ravaged area. we see all that's left to be rebuilt, fixed. >> hang in there florida and texas. "america's news hq" starts now. >> sandra: fox news alert. we are awaiting a white house press briefing. we're expecting to hear important updates on the recovery ef forts. tropical storm irma weakening, but the danger is far from over. its path still threatening floods, damaging winds and severe weather. meanwhile, folks in florida are searching for the road to recovery. >> we got really hit pretty hard. we've got lots of wind. lots of broken trees. a tree that fell on to our neighbor's roof and actually caved the roof in. in the middle of the storm he was running to our house to safety. it was pretty terrible. we don't have any water in our house, but all our neighbors around us do. >> sandra: we have got fox team

coverage from across the hurricane zone. jeff flock standing by in ft. myers, florida. we'll start in jackson have where evacuation orders are lifted and rebuilding is beginning. peter? >> reporter: sandra, here in jacksonville, where there was city wide flooding, most of the problem came from the st. john's river, which you can see has gone down considerably here in the san marco neighborhood, just south of downtown, which also flooded. you can see here, it may be difficult to see in the distance, but the water line is to here. and because the water has started to recede and disappear in some neighborhoods the mandatory evacuation order is lifted. shelter population is down to about 1400 in jacksonville which is a lot less than it has been. but the problem is, and the reason some people will be in shelters for up to a week, if not longer, is because that's how long officials are saying it will take for this to go away. there is water just a few feet in to where it starts. it starts getting very deep.

ankle deep here. gets to be knee deep. looks to be about waist deep further down. we have seen some folks showing up. they want to get to their houses, see how the damage is. they have not been able to get in to this neighborhood which is one of 15 where people were putting white sheets or flags on their doors so they could be rescued. this is one of the places that got very specific attention as the water levels rose. the mayor told me he doesn't think that everybody realizes that they lived in an evacuation zone. this is one of them. and he doesn't think everybody realized that irma was going to hit so hard here because all the forecast model, all the talk, was about the storm going up west. as you can see, this should be a street that cars are driving through. it should be pretty busy with this many houses. there is nothing. very few people have come back. we haven't seen any personal vehicles try to get down here, only officials.

even the fire department when they came down stopped and then they walked. so there's still a lot of water here even though it is sunny, even though it is hot, even though the wind is gone, irma is not here, the water is going to be here for awhile, maybe aolt week or so before people can get back as a result of what the mayor called a category 3 storm surge, which means jacksonville got irma's water, not necessarily as much damage from the wind. sandra? >> sandra: irony of a beautiful sunny florida day there with all that destruction. peter ducey, thank you for your continued reporting on the ground there. all right. our fox team coverage from across the hurricane zone continues. jeff flock joins us now live from ft. myers, florida. jeff? >> reporter: yeah. just north of ft. myers. i have got a sad scene for you here. if you're in line for gas, here's your headline. if you're coming back to ft. myers or naples and you're coming by car, get your gas

before you get to north ft. myers. this is the line at the loves station. runs back out on the exit. and then all the way in the other direction as well. i talked to a guy who said he had been waiting for two hours in line. this is the scene. i mean, it just snakes around and around. i want to get my -- get a word with a couple of these guys that have been waiting. you've been waiting two hours? >> yes, sir. two hours. >> reporter: why wait this long? are you tolly out? >> yeah. we're preparing for the next two days. >> reporter: going back to where? >> ft. myers. >> reporter: gotcha. wow. good luck to you. appreciate it, guys. appreciate it, guyses. as you can see, always a good time in the gas line, sandra. at least they've got gas here. heck of a line.

