good afternoon, everyone. i'm thomas roberts here in new york. right now firefighters are working and they are struggling to contain these historic wildfires that are happening in california. take a look for yourself. right now they have killed at least 35 people and it has forced more than 100,000 people from their homes. there are current mandatory evacuation orders in place there. we'll get you on the ground. we are also learning more about

paul manafort and his deeper tie to russia with this nbc news exclusive report and the strong financial relationship with a certain russian oligarch and the financial figure is eye popping. we begin this hour in washington where steve bannon, the man who succeeded manafort on the campaign team, launched into a passionate and vicious attack on what he considers republican establishment members and he did the at one of this year's most prominent gathers, the values voter summit. we're going to get the sound from that in just a second. but garrick haake was there for us wl while we work on getting the sound, explain what was the take in the room on what steve bannon was saying and in typical fashion, is this the steve bannon that we've all come to know and for certain people in washington to fear? >> well i think it's

interesting, thomas. most people's knowledge of steve bannon is focused on the campaign where his main target was hillary clinton and democratic candidates. today it was all about republicans. he came right out and declared war on the republican establishment saying senators like bob corker have to go, majority leader mitch mcconnell has to go. all of them have to go, not necessarily for a crime of not voting for the president's agen agenda. in most cases most republican senators have voted in lock step with the president so far. but for not being vocal enough, not being forceful enough no defending him in public and being part of the president's army. we can play a little bit of steve bannon today on stage. take a listen. >> this is not my war. this is our war. and y'all didn't start it. the establishment started it.

>> and, thomas, he goes on to say that republicans who want to keep their jobs essentially have to come out and say mcconnell has got to go, the filibuster has got to go. and i was intrigued because this was an annual conservative conference. this long predates donald trump as a political figure ap and so i was curious and i talked to folks in the room how this sort of played with them. and by and large the people i talked to said, you know what? we are frustrated with republicans who ran on promises like repealing and replacing obamacare and didn't get it done. people in the room told me they're ready to fight in the war, ready to see some of the republican establishment senators thrown out. that's going to be the dynamic leading into the mid terms and the primaries. >> it could be very interesting when we get into 2018 and we think of how the democrats react to this message if they think that republicans aren't in the same wheel house being supportive of one another.

kind of a weird ally in steve bannon and his message, don't you think in. >> i do. bannon as a speaker likes to quote different philosophers. but it sort of reminds me of this enemy of my enemy is my friend. democrats like the idea of seeing bannon lead primary challenges against the sitting republicans although they would be wise to remember that throughout the primaries in the presidential race, democrats were saying i would love to run against donald trump because they thought he was a beatable candidate. a note of caution to democrats who are chomping at the bit here to see this battle start. but it's going to be ugly and it's going to be expensive one way or the other for all of these republican incumbents to have to defend themselves in what should otherwise be a lot of safe republican seats? 2018. >> we just saw the battle with the president backing luther strange, roy moore being backed by steve bannon. roy moore coming out on top of that. garrick, thank you. appreciate it. these remarks from steve bannon

come as president trump continues to use his administration and fulfill come pain promises which basically is to erase the legacy of president obama and doing so without any help from republicans in congress, opting to decertify the iran nuclear agreement yesterday, a day after signing an executive order that eliminates subsidies to sin surers. that's a crucial component of the affordable care act. joining me now is cries tiee christina gear, robert adam, current vice president of communications for the bipartisan policy center and kelly maximum, vice president for national security and international policy at the center for american progress. robert, when we think about what steve bannon had to say today to the value voters summit in d.c., listen to what president trump had to say about health care and

the executive order from the same stage at that value voters summit. take a look. >> we're taking a little different route that we had hoped because getting congress, they forgot what their pledges were. so we're going a little different route. but you know what? in the end it's going to be just as effective and maybe it will even be better. >> so steve bannon talked about this being a war. certainly it's a different type of political war in d.c. right now, asymmetrical, donald trump was against president obama using executive orders. that has been the de facto pen signing ritual of this president to get things done that he wants. is this an issue for congress as seeing something in president trump that they just can't support or is this an issue within congress that they can't find a consensus on the republican side to use the senate, the house and the white house to get things done in

