good to be with you. i'm katy tur. leave or die, that's the warning for hundreds of thousands across tampa and beyond this hour as hurricane milton, now a monstrous category 4, takes direct aim on florida's third largest city. right now, almost all of florida's west coast is under an emergency warning as crews race to clear the debris from last week's hurricane, that one helene, before milton makes landfall sometime tomorrow night. it is dangerous eye is set to unleash a once in a century damage and record storm surge. the national hurricane center is warning of up to 15 feet of water in tampa alone. as we speak, thousands are still trying to get out, residents rushing to escape the storm's path, have clogged highways, and interstates. and adding to all of that chaos, all of that concern is politics. and the rampant disinformation

that is being peddled by donald trump and some republicans including false claims about fema funds and not so subtle social media posts that say they control the weather. from a congresswoman who formerly claimed jewish space lasers caused california wildfires. we're going to get to that in a moment. we're going to start with the reporting on the storm. joining us now, nbc news correspondent jesse kirsch and nbc news meteorologist angie lassman. angie, i want to start with you, give me the path of the storm as it stands right now. >> we haven't seen a whole lot of change in where the center of the system is going to come on shore, katy. we're splitting hairs when it comes to the miles between where the worst of the devastation of storm surges. but we have seen a period of intensification for this system. it is just barely staying category 4 strength, 154 miles per hour, moving northeast at 8 miles per hour. when it comes to the track, it slowed down a little bit when it comes to landfall. pinpointing the time frame is

going to be about midnight, as we get into wednesday night, into thursday, about 3:00 a.m. and notice still there is a spread where the center of that will come on shore, it is looking like the tampa bay area, north of maybe sarasota, the tampa bay in the cross hairs of exactly where that system will be and likely coming on shore as a category 3 and maintaining cat 2 or cat 3 strength as it crosses the state, furthering that wind damage that we're expecting. notice how wide this expanding wind field is. this is only going to grow here as we get closer to the landfall, of course, expanding the impacts we see. one other note that we have, about 200 miles across for that tropical storm wind field, as we get down the line, right before landfall, this is going to double essentially. this means that not only does the wind destruction become more widespread, but we also have a much larger storm, a much bigger push of water slamming up against the coast. the center of that, of course, is going to be really where we see the worst of the storm surge to the right front quadrant. the south of where that center comes on shore will be really

concerning. notice where the hurricane center has the center of it, as a cat 3, you'll notice parts of tampa bay, potential for six, nine, up to 15 feet of storm surge. and by the way, high tide, about 6:00 a.m. so that means the water is coming up, just naturally with those astronomical tide cycles and with the storm -- with such ferocity. as far as folks in sarasota and points south, this is another concerning spot. if it comes on shore, right there where the sunshine sky way bridge is essentially, that means that the worst of the storm surge will be there. we will be watching again 10 to 15 feet of storm surge for the good chunk of that area. even as far south as fort myers beach, 6 to 10 feet will be possible. and this stretches up to the big bend area as well. it is not as widespread as helene because of the kind of point of entry that it is going to come at from the coast, versus perpendicular versus parallel with helene. as far as the rainfall inland, we'll still see the potential for 10 to 15 inches of rain and

possibility of up to 18 inches, the flash flooding isn't just going to be toward the coast, where we'll see the immense storm surge, the flash flooding concern will be across the state, essentially the width of the state, parts of orlando, ocala, jacksonville, all included in this here as that storm races across through thursday morning. now, whether it comes to the winds, those are more confined. the tropical storm force winds will be widespread. once you get to maybe 50, 60, 70 miles per hour trees come down, power outages are going to be possible. the worst of it is going to be right near the center of it. sarasota, peak wind gusts possible, 100 plus miles per hour. same for st. pete, tampa as well. inland, orlando, peaking with wind gusts up to 80 miles per hour will be a possibility again as that storm maintains strength. power outages will be widespread. these likely just like what we saw with helene and with previous storms could last days, weeks, for these areas. one last note, we will see this tornado risk tomorrow as well with some of the outer bands wrapping around, katy. this is something that will be

