country in the last month. the conditions are appalling. no proper shelter. not much clean drinking water nor sanitation. it is a serious issue. it is going to be coming up this week at the united nations meetings in new york. we'll be following it daily. that does it for us on this big picture. i'll be online, facebook, instagram, snapchat. right now, i'll turn it over to stephanie rhule again. it is like a ping-pong here, steph, in person. >> i'm back. good morning. i'm stephanie rhule. my colleague, ali velshi, is out this morning. let's get you started. >> the president waking up at his trump tower home this morning, kicking off an important week for president trump. his debut at the u.n., where the world will be watching. >> recent years, the united nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement. that's why we commend the secretary general and his call for the united nations to focus

more on people and less on bureaucracy. we must ensure that no one and no member state shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden. and that's militarily or financially. >> if the united states has to defend itself or defend its allies in any way, north korea will be destroyed. and we all know that. and none of us want that. >> that's where the rockets are coming from. rockets though that we ought to probably not laugh too much about, because they do represent a grave threat. >> the president has been very clear, that he views this threat of north korea as ever growing. as we've watched each missile test and each nuclear test, their program is advancing. it is advancing technologically and advancing in its capabilities. we've said from the beginning, we don't have a lot of time left. we don't have a runway left to land this plane on. so we need china's assistance to bring them to the table. >> three powerful storms churning in the atlantic,

including hurricane jose. its impacts going to be felt up and down the east coast. >> this is the one i am most frightened about because it is a powerful storm, and it is just strengthening. i can't stress enough, puerto rico could really be devastated by this. a category 4 storm. >> it's been devastating. it's been very stressful for everyone. >> tens of thousands of residents here in puerto rico still have no power, and now they're having to get ready for maria. it is a lot for this island to handle. >> now is the time, puerto rico, make your final preparations because this could be one of the worst storms in your country's history. >> to think they could lose even more. that blows my mind. we'll begin with mr. president, donald j. trump, here in his hometown of new york city, for his first united nations general assembly. arrived at the u.n. before 9:30 a.m. it is going to be a busy week for the president. meetings with other world leaders who are also attending. and president trump will deliver a highly anticipated and closely watched speech before the world

body tomorrow. the president just wrapped up his first appearance at the u.n., participating in a discussion on reforming the u.n., which he has sharply criticized when he was a candidate running for president. >> we affirm our commitment to the united nations reform, and reform is what we're talking about. i applaud the secretary general for laying out a vision to reform the united nations. so it better serves the people we all represent. we support your efforts to look across the entire system and to find ways the united nations can better and be better at development, management, peace and security. the united nations was founded on truly noble goals. these include affirming the dignity and worth of the human person, and striving for international peace. the united nations has self-advanced toward these goals

in so many ways. feeding the hungry, providing disaster relief, and empowering women and girls in many societies all across the world. yet in recent years, the united nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and management. while the united nations, on a regular budget, has increased by 140%, and its staff more than doubled since 2000. we are now seeing the results in line with this investment. but i know that under the secretary general, that's changing, and it's changing fast. we've seen it. that's why we commend the secretary general and his call for the united nations to focus more on people and less on bureaucracy. we seek a united nations that regains the trust of the people around the world in order to

achieve this, the united nations must hold every level of management accountable, protect whistleblowers, and focus on results rather than on process. i am confident if we work together and champion truly bold reforms, the united nations will emerge as a stronger, more effective, more just and greater force for peace and harmony in the world. thank you, mr. secretary general, and i look forward to advancing the shared goals in the years to come. and it is a great honor to be with you today. thank you. >> we're going to dig into those prepared -- and i remind you -- prepared marks the president gave. in a couple hours, the president is going to meet with someone he knows well, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. later this afternoon with french president, emmanuel macron, visiting st. martin last week after the island was ravished by irma. then he'll have a dinner with latin american leaders.

