beginning october 17th. >> senator warnock of georgia, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> that is all in on this thursday night alex wagner starts right now, goodnight, alex. >> you never forget that the of >> i was thinking, you know, obviously, politicians, big spectrum in the backgrounds. some politicians are incredibly effective and not majrle amazing communicators, right? some are good communicators and are not effective. he is a profoundly gifted communicator. >> i spent time with him on the trail in georgia. you never lost sight of the fact that he was john lewis' pastor. he is a force of nature. thank you, chris. great interview. >> you bet. >> thanks to you at home for joining us. when hurricane keyian came

ashore yesterday afternoon, we were knew it was one of the strongest storms to hit the united states. day tligt day brought harrowing evidence of the destruction a storm like that brings. this is ft. myers beach, one of the barrier u lands that ian slammed into as a category five storm. before the hurricane, it was a popular beach defendant naugs destination. much of it is leveled. one local resident told the local paper, ft. myers beach is gone. this is the causeway leading to sanibel island to the west of for the murz beach. it's the only road to that island. it impassable. all the bridges to pine island also failed. this evening nbc "nightly news" anchor spoke with the mayor of sanibel for her concern about the people that didn't evacuate before the storm and maybe trapped there. >> we have significant numbers

of people contact us, people they knew that were on the island. we've been logging those meticulously and getting those out to our first responders. we had about 200 household that's didn't evacuate on the island that we know of. and the search and rescue teams are going to those areas that they can get to right now trying to help those individuals. and make sure that they're safe and there have been some people that came off the island. >> as you heard the mayor of sanibel describing there, a huge issue today is that the infrastructure damage is making it difficult for first responders to reach many areas where people may be stranded or worse. at least ten people are confirmed dead from the storm. that number is expected to rise significantly. president biden warned that ian could be the deadliest hurricane in history. substantial loss of life. the faa declared a temporary

restricted airspace over ft. myers to clear the air for search operations. there have been over 700 confirmed rescues statewide. and to be clear, this storm is not over. 2.5 million customers are still without power. even as residents in southwest florida survey the damage and search for survivors, in central florida and northeast coast, the disaster is still unfolding. orlando saw historic flooding to day after a drenching 14 inches of rain. and the rain and wind continued into tonight as residence wait for the floodwaters to recede. the ian moved out into the atlantic this afternoon, there was a storm surge on east coast as there was on the west coast. here you see the city of saint augustine where the river overtopped the banks where it flows into the atlantic. officials say that historic levels of river flooding could affect florida inland cities for

weeks. now that ian is out into at atlantic, it is a category 1 hurricane now in states north of florida are bracing for its impact as it turns back west toward the south carolina coast. right now it is places like lee county on florida's southwest coast that is ft. myers, sanibel, cape coral, where the situation is most dire. even as rescuers search for those who need help, lee county's public hospital system announced they are evacuating all their patients, at least 800 people, out of that county because of a lack of power and running water. the storm may have moved on from southwest florida. but the grappling with what it left behind is just beginning. joining us now from ft. myers, florida, is cnbc correspondent. we spoke last night after ft. myers was devastated. can you tell us about the last 24 hours and what it has been

like? >> today went to ft. myers where there is flooding. you have entire neighborhoods separated by water. we heard stories of surviving and stories of saving. on the surviving side, we met an 80-year-old woman who was found by a couple 20 somethings. she was taking her cell phone and just tapping it against a window. she was trapped inside of her house. and the 20 somethings heard her and dove into the watt eastern got her out. we met a woman named mandy, she was wearing a lifejacket inside of her house with her husband. they were standing on top of a pool table that flipped over. they were standing there for hours in their lifejacket. then he tells us the water was up to her neck. on the saving side, we met kevin ott. he told us he saved 16 people. he was with his three kids, two sons, and his daughter.

