>> great to have you. because thank you very much. >> right on time with your recent visit to harvey and irma victims. thank you for being here. we are up on the web and next. now it's been "happening now" ." >> the president and vice president during the damage from hurricane irma and florida amidst some big developments back in washington. among those development, under reaction document immigration agreement between mr. trump and top democrats and also some development on susan rice's unmasking of a trump campaign. i thought it was going to be a slow news day. it's not. why would you think that connects to go we are back here, second our of "happening now." >> i melissa branson. the president and vice president pence in meeting in fort myers promising help for everyone who needs it. we are going to be back and we

are going to help on the job that everyone has done in terms of first responder and everyone has been incredible. i just want to tell you we are there for you 100%. i'll be back here numerous times. this is a state that i know very well as you understand. these are special, special people and we love them. >> the anchor of fox news sunday and he joins us now. this is one of the things of the president as well. >> absolutely. it's an important thing. i think that presidents are judged on two levels. on one level, policy, tax reform, immigration, health care, obviously people have varying opinions about the president in that area, but the other is just a set governance. can you take care of things? can you help us when we are in need? obviously, part of that is the way that the president and his administration respond to hurricanes like harvey and irma.

from both sides of the aisle, the president and his team and fema and other elements of the administration have gotten quite high marks with how they've handled both hurricanes. this watching that little clip there, seen some charge, seem to be genuinely connected and to care about people and i think it's one of the things that he is done best in his months in office. >> it has helped in the past couple of weeks, it has done things for the new cycle where you haven't seen quite as much of the fighting in the new cycle because the other things are going on, and it's a tragedy. we don't want to play down what is going on but it does change the tone. in the background, you also have this dinner last night with chuck and nancy as ever but he is calling them. we chuckled. and what came out of it both last night and this morning as we've kind of gone back and forth on what was agreed to commit what is your take on all of that? >> i don't think it looks good. i told you that presidents are

judged to waste, policy and governance. governments, give them a good mark, policy maybe not so much. this has been as clear as mud since last night. first, the administration came out with a statement that basically said it was just a meeting to discuss things. then chuck and nancy came out with a statement saying no, they basically had a deal. daca would be put her in law. but no border wall. sarah huckabee sanders said there hasn't been a deal, than the president undercut that this morning when as he left the white house, he said the deal comes later. then down in florida, he said there can be no deal until we have funding for the wall. maybe you understand what's going on, but i've got to tell you, i don't and an awful lot of republicans on capitol hill don't know whether he made a deal to continue daca, to come make it law with or without an

agreement on the wall or what has to come first. >> i was wonder when these mixed messages come out if it's intentional, but it's about creating little room, not being clear on exactly what is going on. could that be a strategy? >> it could be a strategy, i doubt it. i just think this looks bad and you got an awful lot of people, the trump base, folks outside whatever happens, he's got that 35% of the country, the trump base, which is really were loyal to him. one of the issues that they've been really committed and tied to him on is the wall. lord knows they were going to build a wall and a real wall, not just a virtual wall and mexico would pay for it. it's sure seems that in that meeting yesterday over chinese food and pie, which is a fairly repulsive combination. >> melissa: that sounds terrible the way you say it. just really bad. >> i think a lot of chinese food which i love i've never felt the

desire for pie afterwards. not one single time. but after that, came out and said that chuck and nancy had basically seem to have a deal that would extend daca, would actually make it law, and it would be tougher enforcement, but the wall specifically would not be part of it. that is really breaking faith with a lot of the true believers, people like steve king of iowa, laura ingraham, and ann coulter. they've really taken him to task over this. >> melissa: is if there is tougher border enforcement and construction of some type, or any of us really picturing the great wall of china along the southern border? brick on top of brick? >> that's what the president promised. if you're going to say -- >> melissa: it's just not possible in some spots where there is water. >> it is in a lot of spots. during the campaign, the physician, you're going to have tougher enforcement, that's what

