to all but 1,000 homes. president obama has signed a disaster declaration to help with the costs now estimated in the billions. in a second we'll talk with the head of fema. but to my colleague, sarah dallof. you've talked to one family that's lost everything and we have heard that story over and over, sarah. >> reporter: yeah, we have heard it over and over again, tamron. we're in one of those neighborhoods that could be affected by lake katherine should it breach. i want to show you the number of cars on the side of the road. these are homeowners, volunteers, some of them friends, some of them complete strangers who are coming out today despite these concerns to help homeowners kind of get what they can out of their homes, take stock of what belongings are left here. it is a very emotional day for these homeowners, some of whom are seeing their belongings and their homes for the first time since these floods hit. we'll pull up right now alongside one of the homes of a

family who, like you said, has lost everything. we'll get out in just a second and show you. but i want to tell you the family actually -- initially rescuers were going to leave them in the home until -- they had a little boy. they were on the second story. but once they told them they had a little boy, the rescuers did decide to get them out. we'll step out of the car and show you what they are doing today. here's what is left of their belongings. they were able to grab some photos and zip drives initially when they left the home but now you can see all of their antiques, some heirloom china, pieces like this now spread out across their lawn just soaked by floodwaters, contaminated waters, by the way. charles vernon, you live in the neighborhood. your home is not affected but you are out here helping today. talk to me about the spirit of team work here in the neighborhood. >> well, forest acres is a very small community within columbia itself. we're just a great big family. i know that if it happened to my

house, all these people would be over there helping me. that's the sense of community we have here. we just have a sense of loyalty to each other and you never want to see anybody go through something like this because it could have just as easily been you. >> what are you seeing inside? >> it's a catastrophe inside. water's almost up to the ceiling. everything on first floors are almost done. houses will be demolished. hopefully everybody has the appropriate flood insurance and coverage because there's a lot of damage and loss. >> thank you. i spoke to the homeowner a few minutes ago, asked him if he wanted viewers to know anything. he said that they are so incredibly appreciative of the volunteers and the emergency officials. 40,000 people in this area still without water. obviously this home is one of them but the homeowner tells me they are incredibly lucky. they have friends and family who not only are helping them here but helping them get moved into temporary housing. they have closing and those precious mementos they were able to get out and this team of

volunteers is standing behind them for this long-term recovery. >> greg fugate is the administrator of the federal emergency management agency. fema is on ground in south carolina and staging hundreds of tractor trailers packed with flood relief and supplies. thank you for joining us yet again and of course during this tragic situation in south carolina. we know that your thoughts are with the folks there but, craig, talk to us about the staging and how you get the supplies to these people as quickly as possible. >> well, what you're hearing is best response is really neighbors helping neighbors. governor haley is primarily still dealing with the response phase. we have rivers still rising. people may need to understand though it may have stopped raining, you may still be in an area that you may have to evacuate. this isn't over yet. we're support search and rescue operations. we deployed two you are gan national search and rescue teams. we have supplies standing by but

people can now start registering for financial assistance with fema. president obama acting on the governor's request yesterday declared several counties as disaster areas so we're working with the state. but also getting ready to start supporting clean-up and recovery. >> fema sent out a tweet a short time ago, south carolina emergency management, i should say, they are concerned about floodwaters carrying viral and bacterial infections along with the risk of drowning and they advise people to keep children, pets away. that's just another concern added in to the mix here. >> that's what you're going to have in flooding. you have contamination. we want people to stay out of the water, stay away from the water and understand that even though it may have stopped raining, it is not safe in many places and you need to be prepared if another dam fails to evacuate quickly. so stay tuned to your local officials if that becomes a requirement. >> one of the most difficult challenges is something beyond anyone's control at this point,

is that columbia sits at the convergence of three rivers. that's why we are seeing this series of potential dam breaches leer. with that said, at this point is it wiser to evacuate those people particularly lake katherine, some 50,000 people? or is it a better approach to wait here? >> that's why these decisions are made at the local level. they're the ones that are watching the dam. they're in the best position to make these critical decisions. and again, it is important that people heed the evacuation orders. again, you have a very dynamic situation. it is changing as the rivers rise, as we see the crest being reached and the river waters moving further south. you need to pay attention to your local officials and if evacuations are called, it will be called by those local officials. you'll need to go quickly. >> craig fugate, from fema, thank you again during this very busy time. the top u.s. commander in afghanistan is testifying right now on capitol hill about two major issues in afghanistan.

