tv First Look MSNBC September 21, 2017 2:00am-3:00am PDT
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we want to begin with the hurricane. destructive category three winds now lashing the eastern dominican republic after pounding puerto rico and throwing the entire island into complete darkness. is the island is without power, including cell phone service and water. >> unbelievable. smashed into puerto rico as a c category four storm. 70% of homes had roofs ripped
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off. it could take 4-6 months to restore electricity there. >> i'm 64 years old. i've never seen devastation like this one. the puerto rico and san juan we knew yesterday is no longer there. we need to reconstruct, rebuild, reinvent and we have to push on. if not with our body, with our heart and soul. i'm just concerned we may not get to everybody in time. that is a great weight on my shoulders. >> let's go to san juan, puerto rico. nbc news is standing by. we're hearing the heart break in the mayors voice there. just feeling like she won't be able to get to everybody in time. after the devastation that sort of ripped through the island there. how are people handling the aftermath there as maria has blown through. >> i think the biggest question right now is how many people really hurt and what is the
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extent of the damage. nobody really knows yet. let me give you an idea of what we're looking at here. this is what 155 mile an hour winds can do. ripped this metal wall off the building here. tore the doors right off. wrapped around trees. this is how powerful those winds were. now one other problem that they had going on right now on the island is the lack of communication. you know that power is out 100% across the entire island. we only have light here because we're working on generators. power is out across the entire island. people are having a hard time communicating with their loved ones, whether they live here or in the states and so they don't know if they're okay, the roads are washed away. rescue crews aren't able to get in there yet. just a lot of uncertainty at this point. >> seems like there's an organization effort in regards to the cleanup. >> well, there's an organized
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effort. they're actually asking people to stay off the street so they can get cleanup crews. at this point, we just don't know if it's enough. we've seen streets that have been turned into rivers. trump administrati it's going to be very difficult for cleanup crews to get to the remote parts of the island. we traveled to before the storm hit. the houses are made of tin and wood. i'm just wondering how much is left on those very remote parts. >> we'll talk to you again in a bit. for more on hurricane maria's path, bring in bill karins. bill, it's hammering the dominican republic and heading to turks and cacias. >> what does the rest of puerto rico look like. we can only show you pictures isolated. the entire island doesn't have power. hard to get cell signal and pictures out. we have reporters in the big city. you have to be scared for what the other areas look like.
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the storm itself has a big huge eye. 50 miles wide. strongest winds off the coast of the dominican republic. 60 miles north of punta cana now. the rain bands sat over puerto rico all night long. the entire island is under a flash flood warning. that's catastrophic flooding is occurring rights now on a lot of the rivers. areas that didn't have rivers previously are seeing rivers. mud slides are a huge concern. mountain chain goes east to west here. about 3,000 feet in elevation. that just rung out all the water last night over the island. this little city here right near giama is close to where the eye took place. these were taken late yesterday afternoon.