tandem? >> well, it's the latter, thomas. let's just step back here and kind of reset or reframe the conversation. one, obviously republicans have been talking about repeal and replace for a lot of years. no one, i don't think anyone thought that president trump would win the white house, and then all of the sudden republicans are put in a predicament to deliver on a campaign pledge. in that context donald trump is actually right. we've campaigned on this, so this is what we have to deliver on. but the question becomes -- and this is an intellectual questions, a lot of establishment republicans are saying wait a minute, we can't unravel this thing that quickly because it very well could collapse the economy and then the question then becomes, thomas, which i find interesting about the value voter summit, two things. one, what conservative ideas do we believe. where are we trying to take the country. let's not talk about the past and undoing president obama. let's talk about the next eight years what we want to do. and i've yet to mear any declarative statements about what republicans stand for in

terms of fixing the economy and in terms of me going down the list. and the second thing which i find fascinating about this is, and we failed to remember this, can you give me one conservative idea, original idea that has come from donald trump's brain or from his mouth? i don't think of one. that's the interesting thing here. is that a lot of people at the voter value summit -- >> are you looking for one you consider to be intellectually good? >> when it comes to conservative principles about being pro-life, when it comes to being proeconomy and what that looks like from a tax cut standpoint or from a tax growth standpoint, i have yet to hear that from the white house. if anyone else has, please enlighten me. >> you're saying it's hypocritical for donald trump to show up at the value voters

summit? >> it's breasting thinteresting of the people are clapping in the audience for a president without conservative ideas. >> would you agree with this, this is a conservative president not showing up with general original or authentic conservative ideas and this is more of a personal campaign of dismantling what his predecessor did before him? let's copy the home work but in the reverse order. >> this is more of a isolationist president who doesn't have a moral compass or any interesting or original ideas. i would agree with that. because the thing is this president i don't think, a, he wanted to be president. he wanted to stick it to the democrats and get the attention. now that he has the job, he's not interested in it. he has yet to read the constitution. i've said this many times. this is a man with no history of public service. he is now the public servant for over 300 million people and we've seen time and time again

he's generally not interested. he really just wants to sort of think act the ways that he can try and dismantle obama's legacy and in doing so dismantling the progress of the 20th century. the people who give him the most adulation and attention are sort of these right wing isolationists, i would aanti-semantic racists and he wants to cater to them. when we think about daca and the wall and the things he's said about puerto rico and not said about the u.s. virgin islands. how he fundamentally does not understand how health care would be detrimental to so many people of color but also to people in his own base. they don't want to hear about that because they're so obsessed with the fact that anything that he does is anti-obama and he's marketing it that way and unfortunately as someone who doesn't read or fundamentally understand how the three branches of government work, he's allowed, especially with so

many members of his party who refused to stick up to him, he's allowed to run roughshod for the last nine months. unfortunately we're in a twitter presidency where we have to communicate with our executive by his 6:30 a.m. rants, which is a sad state for american democracy to say the least. >> it would be a guilty pleasure if it wasn't so important for what happening with our country and our future. it was bob corker who won the internet the other day or twitter with his tweet to reference to saying that the white house had become an adult day care center. also cork are saer said that yot publicly castrate your own secretary of state. this is in reference to the fact that. the president cold tillerson to react on north korea, they were going to take care of it in a different way. what is the president trying to

accomplish from what you've seen or from what you've heard when it comes to his own legacy. as we talk about trying to dismantle obama's legacy, what is the trump legacy? what are the historians going to say about him in. >> he just seems to be intent on taking everything down that president obama did, in particular the iran agreement which he refused to certify on friday. he just seems to like to roll a grenade into the room and walk away, whether it's on health care, whether it's on the iran deal. he just can't seem to figure out a way to enghaj with people across the aisle with with congress, to actually get anything done. this is the consequence of that. he has frustrating moments and signs executive orders that places the burden on the backs of american people and throws out ironclad national greemts undermining the word of the united states abroad. i mean there's serious consequences to the tantrums that he's having. >> we continue to see kind of

this personal reveal of what is a president trump accomplishment which is to go ahead and try to strip away something that was achieved over the last eight years. to robert's point, we wait to see an effective conservative idea implemented from the trump white house. christina, robert, kelly, thank you very much. we are other breaking news to get along in this hour and it concerns harvey weinstein being expelled from the motion picture academy amid allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment. we'll talk more about that and quick reaction, this type of hollywood justice in a moment. but they never loved me back. it was one complicated relationship. so i came up with o, that's good! a new line of comfort sides with a nutritious twist, we snuck some yummy cauliflower into our mashed potatoes. but you'll only taste the love. see what i mean? oh yeah! comfort food that loves ya back.