that is just today. all this as the united states and south korea conduct a new show of joint force in the wake of north korea's latest missile test that took place on friday. new bombing exercises over south korea, a fair of sophisticated, u.s., b-1 bombers among the american war planes taking part. china and russia conducting naval exercised today, not far from russia's border with north korea. there's a lot to dig through here. joining us from the u.n., nbc news white house correspondent, kristen welker. also, john harwood and patrick. kristen, i want to lay this out. north korea likely to be a main focus for the president this week, and of course, the president had a new nickname for north korea's leader in a tweet yesterday, calling him rocket man, which i actually think is a compliment. i mean, elton john, i can't think of a better superstar. but that's the president's approach here. other world leaders this week are going to say, right on,

brother. that's the way to go after north korea, when things are this tense? >> reporter: well, steph, if you believe the preview by his top aides, including his u.n. ambassador, his national security adviser, what we are going to hear from the president is not necessarily that type of rhetoric, but rather some very tough talk aimed at north korea, and the world audience going to be listening very closely. looking to president trump for leadership on this very critical issue. of course, this comes after the u.n. slapped a new round of sanctions on north korea for it recent nuclear provocations. u.n. ambassador nikki haley saying that the sanctions need time to work. president trump essentially down playing the sanctions, saying a lot more is needed. the white house unified in its message, that all options remain on the table. haley reiterating that over the weekend, saying that mcmaster and general mattis will take action if, in fact, they don't see a response from north korea,

and backing down on its nuclear provocations. you're right, steph, this is a critical test for this president. will his rhetoric be in line with the previews we have heard? tomorrow, he is going to be delivering really the centerpiece of this visit, that keynote address, which he is expected to call on all nations to come together to confront global challenges, whether it be from north korea or iran. his language is going to be heavily scrutinized. as you point out, he has already painted this back drop, which is questionable by some accounts, and so there's going to be a lot of anticipation for him to get very tough. and actually to try to bring about some action on this critical issue, steph. >> stewart, what do you think we're going to get here? the president's word choices are always heavily scrutinized. when he shared prepared remarks, things seem safe. i think back to g-7, g-20, berlin, sicily. remember in berlin, it was

scripted. then he went off script and didn't support article v clearly. when you think about what the president has done in the past, he was the one who insisted his daughter, ivanka trump, sit in and take his seat. even there, he gave remarks this morning, which were scripted and safe and strong. the beginning of his remarks, we had trump being trump. he led his statement this morning, pumping his own tires, complimenting himself for his real estate prowess in building a tower not far from the u.n. what trump are we getting this week? >> this morning, after that initial remark, we certain lly t the scripted trump. it was a remarkable scene at this meeting on u.n. reform, where he basically devoted himself to praising the founding values of the united nations charter and all things at the u.n., as long as it -- all it needs to do is perform better. so it is -- you know, that was a much better performance than i think the armageddon that people are used to seeing.

the difficulty is, tomorrow, nobody knows whether or not this famously improvisational leader, when he's got this captive audience of 193 countries, is actually going stay on skrafcri. i assume north korea will be in for some seriously hard rhetoric on the part of the president. >> that captive audience is a far different audience than the president is used to when he gives live remarks. i.e., his base. john, can you speak to the president trump we're going to get this week, because i was at a no labels event last night, and there were optimists who said, listen, now that steve bannon is out of the white house, now that you've got general kelly next to him, we're going to get the president trump who is going to pivot and he likes to win. he likes when people are happy. the remarks he gave this morning will make a lot more people happy than his base. is that what the president is aiming for? >> i think so. the president is very responsive to the audience that he's in at any given moment. and i think that we are going to get the trump that we saw in

those prepared remarks this morning. i also think it is important to remember that this is an administration in which the actions that they take are often more important than the words the president speaks. you know, the president swung for the rhetorical fences when he was a candidate, then he gets into office and some things that look one way or -- he campaigned on one way are treated differently here. he has not withdrawn from the iran deal yet. he's now seeking a deal on daca. he's not initiated the all-out trade war with china he pledged he would do. i think everybody is going to be watching, what is he going to come out with in terms of discussions with benjamin netanyahu about the iran deal? is he going to be able to continue to rally the world around the north korea problem, which has been an intractable problem across presidents of both parties? and does he continue to praise the secretary general for his

reforms of the united nations, which is an off ramp from the president's own blistering criticism of the u.n. if he can say it is something taken care of, it is easier for him to step paback from that. >> interesting few days, no doubt. thank you very much. you'll have to stand close by this week. i'm sure we'll have a lot to unpack with the remarks. we'll take a quick break. next, president trump's violent tweets, including this doctored video that makes it look like he his hillary clinton with a golf ball. are tweets like this from the president normalizing violence against women, or some people say we just need to lighten up. we're going to get into this. sean spicer made a surprise appearance at the emmy awards last night. hollywood laughed at the former white house press secretary, but the big joke was about misleading statements made to the american public by our very own white house. >> of course, what really matters to donald trump is ratings. you've got to have the big numbers. i certainly hope we achieve that