jeb bush was saying. that's what marco rubio was saying. that was a big dividing point with president trump, and if trump goes back on the wall, there are a lot of folks were going to be very disappointed. >> melissa: what you think of the overall strategy of turning to the left at least appearing to work with folks? is it smart politics, is a negotiation, is it back and forth? it looks bipartisan to the average person. the republicans did fail him out of the gate, so if he had stayed on that road, he'd certainly getting a ton of criticism that nothing was working. in that direction. what do you think of the overall folks over here? >> i think the idea of saying to republicans because you have folks like the house freedom caucus, 35 hard-line conservatives in the house, you have two or three or four

republicans in the senate who were basically holding him hostage and for him to basically say to folks i can do this another way and to try to get them to maybe bend to his will, i think that makes a lot of sense and you need some credibility. maybe cut the legs out from under republicans and say i can go another way here, so i am your best friend. if you want to deal me, that makes some sense. as a problem as to what end? he can make deals with democrat democrats, but if you make an immigration deal and don't have the wall, have you really accomplished what you want to accomplish? if you make a tax reform deal but you don't cut the kind of tax reform you want or health care, he could make a deal with the democrats tomorrow on obamacare, but then he hasn't repealed obamacare. >> melissa: the truth is we haven't seen the details on any of these things. we are hearing reports on both sides about what was discussed. the devil is always in the details and when we see that, we will know what is really going on. before he ran out of time, can i

ask about you this susan rice unmasking thing related to that visit from the united arab emirates and the story that is swirling about. she was concerned about who was coming in a meeting and at white house didn't know about it, and that's why she asked for the unmasking of who in the trump administration for the upcoming trump administration, what you make of the whole stor story? >> i have to say, this is an interesting reporting on this today and it generally tends to favor susan rice. you've got people like a couple of other republicans of the house intelligence committee who heard her, said she seems like a good witness. remember, unmasking is not illegal. what that is is basically you have electronic intelligence that will say american number one and she is finding out who was american number one? that is not it for the national security advisor to want to find out who was in a meeting with people from another country is not illegal. what is a legal that she then leaks that in the initial report

from republicans in the house intelligence committee was it didn't seem to be a legitimate thing to want to find out who is meeting with folks from the united arab emirates. she didn't apparently leak it. so we will see you. we don't know what we don't know, but so far it seems to kind of exonerate susan rice. >> melissa: it does. chris wallace, thank you so much. i love having you on. >> leland: fox news alert, as the president leaves florida in just a few minutes but he is promising help for those who lost so much to irma and the florida keys, they need a lot of help. the island south of miami taking the worst hit from the powerful storm. high winds and waves and sending both social worker and causing others as you can see to sink. fema officials say about 25% of the homes and the keys were destroyed. many more damaged. phil hughes is made its way all the way south to key west where there is a distribution site there. give us a sense on the ground.

when two people have, what don't they have as far as basics, water, electricity, food? >> 90% of the island is without power. no electricity, there is a boil water recommendation, and cell service is practically nonexistent on most of the island. a few things you need to survive the searing sun in september in key west, bottles of water, a hat, sunblock, plenty of that because it is scorching and burning and also, boxes of food, those are mrv's, the types that are distributed to the marines to the national guard, to the navy, and all of those people are represented here right now. they are passing out cases of bottled water. the meals to eat, those are 11 packs of three square meals for a couple of days. they will get you by, you and your family. and then of course, bags of ice there at the end of the line. this line at some times as morning thanked 60 cars long. everyone very, very grateful.

in fact, gratitude is the one word i can really describe this whole day. there were other things that the key is desperately needed as well, and those are critical medical supplies like blood, blood products, antibiotics, dialysis drugs. everything like that because prescription in particular, pharmacies have been closed. there's only one hospital that serves all 50 miles of the florida keys and that is the lower key is medical center, and we went in with it direct, nonprofit, direct relief. take a listen. >> they said they were desperate for antibiotics because a lot of cuts and scrapes and things from debris and people, we have tetanus and things. this is good for about 200 patients for 72 hours. this keeps them good and then we can resupply as we go on. >> right here is lance corporal

