shown up down in texas, across the kihn, saying everything will be okay. >> president trump heads to houston on saturday. that's with the first lady. also heading over to louisiana. also expecting info on the dreamers act. "america's news headquarters" starts right now. >> you're listening live now. we'll go back to the white house, listening to vice president mike pence commenting on rescue efforts still going on in texas. let's listen. >> we want to make sure disaster relief is available for individuals and businesses. literally the work of meeting people's human needs each and every day will take all of us, and these volunteer organizations need resources and people. i would just add, mr. president, that anyone looking on can go to nvod.org. it's our website, where all these organizations are listed.

people can find out how they can be supportive of national volunteer organizations that in the weeks and months ahead will come alongside families as they rebuild their lives. >> thank you, mike. thank you very much. this is some of the locations that over a very short period of time they've managed, they and others have managed, to go to some of these locations, as you know, very well. some of the press has been there. i will say they are devastated. two days ago, there was water like nobody's ever seen before. i guess in the history of our country we've never had an amount of water like we've had, and yet you were able to occupy these different locations, and take care of people. you and the others. so we want to thank you. that's a special, special job. thank you. thank you very much. great job, great job. thank you all very much. appreciate it. >> mr. president, do you think daca is illegal?

>> thank you very much. >> thank you everyone. >> you've been listening to an update on harvey from the president, as well as the vice president, just a few moments ago. what we heard just now, every american heart is with the people of louisiana and texas. thousands of lives have been saved. thank you to the first responders, as well as brock long of fema, the president saying we continue to pray for all of those involved. we are working on emergency funding now. let's listen. >> for the state of texas, yes. tomorrow i'm going to louisiana with the first lady, and texas. >> the president just confirmed what he had just announced, which we were anticipating another visit by the president to the region to assess the damage, to meet with victims. he's confirming he and the first

lady will make a trip to texas and louisiana over the weekend, and just announced that sunday will be declared a day of prayer for all the victims involved with harvey. the president providing that update on harvey just a few moments ago, and again saying he's working on funding now. all right. fox news alert for you. a mandatory evacuation has just been ordered for a town south of houston. one week after harvey first made landfall, made in lake jackson, texas, ordered to get out of their homes now. more on this as we get it. the waters around southeast texas are still rising in some areas, with search and rescue efforts in high gear in many areas. hello, everyone. i'm sandra smith. the river cresting just a short time ago, well above record levels. flooding hundreds of square miles southwest of houston. this as some officials begin turning their attention from rescue to recovery.

helicopters previously used to airlift people from the flood now being deployed to bring in vital food and supplies. we have fox team coverage on all of this. matt is standing by in wartton, texas, but we start first with peter ducey. peter, the footage was unbelievable that you brought us earlier of refineries affected by all this, but absence of people stuck with all of us the most. >> we just got back from the blackhawk flight over the beaumont and port arthur areas. in port arthur especially there's very, very high water and little activity. the place has been completely deserted. entire neighborhoods still blocked. cars are either submerged on the street or abandoned on the side of the road. the way that the major thoroughfares appear to be blocked it would be hard to launch a boat to get home, so

people can't get home. at the refinery at port arthur is still underwater as well. the refinery is shut down, which means they can't refine oil, affecting prices, making them go up, something people outside texas are noticing. we noticed from the air people returning to their homes in places where the water has receded, removing wet, moldy, belongings out of their homes to the curbs to be dispossessed. clothes, mattresses, anything that is not waterproof, and people taking inventory of what can be saved, what can't, that's the next step for harvey recovery. something else we're noticing another move forward in the process of recovering from the storm, the law enforcement missions have changed. this helicopter is one of the air and marine operations units that was initially used to pull people out of the water to take them to dry land. then it was used to drop off

food downtown in houston near the convention center when the roads were blocked. now they're going to start to use it as a show of force in really wet areas that police vehicles can't get to on the ground to deter looters. obviously looting has not been a widespread enormous problem yet, but they're going to take units like this 1 out just to show people this the neighborhoods where there is still really high water, where it's inaccessible, that if they try anything, officers will be heavily armed on ground with handcuffs in about a minute. sandra? >> peter ducey, thank you. dramatic images coming in of water rescues happening across texas. swollen rivers overflowing as runoff from the rain-soaked region makes its way to the gulf. matt finn is in wharton, texas, where crews around the country are searching for anyone else out there who possibly still needs help. matt? >> we're an hour and a half

