0 get him to the island and as long as there's communication, we'll be able to communicate with him and see what's going on there. but it's very hard to not have any word from that island and the people on it since that time. in lafite, the water was very high. our first responders, the sheriff, firefighters, louisiana national guard, some coast guard are there doing search and rescue. they're having to get boats in and out. we are sheltering those people at a playground and then i believe the state is going to coordinate, governor, for a pickup and move them out to alexandria is my understanding. and then of course our systems are down. we have no electricity, no communication. our water systems are down. we're losing pressure. we had to do a boil water advisory. our sewer system, as you know, is based on electricity, so we're going to start having back-ups there, so that's going to be a hygiene problem, and we're encouraging residents who are out of the area to stay out because we do not have the modern amenities to bring them back home and the people inside, you know, we're going to have to take care of them. but some of the people in here who stayed during the storm and are okay. in the next couple days, they may want to get out and it may be best because it's going to be a difficult life for quite some time. >> thank you, madam president. >> thank you. >> cedric, what about the oil port? >> well, the governor or parish president sheng can talk about that. the president's inquiring about the oil ports down in the port and the effect and where we are there. >> i personally do not have eyes on that situation, so actually, the only -- the visual i get is if i see something on the national news. >> hello, even, i'm alisyn camerota, welcome to "newsroom." >> i'm victor blackwell. obviously had a bit of an audio problem there, but you have been listening to the fema briefing on the response to what was hurricane ida. ida, as we know now, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the u.s. one official in louisiana says it's the worst case scenario that seems to have happened. we're starting to see, look at this, some of the severe damage. we know a fallen tree killed one man, but louisiana's governor expects the death toll to rise, in his words, considerably. and now, hundreds of search and rescue crews are out. 5,200 national guard troops have been deployed to help louisiana and texas and other states in the southeast. also, emergency officials are now on the watch for what will be -- what the storm surge will bring. we know ida made landfall as a category 4 hurricane sunday. 16 years to the day since katrina hit. >> okay, so, this is what 150-mile-per-hour winds sounded like in the port. >> it's like the world just stopped. >> cnn films presents "9/11" sunday at 8:00 on cnn. >> half a million people, at&t says 40% of its wireless network is down across louisiana. la fourche parish says entry will be blocked up to a week and maybe longer. emergency officials in multiple parishes are directing people to let rescuers know. moments ago. >> this morning, communications commission has worked with the cellular providers to initiate their cooperative framework agreement. that agreement allows customers with one provider to go to another provider if that provider is down. so, it allows customers to use roaming access carriers that are up and running. and that means you should be able to get a signal, no matter who your carrier was or is. the main thing i want to make clear to all of you is we're providing any help that you're going to need. >> let's go 30 miles west of new orleans. search boats and helicopters are out there trying to rescue people trapped in their homes. >> cnn's ed lavandera is there for us. ed, what are you seeing? >> reporter: alisyn, we've been here on highway 51 in laplace, louisiana, for several hours this morning. this spot has become kind of a landing spot for people who have been plucked out of these neighborhoods around this area. you can see this is the boats that have been coming into these neighborhoods on my right and left side, and over and over, what we've seen here this morning, alisyn and victor, is kind of a sense of people dazed, still beleaguered, still trying to process what a horrific night so many of them endured here through the worst of this storm, hurricane ida. many residents here tell us that they were completely stunned by the magnitude and the force of the sustained winds that hurricane ida still had surrounding this storm, even this far inland. and many residents, one resident in particular, described the roof collapsing in her home as she was inside her home on the second floor with her 84 and 85-year-old parents. horrific scenes. one gentleman we spoke with talked about retreating to his attic as the flood waters started rushing into his home. >> you ended up in your attic? >> yes, sir. yes, sir. the water was just coming in so fast that you know, it got to about knee level so quick, i didn't know if it was going to stay there. it came in all at once. >> reporter: were you worried that you were going to be stuck and trapped in your attic? >> yeah, i was, because, i mean, you hear stories. you hear people that, you know, seven, eight, nine feet and i just -- i don't know what i would have done if it was that. i guess i would have just had to fight my way out and swim. my dad taught me how to swim. >> reporter: so, helicopters still swarming around many of these neighborhoods and subdivisions that have high water still in many parts. the water in a lot of places has started to recede and receded rather quickly. where we're standing was actually under water for much of the overnight hours and into early this morning. but there is still a significant amount of water and we're told by many of the residents, as you go deeper into these subdivisions, about waist high so it's still very treacherous for some of these people to be able to escape and get out and that's why you're still seeing law enforcement agencies that have boats out here, helicopters flying overhead, trying to assess and figure out exactly how many people still want to be brought out of these neighborhoods, and that work is continuing here in afternoon. alisyn and victor? >> so, ed, are those helicopters doing rescues or just trying to spot people on their roofs? >> reporter: well, i think it's a little -- a combination of both. i think it's a lot of just trying to identify where they need to be. we did see one coast guard chopper fly over and one of the crew members descended by the rope down into a neighborhood, and then they pulled the rope back up, so perhaps someone needed more immediate attention. but a lot of the work that seems to be doing is just identifying who needs to go where and you see boats launching into these neighborhoods. and we're told that not everybody necessarily wants to come out of their homes. some people do want to get brought out, and then they're taking a little bit further into town so relatives or friends can