saving lives. that is our broadcast for tonight. thank you so much for being here with us and good night from nbs news headquarters in new york. ♪ new overnight, the death toll from a massive earthquake in mexico continues to climb. more than 200 people have died after the 7.1 magnitude quake caused buildings and homes to collapse. plus, residents of puerto rico being warned to evacuate or die as hurricane maria comes through. and president trump calling out to others threatening to totally destroy the rogue nation. good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, september 20th. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis

burgdorf. while rescue efforts are still under way, mexican crews race to save people trapped beneath the crumblings. the u.s. geological survey said yesterday's quake was centered near the town of san juan roboso. officials have lowered the death toll to 217 after initially raising to over 250 overnight. dozens of buildings were reduced to rubble or severely damaged in densely populated parts of the city. the president says roughly 40% of the capital is without power. meanwhile officials say at least 25 children and adults after their school in mexico city has collapsed. 11 people have been rescued. still others unaccounted for. this is video from our colleagues at telemundo of their

office in mexico, shaking during that earthquake. you see them bracing themselves agency the tv monitors begin to sway. president trump tweeted his support. writing god bless the people of mexico city. we are with you and we will be there for you. >> steve, good to talk to you this morning. just an incredible tragedy following this earthquake. what are you seeing on the ground? >> reporter: incredible tragedy. loss of life. where we are right now, we've just gotten on to a seam. it's one of the buildings which you probably see, the video that's been playing and looping all day long. what it is, a massive humanitarian rescue, sort of in the middle -- probably maybe about hundreds of workers with masks trying to get into the seam here. trying to pull people out of the

rubble. i can't get a look at the direct operations but i can tell you it's massive -- >> seems like we're having some technical difficulties with you, steve. are you there, do we still have you? >> reporter: do you still hear me, yasmin? >> yeah, go ahead. >> reporter: just incredible work efforts, incredible rescue efforts. we're having problems out here, obviously with the cell, and workers are pulling people from the rubble. that's what's going on right now. we'll come back as soon as we can. >> yeah, clearly, the cell service is being knocked out by the earthquake. >> and the power being out of the city as the president was saying. >> steve patterson, thank you. we continue to track hurricane maria lashing the caribbean with the warn to puerto rico, get out

or die. bill, bring us up to speed. >> the small eye has become a larger eye, it's caused a little weakening so now we're down from a cat 5 to a high-end cat 4. instead of 175-mile-per-hour winds we're at 155. still, the top end of the category 4 is still going to cause extreme damage throughout the area. you can ski where the eye is, this is the incas here. bringing the center near umakao. the eye should be over san juan or the northern area. that will cause extreme damage to the most highly populated areas on the northern side of puerto rico. let's go to san juan. we have nbc news news correspondent tammy leitner. tammy, i imagine things are quickly deteriorating? >> reporter: yeah, you know, i can see the storm changing and

increasing ever ten or 15 minutes it just seems to pick up impact and pick up speed. the winds have gotten so strong. we're starting to see debris flying by us. tree branches. we've seen shutters ripped off of buildings. people on this building have been told evacuate or die. that is the message given to locals here. i can tell you not everybody has evacuated. there are about 500 shelters across the island with 50,000 people in them. we've spoken with a lot of them who said they are going to ride out the storm in their homes. they have boarded up their homes and they've hunkered down. we've also spoken to tourists who are trapped on the island. i can tell you where we are here, this is where fema has set up their headquarters. this is where all the first responders are, there are about 300 of them, standing by, waiting for the storm to pass by so they can go out and make rescues, inevitably, there will be rescues to be made.

we spoke with some of those first responders and they told us they're ready to do this. back to you, guys. >> tammy, we wish you the best. you have about two hours before that northern eye wall gets to you. we'll check back with you. hearings the radar, the northern wall is there, and now getting that western eye. you can see where san juan is located here. the stronget storm they've seen. there's the eye. and now the eye is about 16 hours from how. and it will go through the island for the next eight hours. >> praying for puerto rico right now. turning now to the u.n. general assembly, president trump making his first remarks there yesterday, as expected the president held nothing back regarding the ongoing crisis

with north korea. take a listen. >> now, north korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles threatening the entire world with unthinkable loss of human rights. no nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons and missiles. the united states has great strength and patience. but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself. and for his regime. >> the president went on to praise the united nations security council for the latest rounds of harsh sanctions against pyongyang, specifically thanking china and russia for joining the unanimous wave. for also calling on the united nations as a whole to step up. >> the scourge of our planet