what can i tell you. >> sandra: jeff, you're so amazing covering these stories on the ground. we've been watching your coverage for days. you get in there and you talk to these folks like we just witnessed. what else are you hearing from these people? how is their morale? are they at least staying somewhat positive through all this? >> reporter: well, so far. but you know, it starts to get a little short. here we saw, you got this huge line. you can go anywhere without the gas. without the power. the other thing that makes tempers short, you're hot. if you don't have power at your house, you're not gonna stay cool. and this is florida. this is florida in september. it's very hot out here. yesterday in the hurricane, same kind of thing. you're cooled by the hurricane, but if you're standing out after it in the hot sun as we're seeing right now, it gets unpleasant right quick. if you've got to wait in a line,

at least you got your ac on. after that, you go back to your house. no power, no ac. not a happy time. >> reporter: jeff, i heard you interviewed your own mother in the state of florida this morning. how's she doing? >> reporter: she's in inglewood, florida. the track of the storm was right over her house. she's 91. she gets around very well. she was a little surprised because i did surprise her this morning on the stuart varney show. fortunately she was dressed in proper clothing. she is okay. she spent the hurricane in the bathtub. you know? but she's a tough one. she really is. she would go nowhere else. lot of people like that. lot of the elderly that live down here. >> sandra: i heard she has plenty of pictures of her very lovely son. >> reporter: bob here behind the

camera, sadly when went into the house he goes to the wall. all parents, you'll have it for your kids when they get older. you'll have their wall of fame. you'll be embarrassed by it. exactly. you'll be embarrassed by it. but you'll do that, too. >> sandra: my parents, they flip out the picture when i come visit to make it look like i have prominently featured all this time. jeff, thank you very much for your coverage. back to jacksonville, florida, where the city is moving from rescue to recovery mode after a storm surge. high tides caused catastrophic flooding. city lifting mandatory evacuation orders. larry climber is district chief of special operations with the franklin tennessee fire department. his team was sent to help with irma recovery efforts. as i understand it, mr. climber, people were ecstatic to see the good folks from your fire department come down and help

out in florida. >> yes. they were quite surprised to see us, but they didn't care. we had boats and men offering rides. they didn't matter whose boat it was in, we seen civilians when we got there, also. they were climbing on any boat they could get, just to get across the floodwaters. >> sandra: as i understand it, your department is the overnight shift. they're resting. they go back out at night? >> yes. we'll be back on shift at 8 p.m. tonight until 8 a.m. we're working 12 hour operational periods. daytime they're doing wellness checks. they're going out covering streets. night time we're on call for 911 calls. we'll get the police officer, whatever, across water, as needed, according to jacksonville fire. we're just here to assist them. >> sandra: what has the rescue situation been like? what sort of situations have you seen? >> originally we were deployed to tallahassee.

we were asked to move to jacksonville with the florida task force five. and the original plan and action plan was to go to tampa and clear water. then when the flooding started happening here, we were deployed with some boats. then we had become a swift water team because we have swift water technicians on our team also. we were asked to join jacksonville fire and their task force team to get some people that were caught in the floodwaters by the st. john river. we were happy to help any way we could. >> sandra: how has that collaboration been? your crew working with the jacksonville fire department? obviously, we're looking at the floodwaters behind you. the lack of power. how have you been able to communicate with them to make these mass evacuations, to make these rescues? >> they built up a mobile central command that we operate out of. they assign firefighters with

us. they have communications. so we're able to stay in constant contact and deploy anywhere they need us. we were just extra assets that they were needing to cover the zones that they had, which are growing rapidly on them. >> sandra: what do the men and women that have come down with you to jacksonville, what do they think of the conditions? have they seen anything like this? >> yes. we experienced flooding in nashville may of 2010. so this is nothing new to us. and we were happy to see folks from other parts of the country come help us. we realized really quick when the water's rising how small your department may be. you may think you can cover everything on a daily basis, but when something like this happen, a natural disaster, you realize how quickly overwhelmed you get. >> sandra: all right. larry clymer of the franklin, tennessee, fire department, thank you for your service and all the help you and your department are bringing to that

state. >> thank you so much. >> sandra: all right. the white house briefing we are awaiting, set to start. we're expected to learn more about government recovery efforts from hurricane irma. we'll bring that to you live. plus, hillary clinton's new book hitting shelves today. it has some democrats concerned. our political panel is here to weigh in just ahead. for the holidays, we get a gift for mom and dad. and every year, we split it equally. except for one of us. i write them a poem instead! and one for each of you too! that one's actually yours. that one. regardless, we're stuck with the bill. to many, words are the most valuable currency. last i checked, stores don't take "words." some do. not everyone can be the poetic voice of a generation. i know, right? such a burden. the bank of america mobile banking app. the fast, secure and simple way to send money.