south of texas. it's referred to as the bathtub of texas, because all of the water in houston, all the spillover from the reservoirs is making its way down here. as you can see, this entire town is severely flooded. the waters rose very rapidly overnight. now we are with fema in a high-profile military truck, and they're basically doing a survey, driving around the small town, marking houses where people or pets need to be recovered. a short while ago we saw two pets stranded on a porch, you know, without food and water. there was another pet, jumping into the water, trying to make it to dry land. so these rescuers from around the country right now are marking the spots that need -- that have pets or people that need to be rescued. they're going to come back with whatever it takes. chopper, boat, anything else to get to them. if there's a person that immediately needs to be rescued, these guys will jump out. i want to quickly introduce you to chris from l.a. fire. correct? >> correct.

>> chris, what happens with the pets we just saw? if you see a person on a roof or something, what happens from here? >> well, obviously people, if anyone needs help out of here, we'll get them immediately. as far as the pets, we're talking them with our gps right here, and send in additional resources with a boat or another high-profile military vehicle to take care of them, come and get them out later on. >> chris thank you very much for your service. sandra, it's been nearly a week since harvey made landfall. the rescues and recoveries are still happening. the devastation is not over yet. sandra, back to you. >> as we heard from governor abbott just a short time ago they are still in lifesaving mode down there. thank you so much to the first responders that are with you right now. matt, thank you. at least relief is beginning to roll in for beaumont, texas, as the city struggles to fix its water system. emergency responders will distribute clean bottled water

to anyone that needs it. the lack of clean water forced a hospital to close and evacuate all of its nearly 200 patients yesterday as we brought to you in this hour. texas congressman brian babbitt represents part of the beaumont area and was trapped in his home during the flooding. congressman, first of all, how and your family doing? >> we're doing fine, sandra. we were trapped for a few hours. we were never in any danger. the waters receded. i explained that to the interviewer on cnn. sure enough, about five hours later they receded enough, i got out, able to visit surrounding shelters, help the folks out here. we were never in any danger, sandra, but we were definitely in our house, though. we couldn't leave until the waters went down. >> you're better off than some,

if not most in your community, considering the water supplies, the main and the secondary water supplies have failed. it was during this hour yesterday that we saw the medical personnel and military personnel lifting people one by one out of that hospital, patients in need of care, because there was no clean water. what is the situation there now with that, congressman? >> well, the situation is we're trying to get water into them. it's a logistical problem. we'll get this thing worked out. we're in contact with the governor's people, and emergency management people for the state, who then coordinated with our counties. so that's what's happening now. like, for instance, beaumont is not in my district.

it borders on my district. it borders my hometown. we were whacked by this storm. unbelievable amounts of rain fell. and now we're still in the process of rescuing folks in certain pockets of several counties. and then as soon as this happens we're going to get the -- we're going to get a real nice fema package, a supplemental bill that's going to kind of infuse some money into fema, which doesn't have the funds to do so, the things they need to do, until we get this package to them. and then we're going to be working overtime to get the help needed to hau for all these peon southeast texas. >> sandra: the president just confirming sunday will be a national day of prayer for all

the victims involved in this. congressman and the first lady and the president headed that way to both texas and louisiana on saturday. >> absolutely. >> sandra: congressman babin, thank you. last word to you. >> you bet. i just wanted to say, not only is the federal government going to help, but we're seeing contributions from all over the country. i urge americans to give to their favorite charities, red cross, salvation army, samaritan's purse, local church or synagogue, your employers that match employees' relief contributions. these are coming in, and question appreciate americans helping texans. can't thank them enough. >> sandra: congressman babin, thanks. happy to hear your family is safe. a democratic senator is facing federal corruption charges. while a judge won't stop the

trial. plus, we're awaiting a white house press briefing scheduled to start within the hour when president trump says he could make a decision on the daca program. (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noise) the joy of real cream in 15 calories per serving. enough said. reddi-wip. (flourish spray noise) share the joy. but he hasoke up wwork to do.in. so he took aleve. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve. all day strong. as chief everything officer, lynne smith, gets ready to launch the school year. binders, done. super-cool notebooks, done. laptop setup, done. that's mom taking care of business. but who takes care of mom? office depot / office max. during our "taking care of back to school" sale,

order online and pick up in-store in just one hour. and she's off... to another important business meeting. office depot / office max. ♪ taking care of business fitting into my skinny jeans ♪again? that's cool. feeling good in slim fit? that's cool. looking fabulous in my little black dress? that's cool. getting the body you want without surgery, needles, or downtime? that's coolsculpting. coolsculpting is the only fda-cleared non-invasive treatment that targets and freezes away stubborn fat cells. visit coolsculpting.com today and register for a chance to win a free treatment.