today is a small group of rogue regimes that violate every principle on which the united nations is based. if the righteous men do not confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph. the united states is ready, willing and able, but hopefully, this will not be necessary. that's what the united nations is all about. that's what the united nations is for. let's see how they do. it is time for all nations to work together to isolate the kim regime until it ceases its hostile behavior. >> so, an important note for you, north korea's ambassador walked out in protest before trump began his speech. if you're wondering because a lot of people are, a senior official telling nbc news that trump added his nickname for kim

jong-un rocket man into his remarks yesterday morning and that he coined the term himself. >> joining us live from beijing on how all of this plays out, correspondent janet matthews. tell us how the remarks may have been perceived in seoul, south korea, and across the region? >> reporter: well in this part of the world, people are trying to figure out if it was a threat, a message or a bluff, this vow to totally destroy north korea so far has been downplayed in south korea, half ignored here in china. in china, it seems to be well received. we have to remember it has flown over japanese territory and their prime minister shinzo abe is talking to the united nations today. here in china, the response was preable. they again called for adherence in resolution. there is the sense is that perhaps this message was meant

as much for xi jinping southwest kim jong-un. that china using all of it intellers of oil to top itself as far as nuclear weapons. xi jinping was not in the audience at that u.n. speech. the most intriguing from the speech is from the regime itself. there's the sense that perhaps president trump provided the perfect sound bite for the north korean audience. not as a threat but for the pursuit of nuclear weapons used against north korea. >> we're going to cross over to nbc news to ali arouzi who is going to join us with hard hitting action on iran and the iran nuclear deal. >> president noted his america first doctrine while addressing how that policy can co-exist and are not necessarily separate entities. >> as president of the united

states, i will always put america first. just like you, agency the leaders of your countries, will always and should always put your countries first. [ applause ] but making a better life for our people also requires to work together in close harmony and unity to create a more safe and peaceful future, for all people. as long as i hold this office, i will defend america's interests above all else. but in fulfilling our obligations to our own nations, we also realize that it's in everyone's interest to seek the future will all nations can be sovereign, prosperous and secure. >> joining us in washington is white house correspondent rosca.

thanks for joining us. in the past the president has been critical of the united nations. now he's making this speech with the first first mantra, what's the reaction we're hearing across the world in this regard? >> well, i think it depends where you look, you have the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu who said this is one of the best u.n. speeches he had heard and that it was tough and on point. but then you have the swedish foreign minister saying this was the wrong speech, the wrong time and the wrong audience. so, i think it depends on where you stand on the world stage. i think it did rattle some world leaders, to focus on america first. and sovereignty, there wasn't really an explanation of how that works cooperatively. and if everyone is looking out for their own interests, then how do you come together on these kind of big issues like north korea, et cetera.

so i think that it was kind of mixed reviews. and i think there was some take-away from some world leaders that the u.s. might not be willing to get involved in kind of any big projects. >> yeah, it's pretty interesting, ayesha. let's switch gears and in reuters first to report yesterday that the republican national committee is using funds from a legal proceedings account to actually help president trump pay for his russia-related legal fees. what more can you tell us about this? and more importantly, is this unprecedented? >> well, it's unprecedented. now, it's not illegal because president trump did not use public financing for his campaign. he privately funded it. so, he is allowed to use campaign funds and rnc funds for legal investigation. but it is unprecedented in this day and age, to have a president

using his campaign funds for a criminal investigation. and not only do you have the legal implications, but you have the optics of a billionaire president using campaign funds to fund his response, his legal response to the russia investigation. while there are many on his staff, kind of lower-rung staff members who are struggling to pay their legal bills. >> yeah, you have michael flynn's family making that plea to help with support for his legal fees. >> right. >> all right, correspondent for reuters, ayesha roscoe, thanks. still ahead, jimmy kimmel weighs in on the health care debate and calls out one leader who said lined his face. plus, we're tracking the path of the category 5 storm. those stories and more when we come back.

