scheduled to get a briefing on the devastation. we will bring that to you live when it happens. in kenosha, wisconsin a vigil for jacob blake is scheduled for about an hour from now. all of this happening after we learned the 29-year-old had been handcuffed to his hospital bed after being shot seven times in the back. >> once they didn't succeed killing him, now we have got to besmudge him. so they came up with some old warrants that were misdemeanor warrants but it give them the right to have custody to his body as long as they wanted it. >> that outrage being he can pressed across the nation, from a march on washington yesterday to street protests in multiple cities. and there is no slowing down the coronavirus. eight months after the first case was reported on u.s. soil, we are closing in on 6 million confirmed cases.

i will ask a leading doctor in the field what his biggest concern is with flu season right around the corner. plus the shock and grief from hollywood and around the world. actor chadwick boseman dies after his battle with colon cancer. a look at the man that turned his roles into iconic characters that inspired millions. we begin now with breaking news. we just learned within the last few minutes that the office of the director of national intelligence informed intelligence committees it will no longer offer in-person briefings about election security and foreign interference. joining me, kennedy lanian, national security correspondent. tell me about this move? >> this is unprecedented. i have never heard of anything like this. there have been regular briefings by officials at the office of director of national intelligence, particular chi by

bill evanina. regular briefings of the intelligence committees to inform them about the classified intelligent explaining what foreign governments are trying to do to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. russia, china and iran all have an interest in the outcome of the election. china and iran want trump to lose and russia want him to win. in reaction to those public statements which were based on classified intelligence the lawmakers who saw the classified information accused the trump administration of distorting it and of minimizing the outsized role of russia. and they say that russia is really the only country actively interfering in the 2020 information, active on social media with disinformation, it is interesting in hacking and leaking. and that appears to be the source of this controversy. now the trump administration is saying we are not going the brief these committees in person anymore. by law, they have to turn over classified intelligence materials in writing.

but this is going to mean that these lawmakers can't question officials behind closed doors about what this intelligence means. it is going to be deeply controversial. democrats surely will push back on this. one interesting question is what will marco rubio, republican chairman of the senate intelligence committee do? he is a trump ally but he is trying to be an independent overseer of the intelligence community. i am 79 expecting pushback from congress. the question is will republicans join in the pushback. >> do you have any idea what the motivation might be? my initial thought would be coronavirus. but we saw at the rnc when the president accepted his party's renomination and there were hundreds of people on the lawn with no masks or social distancing. do you have any idea what could be motivating the halt to these in-person briefings? >> i know the trump administration has been very displeased every time they put out a public statement about

foreign election interference and house speaker fanse employsy and adam schiff issue their own and say that's a distortion of the intelligence. that happened the last two times the dni put out the public statements. democrats, as it is, they are constrained about what they can discuss about classified information they receive in these briefing of the now they are not even going to have the briefings. so they will not be in a position to evaluate as well the public statements from the trump administration nine weeks out from the election about what foreign governments are up to. this is a big deal. because what we learned in the 2016 election is that if the government doesn't tell the public what's going on we have no way to protect ourselves against this particularly diss information on social media some of it sponsored by foreign governments you. >> mentioned this is unprecedented. obviously there is no real rule book for something like this.

when you say you expect some congressional pushback, what is the resource at this point? >> that's the thing. there really isn't. because this is kind of a -- it is a bipartisan compact between the executive branch and the congress. the executive branch will send officials up and brief committees on classified intelligence. there is a law that requires it but the trump administration is choosing to interpret that in a way that says they are going only to transmit written information. by the time congress could -- of course congress could s&p officials compel them to come testify. but we know from our experience that subpoenas take a long time to enforce in the courts and boy the time that happens the election will be over. the recourse for congress here is political. it is going to depend on how much republican sthaerts want to push back against the trump administration on that. >> kennedy lanian coming to us with this breaking news. we appreciate your time. we want to go to nbc's josh letterman at the white house.