possible throughout the day. we already had one tornado warning near marco island and we will see more of those to come and this will be adding insult to injury when it comes to the multiple impacts that there will be with there storm system, but storm surge is going to be our main concern and especially if you live in those evacuation zones those barrier islands near st. pete. >> talk to me about the strength of the storm, last night was a category 5, overnight it became a category 4, your map says it could be a category 3 when it hits land. when you're watching that, i would say that's good news. it is lessening in its strength, but does that make a difference in terms of storm surge? >> yeah, i think you'll get the same sentiment from all meteorologists, when we focus too much on the category, we lose sight of some of the most major impacts, specifically storm surge. i mentioned that's what kills the most people, katy. that has nothing do with the

category of the system. even if it is a category 2 at landfall, it is still massive and pushing the water on shore. when it comes to the catastrophic wind damage, the category is very important, but there are multiple impacts outside of that specific category, so we always caution folks, not focusing too much on that. it is concerning and this system is already record-breaking, it is large and unfortunately it will go down in history books. >> is it moving fast? >> it slowed down. we saw it 12 miles per hour earlier in the day when the updates came in at 8:00 a.m. we have seen it slow down and it will slow down more. it hasn't taken the northerly track we expected it to, but, you know, as we get closer in time, over the next 12, 24 hours, we'll likely start to see exactly where that center comes on shore, and these kind of little wobbles, they really matter. you can see still northeast at 8 miles per hour. once it starts to move more to the northwest, we'll see how that kind of splits hairs with

the tampa bay area and we know five miles makes a big difference with 15 feet of storm surge versus 5. it is still impactful, still life threatening, but 15 feet of storm surge is very concerning. >> you got to get out. no other answer there. got to get out. all right, jesse, you're there on the ground, tell me about what people are doing right now. there are so many, so many people who are trying to get out. have you encountered anybody who is staying? >> reporter: thankfully not, katy. the people we have been coming across have been making their plans, gathering their belongings and getting out of town. all the traffic we're seeing is showing that many, if not most people are leaving. but unfortunately we often find out some people stay behind. where we are in sarasota, lido key, on the shoreline, we'll show in a second, we have got the shore and the water behind us here, behind dunes of sand that have been excavated here. police cars driving through, blasting out a loudspeaker at

7:00 p.m. they're cutting the water out here and access to this area will no longer be allowed. i want to show you some aftermath of what we're seeing from hurricane helene. we saw storm surge around waist level here. this is what is left of a resort hot tub. you can see, we'll have our photographer pan over there, you can see this part of the staircase into the hot tub. this is all now completely buried in sand. we have seen the power of storm surge, what it brings on, and, again, back to the sand dunes this is all sand that wound up in this resort, in the pool, in the rooms, on the patio, all that has been pushed out and just think less than two weeks after it came on to shore, it might be heading back inland again, katy. this is an area so hard hit and just going back to what we're hearing about the storm surge and the wind gusts and all that, we got an issue with debris, that has been a big story line leading into the landfall of milton because in the aftermath of helene, people are ripping out drywall, throwing out

belongings, furniture, plywood, broken glass, all of that is in the streets on the sidewalks. all of that can become projectiles, a battering ram for the storm surge. the governor in florida said that officials are working 24/7 to get as much debris cleared out as possible, but here is part of the problem. we have only been talking about milton for a couple of days and tracking what is going on in the tropics. but it is only in the last few days that this has been something that is setting off alarm bells for a lot of people. people have been continually removing debris. as crews have been clearing stuff out, some officials tell us more debris is suddenly showing up on the sidewalk. it is a revolving door issue and the reality is even after crews have gone through areas, we have seen some debris including broken glass on the streets. i can imagine that there is probably going to be more out there in the air, in the water, when this storm makes landfall compared to what we would typically see with a major hurricane even. this is certainly shaping up to be a very serious situation. >> quickly, what are you and your crew going to be doing? we were talking about a bad situation, where will you be?

