Always use those assets when they are repatieny the tree eig. How can you guarantee that this wont happen . Weve heard that numerous times. If that is our worst case scenario, that companies repatriate their money and use it for shared buy backs dividends, what happens . They pay the repatriation tax. We get another 20 on Capital Gains or dividends and then the people that get that money back reinvest it back in thediavestm. Were putting enticing rules that will entice people to invest capital. Were giving people a five year writeoff that they can instantly expense. So if that happens, that is fine. We know it will be invested right back and driver growth and jobs and wages. Youve been asked twice and id like you to to get to answer this. This tax plan appears that it will benefit the president and his family. Why not just be candid about that . Look, i told you, it will benefit the middle class. I think that is what american tax american taxpayers care about what they take home. They care about what they have to spend. Thats what they care about. I care about what i pay in tax. I bets you care about what you pay. He is saying he wont benefit, yet it appears that the way this is put together, he actually will. It gets to the idea of wealthy americans around the country which people do care about. So let me take you through the components that you are all obsessed about. And sarah will yelle at at me because im taking too long. You talk about the death tax. The two biggest drivers for repeal of the dhet tax are the nfib and farm bureau. That is Small Businesses and farms. Those are the two organizations that spend the most time lobbying on the repeal of the death tax. Death tax has the biggest effect on them, Small Businesses and farms. Wealthy americans do a lot of estate planning. They can use trusts, all types of things that are legal withins tax code to make sure they dont pay death tax. On the amt, im not going to get into deep, deep, deech cal p calculations, but at a broad brush level when you do the amt, once you get rid of the deductions of state and local taxes, that is the biggest add back in amt. Amt becomeser rely vachb er ree. So all the things you are trying to pulling at, you are not looking at the plan in its entirety. Gary, just as a follow itcup question on that, you said that i cited to you the worry of groups such as jim martin and the 60 plus Seniors Association that you were going to drag out repeal of death tax, that it would be immediate and you said at the time it was immediate. Is that final, is it going to be an immediate repeal and go off the books as soon as the new tax reform package is passed . In our outline, it is immediate. Aim with the alternative Immediate Tax . Its immediate. Everything is immediate. The only thing that phases out is the five year expensing. Speaking of smallschumer sai democrats may be willing to work some kind of Small Business tax relief into whatever comes out of all this. Where do you start negotiating on that, what offer do you want to make to the democrats . Our opening offer and our final offer are on the table. We were happy to start at 25 and go lower and were start to happy at 20 and go lower. So there is our opening offer. If he wants to counter something lower, were very negotiable. One more. Thank you, gary. Boss says i got to go. Try to be respectful of youls time. We also have tom bossert that will take questions to the Hurricane Relief efforts. Good afternoon. As you know, President Trump has put people first and paperwork second. Hes had us call out and pull out all the stops and provide as much federal relieve into puerto rico and u. S. Virgin islands as we can muster. Im here to take some questions. I know youve heard some reporting from sarah, so lets just jump ifen. Specifically on the jones act, critics say the white house should have moved more quickly in waiving the jones act. Why is in a ais that an unfound complaint . Here is why. The jones act real briefly stated is a rule that favors flagged vessels, u. S. Flagged vessels. If there are not enough u. S. Flagged investigation emainvest we waive the jones act. In this case we had enough capacity of u. S. Flagged vessels to exceed the requirement of need of commodities into puerto rico. I think almost 17 or 18 days of backlogged diesel fuel need in the island. And so it was a little bit misreported that we had a capacity problem and had to waver the jones act. Not the case. The idea here is that we had provided as many commodities as were necessary to the island. The challenge became then land based distribution and that remains the priority and challenge today. However, last night the governor called me and said at this point to ensure that the Additional Needs are met, it might be a good idea to proactively make sure that we pull out all the stop just in indication the capacity problem ran into the requirement problem. I talked to the president , he thought that was the right thing to do and waived it right away. So that was not too late. It was not even too early. It was just the right thing to do proactively. On so distribution is one of the challenges. You talked about 44 of the 69 hospitals now up and running. What percentage of the country have you havent even had a chance to explore . Its hard to answer the percentage of the country, so ill answer this way. Through aerial surveillance, weve seen the entirety of puerto rico. Some of the