the president is visiting louisiana just two days since the category 4 storm barrelled through the state. there reaction right now from the white house to the news that the dn sirks going to stop the in-person briefings. >> no reaction from the white house. we asked them for comment on this. we know, as ken was pointing out, this has been a long pointed of contention between the administration and congress. just the last time that congress got some information from the government about this, about those three countries that had an interesting in interfering, russia, iran, and north korea, we heard senators -- i'm sorry, in china. we hert senators saying there is a lot more classified information that they have seen that the administration was declining to make public. this is a battle we are going to see continuing between the white house and congress up through election day. >> absolutely. let's go to the meeting in the gulf where the president is. what else do you know about this

trip. >> the president just stepped off of air force one a few minutes ago. he is currently motorcading to his first stop. he was greeted on the tarmac by the state's democratic governor as well as the state's republican senator, john kennedy. we know that the president is going to be trying to show that he's really taking a hands-on approach to deal with the response to this hurricane. he's going to be seeing some of this damage firsthand as well as hearing about the response on the ground, which now will be able to include some federal funding as a result of a hurricane disaster -- major disaster declaration that the president signed for louisiana just before dust jshs last night as he was getting ready for this trip today, lindsey. >> right now we are looking at live images right now of president trump in lake charles, louisiana. josh, before we let you go, the read out obtained more tapes of the president's sister saying unflattering thing about her

brother. what can you tell us about the tapes? >> that's right. this has been a sad story that has been playing out within the trump family over the last several weeks. we have had some of these initial extents from mary trump, who is the niece of the president, who had wrote that book about the president. and later, and more recently has been releasing some tapes of her aunt. this is mary trump's aunt, the president's sister, who was until recently a federal judge. in these new comments from mary ann trump, the president's sister, she disparages not only the president, but also the president's daughter, ivanka trump. listen to some of this new recordings that were revealed by joy reid on msnbc. >> then you get donald, who won't do anything for anybody unless it's going to inure to his -- i mean, he won't do any -- publicly. i mean, if you -- anything he

did, he says look what i've done. and he's as tight as a duck's ass just like dad was, frankly. >> as this family feud has been spilling out into the open, barely two weeks after the death the president's brother, robert trump. the president now responding on twitter to these latest developments in this, saying that people basically only write a book about him if they can come up with fake bad stuff about him. and then saying specifically about his niece mary trump, calling her an unstable niece who was rightfully shunned scorned and mocked her entire life. going to say she was never even liked by her own grandfather. this seems to be what's on the president's mine, even as he is viewing the storm damage in texas and louisiana today lindsey. >> josh letterman at the white house. plenty of developments for you to be following. for everybody at home we will try to keep the live pictures up. president trump in lake charles, louisiana right now.

it looks like he is inspecting a facility that has some aid supplies here for the people there after hurricane laura barrelled through this week we are going to be following the live pictures. we know the president is expected to get a briefing on the latest on the devastation there this afternoon. this is usually the time in the election cycle when candidates are on back to back campaign stops. but of course this is 2020. and this election cycle is anything but normal. right now, joe biden is wrapping up remarks in a virtual conference to the national guard association. and a short time ago, kamala harris joined the launch for a hispanic outreach program to win votes in the hispanic community. todays comment focused on the state of florida and small businesses. deepa shibh ram is following the develops in florida.

what else does democratic ticket have in store this week. >> this is an election that is nothing like the norm. what we have seen is joe biden in the last couple of days opening up that idea of traveling back out on the road in some of these battle ground states like arizona. what we are seeing this weekend after the rnc has wrapped up is what some of this like. in the past couple of days we have seen kamala harris zoom into detroit michigan for example, and do a fund-raiser and an event there. like you said she is in miami, florida talking to latino small business owners. a lot of that virtual stuff has been coming to life. we are seeing engagement in battleground states like michigan and florida always contentious every election. it is important to zoom out and realize most of these events would be happening in person, especially with the latino small businesses. i followed kamala harris in iowa. she was pigging out spices at a