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was for langoustine ravioli. a langoustine is a tiny kind of lobster. a slight shellfish allergy rules that out, plus my wife ordered the langoustine. i will have chicken tenders and tater tots. if you're a ref, you way over-explain things. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance you switch to geico. sir, we don't have tater tots. it's what you do. i will have nachos! >> senators will be meeting on tax reform over the course of the afternoon and we will be quite busy. >> sandra: well, that was senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. short, but interesting. senators continuing to talk

about tax reform, as we await the white house press briefing. president trump is hoisting a dinner tonight to push that tax reform agenda. joining us is simon rosenthal. matt sclapp. i'll go to you first, matt. going to mitch mcconnell there. there's a lot to get done here. >> there's a lot to get done and they don't have a lot of time to do it. there's precious few legislative days left in the year. grass roots conservatives across this country, they want to see some wins on these big issues. i think to fail to get a tax bill done would be pretty devastating. i think mitch mcconnell understands that, especially after the close, but failure to pass obamacare. >> sandra: lot to get done. not gonna be done, simon. president's going to be hosting this dinner tonight talking to democrats, republicans. we he's going to have to clearly

make his case. >> as matt said, there's a lot that has to get done by the enof the month. i'm a little surprised he's not spending time wrapping up this legislative session before they move on to tax reform. i think the dinner tonight is an encouraging sign. i think the way that they did healthcare was a mistake. they locked democrats out. they tried to jam it down congress' throat. there wasn't committee hearings. if we can go back to the way congress is supposed to work, have regular order and committee hearings and debate, democrats will have their opportunity to weigh in on the tax reform bill. and i think it will be better for the country if this comes out as a bipartisan process instead of the process of medical care. >> sandra: so, matt, are you optimistic that tax reform is not going to go by the way of healthcare reform? >> yeah. i think they learned a lot. there's nothing like having a little bit of experience. donald trump and much of his team came into washington picking on the swamp. i think they're getting a little smarter every day and they got

to figure you got to have a roll out strategy, a travel plan. i think what simon said is right. i don't want to get fired for agreeing with simon, but i think he's right. it's a good healthy sign to use the legislative process. what you see in that, you have, votes everyone gets to see. you get to see the fight. the american people learn in that process. it helps to get it passed. i'm hopeful they have a better plan and that we're gonna get this done. >> sandra: you just wonder what that conversation is going to look like over dinner tonight. i'll ask you to bring out your crystal ball. where does this all go and when does it get done, if it does? >> i think there's going to have to be -- look, there's no bill. there's just sort of an outline and things that have been leaked. there has been virtually nothing from democrats on the stuff that's been leaked so far. i think we're still in the very early stages of this. we got a long way to go. i think there's going to be a lot of push to finish up the

stuff that needs to get done by tend of september. one of the things the democrats are going to remind republicans about is the economy that was handed over to donald trump was a pretty strong one. we got new economic data today from last year. we got to make sure that whatever we do is likely to make things better than set us back to the bush era that drove us off a cliff. >> i'm not so sure everyone believes the obama economy was a strong one. there was growth, but it was pretty tepid. what we're seeing with donald trump. if he keeps doing what he's doing this economy can positively take off. that's what the american people expect. >> sandra: just the optimism alone has given a good boost to us. >> totally. >> sandra: i want to talk ab this book, though, matt. >> definitely. >> sandra: what what happened? >> if i had one wish from like a genie in a magic lamp, i would say one political wish it would be, could we get hillary clinton

to just stay on the stage and keep talk. she blames the chief justice for her loss. she blamed white hillbilly force her loss. she's now blaming bernie sanders for her loss. she can even get through an npr interview without sounding screechy and mean. >> sandra: simon we introduced you as a former clinton campaign adviser. is it helpful to keep having hillary clinton in the picture? >> i don't think it's a question of helping or hurting. hillary has been a major figure in the life of this country for a generation. i think it's important for someone who's played such a big role to explain to her supporters and the public about what she thinks did happen and what was an election that turned out very differently than we thought it was going to. i think this is a healthy thing. the book has been very well reviewed by the people who have read it and feel like she's been very honest and thoughtful. i'm proud of her. i have known hillary clinton since 1991, early 1992. she's had a rough year.