>> scary. but we saved a the lot of people that day. people that would have never made it. old people. it's sad. and we had to leave a lot of people too. >> we spoke to him outside of the house where he saved the family of his ex-girlfriend. he says there were about three or four of them that were trapped inside of the house in ten feet of water. they were inside of a canoe. alex? >> perry, people standing in lifejackets on top of pool tables inside their house it would seem like the only life line here are their cell phones. how are telecommunications? are people able to get through to emergency services via phone? >> their only life line is their deadline. there is no form of cell service at all, period. like we were down there today speaking with these people. they were asking us, what's going on? we have no idea. the only thing they understand

that's happening is within their four walls and under their roof if it they still have one. they are essentially trapped. luckily right now the water is going down. we were down there earlier today, the only way we can get around is hitching rides with people that have the trucks with the higher suspension. we saw a couple swamp buggies out there. there is no communication. we have to drive maybe 20, 30 minutes outside of where we were to get cell service to send out tweets and let people know where we were. checking in and making sure we're okay. the woman with the lifejacket on the pool table, they said what is fema going do? how is fema going to help them right now? she told us her message to fema or what she's been shearing go on line to fill out the form. go on line to find out more information. but on line just doesn't exist for them, alex. >> you know, we're showing some images here of the utter devastation. there is no home to go to.

this is wreckage. this is just piles of debris. what kind of shelter is there for people who are hoping to return home and then realize there is no home to return to? >> so the shelters that we're hearing about i believe it was 12 or 14 yesterday. they added two more. but people have been either going toward miami or they've been going up to gainesville to try to find shelter. the biggest issue is communication. the people have to know that shelters are there. and the thing that we're seeing is the destruction is so widespread that you have first responders that are just spread out. so it's difficult to get to every single person. that's not a fault on the first responders. they're doing their job taking care of life over property right now. we were across the street from mindy. her neighbor's house was on fire. it was just burning to the ground. there was nobody there. we saw some firefighters driving by. but they were trying to find a woman trapped in an attic. you have firefighters passing a fire. luckily nobody was inside. they're letting this building

burn because they're still looking for people. there are so many different variables at play with timing, communication, make shurg people have, you know, food, water, anything like that. it's -- these people feel helpless. there is no real communication. they're turning us to as reporters saying what are you hearing? seeing? how bad it is? we're hearing from them about the water that they were standing in that was feet high. >> i mean, i ask you as a reporter who has been in -- living through this chapter that is going to be most people the most devastating chapter of their life, what is the emotional tenor of the people that you spoke to? obviously this is an incredibly fraught moment. do you see resill consequence? just tell me how it has been to talk to the people that have been affected by hurricane ian. >> one, they're tired. they really haven't slept. they're exhausted i motionally, physically. i mean the woman we talked with mindy, she said, hey, we'll talk

you to. but can you please sit down. my feet are tired from standing. of course, no problem at all. they're just tired. kevin ott, the man we talked with, the man with the boat saving 16 people with three kids, he didn't sleep. he was exhausted. he just wants to sleep tonight. these people are sleeping in areas with no cell service and then they can't even charge the phones. there is no power. they are just emotionally, physically drained. and who knows when they're going to have a chance to refill? >> perry russum, thank you for the great reporting. stay safe. >> thank you. joining us no you is ft. myers city manager. thank you for joining us. i know this is a terrible time for your community. ft. myers saw some of the worst of the storm. can you tell us how recovery efforts are being coordinated to day? >> okay. we got first we got started

11:00 last night. a preliminary assessment team went out into the field to kind of get an idea of what we would can see this morning. bright and early this morning, they started their assessment work to assess not only damage of city owned facilities but private properties as well to come up with estimates to be used for various purposed, for fema, et cetera. we have a very storm savvy team. city of ft. myers. experienced department directors and key staff. they know what to do and how to do it. so we're being pro active going forward and we have an action plan and we're going to carry it out. >> i think a lot of people will be happy to hear that you have an action plan and that this is, of course, a group of people who are storm savvy. but, you know, your mayor today said this is the worst storm he's seen in the area since he entered public service in the mid 70s. what has it been like for you? how does this moment stack up

against other storms? >> you know, i've been in ft. myers for a lit over hay year as city manager. i worked quite a bit of my career in coastal north carolina and south carolina. this is right up there with the strongest storms that i've had to deal with. and what i've seen over the years is every storm is different. some will have stronger winds. some will have a lot more rainwater. some will have higher storm surge. this had all three. it had significant impact. this will be a mature on this, no the sprant, to get cleaned up. >> we've seen some reports of hospital patients being evacuated to other area hospitals. what kind of resources does ft. myers have right now?

