it was great having you here. gillian: thanks, leland. it was great to be here today. leland: shockingly, we might have some more north korean news tomorrow. we'll see you tomorrow, 1:00 eastern. meantime, our friends in new york have more. julie: president trump firing back at the mayor of san juan after criticizing his administration's ability to get vital supplies to puerto rico, decimated by hurricane maria. hello and welcome to a brand new hour inside "america's news headquarters," i'm julie banderas. kelly: i'm kelly wright. frustration is boiling over as much of the island is still without power, and the long wait for life-saving supplies still drags on. mow the president is lashing out just days before he visits the storm-ravaged island tweeting this: the mayor of san juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the democrats that you must be nasty to trump. kristin fisher joins us live now

in new jersey near president trump's golf club in bedminister. kristin, bring us up to speed, if you will, on the situation in puerto rico and the growing feud that we're now seeing between the president and the mayor of san juan. >> reporter: well, kelly, things really started heating up last night when the mayor of san juan essentially accused the bureaucracy and inefficiency of the u.s. government of killing puerto ricans. that did not sit well with president trump. he responded this morning in a series of tweets. here's a few. quote: such poor leadership ability by the mayor of san juan and others in puerto rico who are not able to get their workers to help. they want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 federal workers now on the island doing a fantastic job. so he's really lashing out at the mayor of san juan, accusing her of poor leadership at a time when there are millions of people in puerto rico who are still without food, power, clean water and medical supplies.

now, the mayor of san juan has responded by saying that she's not going to be distracted by, quote: small comments, politics and petty issues. she also put out her own tweet, and it reads: the goal is one, saving lives. this is the time to show our true colors. we cannot be distracted by anything else. now today president trump is going to be taking a series of calls about this ongoing hurricane recovery effort in puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. he's expected to speak with the governor of puerto rico and the fema administrator today and then, of course, on tuesday he's going to be heading to puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. but, kelly, that trip certainly shaping up to be a rather awkward trip given the back and forth between the mayor and now president trump. who knows if they'll even meet. kelly: yeah, it would seem to be the case right now. and one hates to see this because at the end of the day, there are people still with their lives on the line there in puerto rico.

hopefully, these two can get themselves together as they continue the meet the needs of so many people in puerto rico. there's also another concern, kristin, and that is in terms of our foreign policy in regards to north korea. what are we learning about the united states and its ability to reach out to the hermit kingdom? >> reporter: well, this is all coming from the sex tear of state -- secretary of state, rex tillerson, himself. and what we're learning is that there are direct lines of communication between the trump administration and pyongyang. so that they're not going through china. that would be a very big development. and we're also learning that, again, according to the secretary of state, that these lines of communication were i'm sorry gated -- instigated by the trump administering, by the u.s. government. now, the secretary of state made these comments while speaking in china a few hours ago. here's the direct statement. he says, quote: we asked them, would you like to talk? we have lines of communication to pyongyang. we're not in a dark situation or

blackout. we have a couple of these channels open to pyongyang. we can talk to them, we do talk to them. so, you know, after weeks of name-calling, weeks of a lot of ramped-up rhetoric and all this talk about military options, now this is really the first time that we're seeing just how far the trump administration is willing to go to pursue those diplomatic options in resolving this nuclear crisis on the korean peninsula. kelly? kelly: kristin fisher reporting from branchburg where she is near the president of the united states near bedminster. thanks, kristin. julie: more help is on the way to puerto rico. pentagon officials saying 1400 more national guard troops are expected to arrive on the island this weekend with. even so, the mayor of san juan says the island could be without power for months. mike tobin is live in san juan with the very latest on the situation there. hey, mike. >> reporter: hi there, julie. well, the mayor and president

are engaged in this twitter war, the governor says this is a crisis and there are other priorities. >> our priorities at this juncture keep being food delivery, delivery of gas, making sure that the hospitals are working, making sure we can get more hospitals online, that they get their diesel and their fuel. >> reporter: the administrator at san jorge children's hospital says this province is about to make a transition from humanitarian crisis to health crisis. you have 51 hospitals across the island that are running right now, most of them on emergency generators. those are intended to be temporary solutions. they run out of fuel, eventually the mechanics will fail if you keep them running. only nine hospitals, including san jorge, have reconnected with the grid, so that's a priority. beyond that, the administrator says people are not taking care of specialized diets, hygiene is