democrats are sounding the alarm now that the graham-caskey bill seems to be picking up steam. he feels the momentum, this as the senate leader is in the white house to shore up obamacare exchanges. republicans are racing for that deadline. they need 51 votes. one major obstacle, they won't know the plan's cost because they won't get a full cbo score until after the vote. and a bipartisan group of governors who came against the bill yesterday including bill walker whose pin could affect lisa murkowski's decision. meanwhile, senator cassidy is catching flak from late night host jimmy kimmel, take a list. >> a few months ago after my son

had open heart surgery which is something i spoke about, a politician bill cassidy, a politician was on my show doesn't seem to be very honest. he seemed honest, when it came to health care for coming up with something he called, i didn't name it this, he named it, the jimmy kimmel test which was, in a nutshell, no family should be denied medical care, emergency or otherwise, because they can't afford it. he agreed to that. he said he would only support a health care bill that made sure that a child like mine would get the health coverage he needs no matter how much money his parents make. and this guy bill cassidy just lied right to my face. >> do you believe that every american regardless of income should be able to get regular checkups, maternity care, et cetera, all of those things that people who have health care get and need? >> yep. >> so, yep, is washington for no, i guess.

[ laughter ] by the way, before you post a nasty facebook message saying i'm politicizing my son's health problems. i want to you know i'm politicizing my son's health problems because i have to. >> well, the senator responded saying in a statement saying, quote, we have a september 30th deadline, let's finish the vote. there is someone's whose preexisting condition will be addressed through the bill. we'll hear from senator cassidy later this morning. let's get to bill karins with a check on the weather. bill, you're tracking hurricane maria, it's a category 4 on puerto rico's door step and could potentially be delivering a severe below in san juan. >> right now, roofs are being torn off homes and a lot of people in their safe rooms. so that's what they're waking up to in puerto rico. again, the eye, went through a wall replacement cycle last night and that did bring it down

just a little bit. that is weakening it but instead of ten miles wide, it's now 30 miles wide. that means the devastation is through a larger area but not as extreme. this red circle shows you, san juan got to 78. that's when it does structural damage, trees are falling down, power is going out. and there's the center of the storm, about an hour, hour and a half away from landfall of a strong category 4 hurricane. they haven't seen something like this since 1932 in puerto rico. here's the eye. you can notice that the innerportion of the eye which was really pronounced kind of is falling apart. and this wider eye is taking over. that's what i mean, we were tracking a ten-mile wide eye and now it's 30 miles wide. that means the wind field is expanding, too. hearings the center of the storm. notice now starting to get into the eye near the coast.

from the center coming on shore there near humacao. you can see san juan getting in that those northwestern eye wall in about an hour or hour and a half from now. the worst of the damage is now beginning, the flash flooding is beginning. and extreme winds. a lot of people are with their children in their houses scared right now for good measure, this is a very serious storm. >> it's going to be a critical hour for the folks in puerto rico. still ahead, baseball's all-time home record record falls and in the nba, one of the biggest stars apologizes for going after his former team, where else, but on twitter. sports is next. that knows the weather down to the square block. this is a diamond tracked on a blockchain - protected against fraud, theft and trafficking. this is a financial transaction secure from hacks and threats others can't see. this is a patient's medical history made secure - while still available to their doctor at their fingertips.

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dad! cigna. together, all the way. welcome back. time now for sports and major league baseball's new all-time single season home run record. while barry bonds' original park is stage, alex gordon slugged a 5,694th home run of the 2017 season in last night's 5-2 loss against the blue jays. a solo shot at the top of the eighth breaks the record at 2,000. we'll see how high tell goes. to atlanta, max scherzer makes an entry into baseball's history books as well, matching 250 strikeouts for the fourth season in a row. scherzer is just the fourth pitcher in mlb history to post such a streak. perhaps more importantly for

scherzer, he gets a win as his nationals beat the braves 4-2. and kevin durant has apologized following backlash over critical comments over his former coach and teammates. on sunday, he responded to a fan who questioned his reasons for leaving the oklahoma thunder last summer. since the tweet, durant replied saying he didn't like the organization or playing for head coach billy donovan and added that the roster wasn't that good. the mvp spoke about the incident while on stage yesterday. take a listen. >> i went a little too far. and i don't regret clapping back at anybody or talking to my fans on twitter. i do regret using my former coach's name and the former organization i played for. that was childish, idiotic, all of those type of words for doing that. and i apologized to him for doing that. >> reacting on social media can cause a problem. >> yeah, what's interesting in that story there was some

reporting to suggest he was using a fake twitter account to post those responses of people who were critical of him and accidentally tweeted that out. >> that's a big mistake. >> yeah, interesting. still ahead -- more on president trump's speech to the general assembly, including harsh words for iran. plus, we're follows the massive earthquake that shook mexico. ok can we... sfx: (balloon squeals) i'm being so serious right now... i really want to know how your coffee is. it's... sfx: (balloon squeals) hahahaha, i had a 2nd balloon goodbye! oof, that milk in your coffee was messing with you, wasn't it? yeah. happens to more people than you think. try lactaid, it's real milk, without that annoying lactose. mmm. good right? yeah. lactaid. it's the milk that doesn't mess with you.