latino grocery store. it is normally a tactile experience they would be doing. making sure engage men is there virtually is a tough thing and challenging to do in the next 60 days making our way into november it is interesting to see the scene building up of which communities this ticket is reaching out to. you see the latino community getting engaged today. as well, the biden campaign doing an outreach event virtually of course with muslim-american voters, important in states like michigan. after all this rhetoric from the president this past week and the republican party this past week, witness thing to point is you know the outreach is going to a lot of these minority communities and communities that maybe didn't turn out in 2016. and they are trying to build that back up. lindsey? >> all right. and deepa, you also wanted to play some sound, i believe from kamala harris's event today in florida. what can you tell us? >> yeah, she was reaching out to

a lot of the small business owners, like i said. and she made remarks about how, you know, especially right now one in ten small latino businesses has been impacted, has been shut down by covid. so the biden/harris ticket has plans to bring workers back in making sure they are building the communities back and the economies back, especially a big part of the lateino community especially in places like south florida. we have that sound you can play that. >> this is a moment -- we are two months, practically, a little bit more, away from an election to decide who will become the next president of the united states. while we are in the midst of at least four crises. and the american people, regardless of race or gender or age or geographic location, have a ride to believe that their leaders will speak truth. even when these are difficult truths to speak and the hear.

>> lindsey, you heard there, that was an interview she did with nbc's craig melvin on the "today" show. you heard her talking about the four crises. one them the economic crisis affecting the minority small businesses. that's what kamala harris was talking about today in this event. the event want just talking to voters. what it was doing is turning the small business owners into de facto surrogates. they are asking them to reach out, put signs up, make sure their communities are engaged and ready for november. some of that engagement is a challenge. we are seeing over the weekend how the virtualness of this plays out and making sure the momentum stays with them through november. >> we will see how this different way of campaigning impacts turnout. thanks for following the latest on the biden/harris campaign. in kenosha, wisconsin, a vigil is scheduled to begin in the next hour for jacob blake

who was shot seven times by a white police officer on sunday. state officials in wisconsin have said that blake had told police he had a knife in his car and that a knife was in fact recovered from the car. peaceful protests over the shooting continued into the night as blake, who is now paralyzed from the waist down, and recovering in the hospital, was reported by his family to be shackled to his hospital >> once they didn't succeed killing him, well, now we've got to besmudge him. so they came up with some old warrants that were misdemeanor warrants. but it gave them the right to be -- to have custody of his body as long as they want it. >> blake's lawyer was able to have an outsanding washt against him vacated late yesterday. now blake is no longer in police custody or handcuffed to his bed. we should mention while a knife was found in his vehicle, police have not yet told the media whether it was clear to officers

there on the scene whether he was armed. shaq brewster is in kenosha and joins me now. what is the latest on the investigation into the shooting of blake? do you know how he is doing right now. >> his family says he is in a lot of pain, in the hospital, doing better but not out of the woods yet. we know his condition, currently he is paralyzed from the waste down. it is not clear if that's a temporary or personalment situation he will have to deal with. the information you heard from his father, you heard it there when he said that he visited his son in the hospital and one of the more distressing things was the fact he was shackled around hess legs that detail sparked a lot of outrage once people heard it. the attorney general, the top law enforcement center in this state said that was inappropriate. he said he wouldn't have do that and that should not have happened. we heard from other people who

described it as an outrageous process that occurred. of course those shackels are no longer, gone. attorneys posting the bonds for that, listing the warrants and disputing the criminality. the charge was a third degree sexual assault charge. they say they are disputing the clarges and will actively dispute those charges. as far as the investigation, it is in the state's hands. it is under the department of justice here in wisconsin. we know that the attorney has released updates over the past week. we got the names of the gers. we got a few more details. two officers tried to fire their taser, unsuccessfully. but there are still many questions about the original situation and exactly what happened. as you mentioned, what officers knew about that knife that was later recovered. we know that there is about a 30 had been day tombline for when we can expect all the reporting all the investigation that is being done to be handed over to prosecutors. so we can expect not to hear much until that report is hand

