed gens it. so now, we start the pros all over again. but the block grant, the concept of blocking it out, block

dwrants to the states, that's what people want. that's what the states want. especially what the well-run states want because they will have health care that's so o good, far better than anybody has even thought. so again, i respect very much the -- i want them to be careful with respect to insurance companies. they're extremely good at making money. it doesn't kick in the following day. there's a transition period. but i don't want it to be at the expense of the people. toipt take care of our people. i don't want to take care of the

insurance companies. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. >> there's the president of the united states. president trump and the visiting governor of puerto rico. they spent about a half an hour there. let's listen in. >> 20% of uranium. for whatever reason and a lot of people understand what those reasons may be. i think that's your real russia story. not a story where they talk about collusion and there was none. it was a hoax. your real russia story is uranium. and how they got all of that urani uranium. vast percentage of what we have, that is to me, one of the big stories of the decade. not just now. of the decade. the problem b is that the mainstream media does not want to cover that story. because that affects people that they protect. so they don't like covering ta

sto that story, but the big story is uranium and how russia got 20% of it and frankly, it's a disgrace. it's a disgrace. and it's a disgrace that the fake news won't cover it. it's so sad. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. >> that was the last question. the reporters now being escorted out of the oval office. once again, the president spending about a half an our hour there on camera with the visiting governor of puerto rico. going through several issues, first and foremost, the crisis in puerto rico. right now. the effort to get tax reform, tax cuts another issue on the agenda. health care and foonlly, you just heard pr wha the president had to say about russia, that the whole russia collusion story once again, he says is a hoax. the big story is the uranium that was purchased, that was obtained by the russians during

the obama administration. he says that's one of the big story, the worst stories of the past decade. lots to discuss. first, i want to bring in our senior white house correspond t correspondent. jeff, this was the president speaking out forcefully on several important issues. start with puerto rico. he gives himself a ten. an excellent job in puerto rico. >> he did, wolf. that was perhaps not that surprising because we know the president likes to grade himself and we know that he and his administration have been talking about the good work they've been doing in puerto rico, but the reality on the ground is our team of correspondents and producers have seen and reports on the ground have not necessarily reflected the optimism from the administration, but he said he would give the federal response a ten out of ten. an interesting moment and play there from the governor of puerto rico who is in washington asking for more aid and federal assistance. i was struck by one thing though. the president for the first time

said this is worse than katrina. in fact, when he was visiting puerto rico a couple of weeks ago, he said that katrina was a real catastrophe. that the hurricane in puerto rico was not. so for the first time, he's saying this is worse than katrina. of course in the number of deaths and other things, it does not compare, but that was striking. giving it a ten out of ten is something that you know, will certainly be the suggest of much debate because many would disagree. >> yeah, he says worst katrina as you correctly point out, i think nearly 2 thourk americ,00 died during katrina. about 50. the latest number of deaths reporteded as a result of hurricane maria in puerto rico. he also continues to cite the former clinton fema director as saying he gets an a plus because of what he has done in puerto rico. james lee whit says he gets an a plus on what fema and everyone

else has done in fecske texas and florida. he says it's too early to grade the administration on puerto rico. but he did get strong words of support from the visiting governor. >> he did, of course, wolf. and the governor was here to thank the president and he was on capitol hill earlier. he was also here to ask for money and the reality is puerto rico had a massive financial crisis before that and they certainly do now. so this is something that's ongoing. the president also did something we don't see him do often. he declined to answer a question on something. he punt ued on the question of state hood. for puerto rico. he said i do not want to get in trouble answering that question. i won't go there right now. i think the other headlines, of course he predicted that the is that the would pass the budget this evening. he predicted a success on tax reform and on health care, again called for a short-term solution, one that doesn't benefit insurance companies. sounded like he muddied the

waters again on health care and what his hope is is on this bipartisan bill that's still going through the senate. >> he seems to once again suggest maybe for the next year or two, he would go along with this bipartisan compromise being worked out in the u.s. senate although yesterday, he made it clear opposeded it. now, he's a bit unclear. he says he would like a short-term solution. i assume he's refer iring to wh senator alexander and senator murray, a republican and democrat, are working on now. but hopefully, we'll get more clarification in the course of the day. gloria borger is here with our panel. let's start off with puerto rico right now. the president patting hy intintn the back saying the federal government has come through. >> when he asked the governor, didn't we do a great job, the governor did not give him a great. the governor said you responded immediately, sir.

