comment to us about this because of the pending litigation. the baby and the baby's mother are doing fine says the lawyer. fredricka. >> that's something else. scott mclean, appreciate it. thanks for joining me. "inside politics" with dana bash starts right now. welcome to "inside politics." i'm dana bash, john king is off today. hurricane dorian makes its way towards the u.s. east coast while florida gas stations are starting to run dry. president trump's personal assistant is out of the white house after telling some reporters a little too much about the life inside the white house. and joe biden is brushing off media coverage after facing criticism over a war story. >> folks, here's the deal. we're in a situation now where you realize there's very few school psychologists left.

the fact of the matter is, i think the number is somewhere between one school psychologist for every 15 to 1700 children. i don't want to set an exact number because the press will say biden is losing his mind, he didn't remember. >> floridians this hour are hoping the forecast is wrong because if the forecast is right, hurricane dorian will bring a lot of rain and a lot of pain. president trump siengned an emergency disaster declaration minutes ago. urgent storm preparations have been ongoing this morning and overnight. florida governor ron desantis is about to give an update right now on the storm. we will watch for that. desantis already announced this morning he is calling up 2,000 plus national guard troops and that the state is clearing roadways and stocking emergency fuel. nearly a million gallons of bottled water and nearly 2 million meals are stashed in orlando at a distribution center. as of this moment, there are 79

counties across two states under states of emergency, and right now there is no mandatory evacuation in place. but the governor says that might change. forecasters expect the slow-moving storm to get stronger as it trudges through the bahamas and then heads towards florida and the coastline there. some residents are franticly prepping, emptying grocery store shelves, clearing out hoeme improvement stores of plywood. this woman explains the stakes. >> i live in a mobile home so i stand to be homeless, but that's not really that's worrying me. i have animals. i can replace my home, but i can't my animals. i've been through this a couple times in the last 15 years, and this is the worst so far. >> let's get straight to chad myers in the cnn weather center. chad, how bad is it going to get at this point? what are we seeing? >> still 140-mile-per-hour storm

making landfall. depending on the size of the eye that could be plus or minus 5%, so 143 to 147 would still be a 140-mile-per-hour storm technically. it is 661 miles from the florida east coast right now moving to the west at 10. so do the math, that's 66 hours. but i think it's going to slow down some and so does the hurricane center, so it will take longer than 66 hours to get there. the first effects of tropical storm force winds will start on sunday. you need to get all the preps that you're going to do before sunday afternoon. then the wind will get over 40 or 45 and you can't handle a sheet of plywood outside, certainly wouldn't want to be on the roof at that point either. 140 monday in the morning, landfall not that far along the road and then it turns to the right and heads up toward the middle part of the state. for the entire time it will be 100-mile-per-hour storm before it finally rains out in georgia and maybe turns out to sea before the carolinas.

this is a big storm. it now has an eye. it's 110 miles per hour. hurricane hunter flying through it right now. thank goodness for them. hurricane watches are posted for the bahamas. nothing yet for the u.s. simply because it's not time yet. but overnight they flew the hurricane hunter mission back and forth, dropping inverse weather balloons into this model. mal models really agreed. i can't get my parents to agree for 72 hours. for 72 hours the european model and american model are right on the same spot so that is very good agreement. they may change as it gets a dana, that i could see is that it gets really close and as it begins to stop, it could turn sooner and stay offshore. that would be the best possible option because coming onshore at 140 anywhere in florida would be a devastating hit. >> well, it sounds like it's bad news because yesterday at this time you were saying the european models had the storm

mostly in the ocean and now they are marrying up, as you said, in a very interesting way. as always, chad, thank you so much. we'll talk to you soon. joining us now is the mayor of vero beach, florida, val zudanz. you have lived through three hurricanes in vero beach. this is your first as marry. when people come to you looking for guidance, what are you saying? >> i'm saying assume the worst, be prepared. you'll either be prepared or satisfied or happy that it didn't happen. i think vero beach because we have had experience with hurricanes, i've had three actual hurricanes go through since 2004 when i've been here, and we've had a couple of near misses as well. more recently with irma and with matthew. and i do have a little bit of concern about the fact that we were -- we went through all the preparations for irma, matthew,