tonight. unfortunately, at this point, we have no way of knowing how big our audience is. i mean, is there anyone who could say how big the audience is? sean, do you know? >> this will be the largest audience to witness an emmys, period. both in person and around the world. >> wow. that really soothes my fragile ego. i can understand why you'd want one of these guys around. melissa mccarthy, everybody. give it up. their experience is coveted. their leadership is instinctive. they're experts in things you haven't heard of - researchers of technologies that one day, you will.

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welcome back. you're watching velshi & ruhle. president trump is being slammed for his use of twitter this weekend, especially for one tweet some claim promotes violence against women. look at this. president trump retweeted this edited video yesterday that appears to show him hitting a golf ball and knocking over hillary clinton. the second clip is clinton back in 2011 tripping while boarding an airplane. twitter responded with democratic congressman brad sherman writing, retweeting this kind of masochistic video might be below the standards of even this president. richard painter, chief ethics lawyer for former president george w. bush tweeted, quote,

so who is in charge of pennsylvania avenue, junior high? trump retweeted this image yesterday, of a train wearing a trump hat, blowing down the tracks. it is similar from this retweet from the president in august, a train plowing into a cnn journalist. it came days after heather heyer was hit and killed by a car, allegedly killed by an activist. don't forget this video from july the president retweeted, the edited clip showing trump taking down and pummelling someone with the cnn logo superimposed over his head. we will talk all about this. joining me is the former communications director for the hillary clinton campaign and former white house communications director under president obama. jennifer, i don't want to be an alarmist here, right? people love to say, the media set their hair on fire over these things. >> right. >> it is a joke. no big deal. for me, this one isn't a big

deal. everyone has been saying in the last two weeks, the president has pivoted. he's changed. he's cutting deals with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. but talk through that tweet and what it means. >> yeah, i thought it was both appalling and revealing about his state of mind. and it's appalling because it is making, you know -- let alone being unable to let go of the election, but promoting violence. you know, that is promoting violence against women from the president of the united states. for me, it just brought me back to the moments you would see on the campaign trail of him and his supporters chanting, "lock her up." there are scenes that can fill you with rerepulsion. i think people, no matter who you voted for, to see that kind of -- to see crowds like that

cheering against a woman and to see the president of the united states, to retweet something that would -- that is making -- not just making light of but suggesting that it is a positive thing, to be -- to hurt -- to physically harm a woman. the only hope i can take from this is if you see misogyny continues and inter cypersists american politics, and it is a big enough stage where we can call it out. >> does it feel like it is getting worse? it is not just president trump promoting some kind of physical force against clinton. martinshkreli, he posted on social media an off of $5,000 to anyone who would grab some of clinton's hair for him during his book tour. things like that have been happening to hillary clinton her whole life. she can say she's getting used to it. but are you concerned that things are actually going

backwards, getting worse? >> i am -- what -- i don't want to believe that, right? >> i don't want to believe it. >> we want to believe that there's something -- i want to believe we are on the cusp of having a break through on -- when it comes to our attitudes toward women leaders in politics. all of hillary's life, for sure, she has suffered indignities like this. you know, even during the 2008 democratic presidential campaign. things like, you know, you're likable enough. oh, you know, commenting on her clothes, from her fellow democrats. but now what we see is something much uglier. an actual, physical harm against her. the thing about the hair follicle last week from our friend martin was disturbing.

that dsuggests you get close to her and rip something from her head. >> i'm going to qualify. he is not your friend. not my friend. he wishes he could be in our company. >> true. but i think -- i still believe that it is -- that this is coming to a head. and that what we are -- it is very disturbing and it is actually physical, what people are suggesting happened to her. but because it's happening on a big estate, we're able to call it out and say, this is not fashionable. you can disagree with hillary clinton on policy. you can think she makes mistakes. but the hatred that surrounds her is irrational. i think that is one of the things that's positive about her writing this book. is that we are able to step back and, you know, outside of the heat of the campaign, without any electoral stakes at hand, and consider why that is. she's just been this lightning