pick them up from there. but you know, again, the overwhelming sense that you get from everybody that comes out of these neighborhoods is just this, like, beleaguered sense of dismay as to what they have endured for the last 12 hours. >> ed, there are plenty of chemical plants often referred to as cancer alley close to laplace there. i know that was a concern, if there would be any vulnerabilities from those facilities. any reports of anything along that route? >> reporter: yeah, that's obviously a big concern going into this storm, especially considering how strong hurricane ida remained, even this far inland. i have not -- our cell phone coverage and reception has been incredibly spotty for much of the morning, so i have not seen any specific updates on -- or any urgent notices that have gone out because of that. if i don't have that right, just understand that that's why. but obviously, that is something that remains of huge concern here in this area, given that that is one of the most prominent industries here in this part of louisiana. >> yeah, you're not alone, ed. there's so much technology and communications that are down right now across the state. thank you very much for the reporting. we'll check back with you. so, another town that's been battered by ida is a community about an hour southeast -- sorry, southwest of new orleans. ferocious winds, heavy rain all caused extensive damage to homes and businesses there. >> jason carroll is there for us. what are you seeing? >> reporter: well, victor, we moved away from downtown houma, where we saw so much destruction there, to some of the surrounding neighborhoods and we're finding even more here in this house, a house that used to stand, now gone. that mattress right there helped them survive because they stood behind this wall, put the mattress up when ida descended upon them, and used the mattress to protect them as the house basically disintegrated around them, so they used that in order to survive, and this is where we're finding, victor and alisyn, through much of this neighborhood, i'm going to hop down here and try and show you a little more in terms of what it looks like as we take a look up the street here. more destruction. you've been talking to some of our folks in and around new orleans, and they talk about the water damage there, but out here, it was really a wind event. i know you guys were talking about this before, but this is what happens when a hurricane, category 4, descends upon an area and then just sits there with 120-mile-per-hour winds just descending on it and staying there. again, you can just take a look up this one street here and you can just see there's more destruction, downed power lines, roofs that are no longer on homes, homes partially or completely destroyed. so, as we begin our tour moving further out, further south, away from houma, continuing to find more and more destruction. guys, back to you. >> all right, jason carroll for us there in houma. we talked about how these winds are similar to tornados, but unlike tornados, i mean, tornados are pockets of concentrated damage. this is far more broad. >> yes, but it's interesting when you look at the aftermath and the devastation, some houses are standing and some right next to it are destroyed. the way you see in a tornado. so somehow the hurricane did hit people even on the same street in really different ways. >> yeah. and stayed for hours. >> so in st. james parish, its website says the majority of roadways there are impassable with dangerous electrical lines or trees down. the parish president is with us. what's the situation at this hour there? >> the situation is still a lot like it was when we woke up this morning. we have our operations crews and 911 personnel deployed, cutting and pushing debris from the roadways to try and clear our area, our infrastructure, so our residents can return home. >> we've heard from one of our reporters in laplace, reports of people going up to their attic to escape the water. are you getting those reports that there are people who had to go to their attics, go to the roof to avoid the flood waters? >> no, sir, not in st. james parish. we have not had that. to our good fortune, the storm track took a significant jog to the right and the eye of the storm passed through our neighboring st. john parish instead of the projected path it was supposed to pass here in st. james. it's very unfortunate for the folks in st. john and st. charles parishes and our thoughts and prayers are just extended beyond not just our residents but to all those folks as well. it's terrible. it's devastation. >> it is devastating. >> total devastation. >> so, to be clear, you don't think the people in your parish are trapped right now? >> no, we do have several families who need to be relocated because of extensive home damage but no one is trapped right now, and to the best of my knowledge, i have no reports of any deaths or any bodily injury to anyone in st. james parish. >> there are power lines down across this entire swath of the state, more than a million customers without power. last time i read the local reports, where you are, that the power companies were headed out to try to take the power from the lines, essentially, so that people aren't shocked or electrocuted in the water and you were asking people to stay in. are people heeding that and staying away from the roads, staying off the roads so power companies can get to them? >> for the most part, people are heeding the warnings, but you know, you always have folks that's going to get out and about to assess the area. we asking people -- we're asking our residents to stay home as much as possible, to survey your properties, we're trying the best we can to identify as many water leaks as we possibly can. from the amount of uprooted trees that we have had, it damaged a lot of water mains, and our water distribution system right now is currently operating at maybe about 25%. so, my most urgent concern right now is to get our water distribution system back up to par. >> all right, peter dufresne, st. james parish president, thank you so much. we're now going to go to the white house. this is press secretary jen psaki. >> president and his homeland security team continue to monitor the impacts of hurricane ida, something that he was monitoring through the course of the weekend. this was an extremely large and powerful hurricane, and as expected early reports suggest catastrophic damage in a number of areas along the gulf coast. and while ida has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, it is going to continue to inflict damage as it moves across the state of mississippi today and into the tennessee valley tomorrow. this will be a lengthy whole of government and whole of community response and recovery effort. and we are closely coordinating with state and local officials at every step of the way. today is damage assessments and response efforts begin in the gulf coast where conditions allow on the ground, we understand that