are the enemy, he speaks about the deep state constantly going on podcast and saying that he and other members of the freedom caucus have gathered all this secret information that they will reveal at a certain point, coming soon. rocksteady calm, hold on. he is always promising and apocalypse around the corner. >> jeff charlotte, who wrote that great profile for the atlantic, and a fantastic book about similar themes. thank you so much for your time . i appreciate it. >> thanks. that is all in on this thursday night. good evening, alex. >> extraordinary reporting for the extraordinary times in which we live. a lot of breaking news tonight, thank you, friend. ank you, fri. hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour. so far more than 545,000

households in florida are reportedlyfl without power and thousands have been ordered to evacuate from their thhomes. as you can see from these satellite images, helene is huge and is expected to effect nearly the entire state of florida with damaging winds and heavy rain. still what mayea bring the most danger areri the storm surges. earlier today residents experienced flooding in places like pine island, which is just outside of fort myers. but flooding will likely get much worse across the state as the night continues. a storm surge warning is in place for almost the entirety of florida's west coast. this video is a simulation of what could happen if the storm surge rises to approximately 10 feet. but in some parts of florida officials warn that hurricane helene could cause storm surges of c up to 20 feet, around doub the amount shown in in simulation and those officials are calling that a level of sto surge potentially unsurvivable.

earlier today the first bands of wind andt rain lashed the tamp bay area, giving us just a taste of the strength of the storm. atr strength that is not expect to weaken once it makes landfall. five states, florida, georgia, north carolina, and south carolina, have all declared states of emergency, and more than 40 million people are either under hurricane or tropical storm warnings. for more on all of this joining meof now is nbc news correspondt kathy park, she is live from tallahassee, florida. kathy, i hope you are safe out there. what can you tell us about they latest on y the ground? >> reporter: alex, good evening. it seems like we're getting a bit of a tease from hurricane helene right now because the weather has pulled back, we are getting some rain at this point. things will ramp up over the nextra few hours. here in tallahassee especially the big concern will be the wind damage becausell we're a bit farther inland so storm surge not as much of a concern, but

here in tallahassee roughly 55% of these city is under tree canopy. soer when you factor in the 100 mile per hour windse that wille moving into thiser area pretty soon,re officials are really worried about toppled trees, debris, toppled power lines and of course the extended power outages that will soon follow. now, earlier today we had a chance to speak with some residents whok decided to leav their homes behind and hunker in place at an emergency shelter. here is what they told me. take a listen. >> i just feel like this storm was different. i just got a feeling. it was just a different. it's big, its size, the wind speed, itsi just felt like this was different and this was the best thing towa do. >> i've never been in a storm like a category 3 or 4 and what i'm doing right now is using wisdom. wisdom tells me to get out of theom home. i live in a great home but the home may not be enough to forego and toou take on this storm.

i feel so much comfortable being here. >> reporter: and, alex, i can tell you these emergency shelters filled up pretty quickly throughout the day today andro i was told if you are the, you areld expected to stay ther to ride out the storm. obviously for safety reasons. we should also point out this is a big college town so a lot of local universities have shelters on campus as well, open to students. tallahassee officials have been preparing for days ahead of this storm, but obviously this is mother nature that we are even though you prepare for days, it's still unclear what it s could do, but we're told they're leaning on mutualni aid from resources reay from all across the country. tomorrow will be extremely telling but once again if this comes in as a category 4 here in the tallahassee region, this will be the most catastrophic storm themo region has seen eve. >> nbc news correspondent kathy park. thanks for joining me, thanks for theor update. please take care of yourself down there.