>> yeah, we're going to be in a shielded parking garage, with very limited exposure. and we often go out in the winds during our hurricane, we are not doing that this time around. again, those projectiles are top of mind for us as well and we're stocking up on food and water, katy, as if we're going to have to spend a day or so in that parking garage. so that's the kind of precautions we're taking and, by the way, very much elevated, because storm surge is something you cannot outrun. it is point blank quite deadly. >> jesse kirsch, thank you very much. angie lassman, thank you as well. joining us now, sarasota county emergency management chief sandra tapfuminei. this storm is big, it is dangerous. are people leaving? jesse said he hasn't seen anybody who has said they're staying, everyone has left. what are you seeing? >> yeah, well, we're glad to get that report from jesse because we do believe there has been a great deal of our residents that are in these evacuation areas that have left. but we're getting some stories

about people that are also choosing not to leave. we are doing our very best to try to let people know that storm surge is not something you want to contend with and with this storm, it is really not just storm surge, it is also the 18 inches of rain we might be getting. that's a tremendous amount of rain and that's going to be coming in a very short amount of time. between the wind, the rainfall, and the flooding and the storm surge, so powerful. we need people to leave. >> is everybody on the highway right now, are they going to be able to get out in time? >> yeah, that's the one good thing about this storm, so it keeps slowing a little bit. so really people have all day today and even tomorrow we're seeing the winds will start picking up and we should receive the onset of tropical storm force winds about midday, maybe into midafternoon tomorrow. so there is still some time. so we are urging residents if you haven't left yet and you're thinking about leaving, there is still some time. we're hearing people are getting across the coast pretty easily.

and people are heading south pretty easily. going north and heading toward tampa and hillsborough is where the most traffic is. so we're encouraging people not to head in that direction. >> what will you do after this storm hits, after the storm surge? what is the plan? >> yeah, well, this is the third storm we have had, the third hurricane that sarasota county has faced since august. so, we are very familiar with how to do our initial response and recovery efforts here. we're at the emergency operation center so we have teams of people that are creating very specific plans because this is one of the largest storms to ever have impacted this county. so, our plans have to shift a little bit. we're planning for potential bridges being out, air operations, if we need to evacuate people and the bridges are out. we're planning on potential water infrastructure failures and power outages for weeks. so we're just trying to be prepared because it is not only just this storm, we also are competing and contending with

all other resources that have been pulled to help out with hurricane helene in the northern part of the country. we're trying to do our best to be as self-sufficient as possible, working with the state of florida, but there is some major concerns, especially with the port of tampa possibly being out of fuel and having to be shut down. >> sandra, thank you very much. look at what happens with global warming, everything gets stronger, it gets bigger and you see more of these storms like we're seeing down in the gulf, second one in a week. governor ron desantis of florida, speaking of somebody who doesn't believe in climate change, is talking right now to florida residents, started a moment ago. let's listen. >> -- one of our major logistical staging areas for both resources and personnel for the response to hurricane milton. this storm is expected to make landfall on the florida

peninsula, west coast of florida, sometime late wednesday evening, maybe early thursday morning in the wee hours kind of where it is looking now. but it has moved a little bit slower than projected over the last 36 hours. there is still a lot of uncertainty about where exactly the eye of the storm is going to hit, i think the most recent models have it somewhere in manatee county, just south of tampa bay. but i would just tell people, one, there is going to be impacts far beyond wherever the eye of the storm is. two, you can make landfall anywhere from citrus county down into southwest florida. we'll know more over the next 12 to 18 hours. but just cones, all this stuff you see, the impacts will be broader than that, particularly with respect to storm surge on the west coast of florida. i know that there is a lot of folks who have -- who have evacuated, who are in those areas, and you absolutely can

get whacked with really serious storm surge, really almost every place on the west coast of florida could get major storm surge. today i held a joint call with state legislative leaders in the cabinet to brief them on florida's efforts on the storm. and about our resources that are being offered and being utilized by the state of florida. we also did a similar call to florida's congressional delegation. also spoken to the president and the fema administrator. we had our request approved for prelandfall. we will get a landfall, major disaster declaration approved once the storm hits and that's debris removal and individual assistance. we have 51 counties that are under a state of emergency. there is pretty much warnings or watches on almost the entire florida peninsula. a lot of attention is being paid

to the storm surge on the west coast of the florida peninsula and rightfully so because that's probably the most serious threat to people's lives. and property. but this storm is going to go across the florida peninsula and it is going to exit on the east coast of florida, into the atlantic ocean, likely still as a hurricane. so, that is going to bring significant impacts all across the state, so just be prepared for that. that may mean mobile homes, even interior, structures that may not be hurricane proof, that could create hazards. rivers, other bodies of water, as you have more rain and you have flooding that could be an issue. and then you could have surge on the east coast of florida. you could have erosion, different things at the coast. so this is not just an event about the west coast of florida. that will be where the initial impacts and probably the most significant, but the impacts will not be limited there. so, here we are at the florida