tommy. this is one of the food packs. show me how it works really fast. there's a heater inside the pack. >> this little green thing here is a heater. it'll put your main meal. start this right here. >> this is marine training right here. >> this is standard military issue right here as well. these are very impressive. comes with his own heater. it is no electricity. you don't have is that over a microwave. >> great if you have no power. it is a little tab right here on the top, going to take it, peel it off, going to take your main meal out. have some spaghetti, that's a good one paired i recommend getting that one if you can. i like that one very much. you're going to tear this open. >> we came down to uss iwo jima, flew on helicopters. here for a few days. >> i will tell you why he is doing this. in the lower key's have been by category four hurricane irma

hitting as a direct landfall early sunday morning. key west, 22 miles away from that point. there's a lot of wreckage around key west. 90% of the island without power. stick with the main on the heater. big plantation key, a lot of flattened neighborhoods over there as well. if your resident trying to overturn from being evacuated, still can't get below mile marker 74. simply put, you put water in there, it heats up and there you have fusion. >> who knew phil was going to be getting a gourmet spaghetti dinner down there courtesy of the u.s. marine corps? tell the lance corporal we appreciate his service and the folks down in the 40 accuser awfully happy to see those guys. phil, thank you. screen left, you see the ospreys, also the marine helicopters that move the press corps around. that is fort myers airport

there. the president they are coming in just in the next couple of minutes from naples, florida, to the geography that just about 100 to 200 miles as the crow flies from where he was just then. >> melissa: in the meantime, we are going to have continuing coverage of the president's visit to hurricane ravaged florida. and he is now getting ready to leave the state after getting a firsthand look at the damage and visiting with the victims of the deadly storm. plus, concerns mounting over north korea. amid fears the rogue nation could be gearing up for another intercontinental ballistic missile launch, and we are learning the north most recent nuclear test may be more powerful than originally reported. with the u.s. needs to do to combat the growing threat from north korea will go in-depth. tech: when you schedule with safelite autoglass,

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>> melissa: you're looking at life pictures right now. this is marine one. the president on his trip in florida serving the damage of hurricane irma. getting ready to depart florida here. >> leland: marine one pulling up off the air force one and then back to washington where there is a lot of things to talk about when the president gets back to washington. we will break down the daca deal and some other things coming up as the president flies off. we will check back in fort myers of the president boards air force one. and something the president definitely keeping an eye on it. new fears that north korea may be preparing for yet another ballistic missile test. sources in japan revealing the icbms dual injection system has been finished, making it ready for launch at one of the north korean test sites. this while north korea's propaganda agency is threatening to use nuclear weapons to "sink japan and reduce the u.s. to ashes in darkness for supporting the latest u.n. sanctions."

joining us now, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense. nice to see you as always. >> good to be back. what are you worried at all that the work north koreans are going to run out of adjectives at some point naturally decide to do something or we a long way from that? >> i don't know how long we are from that. they are very unpredictable, and the fears in japan, in guam, and in hawaii are pretty serious and realistic. we need to realize that. >> leland: you say the fears are realistic, and obviously if you are in a range of an icbm or rogue regime that could be topped with a nuclear weapon, think about what hasn't happene happened. it hasn't been a forward deployed to guam or japan. and there's no additional carrier battle groups being sent off to north korea. they are not spending more marine expeditionary groups into south korea to shore up the 28,000 troops that are already there. it seems as though there's a big

distance between the fear and what our leaders have assessed as a realistic possibility. >> that's part of the problem because it's not just our call. if this thing doesn't start when all our folks arrive on the playing field. kim jong un could start it today. if really scary. we have upgraded the defenses of the japanese. we have upgraded the defenses in south korea and guam trade we have yet upgraded the defenses in hawaii. our 50th state. that's a serious problem. everybody is still thinking about what is going to go into the 2018 national defense authorization act, and we are talking about moving people to fight today. >> leland: we certainly heard from the secretary of defense that moving people is on the table, number one and number two, they will come to the aid of both japan and south korea immediately.

appreciate your insights as always, thank you, sir. >> thanks for having me and keep those people in hawaii in mind. we need to protect them. >> leland: they certainly would agree with you on that. thank you, sir. >> that is a great point. as the president continues to survey the damage left by irma, this right here. you see marine one, could the mainstream media actually be praising the president's response to back-to-back hurricanes? that doesn't seem right. plus, espn under fire for what critics are calling a slap on the rest for an anchor's tirade about president trump. why he is calling espn would be. >> that's one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make, and certainly something that i think is a verifiable offense by espn. real cheese people get it. that post lunch, post dinner, i need something sweet craving.