i think she's coming out smiling. she's going to reintroduce herself to the american public. >> she should write a sequel. >> she's also made it very clear. she is never running for office ever again. >> sandra: i thought you were going to say, she's never going away. okay. never running for office. it's always fun to chat with you guys. good to see you, simon, matt. >> thank you. >> sandra: we are just minutes away from the white house briefing and we will take you there live. plus some hurricane irma victims returning home for the first time today to devastation. we are live from the badly hit florida keys from the very latest there. u.s. forces preparing for joint military drills with south korean forces. we are live on the korean peninsula, next. >> in short these are by far the strongest measures ever imposed on north korea. they give us a much better chance to halt the regime's ability to fuel and finance its nuclear and missile programs.

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>> sandra: new time lapse video showing hurricane irma moving across miami beach from saturday into sunday. the scene starts with gray sky, then conditions deteriorate as day break, with heavy rain. the storm last left about 80% of homes in dade county without power. many areas remain impassable because of downed trees as well as power lines. all right. now to action on several different fronts in the north korea crisis with president trump calling the new u.n. sanctions, quote, nothing compared to what will ultimately have to happen. this comes on the heels of the deployment of the uss ronald reagan. and the fly by of b1 bombers and

fig fighter jets. greg palcott is live in south korea. what are the latest reactions on these sanctions? >> reporter: sandra, yeah. there were pretty quick reaction tuesday throughout the region to these sanctions voted on by the u.n. security council. you can expect what the regime of kim jong-un said that were fairly negative. one official calling them evil, saying south korea would inflict the greatest pain on the u.s. promising a whole range of confrontation. the u.s. allies in the region, south korea, japan, they were positive about them. china an russia, little more mealy mouthed saying they want talks. analysts in the region say they're not too sure, they didn't go far enough, they were looking for more incremental instead of more dramatic. >> sandra: greg, we understand

you have been watching military maneuvers. >> reporter: absolutely. that's why we're down here on the coast, southeast south korean coastal town. we were watching both u.s. and south korean marines involved in joint live fire. most of that stuff is real ammunition. live fire exercise involving tanks, mortars, grenade launchers. you name it. all aiming at the objective of the end of this regime. kind of a firing range. for all intents and purposes, the objective was north korean military target. now, this is just one of several drills that the u.s. and the south korean military are involved with each year for the past many years. but now it's a little bit more important. partly it's a show of force. also partly it's a way for these soldiers, these troops to get to

know each other and know how to fight with each other just in case. take a listen to a few of the troops we talked to. >> we're just doing some final training with the marines. >> what are they like to work with? >> they're all good guys. >> it's real training for them. they get a lot out of it. continue to keep our allegience with them. >> sandra: sandra, everybody i spoke to tuesday avoided talking about politic, but it's hard to avoid hearing the threat, seeing the action of the north korean regime just north of the dmz from this country. and the reason really why the folks are out there day after day. back to you. >> sandra: all right. greg palkot in south korea for you, thank you. mandatory evacuation orders are lifted in parts of florida, and many are lining up to make their way back to the storm ravaged homes. we're following those recovery efforts from across the

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>> sandra: we are awaiting the

white house press briefing. it should be under way any moment now. we're going to go to that live when it begins. possibly some questions about the latest in north korea will be of interest as well. we will go to that when it begins. power restoration efforts under way for millions of customers affected by hurricane irma as officials begin allowing people to begin to return to their homes. much of the florida keys are still without power and without and will likely remain that way without both for quite some time. phil keating is live from a village in the florida keys with more. phil? >> reporter: sandra, it's always fun to come home. always a great experience. unless, of course, it's this week in the florida keys and you're coming home to your home and what you're seeing is what hurricane irma unleashed with 100 to 130 mile an hour winds and a storm surge of five to eight feet. storm surge pushed all of this