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structural damage. roof damage. see the trees. leaves completely stripped off. streets here. completely broken open. notice the structure, the roof is completely gone. the one blind it. that's going to be the issue housing for a lot of these people. a lot of the structures weren't completely wiped off the ground, but you have houses that are unlivable and that's going to be the problem. these are structures that are not concrete. wood structures with possibly concrete foundations in the bottom here. here's another image from the same town. this is exactly the scene. leaved stripped off trees. extreme roof dang and structures uninhabitable as we go forward. keep trying to dig and show you pictures of telling the story. that's going to be the deal today. the next 24-48 hours. trying to see just how much help
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they're going to need. that's a small sample. that doesn't even take into account these rivers that all hit record flood stages. by the time we get to those pictures, we probably won't see the water anymore. it will be like what harvey did to houston. people literally their houses just gutted. >> that first picture you showed absolutely in incredible. bedroom totally exposed. looked like a bad movie set. >> the picture is worth 1,000 words. >> people only had four hours yesterday afternoon. where initially made landfall. trying to get out and assess. this is one of those spots. >> going to make it harder. where do they go. now to other natural disaster we're following as rescue crews in mexico race against the clock to try to find survivors in the wake of the
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earthquake. saying the death toll in the quake has been raised to 230 people. with 100 deaths comes in mexico city alone. crews have been desperately searching through trapped and collapsed building listening in for any sound of life. 50 people rescued from the rubble of a building there yesterday. elsewhere in mexico city, a much more grim scene as teams have been working through the night to free a young girl trapped beneath the remnants of her school. 21 children and four adults were killed when the building caved in during the middle of classes tuesday afternoon. >> joining us now from mexico city. let's get up to speed on the rescue effort. when we spoke to you last hour, seemed a little activity there. rescue workers rushing to rescue or save somebody they may have heard. what's the latest on the scene where you are. >> that activity continues to be ramped up. right outside of the school
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leer. going to show you back here. see the number of military personnel gathered there. they are flooding inside the scene there beyond them you can see an balance that appears to be backed up to the scene. warmed and ready to go. can't confirm to you what the activity is. there is so much of it here. every once in a while see beams being pulled out or debris being pulled out and a rush of rescuers going in. rush of aide workers going back towards the scene are coming back out this way. so it's just been a hype of activity since we've been here. this appears to continue now with the military personnel. as you mentioned, a few days ago, earthquake 7.1 struck the area. what happened was the school basically collapsed on itself. four stories all collapsing down. crushing the people inside, including as you mentioned those 21 young elementary school
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students and four teachers trapped inside. we mentioned the little girl as well. they believe she's trapped in sort of a back pocket in the school. rescuers are attempts to pull out as much debris as possible to get back there and get to her. they also believe they've identified her. there are heat signatures around here. meaning there could be more people alive inside there. we're looking at a desperate search with people scrambling to pull out as much as they can to try to save more lives as this crisis continues. >> steve partyson, thank you. special counsel bob mueller has asked the white house for documents of president trump's most scrutinized actions. including firing of michael
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flynn and comey. the white house officials say mueller is interested in the oval office meeting with top russian officials. documents described in times in may quoted the president telling the russians he was not under investigation and quote, i just fired the head of the fbi. he was crazy. a real nut job. i face great pressure because of russia. that's taken off now. the special counsel's office also made request from the white house donald trump jr.'s meeting with the russian lawyer. "washington post" reports mueller also asked for any e-mail or document the white house holds that relates to manafort. according to two sources briefed on the request. the paper also reports that less than two weeks before trump accepted the republican presidential nomination, campaign chairman offered to provide briefing on a russian billionaire. who is closely aligned with the kremlin. manafort wrote to a go between.
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if we need private briefing, we can accommodate. a spokesman confirmed the authenticity and said they had been turned over to a congressional committee. the paper notes there is no evidence in the document showing that he received manafort's offer or any briefings actually took place. spokeswoman dismissed it as a scheme. still frustrations flared in the form of a stake holder, chuck grassley who shares the judiciary committee. >> we've tried to talk to manafort's lawyers for weeks. we don't get a phone call return. that would mandate we have a subpoena. now my question i can't answer for you is i don't know whether it's worth issuing subpoenas when somebody has been indicted. if there's any value in that. >> add one more headline to the pile. grassley said he's preparing
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subpoenas for two officials for the firing of james comey. the department of justice has been making an appearance saying it would be unwise. >> joining us here, big revelations here. about potential foreign influence in 2016. what rob mueller is investigating. what are some of the areas the special counsel is looking at from what you know. >> there are apparently 13 areas least he's looking at. closing in on trump now. before he was not a focus on the investigation. now it's clear there's a lot in the white house that mueller is looking at. as we spoke about before, it's the firing of comey, the firing of flynn, his oval office meetings. trump has become central to this investigation. >> talk about the anxiety that has been raised as a result of the investigation, how is it affecting white house staff?