and some people may not have -- may think that's what a hurricane is. but i know from being here for jean, frances and wilma that hurricanes can be much more serious, much more problematic. i hope people remember exactly what happened back then and treat this like those hurricanes. i think we will. i think our city -- i think we're going to be the most prepared city in the state of florida for this hurricane because people do take it seriously. people do understand how much damage can happen and the loss of life can happen. >> so -- >> we had someone who passed away back in 2004 in our county from frances related to -- i believe it was related to storm surge. >> well, your town is now under a local state of emergency. shelters open saturday morning. but statewide the governor has not issued an evacuation order. do you think that that is the right move right now? what are you telling your constituents about whether to stay or go?

>> i think based on the way hurricanes are managed and have been managed very successfully in the past, it's not yet time for evacuations. but people should have their plans in place in case that does come up. if you're on the barrier island or in a mobile home or in a flood-prone area, you have to be ready. the thing that worries me most about this hurricane, back in 2004 with jean we had an 8-foot storm surge. at our national weather service briefing yesterday afternoon at 5:30, they were telling us that storm surges could be up to 10 feet and on top of that we're in a time of year where we have king tides where the high tide can be 4, 4.5, 5 feet high and if you put a -- if the storm surge happens to come in right when you're at high tide and then you have large ocean waves from these hurricanes on top of

the high tide and the storm surge, that's a recipe for disaster. most people who die in hurricanes die related to things from the storm surge. i'm also particularly concerned based on things that happened in other places down in south florida where the nursing homes do not have sufficient backup. i have actually personally talked to some of these people at the nursing homes locally and today our city manager is going around and contacting all of the nursing homes within the city limits to make sure that they have the right plans in place. i'm also -- yeah, go ahead. >> i was just going to say we're out of time but i want to say thank you for your time. thank you obviously -- >> my pleasure. >> -- for what you are doing and stay safe. >> yeah, prepare for the worst. >> very good advice. elsewhere in florida, gas is already in short supply and some stations are out. cnn's rosa flores is in west palm beach.

rosa, there is still some gas at the station where you are, but how concerned are the floridians you're talking to that they're going to be stranded because they can't get gas? >> reporter: they're very concerned. i've talked to multiple people today who have said that they have tried to find gas at multiple locations and then they finally make it to this gas station. take a look, the line is short, but it's steady, dana. it has been steady for the past hour and a half since we've been here. most of the individuals who i have talked to have said that they're pumping gas just in case an evacuation order is issued to make sure they can hit the road and not have to stop at any point. now, governor ron desantis has announced that there are shortages across the state. here's what has been helping. because he declared a state of emergency in all 67 counties in florida, that eases the rules that allows more gas to flow into the state. the owner of this gas station tells us that his family actually owns four gas stations.

three of them are out of gas. this is the only one that has gas that his family owns. so we asked, of course, how is that? he says that the gas is coming in on queue and so he hopes to have gas at 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. tonight and he hopes he will be next on queue and he will get a refill so people in this area can get gas, dana. >> wow, that is definitely adding to the stress understandably. rosa, thank you so much for that report. up next, joe biden defends telling war stories that have inaccuracies. stay with us. (vo) the hamsters, run hopelessly in their cage. content on their endless quest, to nowhere. but perhaps this year, a more exhilarating endeavor awaits. defy the laws of human nature,at the summer of audi sales event.

