this, but probably monday, maybe tuesday morning, he'll start tweeting again. he'll probably say something very offensive at some part during his presidency over the next month or two months and he'll start throwing republicans under the bus, so that's the norm. unfortunately. and i hate to say that. look, he's my president just as much as he is yours and i want him to succeed but time and time again, he disappoints me, and i hate to say that, but i think i'm on solid ground when i say that. >> all right. well, let's just hope that he gets some good marks for this and enjoys the positive press and maybe takes a lesson and thinks, i can do this a little bit more often. i mean, you know, hope springs eternal. you never know. listen, you two, thank you for this breaking news and i know it was a different discussion than we anticipated having. christy and robert, appreciate it, guys. that's a wrap for me, everybody. alex witt here, i'm going to toss it to my colleague, melissa rehberger, who's going to continue with the president, breaking news and all that's to come there from texas.

melissa to you. alex, thank you. you are watching plump liv watcp live in houston. he and the first lady have been helping pack up cars to deliver to hurricane victims in the various shelters and to all those who may not have made it, you know, out to an evacuation place as of yet. so they are on the ground there in houston for the second time in a week and today, they are very hands on. earlier, they were playing with children and you can see now that they are helping to load up a lot of supplies. with me now is kevin, chief washington correspondent for bloomberg news and senior political correspondent for bustle.com. kevin, let's begin with you. compare today's visit to texas to the president's trip there on tuesday. and what does he need to accomplish today? >> well, i think there's a couple of things. first and foremost, the images that you're seeing from president trump touring these areas as well as really getting that hands-on help and

assistance with those on the ground, clearly he's trying to show that the executive branch and the president's office are really very much engaged in helping to work with local and state officials. this koms lecomes less than 24 after his budget director, mick mulvaney, sent a letter, an official request of sorts, to capitol hill. you'll remember that lawmakers are due back from their august recess on tuesday, requesting about $7.85 billion in relief efforts for those impacted by this disaster, impacted by harvey. so, it comes, of course, with the president having a new message while he's on the ground, which is that he's urging lawmakers to pass through a $7.85 billion initial relief funding package to help those impacted by harvey. >> erin, how much will the president be judged on his response in the weeks, months, and possibly even years to come as we well know, presidents are often judged on their handling

of disasters like this. >> this is a defining moment for president trump, and moreover, it's a test of his administration. federal disaster relief, that is boilerplate governor activity. activity for the government. and this is his chance to show that he has a fully functioning west wing, that he has the right people leading the various government departments. this is a test of his administration's power and power to come together. now, it's also a test of how he works with congress. there's going to be plenty of funding that is needed to help repair this devastation in the south and now this is a test of government for trump to be able to go to lawmakers and say, we can strike a deal here. we're willing to put some priorities aside, maybe even big ticket campaign promises i made, to move forward. >> panelists, please stay with us because nbc's katie beck is at the nrg stadium in houston where the president visited with hurricane victims earlier this afternoon. and katie, we saw a very different side of the president we don't usually get a chance to see.

>> reporter: yeah, i think a lot of folks here were in touch with him that had moments, were given food, were shaking hands, taking pictures, were very excited at this opportunity to meet the president. two of those people who were very excited and actually got to meet president donald trump in person are jack and martha boyd and jack, tell me, what was the experience? what happened? how did it all go down? >> i was just coming for supper or lunch and i was so surprised, there's a big crowd, i thought it was a riot, you know, because it's so many people up there with cameras and everything. and i never thought i'd be able to get through. but it just seemed like the door opened a path for me. >> and you're holding what he gave you, right? >> yes. she put the chips in here and handed it to him and he handed it to me. and i went up and shook both their hands. >> reporter: and what was that experience like for you to meet him in person? >> well, it was unexpected, that's for sure. and as i was telling you, when i was a kid, i met a lot of movie