debris, including the little red car, personal items, sign, coconut, 200 yards from the beach up to the overseas highway. officially this is a scenic highway, but it's not that scenic because your entire route down to key west and islamorada is now littered with debris. early this morning, hours before sun rise, hundreds of cars lined up in florida city, the last stop before you descend into key largo. finally 7:00 a.m. the state patrol unleashed a wave of residents to finally get home after a week of frustrated evacuation. one of the people that came back to their home was dave sporanski. he lived in a trailer for years. he's been overnighted in boca raton for the past couple days. turns out his trailer was in a sea of 80% of a trailer park that's now destroyed. here's his reaction to what he

saw. >> just stunned. how do you recover? how do you start over like that? plus my boat's probably shot. total loss for me. >> reporter: worse than you thought? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> reporter: now that the barricades have been dropped, here's what you're seeing as well as residents. convoys of law enforcement coming in. we've also seen convoys of utility companies. that's promising for residents hoping to return here. we've also seen convoys of fema trucks, emergency response teams are on the scene. so is the humanitarian effort. there's a big convoy. these people coming in today, most of them, majority of them, are coming in for a few hours, driving to their homes and property, seeing how bad it is. in some cases totally totalled. in other cases it's clean up able. but lot of them are going to head back out because there's so

much debris everywhere. power iffy, cell phones iffy. no one can drive over the last 17 miles toward key west because the florida department of transportation still has not officially ruled those remaining bridges safe and sound, sandra. >> sandra: that's got to be frustrating as well, phil. being told you can't even look at what the damage is to your property. phil keating, thank you for the update. hurricane irma ripping through marco island. the powerful storm causing three to four foot surges and leaving behind a scar on nearly every home on nearly every block. a good portion of the island is still without power and water. for more, let's bring in marco island chief of police. chief, thank you. i know you're extremely busy, but can you please give us an update on the situation there in marco island. >> yes. thank you, sandra. we're in post recovery efforts

now. we have opened up our bridges to citizens and visitors and business owners to come onto the island. we're in the process of restoring power and water which are without. certain areas do have power, but we're trying to restore that. we're beginning that recovery process. >> sandra: what are you hearing from people and business owners that they do make that return and assess the damage? >> yeah. it's very emotional for them. quite an amount of damage. lot of homes throughout the island. we're working real hard to restore that. we have our city all opened. our police department is fully staffed with additional personnel throughout the state. >> sandra: chief, what does the recovery look like there? this considering you're still telling us that power is down, water still out. what is this recovery effort look like and the timing of it all? >> well, you know, we're making

every effort to provide our citizens with all the communication necessary. we've been working with different groups. salvation army is offering to come down and provide meals for our citizens. we're just starting to open up some supermarkets and grocery stores on the island. we're trying to begin that recovery process. it's going to happen. we got a great community effort. we pulled together and we're gonna get it back. we're strong. >> sandra: chief schettino, i think we have a picture of a vehicle stored inside a parking garage during the hurricane. your police department tweeted this out saying hash tag sad, hash tag heavy, hash tag marco island, hash tag collier county. i would imagine this is just one of many stories coming out of this. you still have a lot to see. you probably even had a chance

to survey all of the damage. >> we're continuing to do that. there's plenty of vehicles on the island. they were still damaged by blowing debris, falling debris. it's just something we're dealing with and we're moving on. >> sandra: you're keeping a very optimistic tone. i'm sure that's needed. chief al schettino, chief of police, thank you for coming on with us. >> thank you. >> sandra: all right. fox news alert. you are looking at the white house press briefing room. briefing is expected to begin at any moment. of course, we are going to want to get an update from the white house on irma and the conditions down in florida. any update will be wanted. any response to north korea and those sanctions. nikki haley saying this is the strongest action that's been taken ever. we will want to listen to what happens there at the white house press briefing about to begin.