over to prosecutors. then prosecutors can make a decision on whether or not those officers, who are now on administrative leave will eventually be charged. >> shaq, tell us about where you are standing, the people behind you and also what we can expect from today's vigil. >> i will let you take a a look at it while i describe it. once the protests stopped and became less violent and didn't have the come out with shovels and brooms and clean things up, what happens was they came out with pencils and paint brushes and started making murals. many of the businesses are bored up. people all across the area block by block coming out and painting murals, making murals. it was organized on facebook. anyone that could come out could come out. later today there will be a vigil with the family of wohl

see the family participate in a march, a rally, and also participating in that we have some of the elected leaders here in wisconsin. we are told that the lieutenant governor mandela barnes will be there. we will told congresswomen gwen moore will be participating in that march. i should note this will be -- we are coming up on the seventh consecutive day of protests. people say they want to continue to let their voices be heard, but they want to do it peacefully. and that's what we are seeing so far today. >> shaq, there are -- there is a concurrent investigation while all this is happening. and that is into kyle rittenhouse. he's a suspect in the shootings of three protesters in kenosha. two of them have died. what can you tell us about his case right now. that's right. we actually expected to see him in court yesterday. that's because he is in illinois, in police kd right now. he comes from a town about 30 minutes away. a 30-minute drive away. what we -- he was supposed to have an extraditionering that. but his attorneys came in and asked for a continuance.

his attorneys, new legal team is now saying he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed those two protesters. much of that was captured on video but his attorneys say he was being threatened and it was a typical self-defense face. they say they asked for a continue auns partially to slow down what they are calling a rush to judgment. we will see him in court on september 25th. until then we will hear more from his attorneys, more from his legal point. to tell you, as my final point, that last statement that we heard from his attorneys, it was about a three-page statement they did. they went through line by line what they know, the accounting that they have. they believe their client is innocent. and they say they are intent on proving it. >> shack eel brewster in kenosha, wisconsin, where that protest is supposed to begin at 2:00 p.m. local time. we appreciate it. as we awade that hurricane briefing to president trump later this hour, we know what he is taking action on to help

louisiana. late last night he approved an emergency disaster declaration. that means fema funds are going to be made available to support the state's response and recovery. what won't be recovered are the 15 lives lost. joining us now, nbc's priscilla thompson in lake charles, louisiana. of course that area hit so hard. priscilla, ahead of the press' briefing what are you hearing from people on the ground there as they work on these rebuilding efforts? >> lindsey, folks are not waiting on that fema aid to get to work here. i want you to check this out. these are new electrical poles that are going to be going up here in order to help restore some of those power outages. roughly half a million people here without power. and these guys have been hard at work all morning working to get that done. it is not just the utility workers. we have also seen residents as we have driven around this city, out with their chain saws

working to clear the streets and help their neighbors clear debrises, put tarps on the roofs that have been destroyed as a result of this hurricane. you really see the coming together of a commune. you know, this isn't the first time that louisiana and communities like this one have faced this. today is actually the 15th anniversary of hurricane katrina. hurricane rita also hit around this time 15 years ago. so these folks are used to this. and he this know how to get through this. you know, we hear this message of community, coming together not only from the residents, but also from city leader. take a listen. [ no audio ] >> reporter: i don't know that we have that sound ready for you. you were basically hearing from city leaders who are saying, donate to some of the non-profit organizations who are here already on the ground working to

do that work. as you mentioned, the president has approved that disaster declaration. and so there is going to be additional fema aid and federal aid coming in. folks can begin applying for that right now at this moment. >> priscilla, we have been showing incredible drone footage of all of that damage it is stunning what those people are up against in this cleanup effort. much more to come on this busy saturday on msnbc. we'll be right back. back.my bo. proof i can fight moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. proof i can fight psoriatic arthritis... ...with humira. proof of less joint pain... ...and clearer skin in psa. humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver,

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welcome back, everybody. these are live pictures right now from wllake charles, louisiana. you see there, president trump is touring the area right now. devastation after hurricane laura barrelled through the area. parts of louisiana and texas impacted in the gulf area there. you can see everybody -- a couple people wearing masks in that area. doesn't look like the president is.