and you know, there's a, there's a great difference of opinion in puerto rico. you have the mayor of san juan who has been a nemesis to this president and there are rumors of course the politics chris and i have been b talking about this, that there are politics going on in puerto rico, shock, and that she may actually challenge this governor in the next election and so trump is embracing this republican here and but yet, he declined to give him a ten. >> yeah. david druecker is with us, cnn political analyst, congressal correspondent for the washington exami examiner. >> it was like a tale of two avo va avail, if you will. most was trump being measureded and giving a lot of time and allowing the press a lot of access to see a very warm exchange with puerto rico's

governor, which i think is a recognition that a lot of the clapping that he was doing in self-congratulating he was doipg on twitter about how great everything was going and all the jab he was doing at san juan's mayor was a little bit dicesy and probably needed to be dialed back. and i think whether or not the president was thinking about this, it's important for his open political calculus. if you have a mass exodus of puerto ricans from the island because they do not get this thing under control and rebuild, a lot are going to go to florida and most of o the puerto ricans that have gone to florida tend to vote for democrats and that could upend some of florida's politics and also, wolf, the president has to be careful how he handles this. they're going to nodeeed a lot private sector money. they're on hook for a lot of puerto rico debt. there's been talk about

bankruptcies and if you want to get them to reinvest and upgrade the infrastructure, they're going to need to manage that and it's delicate. >> i want to go to palo sandovoa. the people still -- have power now, very small percentage still have it. but what's the general reaction there to this very warm welcome that the puerto rico governor is getting from the president of the united states? >> these comments will certainly come frg the oval office is going to generate here in puerto rico. this island as you say continues to continues on the long and difficult path to recovery. they're addressing those challenges, but we have seen on this island, particularly my colleagues, whosk speaking to people in the more rural part of the island and many saying that while supplies make it on to the island, getting into those isolated po ed proktockets, tha

the real challenge. that was an interesting moment that came out of the white house. we were watching there as puerto rico's governor was essentially addressing a fe from the press about corruption and certain level heers and essentially hampering the efforts. the has been inrupting for the governor. that was an interesting moment and followed by the self-assessment, the ten out of ten that as we've just discussed, into all this tale of two puerto ricos. the administration looking at the situation here on the ground in a different way perhaps than the local people here especially in some of the more rural parts of the island the assessment

will be people -- and i can tell you, having seen these pictures and conversations that have been happening, there will be some disagreement as well. >> we're going to get back to you. >> very significant speech today. i want to shift gears and discuss former president bush. he delivered a very soeb berring view of the state of america and a not so veiled takedown of president trump ice politics at a national forum in new york city, president bush went off on partisan shshi partisanship, bigotry. >> in revecent days, public confidence has declined. our governing class has often been paralyzed in the face of obvious and pressing needs. the american dream of upward mobility seems out of reach for some who feel left behind. in a changing economy.

discontent deepen and sharpened. partisan conflicts. bigotry seems em boldened. politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theorys and outright fabrication. our identity as a nation unlike many other nations, is not determined by geography or ethnicity. by soil or blood. being an american involves the embrace of high ideals and civic responsibility. we become the ears of thomas jefferson by accepting the ideal of human dignity found in the deck ra la ration of independence. we become heirs of james madison by understanding the genius and falls values of the u.s. consti. we become the heirs of martin loouther king jr. by recognizes one another not by the color of their skin, but by the content

of their character. this means that people of every race, religion, ethnicity, can be fully and equally american. it means that bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the american creed. bullying sets a national tone. provid provides per mig for cruelty and bigotty and compromises the moral education of children. the only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them. >> very strong words from the former president george w. bush. he clearly did not mention president trump by name, but a lot of his words are now being seen as a direct, direct assault on some of the policy, statements, positions of the trump administration. i want to bring in chris cillizza, our cnn politics reporter. what did you make of the speech?