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>> leland: a fox news alert, pictures of president trump and the first lady here at fort myers airport. they've just flown in from naples, with a survey a lot of the damage from hurricane irma. see them there with governor rick scott is well walking across the tarmac as the president had to air force one and then head back into washington and the fray that washington certainly bring in howard kurtz, hosted media buzz and fox news media analyst. we watch the president and first lady walk onto air force one. these are made-for-tv moments for a president who seems to be playing this part of the role of commander in chief extraordinarily well, and the media uncharacteristically seems to be praising him for it. >> perhaps belatedly and reluctantly. i remember a post from "the washington post" have been

involved in both hurricanes pretty well. but before harvey hit texas, there was this whole drumbeat in the press. can donald trump pass his first major test dealing with a natural disaster? what the hell does he know about doing this? in the first visit, things went well. pundits shifted, he didn't hug any babies, that faded after the visits texas. if the president is going to set this up, it's only fair that by and large in these devastating storms, he is handling them both pretty well. >> this seems to be universal praise for this president. if we know you reported on that as well. connect the dots for us. if the president likes the president being presidential and he passes their test, does the president then decide i'm going to start doing this more? spittle that's an interesting question. i think that the first visit to texas, it was fair to say we didn't meet with any victims. if that's because the flooding was still going on.

he didn't even go near houston. it may be a combination of the media criticism and the fact that the logistics when he went a second time to houston and he was feeding people and hugging people and just saw them feeding people again today in florida, there might've been a conflict there. for the president is well aware of how anything he does is playing especially on tv. >> leland: we will hold us up as we continue to watch the president. it is as him feeding people in naples. as of the front page of "the new york post" today. often known as president trump's favorite newspaper. the dream team, don and the dems deal over dinner. again, wide praise as you pointed out for the president for his bipartisan deals, weather was about the debt ceiling or now in this potential daca deal. is this a president finding his own voice and perhaps playing a little bit to what the media wants to see? >> we know that when he called chuck schumer after the initial meeting with the majority --

minority leader in nancy pelosi, he was boasting about the short-term budget deal. the mainstream media love cooperation with democrats and love the idea of legalizing or continuing the dreamers program. there is a conspicuous exception to some of the praise of the president is getting now on the dreamers immigration negotiation, and that's many conservative pundits who are criticizing the president who feel betrayed, who were attacking mcconnell and ryan on capitol hill so there's a little bit of a split there in major media now welcoming this effort across the aisle. >> leland: wanted to get your thoughts on this. we are going to keep monitoring president trump as he's heading out. espn coming under heavy criticism after one of their anchors called the president and we are quoting now, a white supremacist. espn's janelle hill tweeted "donald trump is a white's premise is who has largely

surrounded himself with other white supremacists. "the outraged was swift and sure. what has not been swift and sure was espn's reaction, judging by anything else, the reaction when a host says something that is more conservative. >> espn is kind of cementing its reputation as being a network that while in the process of covering sports leans to the left, the infamous is involving former baseball star who was fired as an opposing controversial comments about the transgender bathroom fan. i found that kind of racially charged attack on the president to be outrageous, but where is espn? there's been no disciplinary action, there's been no apology. is it appropriate? we spoke to her about it. it's clearly sending the signal to have to sports fans of america who watch the channel that we have a definite point of

view. we don't take a particularly seriously. one of our sports analysts just went after the president and that incendiary way, so were not going to do much about it. when you hear that come through and espn's coverage of colin pepper next and the anthem protest he's down there. politics have sort of coming to every part of the american conversation. you mentioned curt schilling and this is what he tweeted out. anyone asking, she didn't get fired because disney and espn are fine with liberal racism versus conservative logic. only naysayers that are liars. so the question is, is as a business decision by espn and their parent company disney, or is this a political decision despite the business implication? >> i think it's more of a political decision because if you did it on a business terms, and you would not run the risk of alienating a major part of your audience that might not agree with your president and