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how is it -- from your showers, what are you hearing in terms of the way this is playing out in the white house. >> i think there's a mix. trump looks at this as a pain in his side. he wants it to go away. others recognize it's a real problem and want the investigation to be carried out. you saw at the u.n. saying russia had done these horrible things. so there's a mix of that. a lot of people just want to move on with the agenda. >> what do you think is the most damaging for president trump here? is it the conversation with lavrov? the firing of james comey? and probably helped draft the letter with rosen steinstein.
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the very latest on the health care debate. expected to consider legislation next week. do they have enough votes to pass. hurricane maria pummelled puerto rico. tracking where the storm is heading next. and following the ongoing rescue efforts in mexico after the massive mass massive earthquake. all that and more. we'll be right back. ♪ so, i was at mom and dad's and found this. cd's, baseball cards... your old magic set? and this wrestling ticket... which you still owe me for. seriously? $25? i didn't even want to go. ahhh, your diary. "mom says it's totally natural..."
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>> some of gabe gutierrez reporting. stunning images there. get a check on hurricane maria and its path. bill, you were talking about it earlier. rain still falling in puerto rico. flooding still a huge problem. you don't know how bad it's going to be in some of those outlying areas. pictures of devastation though. really painting a dire picture. >> yes. the rivers themselves are well above records in many cases and major in others. it's hard to tell with this video with the river flooding or from storm surge. looks like most likely river flooding. that's a huge concern with the number of rivers that run out of the mountains and head to the north coast of puerto rico with incredible amounts of rain that have fallen. last night about midnight or so, they just decided to put the entire island under a flash flood warning just because so much rain, so many rivers out of banks. everyone is at risk of seeing flash flooding. pretty incredible.
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weather service says catastrophic flooding is still ongoing. it cameoff the coast off the co worst of the winds and storm surge and heavy rain bands in the dominican republic right now. getting it worse than they thought. fear in the dominican republic and puerto rico is mud slides. you have these mountains and get a torrential amount of rain. soak them just enough. get the terrain to give away. hurricane warning continues. turk and cakes. little sliver here. looks like the main core is going to miss. it will be close enough. here is the update as far as the
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wind goes. hurricane winds along the shore. possibly have gusts in northwest and northeast. we're after the 5:00 on the hour. here's the new updated forecast path. still a cat three. just to the east of turks and caicos. kind of weaken slowly and head in between cape patterson and bermuda. sending large waves. we showed you this graph earlier. this was the path of maria. path of harvey and jose. it has been very cruel to the northern leeward islands and also puerto rico with the last three weeks. >> those are names going to be sered into the memory of a lot of people. this summer has been unlike anything else. >> as of last night, turks and caicos, bahamas, they were still
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worried maria was going to trend towards them. possibly have a mess of maria as well. >> still ahead. weighs in on the nuclear deal decision. doesn't have a lot to add. we're going to explain that coming up. kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin trusted advice for life. kevin, how's your mom? life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you. it's my decision ito make beauty last. roc® retinol, started visibly reducing my fine lines and wrinkles in one week. and the longer i use it, the better it works. retinol correxion® from roc. methods, not miracles.™
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i helped create the biggest drug cartel this world has ever seen. no mas. no mas. [ laughing ] american made. rated r. at ally, we're doing digital financial services right. but if that's not enough, we have 7500 allys looking out for one thing, you. call in the next ten minutes to save on... and if that's not enough, we'll look after your every dollar. put down the phone. and if that's not enough, we'll look after your every cent. grab your wallet. access denied. and if that's still not enough to help you save... ooo i need these! we'll just bring out the snowplow. you don't need those! we'll do anything, seriously anything, to help our customers. thanks. ally. do it right. welcome back, everyone. senate majority leader said the latest effort to repeal and replace obamacare will be considered on the senate floor next week. republicans fighting for the 50
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votes needed to pass the measure inside the budget recon sill jags peri -- critical republican senators like alaska is still in. take a listen. >> are you ready to support it? >> no. >> why not? >> because i am doing the due diligence that i committed to doing yesterday. what i have had an opportunity to do is sit down with my team who has sat down with hhs and we are going through a lot of numbers and continuing to do that. >> intense walk and talk there. that huddle. >> senator john mccain continued to call for regular order to consider the health care bill. president trump reacted on twitter saying rand paul is a friend of mine, but such a negative force when it comes to fixing health care.