poor, and things are expected to get worse. >> we need to inspect dehydration, patients coming in with dehydration. we need to inspect diabetic patients that are out there at home, asthmatic patients that are out there. nobody's taking care of their condition. everybody is dealing with the crisis at home. >> reporter: now, beyond me, e behind me you see a gas station that is closed. only 60% of them are open across the island right now. you also see standing water. that's a big health concern. it stinks out here. that water is nasty, and people are using that water for their basic needs. beyond that, it breeds mosquitoes. you have credible people now warning about the threat of dengue fever here in pert rio. julie -- puerto rico. julie? julie: mike tobin, thank you so much. kelly: the white house now cracking down on the use of private planes by top officials. this comes after health and human services secretary tom

price resigned under pressure yesterday over his use of private planes for government business. ellison barber is live from washington with more details on this. ellison? >> reporter: hi, kelly. the hhs human -- or the services deputy assistant secretary, that was his title before, now he is officially the acting secretary's name is don wright. all of this began a little over a week ago. politico reported on the now-former secretary tom price's use of private planes. they said that he took about two dozen chartered flights since may costing taxpayers over $300,000. price said he'd pay back the cost of his seat on those flights, around $52,000, but politico found more questionable flights with price reportedly costing taxpayers at least half a million dollars because he flew in a military aircraft to europe and asia. trump called price a good man but said he was disa appointed in him yesterday -- disappointed

in him. yesterday the president hinted price could be on his way out. >> probably sometime today, yes. [inaudible conversations] >> i'm not happy. okay? i can tell you, i'm not happy. look, i think he's a very fine person. i certainly don't like the optics. >> reporter: the white house announced that price submitted a letter of resignation, and the president accepted it just a couple of hours after he made that statement on the south lawn. yesterday staffers, senior officials received a memo from the white house budget director saying that chief of staff john kelly needs to approve travel before anyone gets on a government or chartered plane. as for price in his resignation letter, he wrote about how he spent 40 years working as a doctor and a public servant. he said he regrets that the recent events have created a distraction, but price is far from the first person to leave this administration. a number of officials have been pushed out or left under a cloud

from anthony scaramucci to general michael flynn. price is, however, the first cabinet official to resign. kelly? kelly: ellison barber, thank you. julie: well, tom price's resignation as health and human services secretary comes as president trump wraps up a very busy week. a lot of headlines making news including the collapse of the republican health care bill and also some criticism over the government's hurricane maria efforts. joining me now, a white house correspondent for the washington examiner. thank you very much for talking to us. i just want to read a tweet that president trump literally just put out two minutes ago. despite the fake news media in conjunction with the dems, an amazing job is being done in puerto rico. great people. he is condemning not only the mayor of san juan for basically following orders that she needs to be nasty toward the trump administration publicly as she

has been doing so, making her cable news rounds among the mainstream media particularly, and now he is saying the fake news networks are all over it. and, in fact, they are, because right now all the other networks are leading with this tweet and doing further bashing of the united states' involvement in puerto rico. where does this go next? i mean, the president will be going there on tuesday. does that somehow possibly lend the possibility of mending this situation? >> i mean, the puerto rico visit next week is going to be crucial for the president to try and reset the narrative going forward on what the u.s. is doing to aid and offer relief to puerto rico. it's going to be tense, obviously, because of these, this constant back and forth now between the san juan mayor and the president. but i do anticipate that president trump is going to probably, you know, meet with victims of hurricane maria, to visit some of the shelters, to meet with local officials and

that it will be ad good opportunity for -- a good opportunity for him to kind of change the narrative surrounding this. right now we're seeing this constant flood of media attention focused on what the u.s. has failed to do and nothing focused on what the administration is already doing in puerto rico, sending troops there, flying in food and clean water, making sure that there is work being done to try and get the power grid back up and running. we're not really hearing much discussion about that, and i think that the white house is trying to -- as much as possible -- bring the focus back to that, and that's something that the president is going to be intent on doing when he visits puerto rico next week. julie: i'm going to the to read another tweet that president trump sent about five hours ago, because this puerto rico thing, obviously, is hitting quite a nerve and is extremely upsetting considering the president has come out multiple times this week saying that things are going well in puerto rico. and he doesn't mean, you know, the san juan mayor came out and said, no, things are not doing well, people are dying. the president didn't mean things