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we are breaking news in the sexual harassment allegations and the continuous scandal that's surrounded harvey weinstein. this has been very swift. after holding an emergency meeting, the academy of motion picture ashts and sciences have

voted to expel him. now the board of the weinstein company, which he cofounded with his brother, fired him last week after the "the new york times" and the new yorker revealed these bombshell allegations decades of alleged sexual harassment and assault all at the hands of this well known and respected hollywood producer. but weinstein is not leaving that company without a big fight. we've got a source telling nbc news that weinstein plans to challenge the termination. at last count, over 30 women have stepped gard to level accusations at the producer. actressk three are just the latest addition to the grow egg list of alleged victims that the spokesperson saying quote, any allegations of nonconsensual sex are denied by mr. weinstein. mr. weinstein count firmed that

there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. joining me is anne thompson, along with wendy murphy and mark malkum. this is a big move from the acade academy. they met today. this was an emergency meeting and this was swift justice from them. >> it really was, thomas. and when you consider that the academy moved in under three hours and then voted overwhelmi overwhelmingly, far exceeding the two-thirds majority that was needed to expel harvey weinstein from the academy. and in doing so the academy issued what is going to be thought of as a very powerful statement saying basically in so many words that the era of the casting couch is over. in fact the academy said the era

of willful ignorance and sexual predatory behavior and workplace harassment is over. and it also said that it is going to be taking a look at standards going forward, standards of behavior for academy members. and this raises the question, so they kicked out harvey weinstein. what do they do about something like director roman polanski, convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl decades ago. what do they do with bill cosby, an academy member as well. this may not just be the first, this may be the start of a whole movement in the academy. >> and the interesting thing, as you point out there, there are other people that have been publicly scolded by really poor head lines. you bring up roman pa land ski, also the fact of having a criminal record, bill cosby,

being paraded out and going through basically the one case where there was still traction for the criminal justice system to work. and he got off. but these benchmarks are criminal in a capacity with harvey weinstein has not met that benchmark for the academy to make that determination and yet these other people remain. >> absolutely. not only has harvey wine tooen been convicted of a crime, he's not been charged with a crime. we do know that the new york police department, since the "the new york times" and the new yorker stories broke, is now taking a second look at harvey weinstein. you'll remember that they declined to prosecute him in 2015, even after they had him on audio tape admitting that he groped an italian model but they didn't feel they had enough to bring a case to court and to earn a conviction. so now they're taking another look to see if there were any new complainants, if they could bring a strong criminal case. there are reports out of london

that scotland yard is taking a look at a case in the 1980s, a claim of sexual assault that happened there. we'll see if anything comes from that. but what's interesting is harvey weinstein's brother bob wob who has been estranged from his brother for five years, gave an interview to the hollywood reporter today saying he would help in any kind of criminal investigation, any kind of police investigation into his older brother. >> interesting here, i'm looking at the other headlines coming out of this, 54 member board, big names, tom hanks, laura dern, whoopi golberg, a part of this voting body. but in the history of the academy, only one other person in the 90-year history was stripped of lifetime membership and this was the god father actor kicked out for sharing screeners. >> it's hard to believe that that's the thing that got somebody kicked out.

but yes, i mean, it's big names were involved in today's decision. the board of governors is made up of 54 people. the director stephen spielberg, laura dern, tom hanks, kathleen kennedy who was a producer who works with stephen spielberg. these are really big names. you have got to believe they're feeling pressure as far as the public image of their industry. you'll remember a couple of years ago there was that big controversy about that lack of diversity at the oscars that spawned the hashtag oscars so white. and you could see what was going to come down the road in the academy didn't do something about harvey wweinstein. >> there are certain people reacting on twitter. emmy ros sum, the actress on