use some other words as well. i think that you can't separate politics from sports and you're dealing with controversies like colin kaepernick and others. but when one of your writers goes on a twitter rampage against the president and use of that kind of inflammatory language, you could at least say we are not going to accept that. that's unacceptable. but espn apparently not wanting to -- remember, this is the network that benched asian american robert leah because his name is robert lee. that says it all. >> leland: it does say a lot. we will have to see what what e fear is that support mr. trump about what their remarks. they tend to listen to that. appreciated as always. >> melissa: tax reform is the top of the town in washington as the president takes the bipartisan approach to overhauling the tax code. my next guest says that could help him get this passed in congress. the president says his focus will be on helping the middle class.

>> the wealthy americans are not my priority. my priority are people in the middle class, and that is where we are giving the big tax reduction too. it's about the middle class and it's about jobs, ends about bringing jobs back to the country. . understand fully. mortgage confidently.

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naples. a couple of responses and talking to first responders, people who are on the ground helping out as well. victims letting him know that the president is watching and there to help, joined by the first lady. also joined by vice president mike pence, is a lot to go back to ndc now. >> leland: he has a huge amount to go back to you and what's amazing is when you want the presidents and talk to first responders and congratulate them and how is that really lifts there's spirits, at the same time, and maybe this is credit to the president into the federal government for how good of a job they've done on arma, but so many of the questions were about flying back to you. tax reform and the daca deal. take a listen. spit with rich will not be gaining at all with this plan. we are looking for the middle class and we are looking for jobs. judge meeting companies. we are looking at for the middle class and we are looking at job

jobs. i think the wealthy will be pretty much where they are. they have to go higher, they go higher. >> interesting. president trump calling the middle classes priority in tax reform. yesterday saying that wealthy americans may end up paying more under his plan. joining is now is a former deputy campaign manager for martin o'malley. we also have ed martin, who is the president of eagle foreign funds. a state g.o.p. chairman for the missouri republican party. also the author of the conservative case for trump. i'll start with you. what did you make of what you heard there? >> it's great rhetoric and if he actually followed through on that, i think that he could find a lot of bipartisan support. but what we've seen today as of this is actually a case that his political and doublespeak. he is saying that he wants to help the middle class, but the top priority when it comes to tax reform is slashing the corporate tax rate.

the people that helps is not the middle class. if that helps the highest earners. so let me just to spell couple of myths here. >> let me start you right there because that is absolutely not true. it doesn't help the highest earners. when you lower the corporate tax rate, you are helping first of all, people who own stocks and their 401(k) and their retirement, you are creating jobs, you're creating middle-class jobs. let's let ed talk and then i'll come back to you. >> the thing that i love about trump and as president when he says those sound bites is -- i halfway agree with liz. what she is saying is if you cut corporate rates and unspool the incredibly complex tax code which is what trump says he wants to do, the loopholes in the tax code are either exploited by businesses or the wealthy who can pay for it or they were put there by the ruling class in washington. so trump wants to simplify the tax code, which means there will

be less loopholes probably for the wealthy and the wealthy class, the ruling class. therefore, it is maybe going to cost them more. in essence, liz is right. if you lower the corporate tax rate and you create an environment where all that tax power that apple is hiding over in ireland comes back, trump knows he wants to give a $50,000 a year job to a worker in ohio and they will pay less taxes, but they will have a job. that's what we need. that is america first. >> this is the problem, there is no evidence that cutting the corporate tax rate creates jobs. we've seen corporations tax liabilities go down, we have seen that they rather than creating jobs, they do stock buybacks. they've had ceos pay. that is not helping the middle class. if you wanted to help the middle class, what you would do is do personal income tax cuts, and that is something that democrats would get the behind. one other thing -- >> melissa: he says he wants to do that, he wants to lower the middle class tax rate as

well. >> he is saying that today, he did not set up this morning. when he said that we have the highest corporate tax rate in the nation, and the world, he is being misleading because the effective tax rate is actually half of 30% that we have editorially. >> melissa: ed? >> two things, one is a really rich guy who gets a bunch of extra money in a stock sale pays taxes. i would prefer that apple get all those billions back from ireland and have to pay some taxes on it. i hope they do. but at the end of the day, what we need is more jobs in america. let's fight about the personal rate, but the fact is that businesses won't choose to be here if the burden to being here is a higher corporate tax rate or the cost to go find their way around that. >> he is talking about time to a repatriation of dollars to spending and infrastructure and that also creates jobs and that is not stock buyback. it'll be interesting to watch. state of the devil is in the