>> sandra: a fox news alert. we're minutes away from today's white house press briefing as president trump gets ready for another visit to flood-ravaged texas this weekend. the president getting an update just a few minutes ago on harvey recovery efforts, coming as the white house is expected to make a decisions about the so-called dreamers program within the next few days. chief white house correspondent john roberts is live on the north lawn. john? >> sandra, good afternoon to you. the president and first lady will head to texas tomorrow, the second time in a week that the president has gone down there.

likely though the itinerary has not been firmed up, that he'll visit houston, then lake charles, louisiana. the president didn't have an opportunity to meet with hurricane harvey victims firsthand when he flew down there on tuesday. the reason is that there weren't a lot in the area where he was. and then he couldn't go to houston because it would have been too disruptive. the president hoping to meet with folks in person, listen to their stories. a short time ago in the oval office, the president signing a national declaration day of story on sunday in part for hurricane victims. listen here. >> individuals of every background are striving for the same goal -- to aid and comfort people facing devastating losses. as americans we know that no challenge is too great for us to overcome. no challenge. >> the white house in conversations with congress about an initial transfer of relief money for victims of hurricane harvey, we understand

there's a deal in place on an official $5.5 billion going to replenish the disaster relief fund, and more tha will go to te small business administration fund. the money already flowing. then tens of billions of dollars more to come over the long-haul. >> sandra: acting quickly, john. when the president make the decision on daca? >> it's been a moving target. i was told a couple hours ago there would be no decision on daca, and then the president in the oval office, maybe this afternoon, maybe over the weekend, and nailed it down firmly a short time ago in another oval office appearance. listen here. >> we'll be releasing on daca sometime over the weekend, probably sunday, saturday. the latest will be monday. >> there you go, probably saturday, sunday, or maybe some

time on monday. the president has to do something on tuesday, when a coalition of states, numbering 10, are planning on filing suit against him to have him stop daca. texas is leading the charge, and the attorney general of that state, ken paxton, said yesterday he's going ahead with the deadline hard and fast on tuesday. another attorney general said their state would be amenable to sliding the deadline a little bit if they could come to an agreement on a process forward that would pass constitutional muster. that would mean, sandra, for all of this to go up to congress, and there is increasing momentum now, particularly among some conservative members of congress, like tom tillis of north carolina, to have congress address the fate of the dreamers. another senator weighing in, saying congress has to get on this and do something about it. >> sandra: so that decision on daca program could come as soon as tomorrow, i think, is what

everybody is saying, and won't be later than monday. >> delve before tuesday. >> sandra: john roberts, thank you. we are waiting to hear from texas governor abbott. he may be stepping up to speak at any moment now. when he does, we will bring that to you live on recovery efforts. we should expect to hear updates on recovery and rescue efforts. plus, president trump saying a decision about the daca program could come as early as tomorrow, as you just heard. and why house speaker paul ryan is pushing for a legislative solution to the issue. rink ensu. with 9 grams of protein, and 26 vitamins and minerals... for the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. ensure, always be you. at planters, we put fresh roawhich has its drawbacks.an, guys, know anything about this missing inventory?

wasn't me! the cheeks don't lie, chet... irresistibly planters. your insurance on time. tap one little bumper, and up go your rates. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? news flash: nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance. it's time for the biggest sale of the year with the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your every move and automatically adjusts on both sides to keep you effortlessly comfortable. and snoring.... does your bed do that? the new 360 smart bed is part of our biggest sale of the year where all beds are on sale.

and right now save 50% on the labor day limited edition bed, plus 36 month financing. ends monday!