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vented his frustration with the process. >> i believe that the graham cassidy bill will do it the right way. there's tremendous support for republicans. we're 48 or 47 senators. a lot are looking at it positively. done such a great job in health care. i thought that i would go to the oval office and sit down at my desk and there would be a health care bill on my desk to be honest. and it hasn't worked out that way. i think a lot of republicans are embarrassed by it. >> still ahead, a race against the clock in mexico. rescue crews work to find survivors buried in the rubble after tuesday's massive earthquake. >> the other big story of the day. hurricane maria. live to puerto rico where the storm came on shore yesterday with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. stay with us. when i received the diagnoses,
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welcome back, everybody. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning top stories. >> continue to follow the latest with hurricane maria lashing the eastern republic. lashing puerto rico and throwing the entire island into darkness. also without water and cell phone service this morning. >> smashed the island as a
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category four storm. according to officials, 730% of homes had the roofs ripped off. could statake 4-6 months to rese power. the sun is rising. people are going to have to emerge from their homes and assess the damage. what are the biggest obstacles that officials are facing in the days and weeks ahead. >> i would say the biggest obstacle they're facing is they don't have any idea right now the extent of the damage. that's the first thing. second thing is as you know, the power is out across the entire island. it's an antiquated power grid. told it was completely wiped out. could be three to four months before they're able to restore it. also keep in mind, people that encountered hurricane irma here, they were already without power, some people there, a lot of people were still without water.
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now, you've got even more people without water. there's a lot of work to be done and right now the extent of that work is really unknown. >> you start worrying about health and sanitation. nbc, thank you. one organization is going to play a critical role in all of the recovery process. the red cross. the spokesperson for the red cross, thank you for joining us. i want to start off by asking you how the red cross is preparing to help the victims of hurricane irma in askand hurric maria. >> the red cross is already in puerto rico. puerto rico has a very political red cross. that does not mean we did not sustain damage with our own operation. from the preliminary reports
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we've gotten so far, everyone is safe and accounted for, but our buildings have sustained significant flooding on the first couple of floors. a lot of fallen down trees. right now, we are assessing our own damage, but we're happy to see everyone is okay. i have colleagues who went to san juan, puerto rico prior to in preparation. the next step once it is safe is to go in and assess the damage and see how we can mobilize and help pretty much the whole island. everyone is being affected by this. miraculously, we did sustain an oil spill with the generator. it is working. power lines are down. what is interesting is that we do not have phone service, but we have internet. we have been able to contact our folks in puerto rico.