details. >> leland: a fox news alert as they were growing concerns over russia's latest war games in the country of belarus. so i now calling these war games largest since the cold war ended 25 years ago. one world leader describing the drill as a sign the kremlin is preparing for a war with nato. looking live at the pentagon. folks there at the pentagon, are they worried that this is preparation for war with nato and the united states? >> recall that just a few years ago, russian troops invaded and annexed ukraine's crimean peninsula under the guise of a large-scale military exercise. one of the reasons that the u.s. intelligence agencies are closely monitoring the start of this massive russian military exercise alongside nato's eastern flank. the six-day training exercises codenamed west and russian. not too subtle. it will take place mostly in

belarus. russia's loan remaining european ilife. where fighter jets have already begun training. the pentagon is concerned that russian troops might use the exercise to build up its forces in belarus and threatened nato including nervous baltic allies along russia's border. reports say as many as 100,000 russian troops could participate, but moscow insists in strewn numbers will stay below 13,000 to comply with the native agreement. the pentagon isn't buying it. in a statement of fox news, a spokesperson said "the official estimates provided by russia and belarus did not correspond with media reporting." russia isn't the only one moving forces into the region. u.s. cargo ship arrived yesterday in poland to begin offloading nearly 3500 u.s. army soldiers from the second armored brigade, part of the first infantry division. they are bringing over 1,000 armored vehicles including tanks, trucks, and self propelled artillery. since the height of the

cold war, they were over 400,000 u.s. troops stationed in europe pretty today, that number is about 62,000. >> leland: summing to keep an eye on certainty through the weekend, see if if the russians are up to anything new. lucas, thank you. >> melissa: three churches challenging along standing fema standing that excludes houses of worship from receiving federal disaster aid. the latest on the lawsuit, plus was now supporting it. amazing honky tonk?? i can't believe you got us tickets. i did. i didn't pay for anything. you never do. send me what i owe. i've got it. i mean, you did find money to buy those boots. are you serious? is that why you don't like them? those boots could make a unicorn cry. yeah, tears of joy. the bank of america mobile banking app. the fast, secure and simple way to send money.

>> leland: right now, three small churches in texas are taking on the federal government in the wake of hurricane harvey. they filed a lawsuit arguing that places of worship should be allowed to receive relief funds from fema, a.k.a. the federal government. chief religion correspondent lauren green here with more. part of a much larger issue here in terms of other government funds can go to religious organizations. if you're absolutely right and you've seen this on the ground when you've covered.

with churches, synagogues, and mosques. a lot of heavy lifting during disasters and is a great help to the government. these churches want to be treated like any other nonprofit and have access to government relief funds. three small texas churches are now suing the federal emergency management agency challenging its policies that houses of worship cannot apply for relief simply because they are religious. one of them served as a shelter and must staging area. >> nonprofits of any other kind like the garden club or a "no" that provides systems for their community are allowed to get relief. once the government leaves, doesn't it seem weird that the government is discriminating against them? >> president trump seemly showing his report tweeting last week "churches in texas should be entitled to reimbursement from fema relief funds for helping victims of hurricane harvey just like others." the law is not so clear. churches are basing their case

on the recent supreme court decision granted to church public funds make nursery school. light brown savior. preparing a sanctuary is not the same. >> the purpose of it is to make sure that taxpayers don't have to pay for someone else's religion, they don't support. so a so-called wall between churches and state means that when you help secular people, that you don't spend money on religious activities. >> the attorney for the churches says fema could change the policy today if it wanted to and reached out to fema for response and cannot comment on pending litigations. >> leland: real quickly, we saw the president with his support. it has doj waited and filed an anarchist brief or anything like that on behalf of the church's? >> not as yet. fema actually could just change the policy but as you see from the package, they are already in bed with churches as it is

because churches do a lot of the work. >> leland: showed up as a staging ground. the story is not over. thanks. >> melissa: uc berkeley plans to host a conservative reaper on campus today. the liberal university is ramping up security in the city is authorizing the use of pepper spray. that is next.