>> pretty stinging rebuke and i'll sad the second from a former president or former presidential nominee. let's not forget john mccain's speech winning the liberty medal earlier in the week, which echoed much of what george w. bush said in the speech. on one level, it's not that surprising. george w. bush is the brother of jeb bush. he is a figure of the republican establishment. jeb bush is someone donald trump went after viciously during the campaign. on the other hand, there have only been 44 presidents of the united states. this is one who happens to be in the same part as the guy currently in the white house, who he doesn't say his name, but man, are you, it's pretty clear what he's talking about. conspiracy theorys, total fabrication. repeatedly talking about bigotry and white supremacy. >> there was a specific reference to charlottesville when he spoke about soil and

blood. you heard them uttering blood and soil, nazi formula. >> and mccain used that same formulation. i think he said this is not just a country of blood and soil. it's a country of ideals and bush said something very similar. look, there is a part of the republican party, i think it's about a third at this point if you judge by polls, that is in somewhere between semi and fully open revolt against the world view. both domestically and foreign policy of donald trump. the problem for those folks is it's one-third of the republican party. it's not two-thirds. yes, bob cork er. yes, john mccain. but know the vast majority of others including the leadership of the party. i think it's important the fact you have a former republican president of the united states speaking out in such clear terms condemning the trumpism broadly writ matters. i think we would ignore what's

come before it in the recent past if we said this is going to lead to an avalanche of other republicans coming out. >> this is a part of the ongoing idea logical civil war and the siren song of nationalism, which has always sort of existed in the underbelly of republican politics for years is lately ascended because you have a president that flirts with it and you have his allies, which are very open about it. you neek here that george bush does not speak out that often. even in subtle ways. and also, what you see is the old guard of the reagan wing of the party trying to do their best to hold back the barricade of, the crowd of where they fear the party is going and the thing is, we don't know if they're going to be successful. >> i think what you have is a former president coming out and speaking to americans, not just the republican party. but speaking to all americans and somehow, it's easier when you're a former president.

people tend to listen to you. no matter what they're politics. and using the bully pulpit as you point out in a way he has not done before to just go through a chelist of things essentially that he believes donald trump has done in a bad way. without mentioning his name. it does come on the heels of john mccain. but let's not forget, corker and jeff flake. and i think what you're saying, again, the richard spencers of the world who's going to speak tonight, they don't care about this. we get that. i believe when you have a former president coming out this way it carries a certain amount of weight. >> certainly does especially because he has been silent over these past many months. it's not every day he speaks up and when he did today, just a little while ago, very, very powerful. >> it's about history. i think former presidents are always thinking about his ri and legacy and everything else.

and i think in terms of bush's own legacy, i think he's thinking you know, at some point, i needed to say something and this was his way of doing it indirectly, but we get the message. >> gloria's right 100%. i also think there's a party out limit here. i think what you've seen from mccain and bush this is shake the republican party by the lapels rhetorically and say, what are we doing here? >> you could do both. >> now that hasn't worked yet, but i think you're seeing more of that because i think they see down this road. down this road, politically and policiwise, lies in their view, little good for the long-term health of the republican party and the countries. >> the challenge is that a lot of voters look at the run that the party establishment had and they think things didn't turn out well. >> everybody stand by. there's a lot more that's going on. we're going to be speaking with

a senator on the armed service ts committee about the investigation of the nigh er ambush. senator john mccain now floating the b possibility of a subpoena to try to find out what happened. he's demanding this from the trump administration. plus, a new warning coming in from north korea right now. why it's telling the united states to expect a quote, unimaginable attack at an unimaginable time and right now at the university of florida, they're bracing for a white supremacist speech on campus. thousands expected to march against him. we'll update you on the very latest. stay with us. it's balanced...

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over the deaths of four u.s. troops at the hands of isis affiliated terrorists in niger. james mattis is seriously dismayed at the lack of information he's been given.