"shameless" saying amen to the academy. there are probably a lot of women that we are not heard from or women who have been privy to this information trying to work through an obstacle, maybe not deliver by a harvey wieinstein but other people in plate in hollywood like that. explain to people who don't understand the era of the hollywood casting couch is over. for most people trying to get to hollywood, it really isn't. there are people who will do unscrupulous things to vulnerable people showing up. >> really it's like in any business. you're going to have someone who is going to take advantage of someone who is young who really wants a job, whether it's in hollywood or tech or whatever. so i think, you know, the academy, you know, like we were saying, the academy has sent a very strong message that it's not going to be tolerated anymore. the curious thing now is what do they do with the roman pull land

skis and what do they do with executives we haven't heard of yet, you know, the flood gates are open on this. harvey weinstein is just the very beginning. i think hollywood is feeling empowered to say, you know what? we've had it. it's enough. we're opening the doors and sort of coming out of the closet saying no more. >> so mark, when you think about it and certainly the extensive years you have spent working as an entertainment journalist and reporting what you've seen, stories maybe that you haven't been able to nail down and bring to the finish line to the public, when this has been referred to open secret, are there big names that come to your mind that also carry the, you know, well known open secret of acting like this? and that they are not called on the carpet for snit. >> you know, there are names that come to mind.

and unfortunately what wu saw in the harvey situation for decades, it's been rumors. people have been asking me since the story broke, what did you know. i'm like, it was just rumors. we weren't sure what was real, what wasn't real. until you get people who will go on the record, that's what's important here, the going on the record, that said i do think even if some stories don't come out, the future is, you know what? you try this and we're going to report you. so i think going forward we're going to see a lot of change. >> so when it comes to this from say a criminal justice aspect and say the audio of the model that wore the wire and that was allegedly groped by weinstein and then confronted him about it. they're saying in new york that the statute of limitations has run out. for every state it's a different set of judicial circumstances for statute of limitations.

if this behavior was as recent as this year, should and can women come forward to have any type of criminal or access to the criminal justice system that wouldn't be beyond a statute of limitations? >> absolutely. i mean, you should come forward even if you know that that statute of limitations has expired, because your report could help somebody else come forward and their case has not yet expired. and i want to be really clear about the statute of limitations. it can be a relatively short time period. it depends on the state. but in many jurisdictions the clock stops running when the person who committed the act leaves the jurisdiction. and there are reports that weinstein has committed acts that rise to the level of criminal activity in multiple states. so you know, you can't live in

three states at once. if the clock stopped runs in one of the places where he committed one of these acts, then even if it was 20 or 30 years ago, that is still a viable prosecution. we saw that analysis apply in many of the bill cosby cases. don't not come forward because you think the clock has run out. there are exceptions to statute of limitation. and there are better exceptions for civil lawsuits. justice comes in many forms. sometimes it's a civil lawsuit and all you can get is money. times it's a criminal case and the man can go to jail. sometimes justice comes in the form of an oversight organization like the academy bringing the hammer down. you know, that's not nothing that he's the first guy to get kicked out for this. that's his legacy now and that's going to hurt forever. >> again, the academy kicking out someone from the god father for sharing movie screeners. this is a major step in a different direction for what

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strong financial ties between former trump campaign manager paul manafort and a russian oligarch closely tied to vladim vladimir putin. and nbc discovering millions of dollars were passed between a company linked to manafort and the russian oligarch. >> with paul manafort a key focus of investigators looking into connections between russia and the trump team, or nbc news investigation reveals new evidence of the money trail connecting manafort, president trump's former campaign chairman to moscow. $26 million more than has been reported before. money loaned to mon forth before 2012 by this man, 0 lig dare paska, a russian billionaire with close tie to vladimir putin. which may explain why manafort offered the russian a private briefing about the trump campaign. >> they were unsecured loans.