responders are focused on the following immediate priorities. search and rescue operations and medical evacuations for those in distress, accelerating efforts to restore electrical power in louisiana and mississippi where latest counts suggest that more than 1 million customers are without electricity. restoring communications where they are down, and providing emergency food, water, and shelter to those in need. and parts of louisiana, including new orleans, energy companies have reported catastrophic damage to their transmission systems and we don't know how long it will take for the local utilities to repair but clearly that's a big priority for everyone involved. it could be weeks to get everything fully back up and running. administration officials are also engaged directly with electricity sector leadership to help ensure all available resources are being brought to bear to restore power as quickly as possible. as you all saw, the president just spoke with governors and mayors from impacted communities, and he was at fema's national response coordination center yesterday to receive the latest updates on the response operations. and to thank the hard-working staff who are working around the clock to support state and local response efforts. president also approved, you may have seen this, but last night, an emergency major declaration for louisiana which allows individuals in the impacted areas to apply for assistance. he also approved a pre-disaster emergency declaration from mississippi to authorize emergency preparation and protective measures and direct federal assistance. i just want to give you a quick overview, too, of the federal resources that are supporting state and local efforts as of now. and many of which were prepositioned before the storm. fema is working with its federal, state, and local partners as well as nongovernmental agencies to support needs of areas affected by ida. the agency position supplies such as meals, water, and generators to assist states with impacts from the storm. more than 3,600 fema employees are deployed to alabama, florida, georgia, louisiana, mississippi, and texas, and are ready to provide additional support as needed. fema has staged more than 3.4 million meals, millions of liters of water, more than 35,700 tarps and roughly 200 generators. hundreds of additional ambulances and air ambulances have also been moved into the area. seven fema incident management assistance teams, imats, and 17 urban search and rescue teams have been activated along with debris subject matter experts. the department of health and human services is deploying a 250-bed federal medical shelter to alexandria, louisiana, and the u.s. coast guard has 27 rotary or fixed wing aircraft and the department of defense has 60 high water vehicles and 14 rotary wing aircraft prepositioned to assist with rescue efforts. shelters are open in affected areas throughout the gulf coast across the impacted states, and they are implementing steps to prevent the spread of covid-19. the national guard has also activated more than 5,200 personnel in louisiana, mississippi, texas, and alabama to support response efforts, and finally, the army corps of engineers has activated planning and response teams for debris, temporary roofing, and temporary housing. again, we are working closely with state and local officials, even though the storm has been downgraded, damaging wind gusts continue to be a threat which will lead to additional download trees and power outages and ida will continue to produce heavy rainfall, life-threatening flash and urban flooding and tornados remain a threat. finally, our secretary of homeland security, and fema administrator dan criswell will travel to baton rouge and meet with the governor. the fema administrator will travel to jackson, mississippi, that evening and tour the damage. the last update i wanted to provide to all of you is that as part of our all across government effort approach to preventing evictions, today, attorney general merrick garland is calling on the entire legal community to take immediate action to help prevent unnecessary evictions during this public health emergency. the attorney general's call to action asked major law firms, law school students and individual lawyers to work with courts, legal service providers, and nonprofits through services to ensure access to justice for vulnerable tenants. so far, over 40 major law school deans, including from harvard, yale, stanford, columbia, howard, ucla and more have comm committed students and law clinics and the legal services corporation, the american bar association and the national housing law project have joined the commitment to immediate action and on thursday, we will join a nationwide emergency rental assistance program training held by the association of pro bono counsel and law firm anti-racism alliance. darlene, kick us off. >> thanks, jen. switching to afghanistan, as of yesterday, there were about 300 u.s. citizens who were still there and wanted to get out by the deadline. do you have an update on that number? are we still looking at 300 waiting to get out? >> absolutely. well, i know my state department colleagues will have a more specific up to date number but let me give you an update of where things stand at this point. of those who self-identified as americans in afghanistan considering leaving the country since august 14th, we have thus far received confirmation that about 6,000 have been evacuated or otherwise departed. this number will likely continue to grow as our outreach and arrivals continue and we have been providing, as you know, regular updates to all of you on evacuations. the initial assessment, if we go back to august 14th, was that there were fewer than 6,000 americans in afghanistan who wanted to get out, so as we conveyed at the time, we knew that there could be an option, one, that people who had registered had already departed or that people had registered had not deregistered or there would be additional people who came forward and we believe there are still a small number. i understand your asking for the exact number who remain. we're trying to determine exactly how many and we're going through manifests and calling and texting through our lists and we'll have more of a concrete number for you as soon as possible. part of the challenge with fixing a precise number is that there are long-time residents of afghanistan, as we've talked about, with american passports, dual citizens, who are still trying to determine if they want to leave or not or have been over the last couple of days. in some instances, that's because they have many family members there, but they have a range of reasons and we've been working with them to assess that. >> and then one other question on afghanistan. the deadline is tomorrow, obviously. what can you tell us about what the president will do tomorrow? how will he mark this moment should the public, you know, expect to hear from him tomorrow at some point after this is all wrapped