think about it. but it is an historic amount of water, in particular. there's never been anything like it. the people are handling it amazingly well and the people of texas have really pierersevered. >> today president trump heads to texas. houston, the nation's fourth largest city remains mostly paralyzed. we'll check in with bill karins about what rescue crews can expect today. there are several other big developing stories. north korea fires a ballistic missile through japanese airspace while the trump administration is occupied back home and a trump organization

excan i have -- executive spoke to moscow three times. and good morning, everyone. it's tuesday, august 29th. with us we have mike barnicle, mark halperin, now an msnbc political contributor, rick tyler and from "usa today" heidi pryzbyla. >> the russia story. i mean, rush just keeps moving forward. they keep saying there's nothing to it, it's dying and then you find out he's trying to build

trump tower and then they say there's nothing there and then the guy they say had no contacts with russia -- >> you can even go back to mike pence being asked did the trump campaign talk to anybody in russia regarding -- no, no, we just talked to the american people. you stack up all the lies but to really get the gravity of the lies, you have to get g back to the getting. >> that's apparently what people are doing. >> and then there's the president firing a guy because his crowd size was small. >> and he fired a guy because his crowds were tiny? how do you do that? it's not like he was a promoter for a led zeplin concert. this is an inauguration.

>> we'll get to all that. obviously some major foreign policy crises to deal with. first, let's talk about texas. bill karins has the very latest. >> there will be new evacuations, new destruction and possibility of dams in the area. 47.8 inches of rain. we've almost reached four feet for our highest rainfall total. torrential rain around the beaumont area. one of the stories we're watching closely, the buffalo bayou is the main water way that goes through downtown houston. it's already at record stage. this is the addicks. this was built to protect

houston after they had cat traffic floods in the 20s. that's still what they use today. this graph shows you where they top this. they opened up the gates, water is at an incredible rate flowing out. but it's coming in so fast, they can't keep up with it. we're only six inches away from the addicks flooding. that's one of the stories we want to watch today. floup it won't but it's just got six inches to go before we have new flooding. we've seen the bayous and now we're talking the big rivers. it's still supposed to go up another five to ten feet, up to 59 feet wednesday and thursday.

this is where all the mass evacuations took place yesterday. the order record is 54. we have all these people in these shelters, their homes are going to flood most likely and then these rivers don't even go down until the beginning of next week. so thousands in shelters with pets, with elders in shelters were medical needs and you're stuck in a gym for like six to seven days at least. >> in a moment we'll go live to one of our reporters in houston. she's in a shelter there where evacuees are coming. >> and our next story connects donald trump with the kremlin. certainly his business organization. "the washington post" reports that a top, tough from trump's

real estate company, e ma-maile the spokesman for vladimir putin because trump wanted to build a trump tower in russia. >> oh, wait a second check the calendar. >> oh, wait a second, it happened during the presidential campaign. >> cohen's e-mail marks the most direct outreach documented by a top trump aide to a similarly senior member of putin's government. cohen, who said he discussed the deal several times said, quote, to the best of my knowledge, mr. trump was never in contact with anyone, except me on three

occasions, including signing a non-binding letter of intent of 2015. it sounds like a lot like the adoption statement that he got busted lying. a guy who is obsessed with russia is going to send michael cohen and say, hey, you go take care of vladimir putin and getting a letter of intent for us to build trump tower in moscow, hey, i'm busy. mark halpern. come on, mark. this just -- it just keeps going. you keep thinking they couldn't have done anything dumber than this. by the way, this links back with something i said in yesterday's

fun-filled episode of "morning joe," which was donald trump never thought he was going to win the presidency. this was all a money making scam. he thought jeb bush was going to beat him. he was going to -- straight out steve miller band -- he was going to take the money and run. >> branding. i don't think too many americans e-mail vladimir putin's spokesperson to try to get help with deals. i don't think that's that common. this is similar to the don jr. meeting in trump tower. with all the scrutiny over the last year, these guys were sitting on this stuff knowing full well -- >> they were lying over and over. organizatio oh, no contact with russia. >> and i believe we can reliably assume that this is not it,

there is more coming. >> you know when you were ordering those ronco knives and half wave through tway through they i go "wait, there's more." >> in one exchange felix wrote this, our boy can become president of the usa and we can engineer it, i will get all of putin's team to buy in on this." i want to read that again. "buddy, our boy can become president of the usa and we can engineer it. i will get all of putins team to buy in on this." >> there have been attempts in the past. >> what did i tell you? did i tell you there was more? >> there was more if you call now. >> you get a second donald trump story, you must pay shipping and

handling. >> all for $19.95. >> they're going to pass it to sater sand say he was not a trump intimate. not just are congressional investigators interested in this but so is the independent counsel. stuff is leaking out. every time documents go to the hill and leaks out, this is going to be the fall of leaks from the hill on this investigation. >> what about cohen's investigation with "the wall street journal"? >> we did an interview with "the wall street journal" where he talked about. he is due to be testifying before congress. it's unusual for someone in a position like he is to do an interview. he's talked to the press throughout his association with donald trump and he's trying

to -- trying his best he can in the interview to limit donald trump's exposure on this. even based on just what we know, there's exposure there that goes beyond wa hat we know. >> they wanted to adopt a lot of russian kids and put them in trump towers, like five floors. >> three sources with familiar with the matter say robert mueller and his team are keenly focused on the president's role in crafting a response to a published article about a meeting between russians and his son, donald jr. >> you mean where trump lied? where he draptedfted a state th

was a lie? >> correct. >> it stems from the june 2016 meeting between several murussis and top members of the trump campaign. at first the white house said it weighed in on the response. >> i'm confused. >> if by minimal you mean dictating, yes, minimal. >> we're headed towards the day when robert mueller puts donald trump under oath and donald trump's history of testifying is to not be meticulously careful. >> i'm saying he's going to put himself under a lot of peril under extraordinarily close questioning.

if this report from nbc is correct and i'm sure it is, someday the president is going to have to testify under oath and it's going to be very difficult. >> while all this is going on a couple of assorted republican fruit cakes on capitol hill are actually putting pieces of legislation on the floor trying to undercut bob mueller and use the process. >> donald trump is coming on our show refusing to say that vladimir putin is the guy who murders journalists. >> if you check the timing of of all of these stories, the commingling and look at the calendar, clearly it was a marketing exercise, a branding

exercise, he did not think he was going to win the election. the second part of this incredible and constantly growing story is that if you -- and i've spoken to several people in washington over the past several days, the focus -- the principal focus of the mueller special prosecutor's team now is indeed russia and one of the keys is general flynn and his role in pulling together the administration prior to the inauguration and it has to do with the sanctions imposed on russia and if they can tilt flynn, if they can flip him, the president indeed will be under oath and it will not be law school, it won't be like a deposition. it will be professionals really grilling down. >> at this point heidi and then rick, you know, it's an awkward position that republicans are in but isn't it becoming

increasingly clear that this is not going in a good direction? >> of course not. i think the nbc reporting is actually very important just because if you look at mueller's history and the way he conducts investigations, look, for example, at the enron investigation and what the first wave of charges came out, they were obstruction of justice charges. so if he is looking at that meeting, like mark says, yes, we are moving towards the president ultimately testifying but even before that you have experts saying it's not illegal to lie to the press, it could go towards an obstruction of justice charge. i think it is instructive to look at past investigations and the way that mueller has conducted them and of course when oo get back, these lawmakers are going to be taking measure of what's happening with this investigation and where it

going and it not in a good direction. >> rick, what's your takeaway from this flood of news? >> i think it's actually pretty simple. first, donald trump never thought he would win the presidency. i think that's clear. two, he was never prepared to be president. and it's reported that the original e-mail went to what was the equivalent of an info e-mail says they didn't really have any significant contacts in moscow. but it's inconceivable that donald trump wouldn't have known about this. he was in some reporting. >> when cohen lies and said donald trump doesn't know anything about this, i feel quite confident in saying he's

lying. donald trump about to build the large anything about it. that's absurd. >> and the fact that his statement -- i lost my train of thought. >> it happens. >> there's so many details to keep track of. >> here is, mika, the takeaway. i think we've all sort of set this this morning. the takeaway is that donald trump was winging it and he didn't think he was going to get elected president of the united states. he said as much. >> that was my point. >> when he wrote the statement for his son, that was winging it. that was something he could get away with in business. that's why i say he's not prepared to be president. you cannot do that in the united states. that's going to lead to the

muter investigation and which could lead to tax returns and everything else he doesn't want to be exposed to. >> so he's winging it. that's my point. when jared kushner meets the russian banker? because he was winging it if i'm in politics, ten maybe this a good contact. ifom in they're all winging it and they're all going too get in trouble because of it. >> if you're on the special prosecutor's team and you're climbing the ladder on, this you are not talking about microsoft here, you're talking about a small handful of people. >> mom and pop. >> let's be clear, pop. there's no mom there.

pop knows about everything, pop knows about the letter he's drafting on air force one, pop foes that cohen is going over there trying to build the largest building in the world. pop doesn't go, hey, you know what, just yous not like michael cohen is going to come back to and pop goes what? we're building the largest building in the world in moscow and pop goes, that's a fantastic idea! no, none, no we know pfs

bifurcated and -- he was directly involved in the trump organization. >> it's still not separated. all the procedures were all show, they weren't real. >> back to you to texas. today the president is set to visit texas with stops in austin and corpus christi. his visit comes as the water continues to rise, in some places for the moment the death toll stands at 3 but that is second to rise. a minivan carrying sex family members is swept away. the hotel says that on tune while 100 guests and associates were being evacuated, one of the staffers helping guests went out went missing and is unaccounted for. mandatory evacuations continue through the night.