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with nine grams of protein and twenty-six vitamins and minerals. ensure, for strength and energy. joe biden is facing questions, again, and today pushing back about a pattern of gaffes. this time it's a story that he told embellishing and conflating an emotional encounter with a u.s. service member. >> four-star general asked me whether i'd go up into the fob. everybody got concerned, a vice president going up in the middle of this, but we can lose a vice president. we can't lose many more of these kids. not a joke. this guy climbed down a ravine, carried this guy up on his back under fire. the general wanted me to pin the silver star on him. i got up there and this is the god's truth, my word as a biden. he stood at attention.

i went to pin him. and he said do not pin it on me, sir. please, sir, do not do that. he died! he died! >> "the washington post" investigation found the account isn't accurate but instead is a combination of multiple stories of heroic actions by three different veterans through a wider time span. "the post" noting that in the space of three minutes, biden got the time period, the location, the heroic act, the type of medal, the military branch and the rank of the recipient wrong as well as his own role in the ceremony. well, the campaign is not disputing any of that. but in a new interview, biden is dismissing it as a story. >> i was making the point how courageous these people are, how incredible they are. this generation of warriors. these fallen angels we've lost. and so that -- i don't know what the problem is. what is it that i said wrong?

>> and we are joined now by our panel. so my first question is, how much do you guys think, especially those of you who have been on the trail, joe biden and his campaign are right, that this is -- i'm told, i'm sure you all are too by the biden campaign, this is baked in, this is who he is. at least it shows that he's authentic. people don't really care about this as much. what are you hearing? >> in my experience on the ground, i don't -- i haven't heard about it. i think to some degree the baked in is the big thing there. a lot of people say that's just who he is and that's part of what makes him authentic and why we like him. they're focused on other issues. they are very cognizant of looking at the polls and seeing the fact that he could beat president trump. so long as he holds that, it almost quashes anything else that comes to the table. i do think that he should be called to account when you're going out and talking about untruths or talking about things that aren't exactly accurate. politicians should be able to do that. but the fact of the matter is at

least at this moment it doesn't appear to have had an impact, at least from what i've heard and that's anecdotally. >> but the question is does this become a narrative for him. >> well, it already is. >> it is a narrative and does that narrative take hold as more people start tuning into this race, right? what rival campaigns will tell you, and i think they have a point on this, it's still extremely early, he has the highest name i.d. as these debates go on and campaign continues, this is a risk averse electorate. if they start seeing joe biden as someone who is risky. those electability numbers start to fall, then he has a real problem. maybe this isn't his undoing, this one story, it's obviously not. but it's not something that if you're advising him you're particularly excited about. it's not a positive thing. >> so what the campaign is doing is pushing back by a shoulder shrug as much as you can capture that in an email blast. they kind of did. they sent out an in case you missed it email, a story from

cbs news, quoting voters in south carolina where the former vice president was. polly ire, he's always made them. i don't think he's doing anything different than he's always done. he always has his foot in his mouth. will coakley, so what, it makes him hup human, real, not scripted. diane lyles, he's a family man and an honest man and i think he does the right thing. >> yesterday bloomberg had a quiz on who said it, trump or biden. they put a bunch of quotes out there. we had our whole white house team take it. it's actually quite interesting to see the parallels and some of the things that they do say. they're both very gaffe-prone in some ways. to some of their voters it may make them endearing, but obviously this is also an issue of factuality. whether they're making innocent gaffes or stretching the truth. this is something joe biden has the same issue as trump.

>> and obviously the trump campaign, the president himself is leading the strategy as he wants to do saying that this is an example of how he's old. those of us who covered -- maybe none of you guys at the table covered him for a long time in the senate. this is joe biden, it is. this is not an age thing, this is a joe biden thing. he's a story teller, and these things when joe biden tells stories happens. >> that's right, dana. there are countless times joe biden would get ahead of president obama and put his foot in his mouth because he said something he right at the most opportune time. there's a key difference between president trump and former vice president biden, which is that president trump has intentionally repeated falsehoods, whereas biden so far as we can tell, even with this story, he stands by that the essence of it is correct and that he did have an interaction with a soldier who did say those things to him and that he may have messed up the location and the name, but that he did have