meanwhile, we want to get another update on irma. the pentagon mobilizing our military to help in hurricane irma relief effort, deploying dozens of helicopters to disaster areas since the hurricane made landfall. the air force and coast guard also running missions that include dangerous search and rescue operations. matt finn is live at homestead air reserve base right outside miami. matt? >> reporter: sandra, we just got off an ma-60 with a navy air crew. they flew us over the keys which have been devastated. our photographer said there's extreme destruction, so mangled and piled together, foul odor, homes and bridges destroyed. right now the u.s. navy, uss abraham lincoln is stationed about 25 miles off the keys and they are primarily looking for victim, sending choppers out around the clock. so far they have not had to recover any humans. but what they are doing is dropping off water in huge

pallets in five gallon jugs. it is salt water that's being purified on the abraham lincoln and delivered by air to victims of irma. they've been here, the navy's been here since saturday. they're going to stay in the area until needed. it's an emotional mission for these guys because there's a lot of men and women on board who have family in the islands and the keys. they are responding to calls 24 hours. they just want to help anybody in that area get back on their feet, sandra. >> sandra: all right, matt. unbelievable footage that you are bringing to us. this is fresh video just in from that trip up there. thank you for that. i'm sure that all of this continues to help with recovery efforts in assessing the damage in florida. thank you very much, sir. north korea reacting to the tough new u.n. sanctions. what's the next step? what is the next step? what will it be in this showdown? we will see if any, if we get any reaction or any indication from the white house at that

press briefing that is about to begin at any moment. we will go there live when it happens.

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safe driving bonus checks. only from allstate. switching to allstate is worth it. >> sandra: the white house press briefing has begun. let's listen. >> -- senators donnelly, hatch, manchin and toomey for a dinner at the white house to work together to achieve real tax reform that allows americans to keep more of their hard earned dollar. secretary mnuchin and director cohn are on the hill to con their conversation with key members in this important policy push. the vice president also attended senate republicans weekly policy lunch today and is meeting with house leaders on the upcoming legislative agenda. on issues the president is reaching across the aisle and to cut deals that help the american people. the president truly believes, as he often says, that in order to succeed and grow, we must work

as one team, one people and one american family. finally speaking of family, i wanted to say a big congratulations to eric and laura trump on the birth of their son eric luke trump. we all look forward to meeting him soon. with that i'll take your questions. john? >> sarah, on tax reform, mark short today said that one thing he learned from obamacare, you can even rely on your own party for votes across the finish line. but at the same time you haven't really been able to get much bipartisan support either. with that in mind, what is the president hoping to do tonight with this bipartisan dinner? >> i think it starts the conversation. start talking about things that we all agree on. as i have said many times, i think most everyone can agree that americans should keep more of their money than the government. they spend it far better than the government can. i think that's something that is a common goal that a lot of people want to come together on. i think by nature of them

sitting down with the president, that's a very good first start. i'm not gonna get ahead of the dinner tonight, but i think that it shows and is a tkpwraeult indicator that we have a big agenda and a very ambitious agenda this fall. we want to work together to make sure we can get as much of that done as possible. >> looks like you might be able to get bipartisan buy in on lowering taxes for corporations, middle tax cuts. democrats are drawing the line in tax cuts for the highest income earners. can the president cut some kind of deal with him that satisfied them? is there an unbridgeable gulf there? >> i think the president has demonstrated both in his business world and as president that he can make deals and that's certainly what he's looking to do. he's going to work hard to make sure we get the best deal possible on tax reform. that starts with things like tonight, having this

conversation, moving that ball forward, working bipartisan support from both sides. >> he's expressed empathy for people who live in high tax states like new york and california. if the administration goes forward and congress approves a plan that eliminates the state and local taxes, theoretically people could see their tax increase, notdy crease. is the administration committed to doing something that helps people in those high tax states? >> look, again, we're looking to work with congress to make sure we get the best deal possible for all americans across the board. that includes people in high tax states. matthew? >> it's being reported the malaysian prime minister stayed at the trump hotel. did that come up in conversations with the president during their meeting? is it problematic for someone under doj investigation to be supporting the president's for profit company? >> i'm not sure about if that came up. i'm not aware that that was ever

discussed. we certainly don't book their hotel accommodations so i couldn't speak to the personal decision they made about where to stay here in dc. >> any sort of attempt to curry favor with the president? >> no i don't. [ inaudible question ] >> yesterday you said you thought they had only spoken once. would you speak more regularly than maybe you were led to believe? can you give us an idea of how often they're talking? >> i don't think they speak that frequently. i'm aware of like two conversations they had and nothing onthat. >> not every two, three days. >> i'm only aware of two conversations that have taken place. >> one other topic. why hasn't president trump called the president of mexico in the wake of that earthquake to offer condolences? >> they have a call scheduled today that's taking place i believe within this hour and we'll have a readout for you this afternoon.