up? >> absolutely, darlene. well, without getting into specific operational details, i know you're not asking me for that, but just to preface, i think you all can expect and the american public can expect to hear from the president in the coming days. i don't have anything to outline for you in terms of the specific date or time for that at this point in time. go ahead. >> thanks, jen. on august 10th, president biden told me, quote, i do not regret my decision to withdraw from afghanistan. after watching the heart-wrenching transfer yesterday, is that still his position? does he not regret the manner in which this withdrawal was conducted? >> well, first, i would say that the men and women who gave their lives and the president attended, as you noted yesterday, to honor their service, honor their sacrifice, and had time -- had the opportunity to meet a number of the family members yesterday. we can't -- that doesn't take the place of all of the progress -- all of the work that has been done to evacuate people, but i will tell you something that has been said time and time again by the brave men and women of the military who are leading this effort. these 13 individuals sacrificed their lives to save tens of thousands of people. and that is something that is -- should be honored, should be valued, and we will continue to look for ways to do that. >> so, after meeting with the families of the fallen service members, he still sticks by, he doesn't regret at all how this has 34played out in the last couple of weeks? >> well, of course, for any president, as i said last week, a day or a week where you lose 13 service members is the worst day or the worst week of your presidency. and that is -- remains the case, and yesterday, and i've seen him since he, of course, went to dover yesterday, he has, of course, was deeply impacted. he knows firsthand that there's nothing you can say to a family member. there's nothing you can say to someone who loses a child that is going to fill the black hole. that remains the case. but i will say, if you just take a step back, beyond yesterday, the president stands by his decision to bring our men and women home from afghanistan because if he had not, he has view, and the view of many experts and military out there is we would have sent tens of thousands, potentially, or thousands at least more troops back into harm's way, risking more lives and more people to fight a war the afghans were not willing to fight themselves. nothing has changed in that regard. >> one more question. how was that interaction between the president and those families? >> i'm obviously not going to speak to private conversations between the president and the parents of service members who lost their lives saving others. he was grateful to be there with the families yesterday and to honor both the heroic service and the incredible sacrifice of their sons and daughters. and while his son did not lose his life directly in combat, as they did, or directly at the hands of a terrorist, as these families did, that they're mourning, he knows, as i just said, firsthand, that there's nothing you can say, nothing you can convey to ease the pain and to ease what all of these families are going through. but he was honored to be there yesterday and to be able to spend some time with the families. >> go ahead. >> two quick questions and one other question. you said deactivated or otherwise departed. is that apples to apples to the 5,400 that have been evacuated? are we now including people who had registered but forgot to -- or did not register on their way out? i'm trying to understand. >> as we're assessing, there are people, as we -- as the state department goes through and calls or emails who say, i have departed or i have left. that doesn't change the total number of evacuees that we have obviously provided to all of you every day on planes and transport. but right now, we're, of course, at the point where we are trying to assess and get a final number. >> okay. and then from a chain of command perspective, the president has been very clear, his commanders on the ground have the leeway to do what they think is necessary. for a defensive strike like we saw last night, is that something that he signs off on? does he give the green light to that or was that commanders on the ground that make that decision? >> well, i can tell you that the president has made clear to his commanders that they should stop at nothing to make isis pay for the deaths of those american service members at the kabul airport. they have the authorities necessary. it is self-defense. obviously, these are isis terrorists who killed u.s. service members, and the president is regularly briefed but he has directed them to go after and to kill these isis terrorists who have taken the lives of the men and women serving our country. >> okay, and one more. kind of dealing with dual very high-stakes issues right now inside the white house, by transfer yesterday, the most dangerous part of the mission right now, category 4 hurricane slamming the gulf coast, talk about what the white house has been like over the course of the last 48 hours, given these very, very high-stakes moments that are transpiring. >> well, i would say that addressing crises is what government is supposed to do. it's what any president is supposed to do, what any vice president is supposed to do and what the senior members of a president's team are supposed to do. and so, when you have moments like this, where you are facing, as you said, multiple crises, i would add, of course, that we're continuing to fight a pandemic, that has -- continues to take the lives of thousands of people every week. you have to rely on strong and capable team members, and you have to be nimble enough to adapt quickly, but i think we would argue this is actually government working to do our best to function as best as we can. is it tough? yes. are the days long? yes. is it always going to be perfect? no. but this is exactly what government is supposed to be doing. go ahead. >> hi, jen. back on the hurricane, is the white house seeing reports or have any data about fuel shortages with some of the refineries impacted and rail lines suspended? >> it is something we're monitoring closely. we have not seen, to date, that as an issue. but we will closely monitor that and we'll continue to over the coming days. >> is the white house along the same lines considering or see the need for waivers to deal -- >> well, as you noted, the jones act, which we talked quite a bit about just a few weeks ago, there are a range of tools at our disposal that the federal government has. to address fuel supply shortages during natural disasters by issuing emergency waivers of certain fuel standards in affected areas, and obviously, if warranted by circumstances, epa's temporary waivers can help ensure that adequate supply of fuel is available. epa, as well as several components of the government, are in touch with our state partners in louisiana and mississippi as well as operators