that interaction. so i think that to lisa's point, yes, the question is whether or not all of these compiled together, all of these gaffes, all of these misquotes or misspeaking by the vice president actually hurts him down the line and whether or not it wears down his support. but so far on the trail i haven't heard anything from voters about this. >> there is a question whether -- you know, republican been very for giving of trump's misstatements, intentional or unintentional. and there is a question about whether that standard has carried over. there's no question the gaffe is no longer the dpgaffe it used t be. hillary under fire flying into bosnia was a major thing for her campaign and it's not the same situation here for joe biden. but we don't know how the new trump rules translate on the democratic side. that's part of what we're all testing. >> or if they translate at all. i think lisa hit the crucial point here and that is if this starts to have an impact, if

this becomes a thing where people start getting concerned, not even necessarily in the primary but concerned that in a general election against president trump, president trump will fillet him for all of this stuff and they get concerned that he can't beat president trump, then it's a major problem and that's what other campaigns have been factoring in as a possibility. as people start to tune in and people actually start to vote. if it doesn't, if people don't feel that way an he's still leading in head-to-head polls no matter if they matter or not, which they don't at this point, then i don't think it seeps in but we don't know the answer yet. >> well, we are looking at polls. >> i know. >> stand by. up next to tell us what to make of the numbers right now, this snapshot in time when it comes to the president's approval on the economy and whether or not he has a problem, bigger problem with white women voters. stay with us. grab some pens. would shakespeare have chosen just "some pens?" methinks tul pens would serve m'lady well. thanks. and a unicorn notebook! get everything on your list. this week's doorbuster- 50% off school backpacks, 50% off in store or online

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as we wind down this summer, we want to just stop and take a look at the state of the 2020 race with some polling experts. joining me at the table, pollster on the democratic side anna greenberg and republican pollster ed goaz. thank you both for being here. i want to start with the most important issue which is the economy, and to remind our viewers what happened this week with the quinnipiac poll, which is -- mirrors other polls that we've seen but it is a big wa

warning sign for the president. 46%, that is his approval rating on the economy, which is -- was, has been the issue that has been propping him up because he had better approval rating for months and months and months. he's doing the worst that he's done in this poll. warning sign on the republican side? >> certainly a warning sign, but also a reminder. i think there's many around the president that's trying to say talk about the economy. that's what you need to really drive home. and he doesn't stay on the economy as much as he should. i think that's one of the reasons why you see it coming down. the other is where you see a very large number of people supporting him on his economic measures, the one question mark in that is trade. and trade specifically is hurting farmers more than anyone else out there, and that's where you have a lot of the rural democrat, independents, conservative republicans that

are very big supporters of his but they're starting to take it on the chin because of trade. i think it's starting to raise some doubts about his economic policy. >> you're seeing that in the numbers? >> we are. >> i think the other important number from quinnipiac is the percentage of people who say the economy is getting worse. that's up about 10 points. >> that's the first time in this poll that he's underwater, meaning more people disapprove than approve of how the economy is going. >> yes. and my internal polls have shown the same dynamics. what i saw was that obviously democrats account for a lot of the movement towards the economy getting worse, but there was a significant chunk of independents and even 20% of republicans who said i think the economy is getting worse. so it's not just that his approval numbers are underwater, it's that the perception of the economy is strong and growing is starting to be undermined. eveni i think ed is right, some of it is trade and people are watching the markets go up and down and some of the uncertainty in global markets by it. but there are economic challenges people face that are independent of these national

macro indicators like health care costs. if now the economy is a little uncertain and you're still dealing with these incredible costs, it's hard to feel good about the president on the economy. >> let's talk about women. going back in time in 2016, the president beat a woman with the help of a 9% advantage among white women in 2016. now look at these numbers on the right. that's the current state of play according again to this latest quinnipiac poll. joe biden is beating the president by 18 percentage points among white women, sanders the same and warren 13. anna, what does that mean to you? >> well, it's tremendously good news for democrats. what i would say also is if you look between 2016 and 2018 and in many cases 2018 turnout was almost presidential, there was a big shift among women. trump won white women. democrats broke even with white women, maybe down 2, up 2 depending on the poll so there was a pretty significant shift