the fay's mayor says and they're telling people it hang a towel or sheet prominently so we can find you. the images broadcast from across the country have inspired people from outside the state and beyond to come and help. >> where are you from? >> i'm from galveston, texas. >> what brought you here? >> i was sitting at home, my family was high and dry and i have a limb boat so i figured i'd hope. >> reporter: how many folks? >> we probably pulled 20 or so people out of dickinson yesterday and probably eight or nine today from this little neighborhood here. probably about 9:00. >> reporter: you know there's a special place for you someday, man. >> these people have been out all day. i came out a couple of minutes

ago. i got tired of watching people suffer on tv. >> and you wanted to come and pitch in? >> kyeah, this is our city. everybody who is able to should be out helping. i got tired of watching it from my own home. >> coming after new york city, 9/11, one of the most remarkable things you could see were fire trucks, firefighters from alabama, from kansas, from across the country that were coming up doing wlaef they could do to help and you're seeing that here, too. people all across the great state of texas, people all across the country wanting to do whatever they can to help. as we've seen time and time again in pictures. they don't care whether the person they're helping is white or black or hispanic or asian-american. it just doesn't matter.

they're there to help, they're there to save lives. and we don't see the nature of our country when there are pitched political shows in places like charlottesville. we see the heart and the true nature of this country when we have tragedy like this. >> yes, the people are this country are much bigger than their president. >> we're here in houston. volunteers have been sorting clothes. this is one thing that people most want with they come. we just talked to a family with small children, they were able to change into dry clothes.

some of the people are wet, they're barefoot, perhaps they're copping in from a high-water rescue. this center was originally expected to welcome some 5,000 evacuees. they've gone far past that. they're now over 8,600 people who have made this downtown convention center their temporary home from now. they're hoping to get in more towels and blankets. that's what they need most. >> julia, thank you very much. >> rick, final thought? >> i lived in houston for a year during the cruz campaign. it's a majority/minority city, it's a fascinating place. and thing about story here is that people are helping people. i give credit to the local officials who are allowing people to come in. that one guy who said, look, i can't watch the suffering on tv. contrast that with donald trump who says the reason i announced arpaio's pardons is because the

ratings would be higher friday night. that is a person who cannot be empathetic. >> it doesn't seem his character can match the people that he's supposed to lead. that's character and we've seen it all week, just like we saw it on 9/11, just like we saw it during katrina. >> and we'll have much more ahead on the slow motion storm disaster. as many were glued to the screen for hurricane coverage, the president saw ratings gold. how he timed his presidential pardon around a natural disaster. >> and senator chris murphy joins me. his reaction to north korea's latest missile launch. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. knowing where you stand has never been easier.

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>> 30 past the hour. also breaking this morning, north korea has fired an unidentified ballistic missile through japanese airspace. north korea fired the missile from near the capital of pyongyang just before 6 a.m. local time this morning. they say the missile flew for just under 1,700 miles. shinzo abe called this a significant threat and said he had spoken by trump on the phone saying he and the president agreed to increase pressure on kim jong un. >> it's great to have you with us. before we start, let's just put

this all in context because this launch came just one week after president trump and other administration officials said that north korea was, and i'm quoting them here, showing respect towards the united states. >> kim jong un, i respect the fact that i believe he is starting to respect us. i preexpect that fact very much. spreekt that fact. and maybe, probably not, but maybe something positive can come about. >> i think it is worth noting that we have had no missile launches or provocative acts on the part of north korea since the unanimous adoption of the u.n. security council resolution. i want to take note of that, i want to acknowledge it. i am pleased to see that the regime in pyongyang has

certainly demonstrated some level of restrain that we've not seen in the past. we hope that this is the beginning of this signal that we've been looking for that they are ready to restrain their level of tensions, they're ready to restrain their provocative acts. >> that is what you call setting yourself up for failure. and i've got to say, chris murphy, i'm really shocked at just how naive those two statements were. i was shocked at the time that they set themselves up for failure because this is a regime that has been making fools of american presidents since 1994. >> this is an administration that's looking for good news that doesn't exist. the fact of the matter is that you just showed a clip of a president who has zero diplomatic experience, who hired a secretary of state who has zero diplomatic experience, who

hired a secretary of state who has no diplomatic experience. this is about as complicated a dance you get, trying to show toughness, making it clear to the north koreans if they do attack the u.s. or our allies that there will be a diproporti diproportidipr disproportionate response. the trump administration is excited about the tough talk but they don't have anybody in place at the state department or white house who can chart that second path, which is a set of economic and political sanctions with china at the lead. they simply don't have the people in place right now to do that second part. and i think the north koreans recognize that. >> so, gordon, the significance of this is it's not just that donald trump and rex tillerson were made to look foolish by their statements. they set themselves up for failure and they set the united states up to look weak and incompetent on a matter, really,

one of the top foreign policy issues facing us right now if not the. they should have known this was coming. >> they should have known this was coming. now is the time of the exercises between japan and south korea. like clock work the north koreans will do something during these exercises. this is a failure of staff work at the white house. it made the united states look ignorant, naive and a little bit behind the ball. >> so, senator murphy, given that they should have known according to gordon, what does that say about our intelligence abilities and the hollowing out of the state department? >> our intelligence in north

korea has always been miserable and that's due to we weren't understand how far they were that a nuclear weapon gets put on a ballistic missile. if you know how truly unhinged this man is, the state department earlier this year rejected a $70 billion fund that was supposed to be transferred by the department of defense that would help them with propaganda -- with countering propaganda all around the globe, including on the korean peninsula. if you ultimately want a different regime in north korea, you've got to start feeding in objective information to the north korean people about what their government is doing to them and a $70 million account that could have been used for that was turned away by rex tillerson. so there's just no capability inside that agency today to do

the hard, long-term work in north korea. >> there's already massive sanctions on north korea. you're writing today about the prospect of more sanctions. could anything new be put on them if chinese doesn't want to participate? >> the most recent set of u.n. sanctions, on cut off one third of north korea's uncome. and also north korea is getting illegal income, from iran, for example, $2 billion or $ $3 billion per year. and worst of all, there is money laundering for the north koreans. it's the largest chinese institutions, including probably bank of china, which the u.n. cited last career and the world's largest.

>> we can throw the chinese economy into turmoil if we wanted to, the china now it but trump is not in the right direction really kentuckyly because they know the consequences that could occur. >> we were talking a couple weeks ago we immediate to stop calling north korea fk. it's china's 51st state. they keep them afloat. 85% of imports go to north korea, the exports, it's the same thing, 85% of north korea's exports go to china. they are keeping them afloat. i guess the question is we going set and let north korea get a nuclear weapon that could kill everybody in seattle, portland

and san francisco? are we going to sit by land let that happen? >> i think it's right we have the ability to seasoned china's economy into turmoil. we are two economies inextricably linked today. but i think after watching the test of just the last 24 hours, in which brazingly, the north koreans have decided to send a myselfily over japan's territory. we have to start thinking, it will come back and urs that would require us not to show that kind of restraint. >> so, senator, what i want to know is what's the mindset on

the hill, what's the mindset in the torn californiaony or the or is the attitude we're going to do whatever we can do to stop this from happening. and this is not a loaded question. there is not a correct answer. they're all bad. what's the mindset? >> we certainly do not accept the inevitability of that. so we are willing and prepared on the foreign relations committee to pass new sanctions on north korea, perhaps new sanctions on china in order to ramp up the pressure. but i think there is worry on both sides of the aisle that i don't think neb, republicans or

democrats in the senate have confidence they can figure out how to chart this course. >> i think he's just doing middle east peace. >> isn't he doing middle east peace right now? is he doing in gordon chang, thank you as well. >> does he read books on china? >> not at all. coming up, the president defends his pardon of now under intense pressure with more rein by the way. >> how could they not fill the spots in the state department? necessary to handle this krs --

necessary to handle every crisis we have out there. how could they not do that? >> because they came in with a mandate not to govern, to destruct the government. >> i think because there is a now black list of foreign policy professionals who have criticized contractorss are, without architects, without a foundation. without people that do dry wall! they can't do any of this and and fan smart guy doing his best, he's never been in this lien of work before.

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couple of more questions but do you want to take one more? would you want to take one more? go ahead, pick. go ahead. >> please. >> again, you're going to give her the same one? >> no, she is not the same lady. >> go ahead. >> they are sitting side by side. >> i got to say, rebecca lowe that is correct is very insulting. >> excuse me? >> good one. >> that moment from the end of president trump's news conference with finland's leader yesterday, a correspondent for "news hour" tweeted the photographic evidence writing, quote, they are definitely two people. >> two different people. >> and also in that news conference, president trump cites 100 years of love between finland and russia. >> there are ups and downs in every relationship. like, for instance, in '39 when stalin invaded finland.