southwest and southeast sections have had more sparse on foot exploration. But its the interior of the island that is presenting the biggest problem. The mountainness interior is where we are dedicating our efforts to try to get in. The margins are open to airports and seaports. But again back to the jones act question, we had up until the waiver enough capacity to get all the commodities necessary into the island. We ran into the priority challenge of distributing land base into the people. That is a function of two problems. First, the capacity of the locals in the state were diminished because they are victims as women that work ell. And secondly the debris and downed power lines had to be pushed out of the way. So we have the resources there do that now, but that is the challenge remaining. The central interior is going to be he reviewed and looked at very carefully over the next 24, 48 hours to make sure were getting the needs of the people met. Had the governor not requested protectively a waiver of the jones act, would you have seen a compelling reason to initiate a waiver . I wasnt recommending to the president that he waive the jones act at the time until i got the governors question. And maybe a note of relevance, sometimes well see the carriers request the waiver. So youll have foreign flag investigationals vessels or Companies Say please waver it. But once the governor calls and says he proactively, then i think we should listen to him. The president completely agreed. So is this overhyped . Perhaps misunderstood. I think there are also some critics believe that it was a price issue. And i dont know how the markets flies things. But i can tell you it was already bought and paid for by the u. S. Taxpayer in a hugh man te tear hugh man tear area effort. And i think it was well worth it and the right investment to make. Whether it would chachk tnge th price point, i dont know. But capacity is the issue. Life saving requirements is the need. And we had that capacity met. The need is immediate. And with all the challenges, what are the conversations with air dropping in certain areas because people are talking about running out ever food in hours or minutes. And also an issue of housing. With respect to distribution, that is the biggest challenge. But restoration of power is also a big challenge. Electric power is supplying the hospitals that are providing medical care to the wounded and those with medical conditions. So there is a dual priority going on in terms emergency power. And then blocking, pushing, clearing ouftd the way the roads to open on them up. But the shortfall is drivers for all the trucks. So we are pushing neshlg into augment state and local authorities. What you saw today was some loop footage of some trucks sitting on ports and docks. We are moving those trucks quickly and also prioritizing what needs to come off first so we can get generates tors wouldnt air drop circumvent all of that . At this point if air drops are under consideration, im not aware of it, when yit but i wou it if it would make it faster. We have general kim in place now to marshall all those efforts. So if he recommends air drop, i think we air drop. I have a text here from someone on the ground and he says helicopters are needed to evacuate people from the remote areas. And he says there are people bear rig theurying their family front yards and communication is badly needed. There is acis a little bit of disconnects from what im hearing here and what they are telling you. If that is accurate, then it needs to be addressed immediately. What i want to do here is not mic micro manage it from here. I believe im confident anyway that we have enough resources marshalled and deployed forward to make those decisions under the right command and leadership structures. As ive splachb explained, wev change our Business Model in the field. We had to augment the state and local authorities out through and to the lower levels. So now there are federal officials identifying needs and requirements, requesting them of the state level, augments the state level and then from the federal side providing them. So we are in every stage of the identification, validation and delivery. It is my sincere belief that that food and water will get to them. I have no doubt. We have over 10 nourks peop,000 and more on their way. There are 12 coast guard cutters, three United States navy ship, one d. O. T. Maritime vessel, three six commercial ships with supplies. More since 5 00 a. M. Seven additional ships to house responders. And we have commodities distribution exceeding millions. 1. 3 million meals, that type of thing. Water. So that is moving in today. And youre seeing the distribution problem unclog. Now, if there is somebody burying somebody in their front yard that is a terrible story, but i dont want to protect that as the normed. Weve seen 16 fatalities confirmed. No fatality is acceptable. If that number increases significantly, that will be a devastating blow. Were doing everything we can to prevent that. Loss of life from the storm is one thing, loss of life that is preventable is another. Senator rubio said that there are logistical concerns. He said there is no clear command, control and communication between local and federal agencies aepd it requires response led by g o. D. Is that option on the table . Its already been understand taken. I was with the senator briefly on monday in puerto