are going well, that people aren't in danger. he was saying that the aid is getting there. it's just a matter of getting it there fast enough. he tweets this a few hours ago: the fake news networks are working overtime in puerto rico doing the best to take the spirit away from our soldiers and first rs, as in responders. shame. what kind of message does this send to the people of puerto rico who are desperately beating for the -- waiting for the united states mainland to help them out? it almost seems discouraging to hear a mayor slamming federal aid when they need it so badly. >> i'm sure a lot of folks in puerto rico right now who are dealing with not having electricity, not having clean water to bathe in and to drink are probably wondering why their mayor is, you know, doing the cable news circuit rounds instead of working with local officials and with federal officials to make sure that everything that can be done is being done. i do think that that's what the president is getting at here,

that she could probably be far more effective in that capacity than as becoming a cable news critic of his administration. julie: right. >> you know, going forward though i think that the president really does need to try and keep politics out of this as much as possible -- julie: right. >> he's talked a little bit about how the broken infrastructure in puerto rico is kind of impacting the relief efforts, and while there is a discussion to be had about that and how it's going to likely prevent some, you know, relief or rebuilding efforts going forward, it's just not the focus that the white house should have right now. they should really be talking about the people and what they're doing to help puerto ricans, not focusing on the negative. julie: gabby, thank you very much. >> thank you. kelly: an intense manhunt is now over after a police officer is shot and killed in the line of duty. the details coming ahead. plus, president trump and his economic team touting their tax reform plan as a plus for middle class families. so how exactly will it help?

we'll discuss that next. >> by eliminating the tax breaks and special interest loopholes that primarily benefit the wealthy, our framework insure that is the benefits of tax reform go to the middle class, not the highest earners. g new c.

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♪ ♪ julie: police in georgia arresting a suspect p who allegedly killed a police officer. he's accused of shooting two offers yesterday -- officers yesterday, killing one of them. investigators say he surrendered following a manhunt in polk county about 60 miles northwest of atlanta. the officers were responding to a stolen vehicle call. one officer survived after being shot in his bulletproof vest, but officer kristin hearn died from her gunshot wounds. kelly: president trump saying his tax plan will be rocket fuel for the u.s. economy. in a speech yesterday, he said his plan would boost businesses and help american workers. he also said his tax reform plan is designed for middle class families. listen. >> we will insure that the benefits are focused on the middle class, the working men and women, not the highest

income earners. [applause] our framework includes our explicit commitment that tax reform will protect low income and middle income households, not the wealthy and well connected. they can call me all they want, it's not going to help. i'm doing the right thing. and it's not good for me, believe me. kelly: republican congressman scott taylor of virginia joins us now, he's a member of the house appropriations committee which has a lot to do with taxes and how it's implemented and, in fact, finances in our country. sir, good to of you to join us today from my former -- i adopted virginia many years ago, so thank you for being a representative of the commonwealth. well, i want to ask you -- >> come back. kelly: will do. [laughter] what does this mean in terms of the future of tax reform in america, and does it really achieve the goal that the

president is touting of helping the middle class? >> well, let me preface this by saying my thoughts and prayers are going out to those folks in puerto rico. i just came from a fund raise tore get things to puerto rico to then those folks out -- kelly: very good. >> i want to say that. but, yes, i do think so. look, i was raised by a single mother, four kids in the house. i know a little bit of money in our pocket would have disproportionately helped our family. i do think the framework that has been agreed to with the house and the senate and the president, the white house, of course, will bring relief to the middle class. will it benefit some folks? i know that's some of the criticism, will it benefit some people that maybe some don't want benefited? the rich? okay, i want everybody to benefit, i want everybody to create economic activity, and i want that to happen this year so that next year working families see it right away. kelly: that's a good thing. but now on the other side of the

aisle you have democrats like senate minority leader chuck schumer who is basically stating this, he tweeted this: and what kind of tax reform plan removes the state and local deduction when that's what keeps middle class families from being taxed twice? your response to that? >> let me first say with all due respect to senate schumer, he was out smashing the plan before he even knew what was in it. i think it's important for democrats and republicans to come to the table. if you're not coming to the table, there's no question that families are paying more taxes than in the history of the nation. you're not doing what's right by your constituents. the senator's from a high-tax state in new york, of course, so maybe he is trying to help out his cob stitch wents, of course. -- constituents. but the outline and the core document is not the end product. there will be negotiations, so come to the table. if you're a democrat and you represent people that want tax relief, you'd better be at the