first, general john campbell insisted the hospital hit by a u.s. air strike over the weekend killing at least 22 people was targeted by mistake, not deliberately as doctors without borders has claimed. >> a hospital was mistakenly struck. we would never intentionally target a protected medical facility. i must allow the investigation to take its course, and therefore i'm not at liberty to discuss further specifics at this time. however, i assure you that the investigation will be thorough, objective, and transparent. >> on the other major issue, senate armed services committee chairman john mccain pressed the general on whether current conditions, including the resurgence of the taliban and serious gaps in the capabilities of afghan forces, warrant change in the u.s. plan to withdraw almost all of the remaining 9,800 u.s. troops by the end of next year. >> could i respectfully ask

again, do the conditions on the ground warrant a change to the current plan that calls for by the end of 2016 we'd be an embassy centric force. >> again, based on conditions on the ground, based on the transitions i've talked about,dy do believe that we have to provide our senior leadership options different than the current plan that we're going with. absolutely. >> joining me now, msnbc military analyst and medal of honor recipient for his heroic actions in the vietnam war, retired army colonel jack jacobs. colonel, thank you so much for your time. let's pick up where we just heard there, that there may be a need to change the strategy, the plan, and how many u.s. forces could potentially remain behind in afghanistan. what's your take? >> well, originally the idea was that by this time we'd have about half the forces we currently have, and then in another year we wouldn't have

anybody except those required in the embassy. but what's happened is that nobody's gone home and we currently have exactly the same number we had at the beginning of the year. i think that general campbell has provided a number of options, including perhaps as much as doubling the size of the force in order to accommodate changes in the tactical situation, tamron. >> the tactical situation is one that it's very difficult to keep up with, even for those of us who cover this every day. you have now the headlines, colonel, as you well know, that the resurgence of the taliban, that somehow in the midst of all of this, the taliban has been able to increase its power, maybe increase its numbers, and its leader that was essentially seen -- has turned into a very powerful figure. >> yeah. what's happened also is that the taliban is trying to test the new government in afghanistan. we already know that the afghan army is not up to the task. their intelligence capability is actually quite limited.

this attack in kunduz was a big surprise. the reaction to it took some time. this is liable to happen again in other places. and all of that because the afghan army is not really up to the task. in addition to that, we were going to assist the afghan air force to be able to provide its own air support so that we wouldn't have to have people on the ground and forward air controllers and all that. of course the afghan air force has been very slow in developing. they only have two working helicopters and so on. everything is going much more slowly than anybody be anticipated which is why i think general campbell has provided other options for the president. >> again, the president looking over these proposals. no final decision has been made at this time. but going back, colonel, to your point that it came as a surprise to most of the taliban was able to capture kunduz last week, a key city, it sounds very similar to the headlines with isis just a few months ago, the continued

surprise that that terror organization was able to capture significant number of territory and cities. >> yeah. there are two things about this. the first is intelligence. you need to have good intelligence which means good information, the act to process that information and so on and to be able to act on it. that's not up to speed. secondly, you have to have sufficient numbers of people -- we're talking about afghans now, not americans -- sufficient numbers of people who are loyal to the government in these districts. they don't have that either. until you have that -- >> but colonel, is there any indication the two things you just named there, would that change if these troops -- these u.s. troops were to remain? >> no. that wouldn't change it over the short term. but the idea is to keep fairly substantial numbers of americans on the ground to train and to assist the afghans into developing that capability. but you're not talking about getting this done, even with the right number of people, getting there done any time soon. >> colonel jack jacobs, thank you so much for your time.