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♪ welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian along with ayman mohyeldin and louis

burgdorf. it's the bottom of the hour. we're following that breaking news out of mexico where rescue efforts are still under way following that massive 7.1 earthquake. the u.s. geological survey said yesterday's quake was centered around the town of san juan roboso. mexico's federal government has declared a state of disaster in mexico city. "dancing"s of buildings were reduced to rubble or severely damaged in densely populated parts of mexico city. the president says up to 40% of the capital is currently without power. meanwhile, officials say at least 25 children and adults have been killed after their school in mexico city collapsed. 11 people have been rescued though another 30 are still unaccounted for. such a tragic situation there. joining us from mexico city, nbc news correspondent steve patterson. steve, good to talk to you once

again. we're seeing dramatic videos coming out as crews are searching to find survivors that the level. what's it like for you. what are you seeing on the ground, in regards to rescue operations there? what's the plan? >> reporter: yeah, yasmin, that's exactly what we're seeing right now. i want to show you a rescue operation that's in progress. we're on scene with an office building collapse. just as typical as you could possibly get, this upscale neighborhood, it's about 1:00, shortly before lunchtime. workers are in there, just working, building is packed with people. you can see that collapse. you can see workers that have kind of made progress. and the top levels of that building collapse. what they're trying to do, they're trying as hard as they can to find anybody who may be trapped in there. any survivors who may be able to make a noise or some sort of sign that they're alive inside there to try to pull those people out. so, what we have here is

basically humanitarian crisis. you have police here joined by military. joined by local, state, federal. all law enforcement on scene here, to try to help as best they can to get people out of there. and part of that work is to identify who's already been found in this crisis. you can see back here, some of the relief workers with their helmets. people bringing food and relief supplies. but also you see signs up here, these are people that have been discovered in the rubble. and so that work will continue, the help of identifying family members who may be trapped inside there. that will continue throughout the morning, throughout the day. and the next few days, toward the foreseeable future, yasmin, as we continue here on scene. a very tough scene to see here. but progress being made to try to pull people out. >> you do not want to see your family member's name up on that list. >> it's a painstaking time for people looking for loved ones.

>> hopefully, when the sun comes up, it's a good feeling even if you find one person. steve patterson, thank you. now to another natural disaster, puerto rico is getting larked right now as a monster storm, hurricane maria makes its way to shore. joining us from puerto rico, nbc news correspondent tammy leitner. tammy, i see the conditions are getting worse. >> reporter: yeah, ayman, things are starting to deteriorate here. we actually had to move because of debris falls from trees. it's changing very quickly. everybody on the island has been warned. they've actually be told evacuate or die. it's too late for anybody to do anything. people are hunkered down. there are about 500 shelters here across the island. we're told about 50,000 people have taken refuge in those. there are also some tourists

here who are trapped on the island. i can tell you we're outside of fema where they have set up their command post. there are about 300 first responders, firefighters, emts, rescue personnel from across the united states, and they will be heading out as soon as this storm passes and making rescue, inevitably, there will be res e rescues that will need to be made after hurricane maria passes through here. ayman. >> tammy ligeitnerleitner, thany much. >> we also want to get the latest of the storm's path as it moves over puerto rico from bill karins in just a few minutes. in addition to going after north korea, the president took on another one of his foreign policy targets, iran. >> it is far past time for the nations of the world to confront another reckless ra week, one that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing death to america,

destruction to israel. and ruin for many leaders and nations in this room. the iranian government masks a corrupt dictatorship, behind the false guise of a democracy. it has turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports violence corruption and chaos. it is time to join us in ghanding iran's government end its pursuit of death and destruction. >> president also reiterated his hatred for the iranian nuclear agreement. take a listen to this. >> we cannot let a murderous regime continue these destabilizing activities, while building dangerous missiles and we cannot abide by an agreement, if it provides cover for the

eventual construction of a nuclear program. the iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the united states has ever entered into. frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the united states, and i don't think you've heard the last of it. believe me. >> some strong words there from president trump about iran. let's cross over now to thehran. we're joined by ali arouzi. >> reporter: ayman, the speech hasn't gone down well, the diplomatic ambassador said trump's ignorant hate speech belonged in medieval times, not the 21st century. u.n. unworthy of a reply.