hopefully we can get a better vantage point so i can see. but you see national guard troops cleaning up. many huge trees down in that residential area. the president getting briefed there today after making an emergency declaration to free up fema funds to help that area recover. the president will continue to be briefed and we will continue to be following this and bring you the latest developments. at this week's republican national convention the president's accepted his party's nomination for a second term and made his case for why he should be commander in chief for four more years. when fact checked, a number of claims made by the president and others who spoke at the r in, c have been found to be exaggerated, misleading, or simply not true. the "washington post" has listed more than two dozen claims they say are false or misleading from the president's this thursday night address. here's one. >> i have done more for the african-american community than any president since abraham lincoln, our first republican

president. >> they say, quote, trump appears to base his assertion on precoronavirus employment figures. in some relatively minor actions taken during his administration. historians say this claim is ridiculous. trump has taken few actions specifically on behalf of appearance. joining me now, bill crystal. bill, we just told everybody at the top of the hour the news we just learned that the director of national intelligence told the intelligence committee they will no longer be briefed in person on important election interference. they will still be briefed on the classified reports but won't be able the ask questions. our ken dilanian says this is unprecedented. >> it wouldn't have happened during the first two and a half years of the trump administration because dan coats

is a conservative republican but committed to the intendance and integrity of the intelligence committee. he was fired by the president in august of 2019, remaysed on a temporary basis by admiral mcguire who also tried to preserve the independence of the intelligence community. he was a big player in the ukraine scandal. he was removed in february of this year. replace by a highly political interim appointment, rick grinnell, who spoke at the republican convention. and then replaced finally with a new permanent director, john radcliffe, from texas. no background in the intelligence committee. a true trump loyalist. this is what happened. dan coats, might not have agreed with him. cases where i wish he would have spoken up more. but basically, like others in the senior positions in the administration they understood

this was not trump's play thing. the u.s. government works for the u.s. people. reports to the president, of course. but isn't simply a political play thing of the president. we have a director of national intelligence who doesn't recognize that. i think you could say the same about other senior positions in the cabinet. when trump asks for four more years, people have to think that's what the four more years are going to be like. it is not going to be like the first two or three years in the administration when there were still some checks. the guardrails are gone. >> right now it is crucial to have confidence in the results of the election. the president has come out and said this election will be rife with fraud. but this is an action taken by his administration. >> it is tomorrow. other people will be there. i will be curious to see whether the cia director and others go along with this, whether they try not to brief congress and the american people in real time. are we really -- think about it.

you are right to be kinds of astonished. it is october 15th. they get real information of russian interference and they can trace it and warn people about what kinds of thing to watch out for on facebook and twitter and other forms of social media and so forth. are they not going to brief congress? are they not going the warn us? do we have confidence now that we will know what is happening in real time? i wish i did, honestly, as an american. you have got to think of this news and think what is the conceivable reason for this except not to tell us what is happening in september and october. >> i want to -- i could ask you a million more questions about this. i want to get your takeaways from the arrnc. did we see uplifting positive messages? >> no. we saw them painting a new picture of the president. i don't know how convincing it was. at the end of the day, he has been president three and a half years. people have their judgments about his actual performance in

the job. he wants to destroy joe biden and paint the picture of them being anti-law enforcement, anti-law-abiding ral radicals tolerating radicals. that's the message he's got essentially. that's the message he will try to convey the next two months. we will see how the democrats do pushing back against it. i think it is hard for the incumbent president to blame the challenger for the riots going on three and a half years into the term of the incumbent president. i do think -- i have seen some focus groups on this and some polling, an awful lot of people may not love biden or have issues with the documents but they know that trump is the person dividing the country. trump isn't the firefighter. test arsonist. i think it is hard for him to overcome that but that's what they are going to try to do. >> during the rnc this week we saw -- interesting timing, more than 100 republicans coming out in support of former vice