between '16 and '18 and now it's a bigger shift. so it's a trend. it started really from the moment that he was inaugurated with the women's march. the other thing i'd have to say you have to look internally what's happening. college educated women have moved dramatically to the democrats. we also now are seeing softening on white blue collar women and that's been a strong source of support. there's no way you get to plus 18 if you're not doing okay with white blue collar women. >> first of all, if you go back to the number, he won by nine points. 8 points with white women is about where republicans target to come out ahead in a nationwide campaign. and he did that in the last election. we take it one step further. we watch very closely white married women, which normally we win by about 20 points. the latest battleground we did he was only winning by 4 points. but the interesting thing there going back to the economy is those very same women that have kind of gotten off being

supportive of him, when you ask them about the economy, when you ask them about jobs, they give him a 57% and 63% approval rating. so, again, talk more about the economy, not just to your base but talk to these women that are getting a little bit squishy, if you will, in terms of support. >> and the frustration you talked about i hear from inside trump world, it's not just that he's not talking about it, it's the economy is being defined by his opponents. before we ending i have to get to one other issue that you've talked and you follow too, which is not just where people's approval ratings are but the intensity of it. so let's just take a view towards the 2020 candidates. president trump, 28% very positive. net positive 39%. sanders 14, net positive 47. biden very pause live 11, net positive 34. elizabeth warren very positive 14, net positive 31.

let's keep that on the screen, and, ed, explain why that's important. >> first of all, in terms of intensity, that is going to dictate who is more likely to vote in the election, number one. number two, that gets into all the economic models -- i mean all the political models in terms of can he win, can he not win, which all the political models are predicting that president trump will not win re-election where the economic models are predicting he's going to win. but i think the key is, is that shows whether you're connecting with the voters. he's always had very strong intensity amongst his base but he also has a very strong intensity amongst those that are not favorable towards him. that's what he has to watch that is going to help the democrats in the upcoming election. >> it's a little early, we don't have a democratic nominee yet, and people like warren in particular are not particularly well known by the general electorate. this is a democratic primary electorate that's paying close attention so i don't look at those intensity numbers and have much concern about it. it's way early with undefined

democrats. >> more important for the incumbent. thank you both so much, so interesting. i learned a lot. up next, a storm chaser on how powerful and how dangerous hurricane dorian might be. stay with us for that. they give us excellent customer otservice, every time.e. our 18 year old was in an accident. usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. all i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. if i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. we're the gomez family... we're the rivera family... we're the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. get your auto insurance quote today.

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the president says hurricane dorian is an absolute monster, and he's right. cruise lines are now rerouting their ships to stay out of the storm's path. to get a sense of dorian's size and power, take a look at this.

this is from noaa. all those bursts, the lightning inside that storm. on the phone with us to talk about that is nick underwood. he has been a hurricane hunter for three years. so, nick, you said you've been tracking dorian since sunday. what exactly does that mean for a hurricane hunter? >> for me it meant flying onboard noaa's gulf stream 4. that's one of our hurricane-hunting aircraft. it's high altitude surveillance jet. we fly up above and in front of the storm sampling the dynamics that will steer where the storm goes to. in addition to that aircraft. noaa also has two lockheed wp wp3dwp3d wp3d or ions that collect

information. >> you use something to track these storms. we have a picture that you took which we're looking at here. what are those and why are they necessary? >> so imagine it like a reverse weather balloon. we launch them out of the bottom of our aircraft. they have a small parachute that deploys. as they float down, they're collecting atmospheric temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction and relaying all of that data back to the aircraft in realtime. >> how does this storm compare to others in rank, in size, that you have tracked and hunted before? >> so in the three years that i've been doing this, the largest storm i've chased was irma in 2017. i was our p-3s for that. we are flying right through it was a giant category 5 storm at that time. this storm is still quite small

