back to you. >> kristin welker in phoenix for us.coming up, the "today" show will breakdown what this rally means going forward and what's next for the president. >>> today we'll hear from the family terrorized 40 years ago by a member of the klu klux klan. the story still getting a lot of attention on the nbc washington app this morning. during the 1970s, a member of the kkk placed a burning cross on a lawn of a college park couple. that man is now a priest in arlington. he took a leave of absence from his parish yesterday after writing and apologizing for his past. today, the couple's attorney will address the fact that the couple never received the restitution he was ordered to pay them. >>> working to learn how a man is doing after driving himself to bladensburg police station after being shot. it turned the police station into a crime scene. police believe the man was shot somewhere else. they haven't said where though. the man was rushed to the hospital. >>> neighbors at the lynnhill condos in temple hills are scrambling, being

kristin welker is standing by at the white house. as we watch these pictures in rockport, here is the vice president of the united states, a lot of folks have surmised that he is to a certain extent here to do some of the things that president trump was criticized for not doing. among those, meeting directly with victims, spending some time touring these areas that were ravaged by the storm. >> that's right. you see the vice president there getting up close and personal with people impacted by this, craig. president trump of course yesterday when he was in missouri did have a very full message, saying the u.s. government stands with them, will help them every step of the way in the recovery process. you're right to point out, there was criticism of the visit, the fact he didn't spend time with those actually impacted earlier this week. now, important to point out that president trump is planning to return to texas, we don't know where he is going to go, we're waiting for the details. the administration is focused on the recovery effo

. >> let after a we have kristin welker in front of a camera in a very loud room after a loud event. kristin, what couldn't we see. we got to hear a lot of it and certainly snynopsisized. and a lot of talk about monuments pan trying to destroy history and heritage. >> that's clearly become agnew line using to energize his base, brian. i think that the thing you probably couldn't see and hear from your vantage peugeot is how energized crowd this crowd was how angry some of them were the sustained shauts and tounts at the media when he intense fied his words against the media. i think it underscored the fact that the kmarltsville creditism. obviously he left some key words out when he reread some of his initial statements. he didn't talk about the fact that he initially shade that there was plenty of blame to go around he chose his words carefully on that front. i was also struck by how many other topics he touch on tonights in a he deviled into north korea he talked about nafta he said it's likely nafta will at some point be dissolved. so this was president trump back in campaign mode.

our white house correspondent kristin welker is with us. what are you hearing from the administration about a federal response? >> reporter: president trump is tweeting about it tonight. i am closely watching the path and doings of hurricane harvey. be safe. top officials briefed mr. trump today including his homeland security adviser who told reporters the federal government is coordinating with state and local officials. tonight one top republican is urging the president to heed the lessons of former president george w. bush who was criticized for being slow to respond to hurricane katrina. officials here say president is up to the task and say he's planning to visit texas early next week. >> as he monitors the latest on the hurricane, i know he's also facing a storm of a different kind in washington. criticism from a top member of the west wing team. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: that's right. his economic adviser gary cohn is opening up for the first time about the president's response to charlottesville, telling the "fi

. >> our reporters are across the golf, let's start in washington with kristin welker who is at the white house. there were politics that they ended on, but let's talk about this president, this is his first major test on a national scale when it comes to a potential national disaster. >> you heard tom bossert get asked about that very fact. the fact that it is a major test for this president and his first natural i d natural disaster. making sure that people are safe, making sure that the impacted areas have the resources that they need, making sure that the federal government is coordinating with state and local officials. of course the president travels to camp david over the weekend. he will be briefed by tom bossart and others that are tracking this storm. you can tell there was a seriousness with which they were approaching this. president trump expected to travel to texas early next week. >> shawn in a mendiola. >> we learned the storm is getting close and closer to the coastline. you see the winds are picking up at 110 miles per hour. the movement at 10 miles per hour. as it appro

. >> after a brief cameo appearance by chip reed, we now have kristen welker in a very loud room. kristin, what couldn't weep see? we got to hear a lot of it and certainly sin op sized it as he was talking. a lot of talk about attempts to destroy our history and heritage. >> that's clearly becoming a mu line he's using to energize his base, brian. i think the thing that you probably couldn't see and hear from your vantage point is just how energized this crowd was, how angry some of them were. the sustained shouts and taunts at the media that we experienced when he intensified his war of words against the media. it underscored the fact that this whole charlottesville criticism that he's been getting has really been getting under his skin. this was his attempt to sort of revive the argument to relitigate it. he left some key words out when he reread some of his initial statements. he didn't talk about the fact he initially said there was plenty of blame to go around. he chose words carefully on that front. i was struck by how many other topics he touched done tonight. he deviled into north