of refineries, pipelines, tanks and other infrastructure to assess the situation on the ground and what needs exist to ensure the supply of transportation fuel. we have not made that assessment at this point in time but we do have those authorities should they be needed. >> last follow-up on the afghanistan. meeting with the family yesterday. did the president -- does the president plan to continue to stay in touch with those families? >> absolutely. and he's going to continue to look for ways of honoring them and the lives that were lost last week as well. go ahead. >> thank you. just a few others on the ongoing evacuation. the caveat that things are changing, winding down. numbers, as they get reported here, versus situations on the ground. >> sure. >> we heard through the weekend of americans who were told to get to the airport and were unable to do so because of the danger on the ground. if, for some reason, and we don't have a specific example just yet, but there very well may be depending on when the final flights out are, what would be your message to those americans who may be left behind who were trying to get out? >> well, as you noted, and i appreciate the caveat, we are continuing -- we remain in touch with american citizens, as i noted at the top, to darlene's question, and we are continuing to work to evacuate american citizens. what our message directly would be is that our commitment is enduring, and our commitment does not waiver, even as we bring our men and women from the military home and let me just outline a couple steps that are ongoing that i expect we'll give you updates on as details are finalized. first on the diplomatic front, the secretary of state has -- is going to be meeting with a number of his international partners, just over the weekend, the state department put out a letter from 100 countries making clear there must be safe passage for afghans who want to leave after the 31st. one of the taliban leaders delivered public remarks conveying that individuals who wish to leave after the 31st would be able to do so. that does not mean we trust what they say, but that is -- but there is an enormous amount of international leverage that we will continue to work in a coordinated way with our partners around the world. and there is also, of course, a discussion about what our diplomatic presence may look like moving forward. as our secretary of state and our national security advisor confirmed yesterday, our current plan is not to have an ongoing presence in afghanistan as of september 1st, but we will have means and mechanisms of having diplomats on the ground, being able to continue to process out those applicants and facilitate passage of other people who want to leave afghanistan. we will have more details for that, i expect, in the coming days and can i add one more piece that we're working on? the other piece of this is operational, which, of course, is the airport and the airports, there are also regional airports and we are working with a range of partners in the region about how to keep those up and operational. we need to reopen or figure out how to work with our partners to reopen the civilian airport and ensure that is a mechanism. that is an area where there is mutual interest by the united states, by international organizations like the world food program who want to get assistance in, and by the taliban to get these airports operational and running. >> you anticipated part of my next one because the ongoing conversation with the rest of the world about being able to get people out if they want to leave, is there any sense of how long afghans who are trying to leave, who don't leave by tomorrow, are going to have to wait for further instruction or sense of whether or not they're going to be able to go? >> well, i will tell you that there is ongoing, immediate, urgent conversations happening at a very high level with international partners now, and we hope to have more of an update on that in the coming days. there are different components of this, right? the airport operations, it may take some time to get that going. but we are working through a range of mechanisms so that there can be an ongoing efforts to move people out who are looking to depart afghanistan. >> just one final one on this, because, again, based on things we've heard from people there, did the evacuation of non-americans, siv recipients or people who were applying or eligible to leave, effectively stop after thursday's attack? >> no, we have continued to work to evacuate individuals since that time. i think we've put out a range of numbers since then who make clear that we have continued to evacuate afghan partners and other applicants. go ahead. >> as the u.s., first of all, it's approaching midnight at the end of the 30th now in kabul. is that the way you view the deadline or does the white house view the deadline as some point tomorrow? >> i'm not going to get into operational details. of when we will continue our retrograde efforts. that's led by the department of defense and our team on the ground. >> the president said he believes recently and you said the same, he believed they were on pace. this was before the attack. on pace for the achievement of our objectives so as we approach that deadline, whether tonight or tomorrow night, whenever it is, did the u.s. accomplish its objective, knowing that there will be likely thousands of siv applicants and others still there and certainly some americans as well? did we achieve our objective? >> i think, first, we have -- we have, to date, evacuated more than 120,000 people. that's 120,000 lives that we have saved, including 6,000 americans and their families, many of them dual nationals. and we are continuing our commitment is enduring to afghan partners, to american citizens who may not have decided to leave. that is their right, to determine when they want to leave. that commitment is enduring. but we have saved more than 120,000 lives, and i would let you evaluate your -- that for yourself. >> when we talk about, as the u.s. prepares to leave, whether tonight or tomorrow, there are going to be billions of dollars worth of u.s.