for now that's our broadcast on wednesday night. thanks for being with us. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york.

110 miles per hour winds. if it increases just one bump, it goes back up to major at 115. it's 200 miles away from wilmington, north carolina. it's 12-18 hours away from landfall if it keeps up this speed, but it should slow down.

now we're close enough on the radar that you can actually see the center and the eye wall. that's what you don't want to go through. the north of the eye wall is where the highest storm surge will be. look at all the lightning strikes on the backside of the storms too. there's still going to be some very serious rainfall and surge with this storm. 10 by this afternoon. a slow weakening by about 2:00 a.m. landfall on friday almost of the top of wilmington, then a slow jog through areas of south carolina. this is the heavy rain threat as we go throughout the day on saturday. the storm surge is going to be a huge issue.

just because the winds are down a little bit, doesn't mean this still won't be a horrible disaster. it's a huge storm. >> as florence nears the united states, the president continues to tout his administration's response to puerto rico. 52% of puerto ricans say he did a poor job. today is the final primary of the 2018 cycle for elections here in new york.

raymun raymundo. >> with 54 days until the midterm elections, three new number polls give democrats a double digit advantage. democrats 14 points ahead of reasons on the generic ballot. now to the russia investigation. there's new reporting on the talks between paul manafort and bob mueller's team. manafort is seeking a plea deal with the effort to avoid a second trial, but does not want to cooperate against president. jury selection for manafort's

trial is set for next week. he's already been convicted in virginia for eight counts. a new poll shows americans are growing more supportive of robert mueller's handling of the russia probe. 61% of voters think it's a serious matter. asked whether the president should testify under oath more than 7 in 10 say yes. and 47% say president trump should be impeached. the senate judiciary committee votes on brett

kavanaugh. susan collins is planning on talking with kavanaugh over the phone later this week to ask him a few more questions that she has following his confirmation hearing. she feels a lot of the information is not being accurately presented. cory booker ree heleased a batch of documents showing his involvement in some of the more controversial judicial nominees. recently a conservative judicial group referred his actions to the senate ethics committee. the new jersey democrat responded saying the documents

raise more serious and concerning questions about cavanaugh's honesty. kavanaugh comm kavanaugh submitted a response yesterday to written questions from senators. >> with us eugene scott. let's talk about judge kavanaugh's confirmation. are these extra statements that he has provided the nearly 260 plus pages. are they likely to move the needle in his favor among any democrats? >> i think it's more of an attempt to control the narrative. he's the candidate who has the least amount of support from the

public in moving forward. he has not been transparent, that so many documents have not been made available. i think he really wants to leave the impression that he has been far more forthcoming than his critics say. can we look at florence and the president saying we are all prepared here. >> i think it's difficult to compare maria to florence. but when he did very well with harvey, it was because frederal agents and personnel got in there early. that did not go well at all with

mari maria. the arrests of migrant families entering the united states shot up 38% last month. border patrol agents apprehended nearly 13,000 members of family units. home hand security officials characterize the surge as a crisis along the border. explaining that parents bring children as a way to get quickly released from government custody and avoid deportation. the "new york times" reports the population levels at shelters for children has quietly skyrocketed. data shows the number of children crossing into the

country remained unchanged but the stricter immigration system has discouraged relatives and families coming forward to sponsor those children. scott pruitt faced rocky times. organize to the "washington post," pruitt racked up between 15 and $300,000 last year when numerous questions over his spending and management pract e practices came to light. he made roughly $189,000 a year before resigning in july. pruitt is talks to work for a coal mining tycoon.

pruitt is prohibited from engaging in lobbying activities relating to the epa for five years. still ahead, a shooting spree in california leaves six people dead including the gunman. we continue to track hurricane florence for you.