so we don't know if they were paid? >> you can call it a loan. you can call it mary jane. if there's no intent to repay it, then it's not a loan. it's just a payment. and money launders will disguise payments as loans. >> using official company records from several countries, we were able to trace two loans, one for $26 million and another for $7 million made by a company owned by der paska to two companies linked to manafort. they in turn led $27 million to a delaware company named after manafort's two daughters. in total $60 million in loans landed in accounts connected to manafort. now the transactions are part of the investigation that led special counsel robert mueller to send agents to manafort's home, a raid the president said he found surprising. >> i've always found paul manafort to be a very decent

man. he's like a lot of other people, probably makes consultant fees from all over the place. >> but most consultants don't receive tens of millions of dollars in loans from their clients. we asked manafort's spokesman to explain the loans. he said mr. manafort quote did not collude with the russian government. >> joining me now, global opinions editor for the washington post and charlie savage, washington correspondent for the "the new york times." so this is pretty damning reporting coming from richard engel talking about the much deeper, much more substantial money coming from this one russian oligarch into the bank accounts of paul manafort. so charlie, how big of a deal is this to the special counsel robert mueller and what they think was the influence of manafort within the trump campaign at the broader look of collusion with the russian government? >> so this is a big fact for adding to our understanding of

the relationship between trump's campaign manager, paul manafort and this criminally linked oligarch. we don't know whether or not manafort still owed that money by the time of the campaign. according to the nbc reporting, this loan or payment took place four years earlier, before there was really a relationship with trump. but we do know that manafort, from some of the e-mails that have come out, was trying to leverage his relationship with the trump campaign, his prominence in that campaign, to sort of make up -- mend fences with the russians and the oligarchs and to get himself whole, which sounds like settling debts. so i think part of what mueller's team has probably been looking at -- remember they've probably known about this kind of thing for quite a long time. this is reaching us in the public not at the same time it's reaching the mueller investigation. this may have something to do with the raid on the house and so forth. but they've been trying to put pressure on manafort to bring --

to suggest to him that he may be indicted for money laundering or something else. we don't know. in order to see if we can flip him to tell more of what he knows about any russian collusion with the trump campaign and whether or not trump himself knew about it. this may or may not be directly related to the end goal except through the pressuring manafort that mueller seems to be doing quite aggressively. >> the original statement from manafort's spokesperson had to be revised in reaction to the nbc report, not really giving specific answers about the loans but released in part this statement saying that he's called for the u.s. government to release any intercepts involving him and nonamericans in hopes of finally putting an end to the wild conspiracy theories. mr. manafort did not collude with the russian government. also this one statement with manafort revising a statement regarding this specific

oligarch, the statement said mr. manafort is not indebted to former clients today nor was he at the time he began working for the trump campaign. but we do know that paul manafort was in that june meeting within trump tower, the one where rob goldstone reached out to don jr. saying that they had dirt on hillary clinton. we do know that paul manafort was still a part of the trump people once they got to the rnc convention and the only plank that was changed within the republic planks a the that convention was the fact that the u.s. could not arm ukraine against russia any longer. connect the dots. unpack this in a larger way for us to explain. is manafort really the center of all of it? >> right. i mean, at this juncture it certainly is a bombshell and particularly considering the amount of money that we're talking about here, potentially

$60 million. i would want to point out also that the government of cypress has said that there is potentially more to come. that they're cooperating with the u.s. authorities. so in order to potentially turn over more documents of interest. so as far as, you know, connecting the dots and connecting the threads with this, i mean, again, it just raises miles per hour, more and more questions about manafort's relationship with the russians. how much trump himself perhaps knew and other members within his circle. and i think ultimately, ultimately i think as you said earlier, what the special counsel robert mueller is finding out is at a different pace than what the rest of the american public is finding out. this is really a sprawling, a sprawling investigation and i would not be surprised if there's a lot more to come. in his statement, manafort's lawyer's statement, to sort of

in a way divert attention towards putting more emphasis on whether or not he was surveilled and intercepting the communications perhaps could suggest a nervous manafort. >> we shall see as it moves forward. as you said, yes, the mueller team is really playing their cards close to the chest. and we anxiously await for their findings. but in the meantime we do get certain nuggets of information that are pretty eye opening. thank you very much. we want to move on to this really ho really harrowing story, this canadian couple and their three young children freed from the taliban. this was a joint effort by the u.s. and pakistan. they were rescued on wednesday, nearly five years after being abducted. his wife was pregnant and they had four children when they were killed napped. the insurgents killed his infant