track your pack. set a curfew, or two. make dinner-time device free. [ music stops ] [ music plays again ] a smarter way to wifi is awesome. introducing xfinity xfi. amazing speed, coverage and control. change the way you wifi. xfinity. the future of awesome. >> well, i mean, just right off the bat, right now my heart is, like, sunk. i don't feel any emotions. i've been dealing with this for

weeks now. the uncertainty is just -- it's killing me at this point. >> i feel that america is my life. america is my home. america has given me many opportunities and it's all i know. i came here when i was a 1-year-old, and my future is here. >> so-called dreamers, you're hearing from, reacting to president trump's decision on the daca program. the obama era executive order protects some illegal immigrants from deportation if they were brought to the u.s. as children. president trump promising during the campaign to scrap the program. house speaker paul ryan made the case for a compromise today, saying this, president obama does not have the authority to do what he did. having said all of that, there are people who are in limbo. these are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don't know another home. so i really do believe there needs to be a legislative solution. joining me now is brie payton,

marjorie clinton, former consultant to the obama clinton, and the principal for clinton consulting. marjorie, i want your thoughts first on paul ryan's suggestion there. >> gosh, it's a glorious one. it's actually refreshing in these times to hear rising above policy and moving to humanity. you know, republicans and democrats alike agree that it is inhumane to treat children -- especially in this situation, talking about 800,000 children, who have grown up as americans. so i think, again, we have to set aside opinions about how obama handled it and find a bipartisan way to look at policies that will frankly make this a pathway for these kids long term. >> sandra: brie, what did you make of that suggestion of a compromise from paul ryan? >> i think the fact is that you can't fix something that president obama made out of thin air. i'm so glad that we're talking

about all of these children that are victims in this situation, because often what gets neglected or ignored are children brought under the as you of daca and are missing or exploited. many of the children the government was supposed to keep track of, placed in foster homes, or relatives, went missing or found working in migrant farm camps. these children are being brought here, being lost, sold into sex slavery or harsh migrant labor conditions. >> sandra: so we're left with the question, what does the president do? marjorie, we've heard from president trump on multiple occasions, saying this is a difficult decision for him. as you just heard from john roberts, the president himself, the decision could come tomorrow, sunday, monday. as far as the vice president, him giving guidance as to where president is going, this is what

the vice president said just a little while ago. take a listen. >> president trump has said all along he's giving careful consideration to the issue, and when he makes it he'll make it with a big heart. i know that he will, john. >> sandra: brie, that was the vice president on the ground yesterday in texas answering questions about this. which way does president trump end up going? >> yeah. i mean, i think he owes it to all of the people who voted for him, who he promised repeatedly, he would get rid of this bad law that resulted in tens of thousands of children who have gone missing and are being exploited. at the end of the day is emblematic of solutions that democrats like to come up when it comes to immigration. they like to keep them beholding to them, continuing to vote them, instead of granting them citizenship and a solution. >> sandra: marjorie? >> the reason immigration

policies matter so people are protected. again, these are kids that have no place to go after here. the reason in houston the mayor had to come out and say, regardless of your immigration status, we want to know where you are, illustrates perfectly why immigration policy is so fundamental, because people are saying that they would rather drown than get picked up by the police and sent back to their home country. the timing of this is terrible. if the president is smart, he needs to defer any conversation about this, upheld the current policy, allow us to get through this current disaster, in texas, which holds 120,000 kids impacted by daca. now is not the time. >> sandra: we've heard from some of the daca program recipients as we led in. the uncertainty is killing many of them. the decision we expect in the next several days. thanks for coming on to discuss that. >> thank you. >> sandra: president trump heading back to texas tomorrow to get a firsthand look at flooding around the houston area. while, the city is issuing new evacuation orders in some areas.

details straight ahead. plus, u.s. military on the move. thousands of troops spreading out across the flood zone bringing much-needed help. >> every crew member comes to me and expresses their concern over the people in the affected area. they just want to go do what they can do to go help. ohn's di. ...i was always searching for ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i had it covered. then i realized managing was all i was doing. when i finally told my doctor, he said humira was for people like me who have tried other medications,... but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief... ...and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections... ...including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers,... including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions,... ...and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb.

tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb,... ...hepatitis b, are prone to infections, ...or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. if you're still just managing your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. ♪ [brother] any last words?

