captioning funded by cbs it's wednesday, september 20th, 2017. this is the "cbs morning news." a magnitude 7.1 earthquake kills more than 200 people in mexico, and the death toll continues to rise. rescue crews are digging through the rubble to find people trapped in crumb bling buildings. hurricane maria bears down on puerto rico. officials fear it will knock out power and communications for days. and president trump delivers his first speech to the united nations and issues a threat.

>> the united states has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. good morning from the studio 57 newsroom at cbs news headquarters here in new york. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. this morning recovery efforts are under way in mexico where an unknown number of people are believed to be trapped in buildings that collapsed during the earthquake. the president is urging people to remain calm, but the death toll is climbing. at least 248 people were killed by the 7.2 magnitude quake. 44 buildings collapsed in mexico city alone. nikki battiste reports. >> reporter: rescuers are working through the night

searching for survivors after a powerful earthquake hit yesterday afternoon. at this hour they're used wheelbarrows to dig through. dozens of others are missing. family members rushed to the scene looking for loved ones. searches wrote silence on the buildings with spray paint so they could search through the rubble. he's looking for his cousin. the only thing they have told us is to go to the hospital to verify if our family has gone there. but our family have gone there and we don't have news on our family members. mexico city's mayor said in the capital alone at least 44 buildings came crashing to the ground. mexico's president enrique peno

addressed them. he said this earthquake is a hard test and painful one for our country. many businesses and schools around the area were going through earthquake drills. nikki battiste for cbs news, new york. and cbs news radio correspondent adrienne bard is in mention colorado city. adrienne, you were there when it hit. tell us what it was like. >> reporter: well, anne-marie, it was absolutely terrifying. this one felt strongerlet at my home it kept getting stronger. i could hear things falling from shelves. outside you could feel the ground rolling and vibrating. >> that sounds absolutely

terrifying. i know the sun has not come up at all at least thus far. what are authorities telling people to do? are people still searching through the rubble even through the night? >> reporter: there have been rescue efforts ongoing all nighting and in some cases they have pulled people out alive, and in some cases unfortunately they're pulling people out not alive under all this rubble. they've been told to stay put if they can, don't hinder the rescue workers. the balanambulances need to get through. but obviously those whose buildings have been damaged are sleeping in shelter and a on th sidewalks. >> well, adrienne, i appreciate hearing from you and glad you're okay. now to the dangerous hurricane maria that's expected to run over puerto rico later today.

its outer bands are already being felt. officials warn it could hit with force not ever seen before. yesterday it hit the virgin islands with sustained winds at 165 miles per hour. maria is potentially a catastrophic storm. david begnaud reports from san juan. >> reporter: people in puerto rico wasted no time in getting ready for the island's impact. the shelters can accommodate 150,000 people. puerto rico's governor went door to door in a flood-prone area where as much as 18 inches of rain could fall. what have you told the people of puerto rico as to how serious this going to be. >> this is the most serious storm in puerto rico. >> reporter: myra sanchez and her family have hunkered down. >> most of the structures in puerto rico are of comment and comment-roofs, so we're pretty shelter here. >> reporter: they're expected to

lose 100% of electricity which could leave them without power for days or weeks. >> reporter: some residents caught the last flight to florida. >> everybody's scared. people are fighting for water. they don't have water. >> reporter: governor rick scott has warned people to be prepare. governor scott also reminded them of the storm. there are 2 1/2 months left to hurricane season. eric fisher of aour sister station wbz has more. now it is puerto rico in the path. so we're taking a look at a tight core of the storm, but that corpasing right over puerto rico as we head through the morning, so the strongest winds crossing the island.

hopefully everyone here in a safe shelter. this is going to be a very high impact storm, perhaps the worst the hit the island since 1928. that's the only time a category 5 has made landfall on record f after that, those winds will also be strong on the coast of dominican republic and then a track that takes it closer to the bahamas, especially the turks and caicos as we look toward the end of the week. you can see the packet throughout the hurricane season as you look at the islands. harvey took a track through the south. ir ma through the nourktd and south and very few areas across the caribbean have been untouched by hurricane season. up on the list, two of the strongest storms ever passing through the atlantic. along the eastern seaboard this weekend we'll be watching carefully as it may approach the east coast as we head toward the middle of next week. i'm eric fisher for cbs news.