>> melissa: 8 minutes to two appeared hello everyone. i'm sandra smith. a deal or no deal? we will talk with congressman from both sides of the aisle who met with trump yesterday about how things are with daca and the border wall. plus, an update on that deadly nursing home tragedy of florida where excessively hot conditions were reported. and sean spicer is back, and he is answering questions again.

this time from jimmy kimmel. wait until you hear what space he about anthony scaramucci and whether he has seen the president naked? americas news headquarters in a moment. >> leland: things could get interesting tonight, not just with what sandra was talking about but also this. uc berkeley has set to host conservative commentary ben shapiro. he has wanted to speak before a sold-out crowd tonight. you heard it right, at uc berkeley. >> melissa: in the past, conservative speakers have sparked violent protests by liberal groups on campus. the university is increasing the police presence. claudia cowan is live on campus. how are things shaping up? >> it's been a very busy morning here at uc berkeley with cruise setting up concrete barricades to controlled traffic. in a few hours, police will form a parameter to basically closed on this entire area. in the face of these extremes, security measures here at cal

have been canceled and there are also offering counseling to students and staff who may feel traumatized by the mere presence of a polarizing figure. the lecture hall where ben shapiro is slated to speak this evening holds 2,000 people, but officials are closing the balcony, citing safety concerns. so only 1,000 will be allowed inside. it ministries are hoping to avoid the violence that erupted in february when nt 4.0 rioters spread widespread damage and force them to cancel the host by a conservative provocateur. they allowed the far left agitators to silence those on the right by calling their tops hate speech disguised as free speech. now in the wake of that and several other violent protests, berkley is trying to pacify everyone. in a memo this week, they said "we are deeply concerned about the impact some speakers may have on individuals in a sense of safety and belonging. adding no one should be made to feel threatened or harassed simply because of who they are or what they believe theft may

be people like ben shapiro's rating towards what he had to say on "fox & friends" ." >> if you feel like you need counseling for my speech, he probably needs psychiatric help in some ways. as i guess is appropriate. what i talk about in these speeches and i talk about the fact that violence and political settings is not appropriate, would you think would be basic civics 101. speak about protesters have vowed to showed up. police say they will arrest anyone wearing a mask. if they refuse to take it off and use pepper spray if need be. they have enlisted a 20 year ban on police use of pepper spray to control crowds. we will be here throughout the night and will keep you posted. back to you. >> melissa: be careful, claudia. thank you. >> leland: i so appreciate and ben shapiro's sense of humor about these things because he just weeded out a couple of days ago "this shabbat when orthodox views take a moment of rest, i told my 3-year-old she couldn't have more candy. she immediately registered for counseling." >> melissa: [laughs]

>> leland: you have to wonder, does it come with tuition but you have to be a student, as it counseling for anyone no matter why you're offended if you're offended by the nt for people? can you get counseling as well connect >> melissa: i don't get free counseling at berkeley no matter what process is one of those things. i would rather you get counseling than violence. >> leland: that would be helpful. they've got some form of legalized marijuana in california so how does that play into things? >> melissa: all that you handle that one. he is that can on that one. >> leland: speaking of protests and speaking of bipartisanship, president trump heading back to washington after his first visit, the storm ravaged florida. will the spirit of bipartisanship that he left with after the dinner you talked about so much greet him upon his return?

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>> lelend: been a great day. lot of news. i say we do it again tomorrow. >> melissa: maybe. we'll see. "american news mq" starts right now. >> sandra: president trump is on his way back to washington after meeting with some of the victims of hurricane irma. hello, everyone. i'm sandra smith. president trump and vice president pence toured areas in ft. myers and naples after he was asking whether there was a deal with democrats on daca. >> there was no deal. they didn't say they had a deal. they just put out a statement. they didn't say that at all. >> if republicans are not able to get something in six months -- >> we won't talk about that. >> sandra: the uss abraham lincoln is bringing food and water to the key, who still lack even basic service. >> the rain came and