and what kind of resources do they need more of? >> we're very lucky in that the state of florida has a very strong emergency management program. lee county has a very robust emergency management program as well. and the city, as i said, we have a lot of experienced department directors. so all indications are at this point that the resources from the state and the federal government will be coming and coming quickly. we established requests lists of capital items, human resources that we need that we think we need to get things back to

normal. >> i assume don't have electricity. what is your guidance to people in ft. myers who may want to use gas or electric powered appliances? should they be using them given the flooding that is currently in place? >> well, if you step outside in most communities you'll hear generators running. so we're hopeful that people have those to connected safely and in compliance with codes and hope it will make them a little more comfortable. came home for a few hours. i'm at my home and without power and water. i made it the best i could here. and it's like i said, it's not going to be a quick recovery at the end of yesterday. there were some 280,000

customers without power. and a significant number of city water customers will be without water for the next couple days. so it will be a challenging time. but the resources from our partners at the state and county, i think, will get through it just fine. >> all right. that is word of encourage flent city manager. thank you so much for your time tonight. good luck with everything. >> thank you. we'll have much more on the devastation in florida ahead this hour. we'll talk live with the coast guard commander about the rescues his team is carrying out tonight. but up next, the judge in the trump investigation delivers another win for the former president. and clarence thomas' wife ginni talks with the january 6th committee. what she had to say is next. with committee. what she had to say is next.

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what the fbi is probably doing is planting evidence which is what they did during the russia hoax. we have hunch they doctored evidence to get the warrant. >> do we think they won't put things in the boxes to entrap him? how do we know? the lawyers were not able to see them bring them in. >> they were brought in backpacks. what were in those? did they have something in there? >> the problem you have is they go into rooms.

they won't let them in there. did they drop anything into the piles? or did they do it later? there is no chain of custody here with them. >> ever since donald trump's personal residence was searched by the fbi, trump, lawmakers and media are pushing the idea that the fbi might have planted incriminating evidence while they were there. trump isn't really guilty. he's being framed. it's a witchunt. et cetera. trump's lawyers suggested as much in the legal filings. but then last week raymond dearie, the special master appointed to oversee the tug of war over the 11,000 documents seized last month, that special master essentially told trump's team to put up or shut up. even present judge dearie with evidence that fbi planted something or stop saying they did. that order could have poured a ton of cold water on trump's

conspiracy theories. this whole thing was a deep state fake. which would have been politically, optically, legally not great for trump. which is why trump's leel team brought the special master order back to the judge in charge of the case, eileen cannon. tonight that judge that, trump appointed judge said, actually, trump's team does not need to comply with his order to essentially put up or shut up. meaning, trump and conservative media can continue to make the case that this entire mar-a-lago episode is some sort of deep state fake. while she was at it, she extended the deadline for the special masters review from the end of november to the week before christmas. deny, deny, deny, delay, delay, delay. so what does this mean for accountability? joining us is the executive editor of thenewyorker.com. for a moment after the 11th

circuit court ruling and judge dearie seemed like the judiciary was back on track. eileen cannon is a specific actor in this. what do you make of the decision today on her part? >> it's really disappointing. again, the positive thing, judge dearie appointed by president reagan, a republican appointee, was sort of pushing a fact finding effort here. essentially, here's the inventory of documents that the fbi and the justice department created. tell me which one of these documents might have been planted. like which ones, you know, you are suspicious about? that's what he was requiring from trump's lawyers next friday. just a week from now roughly speaking. and judge cannon threw all that out. just said you don't have to answer that question. and it's frustrating. this is a legal procedure. it should be a fact finding exercise. >> yeah. >> and they don't have to present facts. >> there is some talk that, look, the ultimate focus of this, that investigation, the analysis of all that, proceeds