-made munitions, arms, military aircraft, armored vehicles that have fallen into the hands of the taliban here. giving them new capabilities they didn't have before this. are americans less safe now because the taliban now has access to billions of dollars worth of american-made weaponry? >> well, let me unpack your question a little bit, because the u.s. military, part of their retrograde effort is to reduce the amount of military equipment or apparatus that anyone on the ground has access to. i'm not going to get into the details of how they do that, but that is part of their effort. i will also reiterate something that our national security advisor said just last week. we had to make an assessment several weeks ago about whether we provide materials to the afghan national security forces so that they could fight the fight. obviously, they decided not to fight. or not. and we made the decision to provide them with that equipment and the material. the third piece, i would note, that's very important here is that we have not assessed that any group on the ground, whether it's isis-k or the taliban, has the ability to attack the united states. we clearly need to -- sorry, that was an aggressive bug. we need to ensure that remains the case, but that is not a capable that we have assessed to be the case at this point in time. there is a difference between the threat that is posed to u.s. men and women serving or people who are gathering outside of the gates in kabul and whether these individuals can attack the united states. >> so i guess the simple question is, acknowledging that you're going to try to limit what access they do have to some of the weaponry in ways that you can't communicate here, but at the end of the day, whether it's not the united states that's under risk as a function of this, are americans around the globe, i mean, are western interests now more at risk because the taliban has new access to all this weaponry? >> well, again, peter, i would say that we -- the world will be watching. we have an enormous amount of leverage, including access to the global marketplace, which is not a small piece of leverage, to the taliban, who are now overseeing large swaths of afghanistan. certainly, our objective was not to leave them with any equipment, but that is not always an option when you are looking to retrograde and move out of a war zone. but that is our clear leverage we have with the taliban, and again, our capacities are over the horizon capacities which, by the way, killed two isis terrorists just last week and continue to be utilized by our men and women on the ground remain in place and remain in place in the region. there are other parts of the world, somalia, libya, yemen, where we don't have a presence on the ground, and we still prevent terrorist attacks or threats to u.s. citizens living in the united states or around the world from growing. >> last here, is the u.s. more or less safe today than we were before the taliban took over? >> well, again, we are not going to do anything that's going to allow terrorists to grow or prosper in afghanistan or any terrorist organization. that continues to be the president's commitment and his order to his u.s. military over the past several days and the actions that they have announced show that he's going to deliver on that promise. go ahead. >> disappointment here that china and russia didn't sign on? >> it remains an open letter they are welcome to sign on. i will tell you, though, that it will be important and we will continue to engage with a range of partners, including those where we have, at times, adversarial disagreements with about the need to maintain safe passage for individuals who wish to leave afghanistan. there are a range of international organizations and mechanisms to have those discussions and they're ongoing. go ahead, jack. sorry, go ahead. >> one other question, unrelated to this, by the way. the iaea has put out a report that indicates the north koreans' main nuclear reactor may be restarting. they say it's a matter of serious concern. what's the white house reaction? >> we are, of course, aware of this report, closely coordinating with our allies and partners on developments regarding north korea. this report underscores the urgent need for dialogue and diplomacy so we can achieve the complete denuclearization of the korean peninsula. we continue to seek dialogue so we can address this reported activity and the full range of issues related to denuclearization. go ahead, jackie. >> thanks, jen. i wanted to go up to this "new york times" report about the students from the american university in afghanistan. the "times" reported that they had been left behind and they were contacted, apparently, to try to get out, safe houses for a period of time and then were told that the evacuation had stopped and that separately, the university president apparently told these students and their parents that their information had been handed over to the taliban, obviously, to get them safe passage, which has not yet happened. but my question is, as this sort of draws down, don't we sort of owe a group like that, where we have given out their information, their passport numbers, their names, aren't we obligated to ensure they get on these last flights given the fact that the taliban soon after coming into kabul posed at the front of the university saying that this is where, you know, the americans trained people and they're obviously threatened and scared by that. >> absolutely. well, first, let me say that there have been reports that we provided or the u.s. provided lists of people who want to leave afghanistan to the taliban. that's inaccurate. that's misreported and misconstrued. we have also confirmed, repeatedly, that we have had to coordinate with the taliban and so there have been limited, limited cases where it is possible that when buses or individuals are at a border checkpoint and they're trying to get through, in order to get them through to evacuate them successfully, we have had to coordinate and provide details. i don't have confirmations of those events but that is the scenario and the limited cases where that would happen and in vast majority of cases, not aware of any that hasn't been, those individuals have been evacuated. i understand what the president of the school said. i don't have any confirmation that that has actually happened on the ground or any -- from anyone who is leading the effort on the ground. and certainly, our commitment remains to american citizens, to afghans who want to leave, like these individuals and these young people who have been courageous to get them out of the country, and we are in touch with all those individuals on the ground. i would also note, as they know, it is scary, and it is a -- it is a very dangerous situation on the ground. another attack could happen at any time. and when we give these security briefings or security warnings, or tell people to move away from the gate, it is because we also want to save them and protect them, so what we've been trying to do is work with individual cases, with families, with groups to get them evacuated if and when we can. i would also note our commitment as enduring. i just -- this is a very fluid and dangerous situation on the ground, and i just don't have a detail on this -- the current state of this particular case. >> thank you. and then on the drone strike, it seems that we're witnessing these happen, you know, with more frequency. obviously, we have the over the horizon ability to get this done and we have the intelligence to do it, but my question is, you know, why is it that we weren't able to do -- use similar action to prevent the attack that happened on thursday? and then, part of that is, because we now are, you know, hearing reports of how these have been carried out, why the drones had to fly, i think, 8 hours from uae, is there any