>> that's a problem. >> that is a problem. this is called a tease, joe. >> what's that? >> this is a tease. >> don't give it all away. hold back a little. >> restrain yourself. >> a loving relationship for a hundred years. >> we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ i'm... i'm so in love with you. ♪

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challenge as he works to overturn his conviction in light of his pardon by president trump. attorneys for arpaio asked a u.s. district court judge -- >> wait. why is he going to a judge because he was above the law. he's above the law. why is he going to judges? because there were judges that were in the process of adjudicating his fate. >> he wants to vacate his

criminal contempt of court conviction. >> you've got a president who loves his thuggish behavior who will throw out whatever the judge does. >> arpaio will di peel if the judge does not vacate all di decisions in the case. >> president trump defended his decision as hurricane harvey made land fall in texas. >> a lot of people think it was the right thing to do, john, and in the middle of a hurricane, even though it was a friday, i assumed the rating would be higher than normally. the hurricane was just starting, and i put it out as i pardoned, as we say, sheriff joe. he's done a great job for the people of arizona. he's very strong on borders and illegal immigration. he is loved in arizona. i thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly when they came down with their big decision to go get him right

before the election voting started. >> first of all, so deeply offensive you would use human sufferings to push your ratings if you're president of the united states. secondly, he's wrong on all those counts. he's not beloved in arizona. the two republican senators are condemning this pardon. he was voted out of office by people in his own county. >> that's a lot of symbolism to not just the pardon but the way the president talked about it. and arizona in the fall of next year when we look at the races there, arizona is going to be one of the most important states in the country to determine now people are feeling about donald trump. he won the state against hillary clinton, but he's stirring things up there on both sides. >> heidi, i mean, sheriff arpaio at this point, this feels like the beginning of many pardons that will be absolutely very hard to understand and possibly

even -- i think really bad for the country at this point. i think he's going to pardon people who have done things with the russians. >> how difficult is it for republicans on capitol hill to deal with things like this when even the republican senators from that home state are offended by it? >> what are people saying? >> of course that is some of the speculation is that this pardon was in part issued to set a precedent here. it's the first time in almost 30 years we've seen a pardon, especially a controversial one like this come this early in a president's term. so at a minimum, though, regardless of what happens with the mueller investigation, you have to wonder the message this is sending to anyone down there, including federal agents that the president is saying you know what, trump's the rule of law. my ideology. when you are rounding up people and there's certain laws you are supposed to abide about people's

constitutional rights, et cetera, that my ideology is more important, and i think there's another message that we have to take away and listen to what trump is telling us here. just the way this came down with trump teasing it at a political rally with him potentially saying he wants to also or his people saying he wants to also go after daca. trump is telling us something and we should listen. bannon is gone. these guys like sebastian gorka are gone. this is trump. he did this in a very political way. he made this decision. and like he said to us yesterday, the people who he cares about, his base, they loved it when he said joe arpaio should i pardon him at the rally, they were screaming and cheering. this is trump, and he -- >> totally agree. >> he thinks this was the right decision. >> he's going full trump. >> heidi, thank you. we'll see you onset on friday. coming up, more on the round the

clock rescues in texas. texas officials posted this photo of a deputy with a caption he worked until he couldn't stand anymore. unfortunately, the work is not done yet. we'll get a live report from the ground in houston. plus the president arrives in texas today amid new developments in the russia investigation. we're going to have the latest reports of ties and contacts between if kremlin and those close to donald trump during the campaign. "morning joe" is back in a moment. ven't you ever wanted something more barry? watch your step. a pilot like you should be serving your country. you're c.i.a.? shh... based on an incredible true story... we need you to deliver stuff for us. of the c.i.a.'s biggest secret. is this all legal? you trust me? no. on september 29. c.i.a., d.e.a... pablo escobar. i made a fortune working for them boys. there are bills blowin' around everywhere. i'll rake it up in the mornin'. tom cruise. stop now if you want. shoot the gringo!

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ask your hep c specialist about harvoni. >> i hope we do have good relations with russia. i've been saying it for years. i think it's a good thing if we have good relationships with russia. that's very important. and i believe some day that will happen. >> mr. trump, would you consider russia as a security threat? >> i consider many countries as a security threat when you look at what's going on in the world today. >> he just can't say it. he cannot say it. vladimir putin has something on the president of the united states that will not allow him to say what everybody else in the his administration says. will not allow him to say that vladimir putin assassinates journalists. will not allow him to say that vladimir putin assassinates business associates that become

rivals. will not allow him to say vladimir putin assassinates political rivals. donald trump, the president of the united states, cannot say it. i don't know what vladimir putin has on him, but it must be big. >> he'll attack just about anybody. so -- it's very strange that the president once again was unwilling to specifically call russia out as a security threat while standing next to the president of finland, a nation all too familiar with what moscow can do. meanwhile a top aid to donald trump admits he spoke to the future president three times about a push to build a trump tower in moscow. huh. it happened during the presidential campaign. we'll have that major development just ahead. also in just a few moments, we'll get a live report from texas where the president is set to visit today. evacuations continued through the night, and the rain continues to fall today.

already thousands of people have taken to shelters in houston and are starting to arrive in dallas. welcome back to "morning joe." it is tuesday, august 29th. with us we have mark halperin, rick tyler, wes moore, jeremy peters, and julia ioffe. >> can we start with julia quickly? >> yes. >> i want to follow up on this. you look at donald trump. unable to just say the same thing that other people in the administration are saying, that mike pence says on the doorstep of russia, and -- >> and anybody who knows history. >> it's baffling, and he obviously puts himself in a position where he can't do anything to move russian and

american relations closer because he keeps getting in his way. what does a guy like lavrov who is a pro at this, what do they think of donald trump and the people around donald trump when they behave this way? >> you know, i don't know what they think, but i have to say that i just don't -- knowing donald trump's behavior, i have a hard time believing that the reason he's nice to vladimir putin and doesn't criticize him publicly is because vladimir putin has something on him. look at how donald trump reacts to bob mueller when he feels he's sniffing around some sensitive areas like his family's finances. he starts lashing out. i think the reporting, the stellar reporting by "the new york times" and "the washington post" yesterday, give us the most plausible understanding yet of why donald trump is so nice to vladimir putin. why he just can't criticize him. the guy has been wanting to

build in moscow for three decades. >> and his sons both have said that they get most of their money from russians. is it that he sees vladimir putin as the head of his bank? is that what it's all about? >> i think he's a potential partner. >> client. >> for business, yeah, potential client. and what we've -- what americans are now discovering, you need a green light at the very top politically for any of the project to go forward. why antagonize the guy who holds the pursestrings? >> the client is always right. >> the client is always right. >> let's get to the new details. >> nice work. we're going to get some of the news right now, and then i'm going to ask you a question. >> i'd like to answer, but i need more details. >> why don't we go to mika right now for the details. go. >> all right. the story connecting donald trump's business organization

with the kremlin, that's what we're trying to get to. reporting from the washington post says a top executive from trump's real estate company e-mailed the personal spokesman for vladimir putin in a push to build a trump tower in moscow. >> wow. i never saw that happened. >> it happened during the presidential campaign, the e-mail from a long time trump aide. represents the most outreach to a senior member of putin's government according to the post. the reporting says it provides an example of a trump business official directly seeking kremlin assistance in advancing trump's business interest. cohen who said he discussed the deal with trump several times says to best of my knowledge, mr. trump was never in contact with anyone about this proposal other than me on three occasions including signing a nonbinding letter of intent in 2015.

and there's information between cohen and the trump business associate. in one exchange felix reportedly wrote, quote, our boy can become president of the usa -- >> our boy, when he says that, who is he talking about? >> d.j. t. >> our boy can become president of the usa, and we will engineer it. i will get all of putin's team to buy in on this. >> while it was considered in late 2015, the plan was abandoned before the first primary. >> mark halperin, maybe all of us are height. maybe julia is right it's about money, and i'm right that what putin had on trump is also rolling out into the street right now which is that at the same time he was saying nice things about putin, they were trying to build thinking about trying to build the largest building in moscow, the trump tower.

>> it's not that many months after one of the people closest to donald trump asked vladimir putin's office for help that donald trump is told the russian government is trying to get your father elected. from the context of the communications, it seems like they accepted this as the normal course of business. we asked the kremlin for help with the business deal. the kremlin is trying to help us get elected president. >> and you go back to the original denials. they are strident. you go back to -- throughout the entire campaign. you go through december, january of 2017. no, we had no contacts with russians, none. we were talking to the american people. >> he did say that through the campaign, but i don't buy this idea that this was about the trump tower. in other words, being nice to putin. that deal is done. it collapsed in january of 2016. and the whole thing is bone headed. all his competitors have hotels

in russia. in moscow. and they couldn't get the deal done. that tells you how trump is not able to be this great negotiator that he is. that was his big selling point of the campaign. >> but he did get health care done. >> no, he department. >> he said it was going to be easy. >> putin still has something on trump. he would have criticized putin for the collapse of the deal. because he doesn't think about long-term consequences. >> wait a second. he didn't get it through the na senate. >> i don't think he knew that part. he was celebrating. >> julia, what do you make of the proposed deal, the michael cohen overtures to russia? >> i think that's absolutely right. it speaks to actually the lack of connections that trump and his team have to moscow. the fact that, i'm sorry, everybody and their mother built something in moscow at st.

petersburg all over russia, marriott, hilton, everybody has numerous hotels all over russia. trump who has been trying to build something there since the late 80s has nothing. also you have the fact that michael cohen e-mails putin's spokesman is laughable. he e-mails him using a generic e-mail he probably saw on the kremlin website. we reporters have a better e-mail for him. it's kind of like you want a real estate done in manhattan so instead of e-mailing jared kushner or ivanka trump, you e-mail sara huk apea sanders. >> you're saying these people are out of gold finger, they're out of mr. mcgoo. >> it's "pink panther". yes. or "veep".