i'm joinedyo by nbc news meteorologist bill karins. what can you tell us about the latest path of the storm? we're only about two hours from landfall and it's going to have devastating, destructive, this will be a retired storm. this is historic. we've never seen a storm this powerful hit this region of the country before. the pictures when we get them in tomorrow once the storm is gone everything is going to be flattened wherever this eye goes. thewh hurricane center updated are now up to 140 mile per hour. this is a solid category 4, it is still strengthening all the way up until landfall. it's been over extremely warm water. so this m eye, look at all thes white things. our computers can tell us where the lightning strikes are. i mean, this is incredible intensification at the last minute.te there was hardly any and it's filling in, thunderstorms are wrapping around the center. pressure is still dropping. this is a buzz saw. wherever this movesbu it's goin to destroys houses, it's goingo destroy all the trees, going to be laying down.s we're trying andng praying thate want this to affect the slimmest

number of people possible as we move this on shore over the next couple hours. now the center of the storm only 60e miles from the coast that northern ans this eyewall isec only about 40 mile from the coast. we expecthe landfall between 110 p.m. and about midnight. there's tallahassee, 200,000 people call that home and about 50,000 students. perry is right in here, these are the areas of greatest concern. the eye itself is roughly about 40 miles wide. why is that important? because when we project that north wards, tl to perry is 45 miles wide. if wes take that eye in the middle here we could get tallahassee on the backside and perry on the front side, 140 mirp wind gusts possible even as farss inland. i mean, you can get why it is suchge a serious situation. these are areas that weren't evacuated by the way. there's going to be people in tallahassee to perry that i-10 corridor that will be in their safe rooms, bathrooms, in the tub with pillows or blankets on top of them as this storm rolls

and races through in the next couple hours. scary as it gets. almost like beingy in the midd of a tornado when this blows through. we also iflo you've seen the pictures, we have storm surge that'ses increasing rapidly. we're getting near record levels in areas like tampa up towards cedar key, old port is near 4 feet. clear water beach water levels iste 6 feet above where they should be. if you are at the beach and your feet are barely in the water that would be above most people's heads. eastport, all h through tampa b there is water in places that people have never seen before and this water is still going up. again, that 10 to 20 feet is going to be in isolated remote area, where we get that eye making landfall, and then we watch that buzz saw moving in. of course, alex, we have problems with the rainfall with this storm, too. a lot of flash flooding going on. i ofmean, we are going to have historic amounts ofoi rain by t

time we're done with this in the mountainous areas of upstate south carolina, north carolina, that is going to cause tremendous amounts of damage and possibly take lives there, too. alex, i can't say enough, i know people if they are watching still, probably still have power, tallahassee, that i-10 corridor. now is the time, gather whatever you can to protect yourself and your familyro and put as many walls betweenpu yourself as you can with the outside. >> nbc news meteorologist bill karins. thank you for that update. really appreciate it. with us now is tallahassee mayor john daly.ee mayor, thank you so much for being here tonight. ihe know this is a very intense and scary time for the people of tallahassee. i wonder if you could tell us a little bit about how you're feeling in h terms of preparatis and evacuations in your neck of theou woods. >> well, i appreciate you having me on. we've been preparing in tallahassee for the past week, that's the city as an institution and as a community with alln the residents. we've been stressing how important it is to be prepared for this storm.

as it has been mentioned, if we take a direct hit from a category 4 hurricane, it will be the most powerful storm in the history of the city of tallahassee. i think for the most part everybody is taking it very seriously and have done a very good job preparing. as for the cityob itself, we've spent the weekit checking all aspects of municipal government and services that we provide to make sure everything is up and running top peak as the storm comes in. we have tripled our work forsz by callingd in mutual aid agreements from all across the united states as farro away as oklahoma,y driving in to help , they're all here. we have our assets spread out across the community with personnel and we're ready for the storm. >> mayor, can you talk a little bit about what your most immediate concerns are? because it soundse like you've done all the preparation, any town,on any city could possiblyo for something like this. what's keeping you up right now particularly? >> sure. well, health, safety and welfare of course. now is the time for everybody to stay inside.