stars, and got autographs but i didn't get any autograph today. >> reporter: what about you, martha? what was it like for you. >> when i found out my husband got to meet president trump and his wife, ivanka, i was so happy because -- i was so happy because i felt he could die tomorrow and he would have -- >> not the president. >> >> reporter: not that we're wishing that to happen. >> i'm talking about my husband, that if he would die tomorrow, the only thing better would be to see jesus and if he would have been died tomorrow, he would have had all of his life wishes. >> reporter: and how do you guys feel like the federal government's response has been so far. >> i was real happy, because we had heard on radio that president trump had approved or presented aid for the -- here,

and it's really good to know that there's help out there and fast not to put it off like sometimes happens. >> reporter: and you two, you've been married almost 50 years, and you have no idea how long you're going to be in this shelter. >> no. no way. we've been a week now. tomorrow morning will be a week. >> reporter: and how are your spirits at this point? >> it's really high. everything -- >> people from all over the place. go ahead. >> everything that has been done for the whole shelter people has been -- they've been met every, every need we've had. they've lifted our spirits. couldn't have asked for better spirits. i haven't -- we haven't lost our whole things like a lot of people have, but -- >> reporter: but for you, this has been as good as it can get. >> it's an eye-opening experience.

i could have even slept on the floor without blankets but i had every need met and people have come by and met our needs, and i did want to say something about the governor abbott and the president. that this would not have happened as smooth if that hadn't have been done, and it was taken care of before ike -- before the hurricane even came. >> reporter: right, well, i am so glad -- >> this is not scripted. >> reporter: we know. we know. you know, and i think that it's wonderful that you two feel so cared for and especially your spirits are so high given your circumstances. thank you so much. i know you're holding that container. it's a keepsake for you. >> i don't want to write on it but i might put a little -- >> we're proud to be texans. >> reporter: i'm sure texas is proud to have you guys. >> we lived in fort collins for three and a half years. we've lived here more than anywhere else.

>> reporter: thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. i'll send it back to you guys. >> katie beck, thank you, what a wonderful surprise for that couple at such a difficult time. let's go back to our panelists, bloomberg politics kevin and bustle.com's erin. let's go back to you. the president has already requested nearly $8 billion from congress to help with recovery efforts that you're seeing right now. when can we expect congress to vote on this funding, and what will we actually expect from that vote? >> well, president trump says that funding should come through as quickly as possible. he's calling on congress to come together and pass, as you said, this nearly $8 billion aid package in their first week when they come back. now, there's more aid on the way. president trump has put together a package of about $14 billion that he wants to see sent to texas by the end of the month. certainly, this is something that you could consider a down payment with more money to come. disaster response like this takes tens of billions of dollars, certainly texas is going to need plenty of federal

funding to dig its way out and that's going to require congress to work together. now, congress has plenty of hurdles ahead of it come fall. they need to raise the debt ceiling, plus the president has promised to take up infrastructure and tax reform. that's a whole lot to get done so lawmakers are hoping that an aid package for harvey can be a politically palatable way for both sides to come together. >> kevin, in his letter requesting that money, the white house budget director mick mulvaney did warn, that if the debt ceiling is not raised, it may not be possible to outlay the requested supplemental proe appropriations or funds for other critical government operations. we anticipated the fight over the debt ceiling even before harvey hit, so what will be the issues going forward now? >> well, you just found the key part of director mulvaney's letter to congress, bold it, underline it, tweet it out. this is where it's going to get real good because, look, we can

talk about how virtually every republican lawmaker in the house of representatives and in the upper chamber in the senate, they want to give aid to those impacted by harvey, but how they want to do it is they're very much divide on this. here's why. you'll remember back when other storms have impacted thing like sandy, katrina, have impacted a host of other states, including new jersey, by the way, and you've got ultraconservatives who are saying they want to pass a separate piece of funding bill, emergency relief funding, that's $7.85 billion to harvey and not tie it to raising the roof, raising the debt limit that they have to get done by the end of the month. you've got other folks, and seemingly the white house now, suggesting in that letter, that they want to actually lump everything together to move all of this together. that is not necessarily what ultraconservatives in the freedom caucus want. i've spoken with several aides of the freedom caucus just on friday and they say, kevin, we want this to move completely