>> i want hamburger. "veep is mo "veep" is more hillary clinton. >> also the issue of corruption. donald trump's team was doing this as he was waging a campaign in which he called hillary clinton crooked hillary. all the pay to play allegations, and what's he doing while this is happening? >> he's reaching out, trying to get a deal in moscow. >> he's trying to pay to play. >> yes. he's trying to do what he's accusing hillary of doing. he can't, because it's "pink panther". >> i'm just saying if you don't have a theme to "pink panther" going out, seriously, that's gross negligence. also alex, if you could get the bathroom scene where he has two assassins on two separate stalls and they shoot each other and walk out, if you could do that, go ahead. >> setting aside the fact they

have repeatedly insisted they had no contact with the russians and no business dealing with the russians. all of these pattern. these figures seem to believe they had a willing and eager partner in trump tower at some point, and that that also was denied by the trumps. no, nothing to see here. >> but it's interesting. to be clear, this is not a threat. a threat is something that has the potential of doing damage to you. this happened. the russians actually attacked democracy and our election system within a year. even the idea of having a difficulty calling this a threat seems amazingly naive considering what's happened. >> you look at what's happening right now in afghanistan. you look at the fact that russians are funding people to shoot and kill american troops. you look at the fact that they

have provided safe haven at the u.n. for the north koreans. you look at the fact that they are as tight as they can be with our enemies in iran. and i say enemies in iran. i mean, they have gone out of their way to undercut american interests everywhere, and possibly fund the killing of americans, and donald trump can't even say on television yesterday in a press concern that the russians are a threat. >> at every single turn. the interesting thing is we know that the mueller investigation is going on and could go on for the next 14 months. so these things that we're seeing are not actually coming out from the mueller investigation. what we're actually seeing is the american press who are holding to the job and making sure we're learning the information in realtime that the american people need to know. >> mark -- >> can i just add a little bit of context to that? >> please. >> we usually don't like context here on the show, but we kind of

like to just shoot. but go ahead. give us your i worked at the atlantic context. go ahead. >> everything you said is absolutely right. the russians are funding the taliban. they're providing safe haven to the north koreans. the narrative we have is the russians are in control. the russians engaged in this massively successful covert operation, and i don't know that they're happy with the results of it. the russians are extremely disappointed in the trump administration. they're running out of ways to make excuses for why registratiorelations are not getting better given this guy in the white house who keeps talking about friendlier relations with them, but they're not getting any friendlier. they can't get any concessions out of him. congress has tied his hands, the foreign policy, national security establishment tied his hands. the russians are frustrated and disappointed.

they're running out of excuses. it hasn't worked out well for the rugs either. that's also kind of dangerous. when the russians get frustrated, they tend to lash out. >> is it the case of some democrats charged that russia likes the chaos and the gridlock going on in the united states in term of domestic politics? >> they do in the sense that it discredits the u.s. and the u.s. internally and discredits the idea of democracy as something, and western liberal order as something that people, including russians at home should strive for, but it doesn't help them get things done. it's the flip side of when people criticized donald trump and say you want friendlier relations with russia, but to what end? friendly relations are an a means to help you achieve something. the russians want to get stuff done and out of us. they want sanctions repealed. they want their spying compounds back. they want their diplomatic staffers stored in the u.s.

they're not getting that. the chaos is great. they like it and it's trolling us. eventually it starts impeding them too. and they're getting really unhappy. >> we want to get back to the flooding in south texas. the rain is expected to pick up again today there. and time for the president's visit to the state. the death toll is at three, but that is expected to rise. mandatory evacuations continue to go into effect. dozens more people were rescued by boat last night. >> there's a big time huge rescue going on. take a look down here. we are at tidwell and beltway 8. you see people in the dead of night, the darkness, walking out of the water. i hope you can see that down there. but there are entire families and groups of people who live in the neighborhood just down the road here, just down tidwell who are walking through the water. they have just been rescued by

boat. a lot of them have been cheering and celebrating as they came out of that area. it's just great to see. >> yesterday an a.p. photographer snap third down photo of a towel being held over a 4-day old daughter as they were rescued by boat by members of the louisiana wildlife and fisheries department. and the houston fire department. the city's mayor says more than 3,000 people have been rescued. a helicopter is still the best way to lift people from danger. this is released from customs border protection. the immigrant community has been affected. and according to "the washington post," ice said they would not target undocumented immigrants at evacuation sites, shelters or food banks. but the flooding isn't limited to houston. the guadeloupe river is swollen

and there are concerns about the dams. initials warn there's a potential for overflow from at least one of the dams this morning. let's check in right now with bill karins who has been following all of this. >> we potentially have a new record for any tropical cyclone in the lower 48 for most rainfall. the old one was 1978. we had a rain gauge report in with over four feet of rain. in one location in the last five days. the rain continues to fall. heaviest over the beaumont area. your rain predictions got updated. your river that goes through downtown is supposed to crest at two feet above the highest record ever recorded. that's going to cause water into homes near the downtown. that will be a story developing in the next couple 06 days. still raining in houston. it should let up during the day. also the two reservoirs built to protect the city of houston.

they're about at max capacity with the gates open. addicks is close to overtopping. this is the water going up. we are two inches away, probably in the next hour water will start overtopping the north end of the reservoir and heading to areas that have never seen it before. that's one of the stories developing. other stories are the major rivers throughout this region. the brazos river and other rivers in the north. those are going to be some of the worst. when you break records and get these things, you say we break the record. that's bad enough. we're going to break the record by five feet. >> jees jeez. >> that's incredible. >> we'll be back in touch. let's check in with julia bag live at one of the shelters in houston. julia in. >> reporter: hi, mika.

they've reached more than 9,000 people now at this shelter. a shelter meant for 5,000 people. but they've had to expand. they're collecting clothes from the largest to the smallers. there are families who are cold and wet and they want to give them something dry. this lady was asking for dry clothes. she's getting shoes now and help from volunteers. this has been an enormous effort to accommodate so many people. yesterday they handed out more than 20,000 meals. and they're providing them with a place to stay in addition to warm clothing. the socks you see she's putting on right here, that's something that is just invaluable. when you have wet feet, it feels like there's nothing worse than that. volunteers hard at work here, but also outside hard at work as well. take a listen. >> just seeing all the hurt and pain in people's eyes and wanting to be out here and help be able to do something good.

>> i don't like to see people in distress. i thought it was a good idea to come out and help people since we had a helping hand. we have been traveling to the ramps to pick up the people they bring in on the boats and take them to walmart. >> soaking wet. just the smile on their face, know they've been saved is good. >> it's keeping us going. >> it's keeping us helping them. it makes my heart melt to be able to help them and see them smile. they're bringing in small children. being able to help them to be safe and get dry is all that matters. >> reporter: any idea how long the rescues will go on snonight? >> i don't know, but we're staying. >> yeah. we're here to help. >> reporter: this is what it's been like, and volunteers here not just how much longer they'll have to be here, but they tell me they're dedicated and ready to go on for days. >> julia, thank you.

>> wes, what have we learned from katrina? >> we have to understand this is a long-term operation. this is not going to be a week or month. i think about what happened with sandy. sandy was five years ago. one was just out in the neighborhoods two weeks ago. still people are recovering from sandy. these type of disasters are marathons that you run like a sprint, every single day. the human implications will be there. what's going on really important also are the funding streams. when katrina happened it took ten days for a full package to be able to get done and get support down to new orleans and louisiana. when sandy happened, it took ten months. it's going to be really important to see how congress reacts right now. and be important to see how the white house reacts. as we talk about shut down of

federal governments and the proposed budget thus far, we spoke about it before, has proposed cuts to fema. i don't know how you propose that when the fourth largest city is under water right now. >> you don't. >> you don't. >> $667 million cut. >> my community has been through it in pensacola. four or five times in a decade or so, and you have toffee ma. it's a lifeline. you have to have small business association helping businesses get back on their feet. you have to have the full power of the federal government to help coordinate. so they're not going to be able to slash and cut these agencies if -- unless they want these people to stay in shelters for the next ten years. >> and there's two funny issues. one is the question of fema and

flood relief and all the things ongoing debates. the other is how much is governor abbott fight for the initial sum of money to be huge or do they go for quick smaller money and think they can come back later and get koch to give more because they don't know the needs right now. it's a huge political problem. you seen it in the past. when katrina happened -- >> look at this. it's all over the place. and by the way, mark, this isn't contained. >> t not even finished. >> this is going on in beaumont right now. it's going on across the state. >> it's a huge area. the state is devastated. >> the texas politicians, a lot of them are normally against government aid and big government spending from washington. they'll have to decide how they go to washington the way they did for mississippi, in a sophisticated way, get as much relief as they can from washington. >> and it's against the backdrop

of a government shutdown over trump's wall. it's not shutting down a few national parks. the debt ceiling expires at the end of the september, beginning of october. they don't have any wiggle room. >> let's see if donald trump uses this suffering to actually escape that threat about the wall. he's already used it, he says, to get good ratings. we'll see if he says well, because of the suffering in texas, i won't build the wall this year, we'll build it next year. >> and this president somehow with all this going on has the time to have a certain staffer removed because his crowd size was small. still ahead, north korea fires another missile just as president trump says he was starting to respect kim jong-un. richard engel joins us from seoul. also ahead, the president bragged about the size of the crowd at his phoenix rally. behind the scenes, apparently he

doesn't happy because it was small. >> they left early, and they were sitting down. i'm sorry. >> they did. >> they did. they were sitting down. they got bored. you can only set your hair on fire so many times before somebody in the crowd goes wait, he's setting his hair on fire again. >> somebody crowds are just small. >> peter alexander joins us live with the story from the white house.