we greatly appreciate it. now to presidential politics. exactly one week away from the first national debate. >> everybody thought hillary clinton was unbeatable. right? but we put together a benghazi special committee. what are her numbers today? >> republicans have spend millions attacking hillary because she's fighting for everything they oppose. from affordable health care to equal pay. she'll never stop fighting for you and the republicans know it. >> the new ad comes amid dropping poll numbers for clinton in early voting states. but on the gop side, senator marco rubio is gaining some momentum. rubio is now tied for third in our latest poll of republican voters. rubio is also now the main target of donald trump's attacks

on the campaign trail and on social media. trump pranked the senator last night sending him a case of bottled water with trump's face on every bottle. poking fun of rubio's infamous state of the union rebuttal more than two years ago. well, this morning on the "today" show, senator rubio responded to one of the main criticisms against him. his attendance record on the senate floor. >> are you placing your own personal ambitions above your responsibilities to your constituents down in florida? >> no. in fact the majority of the job of being a senator is not walking on to the senate floor and lifting your finger on a non-controversial issue and saying which way you will vote. the committee work and constituency service continues unabated. when you run for president, everyone that's run for president in the past has faced this. there are times when you're not going to be there. >> let's bring in msnbc political analyst david korn and former chairman of the republican national committee, michael steele. he's also an msnbc political analyst. chairman steele, yes, trump sent

over the bottle of water for the attention of everyone but he's also now calling senator rubio marco "amnesty" rubio because of his time as a parts of the gang of eight. might that slow down any momentum, especially with the group that seems to be keeping donald trump on the top? >> i thought it was to david. i apologize. >> it would have been too easy for david to answer. >> yeah. i'm sorry. i was saying, david, what's your answer? you know, yeah, i think that trump recognizes and sees marco gaining momentum. he also sees it with carly. he think he's less enticed by the idea of tangling with ler. marco makes a good target. but marco has some great rebuttals to trump and he's done it pretty much in the same frame as carly has, without personalizing it, just sort of showing trump as a one-off candidate. whether or not this momentum

continues for him as you know, as you go up this ladder of popularity, success with your campaign and all of that, comes greater scrutiny and how he handles that will be the next big test going into and out of the third debate. >> here you both have what is definitely a soft spot with senator rubio with immigration, he was part of the team that put together what donald trump and others called the amnesty plan. he then withdrew his support from that. the whole reason donald trump says that he's been able to get out in front of all of the other candidates at this point is because of his strong stance against any plan regarding immigration reform. >> i can take that one? >> yes. go for it. >> okay. good. immigration is a twofer loss for marco rubio. to begin with, his previous stance in favor of comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship, what conservatives call at nemnesty,t donald trump calls amnesty, is

really not supported by 60%, 80% of the republican base and it is fueling donald trump's campaign to a large degree. plus the fact now that marco rubio has turned tail on his own position, has tried to explain it five different ways as he's run away from what he tried to do, shows that he didn't have the courage of his conviction. so you really give the opponents, even the democratic side or on the republican side, two lines of attack on him because the one thing he tried to do, the one major legislative accomplishment he aimed for in the senate, he ran away from and now is back-pedaling on. so it doesn't look good for him. >> i want to play what senator rubio said regard being immigration with cnbc's john harwood yesterday. >> if you create a special pathway you make it impossible to do anything on immigration because the argument you hear from people is, why should someone who came illegally be able to access citizenship or a

green card faster than someone who came here legally. it is a very valid argument and one that will serve as a strong impediment to making progress on immigration. >> there you have it, michael. to david's point, it is almost as if senator rubio is battling against senator rubio and that leaves him vulnerable for not only republican attack but also from an attack if he makes it through to face off against whomever is nominated on the democratic side. >> i agree. it will be a very sticky problem for him because that was a moment where rubio was clearly the leading voice on immigration reform at the time. started to get some heat from inside the party from conservatives, from the tea party conservatives and he backed away from that. to make the argument going forward is going to be very difficult for him to do because he is walking this tight rope. as he goes up this ladder and he gets more momentum with his campaign, greater scrutiny will be placed on his words and his actions with respect to immigration. and the reality of it is that he

walked away from that opportunity. one of the things that the bases are looking for is your ability to stick in the fight, even when the winds are against you. that's why donald trump is so successful right now, because regardless of how you come at him, he's sticking in the fight on the principle that he staked out. that's something that the argument against rubio is, you didn't do, senator. >> some comments that secretary clinton made on telemundo regarding the obama administration's deportation strategy is getting some attention. i want to play what she said and get your reaction. >> i think we have to go back to being a much less harsh and aggressive enforcer. we need to of course take care of felons and violent people. i mean that goes without saying. but in the meantime, i'm not going to be breaking up families. >> she went on to say that the obama administration's deportation policy was part of a strategy to try to get republicans on board. she said the strategy has