rod her whole adult life, and i think it is because she's always -- whatever role she's been in, from when she was a young woman to the first lady to a presidential candidate, she's challenged the way we thought about women. and that vexes people. it doesn't mean everybody is sexist or everyone is masochist, we're just not sure what to make of her. there's no role model. there's nothing we can refer back to. so people are suspicious about her. well, why is that? why is she doing this? why does she want this job? you know, that's something we all have to wrestle with. again, i don't think it means everybody is a sexist, but then you do have these moments of blatant, gross misogyny that, at the hands of the president of the united states, it couldn't be more distressing. i think, you know, women and americans of all gender, poboth genders, are concerned about this and look at this moment as something to learn from and to call out. not just as beneath the dignity of the president of the united

states, but as actually promoting and -- promoting violence against a women. >> it is beneath the dignity of an assault. >> thank you so much. >> president trump, you are looking to be an icon who supports and champions women. here is an opportunity. stan stand up and stop this. "new york times" doing a profile on beth mowins, who smashed through the glass ceiling. the first female to ever call a game on monday night football. the quote stood out. for men, it is like listening to my ex nag me. when some men hear women in female sports. is it really? or is it like the scores of women who rejected you for your whole life. come on, guys. let's have the best announcer call a game. stick around, everybody. i sat down with the uk former prime minister, tony blair. the interview is next. including his thought on immigration, president trump and what keeps him up at night. and here's something that keeps a lot of people up at night, me

included, north korea. this is the cartoon of the day. china's president, xi jinping, holding a dog leash with a tag that reads, kim, referencing north korean leader, kim jong-un. she's saying, relax, i have north korea on a short leash. the leash is empty. you're watching "velshi & ruhle" live on msnbc. coney island has been around for a long, long time. reminds me of how geico has been saving people money for over 75 years. hey, big guy! come on in! let me guess your weight! win a prize! sure, why not. 12 ounces! sorry, mate. four ounces. i've been taking the stairs lately. you win, big guy. sorry, 'scuse me! oh, he looks so much more real on tv. yeah...

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welcome back. you're watching msnbc. i'm stephanie rhule. despite political divisiveness around the world, tony blair is not giving up. he's working with the bipartisan movement, no labels, to fill the wi wi widening gap between political parties. he sat down with me and talked about north korea, a major concern being addressed at the u.n. general assembly right now. president trump, almost baiting kim jong-un, calling him rocketman. how does one handle north korea? >> it is an incredibly difficult problem because the military solutions are difficult. you're dealing with a regime that is difficult and got itself to the position where it's got

the capability that it has, and where even if you try and stop it, the damage they can do, even through the conventional weapons they have, with south korea is enormous. the solution you're going for is one that shows the north korean regime that it's route to survival is not to keep on provoking the world, but actually to resist those nuclear ambitions. >> former prime minister also weighed in on brexit and fears surrounding immigration that some say fueled the shocking vote in his own country. friday marks the fifth terror attack in london this year. whether it is those in the uk who voted for brexit because they have terror concerns, or those who feel that their jobs were taken, it is a similar sentiment to what we see here, that nationalist thread, those who believe their jobs have been taken by immigrants. how do you approach that? what do you do? >> i think what you do is, first

of all, you're very clear with people. the answer to terrorism and security, is deal with the issues on their own merits. in respect to immigration, you know, the system needs controls and it needs rules. but immigrants on the whole have yielded enormous benefit to our societies. your society in your country is in many ways a great country because of the waves of migrants that have come to us. so is ours. what i'd say is you need rules but not prejudices. this is an amount of anxiety, security, post-financial crisis, cultural alienation, but people need solutions to questions like immigration or, you know, communities and people who don't have proper chances in life. if you just ride the anger, that's the easy thing to do, providing the answer is tougher but much more productive. >> i'll say it again. riding the anger is the easier

thing to do. providing the solutions is tougher but far more important. stick around, everyone. president trump's lawyers are working on different problems. apparently, they're clashing over the russia investigation. one allegedly wants to cooperate more than the other does. we're going to tell you the surprising details that were overheard at a d.c. steak house this weekend. and we're following the ongoing fight against confederate monuments in this country. in light of this, we want to introduce you to monumental americans who may be deserving of a statue. today, we're honoring a former republican senator from the state of mississippi. he was the first african-american to serve in the united states congress. rebels was born to free parents in north carolina back in 1827. he preached to fellow african-americans, even in states where free black men were not permitted like missouri, where he was eventually imprisoned. later, he was a recruiter for

