just beautiful. we look forward to seeing you next saturday morning. good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt at msnbc world headquarters at the half hour. in hurricane-ravaged puerto rico, a failing dam is forcing authorities to evacuate up to 70,000 people. they live in a valley downstream from the dam which has been breached. there is little doubt that dam will break. another official said thousands of people could die. in mexico, the death toll has risen to 295 from tuesday's earthquake. search, rescue and recovery efforts drag on amid the hope of finding more survivors. officials say 115 people have been rescued in mexico city's ruins. iran state media follows an unveiling of a missile. president trump spoke out against iran's missile program in his u.n. speech tuesday. russia's alleged effort to

disrupt the presidential election appears even more widespread. for the first time yesterday the department of homeland security told 21 states the russian government tried to hack voter representing station files at polling stations. targeted states included ohio, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. but first, we have been following a developing story out of north korea. concerns of another nuclear test were raised after china detected seismic activity near the site of a previous nuclear detonation. but we are just getting an assessment from the pentagon right now. let's go to janice who is follow the latest developments from beijing. janice, with a good morning to you. this is very con sroe is luted at this poin at this point. >> of course any reports of tremors in north korea are going to rattle some nerves and generate interest these days. so far there is no consensus on this magnitude 3.4 earthquake in north korea. it happened about four hours

ago. a u.s. official has gone on the record as saying it is not believed to be attributed to a nuclear test. what we have is a mish-mash of assessments. the usgs is saying that it cannot conclude with certainty whether it was natural, whether it was man made because the data isn't that strong. kai niece mond chinese monitors say they believe it happened 12 miles from a test site. all three agencies are giving different assessments on the size. a nuclear watch dog group, tphupls, though, is taking a closer look because they believe it is unusual seismic data. it didn't generate any sound waves. we haven't had any sort of statement or announcement from north korea saying that they tested something. you think back to that nuclear test september 3rd. it generated a magnitude 6.3 earthquake. there was a second tremor that followed that was believed to be

attributed to a tunnel collapse. it was such a powerful blast. so that's what analysts will be taking a closer look at, whether this small quake with a lot of question marks around it, can somehow be attributed to the integrity of the actual physical terrain around the nuclear test site. in terms of this being something man made, it appears to be a false alarm. let's go to politics now. president trump ramping up his attacks against north korea during a rally in alabama last night. >> he should have been handled a long time ago by clinton. i won't mentioned republicans, right? by obama. we're dealing with somebody that we will figure out. he may be smart. he may be strategic. and he may be totally crazy. but you know what, no matter what he is, we're going to handle it, folks. believe me. we're going to handle will it. >> the president back at his

critics amid new developments in the russia investigation. >> by the way, folks, just in case you're curious, no. russia did not help me. russia. i call it the russian hoax. they did a rotten job of running. but to convince people about this hoax, that was probably the thing that they did best. but it is one great hoax. >> joining me now peter baker, "new york times" chief white house correspondent and msnbc political analyst. peter, big good morning to you. i certainly want to felt to the russia probe that you wrote about this week. but first, the president in alabama he went on for an hour and 23 minutes including saying republicans do not have the guts to repeal obamacare. then he continues to take aim at john mccain. it happened on twitter this morning, as you know, saying john mccain infer had any intention of voting for this bill that his governor loves. he campaigned on repeal and replace. let arizona down. what do you make of this

mistake? is the graham/cassidy bill dead as a result? >> the president had some things to get off his chest. he spent the time in the united nations going through scripted meetings with foreign leaders, his speech to the general assembly and stuck more or less to the plan. so by friday night when he faced this challenge and another possible defeat in the senate on health care, he clearly decided to vent a little bit. you got the raw trump, more authentic trump once again. yes. is the bill dead? not officially. we're still wait foggiing for s collins. if she votes no, there is no way for the bill to move forward and he will have a second big defeat on the same issue in just a couple months. >> so let's get now to north korea. i know that your article, one of the latest ones, looks at the white house's response to north korea's threat. what has been the result of this war of words. some are killing it tight for

tat between president trump and kim jong-un. >> you don't see this usually in diplomacy. we have gotten used to president trump in the name-calling that he is engaging in over the years. crooked hillary. name-calling, rosie o'donnell and so forth. rosie o'donnell doesn't have a hydrogen bomb. this is a real situation with real world consequences. back and forth with a foreign leader it is very unusual for a president. that doesn't necessarily mean there is going to be military action. he actually spent this week approving a new set of economic sanctions considered to be pretty sweeping, pretty important. whether that will change tphoerbg tphoebg's behavior, we don't know. it did suggest for all the bell kosity of his response and tit for tat name-calling, he is stick to go a conventional non-military approach. that doesn't mean that can't escalate, and that's the worry. >> to your point when you were saying the president had to let