failed, david. >> there's a complaint from some in the latino community that over the obama years that there have been a pretty extensive effort at deportation. it has been harsh. with his executive orders he's changed that direction whether it turned out that actually trying to bring republicans aboard with this policy didn't work. so i think her comments are a little bit out of step with the current reality. but they're certainly aimed at those out there who still have this lingering feeling that obama was harsher on deportation than he had to be before he shifted. but whatever the case may be, whatever happened with obama, her position is going to be so much better for latino voters than anything coming out of the republican side. it's hard to imagine how any republican at this stage in the game is going to be able to compete with democrats for these votes. it is almost inconceivablinconc.

>> it is also a larger issue of seeing hillary clinton now distance herself in some small ways or maybe later on turn in to more substantive ways from this administration? >> i think she's going to do that a little bit. nobody i think wants a third term of almost any two-term administration, whether democrat or republican. she want to seem a different little. she pointed that out in syria, probably not in a good way for the democratic primary voter. doing a little bit here. she'll find places. she's done that with gun control, too, in the last couple of days. >> thank you very much for joining me. michael steele and david corn. thanks a lot. coming up, john boehner delays the vote on who will replace him as house speaker. why our first read team says the delay can only harm kevin mccarthy. this as another candidate for house speaker, jason chaffetz, is harshly criticized by his former boss and fellow republican jon huntsman. it's part of this morning's

first read on politics. also ahead this morning, federal officials begin investigating the sinking of a u.s. cargo ship as families of the crew demand answers and to what happened. we'll have a live report. and the family of an american airlines pilot who suddenly died in flight is speaking out about their loved one and how passengers are now calling the co-pilot a hero. ♪ the way i see it, you have two choices; the easy way or the hard way. you could choose a card that limits where you earn bonus cash back. or, you could make things easier on yourself. that's right, the quicksilver card from capital one. with quicksilver you earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. so, let's try this again. what's in your wallet?

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we are back with developing news. the ntsb has announced this morning that they have obtained an investigation into the missing cargo ship "el faro." the coast guard has released new video showing the remains of one of the ship's two life boats which was torn apart by the

waves in weather during hurricane joaquin. the families of those on board the "el faro" are holding out hope that their loved ones will be found alive. the ship's cook sean rivera is a father of two and ha is a baby due this month. >> i believe that he's fighting with everything that he has in him. if there's a fight to be fought, he's fighting. that is our family. we want to make sure we bring them home from sea. >> nbc's mark potter is in jacksonville, florida with the very latest. mark, obviously this is the difficult part of the recovery or rescue if it is even possible at this point. how long does the coast guard plan to hold out hope as the families are? >> reporter: well, you're right, the families are having a really tough time here. they're coming to the union hall every day for an update from the coast guard hoping for good news and so far there just isn't any. coast guard has not said how long it will continue the search. they do say that overnight they

found nothing of significance in their continued search. certainly they have found no survivors. they're back out there today. they have covered an area the size of california. bigger than california. they're now concentrating on the area of two debris fields. it is a hard push. they've got a couple of c-130s out there, some coast guard cutters. they have help from the air force and the navy. the company has had some tugboats out there. but so far they have just found -- they have found no survivors that they have announced they are concentrating only on survivors. they have found, as you said, that lifeboat. they have found some rafts. life preservers. all these things that are really bad signs because they just haven't found the survivors that they're looking for. as time passes, the search becomes more desperate. it's been five days since they last heard from that ship so presumably any survivor would have been in the water now for that period of time. the ntsb is here and will be looking into the cause of the

accident. it is a very tough investigation because they don't have the ship and they don't have a big debris field to work with. so it will be hard. they'll use records and interviews to try to piece this together. meantime there is a lot of criticism here and in other areas about people putting that ship in harm's way. >> if you know that it is a tropical thunderstorm and there is a hurricane coming to puerto rico where you are going, have you got to be kidding me. you on a suicide mission. in my particular judgment you never should have sailed through those waters, period. period. >> reporter: now the company says the captain was trying to circumvent the storm but he lost propulsion. they have not said when that occurred or where that occurred, how close to the storm he was at that time, why that happened. all the coast guard knows is that that put the ship in a really tough position instead of going into the waves, it was turned by the waves like this, hit by those hurricane-force winds an waves and making a horrible situation a tragedy now