a lot of people left, quite honestly, a lot of the college students left at the recommendation of the universities and the state college, which was great. a lot of w people have gone to e emergency shelters here in town and everyone else is staying put inside and that's great, but now is the time to stay in. greatest concern for me is we're not a coastal community so we won't have the storm surge, although our thoughts are with our neighbors down south. it's ther wind. wind, trees and power lines. we know, obviously, that this is going to be a significant wind event and we're known for our natural beauty and we're known for our trees. but trees and power lines and wind do not mix. weo know that a hurricane this strong a is going to spring significant damage, no doubt about t we've been shooting straight with the residents so they understand it as well. as soon as the storm is over we will t roll up our sleeves, go our professional assessment and get to work. >> mayor, one nor just in terms

of we talk about the damage. are you confidentut that tallahassee'sid utility grid ca withstand idthis? i'm surest there are outages an the like but are you at all concerned about the medium-term impacts? >> there is a reason why we have the number one public utility in the nation and we are very proud of that.ha nonetheless, we know that a storm of this sizene is going t bring significant damage. i don't care where you are, if you are hit directly by category 4 storm, you're going to have a lot of damage. we have told our residents that recovery will be a marathon. it will not be a sprint. we have called in our friends from all across the country to help us out and we truly appreciate it. state of florida has been great, the federal government has beene great, the city, the county and the school board have been working seamlessly. but, yes, to answer your question, we will have significant damage, no doubt about it. if a category 4 hurricane hits you head-on it's going to bring devastation. >> tallahassee mayor john dailey, thank you for spending a

few minutes with me in such an important moment. we're sending you our strength from upyo north. >> thank you. we turn to a very different kind of storm, a political storm that has been brewing for years right here in new york city. >> you guys are from turkey. brooklyn loves turkey. brooklyn is the istanbul of america. >> that was new york city mayor ericwa adams playing himself in 2017 turkish film in which turkish men attempt to bribe new york city mayor eric adams. today an indictment was unsealed in the southern district of new york t alleging that not only w mayor adams accepting bribes from turkish nationals at least a year before that film came out, but that those bribes were consistent and ongoing throughout his time as mayor. now, i should say that mayor adams denies all of it. he says the charges against him are entirely false and based on lies. and there is good reason for him

to try to dissociate himself from this indictment.hi the charges in it are not just illegal, but the actions are embarrassingly brazen. not onlysi does the indictment allege that adams accepted more thant $100,000 worth of bribesn the form of luxury travel and hotel stays and food and entertainment, but the ways in which adams allegedly took those bribes were comically transparent. for example, in june of 2021 while adams was actively campaigning to be the mayor of new york city a turkish official and a turkish national allegedly arranged for adams and his partner to travel to turkey, stay at the four seasons hotel, a yacht tour, a luxury beach resort and their own car and driver. here are the o texts setting up that excursion. adams' estaffer. adams isam asking where else th can go in turkey, do you have a recommendation? sturkish national, four seasons. >> n adams staffer, it's too

expensive. turkish national, why does he care? he is not going to pay. his name won't be on anything, either. adams staffer, super. super. adams did allegedly pay for at least one thing, though, he paid $1,000 for business class tickets on an international flight that would have otherwise been $15,000. here are the texts showing how they allegedly landed on that $1,000 price. turkish national i'm going to charge 'm$50. adams o staffer, no. turkish national that wouldn't work, would it? adams staffer, no, dear. $50? what? quote a proper price. turkish national, how much should i charge smiley face. adams staffer his every staff is being watched right now, $1,000 or so. let it be somewhat real. i should note that that particular trip ended up being canceled, thede indictment doest tell us why, but that trip is

one of thetr many trips this indictment alleges adams was gifted.da the indictment alleges that adams flew free or severely discounted business class flights on turkish airlines to india,li france, turkey, hungar sri lanka, ghana and china. now, if you are familiar with the shape of the globe youno wod know that shopping in turkey to get to most i of those places ds not exactly make sense, but because this alleged bribe was specific to turkish airlines, as mayorai adams put it in a text his partner, you know the first stop is always istanbul. so that practically means nothing to a place like nice in france mayor adams would take flights from new york city to turkey andfl turkey back to france. heba allegedly once even tried see if turkish airlines could get him to new york city to turkey to eastern island in chile which would require