separate. they believe that potentially should even be offsets to any additional emergency funding. that's point number one, this interparty republican wonk war that we're going to see play out over the next couple days. the second point i would quickly make, you have this big issue called flood insurance. we just heard from that interview, people who have been impacted by this horrific tragedy, flood insurance is actually due to expire in the next couple of weeks, and where conservatives are talking about how to reform that. you're going to be hearing a lot about the government's role in the flood insurance program over the next couple of weeks as well. >> many thanks to kevin and erin. and we will see you both later. well, places like beaumont, texas, continue to experience major flooding and loss of power. nbc's mariana atencio is live in beaumont just outside flooded interstate 10. what is the latest there? >> reporter: that's right, alex, and i appreciate the conversation you were just having with your panelists about flood insurance, because that's

precisely what is on so many people's minds today, five and six days after this devastating storm hit this area. businesses like the one that we have been showing you behind me, businesses like jordan marine that are completely just flooded in, and we are here with the owner of that business, scott jordan himself. we showed you a concerned neighbor, alex, who was here before, checking in on that business. i want to bring scott in here. your entire life, scott, is in this business behind us. >> that's correct. yeah. i've never seen anything like it. i've lived here 50 years, and we were here on tuesday, and it was high and dry. we didn't think we had any chance whatsoever of getting any water on the property. we never have. through all the hurricanes before, we had a little water on the feeder road but needed four or five feet elevation to just touch a slab and in 20 hours, it came up about seven and a half

feet we guess the first day. the second day, it came up another about four feet or so. looking at it now, and you're right. my whole life is pretty much been changed from one day. >> reporter: tell us about kind of the value of the property. there's boats out there. boats that you were repairing. how are you going to pick up the pieces after this? >> that's a big question that we don't have answered yet. we've contacted my insurance companies, and you know, they're aware of the situation, obviously. i was told that, you know, rising water is a flood policy, not a -- any kind of the, you know, the other policies that we have. the liabilities and the policies on the new boats that we have here. there were probably 45, 50 customers' boats here for repair that are -- we don't even know where a lot of those are at now. they've floated off and they went under the i-10 here on the south side of i-10, so when the water goes down, we'll try to pick up the pieces and figure

out, you know, what we can salvage or what we can do, and just -- we just pray that everybody involved in this, you know, gets some kind of assistance or gets their lives back. i've been -- we've been here every day trying to rescue people out of houses and do what we can do to try to help the community, because there's nothing i can do about this until the water goes down. so, anyway, we just ask for everybody, pray for these people in this community, and we'll pick up the pieces when we can. >> reporter: just quickly before we go back to alex, scott, can you tell us what you need from congress, from the president, just in terms of the financial help this community needs to get back on its feet? >> that's a number that i don't know. we're here in, you know, numbers of 800,000 people that are affected, and 80% of those people, like myself, will not have flood insurance, so we hope that the government or somebody will come in and maybe help some

of these people out and try to get these businesses back going and, you know we just don't know. it's just going to be a day-to-day deal to see what friends and family and any help that we can get can be appreciated. >> reporter: thank you so much, scott. and what he has been saying reiterating throughout the day, alex, they had insurance, but not flood insurance. they never imagined this could happen. >> that's awful. thank you. thank you very much. still ahead, we'll hear from a harvey hero who continues to help others even after losing his own home. plus, is the dream over for hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought here as children? protests are going on across the country as president trump decides the future of the d.r.e.a.m. act. hello, discover card. hi. can you tell me about these new social security alerts i keep hearing about? sure, just sign up online. then we'll alert you if we find your social security number on any one of thousands of risky websites. wow. that's cool. how much is it? oh, it's free if you have a discover card. i like free! yeah, we just want you to be in the know. ooh. hey! sushi.