the civil war and became active in the republican party. after the war, he was elected as a senator from mississippi, a role held years before by confederate leader jefferson davis. revels fought to abolish segregation and free slaves. he died in 1901. that is a man who surely could use some focus, use some honor, maybe a monument. if you have a monumental american in mind, tweet us at #velshirhule. and one for each of you too! that one's actually yours. that one. regardless, we're stuck with the bill. to many, words are the most valuable currency. last i checked, stores don't take "words." some do. not everyone can be the poetic voice of a generation. i know, right? such a burden. the bank of america mobile banking app. the fast, secure and simple way to send money.

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welcome back to "velshi and ruhle." here are the top stories we're watching right now. shows of force. the u.s. military flew bombers and fighter jets over the south korean peninsula today in joint exercises with south korea and japan. china and russia began drills in the region ahead of the u.n. general assembly meeting. north korea is set to be a focal point for lead ergs ers at the this week. in st. louis, more than 80 people were arrested after a third night of protests that turned violent. demonstrations began in response to friday's acquittal of a police officer who shot and killed an african-american man in 2011. two suspects are in custody after friday'ster torre ter to a london tube. they're 18 and 21-year-old men. the terrorism threat level was

reduced from critical to severe after the arrests. in a new report out, president trump's lawyers are claimed to be arguing over how much to cooperate with the russia investigation. the "new york times" reports special counsel ty cobb wants to turn over as much of the requests e-mails and documents as requests to quickly end the investigation, while the white house counsel reportedly wants to cooperate but is worried about setting a precedent that could weaken the white house. the dispute erupted into an angry confrontation last week. cobb was overheard by a "times" reporter discussing the disagreement over lunch at a washington steak house. this blows my mind. joining me now, live, former justice reporter, and kenneth, who broke the story. ken, we must start with you. to the white house, who is constantly saying, anonymous sources, who believes that? we don't need anonymous sources. they're giving it straight to

us, talking loud as can be next to you in a restaurant. >> yeah. it was surprising. that was part of the confrontation that the white house counsel and john kelly, the chief of staff, were frustrated. expressed their frustration with ty cobb, the internal lawyer representing the president and the white house in the investigation, for his carelessness in the handling of this incredibly sensitive topic. to be talking about it at a restaurant where you could be overheard by anyone. i happened to be there. it was in the sidewalk seating area of the restaurant, so passersby could have heard, waiters and any other diner. this is not what you want to be discussing in that setting. >> no doubt, but from john kelly's perspective, the argument, tighten up your game, this isn't a ship that i want to run, can don mcgahn make this argue amount, or is his issue he can face his own legal issues?

he was closely tied to the president. some say it was just don and jared kushner privy to the fact that the president was bouncing jim comey. >> that's exactly right, stephanie. that's why ty cobb was brought in in the first place. is to free up the lawyers in the white house counsel's office, including don, both to handle the incredibly complex legal issues that arise in the daily process of governing, and set aside the russia investigation, and also to limit their entanglement in the russia investigation which, in the case of mcgahn, as you rightly point out, he is so sort of -- he is so exposed in this that he has his own lawyer who is representing him in this. the thinking being, it is better to have someone kind of independent, even if they're inside the white house counsel's office, handling there stuff. we learned, both from the conversation and from our reporting, is that there are a whole lot of tensions between this sort of ad hoc, you know, white house counsel inside the

counsel's office ty cobb and the broader white house counsel's office, as well as the other lawyers representing other players who are part of or have attracted scrutiny in mueller's russia probe and the congressional russia probes. >> in case people forgot, it was don mcgahn who, when sally yates told him that mike pence had -- excuse me -- that mike flynn had lied to vice president mike pence about the russia investigation, don mcgahn's response was, why would the department of justice care? matt miller, what is your take on all of this? >> i think you're exactly right to raise that point. a lot of people when looking at the obstruction of justice questions focus just on the president's firing of jim comey. but you really have to go back to the initial conversations between sally yates and don mcgahn, where she warned him that flynn lied to the american public and had had an interview with the fbi. she would not answer his question about whether he told the truth in the interview. that meeting, those series of meetings led to the president's first interaction with jim