off a little steam and he stayed fairly scripted, i know you have seen this l.a. times report that suggests they did not want the president to go after kim jong-un personally in that u.n. address on tuesday. is that your sense of it? >> look, of course. the professionals do not want the president to personalize these kinds of conflicts. it doesn't help, they feel like. they feel it only exacerbates things. in plays into kim jong-un's hand and makes him a bigger figure on the world stage than he might have been otherwise. president obama's approach was to ignore him altogether, like ignoring the problem child in the room. that the didn't necessarily work. okay, well, we haven't gotten that far under previous presidents with patience and other approaches, so let's see whether chest thumping makes a difference or not. >> peter, do you think this

rhetoric has shut the door on any talks, any chance of diplomat seu at this point? as you know, kim jong-un is known to be lethal with those who offer dissenting opinions. who in the world in north korea is going to say, all right, let's come to the table, let's talk even though that's not what our leader wants. >> that's a very good point. i don't see talks happening in the near future. it would have to be a situation where these sanctions actually bite into the family's own resources. that is the one time they pushed the table when they went after this bank account in asia that had about $25 million of money that seemed to be part of the family's own money. that's when they came to the table and almost came to a deal that might have resolved this. whether the new sanctions will do that, with he don't know. they're intended to choke off north korea from the international banking system. we don't know -- i don't know at least where kim jong-un has his money or his people have his money at this point. when it gets personal, it makes it hard tore come to the table.

>> to russia now. you wrote about trump lawyers clashing over how much to clash with them. >> these are very national issues to balance in any white house facing this kind of investigation. on the one hand, ty cobb in charge of responding to the investigation. his theory is let's give them everything they're asking for. let's give robert mueller the documents he wants and make this go away. then you have don mcghan. his job is to represent the institution. cooperation is good but we have to worry about the prerogatives of the office. this will impact presidents who come after president trump if we simply give away documents that would normally be covered by executive privilege or attorney/client privilege. >> and your assessment to robert mueller investigation into paul

manafort. is it clear what the strongest evidence is against him? does it involve trump campaign collusion with russia? >> that part we don't know. paul manafort has been under scrutiny, under investigation for years before he even had anything to do with donald trump and his involve with the pro-russian ukrainian figures. you know, he had a lot of issues that may have nothing to do with donald trump. it is possible robert mueller is using that as a way to get information about the trump campaign. typical prosecutor tactic is to try to flip, you know, somebody who is facing indictment to get more information about a higher target. we don't know that. that's just speculation at this point. but they have told paul manafort that he faces possible indictment. that's a big, big club to wield when you're a prosecutor. >> peter, always good to speak to you. thanks so much. >> thank you. president trump goes on full attack in alabama, taking on members of his own party that oppose the latest attempt to repeal obamacare.

and next hour, charlie dent will be here to talk about the rift over health care in his party and which side he falls on.

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so, don't half-wash it. downy and it's done. we're going to go back. you know, it's like a boxer. they get knocked down, get up. get knocked down, get up. get knocked down. the bad ones, they stay on the stool and they say, we quit, we quit. the great ones get up and they end up winning. that's what we're going to do. we're going to win. it's going to be gone. we're going to have great health care in this country. >> president trump there talking repeal and replace last night on the stump again for alabama senate hopeful luther strange. let's bring in democratic strategist marjorie clifton, joe watkins, former aide to george h.w. bush and rick tyler, msnbc analyst. big welcome to you all. can the gop keep getting up, to use the president's term there. can they keep fighting on health

care, or have they pretty much run out of options? >> this is the end of the road. i said owe bottom ma care is here to stay. that was the last vote. it has been too difficult to take away obamacare. worse than that, alex, the republican party failed to produce a plan that is more popular than obamacare. the republicans won three cycles running against obamacare. now it is more popular than anything the republicans have put forward. because they haven't done any of the work to explain or come up with a plan that the american people can get behind. so we're going to be stuck with obamacare. and they can keep trying to repeal it. but i think this is it. this is it. it's going to fail. and we'll have it. >> do you agree, marjorie? is the aca finally safe? what is the feeling within the democratic party? >> september 30th is the deadline for any kind of reconciliation bill which would allow them to get through with fewer votes. really the time has literally

run out because the next thing on the table is tax reform. that is something the republicans are more united on in terms of how we might get there. they purport there's a lot more planning going on. i think democrats are feeling with collins and murkowski clean leaning no, as they are saying, and skwrpl skwpl firmly giving a no, it is looking unlike lu. it comes down to numbers. we don't have the real math what this would look like other than states would lose money. a lot of negatives. not a lot of positives. >> why taint the party's efforts on health care you? you're going to do it twice it looks like. considering a stallward of the senate. >> john mccain just wants to do the right thing at this point in his career. he's as much against it for procedural reasons as even what the bill does. the fact that there is no cbo score. it would take longer to give it

a score. and then at the same time no discussion with democrats. so there is no chance for bipartisan support. this bill solely relies on republicans. and i think certainly john mccain, who likes the senator graham, wishes mcmitch connell would work with democrats on this legislation to get something that the americans can clearly approve. >> i think john mccain wanted more transparency. had it gone through the proper channels and gone that way, who knows what they would have ended up with in terms of his support. >> half of americans prefer the aca to what the gop puts out there. sit is borne out repeated in the polls the last couple of months. if they do not want to change the law, why does the party keep pushing it? >> it depends what state you're in. some want to rehe peel obamacare. that's true in the south. this graham/cassidy would benefit enormously.