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moments ago, president trump

was pitching in, loading boxes and supplies to help victims in houston the catastrophic flooding from harvey has displaced many people. texas governor greg abbott says there are 258 shelters housing more than 42,000 texans and today, the death toll stands at 42. the national guard is going door to door rescuing those still trapped in their homes, and volunteers and neighbors are also pitching in. one such person is houston's don paolo. he has been rescuing his neighbors with his canoe even as his own home remains flooded. he joins me now from houston convention center. thank you for taking the time amidst all of your struggles. that is very kind of you. the first thing i want to ask is, how are you? >> i'm good, thank you. actually, i feel like i'm better than most. i've got a wonderful support network in my friends and my neighbors. my house -- i had six inches of

water in my house. i think we can get going maybe quicker than some of my other neighbors that have eight, ten feet in their house. but we're good. we've found our temporary housing. my kids are dealing with it, and my neighborhood is in the process of trying to put their lives back together. >> well, that is great news. when did you have to evacuate, and did you get help from anybody like the national guard or anybody else? >> no, you know what? we woke up the first morning when the flooding was going on, and we looked around, and we saw that it was getting bad in our neighborhood, and nobody was there. and i think that's when we first had a sense for the gravity of the situation that it was just so bad that we needed to help our own. and that's what we started doing. >> well, you're also helping your naeighbors, as you said, some are still trapped. can you tell us more about that. >> yeah, absolutely. you know, the whole morning started out, the first morning,

with the president of our hoa had put a post out on social media that there was a dog trapped in a house, a particularly large dog, and i had this canoe that sat relatively unused, and i said, well, come on down, let's go get him and we took the canoe and headed down, and we went into the house, and there was a 100-pound dog standing on a counter. the water was that high. and we took him out, and we took him to where the water ended, which was relatively far up the neighborhood at that point. somebody took the dog and then other calls started coming in via text or phone calls or social media from the moms group in nottingham forest or wherever it was in our community and we started going and getting people that were in bad situations, and then in the neighborhood, more people who had boats or john boats or whatever it may be that floated started responding, and helping each other, and after that, we started to find better ways to organize. we had -- we had some of the

ladies in the moms club would organize getting people to a dry house if it was still raining and they had no place to go right away or somebody realized there was food that was going bad in freezers and they started cooking meals for everybody else out there. as we progressed, other people took in our kids, because we were, you know, trying to protect our own homes. it just continued. the generosity of the neighborhood. and everybody was just -- is just truly amazing. >> they must have all been very happy to see you. did the dog just jump in the canoe or did he give you any trouble? >> actually, he was kind of scared. but i think once he realized things were going to get better, he calmed down. >> oh, that's good. tell us about your own home in the middle of all this and you're helping all of these people, you said you had a few inches of water. when's the last time you actually got to go and check? >> you know what? as i said, i feel like i am comparatively lucky. my home was one of the last to

flood in the neighborhood. and actually, i was in my house earlier this morning. the water has receded just slightly enough that we could start getting some things out of it. others in the neighborhood down there along buffalo bayou are going to be significantly longer before they can get into their house, but as i said, i'm comparatively lucky. we're comparatively lucky. you know, we're going to be okay. >> well don thank you so much and the best of luck to you and your family. >> thank you so much and thank you for having me. next, the future of the d.r.e.a.m. act, what is at stake for nearly 800,000 immigrants if president trump drops the obama-era daca program.

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shields immigrants from deportation. as trump mulls his decision, a number of republicans have come out in support of the deferred action of childhood arrivals, also known as daca. >> 13 seconds. >> the president might be looking at pulling back daca, the d.r.e.a.m.ers act. >> i mean, i actually don't think he should do that, and i believe that this is something that congress has to fix. >> not all in the gop agree with that. ten attorneys general have threatened to sue if trump did not kill that program. one state, tennessee, has had a change of heart. under daca, nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the u.s. as children can work and they can go to school for now. but if that measure goes away, 1,100 people a day could lose their permits and an end to their american dream. joining me now is former vermont governor howard dean and republican strategist nicole nickport. governor, let's start with you. president trump has been conflicted over this program in