table and helping them out just with us as republicans as well, we have a historic opportunity here. kelly: congressman, it's well said. bringing everyone to the table, and what about being able to listen to the american people? if in particular, the middle class which has been up in arms and raising their hands saying, please, help us deal with the economy that we've been dealing with all of these years. will this plan help set the stage for doing that and change the tone of the partisan bickering over all of the issues including health care, tax reform and even puerto rico? >> well, it certainly would be wonderful if we can come together in a bipartisan way to help those working families. look, there's one reason -- one of the big reasons why we have president trump today is because you have republicans and democrats who are working families who have had stagnant wages and who are paying more taxes than in the history of the nation. so, yeah, they feel taken advantage of at the top and the bottom and that they haven't been helped. so i think there is an opportunity, and i'm an

optimist, of course, that you can come together in a wisconsin partisan way. -- bipartisan way. i do believe the framework that was presented will absolutely help middle class families, working families. kelly: we will be watching this, representative scott taylor. by the way, thanks for attending that fundraiser in virginia beach to help people in puerto rico. obviously, a lot of hearts and minds are out there for the people there. >> proud of my community coming together. thank you, sir. kelly: good for you. y'all jewell a major revelation in the nuclear showdown with north korea. secretary of state rex tillerson saying by i don't pyongyang mige entirely closed off to the u.s. up next, what he said and how it might actually raise the prospects for talks. plus, falling rocks at yosemite national park killing two people in separate incidents this week, and now we're learning how hard it can actually be to stop those giant slabs from tumbling down. ahead, we'll have a live report out of the west. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ julie: secretary of state rex tillerson in beijing confirming the u.s. has direct lines of communication with north korea. tillerson meeting with chinese leaders today and also expressing optimism over u.s./china relations. listen. >> as you have noted, this is a relationship that continues to grow and mature on the strength of the relationship between yourself and president trump. we look forward to advancing that relationship with this upcoming summit. julie: joining me now, ambassador john bolton, former u.s. ambassador to the united nations, senior fellow at the american enterprise institute and a fox news contributor. thank you so much for talking to us. >> glad to be with you. julie: we have never really quite seen a u.s. president talk as sternly as president trump has with his own way of communicating via twitter, via ambassadors, etc. would you say the president is doing a good job at basically

showing pyongyang that this president means business? >> well, i think his main audience really is china and convincing them that this is no longer the barack obama administration. and frankly, i think the best communication along that line was when the president and president xi jinping of china were having dinner at mar-a-lago and the president announced he had just fired 59 cruise missiles at syria. that could be described as a wake-up call. you know, i think the language is important to show that the president's got resolve and, you know, we'll see with respect to china in particular if it's having an effect. julie: china doesn't want a war here, and china has always held the key to these sanctions in order to really squeeze north korea economically. tillerson also telling reporters off camera during a trip, this trip to china, that we are probing, so stay tuned. we ask would you like to talk, we have lines of communication to pyongyang. we're not in a dark situation.

what do you make of those words? >> well, i think he may be a little misinformed. you know, we have regular contact and have had for many years with the north korean mission to the united nations. and that can occur at any time. normally they meet, i don't know, once a month, have lunch together, enjoy the food. there isn't much to talk about. and frankly, there isn't much to talk talk to north korea right now. we've talked about their nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program for 25 years, and they've used that to conceal their ongoing nuclear and missile activities. during that time they've lied repeatedly about their night give up their nuclear program. so we can talk to north korea all we like, it isn't going to make any difference. julie: yeah. and tillerson is also quoted as saying if north korea would stop firing its missiles, that would calm things down a lot, and you just hit the nail on the held there. history proves that talk is not going to get anywhere, and they are never going to stop firing off these missiles. so then how will tillerson's

high-level talks in china actually help put the right kind of pressure on the rogue nation and hope, i guess, that the regime will be forced to retreat from its nuclear arms and missile programs? >> well, i think the secretary needs to convey very directly what the president said at the kwr50eu9ed nations -- united nations during his speech which is that the denuclearization of north korea is the only to way forward. and that definitely means that stopping firing missiles isn't going to be the way to resolve this. denuclearization means finally, after all these years, eliminating their nuclear capability. julie: how do you do that? >> and who's responsible? china's responsible. it's responsible for the assistance it's given north korea in nuclear technology and ballistic missile development over the years, it's responsible for keeping the regime afloat with massive supplies of oil, food and humanitarian supplies. north korea's not america's problem, north korea's china's