rico and i think what he is identifying there is something that we already had in place a solution for. We had a lack of capacity coupled with several hundred mile away divided by an ocean island problem. So weve provided federal authorities largely guys in glean, but also fema Emergency Managers to stand next to each of those municipality leaders, whether mayors or local Authority Figures like the Water Authority or electric authority. So we have addressed those challenges between local and state authorities by augments them with federal staff. That wasnt necessarily apparent to the senator. Its a problem already being fixed but he couldnt see it because he didnt get out there to them, neither of us could make it out to the municipal levels when we visited. And two there was a Communications Problem that persists to this day. And that is tied to the electric power restoration problem. Before i take the next question, lets me explain why and how the power restoration process is unfolding. What we decided to do is take the action of putting the arm core of engineer in charge. Soy core of engineer in charge. So military is in charges of a lot, but not everything. The people in puerto rico are strong and competent and where they are not able and have diminished capacity, were taking extreme steps. So a direct federal assistance order was given. Ive heard others on tv whether its a mission or not. Make it clear, its a mission to restore power on puerto rico full stop. He has some priorities. His prior i dids are temporary Power Generation rights now. That is the big diesel run. Two, permanent generation. He will restored damaged generation capacity on the south of the island. Three, transmission. Those are the big lines that tra trachbs mi transmit power. And fourth distribution, the hook up to the houses. And im pretty certain that the puerto rican people will see the results of the dedicated army corps of engineers mission. If air drops would help, why are they not happening . Its my belief that most of the municipalities involved have identified the fastest route being ground based. If that is not the case, i dont want to on step into something that i can be far removed from. If the ground force has identified an air drop mission that is faster, i wouldnt question his judgment. But it was my understanding earlier today that they identified the fastest delivery methodology to be through ground based means and that we needed y drivers and Security Forces. There is a Security Force plan laid down for each of the drivers. Several flights have managed to get to the island to deliver food and water. There is severe criticism coming that there is a mismanagement coming all the way from the president. How do you respond . Well, im not certain who you are talking about or who is criticizing us. There is plenty of criticism to go around managed to get an aid flight into the island at get it unloaded and he says the problems that you are having logistically are of your own making from not taking action sooner and bringing in the mi military sooner. First, thank you for providing aid but youre wrong. I would challenge to get a better understanding before rendering that verdict on what weve dwone and how blown you will be when you see the full totality. Im sure the mayor has had some positive experiences, but he is like with the jones act criticism just not yet informed on the facts. Why is it that there are 10,000 containers waiting at the port of san juan . To my point earlier, were getting a lot of supplies through, but just perhaps a misreporting of that fact. The president has referenced some of the debt and economic problems that puerto rico has been struggling with for some time here. When you were talking about the lack of capacity, are you faulting local officials for a lack of preparedness . No. Lets me be clear. When i say capacity, im talking about the capacity problem of people being vehicictims that w otherwise be the first responders, repairers and managers of the functions. So what were try doing is restore baseline plumunicipal functions. The island is 72 bmd 72 billio debt and that is being restructured through bankruptcy proceedings and so forth. How is that impacting the response . I know the president brought it up in terms of recovery, but heres how it faeskts the response. It puts the island in the position where they dont have the Financial Resources to meet the cost share requirement for all of the goods and personnel flowing in. What the president did was acknowledge that, realize that that would be a problem at the advice of the fema address palestinian straet administrator and secretary duke add did an adjust tomt pay for all of this. 180 days. So six months for the Virgin Islands and for puerto rico until we can get our hands ash this, all the missions are all 100 federal cost share. We dont want anybody worry onned about paper. We want them worried about people. Two more questions. I wanted to ask as you are starting to envision down the road any sort of bailout might be part of the broader recovery package that you look for. And on that supplemental, i know first will be relatively soon. First week in october is the time line that you are anticipating . Plas coas mr. Cohn alluded t are willing to negotiate with congress if there is a better idea. Its important to understand that fema just got a 7. 