forward without the involvement of eileen cannon. and, yet, this politically feels like a gift to trump. the mere fact that he does not have to substantiate his claims, that the fbi planted things at mar-a-lago, whether that's among the 11,000 documents or elsewhere, seems like something he needs at this stage of the game. you declassified them all argument evaporated. >> there is a -- i don't know, unusual difference. we don't want to say which may be fake. the second thing she did is said they need more time to review documents. and this whole tactic was delay, delay, delay, as you said, and she extended the deadline. again, it's this taking -- there is a suspicion of everything the doj suggests in this case for judge cannon and a credibility

that seems to come with everything that trump and his lawyers present. and given the track record of donald trump and the tens of thousands of lies, you know, as president, that's not, you know, i think appropriate. >> that's a strange conclusion for her to make, right? mistrust the government but trust donald trump. and the reasons trump's team is giving for the necessary delays and all this are sound pretty cooked up. we can't find the right vendor. we can't get process all this paper in it time. you can hire more lawyers. we know you have $3 million to pay chris kiz. i wonder if you think the delay is meaningful. judge dearie wanted this wrapped up at the end of october. it is inching towards the end of the year. it is meaningful from an optical perspective that this is all going to come to a head right before everybody goes on christmas vacation? >> it's a better time line for donald trump. judge dearie is talking about

the end of october. there could have been a ruling or some early decision that might have frankly helped or impact on the midterm election. i don't think it's critical. yes, you know, it's now right before christmas. it's giving trump more time. and again, most importantly, she could block him from, you know, ever forcing trump to, again, put up or shut up. which of these documents do you claim were planted? he can go on for months and months and months. >> forever, actually. >> and he will. and, you know, that's, i guess, his ability as a politician. but this is a judge. these are lawyers. and we go to court. you have a trial. someone is innocent or guilty. this is a factor. this is not a fact. and that's what we need this this kind of crazier are a where things are so heated. more just basic facts. >> and we want confidence in our judicial system, right? i must add and ask you about the news of today elsewhere. another court, the supreme court. ginni thomas went and

voluntarily testified before the january 6th committee. given her involvement in the riot, she has states in other actors in donald trump world that justice thomas should recuse himself. her opening statement today, i can guarantee that my husband has never spoken with me about pending cases at the court. it's an iron clad rule in our home. additionally, justice thomas is uninterested in politics. i mean, just -- you can't see my face here. can you imagine. and i generally do not discuss with him my day to day work in politics. topics i'm working on, who i'm calling, e-mailing, texting, or meeting. does that satisfy your questions? >> no. and it's just bad for the supreme court. it's bad for the american people. maybe they never discuss this in private. but it's just obvious to any american that to have the wife of a supreme court justice saying the 2020 election was stolen which is --

>> which she continues to say. >> she said it today. it casts doubt on court itself. so there should be much stricter rules that he should have to recuse himself or a liberal justice recuse themselves if it's a case that seems to involve the work of one of their spouses. the court, i think that's why their confidence levels in the court dropped so low. obviously, many people upset with the roe decision. this doesn't help the credibility of the courts. we need judges to be neutral and this last thing on her statement about the election, you know, dozens -- 80 judges rejected trump's claim that the election were stolen. 30 or 40 of them were republicans. there were judges appoint bid donald trump who said the election wasn't stolen. she is wrong. >> she is wrong. >> wrong factually and crazy this -- >> and her husband is the only dissent in the supreme court case in january rejecting trump's bid to withhold documents. not saying/just saying.

thank you as always, david. >> thank you. we have much more ahead here tonight. scenes like this are unfolding across southwest florida. we're going to talk live with the coast guard commander who is in charge of many of them. d coms in charge of many of them. i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54, what's my price?