concern that we're limited in our ability to respond in a timely manner if we've got 8 hours of flight time and then they can only hang out over the target for like four or five hours before they've got to turn around and go back. is there a future on going worry that we're going to be behind the 8 ball again? >> well, first, i would say the fact that we have had two successful strikes confirmed by sent com tells you our over the horizon capacity works. in terms of specific threats, what we had with respect to the kabul airport, we had been warning about for days, which was the potential for the rising threats, the rising threats from isis-k, that such an attack could take place and could take place at any moment in time. what we can do and what our commanders on the ground do, who have access to all this information as well, is mitigate risks. we can't eliminate risk, and if we were going to continue to evacuate tens of thousands of people, american citizens, afghans, our partners, we had to mitigate risk. we couldn't eliminate it. and that's how we proceeded. now, the president has been clear to his military and to the commanders on the ground that force protection is of utmost concern, and i know my colleague at d.o.d. confirmed the closure of gates earlier today. there have been steps that have been taken, and obviously, as we've gone through the retrograde process over the last couple days and it has been incredibly dangerous, there are steps that have had to be taken as these threats have increased. >> the last one, just on overland routes. as i understand, we're looking for other ways after our military pulls out to get people back and out, but has this been at all hampered by putin, you know, rejecting a u.s. effort to put counterterrorism forces or bases for drones in central asian countries bordering -- i know putin in that reported meeting spoke for china in that. did we ever get an answer from china ourselves on their position on this? >> i can't speak to these private diplomatic conversations from here but i can tell you we have a range of partners in the region who we continue to work with and have discussions with, so that we can maintain the over the horizon capacity. go ahead. >> thank you. going back to the president's meeting the faemgz at dover. the sister of one of the marines killed in the airport attack told "the post" that the president's comments struck her family as scripted and shallow, and she said, quote, you can't f up as bad as he did and say you're sorry. this did not need to happen and every life is on his hands. can you talk a little bit about how the president thought the meeting with the families went and also what responsibility, if any, for these deaths does he think he bears. >> well, i think the president made clear as the secretary of state and our national security advisor made clear, we're all responsible and they feel responsibility and the buck stops with the president. and i think you heard him say that on thursday when we -- he spoke to the loss of life of these servicemen and women as soon as it -- shortly after it had happened. it is certainly the right of any individual who met with the president yesterday to speak publicly about their experience, but i'm not going to speak about the president's experience beyond what i have said already. >> following up, you mentioned that the president absolutely plans to stay in touch with those families. is there the possibility he may attend any funerals or speak at any funerals? >> well, i will say what's important to remember here is that this is the worst thing that's happened, ever, in the lives of these family members and last thursday or friday was the worst day of their lives. and what role the president plays or doesn't play is probably not front and center for them, but he's only going to do things that are of comfort to the families. are supportive of remembering the lives that have been lost and he is going to continue to look for ways to do that. go ahead. >> two questions, first on afghanistan. the drone strike that the united states conducted appears, according to family members in afghanistan, to have killed seven children. does the president feel the same sense of responsibility and loss for those lives as he does for the american service members? >> well, first, let me say that we take efforts, take steps from the united states to avoid civilian casualties in every scenario, and probably more than almost any country in the world. i can't speak to or confirm the numbers or cases of civilian casualties in this case. there is an investigation. i will note that in the sent com statement they put out yesterday, last night, i should say, what they noted is that there was also the explosion -- there were explosives in this vehicle that could have led to additional damage. there's an investigation to determine how this happened, but of course, the loss of life from anywhere is horrible and it impacts families no matter where they're living, in the united states or arnolound the world. >> my second question is about american families, 7.5 million americans are set to lose unemployment benefits next month, not just the federal supplement but all benefits. given the expiration of the eviction moratorium, what's going on with the delta variant, has the president considered asking congress to extend those benefits further? >> if congress were to vote to extend the eviction moratorium, the president would sign that. >> the unemployment benefits. >> i think he made a decision based on where things stand. there's additional assistance that continues to go out to people across the country, which you are very familiar with and know well. whether it's the child tax credit or additional funding that is still being distributed by the american rescue plan. our objective continues to be to work with states and localities to keep people in their homes, make sure people have the assistance they need. that's why there's a range of programs and a range of assistance the president advocated for, fought like hell for and signed into law that is going to be implemented over the course of the next year and not just ending this summer. >> thank you. >> go ahead. >> the president regularly talks about the fact that he -- he made a point to say he called president bush. i'm wondering has he been in touch with president bush, president obama, going to assume he hasn't been in touch with president trump, but i'll ask anyway, about the last few weeks? >> i'm not aware of any calls he's had with those presidents over the last few weeks. >> jen, on the eu voted to implement the new travel restrictions. it's obviously up to the individual countries on whether they want to allow u.s. citizens and u.s. travelers into their countries. obviously, we have not been letting many of those same people from the same countries come to the u.s., but what's the administration's reaction to the eu taking that step? >> well, i think it's, first, important to note that today's announcement by the eu