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the next step is to make sure that everyone is okay in our staff of volunteers. assess the damage. and to move forward and help everyone on the island. >> we asked fema officials and asking the red cross as well, are you wearing yourself thin. are you wearing yourself thin between harvey, irma, and now maria recovery. >> it is absolutely incredible the season we've had so far. to be honest, yes. this has been an incredible couple of months. it's something we're going to do together and shoulder together and move forward. keep in mind, red cross is part of a global network. we have had sister societies which means red cross organizations from across the world that have stepped forward thankfully and have helped us. even though the american red cross may be a little thin, we are receiving help from our sister agencies across the world that help us out and i know that
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puerto rico will be no different. >> we don't have a lot of time left. your organization has been facing criticism post harvey. call can go it an act. urging residents not to give a penny to the red cross, but to give money instead to another cause. you guys, the red cross promising $400 to every family in houston who needed it and later those families saying they haven't received that money yet. what is your response to that. >> our response is the money is here for the people affected in harvey. the process is a little slow because i know there has been some problems with the website for people to register. i'm happy to report it is up and running. as for criticism about donating to the red cross. it's a shame to hear that. we're one of the very, very few nonprofit organizations who are on the -- have boots on the ground ready to give food,
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water, emotional support at a moment's notice. even though the criticism is out there, who really is hurt by these type of criticisms are the end user at the end of the day because of people impacted birdie sas terb birdie s disasters. birdie crews have been desperately searching for those trapped in collapse buildings. listening for any sound of life. 52 people were rescued from the
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rubble of a building just yesterday. elsewhere in mexico city, a much more grim scene is emerging. teams, wog through the night to free a young girl trapped beneath the school. 21 children and four adults killed when the building caved in during the middle of classes tuesday afternoon. joining us live from mexico city, nbc news steve patterson. bring us up-to-date for the search of that young girl and other students that may be trapped in that building. we're now approaching 48 hours. it's a critical window for rescue workers to try and save anyone inside. >> this is the back edge of that window. in fact, really culturally the epicenter of the nation's focus. this school in particular. you mentioned 21 young students killed in the collapse. show you back to the scene now and show you where the focus is. this is it. we're right in the heart of this thing. see crew members going back and forth and carrying debris out by
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hand. very meticulous. very slow process. they have to do it. the fastest rate they can. as you mentioned, we're coming up on that window. 48 hours since that earthquake and since people they do believe have been trapped inside there. you mentioned that little girl. she's 12 years old according to authorities. they think she's in a back pocket underneath rubble. they think they're able to get to her. they have been able to communicate with her. she's shown signs she's alive. and her being in place there has led them to other heat signatures to make them think there are other people back in that pocket. that's where the focus is. that's where crews have their attention. that's why you see people scrambling to get the debris out and get back there and possibly save another life. >> thank you. one of the other major stories we're following this morning, president trump says he has made a decision on whether the united states will pull out of the iran nuclear deal, but so
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far he has declined to say what it actually is. a senior administration official tells nbc news that the president is leaning towards decertifying the deal. putting the decision of a u.s. withdraw in the hands of congress. several sources caution that the president could still change mind. last night secretary of state rex tillerson admitted that not even he knew the president's decisi decision. >> have you decided to stay or to leave? okay. can you tell us -- what's your decision. >> i'll let you know. >> the president making a decision as he indicated earlier i think in a press somewhere he had made a decision. he has not shared that with anyone externally.
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prime minster may asked him if he would share with her and he said no. i think you know the president is always indicated he will let you know when he thinks its useful to let you know and he doesn't share his forward planning with people. he i believe has made a decision. >> yesterday tillerson met with leaders from countries who brokered the iran deal. described a meeting as business like. >> it was a good opportunity to meet, shake hands. the tone was very matter of fact. there was no yelling. we didn't throw shoes at one another. it was not an angry tone at all. it was very, very matter of fact exchange of how we see this agreement very, very differently. >> meanwhile, during his address to the u.n. general assembly, iranian president disputed allegations that iran is failing
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to comply with the nuclear deal adding quote, it will be a great pity if this agreement were to be destroyed by rogue newcomers to the world of politics. >> a big response the day before. that's for sure. joining us a reporter for axios. we're hearing the uncertainty of the iran nuclear deal. if u.s. pulls out, doesn't mean france, china, uk, eu are pulling out as well. they want to stick with the deal. they seem very clear about that. if you had your bet, do you think the u.s. pulls out of this. >> it's unclear to say what trump is thinking. from what tillerson is saying yesterday, they're discussing the problems and saying iran has technically fulfilled agreement to the deal, but aspirationally they haven't. that makes it seem like he's thinking the about pulling out. there's another nuclear problem in north korea.