crossing seven time zones to the east and nine time zones to the west.e but, hey, business class seats, i guess. the thing is all of the personal grift alleged in this indictment is really just small potatoes compared to the alleged political legrift. not only does the indictment say that he accepted foreign donations foror his mow i don't recall campaign from turkish nationals but also that he compounded gains by donations as disguising them as fake, small dollar donations so they would qualify for new york city's public campaign fund matching program, a program that ultimately gave adams' campaign more than $10 million of taxpayer money. so that is what mayor eric adams allegedly got out of this scheme, luxury vacations and millions of dollars in campaign cash. but what did c turkey get in exchange? well, the indictment alleges turkey got some policy items

like mayor adams promising to never publicly acknowledge the armenian genocide, but there were also more direct, more obvious dfavors, like, for instance, back in 2021 some of theom turkish nationals that ha allegedly bribed adams in the past were eager to open this building, the new 36-story turkish consulate in manhattan. they wanted it opened in time for turkish president erdogan's visit to the u.n. general assembly that year so that he could stop by, check it out. but i the new york city fire department hadn't inspected the building yet so it wasn't allowed to open. in a phone call to an adams staffer a turkish official said that they had supported mayor adams and that it was now his turn to support turkey. adams allegedly responded, i know. the indictment alleges that adams theneg pressured the new york city fire department commissioner and it turns out the building had over 60 fire safety defects and could not legally be allowed to open, but

mayor adams allegedly kept pushing and the building opened anyway. again, mayor adams dee needs all of this. he is refusing to step down and sayso he will fight these charges, but the calls for adams' resignation are growing. and if he duds ultimately resigt or if he is removed from office the persons who would take ove as acting mayor of the largest cityr in the country would be w york city public advocate gentleman manny williams. he joins me here live coming up next. he joins me here live coming up next memory foam doesn't come close. get your best sleep guaranteed. buy more, save more. up to $600 off. visit purple.com or a store near you.

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powering smarter savings. powering possibilities. switch to comcast busines internet and mobie and find out how to get te latest 5g phone on s with a qualifying trade-i. don't wait! call, click or visit an xfinity store today. as the mayor of the city of new york, thank you very much. >> resign. resign. resign. resign. >> it won't happen. it won't happen. >> get out. get out. >> those were protests outside of gracie mansion today calling on new york city mayor eric adams to resign after he was

indicted on five federal corruption charges. for now mayor adams says he's not going anywhere. it may not be up to eric adams. under new york city law the mayor can be removed by the governor if charged with a crime or the city council can form something called an inability committee to essentially impeach the mayor and take him out of office. now, if adams does resign or is removed the person who would automatically become a mayor of america's largest city is new york city public advocate jumaane williams and he joins me now. mr. williams, thanks for being here on a very, very big news night. >> thank you for having me and also hoping to introduce a whole host of people to what a public advocate is. >> this is the time to talk about public advocacy if there was ever a time. first of all, in the last hour the governor of new york, governor kathy hochul has released a statement and i'd love to get your thoughts on it. it reads in part, while i review my options and obligations as

the governor of new york i expect the mayor to take the next few days to review the situation and find an appropriate path forward to ensure the people of new york city are being well-served by their leaders. that sure sounds to me like she would like the may i don't remember to decide to step down. >> first of all, this is a painful time period for a lot of us in new york and a lot of folks who work with a lot of these folks in the news right now, it is really painful. we want to make sure that the city of new york and new yorkers understand we are going to make sure government continues to work. as someone who has done a lot of work around making a better just criminal legal system, you know, the innocent until proven guilty is a real thing and no matter who it is. at the same time these are really serious charges. the breadth is larger than i thought. i think the mayor has to really think within himself can i conduct business the way i need to with this weight, and can i help restore trust? the window to show that is rapidly closing, but i think it's a real question that he has

to answer. >> have you stalked to the governor at all? >> i have not spoken to the governor since this broke. >> have you spoken to the mayor? >> i have not spoken to the mayor since this broke. >> right now his posture has been one of defiance. i mean, we played the sound this morning of his press conference and he's exiting the stage literally to chants of resign, resign, resign. this doesn't feel like something that gets better the longer he stays defiant. what would you like to see from the mayor right now? >> so i think to what you just said, this seems to get worse by the day and in some cases by the minute. i don't think that you can put together a plan to show that you can continue doing this, but that's what he has to do. if there is a way to show that i can continue doing my work, i can keep running the government, i can restore trust you should just do that and deflection is not a plan. continue to deflect and pretending this is not as serious as it is and it's something that you might be able