facing the rescuers and investigators. >> mark, thank you very much. turning now to new details about the american airlines pilot who died in the cockpit in the middle of a cross-country complete. captain michael johnston's wife tells nbc news he died of a heart attack. he was just 57 years old, the father of eight. and that he would have celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary in less than two weeks. this morning passengers are praising the co-pilot saying he saved their lives by staying calm while diverting and landing the plane. nbc's hallie jackson is here and spoke with captain johnston's wife. >> tamron, johnston's widow told me overnight that one of their first dates was actually flying in a plane. that's how much captain johnston loved to fly. she says he died doing what he loved. you talked about the praise for the co-pilot. all u.s. airliner are required to have at least two pilots in the cockpit and this is why. >> medical emergency. captain is incapacitated.

>> reporter: terrifying moments on the overnight flight but passengers never knew the pilot, 57-year-old michael johnston, had collapsed in the cockpit. >> they said that the pilot was really sick and that was it. then we saw like ambulances pulling up. >> reporter: four hours into the american airlines flight from phoenix to boston the co-pilot saying only the captain "wasn't feeling well" descended for an emergency landing in syracuse. calm but clearly concerned. >> the ambulance will meet you on the top of the ice ramp. >> as long as they have a way to get on the airplane quickly. we'll need them to get to the captain. thank you. >> if it wasn't for the co-pilot using a cool head, it might have been more disastrous. >> reporter: passengers hurried off plane, past flight attendants some say were in tears watching as emergency responders pulled up to the scene discovering later captain johnston had died. >> we've cried on and off today. just kind of feels like he's still on a trip and we can expect him home on wednesday. >> reporter: it is incredibly

rare for a commercial pilot to die mid flight. only happening six other times in the last two decades. pilots must retire by age 65 and have yearly physicals. johnston's wife says he was required to have exams more frequently after a bypass surgery in 2006. this morning johnston's family, his wife, their eight children and five grandkids are honoring his memory. >> loved everyone that was around him. an amazing father to his children and the best husband i could ever ask for. >> reporter: the head of american airlines sending thoughts and prayers to the captain's family. he's also praising the other crew members onboard that flight for their really incredible team work during an extremely difficult time making sure they kept calm and got that plane safely on the ground. >> incredible. hallie, thank you very much. coming up, new details about the oregon school shooter and how his mother may have had an impact on his fascination with

guns. what she posted online about keeping loaded weapons in the home. that's next. and later -- new reaction from the only person granted a personal audience with pope francis while in d.c. it's a former student of the pope who's gay and what that man is saying about kim davis' claim of meeting one-on-one with the pope. he joins us live. today, jason is here to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. aleve, all day strong. and try aleve pm, now with an easy open cap. want bladder leak underwear that try always discreet underwear and move, groove, wiggle, giggle, swerve, curve.

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community college last week. for over a decade, laurel harper, a registered nurse, offered online advice on various medical issues like asperger's syndrome. an autism spectrum disorder that she wrote both she and her son struggled with. "try sitting up all night, night after night with a screaming autistic head banger, and see if you feel the same way in six months. on the yahoo! answers board, using a profile named tweetie bird, harper also wrote about her firearm and gun law fascination. an interest she also shared with her son. "my son has much knowledge in this field," she said. on keeping loaded handguns at home, she wrote, "the ars and aks all have loaded mags. no one will be dropping by my house uninvited." mother and son, whom she never identified by name, went to shooting ranges together, according to reports. his father, ian mercer, told cnn -- >> how on earth could he compile

13 guns? >> reporter: more questions than answers in a senseless tragedy as a community tries to heal. miguel almaguer, nbc news, portland, oregon. >> we've reached out for comment from laurel harper but we've not received a response. coming up, a new report out today adds to the mystery hyped vice president joe biden's decision on whether to run for president. nbc's senior political editor mark murray joins us with that next. breaking news from south carolina. in a few minutes, governor nikki haley about give an update on the state's recovery efforts as several dams are in danger of failing at any moment. one dam is close to an area where about 50,000 people currently live. we'll be right back. firs