president biden in lieu of trump. people from mitt romney's office, george bushese office. how likely is this? >> i don't think we have seen it before. republican voters against trump helped publicize those who serve in the department of homeland security, dealing with counter-terrorism, right wing extremism at home. she left. she worked there two and a half years. voted for trump in 2016, she left and now she's saying she can't support trump for another term. that's critical. >> bill, we appreciate your expertise on the subject. still ahead we are following president trump's trip to

louisiana as he tours the damage from hurricane laura. right now he is in lake charles where he will get a briefing before heading to texas later in the day. we will bring you the latest developments as they happen. plus new coronavirus concerns over testing and reinfection as the u.s. approaches 6 million cases. a medical experts joins to us break it all down. s break it all down. to reconnect and be together. and once we did that, we realized his greatest adventure is just beginning. (avo male) welcome to the most adventurous outback ever. the all-new 2020 subaru outback. go where love takes you. (avo female) get 0% apr financing for 63 months on select models during the subaru a lot to love event. it's made for this guy a veteran who honorably served and it's made for her she's serving now we made it for all branches and all ranks whether they served one tour or made a career of it.

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any package any time right from your computer all the services of the post office plus ups only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/try and never go to the post office again. welcome back, everybody. we are taking a look at lake charles, louisiana, the president getting a briefing there from local officials. right now we are looking at drone footage from the devastation and damage reeked by hurricane laura. we are going to be continuing following president trump's steps there as he is briefed and touring the damage. we will bring you the latest live as that shot comes back to us. as president trump continues to tout his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic, u.s. cases are closing in on 6 million, with more than

183,000 american lives lost. those sobering numbers come amid days of confusing messages from the cdc suggesting people exposed to coronavirus don't necessarily need to get tested unless they are showing symptom. the cdc's director, dr. robert redfield, is now walking back that guideline change after an outcry from doctors and scientists saying all close contacts of confirmed or probable covid-19 patients may consider getting tested. speaking of the importance of getting tested, a nevada man appears to be the nation's first confirmed case of coronavirus reinfection, according to a team of researchers. the 25-year-old first tested positive back in mid april, recovered, and tested negative for the virus twice after. the man got sick again late may and was admitted to a hospital needing on going oxygen support. he was once again tested for covid-19, and the results came back positive. joining me right now to discuss all of this further is

infectious disease expert dr. peter hotez. good the see you. democrats were quick the slam the changes to the testing guidelines. andro cuomo called it political propaganda. senator elizabeth warren, a group of her colleagues is calling for an investigation into when weather the president's administration is politicizing the nation's testing policies. >> this is strange. it is not just a political issue. the scientific community has been pretty outraged. would would know that 40 to 50% of the covid cases are without symptoms. if you are not testing asymptomatic individuals it makes it impossible to do contact tracing to do what we need to do to fight this pandemic especially in the united states. look, we don't have a lot of tools to fight this right now without a vaccine. so what do we have? we have testing, contact tracing, and social distancing.

if you take away those first two elements, then you are basically saying we are not fighting this epidemic. >> we are heading also into flu season, cooler temperatures, the flu and coronavirus show similar symptoms. we are all going to be back inside when the temperatures cool down. do you fear that hospitals will once again be pushed to their limits? >> yeah, that's -- this is a big worry, whether we are to have -- [ no audio ] -- decline in measles vaccination this is year. so we have the tragic prospect of looking at a triple epidemic of measles, flu, and covid-19. >> doctor, i am sorry to be interrupting you. president trump is speaking in louisiana. we are going to listen in. >> i wouldn't. but the people can use it down here. i see -- incredible. what's the percentage of people that have insurance on their homes? >> it's around the 50%.