just a little while ago, senator john mccain he's the chairman of the senate armed services committee, spoke about his committee's need for more details. >> senator, on the niger mission, what does the committee need to know in terms of details? can you be more specific? >> what steps to get -- what steps will you take -- >> did have a conversation with gentlemen and they said that -- [ inaudible ] we will hopefully get all the details. >> do you feel the administration has been forthcoming up to this point about what happened there? >> of course not. >> of course not, he said. when asked if the administration's been forthcoming up to this point about what happened in niger. let's go to our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. she's joining us now. so what are some of the big questions here? what do we know and what do we don't know? >> well, look, wolf, this 12-man

team was supposed to be going on a fairly routine mission. they were told it was unlikely according to the intelligence that they would run into opposition forces. they'd been in the area before with no reported problems and they walked right into an isis ambush by some 50 isis fighters, so this starts with what kind of intelligence was provided do this team. when they ran into isis ambush. isis had rocket propelled grenades, machine guns, the troops only had the rifles they were carrying at the time. they weren't in armored vehicles. didn't have a need for them they thought. so this turns into a very nasty situation for these troops very, very quickly. they tried to call for help and some french military aircraft did come overhead. but in niger, where they were

operating, that government there does not allow offensive air strikes, so all the help they could get was to have these jets fly overhead and try and scare off the isis fighters. it close to an hour for medevac to come in to evacuate the dead and wounded but that left sergeant david johnson, 25 years old, not aboard. they did not have him when they took off and it took 48 hours to locate his body. the big question for the families, for all military families remains, how did a man get left behind? battlefields are confusing places in the middle of a fire fight, but still, the medevac happened, dead and wounded were evacuated and they didn't have sergeant johnson. >> they've got to learn, study what happened here to make sure it doesn't happen again. barbara starr at the pentagon. thanks very much. i want to dig deeper now on the

timeline of this ambush. joining us, john kirby. a former spokesman for the pentagon and the state department. this ambush was on october 4th. take us through the timeline. >> that's right, wolf. wednesday, october 4th. it was on that day officials tell us the 12-man green barea led just completed a meeting with local leaders and were walking back to their unarmored pick up trucks when the ambush resulted in a fire fight that lasted about 30 minutes until french fighter jets arrived to fly low passes in b attempt to dispurse theerse the attackers. sergeant johnson became separated then from his team. we do not know how or why at this point. search and rescue operation

involving u.s. french and nigerian troops was launched after they realized one service member was unaccounted for. the u.s. military says it does not believe sergeant johnson fell over into enemy hand, but they did have reason to believe he might be alive. one indication is that the military picked up electronic cig l nas from a tracking system he may have had on. his body would be recovered in an area of the northwestern african country by troops nearly 48 hours after he was discovered missing in the wake of the attack. >> so still a lot of unanswered questions. what do you think needs to be answered first? >> i think there's three things. one is command and control. what were the commanding control arrangements for this team, what they were doipg, the approval authorities. how much situational awareness

did their superiors have. their intelligence. what are the lapses and what can we learn from that? three and this is the most important thing. what happened to sergeant johnson. why was it he was not brought back with the others. why was he left behind and what happened to him over those 48 hours. i think getting closure for the family is going to be vital. >> very important, indeed. john kirby, thanks for that. majority john mccain as you heard says the senate armed services committee may seek a subpoena to get more information. joining us now from capitol hill, senator jack reed, a democrat from rhode island. the ranking member of the is that the armed services committee. senator, thanks very much for joining us. first of all, senator mccain, your chairman, says there's a briefing coming for the committee. what can you tell us about that? >> we're working together to get a briefing, a classified briefing on what happened. to raise many of the questions with barbara and admiral kir di

raised. what about the intelligence, the air cover, evacuation plans. why was it the response slow. all those questions need to be fully answered. in a classified setting, then i think senator mccain will determine if more must be or should be done. >> what do you think about the defense secretary, james mattis, a retired four-star general. his complaint that even he, he's the defense secretary, even he doesn't have all the information. >> i think that's very disturbing. the secretary of defense and national command should be able in this time, we're talking about days, not hours, to be able to assemble a good picture of what happened. there's still outstanding questions i'm sure. but that's dismaying to have him to say he's disappointed. >> statement for president trump on niger what happened as you

know by now, was actually circulated around the white house from the national security council. the day after the incident, but officials for whatever reason chose to let the white house press secretary, sarah sanders, talk about it at a briefing instead of the president of the united states issuing a strong statement. he actually didn't even mention niger, what happened in niger, for some 12 days. why the delay and the decision to not have the president make that initial statement? >> well, at this point, there's another issue that we would like to pursue in terms of why there was a such a lack of response in terms of notifying the american public. then also reaching out to the families. it seems unusual had this been a successful operation, i think there would have been b a tweet within minutes, so i think we have to ask that question, also. >> there are lot of questions that need to be answers as far as niger is concerned. once again, if the u.s. doesn't learn the lessons, it will