today senior iranian officials follow suit calling trump ignorant. the strongest message coming out of tehran is the nuclear deal is not up for renegotiation. that's what the trump administration seems to want to do anyway. secretary of state rex tillerson saying that changes have to be made for the deal in order for america to remain part of it, changes that include the ballistic missile program and the deal were sanctionses on the nuclear program expired by 2005. this may be an attempt by the u.s. to get its european allies to pile on iran to return to the negotiating team but i'm fairly certain iran is in no mood to address. iran's president rouhani addresses the general assembly. yesterday with lester holt, he said said america will lose all ce credibility if it pulled out the deal. we have to see if he has strong

response to president trump's speech yesterday. and also there's a meeting with secretary of state rex tillerson to meet his counterpart for the first time along with other foreign ministers from other powers that negotiated the nuclear agreement with tehran. back to you. >> lots to watch out there, ali, thanks for joining us. >> as ali alluded to iran's president rouhani sat down with lester holt just prior to president trump's speech at the general assembly. president ruhan nir perhaps predicting his nation would be a target, preemptively responding. >> translator: the exiting of the united states from such an agreement would carry a high cost, meaning that subsequent to such an improbable action of united states of america, no one will trust america again. and there is no higher price to be paid than this. because after a possible scenario, which country will be willing to sit across the table

from the united states of america and talk about international issues. >> and president trump's speech to the u.n. has drawn polarizing responses both abroad and here at home. surprisingly, japan and south korea have applauded parts of his remark s as benjamin netanyahu as applauded the speech. he said in over 30 years in my years with the u.n., i have never heard a border or more correspond ravens speech. yet, trump's speech also had his share of critics including dianne feinstein of california who labeled the knocks as, quote, severe disappointment that president trump used that international platform to threaten war. let's go back to ayesha roscoe. good to see you once again. what do you make of the

president's speech overall? we just heard mixed reaction coming from world leaders everywhere. >> well, i think that's what's most interesting about this speech, is that he definitely played to his base. he played to almost an american audience, instead of an international audience. but for those that were looking for tough talk, this was good for them. you know, people in the middle east, countries in the middle east, israel, who are mad about the iran deal, he spoke to their issues. he also spoke even, it was interesting in the beginning, he talked about how great the american economy is doing, as if he was kind of giving a rally in ohio some place. instead of at this international body. so, he really was very pointed on making sure that, as always, that he's laser focused on his base when he was giving a speech, even though it was supposed to be kind of nor international -- more international audience for this. >> ayesha, there's this i want

to ask you, does the president's sharp words actually help try to resolve some of these ongoing conflicts? are they just going to fuel further tensions and provocations with north korea and iran? >> well, it depends on who you ask. some people say this is long overdue. and that people need to take a tough stance with iran. and you need to say this tough words. but now we have had president trump say we're going to unleash fire and fury on north korea. and it has not changed their actions thus far. so, we've had tough talks from president trump but north korea hasn't responded. they've continued on the path they've been on. so, you have people who are concerned this type of saber rattling is not working. you have chancellor angela merkel saying she's going to do everything she can to make sure there's a diplomatic resolution,

to north korea, because anything else would be a disaster. >> thank you, good talking to you this morning. still ahead -- we're going to get the latest on hurricane maria as the storm barrels towards puerto rico. >> and bill karins will have the very latest for us, to give us a sense of how bad it's looking for the people in puerto rico and where the hurricane is moving to next. stay with us. kevin, meet your father. kevin kevin kevin kevin

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san juan already to 92 miles per hour. they're 50 miles from the center. that shows you how long the duration this is going to be. i want to show you some of the pictures of san juan. yeah, you get the idea. this is what the equivalent of a category 1 or category 2 will to. when it gets closer, they will get the gusts. possible san juan, 140 to 160-mile-per-hour gusts. picture a city that has almost 500,000 people, in the general area, it's about 2 1/2 million. wind gusts, 140 to 176 miles per hour that's why we think it's subpoena a crisis. let's go in, we're getting close to that landfall. and humacao, and right now, that's right now in the western portion of the eye wall. there's two eye walls, by the way, this is the inner one right here. then this big red is the new one that's taking over. so the official landfall will be on this portion of the coast right now humacao and yabbakoa.