daughter and raped his wife during this ordeal. this is unfathomable for some people to think about being kidnapped and living through this. the next guest was a victim of kidnapping when he was held hostage during his third trip to syria. he was capturing footage of the country's civil war and the photos you're seeing right here on your scene, they were taken by him before his abduction. in his new book, details this entire experience. and i want to bring in jonathan right now to talk more about this. jonathan, it's great to have you with me. a fascinating book. and i know it was probably very hard for you to go back and relive these moments and these days after being held in captivity. explain why you wanted to tell your story in this way. why write a book. >> obviously everybody is looking for some sort of legacy,

especially when you have this kind of career and the kind of life you want to leave for yourself. and a book obviously is a good way to do it in order for people to understand the kind of problems there are in the world, obviously, but also in our profession how we operate and how things function, to bring the stories back to people who are back home who are living more reck lives. >> well explain the details that led up to being abducted and the stakes for your release. >> it was my third trip and at the time the war in syria was still more or less on the rebel side, teetering more towards victory. this was my third trip. we were smuggled into syria through lebanon. there was a lot of fighting going on north of damascus. by the end of my trip -- actually they captured me the

day before i was supposed to return back to lebanon. after three months there was a deal struck between people that were close to the regime of bashar al assad who paid the ransom that the rebels wanted for my release. >> they paid the ransom for your safe release. what was the experience as you were held? did you have any type of access to anything that you -- you know, you would find of any type of comfort during this. explain what it was like to be held beyond your will. >> it's a very tricky situation obviously. and the way they operate is very smart actually. they do -- obviously you're tortured quite request a bit, especially in the beginning. you go through a lot of mock executions and interrogations which are really rough. but they do it to break your will so you try not to escape. and you are therefore not a

problem for them as they have to keep soldiers around to watch you. and these soldiers are used to watch you instead of fighting. so the first month was very difficult. you're blindfolded, handcuffed and you go through a lot of beatings. but you try to pull through and find out a lot about yourself. >> how are you doing today? this is 2013. here we have in 2017. what have you done to repair any type of the trauma that you lived through because obviously i'm sure there are probably trigger moments that can take you back there. >> it's an interesting question. and my answer might surprise a lot of people. but when the war in the ukraine started it was sort of a relief for me as i wanted to go back to war. and as soon as the war started i spent the next two years cov covering it. i was very helpful for me to go back into it and be able to face my fears, to either be captured or killed. and that was a good way to do

so. and then iraq, i covered extensively afterwards. going back into the conflict was good for me. >> i think that's what a lot of people would be surprised by finding that would be a cathartic way for you to face what it meant to be captured. but to put yourself going back to work in dangerous situations but proving that you could do it. and maybe do it better as a photographer and as a journalist. i want to get your take, though, because it's been interesting as a journalist, myself, to watch how this president of the united states has taken issue with his own coverage but the way that he talks about the media, not only during his campaign but since he's held the oval office. but this was something that he recently had to say about the media. i want to get your reaction. take a look. >> frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write. and people should look into it. the press should speak more honestly.

i've seen tremendously dishonest press. >> so from your perspective, one as a journalist who has been captured during war in syria, returning to war in ukraine, also being in mosul and other hot spots around the world, how damaging is it to hear the president of the united states where we have, you know, our first amendment rights and freedom of speech, how damaging is that to the institution of journalism and the institution of knowledge when the president seems to think that what we're doing is a distortion? >> well it's a very good question. and my answer to you is the following. as the president of the united states or many protocols that he has to follow which he doesn't want to follow for various reasons, his personality being one of them. there should be a clear separation between what he's going to say and what he does and what the press is doing. it should not be commenting on any of it that's not his

purpose. that's not his role. his purpose is to lead this country and unify it if possible and let the press do their job, whether it's more on the conservative side or more on the liberal side. that's not for him to decide. morally it's wrong but it will always backfire. >> i know you're working on talking about the book now. do you have assignments coming up, a new hot spot that you're going to be off to soon? >> my last one was venezuela. i was on assignment there for a while this summer. so recently. i guess it will depend next year the various things that will come out. i'm hear waiting to see what's going to happen. >> it's good to have you here. and we really appreciate you sharing your story. the book is called "shattered lens" a war photographer's true story of captivity and survival in syria. thank you very much. we're going to be right back after this.