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just in tonight, nbc news is confirming two storm related deaths reported in lee county, bringing the total to 12. search & rescue operations are underway in southwest florida. 30 hours since hurricane ian made land fall there as a powerful and destructive category 4 storm. aerial footage you see on your screen here gives you an idea of just how much devastation the storm has caused in communities across the region. president biden speaking from fema headquarters in washington, d.c. this afternoon said hurricane ian may have been responsible for a substantial loss of life and that it could be the deadliest hurricane in florida history. and it is against this ominous backdrop that organizations and local, state, and federal agency set out conducting search and rescue operations throughout the state. in collier county, water rescuers waded through waist deep watter to rescue a woman from her car which became submerged by floodwaters. it hit central florida as a

tropical storm. even in orlando, flooding prompted scenes like these where rescuered used boats to reach people desperate to get to safety. this was a nearby kissimee a few hours ago. the roads are rivers and boat rescues are on going. this evening governor ron desantis said more than 700 people had been rescued so far statewide after rescue operations began early this morning. florida's division of emergency management said the bulk of the rescues, 500, were carried out in charlotte and lee counties. and hard hit lee county where the barrier island of sanibel is cut off from the rest of the mainland, the coast guard has been out surveying the area in the hopes of reaching residents who chose to stay behind as the storm approached. the u.s. coast guard had 27 aircraft, mostly helicopters, ready in the region before ian made land fall. and they have been carrying out search and rescue operations ever since. joining us is rear admiral brendan mcphearson. he is responsible for all coast

guard operations in the southeast united states. admiral, thank you for taking time out of your important schedule for joining us this evening. let's get right to it. what you are seeing down there? what are you hearing from the folks on the ground? >> yeah. good evening. it's good to be with us tonight. so just after the storm came on land, shortly after that before the sun even rose, we had coast guard aircraft in the air. so since then, we were able to save 83 people. we continue to fly those missions throughout the region. i talked to a number of the rescuers or swimmers, courageous men and women that put themselves in harm's way. it's devastating. it's devastating destruction throughout the region. the high winds, historic surge, and the heavy rainfall have really left a place saturated. i'm happy to say we were able to

pull 83 people out safely. >> 83 people is 83 lives. can you tell us more about the rescue process and the methods you use? how do you get in touch with the people who need help? how do they get in touch with you? how do you prioritize who to help first? >> yeah. first of all, i'd say, you know, think of this as a well organized military operation. it's not just the coast guard. it's the florida national guard. it's the fema, urban search and rescue teams. it's the local fire departments. we come together under a system we call the incident command system. it's a management that is, we all use the same language, we share communications. and first we rely on the calls for help. 911 is the best way to reach emergency responders. so if anybody hears my voice, they see me talking here this evening, if you're in distress, you know somebody is in distress, use 911. don't use social media. beyond that, we grid the area

out. just like you would on a battlefield and we go methodically box to box, grid to grid doing a thorough search. >> when you say you go grid to grid, box to box, i mean, i'm assuming this is primarily boats given the amount of flooding and just the water, the inundation of the water. you also mentioned rescue swimmers. can you explain more about those folks? what other methods are you using to reach people? >> yeah. we, you know, we go after this like i said like a military operation from a land to sea and air. if we get in there by trucks and vehicles, we'll do that. if we can't do that, we have val low water rescue boats. the then door to door checking on people. if you can't get there by boat or vehicle, we'll use aircraft. we have rescue swimmers that are trained, highly equipped people that we lower in a basket or on a line that go into harm's way into the water if they need to

to pull people out. and they're the most elite people we have in the coast guard. >> i'm sure their services are greatly appreciated. critical, life saving efforts in this moment. let me just ask in terms of how you look at this event compared to other ones where the coast guard has had to intervene. does it feel historic to you? have you ever seen anything like that? >> yeah. so listen, every one of these storms is unique, right? going back to my 30 years of experience, i've been involved in rescues and operations for hurricane hugo, hurricane andrew, hurricane katrina. last week i was in puerto rico. if you're impacted by this, it's devastating to you, regardless of the scope and scale. i'll say in this case, this was historic proportions. the scale and scope of this was almost unprecedented in the sense of you had the high wind, heavy rain, and the historic surge. >> mere admiral, commander of