the past. we just heard him say he loves the d.r.e.a.m.ers so why would he end the policy? >> well, this is the question, does he have courage. the courage and real leadership is telling your own people something they don't want to hear. it's easy to beat up on the opposition. there's a guy named jesus contreras who is a paramedic in houston. he has spent six days, 0 hou20 a day, rescuing people. he happens to be a d.r.e.a.m.er. you going to kick him out, mr. president? i'd like to see some presidential courage. telling your base something they don't want to hearing, that is the ultimate in great statesmanship. we rarely see it. >> we met him in the past hour right here on msnbc, as a matter of fact. nicole, to you. many in the president's own staff remain divided on this program. some like speaking paul ryan advising against it and others like kansas secretary of state chris ckobak advising against scrapping daca. what would you make of all these

decisions. >> well, you know what, there's nothing new that we have division bwithin the gop but wht i've got to tell you that i think would be an easy solution or at least something to work towards both economically and politically is the r.a.c. act that representative carlos carbello from florida is proposing, and that actually, if you're employed, this is for daca people, if they're employed, and if they are enrolled in school, and if they are in the military, and they go -- they do a rigorous background check, and medical examination, and what this does is it gets them on the record, and after five years, if they don't have, you know, a criminal record and if they have, you know, not been on public assistance, and they have paid taxes, what this does is this gives them a pathway to go ahead and make them, after five years, an actual resident. and i think this is something

very good to look at that actually could appease both sides. it's a very slippery slope, and i really think that, you know, trump would be wise to look at representative carlos's rac act. >> governor, what do you think of that? >> i actually think that is the basis of some discussions between democrats and republicans that you could come up with a reasonable solution. that is not that different than a path to citizenship, which we had talked about. it sounded like maybe she's talking about a -- he's talking about a path to a green card, but that's the kind of stuff i think you could get bipartisan compromise on. look, nobody believes or very few people believe that all immigrants are bad for this country. in fact, immigration is actually correlated with a stronger economy but this is a particularly difficult thing because these kids grew up in the united states. many of them don't speak spanish, so i'm very interested in this, and i think there's real possibility that you could get democrats and republicans on the same page with something

like this. >> we will see. thank you to howard dean and nicole. coming back, we'll take you back to the gulf coast where president trump is meeting with texas and louisiana delegations, how his visit is being received. plus, the action taken against the officer who arrested a utah nurse as the city of salt lake investigates an incident that was caught on camera. with my moderate to severe crohn's disease,... ...i was always searching for ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i had it covered. then i realized managing was all i was doing. when i finally told my doctor, he said humira was for people like me who have tried other medications,... but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief... ...and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections... ...including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers,...

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the harvey recovery process promises to be a long and very expensive one. americans and businesses everywhere are opening their wallets but navigating through charities can be challenging and officials are telling potential donors to stay alert. according to the fbi, hurricane katrina's destruction was followed by more than 36,000 complaints to the fraud task force. more than 1300 people were indicted for katrina-related crimes by 2009.

to help us decipher which charities are the trustworthy ones, let's bring in the chief operating officer for charity navigator. so, here are some of the top local nonprofits in the houston area from charity navigator. walk us through how a donor can find a safe place to donate their money. >> sure. it's no different -- in every sector, consumer advocacy is a full-time job. so for more than 15 years, charity navigator has been the largest independent evaluator and rater of charities, so during disasters like harvey, our work at charity navigator's particularly valuable to donors because every day our analysts are evaluating the data, both good and bad, to create the ratings we publish on our site. so it's really as simple as a full-time team doing nothing but evaluating organizations so that we publish those results and allow consumers to have access to them. >> tell us about some of the