to just explain away is not that plan. if you have one, say what it is, because we really want to hear it, and new yorkers deserve it. >> new yorkers do deserve t i do wonder, first of all, when you read the indictment, the evidence alleged in there is extraordinary. this is barely concealed corruption. it is so transparent, it is a gross misuse of public funds to the tune of maybe $10 million. what was your reaction when you read it? >> it's pretty bad. >> it's pretty bad. >> there is no way around that. i will say even if, you know, people that say that they weren't surprised, even though they're disappointed, for me the bedth of it is what shocked me and the length of time shocked me. and it was a pretty laid out case in my opinion. but, again, the presumption of innocence is really important and giving somebody the ability to defend themselves is really important. now, that is different from saying can you continue to function to make sure the city is running? can you help restore trust?

>> what has been the reaction inside new york city governance? >> everybody is concerned. it's a chaotic moment. >> were people surprised? >> i mean, i don't know if -- again, if people were surprised or more just saddened that we are in this moment in time. this has been building for a very long time. i think the breadth of it was a little shocking. i don't think many of us expected some of the things that we saw. so people are just trying to figure out how do we portray trust to the people of new york? that's what it's about. that's what the succession plan is about. just having a plan in case an eventuality happens that new yorkers can know the trash is going to get picked up, 911 and 311 will be answered. these are things that people really care about. i don't know the mayor has done a good job showing they have a plan to do that at this moment in time. >> i do wonder when you talk of there's the easy way out, i guess, to use the sort of mafia parlance word, the mayor decides to leave and then there is the governor saying you have to go. there is what is called the

inability committee which would be a five-member committee involving the new york city corporation council, the lawyer who is no longer in office, that's an empty see, the new york city comptroller who is already running against eric adams for mayor, the city council speaker and the longest serving borough president and deputy mayor of adams' choosing. have we ever been here before? can you tell us about the inability committee and how that might come to pass? >> we are definitely in unchartered territories, that is 100% correct. the positions you just mentioned, two of them are not even in at this moment in time. we could have a whole story of why the general council is not in, that is a whole thing by itself. unchartered territories. who knows which direction it's going to be and i think that's why a lot of us including myself are including the mayor to look within himself and really have some conversations about what is best for new york city right now? what is best to restore trust?

what is best to display that the city is going to continue to move forward? that's something he has to answer but he has to answer it. if you are sitting back like me and saying i just don't see how you can put that out what plan it's going to look like, but if there is one, let us know. and, again, just continue to deflect is not a plan. just saying brushing aside is not a plan. this is really, really tough stuff, painful stuff, but we're here. none of us want to be in in moment and we have to do what's best for new york city. >> >> are you what's best for new york city? are you ready to step in if the mayor is out. >> what's best for new york city is we have tens of thousands of dedicated public sector workers who make sure everything keeps running. they are the ones making sure that the trash is going to get picked up, making sure that the calls are going to get answered. you know, as you ride out on autopilot you have to get a pilot in there and the mayor just really has to ask some tough questions to himself and i hope he does that very shortly.

>> new york city public advocate, advocating for the public and public sector workers, great to see you. jumaane williams, thanks for your time. still ahead this evening federal agents showed up at the new york city residence of mayor eric adams today after federal prosecutors indicted the mayor on corruption charges. why? i will ask duncan levin the former assistant district attorney in the eastern district of new york about mayor adams' ongoing drama coming up next. r ' ongoing drama coming up next it's started. it's... the side hug. tween milestones like this may start at age 9. hpv vaccination—a type of cancer prevention against certain hpv-related cancers, can start then too. for most, hpv clears on its own. but for others, it can cause certain cancers later in life. you're welcome! now, as the “dad cab”, it's my cue to help protect them. embrace this phase. help protect them in the next.