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what should i watch? show me sports. it's so fluffy! look at that fluffy unicorn! he's so fluffy i'm gonna die! your voice is awesome. the x1 voice remote. xfinity. the future of awesome. >> kim jong-un, i respect the fact that i believe he is starting to respect us.

i respect that fact. i respect that fact. and maybe, probably not, but maybe something positive can come about. >> apparently not. we're following breaking news this morning that north korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile through japanese air space. north korea fired it near pyongyang this morning. joining us from seoul, south korea, richard engel. richard, how are officials there reacting this morning? >> well, here in south korea, and really across the region, there is anger in this country. there is a belief that south korea needs to be prepared for any possibility. in fact, there was a military exercise going on right now a joint maneuver between the south korean military and the u.s. military, and there are nearly 30,000 u.s. troops in this country to prepare for a

possible north korean invasion or a north korean attack and how to repel it. this country takes this threat very seriously. the latest missile launch, the missile flew for about 15 minutes. this is the second test firing that north korea has carried out in the last four days alone. and what's significant about this one, and there have been many tests in the past, but this one is important because of the path it took. north korea fired it latest missile at daybreak. it flew nearly 1700 miles, provocatively right over northern japan before breaking into three pieces and crashing into the pacific. defense systems in japan went into high gear. early warning systems advised people to find cover. prime minister shinzo abe holding an emergency 40-minute phone call with president trump, calling the missile launch a

grave threat. shinzo abe saying president trump expresses the u.s. is 100% with japan. trump took a hard line on north korea. >> they will be met with fire, fury, and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before. >> reporter: after north korea threatening to attack the u.s. territory of guam, home to a key military base. tensions are always high between the u.s. and north korea this time of year, because the u.s. military is carrying out military exercises with south korea. but with leaders now in pyongyang and washington who both seem to thrive on provocations, tensions haven't been this high in years. today south korea responded to the north korean missile launch by dropping bombs of its own. but only on a test base inside south korea.

where along the border today we could hear north korean propaganda. like the missile test, the calls from a regime demanding to be respected and feared. and mika, just while you were listening to the report, we received a statement from president trump. it's unusual. as you know, there's a difference between when he tweets or when he reads from the prompter or issues statements. this was quite a controlled statement. it's very brief, and he says in the statement, the world has received north korea's latest message loud and clear. the regime has signalled it contempt for its members for all members of the united nations and for minimum stashds of acceptable international behavior. it concludes by saying threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the isolation in the reelk agion an

among all nations in the world, all options are on the table. that's not that bellicose of a statement. that's the kind of thing you've heard many times before. for president trump, this is quite a restrained statement. >> richard, thank you very much. >> and mark, that is -- we were looking at the statement just a minute ago. it did show restraint. saying all options on the table, it's a stark message, and a measured message. >> the president's going back and forth at how fiery he's been. this is a statement that i think pretty much most people in foreign policy experts say hit the sweet spot between being firm. one thing is it's multilateral. he says this is the world's problem, and not the united states problem. it's the effort, bringing in the world. >> it's a good statement. it's what you want to put out there, but it's diminished by what he said earlier which is the fire and fury statement where he drew a line, and the north koreans have now crossed

that line, and the world watches this. >> we lose. no matter what we do. what do we do? >> well, the statement is a good statement. i think the problem that we still have with this situation is as we continue to ratchet this up, we're now watching the frequency of north korean tests that we're seeing at a pace we haven't seen before. north korea and the words we can use is not something that's going to intimidate north korea at this point. how we respond as a larger global region and force is the only thing that they're going to understand, because frankly, the words that we're using and the type of temple that we have for the pace of our statements are not going to have any impact, and i think we're seeing that repeatedly with the repeated tests. >> coming up, president trump is a big fan of his crowd sizes. sean spicer knows that probably better than anyone. it stands to reason that a trump aid was pulled off working live events after the crowd that

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♪ [ gunshots ] >> why did we show you that? >> julia ioffe said that far from being "gold finger ", that a lot of people were more like "the pink panther" where they sort of bumble around. >> joining us from the white house, peter alexander. president trump is defending his pardon of sheriff arpaio. what's the latest?

what can you tell us? >> reporter: he's standing by that pardon. the president unapologetic by the credit schism. much of it coming from republicans. both republican senators of arizona saying it was the wrong thing to do in pardoning joe arpaio who was convicted of contempt a month ago for defying a judge's orders. basically that involved his harsh anti-illegal immigration tactics. torturous treatments of prisoners. the president's defense focussed not so much on the merits of the case as it were. he didn't consult with the department of justice. instead he basically pushed back listing the individuals that past democratic presidents pardoned late in their terms. here's part of what he said yesterday. >> a lot of people think it was the right thing to do. in the middle of a hurricane, even though it was a friday evening, i assumed the ratings

would be higher then a they were normally. i put it out that i had pard pardoned, as we say, sheriff joe. he's done a great job for the people of arizona. he's very strong on borders and very strong on illegal immigration. he is loved in arizona. i thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly when they came down with their big decision to go get him right before the election voting started. >> reporter: as you heard the president who not much more than a year ago was still a reality tv star was boasting about the maximum exposure he gave to that announcement saying by no means was he trying to bury the news but he wanted to build it up. the president bragged about the size of the crowd at his phoenix rally. according to bloomberg politics, he wasn't too happy with the results. the president was reportedly watching tv in a waiting room before he took the stage. was said to be displeased because the convention center was less than full. the man in charge of that event

was former white house director of events. he was one of the first four longest-serving trump aides. trump hired him to manage the election rally. the crowd was packed by the time the president hit the stage, but his form events man will never manage a trump rally again. about an hour from now, president trump and melania expected to travel down to texas, one of two stops they're going to make in texas to evaluate and review the hurricane response and meet with some of the first responders down there. they are staying away from houston today. >> i just -- >> peter alexander, thank you so much. we greatly appreciate it. yeah. this is, again, we're starting to here, it fotook longer to fi up. people got bored and were leaving. >> the bigger issue is he's

worried about this and talking about it beyond the speech and making decision, moving people into different jobs because he's on saysed with his crowd size. >> it started the first day of the white house. the west day he used his position in the white house as president of the united states to send sean spicer out to lie about his small crowd size at the inauguration. >> as if that's the most important thing we have to be discussing. and it's ironic that he also uses that to kind of on the heels of sheriff joe and that decision. this is a man who has done immeasurable harm to the latino community and invoked a state of fear into the lives of so many immigrant families inside that area. the thing being questioned with the pardon is what does this make of the rule of law? and so i think there's one thing to have issue that we can discuss and debate whether it be health care where people say

there's checks and balances or the muslim ban, there's checks and balances because the courts can intervene. this is one thing that's different. and the pardonability for the president as he is showing is something that there is no check or balance on. >> not a direct check or balance, i agree. but you have federal judges that are growing increasingly impatient with this president. and there are members of congress growing impatient, and every time he does something like this, this is collateral damage. it will be federal judges that will ultimately decide on his own fate. >> that's right. the federal -- the so-called ju judges he hasn't insulted already. it was clear in listening to trump explain the pardon that if he -- if there is a legitimate legal rationale, he doesn't

unit. he defaulted to the same stock fra phrases as always about this being fair or unfair -- >> he also bragged about it in a rally beforehand making it very clear that this was based on a political calculation. >> absolutely. i would encourage you to read this piece that ran in the new york times yesterday. she interviewed former republican white house counsels who said this pardon is beyond the law. it was purely political, as you said. because there is enforcing the law and being the law. and joe arpaio thought he was the law. >> it's worth pointing out he inserted himself in the judicial process. he used pour examples. one was manny. he doesn't pardoned. and the other one is mark ridge. it was a political pardon, but it happened after the judicial

process had concluded. this is donald trump inserting himself in, and i just think it's a test case. >> this is another version of the clintons opening the door for trump, in my opinion with their examples. wes moore, thank you. when we come back, we'll go back live to texas. no one knows how many have died or are missing, and the rain continues to fall in one of america's biggest and most diverse cities. we'll be right back. this is not a cloud. this is a car protected from storms by an insurance company

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>> prefrp at an historic low in the recent tracking poll. at 35%. his disapproval? at 60%. perhaps worst of all for his party, only 20% of voters between 18 and 29 years old approve of his performance. >> watch that. look at that. let's bring in republican strategist and radio host podcast mike muvy. you may need to change your name

of your podcast because there may be no gop ten years from now. people that think that think can be weasles and do whatever it takes in congress to support donald trump, those people that are acting like weasles need to look at that number we just read. donald trump's approval rating among 18 to 29-year-olds, 20%. that is a stink that stays on you if you are seen as an enabler of donald trump. >> young voters have a dirty trick. this turn in over time to all voters. they're the worst group to have trouble with. i think the other thing to worry about -- these are train wreck numbers, which shouldn't surprise us from a kind of p.r. and popular support point of view. the president has never gotten out of the republican primary. in the rest of the country, the other 60%, he is in real trouble. those young voters are the key group. if they turn out in the off year -- normally they don't. that's the great republican advantage.

if trump motivates them to show up in the off year, then the house two definitely at risk for the republicans. >> mike murphy, also explain how this does impact politics for a generation. i came of age 18, ronald reagan was running for president. rairg won ov reagan won so many young voters. it set the tone for the republican revolution. that sets the course for something completely different. >> totally right. i came up in the georgetown college republicans. i was chairman in the early 1980s, and it was a time where you could be a college republican and meet girls. now it's like being part of a tobacco company. it's really a problem for the brand of the party. >> that's a good one. >> we've earned this. to the point you said earlier -- >> you were saying it's like "thank you for smoking." >> it's not like democrats are great these days either. >> they have their own problems, and they've he should them, but we have really -- i believe

you'll have a lot of republicans who wish they had a time machine a few years from now to show more courage now. it's not like we're asking these guys to land on the beach. just to stand up for the principles of the party and what's right for the country when we clearly have an unfit person in the white house. >> off of that last reference that you made, let me ask you this. we are all familiar with the littany of incompetence and moral absurdities uttered by the president. people feel there's a character gap in the republican party. speak to that, if you could. >> well, look, it's -- we are so tribal in our politics now on the equation of i'm right, you're evil, that almost anything goes. president trump is pushing the limit of anything, and he is now seeing not only i believe as mostly incompetent, which is true, again, in my opinion, but also as somebody who doesn't understand the job of president as a moral compass for the country. both the constant transactional

outlook of everything is a parking lot deal and putin is just another real estate guy to deal with to the family interests and the tax returns and the insensitivities of the great american values that have been shown in charlottesville and giving a mash note to essential will a torch light rally. it's tearing the republican brand apart, and i think real republicans have to wake up and deal with this, or we're going to lose the franchise, and then we get to live in the 1970s labor party when bernie and the progressives or whoever it is take over the d's. >> i wonder what the next logical step is then. if you are tearing the brand of the republican party apart, you know, we've seen that before. i'm hearing more and more from republicans like yourself. not just republicans like yourself, but also republicans on the far right.

zplool we're not really built for a third party to actually work. i think what might happen instead is what ought to happen. the republican parties historically has not been shy about having big battles about who we are. the goldwater in 1964. reagan versus ford in 1976. let's have another one. let's start it now, and let's have the fight within the system to figure out who and what we are now. are we populist anti-trade trumpians, or are we the internationalist party that has had great success for the country? that's a noble fight. we should not shy away from it. >> mike murphy, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> still ahead this morning -- >> it's been amazing how this water has creeped up like this. i am a houstonian born and raised here, and i have never seen anything like this.