impacts people who are unvaccinated. and not people who are vaccinated. i mean, continue to encourage people to get vaccinated and the fastest path to reopening travel is for people to get vaccinated. to mask up and slow the spread of the deadly virus. we continue to work across federal agencies to develop a consistent and safe international travel policy. this includes travel from europe. this will involve stepping up efforts to protect american people, including by potentially strengthening testing protocols for international travel and may also involve ensuring that over time, foreign nationals coming to the united states are fully vaccinated with limited exceptions. no decision has been made yet, but these internal discussions have benefitted greatly from our engagement with our international partners. >> just a smaller thing related to the hurricane. are you anticipating that the president will visit louisiana at some point? do you think that will likely be later this week? i know things are obviously closed at this point but do you have the homeland security secretary going there tomorrow. >> it is different, as you all know, for the president of the united states to travel somewhere from the secretary of homeland security. given the footprint, the president would not want to go if it were to impact -- until it does not impact recovery and rescue efforts on the ground, so i don't have any prediction of that at this point in time. we will see how the next few days go. go ahead, karen. >> thanks, jen. we have had reports of hospitals in louisiana that are full of covid patients trying to evacuate some patients, they're having issues of roof damage, some generators failing. can you having roof damage can you give us scope and what the federal government is doing about that? >> i know there's been a range of reports out there. hospitals had run out of oxygen as of late last night. that's something we're watching very closely. we have prior to the storm, we had more than 300 federally deployed health care personnel on the ground supporting covid surge response in louisiana and mississippi. on hospitals, we have 39 facilities, as i understand. we are working on the clock to get power back on where we can. this is an area where we not only did the president speak purposefully over the last few months and many of our high level officials have spoken out about the need for people to get vaccinated but we have worked to put in place generators, equipment, emergency personnel to help address and we'll determine what additional assistance we can provide. >> can you give us more details on what's being done in the shelters? >> in are step, including social distances where ever possible, which i know sounds challenging but that is being worked to implement masking where ever possible. made a strong case for individuals to get vaccinated. go ahead, george. >> can you give us any update on american hostage that the president mentioned the other day? >> it's a case that's been raised repeatedly by our officials from the state department and also managed -- the state department is working closely with a special representative, special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. this is of great importance but is over seen in the day-to-day operations by the state department who would have additional updates. he said anyone will have undergone a background check. can you verify with this vetting process is taking place. the president has instructed ambassador to be more permissive and get as many plaeople on the planes first. can you confirm that? >> i mean, i don't think that's a secret. that's something we conveyed clearly. that's why we're so grateful to several hundred kuncountries ou there. >> respond to allegations of groups assisting evacuations that's getting afghans out because procedures given to them changed constantly. >> i would say it's an incredibly difficult and challenges security situation on the ground. it's evidenced by 13 men and women gave their lives thursday and there were rockets overnight. >> when will you give break down to nationalities, how many are sivs? >> i would expect that would come from department of homeland security. go ahead. >> wildfire. tracking the advance of what plans does it have for this is what are your thoughts on the fires on the ground. >> absolutely. we are tracking the wildfires. even as the president did regular briefings on hurricane preparedness that have made us equipped to deal with the moments we're facing. we also prepared for fires and ensuring that communities have the resources they need and we have the response needed. i can check with our fema team and see if there's specific resources being deployed there at this moment and time. >> is this administration confident the resources are what's needed? >> that's our objective. we will continue to assess if additional resoiurces are needed . >> is there any estimate on how many may be left behind? >> i think what we're working through is how many left behind who have applied for programs or? >> how many left behind after the deadline? >> i would say i want to make sure i understood your question. our commitment to working not just any american decide who has not yet decided to leave but other who is stood by our side, fought by our side, that's enduri enduring. that's that will continue. ensuring the statement by 100 countries out there sending a clear message. i also noted the statement from the taliban. the difficulty of getting to a number is there may be people who haven't applied yet. >> related to that, what is the president's message to veterans who have feeling hurt or embarrassed, who say they feel like there are people who helped them and saved their live who is are being left behind after the deadline whether it's tonight or tomorrow. what's the message from the president to these veterans? >> we have been closely engaged with range of veterans groups because we are grateful for their service and advocacy for so many of these brave translaters, interpreters and others. our message to them is we remain committed. these are our partners and allies that have stood by our side for the last 20 years. >> on the hurricane. louisiana will see highs of 80s. what's the plan to get to people who may not have cell phone service and access to the internet who are stuck in their homes given the circumstances that they may be dealing with? >> this is why i did such an extensive lay down in the beginning. as you know, it's not just one thing. we're working with companies to get the power back on. that could take weeks. we don't know. we have also had set up a range of resources. food, water and other resources that we can get to people on ground. to recover and get people to food, water and assistance they need. last one. you got in under darlene's thumb there. >> thank you. two quick ones . the washington post reports the taliban offered stay out of kabul and what the united states -- we told them we only needed the airport. >> i have not seen this