but growing stronger every day. >> so i have to ask you before i let you go, for most of us mere mortals the notion of getting on a plane and going into a hurricane is terrifying and something that we would never want to do. what made you want to wake up one morning and say, oh, i'm going to be a hurricane hunter? >> well, a few years ago i didn't know this job existed. but i got a degree in aerospace engineering and knew i wanted to do something that was going to help people. and so this job, all of the data we collect, feeds into those computer models that predict where the storms are going to go and how strong they're going to be. the more data we collect, the earlier we can warn people that they're going to be in harm's way. >> well, it is certainly important. nick underwood, thank you so much. i'm sure we at cnn will check back with you as the storm gets closer to florida. up next, iowa democrats are scrambling after national officials say they plan to reject a new caucus system for the first contest of the 2020 democratic presidential election. stay with us. this is rick blomquist.

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we just -- we have word and we're talking about the situation going on in iowa, the iowa caucuses. if you remember back in 2008, hillary clinton placed third in the iowa caucuses and she talked about the fact that there needs

to be a more expanded caucus system because what was going on left out a lot of voters in the democratic process. so let's talk about what we're discussing, which is the caucus process. for a caucus, you have to go as a voter to an area at a specific time, stay for several hours and that is very different from a primary where a voter can stop by, cast a ballot at any point of the day. well, just a few minutes ago, the democratic national committee officially rejected a plan in iowa, also in nevada, to allow virtual caucusing in 2020. that was a plan to allow people to call in and not have to actually come physically to the caucus site. what the dnc says is that the systems in both of these states are vulnerable to hacking and to tampering because they would allow voting by phone. iowa democrats proposed this new system this year in order to

comply with new rules imposed by the dnc. those rules ordered caucuses like in iowa and nevada to find ways to allow absentee voting. so the first in the nation iowa caucuses are only five months away. so this sounds like maybe a little bit technical, but it is so incredibly important. i should just add that what the dnc said in the statement that we just got a few minutes ago is that it's not as if the iowa democratic party can't figure it out, that the iowa caucuses are going to move dates or threaten another very important first in the nation primary state, which is new hampshire. they'll probably give iowa a waiver if they can't figure out a way to allow people to vote absentee, but it's a mess. >> yeah. caucuses have long been a problem for the democratic party. think about the mechanics of this. if you have small kids, it costs you money to caucus because you have to hire someone to watch your kids. if you work nights, you're working when it's time to

caucus. for a party that's concerned about increasing access, caucuses don't seem to accomplish that goal. but in iowa, they have a long tradition and are very attached to their caucus. so this was a way to try to, i think, expand that but the security risks are also extreme. >> let me also put into context the voter participation that we're talking about here. this is a poll from june from the "des moines register" and asked people how likely they would participate in caucus night. 17% participate virt -- 72% participate in person, 28% virtually. >> that was the main reason democrats said they should include virtual caucusing. in nevada in particular i was just texting with some latino activists there, ones that are concerned that that's where this will impact that community the

most, that because nevada may no longer have -- will no longer have the virtual caucus, that latino voters will not be able to engage the way that they were hoping they would be able to mobilize that area, that voting bloc ahead of the caucus. >> it sounds like this virtual caucus isn't going to happen. let me show you real quick again so we can explain why this matters. with the iowa starting line and political website out in iowa listed. so first if there's no virtual caucus, which it looks like there won't be, it limits accessibility and precincts remain crowded. biden's chances improve. campaigns have build strategies around the virtual option. caucus is in jeopardy after 2020 perhaps. results will be more understandable. >> i think for me the interesting element is kind of the attempt to balance two very important issues for democrats. election security, which is a huge issue, but also ballot access. i think the reason the dnc put