comey, where he asked him for a loyalty pledge. later his secondary intersacact, asking him to back off the flynn investigation. don is in the middle of those and potentially other times the president tried to intervene in the investigation. he is a witness at the least, possibly has his own legal exposure. when you look at the difference of opinion between ty cobb and don mcgahn, it is possible he's telling the truth, it being a difference over legal strategy, and possible mcgahn's self-protectionism is clouding his vision. >> besides the overwhelming, holy cow, i cannot believe i'm sitting next to these two and hearing this, what was your biggest take away? >> yeah, i mean, i think it is that there is a difference -- it's not just legal strategy. it is really like sort of legal understanding. don mcgahn sees himself as representing not just donald trump or the office of the president now, but the office of

the presidency, writ large. so the point that he's making in this sort of urging of caution or at least urging of a more thorough review of all documents to be produced, to determine whether they could assert privilege over it, is if they do hand over documents without asserting privilege, that could be sort of subject to a privilege assertion, that it would compromise not just donald trump's ability to assert privilege in this investigation, future parts of this investigation, or potentially other legal dealings or invest dpa gags, but future president's ability to assert privilege. it is an abstract argument. we happened to overhear it playing out in a way that is e eyebrow raising, but i agree with matt, there may be issues that don might have that might color how he approaches this debate. it is a real debate. >> quickly, before we go, in all

sincerity, were you like, i cannot believe this is happening? >> mm-hmm. yeah, i mean, washington, you get a lot of this. occasionally, you'll hear snippets of conversation that maybe, slightly interesting but don't amount to a story. this one, i knew right at the top, wow, i'm getting some firsthand stuff. firsthand glimpse into the hottest story. in a way, that should not be available to reporters or really anyone else. >> let's remember, the president's long-time lawyer, no longer with him, sent a profanity-strewn e-mail to someone who happened to see him on television. extraordinary. matt, ken, thank you. if you didn't see it, mike flynn now has a gofundme campaign, trying to pull together some resources. again, this is a very complicated legal situation, ask it is not just mike flynn. all sorts of people tied to the white house have had to get their own outside legal counsel. caputo had to liquidate his

children's college fund. next, the massive equifax breach. the personal information of nearly half of the entire united states population was snatched by hackers. you can't just get a new social security number. we'll have updates from the company, and i'll speak to one of the attorney generals investigating the breach. this is willie. he's on his way to work in alaska. this is john. he's on his way to work in new mexico. willie and john both work for us, a business that employs over 90,000 people in the u.s. alone. we are the coca-cola company, and we make much more than our name suggests. we're an organic tea company. a premium juice company. we've got drinks for long days. for birthdays. for turning over new leaves. and all of our products rely on the same thing we all do... clean water. which is why we have john leading our efforts to replenish every drop of water we use.

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this story gets my goat. major equifax executives have announced they're leaving the company immediately, retiring. the top security officer and chief technology officer said they are retiring following that enormous breach that exposed nearly half of the country's personal information. federal and state officials are outraged, trying to find out how hackers were able to steal sensitive data like birth dates, social security numbers and drivers license information from as many as 143 million people. among the onslaught of criticism, a coalition of 34 attorneys generals signed a letter, warning the credit firm not no use this incident as an opportunity to prop ffit off victims. joining me is mike hunter who signed the letter, citing concerns with the breach.

sir, 1.7 million in your state alone were hacked. what do you want from equifax? >> well, stephanie, equifax needs to take responsibility. equifax needs to take the the initiative to mitigate the impact of this on the people who were affected. and the idea that they can make money off of this by charging for their heightened credit review service is inexcusable and i and my colleagues, democrats and republicans, attorneys general around the country, i think gave them a message in a very loud and clear fashion that this will not stand. >> you're talking about the company now marketing had fee-based services to help those who were hacked. so you've sent this letter. has the company responded? >> not so far to my knowledge. in my view, the company needs to hold customers harmless not only for any services that they

access from equifax but if they have to go to other companies to get their credit frozen, equifax needs to begin to set money aside to hold those consumers harpless from having to pay other companies to put a freeze on their accounts. that's part of our letter. >> why don't you sue equifax? the justice department is looking into top executives who conveniently sold their own stock, $1.8 million worth. why don't you sue some people here? >> well, it's certainly on my radar screen. it's on the radar screen of a lot of my colleagues. certainly commend the massachusetts ag for getting out in front of this. we want to make sure we know the facts. we want to make sure we know what rights and responsibilities we need to hold them accountable for and what liabilities they have to our citizens. so it's certainly something that is being reviewed by my team. and if it's -- if it's an option