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this morning after federal prosecutors indicted new york city mayor eric adams on federal bribery charges for donations he allegedly accepted from turkish nationals, federal agents searched mayor adams' official residence, meaning there still could be more shoes to drop. we know that in addition to adams' relationship with turkey prosecutors have sought information about adams' interactions with israel, china, qatar, south korea and uzbekistan. joining me now is duncan levin, a former assistant u.s. attorney for the eastern district of new york. duncan, thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> i'm always eager to get your thoughts on, you know, political, criminal indictments of current politicianes. >> they keep us busy, indicting more politicians by the week. >> sure do.

first of all, the fact that the fbi is raiding the mayor's personal residence, you know, the same day that they're issuing a criminal indictment -- >> well, the indictment was already ready at this point. so what this not only strongly suggests but really means is this is a continuing investigation and this is the tip of the iceberg. we are going to see more charges coming. there are so many investigations. you mentioned the fact that not only turkey is involved, but there are these other countries, there's china and uzbekistan and south korea. >> qatar. >> and qatar. so not only are these other countries involved but we know about all of these other investigations. you know, the police chief who just resigned and his twin brother were running a hospitality business as a paper play business to try to protect the night clubs and they got -- if they paid money to this business they would stay out of trouble. deputy mayor is under investigation for a business that he had with his brother which involved lucrative security contracts. the new police commissioner had

his home raided as well. there is an investigation into possible bribery involving city hall contracts for minority and women-owned business enterprises. the list goes on and on and on. the fact that they raided gracie mansion, which is the mayor's personal residence today, indicates that they have more investigation, that this is ongoing, because they had to go to a federal judge and basically convince the federal judge there is more evidence that we need. they already had all the evidence that they needed for this turkey indictment because they brought it already so there's more here and i think we will see a superseding indictment. >> what stands out to you in the indictment that we do have in terms of criminal -- potentially criminal behavior? >> it's bungling. if it weren't so serious is would be comical. you have an adams staffer meeting with the fbi voluntarily in her home, they're talking about all of this incriminaing evidence and texts and she

excuses herself and goes to the bathroom and deletes the encrypted app in the bathroom. they know because they know when it was deleted. we all know the story about when he has his phones taken away by the fbi. he didn't have his personal cellphone on him that day so the fbi went back the next day to get his personal cellphone and he said, you know, the minute i heard about this investigation i changed my iphone password from a four-digit password to a six-digit password to make it more secure so none of my staffers would get into it and inadvertently delete one of these important texts but there's a little problem i forgot my password and you are not going to be able to access it at all. again, comical if it weren't so serious. these text messages between the adams staffers and turkish airlines where they're discussing how to price a business class ticket from new york to istanbul which basically

goes for $15,000, the text from the turkish airline representative says i will charge you $50 and the text back says we have to make it look real and let sketchy, let's settle on $1,000. there's just so much of this indictment that is telling a story that jurors are going to find fantastical about any defense he has. it is very strong. it dee tells a ten-year conspiracy that dates back to when eric adams was the brooklyn borough president. it's two buckets. not only these gifts that he got from turkey and favors that he got -- gave to turkey in return, but he was soliciting foreign donations and donations from corporations, both of which are not allowed to give to a campaign and he was funneling them through straw donors who were new york residents and as a result of that taking advantage of this eight for one matching program that we have in new york and got $10 million in new york

city matching funds from illegal donations that were not only illegal to take in the first place, but certainly not eligible for this match. >> $10 million in potentially illegal public funds donation for the sitting mayor of new york city. it is going to be a wild next week. he is getting arraigned. has asked for a speedy trial. duncan levin, always great to to get your expertise on this and all indictments of sitting politicians thanks for your time tonight, my friend. >> thank you. still to come this evening, eric adams has found himself an unlikely ally in the 45th president of the united states. what donald trump had to say about mayor adams and what it all means for democrats in in year's election with congresswoman jamila jayapal, that's next. congresswoman jamila jayapal, that's next.