[boy] karma, danny... ...karma! [vo] progress is seizing the moment. your summer moment awaits you, now that the summer of audi sales event is here. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the summer of audi sales event.

>> sandra: as floodwaters move toward the gulf some people south of houston are just now being evacuated from their homes

a week half harvey first made landfall. for others the cleanup is now just beginning. folks are returning to their homes for the first time as floodwaters begin to recede. estimates of the costs of the damage are topping $190 billion, a full 1% of the nation's entire gdp. the threat is still not over. houston's mayor issuing voluntary evacuation orders to parts of the city a short time ago. doug luzader is live where things continue to change. doug? >> that's right, they are changing. not for the better for the residents of some of these communities. this is the western part of houston. these homeowners, no doubt, hoped that this water would begin to recede, but they've received disturbing news from the mayor, who says the army corps of engineers need to do

another controlled recess from the reservoir to prevent another catastrophe, which means the rainwater will remain here for two weeks plus perhaps. he's urging people to get out, if they haven't already, and the mayor was pretty forceful about it today. >> if you are living in houses with water, in areas to the west, living in houses with water, you have water currently in your home, i'm going to encourage you in the strongest of terms to leave your homes. >> the strongest of terms. he says if people don't comply this may become a mandatory evacuation. we want to show you some footage of some of the evacuations we've seen back in these neighborhoods. one of the challenges for the rescue crews in many instances, convincing people to leave their homes, so many want to stay there. oftentimes it seems like a negotiation almost to get people

to leave. now they could possibly face a mandatory evacuation if they do not comply. we'll come back out live here along this street in west houston. you can see a bus down there. obviously the water is relatively deep. even though in other parts of houston that water level has been going down for the most part, here it sounds like it's at the very least going to hold steady for the next couple of weeks, which means that people whose homes are flooded, it looks like that water is going to sit there, collectively, for at least three weeks, after the storm came through here. sandra? >> sandra: doug, thank you for bringing that report to us. the u.s. military is providing a lot of assistance, as we've seen all week, as texas and louisiana recover from harvey. the mission evolving day by day. here you see members of the 347th rescue group from moody air force base in georgia performing search and rescue in the houston area. every single branch of the

military taking part in this effort. >> we bring some special capabilities. a lot of disaster relief support type things. dewatering capability, the ability to help with power generation, road clearance. >> sandra: retired u.s. navy captain bob wells served as national security advisory to vice president dick an dick chad joins us. the military playing a key role in all of this. >> a key role certainly. the deployment of the two navy ships, as well as one from the virginia area, will increase the capacity to the armed forces units premise there in texas and the greater houston region. it's very important to get the right capability set there so you can support a lot of different missions, rescue

missions, as the admirable stated right there. a little bit of dewatering. there's the information, architecture, that comes with it, so you can really plan in order to help the people of houston. >> sandra: as we just said, the army, navy, marines, air force, coast guard, deployed down there, some carrying out search and rescue for days now. does the military have everything they need to sustain these efforts, knowing that recovery efforts are still underway? >> i would say the planners are looking at what capabilities they have in their toolbox. i think the long-term requirement for disaster assistance and humanitarian relief for everyone in texas will be part of the overall plan. resources are always important. we always have ready forces that are able to go to these types of emergency situations. key important point, though, is the fact that when you have this

type of large circumstance, you need to have organization, have good command and control. one the lessons learned we had in the bush white house obviously was hurricane katrina, and the types of ships, the type of response, the organizational structure that was put in place back in 2002 with the homeland security department, the u.s. northern command. a lot of those lessons are being applied right now with regard to generating the forces needed for this relief effort. >> sandra: captain wells, we are awaiting governor, greg abbott, expected to speak at any moment now, provide an update on the search, rescue, recovery efforts going on there. you wonder what the collaboration is like. there's planning at military level, but there has to be a collaboration with the local, state, and federal officials pulling this entire thing together. it is enormous -- it is unbelievable to think how

enormous this is. >> that's right. i think governor abbott did quite a good thing. he had the dual command authorities, which gave him the civil/military control, working with the department of defense of the national guard forces, not just texas national guard, also new york, south carolina, utah, among others. those were some of the lessons we had. people talking about the use of military forces in civilian missions, but these are all part of the authorities that are required for joint command and control. >> sandra: i mean, a storm like this, and the disaster that we have seen from this, captain wells, is unprecedented. we have never seen something like this in the history of this country, as far as the flooding levels and impact harvey has had on those down in texas, and the louisiana area. the president will be traveling with the first lady back to that