>> if you go back there, it looks like a lake resort. literally everything is you should water. all the businesses are back there. it goes all the way up to the second floor. >> and the water is still rising. when it's all done, we could see an epic 50 inches of rain in some parts of texas. bill karins joins us with the latest totals and we'll go live to corpus christi where president trump will visit today. and we're following several new and potentially significant developments in the russia investigation, including a report of a trump business associate bragging about a moscow business deal that will "get donald trump elected." >> he said it would liup all of putin's people. our boy, as he said. ♪

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and together, we'll help you make decisions for your plan... to keep you on track. ♪ time to think of your future it's your retirement. know where you stand. >> they're saying it's historic it's like texas, if if you think about it. it's a historic amount of water. there's never been anything like it. the people are handling it amazingly well, and the people of texas, as you know, have really persevered. today president trump heads to texas to see the storm response firsthand. thousands of people are being pulled to safety as the floodwaters rise. houston, the nation's fourth largest city, remains mostly paralyzed. we're going to check in with bill karins for the very latest on what rescue crews can expect

today. north korea fires a ballistic missile through japanese airspace, and meanwhile, a top aide to donald trump admits he spoke with the future president three times about a bid to build a trump tower in moscow. it happened during the presidential campaign. the president, meanwhile, says he kept an eye on higher ratings when he pardoned joe arpaio, just as the hurricane hit, and millions of people were watching the coverage. we'll show you exactly what he said. it's hard to believe. good morning, everyone. it's tuesday, august 29th. welcome to "morning joe." with us we have veteran columnist and msnbc contributor mike barnacle, senior political analyst for nbc news and msnbc mark halperin, former communications director for ted cruz's 2016 presidential campaign, now an msnbc political

contributor rick tyler, and in washington senior politics reporter at usa today heidi prisbila. zbleenchs let let's get into the details of the story that actually connects donald trump with the kremlin. certainly his business organization. the washington post reports that a top executive from trump's real estate company e-mailed the personal spokesman -- i'm not making this up -- e-mailed the personal spokesman for vladimir putin because trump wanted to build a trump tower in moscow. now -- >> i thought there was nothing with russia. >> the good news is they said they didn't have contact with anybody in russia, so this couldn't have happened during the campaign. hold on. let me -- >> check the calendar. >> oh, wait a second. it happened during the presidential campaign. the e-mail from long-time trump aide michael cohen represents the most direct outreach documented by a top trump aide to a similarly senior member of a putin's government according to "the washington post."

the reporting also says it provides an example of trump business officials talking straight to the kremlin seeking assistance in advancing donald trump's business interests. now, cohen, who says he discussed the deal with trump several times, tells nbc, "to the best of my knowledge, mr. trump was never in contact with anyone about this proposal other than me on three occasions, including signing a non-binding letter of intent in 2015." this is what i want to know. there's more. i want to know, did donald trump help cohen draft that statement on air force one because it sounds a lot like the adoption statement that donald trump helped him draft when he lied, when he got busted lying on air force one because his lawyers were on the ground. he was in the air. a guy who is obsessed with russia is going to send michael cohen to say, hey, you go take care of vladimir putin and getting a letter of intent for

us to build trump tower in moscow. hey, i'm busy. i'm not -- mark halperin, come on, mark. this is -- it just -- it just keeps going. you think they couldn't do anything dumber thatten this. this links back with something i said in yesterday's fun-filled episode of "morning joe," which was donald trump never thought he was going to win. >> that's it. that's it. >> this was all a money-making scam. he thought jeb bush was going to beat him. he never thought -- so he was going to take the money and run. let me use the position i'm in right now and try to get that tower in moscow. >> branding. >> branding. >> i don't know a lot about international real estate deals, but i don't think too many americans e-mail vladimir putin's spokesperson to try to get help with deals. i just don't think that's that common. this is obviously very similar

to the don jr. meeting in trump tower. as all the scrutiny is taking place over the last year of the relationship between the trump world and russia, these guys were sitting on this stuff knowing full well -- >> they were lying over and over. >> they knew full well. >> no contact with russia. >> it's incredible to me. i believe we can reliably assume this is not it. there is more coming. >> when you were ordering those ron co knives, and you say, wait, there's more. the "new york times" published the contents of an e-mail between cohen and the trump business associate who was pushing the moscow deal. in one exchange, felix sater wrote this. "our boy can become president of the usa and we can engineer it. i will get all of putin's team to buy in on this." i want to read that again because yori don't think i get full flavor of that quote.

>> buddy, our boy. >> buddy, our boy can become president of the usa, and we can engineer it. i will get all of putin's team to buy in on this. >> i think that's bad. >> there have been attempts in the past. >> wait. what did i tell you? did i tell you there was more? >> you are going to get a blender with it. >> there is more if you call now. >> you get a second donald trump russia story. must pay shipping and handling. >> all for $19.99. >> he suggested he was not a trump intimate, but this is further evidence that he was, and to be trying to make a deal with russia at that time and then to act like they had no business interest in russia, there's no doubt that not just the congressional investigator is interested in this, but so is the impending counsel. stuff is leaking out. every time documents go to the hill, it leaks out. this is going to be the fall of leaks from the hill on this

investigation. >> what about -- okay. what about cohen's investigation with the "wall street journal"? >> he wiwe did an interview wit "wall street journal" where he talked about -- >> i saw the name and -- freudian slip. >> he is due to be testifying before congress. it's unusual for someone in a position like he is to do an interview, but he has talked to the press throughout his time and association with donald trump. he is trying as best he can in the interview to limit donald trump's exposure on this, but even based on just what we know, there is exposure there that goes beyond what they acknowledge happened until forced to. >> let's talk about the adoptions. someone that adopted -- >> five floors devoted to orphans. >> five floors. you were asking if trump or cohen drafted that e-mail. there's another one. the nbc investigative unit has been reporting about the special counsel's investigation into russia and president trump's

role in one part of that puzzle. three sources familiar with the matter say robert mueller and his team are keenly focused on the president's role in crafting a response to a published article about a meeting between russians and his son, donald jr. >> you mean where trump lied? where he drafted the statement that was a lie? >> correct. >> k okay. >> the sources tell nbc news that prosecutors want to know what trump knew about the meeting and whether he sought to conceal its purpose. it steps from the june 2016 meeting between several russians and top members of the campaign inside trump tower. at first the white house said the president had weighed in on the response, but the washington post later reported that trump had dictated it. attorney ty cobb, who is representing the white house, maintained the president had a minimal role in crafting the response. >> if by minimal you mean dictating, then, yes, ty, it was minimal. i would love -- >> somebody lied. >> we haven't gotten to you yet.

>> real quick. we are headed towards -- whatever else happens in the investigation, we are headed towards a deal when robert mueller puts donald trump under oath and donald trump's history of testifying is to not be meticulously careful. that day will be -- >> you are saying he is going to purger himself. >> he is going to be putting himself under a lot of peril under close questioning. if this report from nbc is correct, and i'm sure it is, someday the president is going to have to testify under oath, and it's going to be a very difficult day. >> all this is going on, by the way, while republican fruitcakes, a couple of assorted republican fruitcakes on capitol hill, mike barnacle, are actually putting pieces of legislation on the floor trying to undercut bob mueller and obstruct justice for donald trump using the legislative process. mike, talk about this russian story and the fact that there's back and forth business dealings and they're trying to actually build trump tower while donald trump is coming on our show

refusing to say that vladimir putin -- sorry. i got confused. vladimir putin is the guy who murders journal is wheists. >> the co-mingling of all these stories and you look at the calendar, clearly it was a marketing exercise, a branding exercise, as you pointed out, his candidacy at the beginning. they did not think that they were going to win the presidency because he was more interested in his business assets, and promoting them in russia. the second part of this incredible and constantly growing story is that if you -- i have spoken to several people in washington over the past several days. the focus -- the principle focus of the mueller special prosecutor's team right now is indeed russia, and one of the keys is general flynn and his role in pulling together the administration prior to the inauguration, and it has to do with the sanctions imposed on

russia, and if they can tilt flynn, if they can flip him, the president, indeed, will be under oath, and it will not be in a law school. it won't be like a deposition. it will be professionals really grilling down. >> now to the texas flooding. today the president is set to visit texas with expected stops in this austin and corpus christi. his visit comes as the water continues to rise in some areas coming from dam releases to prevent catastrophic breaches. let's get an update now from nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill. >> these rainfall totals are just incredible. we now have had a report of four feet of rain. officially about 49 inches just to the north of friendswood. in downtown houston now with the 42, these are the unimaginable numbers we told you days ago that have come true, and the rain hasn't stopped. today is the last day of the torrential rains over the flood zone. you can see on the radar here, still around galveston it's pouring. houston, a little lighter now,

but still very heavy rain between houston and beaumont and up to the north heading towards livingston. this is where conditions are going to get worse before they get better. one of the things that we've been watching all day long is we know we have these two reservoirs. addicks and barker, built in the 1930s to protect the population of 250,000 that lived in houston. these two reservoirs still all these years later protect two million people plus in the houston area. they are both now full, and water is being released from them, and they're worried about them overtopping into the emergency spillways, and the water in the addicks would go in the north, and barker i'm not sure where that one goes. they've in never been this high. we are joined now live from corpus christi, texas. that was one of the first places harvey made landfall, and also where president trump is set to