problem. but for a long time the chinese have said, well, just negotiate with north korea. you resolve it. that's got to stop. we've got to say to them, you resolve it with north korea -- meaning denuclearization -- or we will take firmer steps. julie: right. but when the president spoke at the u.n., he did make it the united states' problem when he said if you continue to threating our allies such as south korea and japan, we will basically blow you off the map. i mean, he threatened to, basically, wipe out 25 million people in north korea. the secretary of state, you know, right now trying to lay the groundwork for president trump. he will be visiting the country in november. what needs to be done between now and then because there's words that north korea is planning on firing off more missiles sometime in the next couple weeks. >> sure. their program has not slowed down, and it won't slow down. i don't really expect much from china in the next couple weeks. xi jinping is preparing for an upcoming communist party conference, it's a big event

that will help consolidate his power, make him the most, the strongest chinese leader maybe since mao she tongue -- mao she tupg, but it has to be very clear that we expect given china's knew anemic influence over north korea, if it means what it has said these last a 25 years that they don't want north korea to have nuclear weapons, the way to avoid the war they don't want and the massive flow of north korean refugees into china that would result from it is to destroy the north korean nuclear weapons program. that's what's got to happen here. otherwise we will be extorted by north korea and anybody else they sell their weapons to as far as the eye can see. julie: i want to ask you a question that was posed in a fox news poll basically asking if trump's talk and tweets on north korea are helpful or not helpful. 70% responded not helpful. what say you? >> i just think it's irrelevant. we're talking about -- julie: but if you had to answer,

helpful or not helpful? >> i don't think it makes any difference, honestly. international relations at level are not decided by tweets or comments or anything else -- julie: of course. >> they're decided by hard political calculation, and we need to make some hard political calculations that we've missed the past 25 years. so i think the president's warning to north korea, if you have to say helpful or unhelpful, i'd say helpful. this is not barack obama's administration anymore, north korea, wake up. julie: yeah. all right, and one more last fox poll here. basically, addressing trump's handling of north korea asking not tough, too tough, enough or about right? and 46%, the majority there, thinking that he is handling it the right way. so not necessarily believing that the betweens and the communication, the talks are helping the situation, but they do believe that he is handling it the right way. would you agree with that? >> yeah. nobody should misunderstand where the american people are on north korea and iran, while we're on the subject. they expect the president the defend the american people, and they don't like being threatened

by bizarre regimes with nuclear weapons. so i think trump can be even tougher than he has been, and it may be necessary to be as tough as you can get with north korea. i think if he explains his rationale, he'll be supported by a strong majority of the american people. and the rest of the world needs to understand that. julie: all right. john bolton, former ambassador, thank you very much. >> thank you. julie: kelly? kelly: there's new information on the two massive rock falls at yosemite national park which killed one man and injured at least two others this week. alicia acuna is live from denver with more details. >> reporter: rangers and yeeologists say they get -- geologists say they get about 80 rock slides a year, but what is rare is when someone is killed or hurt, both of which happened this week one day after another. on thursday a rock slide, a slab the side of a 36-story building peeled off the world famous el capitan formation and fell about 400 feet, and down below were

jim and rachel evans of florida. fortunately for them, they were in their suv, but jim ended up in the hospital after some of that debris went right through their sunroof. >> we were trying to outrun it. it was like, go, let's go. and at the same time, my husband reached up, and he was like, oh, my head, my head, because it was bleeding profusely. it hurt him. >> reporter: the couple caught in a rock slide from the day before was not as fortunate. 32-year-old andrew foster and his wife lucy were on their first wedding anniversary vacation visiting from the u.k. when a large piece of granite broke away and fell onto them. andrew was killed and his wife is in critical condition. geologists say when slabs of granite detach, it's all part of the natural life of the rock. moisture gets in the cracks and forces the rock to expand and contract with the hot and cold temps. eventually, something's going to give. the thing is, there's no way to know when. >> no, it's not possible to

predict rock falls, predicting a rock fall means you know exactly where it will occur, exactly when it will occur and how big it will be. and so we're a long way from being able to determine all of those things and make a prediction. >> reporter: and thing is, kelly, the visitors there and the climbers are not scared off. they say they're going to continue to climb in yosemite as well as on el capitan. kelly? kelly: and climb with the abundance of caution. thank you, alicia acuna. julie: a stern message from the head of the u.s. air force academy as a racest incident on campus -- racist incident on campus. >> and if you can't treat someone from another race or a different color skin with dig dignity and respect, then you need to to get out. julie: why he's speaking out now and how the air force is cracking down on racism at the academy. plus, a new slate of nfl games tomorrow, so will the national anthem protests continue? up next, the continuing debate sweeping the country.