other resources that donors can use and feel reliable. >> sure. the most important thing we tell donors to do is be proactive. choose a cause they want to support, choose an area they want to support within this crisis and be specific about the impact they want their work to have. and with their donations, they then can do the research to find organizations that may be more involved in housing, more involved in, like, the food bank of houston, in feeding, more involved in even caring for the pets that have been abandoned. there are a full breadth of charities. >> once you've done all that homework and donated your money, is there any way to track how that money is specifically used? >> sure, we also encourage people to give monthly and stay in touch with the organizations with whom they are giving. this crisis, like many others, isn't going away any time soon, so it's important for donors to check back in with charities

every three months or so to see what progress is being done with the money they're giving. and to give them an opportunity to give more, to adjust their donations, and increase their donations if they're so compelled. >> well, you know, sadly, as we know, there are always scammers out there waiting in every situation, no matter what. what are the signs for people to look for to avoid that? >> sure. first and foremost, if you haven't heard of an organization, be suspicious. but part of doing your research is making sure that the organization you're giving to is a tax-exempt charity. sometimes called a 501(c)(3). and if an organization is, in fact, a tax-exempt charity, then look deeper to see their financial health and the accountability and transparency practices of their operation. >> back in tw2016, republican senator chuck grassley from iowa released a study that showed the red cross spent $124 million on internal expense, one quarter of

the money donors gave for earthquake relief to haiti in 2010. how do donors ensure that most of their donations are actually going to the people who are suffering and need it the most. >> thursday morning's lead editorial in "the new york times" was this really provocative and deep evaluation of the practices at the american red cross and charity navigator's evaluation of their work. so, as people look at the american red cross, they are by far the largest organization on the ground providing direct relief and direct support. are they perfect? absolutely not. okay? have they made mistakes along the way? certainly. are they committed and taking action to improve the impact of the work they do and the value and the use of every dollar that goes to them? most definitely. they are an extraordinary organization. >> that is good news. larry lieberman, chief operating officer at charity navigator, thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. still ahead, a smoke screen? unusual activity at a russian consulate after the state department ordered it to shut

down. that as new developments emerge in the firing of former fbi director james comey. we'll dive into the details after this break. oh, you brought butch. yeah! (butch growls at man) he's looking at me right now, isn't he? yup. (butch barks at man) butch is like an old soul that just hates my guts. (laughs) (vo) you can never have too many faithful companions.

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we are getting some new information on the allegations president trump made back in march of wiretapping at trump tower. let's go to nbc's garrett haake at the white house. >> reporter: hey there. here's what we know. remember that tweet by the president that caused such a big scandal when it came out about march 4th suggesting that the president had ordered the wiretapping of trump tower? now we have a little bit more information about that alleged wiretap. a transparency group called american oversight, essentially decided to try to call the president's bluff on those tweets and they filed a lawsuit asking for a freedom of information request for any relevant information from the fbi that might confirm that there was a -- that there was any kind of wiretapping of trump tower. now, the group is posting documents on their website from the federal government's response to that lawsuit, in

which the fbi says they could find, and i quote, "no records related to wiretaps as describe bid the tweets." i've reached out to the justice department and to the white house for comment on this but again, this is a justice document court filing in response for a request for information on wiretappings in which theby say, we have no information to back up that assertion. >> well, garrett haake, thank you very much. next, president trump continues his trek across the gulf coast, now how harvey victims are responding to his latest visit. it's time to rethink what's possible. rethink the experience. rethink your allergy pills. flonase sensimist allergy relief uses unique mistpro technology and helps block 6 key inflammatory substances with a gentle mist. most allergy pills only block one. and 6 is greater than one. rethink your allergy relief. flonase sensimist.