1 billion appropriate yags release and we will ask for more to provide money into the fund that ask the li does the Life Sustaining effort. Whether we have to address the existing 72 billion worth of debt, that is something that i will have to take my lead from the economists on and some of the budget hawks. You about i think so thb the budget hawks. You about i think so tut i thin focus on the electric Power Authority and Water Authority. Those are the two concerning elements where they will have to be rebuilt under proper management and they will have to be rebuilt under proper rebuilding codes and standards so we dont just go back for sticks and wires. We will put federal money into this wisely and prudently. I dont think that we will have to address the debt restructuring issue, but if we do, President Trump is up to that challenge. [ inaudible question ] it will have to come in the next two to four weeks, but i cant put a better gatter gated. Why hasnt it taken eight days to get a three star general on the ground . Why eight days. Because it didnt require a three star general eight days ago. Let me explain to you how the process works. It will be a best way of explaining the answer. We have a three star general in charge of this and we had one out of san antonio from day minus eight. And day minus two and all the way through until today. We Forward Deployed a one star general to take care of ground force command once we realized that the problem of Logistics Distribution had outstripped the capacity of the municipal governments. But the three star general was coordinating operations. Weve made a number of improvements to that distribution process. Since katrina, weve matured quite a bit. The three star command structure that he lacked back then has been put in place and been in place for this response out of san antonio. And augmented by a Northern Command structure that has been pretty robust and forward leaning here. They have been doing foef cal authori vocal authorities, not waiting for paper work. All those forward leaning lessons have been applied here. Perhaps misunderstood. But now the change on day eight was to take that three star general and to put him there physically located in the field. I dont anticipate he will stay there long, but he needs to get his eyes on it and make sure that he is comfortable with the interaction between his forces and the municipal forces because it is a different Business Plan model in the field and its an island. So once he is satisfied or would expect that three star general to go back to his appropriate xla command stwrukrukt structure. But for now he is there to address the significance problem. And so id like to make that my last question. Would you acknowledge it was a mistake to not have there three stgeneral on the ground earlier . Not at all. This is textbook and its been done well. The flush step is to put the three star general down forward leaning. So i will every confidence that we will handle that in the best way possible. And im going to say that is my last question. As i always do, i will send by saying id like everyone to say an extra special prayer for the people on puerto rico virgin is getting a lot of coverage, but say that prayer for them as well and for the 10,000 plus federal workers, several volunteer workers, businessmen and women that are helping those in need. Honestly, this is something that will require weeks and months worth of patience as we restore power, get food and water and wrurn return to normalcy. Im proud of the puerto rico people and their governor as our full confidence and faith. Thank you. Thank you, tom. We are running kind of long, so ill jump stwrat raight into questions before we cut off for the day. Steve. Is the president taking any steps to crack down on use of planes . As the president said today, hes not thrilled certainly not happy with the actions, would he have definitely looking at the issue. They are conducts an internal and imptg full review. But also the white house does not have a role on the front end of approving private charter flights at the agencies and that is something that were certainly looking into. And have asked a halt be put particularly at hhs on any private charter flights moving forward until the reviews are completed. Is secretary price expected to keep his job . I think the president has addressed this yesterday. Were going through this process. We will conduct a full review and well see what happens. Two things. First, the president has circumstance times said that a senator is in the hospital. I think that is a reference to cochran who is not in the hospital. You can tell us what senator he he is referring to and if it is senator cochran, why if the votes exist the senate isnt voting on it now . Our understanding is that the senator was physically unable to be here this week to actually participate in a vote. Were glad that he is fully recuperating. The point were making is that we have the vote on the substance, but not necessarily on the process which is why were still confident that we can move Health Care Forward and get it done in the spring. Second thing is the president didnt support moore but has moved to embrace him since then. But i guess what im wondering, judge moore has made a series of comments saying hoe me sosexual conduct to be illegal, a muslim shouldnt serve. Im wondering why those comments shouldnt qualify him as no endorsement . As weve said, i wont get in to being about a aback