region. how does the military prepare for something we've never seen before? >> well, it's part of the mission set for quite a different group of forces. u.s. army, u.s. air force, the coast guard as well, national guard units, u.s. navy, marine corps in particular, u.s. coast guard. we have a humanitarian disaster tasks they have to qualify for. the particular units coming down from norfolk have that type of qualification standard. also helicopters are always important in these particular disasters. they got additional helicopters. they have ospreys, etc. they do prepare. >> sandra: as i mentioned at this hour yesterday we saw them -- the military come in with a helicopter, taking those 200 patients out of that beaumont hospital that had to be

evacuated. thank you. >> thank you, sandra. >> sandra: michael dell, the founder of dell technologies, was born in houston and grew up in a neighborhood flooded by the storm. his foundation will give $18 million to a local relief fund and match another $18 million as more donations come in. we are awaiting the press briefing at the white house to begin in just a few moments, coming minutes after president trump spoke about hurricane harvey recovery efforts. we will bring you that live when it begins. plus, our legal panel is here.

on the white house. a briefing at the top of the hour. as president trump prepares to travel to texas for the second time this week. all of that coming up in when i fill in on "shepard smith reporting." >> sandra: all right. a federal judge forcing new jersey senator robert menendez to choose between the courtroom and congress, saying he won't halt his corruption trial on days when key senate votes are happening. the judge says if menendez decides to go back to congress, the trial will go on without him. since the constitution doesn't require lawmakers to attend every vote, and if menendez chooses to miss days of the trial the jury will not be told why he's not in the courtroom. a local reporter in tennessee getting praise for what he did to help save a woman after losing audio in his mike,

rushing over to help get her out, this as massive rainfall from the remnants of harvey rocked tennessee. flooding there forcing people from their homes. 9 inches of rain reported already. thankfully no reports of injuries or deaths. all right. well, as we await the white house press briefing to begin any moment now, another issue creeping back into the spotlight, president trump's firing of former fbi director james comey, as "the new york times" reports that special counsel robert mueller has required a special letter that was drafted to justify the firing. president trump weighing in this morning, tweeting this, wow, looks like james comey exonerated hillary clinton long before the investigation was over, and so much more. a rigged system, says the president. we bring in our legal panel.

bob, i'm going to let you guys run with this. first of all, what do you make of the president's tweet? >> i don't think the tweet has anything to do with the legal case whatsoever. there's so much noise out there with extraneous issues that prosecutors don't care about when trying to build an obstruction case. i think he's only hurting himself by continually trying -- by the way, some of the words, we were talking about this before, like in the lester holt interview, in the meeting with the russians and white house, are the very things that are building the prosecution's case here. >> sandra: you're making the case, caroline, there was no obstruction? >> well, look, there's no dispute that in a vacuum the president has absolute authority to fire the fbi director. it's been done before. we saw bill clinton fire william sessions in 1993. it's not out of the realm of possibility. the issue here is going to be the intent behind the firing. i think mueller and his team have an uphill battle. i think there's an equally

compelling -- >> when you're speaking so positively about russian in a way that nobody gets, when you present a mobile home that obviously was pretextual from rosenstein, when you do the lester holt interview, the meetings with the russians, pressuring senators, when there's confusion over the donald trump meeting, attacking sessions -- >> no, no. >> -- because he attacked him. these will be a general global thing they'll look at, and if he tried to impede an investigatios where the defense be able to make some room -- a corrupt purpose. what those lawyers should be saying to trump when they're speaking to the attorney general and the fbi is that, look, when he gave those interviews, when he said those things, they were political hyp hyperbole, directd

toward his basis. >> i agree, bob, but this memo lace out in perfect order a compelling case for why comey should be fired, which is that the public lost its trust in the federal bureau of investigation, and therefore he should be fired. it had nothing to do with the russia investigation and everything to do with the hillary clinton email scandal. >> unfortunately he said otherwise. >> he distinguish say otherwise, but, look, in order for mueller to pursue this claim, he has to lump -- as you said, he has to show these letters were pretextual. >> in order to do that, he has to build the evidence together. without an underlying crime, assuming there's an underlying crime, with obstruction, you don't need an underlying crime, he wants to flip a witness, manafort or flynn, or get smoking gun evidence to show that the reason he made those statements was because in fact he was concerned about his well-being over that --