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intestinal worms! whoa! heartworm disease! no problem with simparica trio! this drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions including seizures. use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. for winning protection— go with simparica trio. i don't know the mayor well, but he's been fairly generous to me in his statements for a while. i will say this, i watched about a year ago when he talked about how the illegal migrants are hurting our city and the federal government should pay us and we shouldn't have to take them. i said, do you know what, he will be indicted within a year, and i was exactly right. because that's what we have. we have people that use the justice department and the fbi at levels that have never been seen before. so i wish him luck. i wish him luck. good luck to you in your federal

criminal trial, sir. that was donald trump today reacting to the indictment of new york city mayor eric adams. and aligning himself with the guy who just got indicted on federal corruption charges. trump is attempting to spin adams' indictment as how it somehow supports his theory that joe biden has weaponized the justice department against his political enemies, but the truth is that this indictment is yet more evidence that merrick garland's justice department is pursuing justice for all by bringing charges against high profile democrats, including the son of the current president, a u.s. senator, a democratic congressman in a swing district and the democratic mayor of new york city. joining me now is washington congresswoman pramila jayapal, chair of the progressive caucus in the house and a member of the house judiciary committee. it is wonderful to see you in-person. >> it is so good to be in-person. >> this is a very big news day. >> yes. >> every day, but today in particular. for people who have been treated

to this paranoid theory that joe biden has weaponized the justice department, i kind of wonder, given the number of democrats that merrick garland's justice department southern district of new york have gone after what your thoughts are about the working theory that trump has about joe biden? >> i mean, look, donald trump is just going to use whatever he can to make whatever arguments he wants to make for himself. they have nothing to do with truth or facts. so i think you just have to look at the fact that merrick garland has done what the justice department is supposed to do, which is separate from -- they are not vold by president biden, they don't just do what president biden tells them to do as donald trump did and would do again if he were president, and you see it with the indictments that are coming through. i mean, this is -- this is not great for democrats in terms of having a big-city mayor, democratic mayor, under, you know, this kind of lengthy -- what is going to be very lengthy, i think, challenges,

troubles. i'm trying to find the right word for. >> you criminal indictment, right, with maybe more to come, too. >> more to come. i think that's the challenge here. but i think in terms of, you know, donald trump, he's going to try to use this, i think for us as democrats we have to remember that our congressional democrats in particular, those that are running for congressional seats or incumbents in new york these are some tough districts that we need to win to take back the house. the thing that gives me comfort is each of these candidates is very good. they are running their own races. at the end of the day i think voters will look at them. they won't look at the new york city mayor as much as they might try to taint those people with the new york city mayor. so i think, you know, that's -- that's what we're going to have to do. those people are going to have to continue to run their race, obviously many of them have already called on eric adams to resign. that is certainly, you know, i think, what he should do because he can't run a major city when

so much of the people around him are also involved in this. there's more to come. i think that's clear. so i am hopeful that it won't ultimately affect our ability to take back the house which i still feel very good about. >> it is a challenge for democrats but also an opportunity given how the republican hearth has reacted to criminal indictments of its stars. the republican party has been brush it under the rug or even pledge fealty. this please like the democrats to be the party of law and order. i want to draw your attention everybody that's watching to chuck schumer, senate majority leader. no one is above the law including the mayor of new york city. the charges are serious and the legal process should now play out speediliy and fairly. >> yeah. >> that's what you want to hear from a party roorksity? >> that's what should be said over and over again. look at the republican party, the cult party of donald trump, who, you know, is a -- somebody

who has actually reveled in his outrageousness, including saying what he did during the 2016 campaign, right, that he could grab a woman by her private parts on a new york city street and he would be able to get away with it. that is what he revels in. i do think it is an opportunity for us. at the same time, if you asked me would i prefer that this wasn't happening, alex, i would say -- >> you would say indeed i would not like to have to deal with this. >> for all kinds of reasons including how serious this is for the city and residents of new york. >> it is telling that donald trump has the opportunity to attack a big city democratic mayor, but chooses instead to make his bed with the guy who is under federal criminal indictment. >> but you notice what he said. it's always about does the person support donald trump? he said some nice things about me, therefore, i'm fine -- >> and he said some very