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♪ ♪ kelly: and welcome back. the head of the u.s. air force academy putting all 4,000 cadets on notice, saying race u.s.es -- racists will not be tolerated. >> if you can't treat someone from another race or a different color skin with dig dignity and respect, you need to get out. grab your phones, i want you to videotape this so that you have it, so that you can use it. so that we all have the moral courage together. kelly: the general gathered the cadets and faculty in a hall on campus to deliver his message. the stern warning comes after racial slurs were discovers on the dorm room doors of five african-american cadets earlier this week. julie: all eyes on the nfl ahead of another day of games tomorrow

as fans weigh in on whether national anthem protests by players will again steal the spotlight. i'm going to guess, yes. bryan llenas is live with more. >> reporter: hi, julie. all eyes will be on how players and teams will respond after last week's broad protest and displays of unity following president trump's disparaging comments about players who decide to kneel during the anthem in protest of racial inequality and police brutality. now, we are now hearing from dallas cowboys' owner jerry jones who spoke on a radio station yesterday about his team's decision to kneel before the national anthem last week. he confirmed that president trump called him this week to discuss the protests. jones saying, quote: he did call. he was complimentary, which doesn't mean that in any way we acquiesced to what he was implying. what we, the dallas cowboys, wanted to do was make a statement and certainly not dishonor the flag. the debate is whether you are dishonoring it or not, and to stand up there and say a group such as the nfl and our players

are doing anything that doesn't respect the flag is just not something that could be accepted. now, no word as to whether the cowboys will do the same this week. dez bryant says they will stand for the anthem, we'll see. new orleans saints' quarterback drew brees tweeted yesterday his team will adopt the cowboys' method of kneeling in solidarity before the anthem tomorrow. and meanwhile legendary college football coach lou holtz on "fox & friends" this morning says coaches should just not allow politics inside the locker room. >> the first thing i told the football team every fall, we'll not promote any cause whether it be abortion, gay rights, gun laws, we're here to promote this university, and you're not going to bring girlfriends, you're not going to bring a slogan, a cause onto our football team. >> reporter: now, nfl ratingsing are down 31% in the first three weeks --11% compared to last year, and the protests during the anthem are the main reason fans are watching fewer

nfl game. you can see there 47% followed by 21% as the other for reasons as to people watching less football. system restaurants are choosing not to air games altogether because of the protests, and directv is offering refunds for fans who want to cancel their sunday ticket packages because of this. julie? julie: bryan llenas, thank youful kelly. can. kelly: former football star o.j. simpson could be a free man as soon as monday after serving hard time in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping. now questions are swirling over where he will go after his release, and one state is strongly against taking him. plus, president trump lashing out at the mayor of san wouldn't for criticizing his administration's efforts to help puerto rico after hurricane maria. is this a smart move?

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♪ ♪ julie: o.j. simpson could soon be a free man, in fact, as soon as monday, day after tomorrow. after spending nine years behind bars in a 2008 armed robbery and kidnapping case. but florida's attorney general, pam bondi, ain't having it. in fact, she's trying to prevent him from returning to her state. yesterday she sent a letter to the florida d. of corrections' secretary saying, and i'm quoting: floridians are well aware of mr. simpson's background with, his wanton disregard for the lives of others and of his scofflaw attitude with respect to the heinous acts for which he has been found civilly liable. our state should not become a country club for this convicted criminal. kelly: president trump lashing out at the mayor of san juan for criticizing his response in puerto rico and claiming that the federal government isn't

doing enough to support the island in the aftermath of hurricane maria. trump also taking to twitter to criticize media networks for their coverage of the relief effort tweeting this, quote: the fake news networks are working overtime in puerto rico doing their best to take the spirit away from our soldiers and first responders. shame. joining us now to discuss is kevin sheridan, a former senior adviser to the romney-ryan 2012 ticket and former communications director to paul ryan. also with us is don callaway, former democratic missouri state representative and founder of pine street strategies. gentlemen, thank you for joining used today. kevin, let's begin with you. your response to what you're seeing in terms of the tweeting war between the president and the mayor of san juan while people in puerto rico are just saying, can somebody help us please? >> yeah. i think the early criticism of president trump on his response