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read on politics this morning. amid republican turmoil, the vote on who will replace john boehner as house speaker is postponed even as one of the

candidates get criticized by a former boss and fellow republican. and a new report out today that's adding intrigue to vice president joe biden's decision on whether to run for president. joining me live now, nbc news senior political editor mark murray. so, mark, let's pick up here with jason chaffetz. congressman, of course, potentially getting some steam but now jon huntsman has come after him and not painting a flattering picture of him. >> tamron, this is your debate pretty much. you have current house majority leader kevin mccarthy going toe-to-toe with house republican jason chaffetz. to me, what's most interesting is the timing on the leadership in the speaker race for republicans. it's now going to be october 29th. in some ways that's not good news for kevin mccarthy because those three additional weeks give opponents a little bit more time to make the case against mccarthy. i do note the timing of the

benghazi committee's very interesting. october 22nd is when hillary clinton testifies before that benghazi committee. if she's able to use kevin mccarthy's own comments as a shield in that testimony, you might have a lot of upset and angry house republicans that they weren't able to score a lot of points. so i think what ends up happening at that benghazi committee could have reverberations on that speakership vote on october 29th. >> jon huntsman referred to chaffetz who was -- his campaign manager -- says that he's power hungry and a self-promoter. >> and tamron, what you end up seeing in these types of elections is the opposition comes out on both sides and you're hearing some negative things from jason chaffetz. this is setting up to be a republican establishment versus kind of an insurgent battle, same ones that we ended up seeing a lot of the establishment win in the 2014 primary season but a lot of insurgents winning in 2010 and 2012. i think it will be a fascinating three weeks. >> it will. let's talk about this politico

report regarding vice president biden and maureen dowd. explain what's going on here. >> well, maureen dowd wrote a piece on august 1st which was really the first piece that ended up fueling all the biden speculation for president. essentially the article that maureen dowd wrote was that joe biden owed it to his deceased son, beau biden, to give it a run. not only to give it a run, but to keep the clintons out of the white house and to have biden values in the white house. what we learned from politico citing three multiple sources is that it was joe biden himself who was the source to maureen dowd. so some very interesting maneuvers there. >> mark murray, thank you so much for joining us. we'll see you tomorrow. turning now to california where governor jerry brown has signed a controversial right to die measure into law. now it makes california the fifth state to enact a law allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives with doctors prescribed drugs, along with

oregon, washington, montana and vermont. the bill was inspired by brittany maynard, a california woman with terminal brain cancer. she moved to oregon to end her life last year because it was not legal under california law. coming up, the vatican says the only man to be granted a personal meeting with the pope in washington was a former student who is gay. that student will tell us about his experience -- and his thoughts on kim davis' claim ha she met with the pope one-on-one when he joins us next live. that's why at&t is giving you 50% more data. that's 15 gigs of data for the price of 10. because the more data you have, the better. and right now at at&t get $300 credit for every line you switch when you trade in a smartphone and buy any smartphone on at&t next.

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good. very good. you see something moving off the shelves and your first thought is to investigate the company. you are type e*. shorten the distance between intuition and action. e*trade. pope francis has summoned over 300 bishops and cardinals to the vatican this week for a meeting focused on family issues. following his trip to the u.s., there was a revelation that he met with controversial clerk kim davis and a former student of the pope who is gay. the meeting with his student and his partner only came to light after the vatican released a statement seeking to clarify details about the pope's meeting

with kim davis which drew some criticism. now the statement read, in part, his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects. it went on to say the only real audience granted by the pope was one with his former students and his family. that student joins us now live. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you very much, tamron, for having me. >> absolutely. set the stage for us, just the short version, of how you sent the e-mail to pope francis and you thought maybe, maybe not but you just warranted to send a hello. >> yes. i sent him an e-mail knowing that he was coming to washington and -- but then i regretted to send e-mail asking him to meet -- if i could meet with him in case he had time here. but then i really regret it because i realize that how exhausted his trip will be here