horse -- >> already, governor ron desantis saying most of the west coast of florida will get major storm surge, but don't think everything is going to be fine if you're not on the west coast. there will be impacts up and down the state, including tornado warnings for the small portion of florida that didn't seem to be overly affected, that includes the area of miami. all right, we're going to move on. still ahead, politicizing a natural disaster. what fema is warning about the very real consequences of spreading hurricane disinformation. they control the weather. plus, what is happening to fema staff that could risk its ability to respond to the next disaster. we're going to talk about the state of fema in a moment. first, though, secret conversations between donald trump and vladimir putin after donald trump left office. what could the two men be talking about? whole new book is out that details these allegations. don't go anywhere. details these allegations. don't go anywhere. ggle] it cuts through the slimy stuff

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joining us now, "new york times" chief white house correspondent and msnbc political analyst peter baker and nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. peter, lay out what woodward says donald trump was doing with these phone calls. >> so, woodward in his new book called "war" coming out next week says that a trump aide told him that he would -- they have been kicked out of the office because the former president said he was taking a call with vladimir putin, and this aide told woodward that it was one of a number of such calls, perhaps as many as seven. now, there aren't any more details about it than that. and woodward doesn't cite any other sources and we haven't confirmed that separately either. but if this is the case, it adds a new wrinkle to the controversy over president trump's -- former president trump's relationship with president putin, which has always been subject of a great deal of mystery and confusion and criticism. >> peter, i think my mic is on

now. do we know the time frame for when the phone calls were taking place? i mentioned in relation to donald trump lobbying republicans to not give ukraine money, was it around the same time? >> he doesn't say. the one call he specifically references took place in early 2024, that's as specific as it gets in the book. so we don't have any dates for any of the other calls if there were in fact other calls. we can't therefore, you know, time them to say, this took place when the house was voting x or y, but clearly, you know, it raises questions, because trump has said repeatedly that putin is a genius, that he can solve the war in less than 24 hours, before inauguration day if he's elected, and essentially said he doesn't really seem to care too much whether ukraine wins. the terms he and his running mate have seemed to have focused on is a possible negotiating basis for a peace deal would involve russia keeping all the land in ukraine that it has illegally seized by force and ukraine giving up any hopes of joining nato and declaring its

neutrality, giving a guarantee in effect to russia. those are, of course, terms that putin would like. we don't know, you know what took place, if anything in these conversations that might have taken place between trump and putin but it raises new questions. >> and there were, you know, the russia investigation, vaughn, was very much about the -- very many contacts between donald trump's campaign and russia and vladimir putin and his orbit as well. there is a little bit in this book about a covid test, this is during the height of the pandemic, beginnings of the pandemic when co-visit tests were in short supply. what is woodward alleging? >> this has to do with vladimir putin, and while donald trump was still president. bob woodward writes that vladimir putin, who did not go and travel abroad for 19 months, was highly concerned about contracting the virus himself and in conversations with donald trump, the current republican president of the united states, went on to as bob woodward writes, secretly sent putin a

bunch of abbott points of care covid test machines for personal use as a virus spread rapidly through russia. this really goes into detail about the relationship between these two men. i did reach out to three trump campaign officials here over the last several hours about whether specifically donald trump had any conversations with putin since leaving the white house in 2021, we have not heard back from the campaign about that. >> that's interesting. you would think if there was no contact, they would have said this is all untrue, never spoken to each other since donald trump left the white house, maybe they still will do that. do we know a little bit more about the sourcing around -- that's pretty verbatim dialogue that woodward is putting into his book. do you have more about the sourcing on that? >> it is a trump aide is the sourcing of this here. we don't know who that aide is.