the seventh coast guard district, thank you so much for making the time tonight. thank you so much for your work this week. we really appreciate it. >> thank you, alex. the other thing, i just want to add. while we're certainly focused on saving lives, we're also focused on getting our ports reopen. that is port part of our mission for the coast guard. the we're working closely with state partners to get them open as quickly as we can. we recognize the full time recovery is going to rely on those ports as well. >> indeed. indeed it will. and best of luck in all those efforts. >> thank you. coming up, while putin plans to celebrate a sham referendum to an exfour ukrainian territories tomorrow, the leader has two pestering problems to dealing with. each one over 750 miles long and right in the middle of the baltic sea. that story is next. stay with us. ltic sea that story is next stay with us

i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program.

if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54, what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i'm 65 and take medications. what's my price? also $9.95 a month. i just turned 80, what's my price? $9.95 a month for you too. if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the #1 most popular whole life insurance plan available through the colonial penn program. it has an affordable rate starting at $9.95 a month. no medical exam, no health questions. your acceptance is guaranteed. and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock

so your rate can never go up for any reason. so call now for free information and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner. and it's yours free just for calling. so call now for free information. >> this is a danish sea picture this is a natural gas explosion. multiple explosions caused four leaks in the pipelines causing the release of millions of tons of methane into the sea. the two pipelines are each over 750 miles in length. both pipelines lie more than 300 feet below the surface are not

operational at the moment and were not operational at the time of the explosion. they suspended the flow of the pipeline in august. they were frozen by germany days before russia invaded ukraine. and as to what happened exactly, that is a mystery. the european union this week called it a deliberate act. they suggested a coordinated explosion. today, russia denied involvement and asserted the result of state sponsored terrorism. meanwhile, nato said the explosions were deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage. sounds like everyone is in agreement that this was no accident but rather an attack. but an act of sabotage? who would do that? and why? cnn reports today and note this is not confirmed by nbc news.

cnn is reporting they observed navy ships in the leak earlier this week when the explosions were reported. it is worth asking would russia -- would russia ever gin something up to assert its power? well, putin set to hold a rally of sorts tomorrow after a sham referendum. a referendum vote where russian soldiers showed up with guns to casually collect people's votes. unsurprisingly, the results were a resounding yes for annexation. 99%, 93%, 98% and 87% respectively in the four regions that are according to the kremlin part of this russia. putin plans to release the results tomorrow. but it comes as nearly 200,000 russians -- 200,000 fled the country to avoid the partial mobilization announced last

week. mistakes had possibly been made with how men were being drafted. joining us to discuss all this is michael mcfall, former u.s. ambassador to russia. thank you for being here tonight. let me first ask you the referendum vote. what do you think is the point of it? is it potentially to show the pro war contingent back home in russia that putin can deliver and deliver by bringing new land into the russian empire? >> i think it's bold. it's first to show there have been results from the war. second they're through this sham stuff. this is just self-determination. they want to determine where they want to live. they have that argument for the international world. that sounds stupid to us.

it may not sound stupid to everyone around the world. they also are he is ka late. this is a major turning point in the war tomorrow. because once the places according to putin are part of russia, then if they are attacked, russia is now being attacked not just ukraine and that, i think, is a major escalation in this war. >> do you think he feels like he needs to make escalation moves when he sees the reports if he does see them of hundreds of thousands of russians fleeing the country to avoid having to fight his war in ukraine? >> without question. and remember, he -- they're fleeing because he did something he also didn't want to do. he was losing this war. he ordered a partial mobilization. he wanted to get 300,000 soldiers. it looks like he mobilized a lot of young men. but the mobilizationing them to leave. maybe 300,000 by that time.