happen again. there are a lot of u.s. troops not only in niger, but elsewhere in africa. i suspect most of the american public has no idea what those troops are up to, what the mission is, what they're doing now and how dangerous some of those situations are and ai sum your committee is going to be looking into all of that. not just niger, but what's going on in neighboring countries as well. let's get to north korea. the crisis on the korean peninsula. you're just back from a trip to south korea. you were up in the demilitarized zone. what impression did you get there to president trump's stance on north korea, the threats going back and forth between kim jong-un and the president? >> well, first of all, it's the most dangerous situation that we face in a very dangerous world because they already have medium range missiles with nuclear kip kaipableties and chemical weapons. this is a very sensitive situation. the back and forth between the

president and kim jong-un is i don't think particularly he helpful. i think the president should make it clear that we have a range of options, but i think he should be much more supportive of secretary tillerson's diplomatic effort. they say, the president says diplomacy is our first approach and we should do it seriously, et cetera. i think the claims that kim jong-un will make for what will be disturbing, provocative, that seems to be b the nature of the north korean leader. and we have unfortunately, we only have a warning of several hours, if he does contemplate some type of launch, but at this point, i would hope it would just be more rhetorical than actual and we have the time to use diplomacy. >> as you know, the president is going to make a major visit to several countries in asia next month. including a stop in south korea. the white house hasn't said in

the president will definitely visit the demilitarized zone, the south korean part of the zone. the buffer area separates north and south korea. you were just there. i think all u.s. presidents have made a visit to the dmc. at this very explosive and se e sensitive moment, sir, do you believe president trump should visit the dmz? what message would that send to allies and to north korea? >> well, i think at this very sensitive time, you have to almost wait until the day before or the day of to see what the situation is. i think they have to factor intelligence as an issue of security. that has to be the first consideration. and then again, what message does president trump want to say. typically, our presidents and vice presidents have gone there have made comments, but not provocative comments.

they've simply noticed the dmz and our commitment to the people of south korea going back decades. i think something like that would be appropriate for the president to do. but i do think they have to consider security and also, the possibility that those comments will be more provocative than historically consistent. >> the white house habit said for sure whether the president will visit the dmz. when he was asked about it the other day, he left open the possibility. he said somebody said this could be very provocative and he wanted to know more about it. senator, thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. just ahead, president trump personally interviewing attorney candidates in new york and washington. what happens to be home to many, all of which new york and washington and other places as well seem to be home to many of his businesses. now, there's new backlash against this up precedented move to interview caiew candidates f u.s. attorney position,

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president trump's meetings with candidateses for the u.s. attorney positions in new york and washington, they've raised serious questions about a potential conflict of interest, but the white house is strongly defending the president. official telling cnn, quoting now, we realize senate democrats would like to reduce this president's constitutional powers, but he and other presidents before him and after may talk to individuals nominated progressions within the executive branch. let's bring in our justice correspondent. she's here with me. jessica, why is this so unusual? >> well, wolf, u.s. attorneys are typically insulated from any type of political influence. it's the president who ultimately nominated the top federal prosecutor, but any face-to-face meeting dwurg

during the nomination process is heard of. had zero contact with the president once they assumed their post. but we do now know that president trump has interviewed candidates for u.s. attorney in d.c. jesse lew was confirmed on december 14th, as well as candidates in brooklyn and manhattan, but the white house now defending this, an official saying it is well within the president's powers to meet with nominees who are part of the executive branch. >> that's the position of the white house, but a lot of experts strongly, strongly disagree. thanks very much. i want to get some more analysis on this. michael is joining us. our cnn legal analyst, former federal prosecutor. this is unusual for a president to personally interview candidate, especially for the u.s. attorney positions in new york and washington. how unusual from your expertise is it? >> it's unheard of, actually.