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wife and two other victims at a trucking business. he then fled, killing two more victims and stealing a car and fleeing. he shot and killed himself as police approached. police believe it started as an exact of domestic violence. pope francis has summoned bishops to rome. the february meeting will be the first time that bishops gather to discuss a specific topic. it comes as the catholic church faces a wave of new abuse scandals. the summit marks a shift in the treatment of child sexual abuse, adopting a systemic approach rather than focusing on individual diocese or parrishs.

after he was elected in 2013, pope francis commissioned guidelines but was met with resistance. according to the "new york times" the meeting will train the bishops on spotting abuse, listening to victims and intervening to protect children and adults. bill karins with more. >> if you're just waking up, the storm did go from a major to a category 2. the rainfall amounts are expected to be the same. for everyone that evacuate waited, it's still smart that you did so. water is what kills in a storm like this.

the size of the tropical storm wind field has increased and the hurricane force wind field has increased too. the damage from the center will actually be worse. that means more power outages for the region. this afternoon, roughly about 1125 mi 125 miles off the coast. we'll see the eye possibly making landfall about 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. it's going to be a crawl. this is 160 miles in 36 hours. it's going to be walking speed

from this afternoon until saturday early in the morning. here's a pie chart from the hurricane center that shows the deaths associated with hurricanes. 50% is from the storm surge. only 8% is the wind. 9-15 foot storm surge expected here. a lot of the back bays here are going to be really high. that easterly wind is going to

pile the water up in the sounds. it's the friday just before noon high tide, that's when i think we're going to have a high watermark in many areas. 20 inches go from myrtle beach to wilmington, where we're going to see incredible amounts of water from the rain and the surge. that's why we're thinking this is going to be historic down here. 5:00 p.m. this afternoon hurricane force winds move into the area.

7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning we could see wilmington going right through the eye of the storm. there's three facets to each hurricane, you have the wind, the surge and the inland water and flooding. the wind is just one small little piece to this puzzle. >> if there's one thing that hurricane katrina introduced into the lexicon, it is levees. how is the infrastructure of some of these cities? >> houston as a problem, obviously. some areas are at sea level or even below. north carolina are probably one of the most prepared and the building code are strictest for

winds. a category 2, i wouldn't expect a lot of wind damage. but they are extremely susceptible to storm surge. you're going to see pictures of houses well inland it is unique in that way. you can see hue the outer banks are and you can see all these little inlets in here. >> that's the concern. >> we're going to go to carolina beach with jay gray and get a snapshot of what's going on right now. sometimes bipolar i disorder can really get you going. but mania, such as unusual changes in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on shaky ground.

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there. >> no ma'am. >> much of the southeast is shut down right now. >> powerful damaging hurricane is hours away from our coast. >> as florence starts to move in. >> this is a mandatory evacuation. >> many along the shoreline have moved out. >> it's really big and dangerous. we need to get out of the way. >> coastal communities are for the most part empty. what could be a devastating storm surge. >> storm surge alone is likely to fell 10s of thousands of structures. >> still there are those who have stocked up and plan to stay. likely the worst storm to batter the carolina coast in decades.

important to remember this is a massive system. the strike point is a big deal. but regardless of where it crosses the shoreline, the effects will be felt for hundreds of miles. >> it's extraordinary the pictures from the iss. the winds are picking up just a wee bit. thank you very much for that report from carolina beach. mitch mcconnell said this week that the midterms could be like a knife fight in an alley. jp morgan ceo jamie diamond seems to pick a fight with president trump and then retreats. it's time to get out of line with upmc. at upmc, living-donor transplants put you first. so you don't die waiting.

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welcome back, everyone. the countdown to landfall getting a lot closer as the southeastern coast is bracing for hurricane florence. the storm has been downgraded to a category 2 but will still be an extremely dangerous hurricane. it brings with it up to 40 inches of rain in some areas. >> bill karins is with us. how's it looking? >> we can see where the eye is located and the structure of the eye. you can see the outer bands right here is where we start to get the tropical storm force

winds. that's when people start to lose power. right now we just got some spotty showers. here is the eye right here. this is what you want to avoid. this is where the highest winds will be. we'll track that as it moves toward the coast today. the path takes it over the top of wilmington in roughly 24 hours. problems are on the coastal areas from wilmington to surf city to moore head city. from sunset tonight to sunset friday is when i think the peak of the winds, the storm surge and the damage will be done. former trump campaign aide

george pop d george papadopoulos suggested that he may have been set up by western intelligence officials seeking to incriminate the trump campaign. democrats on both the house and senate have expressed interest in hearing from papadopoulos. with less than two months until the midterms, president trump has signed an executive order aimed at combatting election interference from foreign actors.