ahead, the heatelatest on hurricane maria. depending on your vurks president trump's speech was bold or outrages. mr. trump made clear his american policy taking aim at the regime in north korea. >> the scourge of our planet today is those which violates every principle of which unites nations is reached. >> reporter: president trump warned north korea and iran must be stopped and the u.s. is not afraid to use military force if necessary. >> the united states has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allieallies, we will have n choice but to totally destroy north korea. >> reporter: the president then used his newly coined nickname

for north korean dictator kim jong-un. >> rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime. >> reporter: he accused iran of terrorism a terrorism. >> we will stop islamic trichlt because we will not allow it to tear up our nation and indeed tear up the entire world. >> reporter: mr. trump implied he might pull out of the iran nuclear deal. a decision is due next month. >> frankly that deal is an embarrassment to the united states and i don't think you've heard the last of it, believe me. >> reporter: closer to home mr. president called cuba and venezuela failed estates. >> we are prepared to take

further action if the government of venezuela persists on its path to impose authoritarian rule on the venezuelan people. >> major garrett, cbs news. some backlash over the latest republican effort to appeal the affordable care act. several republicans say they are opposed because their states would suffer billions in spending cuts. they're confident but acknowledge they're not sure they have the votes to replace the measure. states could obtain waivers allowing them to do with insurance safe fwards such as forbidding insurers to charge higher premiums based on health status. in baton rouge, louisiana, the white man accused of shooting two black men last week says his client vehemently denies guilt. police say he's charged with

first-degree murder and charged with shooting into a balm family's home. surveillance detail and dna link him to the crime. five member of a football team face felony charges for an attack on a teammates. craigle turned himself in. last year he and others taped the victim's hands and sodomized him before dumping him in a park. coming up on the "morning news" now, photo outrage. nurses at a naval hospital pose inappropriate pictures with babies on social media. and tennis champ serena williams writes a touching note to her mother. this is the "cbs morning news."

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serena williams pays tribute to her mother and the mounting things on the probe. the "washington post" reports the republican national committee is using money from a legal account to help pay for president trump's lawyers in multiple russian investigations. the rnc reported more than $230,000 to mr. trump's attorneys in august alone, $100,000 to his pernlts attorney john dowd and more than $130,000 to jay sekulow, another member of his team. the jacksonville.com says there were disturbing photos of newborns. a nurse is giving a middle finger to a newborn with the caption how i feel about these mini satans. and a nurse made a baby dance to rap music.

and "people" magazine reports on a letter from serena williams to her mother. in the note she shared on reddit yesterday, she thanked her mom for being the role model i need to endure all the hardships i now regard as challenges. i hope to teach my baby alexis olympia the same. still ahead, the new way to return items to amazon. we will tell you how the department store kohl's is making those returns easier. yes. this is the j.d. power award for dependability. now i want you to give it to the friend that you think is most dependable. ohhhh. ughh. wow. that's just not fair. does she have to? she doesn't have to! oh, i don't? no, but it's a tough choice, isn't it? yes. well luckily, chevy makes it a little easier. cause it's the only brand to earn j.d. power dependability awards for cars, trucks and suvs - two years in a row. that's amazing. chevy's a name you can trust!