at this schedule. so i wrote him back saying that we could meet some other time, that there were other people that needed to see him. and he called me about three weeks previous to his trip and we talked for about 10, 15 minutes. but what made me really happy was the fact that he mentioned twice that he wanted to give me a hug, if i had the time to do it. and that's how i got the private audience with the holy father. >> and tell me a little bit about what the pope knew about your personal life and who was also there with you. >> well, my boyfriend was there and some -- and i brought with me some friends that i wanted them to meet the pope because all of them have some health or

family, social issues. and what he knows about me basically is that i am gay. we've never discussed it. i think he knew that i was gay before i even knew that i was gay, when he was my teacher. but i never discuss it with him. i mention it only on one e-mail that i send to him around 2008. and so it was not an issue to him. he knew my boyfriend. as a matter of fact -- because we met him previously in rome. and the second time when we saw him here in washington, when i introduce my boyfriend to him, he said of course, yes, i remember we met in rome. and it was atender moment. >> we see the video of the moment. like the rest of us, we wake up to the headline that kim davis had a private meeting with the pope. there was even an interview with

l her. she showed a rosary. as it was explained by kim davis and her attorney, this almost one-on-one situation. the vatican delayed in its response, eventually says no, no, no. pope had one private meeting, one audience was granted and it was when yayo grassi. when all this was unfolding what were you thinking? >> first, let me tell you that -- it is customary that this pope gives a rosary to everybody who comes to -- on a casual meeting or on a private audience. so that is not a very special -- there is no specific meaning behind that. when i first saw the news, i was -- my first reaction was surprise. i was extremely surprised, but at the same time i realize that the meeting was -- that the

only -- we only knew one side of the meeting. we knew mrs. davis' side and we have no idea how it you could b believe her according to your sympathies towards her. i also thought that it was strange that they claimed that it was a 15-minute audience and the only thing that she could say that the pope said to her was be courageous, and a couple of other things, and i thought well, those are only seconds in a 15 minutes long audience with the pope. so i thought that this was something that had a different r -- there was something behind it. knowing pope francis the way i know him, this was completely out of character with him to do something like this. >> how important was it for you

to give this interview? i saw you last night as well with lawrence o'donnell. that was important for you to shed more light on your meeting and the person who was your teacher from 1964 to '65 and the person who is now the pope? >> well, it is important and tamron, i would have not come out talking about this meeting because it was a very personal meeting with a good friend, so my friends knew about it and i wouldn't have come out myself to the cameras, i wouldn't have met like today, wouldn't have been that actually the vatican press office was the one who released the information, and then i thought well, this is a good opportunity for me to shed some light into the character of my friend and i thought it was -- i

really felt obliged to do it. >> quickly, were you concerned that others might be using the pope and using this opportunity for their own agenda? >> oh, absolutely. and the pope has discussed that before. there are several people that actually do use him and that is very shameful. >> yayo grassi, thank you so much for joining us to describe this incredible meeting and your incredible journey along with somebody that is greatly admired as you well know. thank you so much. >> thank you. we'll be right back. a lot . to run this business. but i really love it. i'm on the move all day long... and sometimes, i just don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost® to get the nutrition that i'm missing. boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a great taste. i don't plan on slowing down any time soon. stay strong. stay active with boost®.

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flooding in her state. let's listen. >> now i just want to give you some data as to where we are. king street is now closed. so it shows that the evacuation yesterday was successful and was a good thing, so we've got it closed now. like i said, you're going to start to see -- i did a flyover early this morning just to kind of see what we could find and we're starting to see that the midlands, now all that water will start moving down to the low country so we are going to be extremely careful. we are watching this minute by minute. there are people on the ground giving us feedback so if we're not in the air looking at it ourselves, we've got engineers on the ground. the towns that we are really going to be concerned about over the next 36 hours, and we have people on the ground watching, are the towns of conway, georgetown, jamestown, effingham, orangeburg and williamsburg. those are the ones that we see

in the most critical need right now that we are watching. the counties that we should expect possible evacuations that could happen over the next 48 hours would be florence, richland, marlborough and orrey. those lists will change. as the water flows we will continue to watch that but that's what we're looking at right now. we have seen that the midland rivers have peaked and they are now moving to the coast. our focus in the rivers that we are focused on at this time are the edistow, the sanitee, black river, waukimau rivers. we are seeing some stages of flooding with all of them now. we are not seeing any of them that have crested. >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we will bring you more in a moment. first, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, general john campbell, told the senate