and it harkens back to what comey testified to during his most recent testimony where he said he felt uncomfortable with the president wan iing wanting communicate with him privately by cell phone or otherwise because he thought he was trying to cultivate a personal relationship. that's what preet said in new york before he was fired by president trump and it seems as if we have a pattern here of the president interviewing people who he feels will be loyal to him as opposed to loyal to the rule of law and the administration justice. jeff sessions in his testimony yesterday said essentially, it was unheard of. constitutionally permissible, but practically unheard of. so did senator blumenthal. we have ethics issues that should raise everybody's suspicions and hopefully, they'll be vetted when they come to appointment and when the senators from those states feel

comfortable, all the senators in new york and d.c. and florida, they're all lawyers, so they know about ethics and con tlikts of interest. >> i actually spoke with the form eer attorney in new york lt night. he's now cnn senior legal analyst. and as you know, he was fired by president trump earlier in this year. earlier in the year after spending many years as the u.s. attorney in new york. but listen to what he told me about these interview us that the president was having with candidates for the u.s. attorney position in new york. >> i understand that he's personally interview ed the potential applicants for u.s. attorney in man mhattan, brookl and washington, d.c., which happen to be places where donald trump has property and assets and companies and not interviewed personally u.s. attorneys for other positions and i think that reasonably raises a number of questions. >> and i know you agree with him. how worried are you b about this? >> well, the senators have a

right to put a hold on these nominations. typically, these nominations come through the senators. that's how they typically arise. and i don't know if it's the case here that these are names that the president is interviewing that came through. senator schumer or senator nelson's offices, the ranking members in their jurisdictions. but if it's not, i would expect these guys are going to have a hard time getting confirmed or they should have a hard time getting confirmed until they can convince the senate they are not loyal to the president above the constitution themselves. >> this raises all sorts of other questions, especially about the businesses that the president, president trump has in new york. and various other places. michael, thanks very much for that explanation. more news we're fom lowing. the president's national security adviser, you're looking at liveed to start answering questions about the niger

ambush, the north korea threat. plus this. when isis began grow iing in th middle east, they claimed the city of its capital, but it has taken three years now, but u.s.-backed forces have driven the terroristsof this struggle.

u.s. back forces in syria have driven isis out of its capital of raqqah. the situation on the ground is a stark contrast to three years ago. take a look at this. on the left you can see raqqah back in 2014. as isis terrorist celebrated the capture of the city. on the right, usa backed forces parading after liberating raqqah from isis. cnn's only western journalist to report from inside the former isis strong hold is joining us right here raqqah. the city has been decimated.

we have seen the drone video. how are the people who are still there who are still living there, how are they going about their lives? >> reporter: well, wolf, that's one of the more striking things about this situation in raqqah right now and the more heart-breaking things. there are no civilians. you drive through it and street after street of rubble. you can't even see the traces of the lives that were. that's how destroyed some parts are. isis was holding the civilian population hostage but as the forces were pushing forward and liberating areas, only at that point the civilian population was able to leave and especially as they were squeezing isis into the last portions of raqqah, the civilians there were left not only at the mercy of isis but also without basic things like food, water, many of them in the

videos that we have been able to see when they were finally liberated, those that did in fact survive were starving. many were emaciated. children that had to endure all of this. severely mall nowsch risched. one of the many things to take into consideration. bearing in mind the battle against isis is not over. >> what's next for raqqah? >> reporter: well, they have set up the raqqah civil council that is meant to move into action as soon as the city is cleared of improvised explosive devices. that is a phenomenally massive task. they're going to bring in and they have already begun bringing in demining teams but one of the female commanders said she estimates it will take at least three months to clear the city of explosives and need to

rebuild, clearing it out of rubble, trying to get things like water, electricity set up and you just realize the enormity of all of this through the visuals of how destroyed the city is and just by being there, another crucial thing that this council is going to have to address, something that has been highlighted to us time and time again, it's not just about the reconstruction of the city. we don't at this stage know who can is going to help the people of raqqah cover the cost of the physical reconstruction but vital in terms of ensuring isis does not gain a foothold in a city like raqqah, is trying to rebuild the city's social fabric, wolf. >> very courageous reporting as she always does. be careful over there. still a dangerous situation. even as we speak. reporting from near raqqah in syria. take a look at this. we're getting live pictures coming in from here in washington where the president trump's national security

adviser lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster is taking questions expected to address the very sensitive issue of the niger ambush which resulted in four american troops getting killed and the president's response to the latest threats from north korea and the president giving his administration a ten, ten out of ten for its response to the crisis in puerto rico. this as 80% of the island is still without power.

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