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you don't want to risk it with iran. >> let me ask you about the relationship between turkey and russia. some concerned they're getting closer especially given the conflict that remains in syria. what did the turkish president have to say about that relationship. >> it was interesting. he didn't outright say russia is an ally. he did hint to that. he said he thinking increasing allies is a smart decision especially with the syrian problem that russia has been a great help to them. so that's a bit tricky because if he wants to work with the u.s., u.s. and russia have very different opinions of post war syria. >> what do you think the big headlines are coming out now the u.n. general assembly that people are talking about going forward. once again, president trump trying to fulfill some campaign promises even on an international stage. >> the biggest thing, biggest
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headlines will be his speech the other day. he took a hard line on north korea. he basically threatened he would go to war. much harsher speech than past presidents. that's still the main thing coming out of it. >> usually about the speeches for the year ahead. not a lot of decisions made on the sidelines of what took place. thank you very much for joining us this morning. still ahead, much more on the destruction left behind in puerto rico. the next steps officials need to take as residents look to recover from the storm. we are the tv doctors of america, and we may not know much about medicine, but we know a lot about drama.
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there's no power on the island. first pictures near the land fall area. on the map show you the land fall right here. this is the first picture i've seen. these are wood structures. concrete bases. wall gone, roof gone on this structure here. this gentleman was in here to try to find any possessions he had left to scour. the building behind us, roof is gone. these trees are snapped in half here. these are the kind of damaged pictures we're seeing from where the eye made landfall. this is a category four with winds of 140 gusting to 160. all the structures no one can live in these structures anymore until they're repaired and fixed. the trees get stripped. a lot of branches and trees downdown this is a building with obvious structural damage. people now homeless and how many people probably lived in this apartment building a couple dozen maybe.
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other images he took when the water was high. a lot of flooding. a lot of structures had water on the first floor. some of the water has since receded. the roof structure looks good in this area. this image that he took shows you the damage and threat that exists days after the storm. wires in the streets. this is a telephone pole that snapped in half. this is number one. clear the streets. clear the roads. trying to tell the power story and kind of unimaginable. how it's going to take 4-6 months. look at huge power line. transformer on this. collapsed into the brush. this is going to be the scene all across puerto rico. that's why it's going to take that long. you can just imagine. how many crews would be needed and are going to be needed. >> you think about puerto rico already weak economy and the issues they've been dealing
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with. >> bill, good point. fema in terms of the resources. joining us from washington. former fema administrator for obama. good to have you with us this morning. if i may begin with fema's priorities in a situation like this. you survey what it has gone through for the last couple of weeks. now you have this in puerto rico. what is the priority for fema on the ground today. >> initially the priority is to save lives and do to search and rescue, clear the pathways. we saw the images. have to clear access to go in and see if there's people who need to be rescued and take care of life expectancy table saf li it's been extraordinary events that have happened over the past several weeks. hit puerto rico twice. as well as harvey and irma. and texas and florida.