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so, we have more now on breaking news. the justice department revealing in a court briefing that neither it nor the fbi has any evidence that there were wiretaps at trump tower as president trump alleged in a tweet last march. joining us now are former cia operative evan mcmullen and kevin, chief washington correspondent for bloomberg news and erin delmore, senior

political correspondent at bustle.com. evan, let's start with you. what are your thoughts on this development? >> well, i think it fits with the pattern that we've seen over trump's entire presidency so far in which he tries to obscure information that is unfavorable to him, specifically about the russia investigation, and to undermine sources of that information. most broadly speaking, the media. so this is just confirmation that again his claims about being wiretapped by president obama are just untrue and again part of this effort to obscure facts. >> so, what is the fallout from something like this? >> well, i think as american citizens, we have to think about what the purpose of the president's efforts in that regard are. and what i think the answer is, is simply to avoid the accountability of the american people. he's trying to avoid being held accountable for any inappropriate, to say it kindly, activities with regard to russia.

and so, if he's able to obscure that information, then he's able to keep his supporters doubting whether those accusations are true, doubting the sources of further accusations that may come, and therefore he protects his base and he protects their representative support in the house, which protects him from possible impeachment down the road. that's what i think the president's entire world is about these days, serving that base, keeping that base intact, so that his flank in the house is protected. >> so, kevin, if it is found that this was completely made up, what, if any, are the repercussions. >> is anybody surprised that this is made up? i think nobody believed the tweets when they came out and even president trump himself tried to leave some wiggle room outside of this. i think this is just another example about just how this white house has tried to suggest some of these conspiracy theories publicly in order to, one, activate a certain contingency of american voters,

but two, to also try to distract folks from other types of discussions that are going on. i mean, you know, it was just the other day that there was a new development reportedly both in "the new york times" as well as "the washington post" about the ongoing investigation into the russia probe, and you have a situation where the back story and to the president's decision to fire director comey really emerged after his own discussion before consultation with attorney general jeff sessions as well as rod rosenstein, and again, that is a situation where similarly to the one that we're discussing regarding the twitter and the wiretaps where essentially, the president said, hey, wait a minute, i'm going to make up my mind on something, and do it anyway, and then you have a situation where he tried to get support from people like the attorney general, and hey, i'm not going to play political shrink to the relationship between the attorney general and the president. i won't pretend to understand that. but it's just a pattern of the

political relationships that we've seen. the rocky political relationships that we've seen with the president and some of his top lieutenants, including people like gary cohn and now secretary of tillerson. >> erin, according to a report in the new york times, special council roberts mueller has in his possession a preliminary draft of a trump letter in which he youts lines reasons for firing james comey. so what is your biggest takeaway from the draft? the letter in may apparently met with opposition from the white house counsel who believed that it is angry, meandering tone was problematic according to interviews with a dozen administration officials and others briefed on the matter. so what is your biggest takeaway as we are watching donald trump and the first lady leaving texas on their way to their second stop today, on their way to

louisiana which is also getting hit by hurricane harvey and they are on their way to check out the damage there and we will obviously keep our eye on that. a crowd there to see him off -- wait, let's listen in. >> hello, mr. president. >> great job. thank you. great job, everybody. great job, everybody. thank you. good. i like that. i like that. thank you.

good. good. you guys have saved a lot of lives. saved a lot of lives. how many lives in i'm hearing 4,000, 5,000. that is big stuff. >> yes, sir. >> 12 people for me. >> boy, oh, boy. that is literally saving their lives. 12 people. >> yeah. thank you, mr. president. >> can i take a picture? >> yeah, let's go. for 12 lives, we'll give you one, too. thank you. >> thank you, mr. president. >> great job, everybody. fantastic. thank you. >> i only got six. >> six is pretty good. >> do you mind if i get a picture? >> how was the weather? not too pleasant? >> 60-mile-per-hour winds. >> how does that compare to some of the bad storms you've seen?

>> this was one of the worst. >> so by the time it got to shore, it was bad. >> yeah, we were flying in winds. >> what can a chopper like that handle? >> a lot more than that. >> it can handle more. so you can more than than the 60 or 70? >> we'll go in everything. >> better you than me. i'm proud of you. thank you. good job. pleasure to meet you. a lot of people you saved. >> can i get a picture?