to this disaster, this apocalyptic situation in puerto rico, was largely unfair. and i think it's because the media has wanted to create -- anytime a republican is in office and there's a storm, they want to recreate katrina, and anytime there's a scandal, they want to recreate watergate with. i think that's just the way the media is always going to treat especially republican presidents. but look, i don't think the latest tweets by the president were particularly helpful this morning. i don't think he needs to get into a media narrative fight when people are still very much at risk in puerto rico, and his focus should be on putting the entire with american people -- entire american people, all of our resources and assets in support of the relief effort there. and i wish that's where he would focus because this is a really serious situation, and this politically speaking is an incredible opportunity for him to provide some real leadership here. kelly: don, this is a time that many people are saying, whatsome let's not get into politics here

or anyone pointing fingers at each other, let's get to the most immediate need, and that's helping the people of puerto rico. >> yeah. you know, i said on this network about a month ago and praised the president for his response to harvey in houston. he did fantastic. well, as well as he did there, it's been just that bad in puerto rico. the tweets this morning are absolutely despicable when this woman is watching her friends and family and relatives die and she's looking at a city and, indeed, an entire island that is facing 6-9 months without power. when the president did address it, he was more concerned about the banking issues and wall street. puerto ricans are americans. there are more americans living in puerto rico than there are in 21 mainland states, and their tax dollars are important. it's a very, very sad day. i would say it's a new low for this president, but he might surprise me again tomorrow. as well as he did in houston and florida, he's done that poorly here, and we need a serious response. i'm glad he lifted the

restrictions on the jones act, but this is not time for political twitter worlds. it's very sad. kelly: don, i hear the concerns that both of you have, you and kevin. i have someone who tweeted me as well, someone when knows me personally, and i know them, and i know their family, and they're toughing it out in puerto rico. they're over in ponce which has not been looked upon yet by federal relief people as far as we know, but help is on the way. he said that his sister is roughing it like in the 1700s, no light, water, gas, washing clothes by hand, but they're hopeful and standing in faith that the lord will provide. well, at some point people need help. and when you see politicians get into this twitter war, even nancy pelosi tweeting this, if we can bring that up, because this, to me, is something else that's going on to. she says when a hurricane hits, there are no 40 democrats or republicans -- no democrats or republicans, only americans. families struggling to survive.

and then she gets into this, shameful. she could have left it right there, as far as i'm concerned, and perhaps my friend is concerned, with americans helping each other struggling to survive, but again that twist. so can we play games with this, politics with this at such a critical juncture, kevin? >> yeah. i don't think it's helpful for any politician to be doing that right now. everybody should be focused on the response. and, look, this is still unfolding as we speak. there are still people very much who have not been, you know, reached yet. and the electricity grid is completely down. the federal government is doing, i think, you know, as much as it can, but this is an incredible situation that a flattened island and, you know, the challenges are just ten times as much as we've seen -- kelly: don, i've got to go, but i want to give you the last word really quickly. >> the president is the president, he's in charge of fema, and he has to step up and respond. and in the absence of that, i encourage americans to support the americans in puerto rico by

donating to the american red cross. kelly: what we need are words that help and heal and bring hope and seeing people work together to get this done as opposed to these tweets that are going on between politicians. >> yeah. i think everybody should literally -- >> shower. >> -- lift their gaze to try to lift the people of puerto rico up. kennedy: we've got to leave it there, but thank you for sharing your perspectives on this. >> thanks for having us. kelly: that will bring it to an end. we're all concern about puerto rico. julie: yes. we are praying for them to bounce back. hopefully, that electricity gets back sooner than expected. that's going to do it for us, we'll be back here at 4:00. and then i'll see you on "the fox report" at 3.

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>> i've been waiting for this for a long time. we are going to cut taxes for the middle class, make the tax code simpler and more fair for everyday americans and we are going to bring back the jobs and wealth that have left our country and most people thought left our country for good. paul: welcome to the journal editorial report, i'm paul gigot. that was president trump in indianapolis touting the republican's long awaited blueprint for overhauling the u.s. tax code. details of the plan released wednesday include reducing individual tax brackets from 7