we're getting close to that landfall. here's the wind field. the red shows the hurricane force winds. when that comes out, that's when the power goes out. and that's when the destruction begins. all the way back to st. thomas. the timing of it, by 2:00 p.m. this afternoon, the center of the storm is already off the north coast of puerto rico and the winds will be coming down. by the time the sun sets all of the strongest winds will be gone. we should know by the end of the day if any areas have power where we stand on the storm. focusing on the winds, too. but the rain is going to cause a huge problem in the mountains of puerto rico. up to 15 to 20 inches of rain. mudslides, life threatening, the infrastructure of bridges are going to be destroyed. it's going to be a very dangerous situation. >> bill, you were talking in the next hours, as it moves off puerto rico and do you think it

can gain strength as it goes over the waters and heads through puerto rico. >> it doesn't look like, something called shear is going to start increasing. it should weaken over puerto rico further through the day today. and next for the next five day, it's going way to close to the people of dominican republic. they are under a hurricane warning. notice, 140, close to turks and caicos, closest, not on top. and then to category 2 by the time it gets to monday. still to the east coast, so we're not going to ignore it. but it looks like a jose kind of thing. large waves, battering surf, more problems like that. >> so incredibly bad for the islands that are going to get hit. >> as it makes towards puerto rico it shouldn't make any more direct landfall. >> good news i guess there. still ahead, russian investigators with the meddling on elections pulled the plug on

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thirsty? welcome back. senate investigators have postponed a meeting with long-time lawyer michael cohen. cohen was to meet privately with staff. prior to that meeting, cohen circulated his opening statement which denied any collusion with russia. a source tells nbc news neither

cohen nor the law maker were to speak with media after meeting with staffers for an hour t. meeting was cancelled and postponed. >> why was it postponed? >> the next question you have to ask. >> was it your request to postpone? or was it on the committee? >> what were you doing here today if you weren't meeting. >> the senate intelligence postponed. i'll be back and i look forward to getting all the information. >> what was the message you wanted to send to michael cohen? >> i didn't send a message except what we do is behind closed doors. >> cohen is set to testify behind closed doors on the 25th. paul manafort is calling on the justice department to investigate that he was previously wire tapped by the fbi. open monday, the fbi has been

interested in manafort as far back at 2013. they claim he was wire tapped both before and after he ran donald trump's company. cnn saying the reported eavesdropping has been authorize under the foreign under surveillance intelligence act. jason malone, manafort's spokesperson says, if true, it is a felony to reveal the existence of a fisa warrant, regardless of the fact that no charges ever emerged. . >> and as the russian investigation continues the republican national committee has confirmed with nbc news it

is using money from illegal proceedings account to help pay for president trump's russia-related legal fees. reuters first reported trump is using campaign funds and money from the rnc to pay for his own legal advice. according to multiple reports, the rnc spent more than $230,000 fees in the month of august. john dowd reportedly paid $100,000. another $121,000 went to where john sekulow is a partner. coming up next on ""morning joe,"" the devastating earthquake in mexico, rescue crews race to find survivors. plus, we are tracking hurricane a maia as it rips across puerto rico and bat mexico.

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welcome back. a check of the stories you will be hearing about in the day ahead. >> president trump will meet once again with world leaders in new york. the president is set to sit down with president mahmoud abbas. he is also scheduled to meet with british prime minister teresa may and the egyptian president as well as king abdullah of jordan. and his predecessor president obama is set to give the key note address, he will recognize global health and reduction in poverty over the last 25 years. bill and linda gates will be there. all right. >> that does it for us on this wednesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now.

good morning, it's wednesday, september 20th. we are following a number of stories. president trump was "america first" se u.n. and steps up his warnings to north korea meanwhile, republican as far as see daylight on health care reform. some gop governors aren't so sure about that. the russian investigation rolls on with new details on who's paying the president's legal bills but first, two natural disasters unfolding in real time. rescue efforts happening right now in mexico after a powerful earthquake ripped through that country yesterday and hurricane maria about to slam directly into puerto rico. we'll go straight to meteorologist bill karins with a check on the storm's latest track. bill. >> power knocked out. roof damage done, structural damages beginning as the strongest weekends are moving on shore in puerto rico. overnight, can you see the storm, 124-mile-per-hour