most of the very -- [ inaudible ] the biggest challenge is for those who have it they still have about a $7500 hurricane [ indiscernible ] >> we will be talking about that, i think? we'll be talking about it. thank you very much, everybody. i'm here to support the great people of louisiana. it's been a tremendous state for me. i love the people. we have had a good relationship right from the beginning. very important that i was here. almost met some people that have been absolutely devastated. this was a tremendously powerful storm. in fact, when it came in, it was actually much bigger than katrina, he would say. katrina being somewhat of a landmark, i think in terms of devastation. this had more power. this was almost coming in as a 5. it was a 5 a little bit

offshore. but came in as a 4. 150 miles an hour. it was up to 185 at one point. i don't know that we've ever seen that. but we are joined by governor john bel edwards and senator conkennedy. two friends of mine. they have done a fantastic job representing the state. fema administrator pete gaynor. pete, great job. he's all over the country right now doing different things. and we have a lot of different elements happening. but we have to take care of louisiana. we have to take care of texas. texas got a little bit lucky. thank also to the members of congress that are here. i have a little list. that's a lot of members. i don't know, where are you

folks back there? i love those guys. first of all, louis attorney general, where is jeff. jeff landry. jeff. i could use you, jeff. you are so good. you are so tough and so good. i agree with so much of what you do. almost all of it. i am not sure that i have seen anything i don't agree with. great job. jeff landy, everybody. thank you very much. congressman steve southern callese. probably the bravest man in the room. he has done good. i actually think he is better looking today than he was three years ago. if you want to know the truth. he went through hell and we found out that his family loves him. that's for sure. they were with you all the way. it was a rough time in that hospital that night, right? that was a rough time, steve. glad to have you. people love you. people love you. congressman clay higgins. clay, thank you very much, clay, being here. congressman garrett graves. nice to see you. what are you doing sitting back

there? i can't believe you. that's not like you and mike. i can't believe you guys. they are being low key for a change. mike johnson my friend. and they have been a supporter. these people are warriors. they fight for us and they fight for the people that they represent. they are incredible war years. thank you mike, i appreciate it very much. and state senator mark abraham. mark, thank you. good job you are doing. i hear, great job. james wascomb, director of louisiana homeland security and emergency preparedness. good. you have got plenty to prepare for. do you have other storms, james, coming in? is that what i am hearing? you have got to be kidding james. >> not necessarily in louisiana but they are coming across. >> general direction? is that what you are saying? that's not good. what looks like the likelihood that they actually form and reach? >> [ inaudible ].

>> so you had some tremendously bad storms, 50, 60, 70 years ago. you and i were talking about dates. what's the difference now would you say in terms of storms coming in now compared to many years ago? >> they seem to be more frequent, mr. president, and stronger. that's new, i would say. the other thing, mr. president, this one come ashore as a category 4 and changed to that in 36 hours. we had lot of people who i don't think they were evacuate but hours before landfall, based on the strength, people packed and moved away. thank god they did. because there is no way we would be sitting here right now with 12 deaths. >> it built so fast. they finally decided to get out. it looked like it was going to be the lesser of marco and this.

marco -- >> disintegrated. >> disintegrated and this one came in roaring. nick hunter. great job, we appreciate it. mayor of lake charles. you got hit hard. were you the hardest hit, would you say, nick? >> i can't quantify if we were the hardest him. but i can tell you, we took a hell of a punch. >> you took a big punch. 100%. >> 100% inaudible snubl this is very hot when people are used to air-conditioning and all of a sudden they don't have it, it is a traumatic sbags is this it is. we find out how aclimbated we are to modern conveniences. in time like this, no power, very limited amounts of water making it difficult for a lot of people in lake charles. >> you have a great reputation. thank you. >> thank you is this thank you very much. michael danahay. michael? where is michael. hi, michael. how are you doing, michael?

>> [ inaudible ]. >> that's the mayor of sulfur. are you hit, would you say like this one, pretty much like this one? very close? how is it going? >> [ inaudible ]. >> good job. good luck. and the mayor of west lake, bob hardae. >> yes, sir. >> thank you, bob. how sit going? >> [ inaudible ] >> similar? >> [ inaudible ]. >> it is not going to be fast. [ inaudible ]