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praises after taking steps thursday that experts say undermine obamacare. this morning this tweet saying very proud of my executive order which will allow greatly expanded access and far lower costs for health care. after signing the directive, the white house hit obamacare again saying it would end payments to insurance companies that help low income americans afford coverage. 19 states have filed a lawsuit against the upheaval of the cost sharing reduction payments and the coalition of doctors, hospitals and businesses, they sent a joint letter calling on congress to take immediate action to fund those benefits. joining me now is dr. patel, fen and health policy researcher at the brookings institution. it's good to have you here. we know that the president, these two blows to obamacare, the executive order laying the ground work for less comprehensive health insurance

and then the csr issue, the cost sharing reduction payments which many experts about obamacare say could be the death blow to the aca in general. would you agree with that? >> it could. i mean, thomas, there's so much rhetoric in that executive order and a lot of uncertainty, but those cost-sharing reduction payments, csrs in aeffect now ad last year csr payments in insurance companies to reduce out of pocket costs for low-income families. going forward, people had already anticipated that the administration might not make those payments. so some of the increased premiuming we're seeing around the country are in part due to that uncertainty. but even more concerning, thomas is that there is going to be even higher potentially exit rates, meaning more insurance companies are not going to offer insurance, even as early as 2018

right now the enrollment period we're in, because of these changes. >> doctor, we know -- this is not a new issue with the csr. the fact that -- the members of congress took issue with this, a federal judge agreed with them. the obama administration appealed that and the trump administration basically kicked the can down the street so to speak, they would evaluate it on a monthly basis and that was used as leverage to get democrats to play ball. that backfired. so now what are democrats suppose fod do to try to, as they've admitted with the aca and president obama said this himself, it needed fixes, repairing and tweaks. what do they do now? >> oh, absolutely. and not only does it need fixes or repairs, if you recall, a couple months ago even, senator lamar alexander from tennessee had started a bipartisan process

in order to try to achieve just even hearings, some sort of comments from democrats and republicans, and it looks like all of that is kind of getting shoved by the wayside. so if you're chuck schumer or nancy pelosi right now, what you're trying to do is best leverage. some of the republicans who have been vocal about the fact that they need to see these csr payments go forward and you'll try to do what you can to pick off as many of those republican from some of those states with angry insurance companies, constituents and to be honest doctors really getting sfr frustrated with the uncertainty. >> doctor, thank you for your time. appreciate it thank you, thomas. an update on puerto rico. we know what has been happening out of the white house and the harsh rhetoric that's been exchanged with the president through twitter and also with

the mayor of san juan, who's been a champion for her people. the president has been proactive with helping in efforts of fema, but also disparaging in saying that we can't go on with fema being there forever. many americans have taken up the cause of saving and helping people in puerto rico on their own. a sports champion and his wife are tackling some of the fiercest obstacles in puerto rico. new york yankee icon jorge posada and his wife laura, leading this effort to help victims of hurricane irma and the hurricane in puerto rico, nearly a month and a half after the hurricane ripped through the island. working towards having electricity, 95% restored by the end of the year. that's right. the end of the year. this is october. saying hopefully by christmastime. 36% of the island still doesn't have access to portable water.