he promised the russian people. this is not a war. it's a special military operation inside ukraine. he was losing after seven months, right? he didn't overthrow the nazis. he didn't demilitarize ukraine. he didn't take kyiv. he lost the battle of kyiv. he lost the battle of kharkiv. he was compelled because he was losing to do this and now it's having these very dangerous results for him inside his own country. >> when we talk about the people who are being called into the army, i want to call your attention to a statement advising americans to get out of russia. otherwise, they are at risk of getting drafted into putin's army. russia may refuse to acknowledge duel nationals u.s. citizenship, deny access to u.s. counselor assistant and con script duel nationals for military service. residing in russia should depart russia immediately. what would cause the u.s. state department to -- what level of

concern would cause the u.s. state department to issue something like this? and do you find it, you know, feasible that putin would try to draft u.s. nationals into his army? >> i certainly hope he doesn't do that. i want to be clear about that. the i heard from families inside russia with american passports. but families that can't get out, they're terrified right now. but i think they have reason to be concerned because he's also drafting ukrainians. that's what's going to happen in those territories we were just talking about. after tomorrow, he's going to start drafting people that live there. there are reports that he's drafting ethnic tatars that live in crimea to go fight against the ukrainians. that is a real sign of desperation. and so we shouldn't be surprised if it happens. >> let me just ask you if you have a theory on the pipeline explosions? do you have a theory on the explosions? >> honestly, i don't.

this is weird. i mean, it's clear now these were sabotage terrorist attacks, whatever you want to call them. it's no the clear who did them. but i do think it's a wakeup call for all of europe that it's time to get off a russian fossil fuels. i work in the obama administration. during the transition, i wrote the memo for how to deal with russia in the fall of 2008. .3 was reduce our energy dependence of our allies and friends on russia that creates leverage. finally, europe is doing it. i applaud them. i think is one more tragic message why it is not in their security. i would say environmental and economic interest to be dependent on russia for oil and gas. >> this whole chapter has been a series of wakeup calls about how we should no longer be dependent on russian oil and gas. michael mcfall, former u.s. ambassador to russia. always great to see you. thank you for your time tonight. >> yeah. thank you for having me. >> up next, the question of who

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in august of 2017, hurricane harvey devastated communities in texas and louisiana leaving as many as 107 people dead. less than one month later, another hurricane, hurricane maria, battered u.s. communities in puerto rico.

the final death toll from hurricane maria was over 3,000. just yesterday, the u.s. commission on civil rights, part of the federal government, released a stud you comparing the responses to hurricane harvey and hurricane maria. the commission found glaring disparities in the responses to those two hurricanes. for instance, within the first nine days after land fall, harvey survivors received over $100 million in fema dollars. the maria survivors received slightly over $6 million in aid. just 6% of what vifrors on the main land got. the commission's report cites a variety of factors that led to the outcomes including then president trump's hostile, biassed and critical declarations made against the american citizens residing in puerto rico. now under different president, american lawmakers are facing a very similar situation to the one in 2017 after hurricanes fiona and ian. two hurricanes less than one month apart, one on the main land and one in puerto rico, it has been almost two weeks since

hurricane fiona made land fall and still more than a fifth of puerto rico's residents are without power. and residents of puerto rico are already preparing to be forgotten as hurricane ian dominates the headlines. one community advocate in puerto rico said we're going to be put on the back burner as always. it's florida. it's attached to the united states. so far the biden administration appears determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past. yesterday the department of homeland security issued a waiver to a 100-year-old shipping law keeping desperately needed fuel from reaching puerto rico's shores. and during a press briefing, president biden reiterated the commitment to helping the people of puerto rico. >> while we're seeing the devastating images of florida, i want to be clear. to the people apuerto rico, they're not gone away. i'm committed to you and the recovery of the island. wee stand by you however long it takes to get it done.

>> the president also said he untends to visit the island of puerto rico as it recovers. we won't know the toll of the two storms for some time. there is no question the victims of both of the storms need all the help they can get. "way too early" is coming up next. >> so many scenes like this down the area. wires into the streets. there are neighborhoods now under water. of the biggest concern here was rainfall. >> they're also concerned about alligators and snakes. >> once the water came from the gulf of mexico down here, it was a river. >> you see that section of the sanibel causeway just wiped out. >> i have seen buildings, home after home after home with trees down and debris. boats sunk in the harbor. >> whole towns decimated, completely leveled. >> i came here in the mid 70s. i was on