maggie? >> is the president aware -- >> that's okay. everybody likes to ask the same question many times. >> is the president aware that steve bannon said firing james comey was the biggest mistake in political history? >> whether he is or not, everybody knows where the president stands on that issue. the president is proud of the decision that he made. the president was 100% right in firing james comey. he knew at the time that it could bad for him politically, but he also knew and fell he had an obligation to do what was right and do what was right for the american people an certainly the men and women at the fbi. i think there's no secret comey, by his own self-admission, leaked privileged government information weeks before president trump fired him. comey testified that an fbi agent engaged in the same practice they'd face serious repercussions. i think he set the stage for himself. his actions were improper and likely could have been illegal. he leaked memos to the new york

times phep politicized an investigation by signaling he would exonerate hillary clinton before he ever interviewed her or other key witnesses. he's very happy with the decision he made. i think he's been fully vindicated by a lot of those things, and knowing it was the raoeu one. >> when will the president be going to florida? >> we hope to have some of that ironed out today. we'll keep you posted on that travel. john? >> sarah, two questions. did the on going doj probe, did that come up in conversation with the president today? and then secondly, different matter. next week, of course, the president will be going to the united nations. presidents usually have a theme or idea they want to get across in their speech or individual leader meeting. what will president trump's be? >> i'm not aware of the specific conversation coming up in tod today's meeting. in terms of the u.n. general assembly, we will plan to outline some plans in more details about that trip attend

of this week as we have done in past practice on those types of things. we will certainly do that. >> you said that actions of james comey could have been illegal. you the other day referred to potential false testimony. the doj is not commenting. but i would ask you, did the president encourage the doj to prosecute comey? >> that's the job of the department of justice. >> is that something you would like to see? >> i think if there's ever a moment where we feel someone's broken the law, particularly if they're the head of the fbi, that's something that should be looked at. >> my second question on north korea. is this administration determined that north korea tested a hydrogen bomb? >> we are not sure. >> yesterday you were talking about james comey, you mentioned he gave false testimony. i hear you say that again today. do you still stand by that? >> i did say that, yeah. >> sorry.

separately, when it comes to steve bannon, wall street general reported they spoke the other night. do you know if they discussed the interview and has the president said it was something he didn't like? >> he hasn't said whether he'd like to discuss that, at least not to me on that front. john? >> thank you, sarah. question if i may. going back to john's original question regarding the christian science monitor breakfast this morning. mark short was also asked about whether the president still supports senator luther strange. when i asked you that question you said legal constraints kept you from answering. he said this morning that he's standing by senator strange an he fully supports him in the role of september 26th. is that the white house official position? >> again, the president has liberties that i don't. legally, i'm not allowed to

comment on specific political elections that are on going. i'm not going to weigh in on that conversation. i'm sorry, i'm not in a place where i can comment directly from behind the podium about elections that are upcoming. >> my other question is a political question as well. two united states senators from nevada and arizona face spirited primary challenges. state representative justin simmons, strong supporter of the president in pennsylvania declared his candidacy friday. will the white house back challengers to sitting republicans in the primarys? >> again, i'm not going tpo weigh in on elections that are on going from the podium. that's something that the hatch act prohibits me from being able to do. >> the president's u.n. sanction

resolution was not a big deal? >> he said this is a small step and part of the process. but look, i think that the ultimate goal here is a denuclearized korean peninsula. we're going to continue taking those small steps. at the same time, we know the very parties that voted to do this all have to do more. the president's called on them to do more. we con to hope they will. >> is the president comfortable with his son donald trump jr. testifying publicly up on capitol hill? >> i'm sorry? >> is the president comfortable with his son, donald trump jr., testifying publicly on capitol hill? senator feinstein said she'd like to see that happen. >> i think she said she'd just like to see him testify. this administration's been very clear. we're going to be cooperative with this process. we know there was nothing improper took place. no wrongdoing. we're ready to see this come to its full conclusion and everybody else to see that as well. >> president would be