they will report all of their findings to the director of national intelligence. the dni would have 45 days to determine if there were any significant findings and report those to the justice department. those departments would have another 45 days to review and impose sanctions. john bolton says that the american public will learn about possible interference only when sanctions are announced and not during the review period. the administration reportedly wanted the executive order at least in part because it wants to get ahead of much harsher legislation. on tuesday, mitch mcconnell

acknowledged an unusually competitive senate race in texas. the poll from cbs 11 puts republican senator ted cruz inside the margin of error against democratic congressman beto o'rourke. new fox news poll shows arizona senate race within the margin of error. indiana, mike braun has a very slight edge over donnelly. north dakota's kevin kramer has a four-point lead over senator heidi hidecamp. and marsha blackburn just ahead of phil bredson.

and sherrod brown with a 16 point lead in ohio. >> a lot of close races. ahead of the midterms, two democratic pacs are launching an add campaign to boost candidates in nine competitive senate race this is fall. the ads will run on social media and streaming services. the spots are focusing on taking aim at republicans over health care. over 18 million will be spent in several states. >> back with us now, a reporter from the "washington post" eugene scott. can you translate spending money on ads into getting votes? >> we'll see. this is such a unique election year where we are expecting

turnout and interest at levels that we do not normally see during midterms. we are seeing democrats as well as republicans really trying to get people out to would who normally would not by using effective messages, scare tactics and just the idea of change in general. >> i got a two-part for you about this election interference executive order. how are supporters and critics going to retook into account that? and second of all, what do you think about this timeline that has been put out where the public is not going to know about anything to do with election interference only if sanctions get imposed? >> it certainly would offend many people who want answers as soon as possible. we've seen voters on the ground

who are supportive of the investigation but frustrated with how long it's taking but just also anxious and wanting to see answers to this very real problem. it will be pretty consistent with how they've responded throughout this knowledge that there were concerns. you always have republicans pointing to laws being passed by congress and actions taken from the white house to show that the president is hard on election interferen interference. but these things conflict with what he does. >> thanks. still ahead, one of america's top business leaders jamie diamond says he could beat president trump in an election,

his criticisms. >> plus bill karins with more on hurricane florence. i don't keep track of regrets.

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welcome back, everyone. let's get the very latest on hurricane florence. what is the latest? >> we get the big advisories every six hours. we get intermediate advisories in company them, the next at 8:00 a.m. this morning. let me take you through the timeline. as we go throughout this morning, the winds are a little breezy. that's about all you're going to see. by the time we get through this afternoon, that's when the tropical storm force winds moving in. that's when you start to see the rain becoming more steady. this is also when we could start to lose power. once you get above 50 miles per hour you get some downed tree

limbs. really by the time we go through late tonight, after the sunsets is when hurricane force winds move in. we start to pick up into the 70 miles per hour range by the overnight. then here comes the eye of the storm. early morning tomorrow that's when wilmington will be around 90 miles per hour winds, the winds will be piling the water on shore. this time tomorrow morning is when the peak of it will be and bad enough that our anchors and reporters can't be out on the beaches. friday afternoon, still looking at those consistent winds. wrightsville beach, we're talking 24 hours of hurricane force wind gusts. the duration of this storm is

going to make this a rarity and the water left in its wake. >> tough times at cbs. the long time producer of 60 minutes is out of a job tr. jeff fager is out after sending a harsh e-mail. h in a statement he described the text message writing my language was harsh and cbs did not like it. fager has said he denies allegations of sexual misconduct. >> i am that reporter.

since jeff fager publicly referred to our exchange today, i want to be transparent about it. he said if you repeat these false accusations without any of your own reporting to back them up, you will be responsible for harming me. >> it comes on the heels of les moonves's departure from the network. the pool of contenders to take on president trump in the 2020 election stacks up, the head of one of the biggest banks says he could beat the president. dimon told the crowd he's as tough as trump and smarter than him. he added that trump could punch me all he wants.

i'd fight right back. he said he actually earned his money, adding it wasn't a gift from daddy. shortly after the comments, dimon walked them back. i get frustrated because i want all side to come together to help solve big problems. interesting. still ahead the trump administration looks to restart trade talks with china. plus, apple unveils its new line-up of gadgets. ♪ this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business