>> sandra: let's bring this full circle, carolyn, back to the president's tweet. looks like james comey exonerated hillary clinton. >> right. it seems like the lines of communication are open between the mueller team and trump legal team. we know there have been memos that the trump team have given over to that investigation. >> to a prosecutor those memos mean nothing. "let's attack comey," what it said was we don't have to worry about the defense in this case. those memos didn't do anything to make bob mueller fear what the -- >> i agree mueller is not necessarily taking everything they have to say soup to nuts, however we're all adults here. mueller will read the memos and see what the trump team has. >> sandra: a very civilized debate. thanks for being here. we're moments away from a white house press briefing as president trump gets ready to make another visit to texas with

the first lady this weekend. we'll that live as soon as it begins. plus, another big storm is form nothing the atlantic. our chief meteorologist is here with an update next. o their firr it's gonna be scary. but i also know that we're gonna have usaa insurance for both my boys. it's something that they're not even gonna have to think of. it's just gonna be in the family. we're the tenneys and we're usaa members for life. can make anyone slow downt and pull up a seat to the table. that's why she takes the time to season her turkey to perfection, and make stuffing from scratch. so that you can spend time on what really matters. marie callender's. it's time to savor.

>> sandra: texas governor greg abbott speaking about hurricane harvey recovery efforts. let's listen in. >> -- here in the lonestar state. the most profound thing we observed were volunteers who were stacked up, one by one, and the hundreds who were helping out, helping their fellow texans with urgent needs such as supplies, with assistance in repairing their homes.

i talked to some of these volunteers in victoria, and asked them how they were doing, asked them how their home was. many of them said that their home was out of power, but yet they were there at the volunteer center helping other people around the victoria area. one of the most profound things that we've observed in the aftermath of this horrific devastating storm has been both the resiliency and the way that texans have been united, supporting each other. we should laud and applaud the incredible efforts of our first responders, but when you look at the average everyday texan, neighbor helping neighbor, it's been nothing short of remarkable.

well, despite the fact that some areas are beginning the recovery process, areas such as corpus christi, there still remain areas that are deadly dangerous, such as in the beaumont area. an update from there, in the beaumont area, the river continues to rise. it is about 7 feet above the record. it will continue to remain at or near that high for about the next week. this flooding poses an ongoing threat to beaumont and the surrounding area. we are as a state as well as with partners working with us,

still driving in and flying in food and water. there are now seven points of distribution locations where people can obtain food and water. those locations will and are determined by the county judge. one of those master locations is ford park. last night 600 pallets of water and 400 pallets of meals were delivered. last night about 1,000 people were evacuated from the beaumont area, many of them going to dallas, some going to san antonio, and we anticipate evacuations from the beaumont area will continue to rise. a lot of people in beaumont are

very concerned about the water system, and beaumont is working aggressively at a face pace to try to get the water system fixed. one thing that it requires are some pumps to get the water system back up, which may be the most expeditious route. there are weather concerns also in the richmond area, in the lower brazes, cresting at an all-time high in richmond, texas. there may be some people who live near the richmond, texas, area, who have not been impacted by flooding waters.

you need to understand that you could be impacted by flooding waters in the coming days. you need to remain vigilant about being aware of any type of warning by local officials about the necessity to evacuate. just observe what's happened to your friends and neighbors in harris county, knowing this water can rise seemingly from nowhere, causing people to be stuck, if not overtaken. please heed all warnings and that you maintain safety. and working with the red cross combining information -- i thought i recognized that voice. in working with the red cross, we now have across the state of

texas 258 shelters that are now open. 107 of those shelters are shelters that are partnered with or in collaboration with the state in some form or fashion and 151 are considered to be independent shelters, which would be the type of shelter that let's say a church would provide. last night the overnight population in shelters with 42,399. of those amount, 6,000 are in state parks. in addition to that, our great friend and neighbor, louisiana, had about 3,000 texans in shelters. i want to express my deep gratitude to louisiana and to the governor of louisiana for helping with search and rescue missions, helping to save the lives of texans and