comfortable with his son testifying? >> president is comfortable with being fairly transparent and cooperating as we've done every day since it's started and we will continue to do. >> jared kushner was there any discussion of him stepping aside leaving the administration? >> no, no conversation that i'm aware of. no presentation as both the president's attorneys have gone on record to say. david? >> shor also said the administration would not tie funding for a border wall -- >> i believe he said it would be premature to determine whether or not that would happen. >> was that the impression that the administration would be open to a bill for the daca recipients that would legalize them? >> i think what we're saying is what we've been saying. we haven't mixed messages here.

we want responsible immigration reform. that hasn't changed. the president's very much committed to the wall. we're also committed to some other principles that we've laid out. none of those have changed. >> just a couple questions if i could about the dinner -- >> couple? >> your efforts on tax reform. you mentioned guests this evening, three democratic senators, donnelly, senators manchin all up for re-election next year. do you know how those particular guests were chosen, first of all? >> i think just by their willingness to want to sit down and have these kfrg conversations with the president. something we are looking forward to and hopefully will be very productive steps forward in the process, having a very ambitious legislative agenda for the fall. >> -- indicated he was open to talking about tax reform. does that mean he perhaps could be a future guest of the president for dinner?

will the president reach out to senator tester in that regard? >> the administration's been clear. we want to sit down with anybody who's willing to be serious about real tax reform for this country, about providing real relief for middle class america and actually looking to make bold changes. those are the conversations we want to have. and i would imagine if senator tester wants to be involved in those and is serious about it, we would be willing to have that conversation with him. >> campaign trail, president said he would support amnesty regarding daca. why the change of heart? >> i think the president has spoken out very clearly that he wants us to make this decision based on a variety of factors, but the number one thing is he wants responsible immigration reform. part of that is including that in the process. trey? >> what convinced him to want responsible immigration reform? >> i think the president's always wanted responsible

immigration reform. something that is important for the country moving forward. he also wants to make sure american jobs are protected, american citizens are protected. that's why it can't be just one piece, but comprehensive. trey? >> earlier you referenced two things about former fbi director, james comey. first you said the leaking of information likely could have been illegal. you went on to say something that could be looked at. are you encouraging, is this white house encouraging the department of justice to investigate the former fbi director james comey for leaking information? >> no. this is anybody that breaks the law, whatever that process is that needs to be followed should certainly be looked at. if they determine that that's the course of action to take, then they should certainly do that. i'm not here to ever direct doj in the actions that they should take. >> follow up on an earlier question. lot of conversations about the midterm election in 2018. will he be supporting specific

candidates? will he be using his support as leverage to have those members of congress import his domestic agenda? >> look, i think the president is going to support the agenda and accomplishing things that help america. but in terms of specific elections and whether or not he's going to weigh in, i said i'm not going to be able to weigh in from the podium on that. >> can you talk about the scott meeting tomorrow evening and what is the crux of it? also, supposed to be about charlottesville, african-american perspective, what would you say? >> i'm not going to get ahead of their meeting. i will be happy to provide information after the meeting is over. at this point i think it is a conversation that senator scott wanted to have with the president. the president wanted to have the opportunity one on one with the senator. i'm not going to get into anything beyond that at this point.

>> is the conference happening or -- >> it is going forward, it is happening and will take place at the white house. >> last question. how does the president receive and get calls from his cell phone? i know it sounds trite. but there's a lot of controversy about how the president is being handled by general kelly and how he keeps certain people in, certain people out. you hear steve bannon that he hasn't been called. he said he talked to the president several times. you're not aware of that. leads us to believe the conversation -- can you talk about the use of his cell phone? there's stories about his cell phone use -- >> a lot of things that you guy have written that are controversial. the president has access -- i mean, he can make calls from a land line,