tour later today. katie, what's the latest? >> that's right, bill. the president is set to touch down about 12:30 here in corpus christi. he is then going to meet with fema and the national guard and get a briefing, take a tour, hop back on air force one, fly to austin where he will spend two hours on the ground there and get briefings as well before returning to washington sometime around 8:00 p.m. tonight. a pretty quick 12-hour sweep through texas. he is avoiding houston, obviously, because those floodwaters continue to rise. heavy rains still expected in that area. it was a bit too dangerous. also, he didn't want to be a distraction to the rescue efforts that were underway there. obviously a presidential visit can be quite disruptive, and he said he wanted to come here where things were a bit calmer, and he was able to hold dialogue. now, the president has said possibly on saturday that he might return to texas as well as possibly making a stop in louisiana, depending on what the weather does there. we know the people on the ground here are enthusiastic about his visit. they say they want him to see

this damage firsthand in person, and they hope that he reports back to washington with what he sees. they are going to need billions of dollars for their recovery, and they're hopeful he is going to convey that message back to congress. bill. >> thank you so much. i know corpus christi wasn't the worst hit, but areas 20, 30 miles away from corpus christi went through the eye, and that's where the president will be traveling today and seeing some of the worst damage. thank you. as far as the rainfall goes, now it's all heading into the big rivers, and this will be the developing story. this is why the shelters are at capacity and so full. rivers like the brazoz river will crest well above flood stage and stay there until saturday or sunday. one of the developing stories with the storm is the people in the shelters for at least a week.

>> you're going to have record river flooding in the days ahead. just this continuing unfolding, devastating story out of the houston area continues. back to you. >> bill, thank you. still ahead on "morning joe" north korea had been on the back burner, but not anymore.

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missile from near the capital of pyongyang just before 6:00 a.m. local time this morning. joining us from seoul, south korea, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engle. how were officials there reacting this morning? zbleefrmts there is a belief that south korea needs to prepare. there is a military exercise going on right now. a joint maneuver between the south korean military and the u.s. military. don't forget, there are nearly 30,000 u.s. troops in this country. to prepare for a possible north korean invasion or a north korean attack and how to repell it. the missile flew for about 15 minutes. this is the second test firing that north korea has carried out in the last four days alone. what's significant about this one and there have been many

tests in the past, but this one is important because of the path that it took. >> reporter: north korea fired its latest missile at day break. it flew nearly 1,700 miles provocatively right over northern japan before breaking into three pieces and crashing into the pacific. defense systems in japan went into high gear. early warning systems advised people to find cover. prime minister shinzo abe holding an emergency 40 minute phone call with president trump calling the missile launch a grave threat. shinzo abe saying president trump expressed the u.s.'s 100 with japan. its ally. mr. trump earlier this month took a hard line on north korea. >> they will be met with fire, fury, and, frankly, power. the likes of which this world has never seen before.

>> reporter: afterwards north korea threatening to attack the u.s. territory of guam, home to a key military base. tensions are always high between the u.s. and north korea this time of year because the u.s. military is carrying out military exercises with south korea. only on a fest base inside south korea. where along the border today we could hear north korean propaganda. like the missile test the calls from a regime demanding to be respected and feared. just while you were listening to that report, we have received a statement from president trump.

it's unusual. as you know, there's a big difference between when he tweets or speaks off the cuff or when he reads from the prompter or issues statements. this was quite a controlled statement. it's very brief, and he says in this statement the world has received north korea's latest message loud and clear. it's signalled its contempt for its neighbors, all united nations and minimum standards of acceptable behavior. it concludes by saying threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the north korean regime's isolation in the region, and among all nations of the world. all options are on the table. it is the kind of thing you've heard many times before for president trump. this is quite a restrained statement. >> nbc's richard engel, thank you. coming up on "morning joe" the long arm of the law. joe arpaio gets his pardon, and now he is asking for his criminal conviction to be vacated. we'll talk about his future when

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from our arizona sheriff joe arpaio is mounting a legal challenge as he works to

overturn his conviction in light of his pardon by president trump. attorneys for arpaio asked a u.s. district court judge to vacate -- >> whoa. wait, wait, wait. why is he going to a judge because he actually was above the law. he is above the law. why is he going to judges? because there were injuries that were actually in the process of adjudicating his fate. why is he going back to a judge? >> he wants to vacate his criminal conviction. >> he doesn't like what a judge says. you have a president who loves his thuggish behavior who will just throw out whatever the is judge does. >> one of arpaio's lawyers told a local people that he will appeal if the judge does not vacate all decisions in the case. meanwhile, president trump defended his decision to pardon arpaio on friday night. i feel like he read a poem. just as hurricane harvey made landfall in texas. take a listen.

i put it out that i pardoned, aas we say, sheriff joe. >> he is loved in arizona. i thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly when they came down with their big decision to go before the election voting started. >> so, first of all, he is so deeply offensive that he would use human suffering for push ratings if you are president of the united states, but secondly, mark halperin, he is wrong. he is not beloved. you have two republican senators both condemning this pardon. he was voted out of office by people in his own county. >> it's a lot of symbolism. >> a lot of fake news there. >> a lot of symbolism too. not just the part, but the way the president talked about it yesterday. and arizona in the fall of next

year when we look at the midterms, look at some of the races there, arizona is going to be one of the most important states in the country to determine how people are feeling about donald trump. he won the state against hillary clinton, but he is stirring things up there on both sides. >> heidi, i mean, sheriff arpaio at this point -- this feels like the beginning of many pardons that will be absolutely very hard to understand. i think he will pardon people involved with the russian -- >> how difficult is it for people on capitol hill to deal with things like that, when even the republican senators from that home state are offended by it? >> what are people saying? >> well, of course, that is some of the speculation that this pardon was, in part, issued to set a precedent here. it's the first time in almost 30 years that we've seen a pardon.

especially a controversial one like this come this early in a president's term. at a minimum, though, regardless of what happens with the mueller investigation, you have to wonder what the message this is also sending to anyone down there, including federal agents that the president is saying, you know what, trumps the rule of law. my ideology. when you are rounding up people, and there are certain laws that you are supposed to abide about people's constitutional rights, et cetera, that my ideology is more important, and i think there's another message that we have to take away and listen to what trump is telling us here. just the way this came down, guys, with trump teasing it at a political rally with him potentially saying that he wants to also or his people saying he wants to also go after daca, trump is telling us something here, and we should listen. these guys like sebastian gorka are gone. this is trump.

he did this in a very political way. he made this decision. like he said to us yesterday, the people who he cares about, his base, they loved it. . they ate it up, and they were screaming and cheering. he thinks that this was the right decision. coming up on "morning joe" we're joined by the editor in chief of the law fair blog, benjamin white is, who says there are three different things congress could look into whether it comes to whether the president should be impeechd. you're watching "morning joe." >> it's turning into a buffet.

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>> you have gary cohen who said something very critical of the president in a magazine story, and then you have the secretary of state separating himself from the president when it came to his stance on charlottesville. are you surprised they still have a job?

>> look, brian, i don't like having been the brunt of them for seven months, i don't like to feed the palace intrigue stories. i'll allow the words of gary cohen and rex tillerson to stand for themselves. you can read into the reasons of why i resigned. one of the reasons is the mega platform, the make america great again platform that brought us into the white house, there are a lot of people in that building who really don't agree with it and weren't associated with it, and that's why i left. >> if terms of just full on crazy, when it comes to aides --

>> let's just start right there. >> -- they've gotten the full-on crazy aides out of there. >> have they? >> no, no, think about it. >> i'm more hopeful than you are, joe. >> when you go down the list -- i'm just talking about full-on crazy just why are they there? >> yes, you know, the steve bannons who are trying to advocate a mercenary force going into afghanistan. you know, maybe all the wild ideas like that. the -- yeah. maybe this round of crazies has, you know, been exterminated from the white house, but you have the main contaminant still there, and he is the one who is driving all this chaos. this is the guy who yesterday has to talk about pardoning a sadist instead of all the thousands of people who have lost their homes and hopefully, you know, lives might be, you know, lost that we just don't know about right now. >> michael schmidt, what's -- what is the status inside the

white house now from what you have heard? obviously general kelly trying to maintain some order as it pertains to staffing. not the president, but staffing. is he winning that internal battle? >> yeah. but i think back on your point about the folks that have left recently is how much will that change the president's politics? as we've seen, it hasn't really changed his rhetoric or how he is going to be politically. the question is now that he has a staff of perhaps more moderate folks, but he continues down path even those sebastian gorrk says he is not doing maga anymore, but he still seems to be on the path. >> what about foreign policy? we certainly don't see it in domestic policy. is there any reason to be hopeful that foreign policy may be a bit more stable with the hyper nationalists out of there? >> i still don't think we've

seen him changefully type of rhetoric on anything since these folks have left. the question will be will kelly be able to take the moderates that are in the white house and be able to create a better policy process for them in which they're able to bring him things that are more to the center and are more things that he is able to do and change? at the same time, you know, you see his comments about north korea and it just -- nothing has changed in terms of his rhetoric politically, and it seems like he is going to continue to move at his base. he seems to be very committed to the base. >> all right. so jenna johnson, just curious from what we've seen -- >> i never thought -- i just mean as far as, you i don't know, looking at the past 75 years of american foreign policy. >> i never thought that trump

was parroting them, steve bannon. what you see when he talks about sheriff arpaio or he speaks off the cuff about charlottesville, you see what's in trump's heart. >> jenna, you also saw, though, gorka undercutting the secretary of state. you also saw the national security advisor inserting language about article 5 of nato and then saw bannon cutting it out. it seems at least that internal battle may be pushed to the side as far as staffing goes, right? >> yeah. i mean, this administration has been marked by just chaos. any administration is going to have some tension over the details of positions, but this is an administration where you have top aides who don't agree on the biggest issues. they're not in line with -- on the same page as to where the president stands, where this administration stands, and so you get these turf battles.