the rules in place or attempted to push people towards a primary process, which you saw nine states that had caucuses have flipped towards primaries is because of ballot access appendicitis addresses security concerns. you're also dealing with legacy issues. you hit a crucial point that cannot be overstated and that is new hampshire and it's first in the nation primary role. look, iowa is going to get a waiver and do their caucuses. nevada, i think they still feel like they have done enough, although the concerns raised by laura are very real. i think the big question is what's going to happen in the next election cycle. i'm not sure how sustainable a caucus is and i feel like i'm going to get destroyed by my iowa friends for saying that. but the underserved, oftentimes underappreciated elements of the electorate are very, very well and have to be addressed. >> nevada has done things to improve. they have their caucus at casinos. workers are given dispensation

to go. >> they are actually doing things already. our dan merica is reporting that nevada planned a four-day in person voting period for those unable to caucus. everybody stand by as we digest this big primary caucus news. next, the gate keeper to the oval office hands over her keys. the abrupt resignation of president trump's personal assistant. stay with us. yesss, i'm doing it all. the water. the exercise. the fiber. month after month, and i still have belly pain and recurring constipation. so i asked my doctor what else i could do, and i said yesss to linzess. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. linzess is not a laxative, it works differently. it helps relieve belly pain and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. do not give linzess to children less than 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to less than 18, it may harm them. do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop

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dat personal assistance who once called the key has left the white house. madeleine westerhout had been with the president since day one, sitting just across from the oval office. after the president learned she had shared personal information with reporters at a recent off-the-record meeting, she had to go. "the new york times" was the first to report the news overnight that she was considered, quote, separated employee thursday and wasn't allowed to return to the white house today. we're back with our panel. there's so many ways to go here. just talk in general for people who are -- because we were talking about this in the break, for people who are not familiar with the rules of the road, historically how they should be, what it means to have an off-the-record. >> in theory a lot of officials at the white house and beyond, it's normal practice to have an off-the-record conversation with a reporter which just means they're informing them, sometimes just to help guide their reporting but you basically take it to the grave. it is not to be published in any

way. madeleine was not that accessible so to hear there was an off-the-record briefing with her is significant because she could really help guide reporters. you also want to build trust with people. it was unfortunate to hear there were some issues, but at the same time we don't know what the whole entire story is. was there something going on internally in the white house? was it a reporter situation? no one really knows. for that reason, it's an interesting story but also unfortunate to see someone so close to the president not there to help reporters in the future. >> and let's just talk about who she is also. you said it is incredibly unusual for somebody who's that close to the president to have any interaction with the press. first of all, she is 28. she's an assistant or was at the rnc. but listen to the president talking to bob woodward about her as a gate keeper for him. >> i got a message, who did you ask about speaking to me?

>> well, about six people. >> well, if you would call madeleine in my office, did you speak to madeleine? >> no. >> madeleine is the key. >> i talked to rog with it, i talked to kellyanne. >> i don't mind talking to you. i would have spoken to you. >> so politico reported today that westerhout had been trying to expand that role, expand her position a bit, kind of branch out and see what else she could take on in this position that she had, sitting right outside the oval office. that seems to have irked some other white house advisers, they didn't like that she was trying to expand her role. as we hinted earlier, it could have been some internal politics at play. >> which is not the first time for this white house either and we've seen it in the past as well. >> this white house, it's much more out there but it's not the first time that there is more to the story in any white house and

in any political situation. okay, everybody, thank you so much for joining us. thank you so much for joining us on "inside politics." brianna keilar is up right now. i'm brianna keilar live from cnn's washington headquarters. under way right now, we are starting with our breaking news. hurricane dorian bearing down on the southeastern united states. the category 2 storm is slowing down and building strength. this is expected to become a category 4 storm with winds of at least 130 miles per hour by the time this slams into the florida coast. president trump has now declared a federal state of emergency in florida, and we are positioned throughout the state to bring you the latest as residents are bracing for the worst. let's start in the cnn severe weather center where allison chinchar is tracking the storm. allison, y'r