>> this is president trump and melania trump congratulating rescuers on their heroic efforts. earlier he was meeting with people in shelters and the texas delegation, they actually helped pack cars and trucks with supplies to bring to people who had to be evacuated. and they are now on their way to louisiana which is also being hit hard by remnants of hurricane harvey. let's go back to our panel. erin, what is your reaction to this visit by president trump? >> this stands in stark contrast. the president said that he didn't want to travel to the flood ravaged regions because he

didn't want to detract from the efforts. there is an enormous footprint that moves with him in terms of security. so he's here today and you're seeing a lot of one-on-one contact. we watched him meeting with the service members, congratulating them on the lives that they saved. we saw him earlier meeting with victims. we saw young children running up and giving him hugs. this is a starkly different visit. right now he's very hands on, very ap empathetic. he was congratulating members of his various departments in a rare show of shared responsibility and unity. >> kevin, what is your reaction, do you feel the same way? >> i think when you talk to aids who surrounds president trump, they frequently say that there is a side of the president that the public doesn't get to see nearly as much. and quite candidly i'll be blunt

mere, i think that interaction that you saw with the president and those heros who are really making such positive echl paimp the type of interaction that the white house has really been trying to spotlight. they want this to be an illustration of the white house and the federal government working in tangent with state and local government officials to really help people. but on the flip side of that, look, we have to talk about policy because lawmakers will come back from congressional recess on tuesday, they have two big things to deal with, first and foremost is getting that $7.85 billion worth of aid that they are requesting through congress and there is some disagreement amongst republicans on how to actually move that money through. look for ultra conservatives in the freedom caucus to begin having debates. they want to move it separate, the white house as well as others want to move it through with the debt limit. the second issue is flood insurance.

republicans in congress right now are talking about how to reshape flood insurance yand yo look at these devastating image as in texas, you talk to people down there in particular who have lost their homes, they all want to know what is going to be done with the flood insurance program and republicans aren't on on the same page on that right now in both the house and senate. >> evan, i know this isn't your particular area, but do you have a feeling that -- after a visit like he had last week that was panned pretty much all around, do you see signs as a person who knows intelligence and knows people that perhaps president trump went back to the white house and really listened to what people probably had to say? >> i think he probably did. and look, even if you are somebody like me who has deep concerns about the president and i think most americans share those, you have to look at this and be encouraged or heartened

by it. this is a president who is doing his job todown there today. i wish we would see more of this sort of thing from the president, but of course there aren't always historic floods that provide these opportunities thankfully. but as i said, it's heartening to see him engaging directly with the people, serving them directly. he was serving meals early. whether you have concerns about him or not on other grounds, he is playing the role of the commander in chief. his title, his role now. and we should welcome that. >> and it must be heartening to see him shaking hands with all those men. >> yes, it is heartening to see him encouraging them in the way that he did. he is still the commander in chief, the president. that goes for a long way for the people out there risking their lives to save other lives, but i'm always equally encouraged by

seeing him engachblg with sge w who are subjected to great loss in this storm. seeing him engage directly with them i thought was a very good thing. >> and as we saw air force one in the background, they are shaking hands, taking a lot of time with that crowd. they are about to head to louisiana. what are you expecting them to do there? >> the more face time the president gets with real people, with voters, with people who didn't vote for him, the better for this administration. this is a chance for him to come forward, be the person who unite the country, who has compassion for these people who have been so struck down by this natural disaster. this is an opportunity that the white house is eager to take. you see the president now shaking hands, congratulating people urks t people, the first lady doing the same. this is the moment to step back from the deviivisive rhetoric t

we've seen, to rebrand and show himself as a uniter. >> all right. thank you evan, kevin and erin. that is it for us this hour. now straight to my colleague richard lui who will continue our coverage. and we're continuing to watch president trump as he is visit being the gulf coast. live pictures coming out of ellington field there. he's about to head to louisiana. katie beck is on the ground what is happening now and of course the trip with president trump and the first lady as well as many cabinet members. as well as what is happening in these flood areas that has been so hard hit. and now that we hit day number seven, big questions being asked by folks on the ground. and katie, what are you hearing from them? >> reporter: well, president trump made a very good impression when he stopped here at nrg stadium earlier today. he spoke with folks, he shook hands with kids, he served people food.