that we need to pursue to get their attention, it's something that we're not going to be timid about. >> all right. thank you so much for joining me, sir. attorney general mike hunter. we need to. >> pete: out, we do not know what those equifax executives know. >> we're watching two hurricanes right now. jose set to pass the outer banks today. while maria could become a major storm. it is right at puerto rico in the virgin islands. that is extraordinary to me. they were ravaged by irma and puerto rico is the one place trying to help the virgin islands right now and they could be hit with the worst storm they've ever seen. you are watching "velshi and ruhle." stay with us. they really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. we've got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police. usaa was there hands-on very quick very prompt.

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i've said pay attention to this all hour long. but this one i feel in my heart, hurricane season is far from over. two monster storms churning in the atlantic right now. now hurricane maria is a category 3 as it sets its sights for puerto rico and the virgin islands. remember this, hurricane sandy was only a 1. if it continues on this path, the storm could be the worst to hit puerto rico since 1928. what is worse, maria will range more destruction on the u.s. virgin islands. i was there last week. they cannot take anymore pain. a place that is just starting to pick up the pieces after irma's destruction. as i said, i was there last

week, and i saw just a portion of the wreckage that residents are dealing with. >> right now is our number one revenue and provides at least 60% to 70% of employment to the bpi. with this happening to us, it's actually hurting us pretty bad. a lot of workers will be out of work. so it's really devastating. >> joining me now nbc meteorologist bill karins. that man i was talking to right there worked in a restaurant. that restaurant was using all of their food to feed lows. there are no schools for their children to go to. they know they won't have power and water for most likely a year, while people in puerto rico have been providing the most aid possible and thanking their lucky stars that irma somewhat missed them. now what's in their future? >> unfortunately, puerto rico is going to need a lot of help. i have nothing good to say what's going to happen to puerto

rico in the next two days. a fearful what happened in -- what is going to happen in puerto rico is going to be just as bad as what happened in the florida key with irma, with houston and harvey and in areas even that dealt with barbuda and the turks and caicos with irma also. let's show you why it's such a fearful forecast. we all have such hurricane fatigue right now. it's hard to imagine we'll do this again somewhere so close to home. and for the people of puerto rico, you know, the 3.7 million people that live there, this storm is now only 36 hours away from the beginning impact and 48 hours from the worst impacts. so the storm is here. let me get you caught up with the 11:00 advisory we got in a little while ago. it's up to a major hurricane. the hurricane aircraft is flying in that and found winds of 120 miles per hour. it is rapidly intensifying. the million dollar question is when will it stop? as a cat 4 or cat 5 like irma did? that's what we're going to find out in the next 24 hours.

this is the forecast path. they still have it going right over the top of puerto rico, literally splitting the island in half. the cone is getting never more so narrow. the chance for a police is becoming less by the hour. 150-mile-per-hour winds over the southern portions of the virgin islands and right over puerto rico. that would be a very fearful wednesday throughout all of the virgin islands and puerto rico. you're talking devastation no one alive has seen there in puerto rico. brushing the dominican republic, possibly hitting turks and caicos and taking a path we hope east of the bahamas. the other storm that we're, of course, watching is what's going on with jose. still barely holding on to hurricane strength. tropical storm warnings for cape cod, rhode island and a sliver of connecticut. civil 85-mile-per-hour winds. this is a nuisance. what's going to happen in puerto rico and the virgin islands i'm fearful. they'll need a lot of help in the days ahead. >> a nuisance and nightmare.

pay attention to that. those people in the virgin islands and in puerto rico need our help. bill, thank you so much. >> thank you for watching this hour of "velshi and ruhle." ali will be back at 3:00 p.m. today. check us out on social media and connect with our show at #velshi rhule. right now the woman is in the building. the one and only andrea mitchell for "andrea mitchell reports." >> great to see you, stephanie. welcome back. and right now, world stage. president trump making his debut at the united nations after campaigning against the organization in the past as a club where people just want to get together and have a good time. >> in recent years, the united nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement. rocket man. the u.s. buzzes north korea with a show of force and military exercises with japan and south korea. as the president fires up a new