>> well, you will all get it going. one thing i know about this state, they rebuild it fast. there is no problem. we will supply what we have to supply. you know what a lot of that is, it is called green. right? we will take care of cassidy and congressman ralph abraham, two great people, and bill's going through a problem and i hope -- ralph is fine, right? ralph is fine. bill is going through a problem but i spoke to him the other day and it sounds like he's doing well and along with john has been a terrific senator. so hurricane laura was a category 4 storm and was actually for a little while a 5, up to 175, almost 180 miles an hour. few people have ever even heard of that, with winds currently when it came in at 150 miles per hour at landhall damaging thousands of homes and causing hundreds of road blockages and

major power outages and i heard and i think this is correct that it was the most powerful storm coming in and hitting your land in 150 years coming in. >> yes, sir. >> they put their finger up, right? i just visited the cajun navy and the relief center. they're fantastic. i want to thank the pastors. we just had a great pastor, just gave us a little prayer. he didn't choke. he gave a great prayer. i tell you, i've seen some didn't quite get it out as nicely but he did a fantastic job. i want to thank all of the pastors across the state, people of faith who have been helping families and communities recover. before the storm struck i approved an emergency declaration under the auspices of john and john bell. we had a very quick one, i would say you got that almost immediately wouldn't you say, john, i think before the storm got here you had your emergency.

we knew what was coming. thank you, john. we got it very quickly and we'll be discussing some other things in a little while. yesterday i approved a major disaster declaration that helps individuals and business owners which is a little bit different but goes right to the individual and i've signed that already and so you're all set to go on that. fema has delivered 2.6 million liters of water and 1.4 million meals. that's a lot of meals, so you're pretty busy i guess, pete, right? incredible. great job. your people are incredible. i haven't had, and pete's done this for a long time, but i haven't had one complaint with all of the storms in texas and here i haven't had one complaint. you've done a hell of a job. pete caner everybody. don't hire him away please. private enterprise is looking. hey, let's go take him away. don't let him leave, john,

please. all right? >> he's the best. >> we're also assisting state and local officials to restore water to roughly 180,000 residents and to protect energy infrastructure. i want to thank the men and women of fema and the first responders and the law enforcement, which we love, and we cherish and doing a fantastic job. don't get the kind of recognition that they should get but actually they do because the people love them, right? the people love them. and we appreciate our law enforcement. our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones. what is the number would you say, john, right now? [ inaudible ] >> amazing. well, it is a tremendous number, but you were thinking it could have been a lot worse. >> the storm surge coming in -- [ inaudible ] >> amazing. so 15 years ago this week louisiana was devastated by hurricane katrina. that seems to be, katrina seems

to be the standard, the one -- is it actually today? 15 years ago today. and whether you come from louisiana or fifth avenue in new york city you know all about katrina, right? >> absolutely. >> that was a bad, bad deal. and devastation. now the devastation was far greater, even though the storm probably wasn't as powerful. >> yes, sir. [ inaudible ] >> your levee is now in good shape? the best ever. that's good. so you came together and you rebuilt. america helped. here we are today and you'll have this situation taken care of very, very quickly. i'd like to ask governor john bel edwards to say a few words and then, john, if you would say a few words, and we'll take a few questions from the press if you'd like. we'll talk about primarily this storm. okay? >> well, thank you very much. [ inaudible ]

[ inaudible ] [ inaudible ] >> water bottles?

>> yes, sir. [ inaudible ] naud naud [ inaudible ]

because of your help -- [ inaudible ] normally we put people in jim nays yums and mass shelters. [ inaudible ] we're working with fema with various programs -- your declaration prelandfall really opened that up. >> you know, when you think about it, louisiana has been through a lot with the covid and

with this a couple other things. you've done a great job. thank you very much. nick, i'm going to come back and find out at the end of three weeks how popular you are. >> yes, sir. >> this is a big test. >> yes, sir. >> you're going to be very good. you may be very much better if you can be better which i doubt. john, please, say a few words. [ inaudible ]

[ inaudible ]

[ inaudible ] >> so -- >> you said that. >> so -- >> all right everybody. it is kind of hard to hear what senator john kennedy was saying, representative steve scalise also in the audience. the fema administrator, pete gaynor. president trump of course there who is being briefed and talking to the media there about hurricane laura. the strongest hurricane to batter the area in 150 years. so far 2.6 million liters of water have been delivered, 1.4 million meals. we should mention nbc news is