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prices for the apple watch series 4 begin shipping on november producer just beat me that punch line. treasury secretary steve mnuchin has invited beijing to talks to avoid $4 billion in tariffs. good news or bad news on this trade war front? the talks are happening, but it doesn't look like any progress yet. >> it's still early days, but overnight, we saw china stocks in the green. that was confirmed by larry kudlow, the white house economic adviser. really, it comes on the back as

announce manies yesterday. there were 85 u.s. industry groups who got together to protest against the government's policy of applying tariffs. trump has imposed 25% of tariffs, $267 billion threat on top of that so there's still a backlog of mounting tariffs. many industries are not happy and chinese industries are not happy, either. >> jp morgan chase unveiled $5 million to boost growth in cities around the the world. cities will have to compete for the funding. explain to us how that is meant to work. >> exactly. perhaps some of the less contentious comments coming out of jamie dimon over the last couple of hours. it's meant to create opportunities for those who have been left behind. as long as they address two out

of the following four topics, jobs and skills, small business growth, neighborhood revitalization and financial health. ultimately, jamie dimon said all corporations must step up to help change the status quo they live in to help create a better future for all. >> it's all about the implementation, though, right? >> yes. but conceptually, all good. coming up, mike allen as a look at this morning's one big thing. then coming up on "morning joe," bracing for the impact because we are just hours away from hurricane florence hitting the carolinas as officials are begging residents, get out of the path of the life threatening storm surge and flooding. bill karins is going to have the very latest for you. plus, democrats are gaining strength with less than two months before the midterms. what if anything republicans can do to keep control of congress.

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welcome back, everyone. joining us now with a look at washington, d.c., mike allen. mike, what is the one big thing you guys are tracking for us today? >> good morning. >> one big thing is trump's great gift to traditional media. the other day on air force one, the president is pouring over some data. he's looking at charts, he's looking at fine print. as viewers know, this president is usually more the big picture. this time he's going deeper. what is he looking at? cable news ratings. they're way up. ap had a great headline the other day. a bad week for trump is a good week for rachel maddow. and it's not just cable news. books, bob woodward's "fear" sold more books on its first day than any book in simon and shuster's history. chasing michael wolf's fire and

fury, 2 million copies. digital descriptions, spiking to "new york times." and the fascination with trump has even brought back op eds. up to 14.5 million views. >> so how far are we into the trump presidency? >> your bosses, my bosses, have long thought that eventually trump fatigue would hit. we have the opposite. we have trump fever and it's driven partly by momentum events. there is no doubt we are living through the events of a lifetime and news organizations of all sorts are stepping up to cover these historic events in an extraordinary way and there's

also just this incredible ble fascination almost addiction to twrump on both the left and right. it's great for media. >> the new data showing there is a spike in the number of democratic candidates, explain to us what that means for the elections when so many people feel the urge to run, especially on the democratic side. >> you're right. on the show today, you've been talking about the amazing democratic strength and we could keep looking for new ways to illustrate that. actually, it was a visual journalist, harry stevens has done that here, showing that 1700 democrats have raised money, run for congress this year. that's the most for either party going back to when we started looking at records in 1980. when was the most recent time that there was a number this close? what record did it break? the tea party year 2010 republicans, when you had a

whole new generation of republicans swept in. so a number of candidates running doesn't indicate victories. what it does show is enthusiasm and i can tell you that is what psyching out republicans. they know the excitement is on the other side of midterms. that's everything. >> so, what, you have like 156 more dems running than republicans, but you're saying that does not necessarily mean more election victories? you would think if you do the math, it would. >> yeah, so it can. and we've always been cautious. you always put in the to be sure. one other data point, they look through nominees for both parties and found that democrats have a record number of diverse candidates on the republican side. it has stayed stable or shrunk. the republican slates even less diverse than in the past. >> okay.

mike allen, always good to see you. >> great to see you, alex. >> i'm going to see your name come up on the inbox and it will be -- anyway, the to all of your viewers out there, you can see have that, as well. sign up for the new letter. na does it for us on this thursday morning. "morning joe," everyone, starts right now. >> good morning. it's thursday, september 13th. welcome to "morning joe." we want to get right to the countdown for landfall for hurricane florence. this storm has been downgraded to a category 2, but authorities warn this still will be an extremely dangerous hurricane. federal officials say florence could hit parts of the carolina coast for 24 hours or more bringing more than 40 inches of rain to some areas. video out of north carolina shows emergency vehicles lined up ready to begin relief ef