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here's look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. i don't know how else to start this interview other than say i saying what happened? what happened? >> it was a question i asked myself starting on election night. >> what time on election night? >> well, as i write in the book, midnight. >> yeah. >> midnight. >> i remember. >> a dark time of the soul, midnight. >> yeah. i'm waiting for it to not be midnight soon. >> yeah, right. >> that was hillary clinton last

night with stephen colbert on the "late show." clinton was on the show promoting her new book "what happened." on the "cbs moneywatch" ford trims production and kohl's will expand its returns. roxana saberi is at the new york stock exchange. good morning, roxana. >> good morning, anne-marie. it's expected to raise it interest rate. on thursday the dow climbed 39 points, s&p climbed 2 points, and nasdaq inched up. they'll be shut for one to three weeks to reduce inventories of models including the fusion, mustang, lincoln, and lincoln continental. >> and kohl's says it will

accept returns bought on amazon. 82 of its stores will pack and ship the items back to amazon for free. the move could bring more traffic to kohl's. it announced it would sell some of its amazon items at kohl's. >> that is a great idea. love it. roxana saberi at the new york stock exchange. thanks. >> you bet. still ahead, a swing for the record books. alex gordon breaks a record with a solid hit last night. when food is good and clean and real, it's ok to crave. and with panera catering, there's more to go around. panera. food as it should be.

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alex gordon. >> that home run by kansas city's alex gordon broke the major league season's home run record. it was the 4,967th home run record in 2017. there are 12 more days to play this season. and the florida keys are slowly opening back up for business after hurricane irma. restaurants are welcome back customers but some are only offering limited menus. many businesses are still making repairs and it will be a while before the keys are ready for tourists. power is up fehr 98% of the upper keys and 76% of the lower keys. coming up on "cbs this morning," bobby moynihan, star of the new comedy, "me, myselfing and i joets join us in studio 57. i'm anne-marie green. this is the "cbs morning news."

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our top stories this morning. the death toll from yesterday's powerful quick has risen to at least 248. dozens of buildings were destroyed. the mexican government declared a state of disaster. mexico's president urged people not to panic. and a powerful hurricane maria is expected to slam into puerto rico this morning with 165-mile-per-hour winds. overnight maria hit the u.s. virgin islands. puerto rico's governor warns residents maria could hit with as for and violence the kun

island has not seen in generations. paul manafort was the target of an fbi investigation. as jeff glor reports it included electronic surveillance of the former trump campaign chairman. >> reporter: cbs news learns the surveillance on paul manafort occurred last year. according to the former u.s. official it included intercepts about the campaign. it included conversations between man fort and mr. trump. the recordings are now part of robert mueller's special investigation which appears to be intently focused on man fort. just last week manafort spokesman jason maloni appeared before grand jury. in july they raided his condo by reportedly picking the locks to get in while he was asleep. >> how would you characterize

it? >> very aggressive. >> he says investigators may be pressuring manafort to give up information in exchange for leniency. >> what to prosecutors do to pressure someone to cooperate sf. >> doing exactly what they're doing now. >> search warrants. >> search warrants, interviewing everyone around him and advise him he's about to be indicted. >> in a statement for mr. manafort they called on the department of justice to release any intercepts involving him and any non-americans claiming, quote, there nothing there. manafort has been under legal pressure before. in 1989 he was accused of being part of a scheme to steer millions of dollars to well connected republican operatives through a new jersey housing project. during a congression alg hearing the well connected lobbyist was pressed to describe what his job entailed. >> you could characterize this as influence.

senate intelligence committee leaders abruptly canceled a meeting between michael cohen and an investigator. the committee later invited cohen to appear at a public hearing next month. jeff pegues, cbs news, washington. on "cbs this morning" we ool talk to u.n. ambassador nikki haley about what's next following the president's bold deal and the iran nuclear deal. that's the "cbs morning news" for this wednesday. thank you for watching. i'm anne-marie green. have a great day. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

utter devastation in mexico the morning the death toll continues to rise after a powerful earthquake, strikes the capitol, now the search is on for survivors. meanwhile people in puerto rico and u.s. virgin island are bracing for hurricane maria dire warning from the island's governor. students in methacton has the day off again we will update you on the teachers strike entering the third day, it is wednesday, september 20th, good morning, everyone i'm jim donovan. i am's natasha brown, rahel is off. new jersey shore is certainly feeling the effects of hurricane jose, feeling his strength, as the storm continues to impact the coast rine. waves crashed into sea walls during last night's hig