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compiling how to move forward. next few days is going to be search and rescue in puerto rico making sure you can save lives. >> post hurricane katrina, fema was criticized there. what can we learn to apply to the response now to harvey, to irma, to maria. >> we've seen over the past number of weeks there's been a lot of improvement. we learned lessons from katrina. after each disaster we continue to learn lessons and continue to move forward. we've seen great communication between the federal and state and local authorities. bringing together the entire public. the community working together with the faith based community, the nonprofit agencies such as the red cross. bring together private businesses. you bring that together and we've seen the response in the initial response in harvey. we've seen neighbors helping
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neighbors in florida. i'm sure we're going to see that in puerto rico as well. that's the challenge. the recovery we've seen. we've also learned how to have resources to get resources there ahead of time. >> let me ask you really quickly, there's been some criticism the department of homeland security and by been staffed under the current administration do you have confidence that fema is not staffed too thin and can atres the concerns, texas, florida and puerto rico and the virgin islandss? >> these have been extraordinary events t. staff has been stretched. but the leadership there, the new deputy administrator, they're professionals. they have been through this. they understand this, also and the assistant secretary preparedness response and human services, you have a leader, all leaders with lots of experience, able work towing. i think that will help make the difference. the women and men working at
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fema have been doing outstanding many, many hours. but it will be a long haul for sure. >> it will certainly be a long road. thank you for getting up and joining us this morning. >> thank you ahead, former president obama weighs in on his law. >> his thoughts on undoing one of the biggest signifies pieces of legislation. ta play it cool to seal the deal.♪ ♪better find a way to smooth things over.♪ ♪if only harry used some... ♪...bounce, to dry. ♪yeah! ♪he would be a less wrinkly, and winning at life.♪ the strikingly designed lexus nx turbo and hybrid. lease the 2017 nx turbo for $299 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.
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you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com. welcome back, everyone, former president barack obama made a comment about the 2010 health
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care law. he said the fight to keep our leaders from inflicting real human suffering was aggravating. >> the legislation that we hassed was full of things that still need to be fixed. it wasn't perfect. but it was better. and so when i see people trying to undo that hard-won progress for the 50th or 60th time with bills that would raise costs or reduce cover am or roll back pre exiting conditions the cancer survivor the expecting mom or the child with autism or asthma, for whom coverage, once again, would be almost unattainable, it is aggravating. and all of this being done without any demonstrable, check,ingcheck, actuarial or plain common sense,
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it frustrates. >> senator bill cassidy and the co-author lindsey graham defended the health care bill after late night host jimmy kimmel says cassidy lied to him about protecting pre-existing conditions. take a listen. >> do you think this legislation passes the jimmy kimmel test? >> absolutely. >> he could you a liar. >> it's a personal attack. i can't help. that all i can say if you are in texas, maine, virginia, missouri, there will be resources in your state to provide you coverage and we have protections for pre-existing conditions. >> the major health insurer blue cross blue shield says it would undermine safe guards by allowing those people on the charged higher premiums two republicans plan to support the health care bill even without a full score from the congressional bug office plus, we are live on the ground of those two natural disaster,
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the deadly earthquake in mexico, operations continue and the purpose u hurricane that plunged the entire island of puerto rico into darkness. "morning joe" is moments away. my bladder leakage was making me feel like i couldn't spend time with my grandson. now depend fit-flex has their fastest absorbing material inside, so it keeps me dry and protected. go to depend.com - get a coupon and try them for yourself.
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welcome back, everybody. before we toss it over to "morning joe," let's get a check on the stories you will be hearing about ahead. >> president trump has a full day of meeting as he spend his fourth day at the general assembly event. he is set to meet with the leaders of the japan, turkey and south korea. following his meeting, he will head to his golf resort in bedminster, new jersey house speaker paul ryan will tour damage left behind by hurricane harvey. they are scheduled to take a helicopter flight over some of the hardest hit areas there. after which the group will hold a press conference to talk about how to help the people of texas continue to recover from the damage from that storm. >> that's it for us this morning. ""morning joe," starts right now. >> good morning, it's thursday,
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september 21st, to say this is a busy news morning is an understatement. the devastation and destruction left by hurricane maria is extensive. the entire country of puerto rico is without power this morning. officials say it could take six months to restore electricity, we will show you where the hurricane is headed this morning. in mexico, rescue crews are working as we speak trying to find survivors in the rubble after tuesday's massive earthquake. children potentially still trapped under a collapsed school. we go live to the scene there. in politic, the republican's last gast attempt to repeal obamacare is set for a vote next week as the debate rages on over whether or not it actually protects people with pre-existing conditions and president obama is speaking out on that. there is news on the iran nuclear deal. president trump says he's decided if he'll pull out
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