controversial things about migrants in the city and, therefore, that is the banner under which they march together. >> that's right. and i think the challenge here is that, you know, the whole argument right now that donald trump is pushing is a horrible one around migrants, around immigration and it's just unfortunate that eric adams had some of those same things. he said some of those same things. i think it was -- you know, i think new yorkers didn't like it. i think that is not who new york is. new york is defined by the contributions of immigrants to the city of new york. this is the place, the statue of liberty, and i think that, you know -- so this is -- this is difficult in many ways. >> unusual and unlikely bedfellows in federal criminal indictment company. congresswoman pramila jayapal, chair of the house progressive caucus, great to see you. great to get your thoughts on this complicated time. i appreciate it. coming up, a live report from florida where residents are

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we are tracking hurricane helene, the massive category 4 storm set to make landfall along florida's big bend within the next hour or so the eyewall is already moving ashore according to the national weather service, the storm is currently moving northeast with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour as it barrels toward the state capital, tallahassee, where forecasters expect it to make a direct hit. bringing damaging wind, life-threatening storm surge and catastrophic flooding. earlier today tallahassee residents made last minute preparations, heeding a warning from the mayor that this could be the strongest hurricane in reported history ever to hit

tallahassee. joining me now from the tallahassee, florida, is the miami bureau chief for "the new york times." patricia, thank you for being here. i hope you are safe wherever you are, given the projected path of this storm. i wonder if you can tell us sort of what you're seeing and how you're prepared or how you've seen preparations under way. >> thank you. we are seeing the winds starting to pick up, it's really whipping through now. it has just been mostly rain until now. tallahassee is at least 30 miles inland from the coast and so here it's not really a storm surge event, rather a wind event, but only now are we really starting to see, i think, the real tough part of the storm and it will, you know, come ashore in the next hour or so here is what we expect. >> is your intention to just bunker down and try to ride it out and, if so, can you talk to me about the preparations you've made to just do that? >> yes. we're actually in a hotel near florida state university that is full of people not just

reporters, actually, most of them are families, who live in tallahassee but are concerned of the dense tree canopy here, the tall pines and trees and branches potentially falling on their roofs so they came here with their children, their dogs, and decided to spend at least one night just to make sure that even though they did not have to evacuate, they could be in a police that was tall and away from the danger of the trees. >> when you make the point about the trees and the power lines, i wonder how the city and residents are preparing for what is potentially an extended period without power or infrastructure to help them. >> we tried to ask emergency management officials today if they had a firm estimate of what the power situation might look like, but it really depends on how close to the eye that becomes and the storm shifted a little bit to the easterly yer and that might be enough to spare the city the worst of it.

that doesn't mean that there would not be extensive power outages but we know from other colleagues in the field that there are a lot of linemen and their trucks already parked overnighting in hotels in other parts of florida that are not getting directly hit by the storm ready to move in to try to help clear the debris and turn the power back on. but people here are ready, they know from other storms that they have to plan for some days, maybe a week or two without power. >> yeah, there are currently 600,000 people in the state of florida without power and that is before the hurricane has actually made landfall. patricia, you are in a hotel with families and children, i wonder if you can tell us what the emotional tenor of the space you are in is like right now. the words used to describe what this hurricane can bring run from catastrophic to unsurvivable depending on where you are in the state when it hits. how are people dealing with it right now? >> i think people were relieved

to perhaps try to avoid the worst of the eyewall. they were glad to have some time to plan. in a hotel it's more of a communal experience, similar sometimes to some shelters where people want to be around other people rather than alone and that helps make it through the storm. but there is just sort of high adrenaline and anxiety running through everybody. i am sure most of us in this northern region of florida are just not going to get a lot of sleep tonight. >> we hope you stay safe and we are thinking of you guys as this storm barrels towards the state of florida. "the new york times" patricia mezzai, thanks for joining us and giving us a glimpse of what is like on the ground. that is our show for this evening. way too early with jonathan lemire is coming up next. o earl lemire is coming up next course, are monitoring the case and the situation closely. and we urge everyson who