texas would benefit enormously. a lot more money would go to texas. they decided not to expand medicaid. with redistribution, they would get a lot. california and new york would get hurt badly. ted cruz hasn't supported graham/cassidy. but, look, again, the reason it's not popular is because no one in the republican party has come up with a plan or strategy to convince the american people. joe is right. if they had a strong plan to replace it, they would get on board. congress moves when the people move. it's hard work. >> do you want to comment? >> it is hard for people to understand the nuances of all of these pieces. so it becomes a rhetoric battle. this is one of the things trump led with, i'm going to repeal obamacare. people are feeling the pain points of premiums going up, some insurers dropping out. when they look at the alternative, pre-existing clauses will be taken out.

you'll be at risk. we don't know what the money will look like to come. people say, this isn't so bad. maybe i will stick with what i've got. the devil is in the details. that's mccain's point. we have to dig through this. there are a lot of important pieces and what the money looks like. we will be losing money in a lot of key states on this plan. his call for transparency is fair. >> a couple reports surfaced in the last 24 hours. white house staffers are already looking to leave. is that as bad as it sounds? >> it has not been an easy ride. frankly, the number of leaks that are coming out of the white house, the number of people expressing concern over what's happening is unprecedented. nobody has seen anything like this. look, i mean, you know, this bill in itself is sort of an example of we'll figure it out. it's going to be great. no details coming out on any of the policies. those in politics, republicans or democrats, you know, for their careers know that details

and working out and mapping out and studying policy is a key part of how good politics work. and nothing about this administration has resembled anything of the past. it's a lot of it's a lot of over simple police ti -- these are big things. >> what if there is a mass exodus? where does that leave the white house considering the void of political appointments. >> you need people in place that have experience to get things done. it really hurts. white house staffers come and go sos in not new. of course we've seen a lot of top white house staffers leave much earlier than planned. >> 23, i think. but joe, look, you've got to stay a year, right? if you don't stay a year, then there's something that looks

rather untoward or insavory like there was a messup. >> people want to know -- exactly. you have to stay at least a year. otherwise people want to know why you left so soon. were you fired? were you forced out? that doesn't happen you leap frogging in your next opportunity. >> never going to fire the likes of you three. it is quiet now but soon thousands will pack central park's great lawn. here's how the late show broke down north korea's response to trump's u.n. speech this week. >> earlier this week their foreign minister called trump's speech nothing more than the sound of a dog barking. that is way out of line. he also said is trump is thinking he could scare us, that's really a dog's dream. apparently in korean a dog dream

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tens of thousands expected today at the global citizen festival in new york. the event features some of the big biggest names in the music industry and the commitment to end poverty by 2030. phillip is in central park where the event kicks off later this afternoon. let's talk about what the organizer ares expecting for today. >> alex, good morning. we couldn't ask for a better day. sun is shining. it is so beautiful out here. we're still several hours away from the doors being opened -- doors opening. that happens at 2:00. 3:00 our coverage begins. then at 4:00 the big show that everybody is waiting for will kick off. the first of nine -- at least nine scheduled acts will get on that stage. you can hear them getting the

sound ready, getting the lights ready. the creative director for this event is chris martin from cold play, so you know it is going to be a big event. we are expecting stevie wonder. everyone is looking forward to the killers, green day, the chain smokers, pharrell. they're going to be here. tens of thousands. right now this is a good spot to be in. i might as well secure this because in a few short hours this will be filled with tens of thousands of people out here on the great lawn in central park. the best part of all of this is this is for such a great cause. it is for the effort to end global poverty by the year 2030 so everybody out here with that same initiative. we're going to have a great time for a great cause out here. >> the why behind it is just outstanding. phillip, thanks for the preview. we'll come back and which ek ch in with you again. be sure to catch the global festival. coverage gij

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good morning, everyone. i'm alex whit here in new york. nights 9:00 in the east. here's what's happening. newark larm new new alarm in prooeuerto ric. a failing dam threatens thousand. on the health care bill, a vote is expected soon, but are there too many republican defect ors. >> when somebody disrespects our flag, i say get that [ bleep ] off the field right now. out. he's fired. he's fired. >> president trump in friendly territory with a fiery message including a shot at the nfl. we've got reaction ahead. a new report on states targeted by russian