but, of course, donald trump has kept quite an insular circle around him ever since heading to mar-a-lago in 2021. there was a great number of people that left his side, thinking that he did not have a political future here. at the same time, we know donald trump has continued to engage in conversations with other foreign leaders and other diplomats and of course there is concern about the violation of the logan act, which is to prevent private citizens from influencing improperly u.s. foreign policy. of course, michael flynn was national security adviser to donald trump in february of 2017, he resigned after it was revealed he had back channel conversations with the russians during the transition. there is a long, deep complex history, but we know when zelenskyy was meeting with trump a little over a week ago, of course, donald trump was asked about what could this deal potentially look like and publicly he stayed away from trying to publicly negotiate the deal, but it is not clear to what extent privately is donald trump trying to influence this potential situation. >> it would matter very much if

he was having conversations with vladimir putin while out of office. it would matter very much. vaughn hillyard, peter baker, thank you very much. what donald trump is claiming about disaster recovery versus what the actual truth is, we'll lay it out for you. and what impact another natural disaster 28 days before november 5th could have on the election. don't go anywhere. could have on n don't go anywhere. it not only combines softness and scent. it breathes life into your laundry. we planned well for retirement, but i wish we had more cash. you think those two have any idea? that they can sell their life insurance policy for cash? so they're basically sitting on a goldmine? i don't think they have a clue. that's crazy!

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fema was intended to be built for this. but this is a lot. in the past four weeks, fema has had to navigate the wreckage from hurricane helene, landslides in vermont, tornadoes in indiana and kansas, the aftermath of tropical storm debby in pennsylvania, and raging wildfires in north dakota and in arizona. now with hurricane milton a day away from landfall, there are concerns the agency just cannot handle it. there are calls for congress to come back and approve emergency

funding, but so far speaker mike johnson says he's not going to do it yet. and even if he did, that might not be the most urgent of the needs as the government accountability office says what that the agency really needs most at the second is people. nbc news correspondent julia ainsley has more. >> as florida and the rest of the united states prepare for what may be the largest hurricane to make landfall in the united states in recent history, we're hearing a lot, particularly from donald trump, about fema withholding its resources. but that's a claim that our reporting is indicating is not true. and in fact, my colleague lori strickler and others talked to administrators today who said they have the resources they need to handle the response to hurricane milton. the issue is, katy, not that they're withholding resources, they're already stretched so thin. they say they have about 1200 people who can go out and respond to the aftermath of hurricane milton, but that's

about 9% of their total workforce. why are they stretched so thin? we understand that's because they were already have 500 open disasters, that means places around the country that fema is already responding to. we heard in the past, especially from republicans, criticism of fema having a mission creep, saying they shouldn't have gotten involved in things like the collapse of the surfside apartment building in florida a few years ago, they needed to just be responding to natural disasters. and that they think this agency is already spreading too thin. and it is not just coming from republicans. we're hearing the government accountability office saying this agency, fema, is on a razor's edge, that they have already been stretched too thin and now they're looking at milton coming so quickly after hurricane helene, they're worried that this could be the exact scenario they have been worried about from fema. meanwhile, the associate administrator at fema is saying that fema is ready to respond and if they need additional

resources, they'll take that cue from the white house. katy? >> julia, i was talking about donald trump's claims over funding for disaster relief. we're going to get into that for a moment. but, first, we'll talk more about the staffing shortage. joining us now, former fema administrator brock long. good to have you. how do you staff up an organization that is being asked to do so much more today than it was 10, 20, 30 years ago? >> yeah, fema is in a really tough situation. i don't think people realize they watch over half the globe. when i was in office, it was -- as you were reporting earlier, they have over 100 different disasters that are open across the country, and i don't think people realize how small the agency actually is. it is 21,000 people. when you compare that to some of the other agencies like the irs or transportation, it is incredibly small. but yet a lot is being dumped on fema's plate.

there are complex issues and problems. the people at fema is trying to do the best they can with the resources they have, but we're at the point where congress has to come together, figure out a way to compromise and start in my opinion incentivizing communities for doing the right thing. planning stronger building codes, making sure infrastructure that is ensured and incentivizing states to do that. if we don't get to that point, we'll be stuck in this response mode that we have been in since 2017 when harvey hit when i was in office. >> so what you're saying is that we got to get -- we got to, you know, take a dose of reality about where we're living and how we're living, some places are just going to be more flood prone or more fire prone than others. and the building codes need to come up to speed, insurance needs to come up to speed or people have to find a new place to live. is that what you're saying? >> disaster preparedness response covers -- the chair has four legs.