we fell in love with them at that time and their passion for helping everybody in puerto rico joins us now again in miami. laura, talk about the efforts you and jorge have bun. amazing work and relied on other friends and other people that you know with influence. how much money have you raised? >> well, thomas, first, thank you for having us. it's an honor to be here with you again. so far we have raised more than $380,000. >> wow. >> to help puerto rico, and from that money, i'm happy to say we've only had to use $125,000 in all of our efforts. so i think if you work with a plan and you have a vision, this is not even it has to cost so much money. it just takes people who are committed, who are passionate, and who are willing to put hard work in to change the situation that's currently going on in

puerto rico. >> and for a lot of people that you and laura have access to, jorge, friends, acquaintances in position of power that have donatable money that they can contribute to what you've been can asking and doing, they don't personally get involved maybe beyond writing that check, but explain what it's like for you to work with laura and why you want to remain so involved in taking on this responsibility? >> because i see the need. you know? now we have people that are getting sick. different viruseses are coming on. there's no water. not even in san juan, my sister was looking for water 3.5 hours yesterday and couldn't find any and gave up and knew is boiling her pool water. so for them to drink and brush their teeth, but it's chaos. a lot of things are happening. and laura has been 24 hours, you know, every day trying to get more money, more supplies, more stuff to try to get them down

there. >> is there a sentiment, laura, i know because you've helped people leave puerto rico to get to medical help or to get somewhere safe for the duration while things maybe get repaired, were ut is there a sentiment that people want to leave puerto rico? some type of max exodus, because they're afraid of what the future means? >> 100%. every time i talk to people on the phone, when we're booking their flights to come here, people are getting more and more frustrated and more and more desperate. we've had a couple of cases where we had people don't show up at the airport for our humanitarian flights where we were bringing patients and found out that that's because of those patients actually died, and they didn't have time to get to the airport. so, i mean, this is really a crisis, and it's frustrating as an american citizen that we're not getting the help that we need. so i think that we really need to look at the situation

closely. we need to analyze it. we need to work together, and we really need to make a difference, because right now we're looking at the -- [ inaudible ] -- >> i apologize. we've had difficulty with technical issues from the studio with jorge and laura there. you're back? laura, jorge, are you back? >> we're here. yes. >> sorry. a gremlin in the system there, but the last word i want to give you all real fast, though, is how can people help, laura and jorge? how can they help what you are doing? is there a certain site or what can they do if watching this, and they want to be a part of what you are doing? >> well, right now we need donations at youcaring.com and any help we can get he were donate all this money to our puerto rico efforts and for us this is really personal. we're both from puerto rico.

our son was born in puerto rico and we are willing to put in the time so please donate and help us out. >> we love you a lot, jorge. especially here in new york, but we love laura more. she's been such -- such a passionate defender, every time she comes on. real fast, other influencers we've had on the show, like bethenny frankel, who does not really have a personal investment of family and people in puerto rico, have really taken on a responsibility that they had no idea that they were getting involved with and now it's almost an addiction of trying to help. are there other people like that that have, that you've seen get involved, that you would not have expected? >> you know what? everybody has a puerto rican friend. what she's doing i think bringing in ten planes down there. with supplies. the fat joes, puff daddies,

people in the world, jennifer lopez and everybody that's saying, we need them to, to step aboard and they have done everything to help us out, and we really, really are happy, because i think if we get closer together we can do a lot more. >> i really think you're right and this is not a story that's going to go away. laura, the commitment that you have to this, from what you've seen and from what you're doing, how long do you think that you can keep this up, as your husband pointed out, you're tirelessly working almost 24 hours a day? >> well, it's really funny, because people when they see me they ask me, are you tired? how can you do this? and i'm going to keep going, because i'm not a celebrity. i'm not a sports person, but i'm a puerto rican mom, and i know what it's like to be in a situation where you have a sick child and you don't have a way to take care of them. so i'm going to keep going until i see a difference and hopefully

my actions will inspire other people to do the same. we need to start getting together. we need to be united. we're all americans, and we need to support each other. >> laura, thank you very much. jorge, thank you very much. we appreciate your time and all you're doing for puerto rico. thank you, thank you. thank you at home. that does it for me. i'm thomas roberts and we continue right now with "a.m. joy." one of the most powerful men in hollywood, disgraced movie mogul harvey weinstein is reportedly headed to rehab amid of storm of sexual harassment and assault accusations. a dirty hollywood secret that apparently wasn't a secret at all. suggesting weinstein's misconduct was widely known or ru rumored around insider and his staff and border directors even. more on that in a moment. now the silence is broken with more than two dozen women coming