sometimes one side will win and the president will come out and seem to kind of soften on a position or step back a little bit. nafta is one that comes to mind. you know, saying that he is, you know, going to try to renegotiate it instead of just getting rid of it altogether. then he goes off the cuff and says, you know, eventually we're probably going to get rid of it anyhow. at the end of the day you kind of have to ignore all of these other players in the administration and just really focus on what is the president saying? where does he stand right now? at the end of the day that seems to kind of be the only thing that matters. >> to jenna's point, though, this iran nuclear deal, how president trump just casually says, oh, they're in violation without ever giving a reason why they are actually in violation, that was quite a temper tantrum that john bolton had yesterday. publishing that op ed and complaining about his access to the oval office. it was somewhat extraordinary in

that the idea that anyone should just have fairly casual privileges at a white house that's, you know, part of the problem, i think, that this president has been getting so much desperate information from so many different people. >> which, of course, is what general kelly is trying to stop, which is just the random information flow. >> i remember the first two years of the clinton administration are actually fairly chaotic, although i think this exceeds that. he had trouble getting his footing. he got his footing after another type of catastrophe, which was oklahoma city. >> right. >> and he sort of regained his presidency there and eventually earned his re-election. it just doesn't seem to me that donald trump has any of those skills. like going to houston today, he could do a reset and set the tone and change the -- >> no. he is incapable of doing a reset. incapable of doing a reset. >> let's bring in senior fellow and gft studies at the brookings institution and co-founder and

editor in chief of the law fair blog. benjamin whittis. you wrote a post calling on congress to open a formal impeachment inquiry. as the president trump presidency enters its eighth month, those members of congress who are series about their oaths to support and defend the constitution must confront a question. it's not in the first instance whether the president should be removed from office or even whether he should be impeechd. it is merely this. whether given everything trump has done, said, tweeted, and indeed been since his inauguration yag inauguration, the house has a duty of the body to think about its obligations under the impeachment clauses of the constitution. that is whether the house needs to authorize the judiciary committee to open a formal inquiry into possible impeachment. it's not a hard question. indeed, merely to ask it plainly is also to answer it.

>> benjamin, you have -- you have not -- you have shown restraint in your writing, though i've never been a big make america great again guy that runs around wearing that cap. this is a jump even for you. how did you get there? how did you get to the point where you said, okay, we've got to talk about impeachment? >> first of all, i think this article could have been written any time in the last few months. >> yes. >> but, you know, the three baskets of potential offenses have all been there for a long time.

i wouldn't say that that's in and of itself an impeachable offense, but as i thought about what would a member of congress who talked -- or who took his or her oath seriously do, i did think this piece was worth writing. more obviously correct today than it was a month or a month and a half ago. >> michael schmidt, often to understand the reality of what's going on you have to understand the motives, says and identities of leakers and what they're up to. i'm not going to ask you to divulge your sources or your paper's, but weave seen the independent council's investigations regarding russia. where are those leaks coming from? what's motivating them?

>> people in washington feel more emboldined to speak to the press than ever before. either folks in the administration or connected to what's going on in these investigations are concerned by some of the president's behavior and believe that it needs to come to light and are more willing to take the risk to talk to us than they would be normally. >> why -- what's in it for them to leak incremental details about what mueller is looking at and what the congressional investigators are looking at? >> i mean, my sense is that i think people feel that the more sunlight that any of this gets and the more attention that it gets, the better result that there will be for the country. that is my guess on what is motivating a lot of people. obviously, in every instance, it's hard to know exactly why someone would talk to us. i mean, on the other thing that i think people tend to look past is that we're being as aggressive as we can be on trying to go out and find information ourselves. we are the ones making a lot of calls. we are the ones knocking on

doors and trying as hard as we can to bring information to light and we're putting enormous amount of resources behind that. when you do that in a lot of organizations do that as we see, and they're dedicating teams of people to this, you're going to see more information coming out simply by numbers. >> jenna, it seems just from observation that many people felt some sense of relief initially in the trump presidency based upon a supposed fact or a thought or a belief or a hope that he was without ideology, that he was without any real believes other than a belief in himself, and, yet now, post-bannon, post-gorka, or whatever his name is, having left the white house, it appears he does have an ideology. what do you think will be different politically going forward listening to what donald trump apparently clearly believes, some of the things that he clearly believes in? >> yeah. well, i mean, some of the things that we thought he believed have changed. you know, even on the campaign

trail he took numerous stances on a variety of different issues, but at the end of the day when you look at economic issues, when you look at trade, when you look at his world view, the way that that he looks at the country, the way that he looks at other countries, those are things that don't change, even if his stances seem to vary. and at the end of the day, he feels things in his gut and it's hard to talk him out of how he feels about different things. i think we saw that in charlottesville where he watched the coverage on television and the things that stuck out to him were the counterprotesters. that's what he saw and that's what dominated the way that he thought about that situation. and while there are a lot of people trying to talk into his ear, it's also just important to remember that, you know, he's a man in his 70s who has spent a lifetime forming world view and

it's hard to change that. >> yeah. benjamin, let me read you what jonathan turley wrote about him, saying this in "the washington post," what's worse than leaving trump in office? impeaching him. it's dangerous course that can fundamentally alter our constitutional and political systems even if one were to agree with the litany of complaints against trump, the only thing worse than trump continuing in office would be his removal from it. what he's your response? >> the house of representatives should have sort of my read on his conduct in relation to his fitness for office or jonathan turley's read is a better one for the democratic health of the country. the structure for such a discussion is an impeachment inquiry. and so, you know, my point, and

in that article is not that we should willy-nilly remove the president from office, though i personally think that's what's going on around the country's probably a good outcome at the end of the day. my point is that a conscientious member of congress simply cannot avoid at this point thinking about the president's fitness for office as both jonathan did in that op-ed and i did in my piece. >> thank you. >> thank you all for being on the show. up next, the economic impact of the morning's too big breaking stories, harvey has gas prices going up while north korea has markets looking down. live to the nyse for more. [vo] progress is seizing the moment.

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so when it comes to your retirement plan, you'll always be absolutely...clear. ♪ time to think of your future it's your retirement. know where you stand. we have a lot of family and friends that have been directly impacted but also just millions and millions of texans are really suffering right now. so we simply ask that all americans keep them in your thoughts and prayers. i think the state of texas is doing a remarkable, remarkable job. dealing with what is an extraordinary difficult situation of historic proportions. the president is on his way down today. i think he has plans to go back a second time, i think indicating the seriousness of the situation but also the commitment of the federal government to provide all the assets that the state of texas needs to respond to what's going

to be a very, very long rebuilding process. so we ask that all americans keep them in your prayers, please. thank you. >> all right. secretary of state and former ceo of exxon rex tillerson speaking moments ago. exxon, of course, is based in texas. and looking at live pictures of president trump at joint base andrews headed to austin and corpus christi. let's bring in cnbc's sara eisen live at the new york stock exchange with a lot going on there. sar are? >> good morning, mika. those energy companies like exxonmobil and even smaller ones that are more exposed to texas like anadarko petroleum were some of the hardest hit stocks in yesterday's session on the back of flooding in the nation's energy capital. the biggest impact you will feel and we are seeing is on gasoline prices which continue to surge this morning. already the national average for the price we pay at the pump

$2.36 this week, four cents higher than last week. analysts say it could climb another 15 to 20 cents in the coming weeks. the problem is a lot of these refineries where the oil is made into fuel are shut down. we're talking 2 to 3 million barrels per day in refining capacity because of the flooding. it will take a while for that to come back online. oil prices are down but gas prices are high. so we'll watch the energy companies besides those, we saw a big impact on insurance companies. they were also big losers in the session yesterday because the fear is this is going to be very costly in terms of claims. in fact, jpmorgan this morning put a number on that, says top ten costly storm for insurance about $20 billion, which actu actually makes it less costly than katrina and sandy but those losses are piling it up and it is early. for now there are some jitters on those north korea fears on the latest missile launch. back to you. >> cnbc's sara eisen, thank you. >> final thoughts. >> i'm just hoping and praying

that the losses aren't going to be worse in houston, just because we still don't know and the rain is pouring so hard. it's dark but it's really -- the country might brace for how bad this can be. >> every morning mueller gets up, puts on his shoes and tie and goes to work with 17 words, let the process play out. those calling for impeachment now, let it play out. don't short circuit the process. >> mark? >> as a day for the first couple to go down there and loek i and nationally send a message about what washington plans to do to help the people who have been hurt and it's not a role we've seen him in so people will be watching. see how he does and the first lady does. >> mike? >> the president of the united states is about to visit an american city in the middle of an epic american disaster and we're about to find out if he has the capacity for inspiration. >> mika? >> i would doubt that he does, but i do think as you see all over south texas that the american spirit is a lot bigger than this president. joe? >> i was just going to say the same thing. we of seen it, like we said, september 11th, we saw it during

katrina. we've seen it time and time again. we're seeing it now in dallas, texas, where americans are reaching out there and they are not listening to people on that talk about how divided we are as a country and how sh e -- >> or worried about crowd sizes. >> they're worried about getting out, helping people, getting them to safety, and i think the spirit's pretty strong in texas as it is across the country. >> that does it for thus morning. chris jansing picks up the coverage right now. >> yeah, i don't think there is that natural disaster in any of our lifetimes where american have not responded valiantly and well. hello. i am chris jansing in for stephanie ruhle. this morning, harvey hovers off the coast, dumping more rain, pushing floodwaters higher and word that a reservoir may now be overflowing as rescuers work around the clock to pull people to safety. >> there's a big-time, huge rescue going on, entire fils