if that seat is your community, one of the legs on that chair is a prepared citizenry, are we truly helping our kids understand how to do first aid, cpr, invest in the future? the second leg is a strong state and local government, which is florida -- headed into milton. the third leg is the owners of the private infrastructure that is largely privately owned. fema doesn't own the energy grids, but they have to help those industries come back up when they're knocked down. and the fourth leg is the firepower of the federal emergency management agency. if any one of those legs is missing, the chair is unstable and that's what we see all the time. we got to figure out ways to not only increase fema's capability, but what about state and local capabilities and how are we properly using the nonprofits, the nongovernmental organizations to solve the problems that government can't.

>> it is part and parcel with this is the acknowledgement that climate change is happening and we need to adjust the way we live and the way we set expectations for the future? >> yeah, i mean, i believe in climate change. but i also believe that, again, the whole disaster declaration process is rewarding communities for not properly ensuring their infrastructure. and there is no difference between a state who has aggressive building codes versus other states that haven't adopted the latest codes and standards. we know that building codes work. if we know that we're facing different threats of changing climate, then we better be rethinking the foundation of community resilience. and the answer is not just a bigger fema. >> yeah. it is a really good point. brock long, thank you very much for joining us today. i appreciate it. coming up what is behind the warnings that hurricane milton could become 2024's, god, i'm so

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we have mentioned donald trump's false claim that the biden administration has gutted fema's funding to support migrants. now the agency itself is trying to set the record straight to

make sure that lies don't get in the way of the emergency response. nbc's antonia hylton shows us. >> reporter: the head of fema attempting to set the record straight, after her agency has been repeatedly accused of an inadequate response to hurricane helene by former president trump. >> kamala spent all of her fema money on housing for illegal migrants. >> reporter: deanne criswell responding on cnn. >> it is categoically false. i can assure you no funding has been taken from the disaster relief fund. >> reporter: fema has distributed more than $1 billion in taxpayer money to shelter migrants in cities across the u.s. but the white house and fema both say that's a separate government program, not for disaster relief, adding there is no evidence funds have been diverted. the vehement defense comes as the federal government rushes to prepare florida for a second hurricane. governor ron desantis saying the government is working with his

state. >> we have gotten what we need from the feds. >> reporter: the federal government also sending an additional 500 troops to north carolina to help with search and rescue efforts and to bring aid to people left with little after hurricane helene. some residents, especially in remote towns, say they haven't seen any federal aid. have they come to your neighborhood, knocked on your door? >> no. >> reporter: one common false rumor, fema will only provide families $750. >> almost $300 billion for ukraine and yet they're offering people $750. . >> for immediate needs. >> reporter: that $750 is just for urgent essential items like food, water and other emergency supplies, while fema assesses people's eligibility for more. fema forced to set up a web page to dispel the rumors. he's never seen misinformation spread at this level, and it hurts the hurricane victims. >> it sews distrust in their

government, and therefore they don't seek the help that they truly need. >> antonia hylton reporting for us. joining us now, democratic strategist and pollster cornell belcher. so there are a lot of false claims out there, harris is trying to respond to them, mayorkas is responding to them. fema is responding to them. you also have marjorie taylor greene saying they control the weather and a lot of people wonder if she's talking about jewish people because she in the past has said that jewish space lasers caused the california wildfires. what is all this disinformation do in a moment like this when we are less than a month way from an election? >> well, that's a good question because we don't know. i mean, you've never seen this level of disinformation. there is always been in campaigns sort of a back and forth, but there is always -- also been, you know, fact

checkers. and you see now, you know, donald trump and the whole republican apparatus, you know, attacking fact checking because they don't want the facts to be checked. and, look, it is something i pick up -- and we pick up in focus groups all the time, the level of misinformation and disinformation that is out there among voters who are -- who think that nothing is happening and growing cynical about voting or participating in a election, so why participate in an election or why vote if the government is doing all these bad things or the government is literally doing nothing whatsoever? what is the point? i think in the end, in the end will it work? i'm afraid some of it may work. if you look at -- if you look at some voters that we call low information, which i really don't like to call it low information, but voters who are not paying a lot of attention to us on mainstream cable news, they're getting most of their

information from social media sites that aren't filtered, i do worry that they don't turn out or vote or that they vote in a way that is just misinformed. so, we'll see on election day, but this level of misinformation, i've been around a long time, i've not seen anything quite like it. >> it is a disease in our system. i deal with this, with my kids, who send me things they see on youtube. look at this thing, oh, my god, and i have to say, what -- who is this person? why do you trust them? where did this information come from? how did you verify this claim? it is like that basic level of media literacy that you expect to teach a teenager, but you expect that when you get into your 20s, 30s and 40s and beyond, you have a basic understanding of it. but in reality in this day and age, a lot of that has been forgotten or at least there has been so much doubt sewed into it that people know longer trust the nbc news, the msnbcs, et set

ra of the world, they trust someone on the social media feed there is early voting that started. north carolina is a big state the democrats are banking on. north carolina is dealing with massive recovery from hurricane helene, tremendous damage out there. how would you factor that into expectations if you were trying to figure out what is going to happen in november, if you're on the democratic side? i laugh because i'm sure you're thinking of all of that right now. >> i don't know. it is unchartered territory. look, what we first are looking at, we got to hope and pray that the people are okay, right? that they're safe and sound and they have -- they have shelter and food is one. and then i want them to think about voting. and what i would say is, look, you know, we just had one massive storm come through.

and now we're talking about another, you know, once in a century storm. it seems like everybody -- every other month we have a once in a century storm coming through. and that's also on the ballot, right? do you want to roll back environmental regulations? do you want to pay attention to climate change and work on negating it? or do you want to put your head in the sand and pretend it is not happening and keep going down this path? at some point, when all these storms keep ravaing our coastline, you got to sort of think, okay, we got to change, we got to change direction, and change how we live. i think that's also on the ballot this time around. that's what i say to voters living through these environmental calamities is we can actually do something about it. can we completely change it? no. but we can stop going down this path and one party clearly wants to continue down this path and acting like environmental change isn't real and one party wants

to do something about it. >> brock long, i asked him to acknowledge it is happening. and it comes on the heel of deleting climate change from state law and look at the giant storms the state had to deal with in the span of one week. cornell belcher, thank you so much. up next, what israel just announced about its war with hezbollah. don't go anywhere. announced about its war with hezbollah. don't go anywhere.

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israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says that the idf have kill the next in line of hezbollah, or in his words he says the hezbollah has been degraded and they have killed nasrallah, and nasrallah's replacement. and so, danielle, what can you tell us about this latest strike? >> sure. good evening, katy. and to add to what benjamin netanyahu also said in the address. he called on the lebanese people to save their country before it falls into what he said, and i quote, "an abyss of destruction and suffering like gaza." it is quite a statement, and it will be perceived as quite a threat. now, most people will tell you that in lebanon, that is what they fear, and that is what they

are terrified of that their country, lebanon, it will be turned into another gaza. and the idf has turn and expanded its military zone along the border about 17 miles from where i am standing effectively turning it into a no-go area for civilians, and to answer your question, katy, that would indicate that it is, the idf is expanding, stepping up, and ramping up its ground assault in southern lebanon and in fact, it has added a fourth division to the battle in southwestern lebanon. over the border in beirut, the evacuation orders have been issued by the idf tonight on specific buildings, and this is as the idf continues to pound to southern suburbs of the capital. this is as 1.2 million people now have been displaced and that is 20% of the lebanese population, katy. >> and let me ask abouthaifa, and there was a strike on haifa,

and what happened? >> yes, the missiles and the rockets have been flying in both directions, and that is the case everyday, but today, the sirens were sounding throughout the day in haifa, and to the point where so many rockets are falling on haifa, that the idf declared it the largest assault on this port city since the conflict began. and of the 130 projectiles launched toward northern israel, more than 100 fell on haifa within an hour. so, falling, and most of them were intercepted really, and causing little damage, and some damage, yes, but no fatalities, but hezbollah is threatening to increase the attack and warning that the firepower is not limited to missiles and drones. >> thank you, daniele, stay safe and that is going to do it for me. d that is going to do it for me. big, soft shoulder to cry o. which is why downy does more

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