and fort political endorsements. I wont weigh in on a specific race. I want to follow up on that. Judge moore says hoe hoe sexuality should be illegal, he said sandy hook was a divine recei retribution, wreath he wikeith shouldnt serve because hes a muslim. Does President Trump share those views and if not, why does he think that person is fit to be a senator . Not that im aware of. I have not taken a deep dive on every comment that the Senate Nominee has made. I certainly know where the president stands on those issues and wouldnt see any parallel between the two of them on that front. Are there any beliefs a candidate could hold or actions a hit could take that if he were still a republican the president would not endorse him . I wont get into every potential hypothetical any potential candidate may or may not have over the koirs course e that the president is president. I know where the president stands, that is what i can speak of. Tom did not call on me, so i will ask the he question i wanted to understand. He mentioned in response to what senator rubio is saying asking that the pentagon be in charge, that the pentagon is in charge of a lot, but not everything. I still dont understand why its not in charge of everything. Were continuing to work with state officials including the gufrd w governor, but were augments that with federal resources including over 10,000 federal employees. And those on the ground. Why not put an entity in charge. He said many people were in charge ever differeof different. I believe one person is in charge evof different parts of e process. Governor is still the governor of portuerto rico. We have one person in chanlg of the federal component ever that and that is the one star general on the ground working with state officials. I know you said the white house doesnt approve charter flights, but given the focus of the president on cost saving, he wanted people to spend more in more responsible ways, is there is a policy of the administration for Government Employees who try to fly commercial, do they have any guidance . Were looking at when it comes to military aircraft, that is a part where the white house does actually play a role and on that front the Trump Administration has actually authorized far fewer flights for senior government officials than the Obama Administration did during the same time period. And so were continuing to look at ways to bring that back under the plates where the white house has that direct control and authority which is under military aircraft which would he have cut back significantly. I want to follow up, do you want to at least condemn some of the sentiments that you said the president to your knowledge does not share . I would certainly say we dont agree with those comments. But in terms of whether or not im going to get in to the back and forth over another candidate, were hear to focus on the president and the president s agenda and those are the question tsz and ts and the that i can ask for. You said the white house was not a warks but at least one of the flights, Kellyanne Conway was flying with him on a private plight. Are you looking into that one specifically to see if the white house knew about in a . I didnt say we werent a war wear, i said the white house doesnt authorize the charter flights. Were doing an internal review of all private charter flights as well as an ig review, not just any one particular flight. Is the president satisfied with what he sees as the response in puerto rico, in what hes hearing from his advisers or would he like to see things moving along faster as some have asked for. The president wants to continue do everything we can to proikt the safety and security of the people both at the u. S. Virgin islands and puerto rico. Were continuing do that. As tom spoke indepth about that process, that is our focus. Thats what we will continue do. People first, paperwork second. The president has empowered all of his agencies to go forward with that mindset and thats what well continue to do. I saw secretary price was here for an event with the first lady. Did the president have the chance to sit down and talk to him about this issue of his private jet use or has he had a oneonone conversation with the secretary about that . And when you said that the white house ordered a halt on the flights, is that administration wide, every agency . That is specific to hhs. I dont know that they spoke today, but i know they have spoken about this issue previously. I dont believe the president saw the secretary at any point today though. Following up on that, does the president believe are or anyone at the white house think that there has been a tone set at the top here that has allowed cabinet members to feel empow empowered to take private jet flights when going on official travel . We have the hhs secretary, epa administrator, is there something that the president has said or done to set this tone that this is okay and not at all and i think the president has been clear about his position by stating very clearly that he is not thrilled with the afrp use airplane use. I want to make sure that i understand the stance frof the review process. He said ig, hhs. Is there is a white house component . There is an internal review and ig and the white house is looking overall, not specifically that department. He said he would donate personal funds to harvey relief. Is he making a donation to hourt . He made a donation to relief on organizations. The red cross and many others that are part of all of the hurricanes that we have experienced. So those organizations arent limited to a specific nor those donations a specific storm. But they go to those organizations that are helping aggressively and intensely in the Recovery Efforts in the u. S. Virgin islands and puerto rico as well. We saw Steve Scalise with that emotional remarks in the hou hous chamber today. Account president speak wi did the president speak to him . I know they did speak and certainly welcomed him back and reminded him that we will continue to keep he and his family in our prayers. Given the extent of the disaster in puerto rico, is the president considering delaying his trip there scheduled for on tuesday . As of right now, we feel comfortable with the president taking a trip on tuesday. If there were any indication that it would halt or disrupt recovery or relief efforts, we would certainly pull the trip back. But at this time, folks on the ground have indicated that it would be helpful for him to be there. And has Jared Kushner or ivanka trump taken a private plane ride or given access to ride along with someone else on a briprivate plane . Im not sure about those two specific. Cuba, the cbs is report thagt u. S. U. S. Is prepared to announce a massive withdrawal of families and how would you describe the relationship between u. S. And cuba . I wont weigh in on the could you ban oig stuff and get ahead of any action. So i dont have anything new to add. Cuba says were the u. S. Against taking any hasty actions in response to this incident, ohio do how does the u. S. Respond . We havent taken any action that i will weigh into any further. When we do that, well let you know. But i can assure you our goal is on the focus of what is best for this country, not cuba. The president has said that players who take a knee during the National Anthem out to be fired. And you yourself have said on the podium in response to a very critical twhooet critical tweet by an espn anchor that that individual should be fired, you said it was a fireable offense. Which brings me to secretary price. His extensive use by these private jets, why is that not a fireable offense is my first question. And has he offered to reimburse the government in any way for his use of a private jet . I think that is something that we would determine once those reviews are complete. In terms of reimburse the, im not sure. Id have to get back to you. Were understanding that many of the nfl players are still very upset with this being about a and forth. I think so are many americans. Can i finish my question . Many nfl players are very upset, many people had different ideas and opinions on this, but when the president weighed in, the nfl said we will be united. There is an anticipation that it could grow worse this weekend. What is the president anticipating, what should we expect him to say about this . It is now the nfl against the president. I think the president has made clear this shouldnt be about the nfl being against the president. This should be about our country coming together to support the flag, support the National Anthem. There is nothing wrong with having pride in the United States. This president has been clear on that and he wont back away from it. So the nfl players, its not about not having pride, they are saying they are patriot, they love this country. But they are challenging the system. And they are looking at history like the challenge of the system when it came to womens rights issues as well as civil rights. What is it the president say when you look at history and see how people love this country but wanted to challenge the system to make it better . I think if we will look at history, we should look at the thousands of americans who have given their life to protect that flag, to protect that anthem. We should be celebrating those people. I gave you a chance to ask, so ill finish. We should look at every way we can to celebrate the country, bring it together, not looking at ways to divide it. The president is talking about what were for, not about what were against. And certainly this administration will always be for protection and celebration of the flag and the National Anthem and that wont change. To clarify on that i dont cthink there is much to clarify. People are very divided. It is a racial issue for some people and when the military issue is brought in, the military fights for the freedoms of this nation, and the players are saying they are thankful for the military service to allow the freechls to do on this. Is there some kirnd ever confusion here or, is it us versus them . It certainly should be as ive said several times before this isnt us versus them, this should be something that brings our country together. These are symbols of what our country stands for. And this should be the opposite of what that is. This should be a very unifying moment when the national an them play, all americans should be proud to stand up, salute that flag, salute that anthem and be part of that process. The president this morning said he believes nfl team owners are afraid of their players. What did he mean . Probably the backlash of the players and the stance that they are making. Not wanting to create that conflict within their team. The president is here to lead the country. He feels very strongly about this as do most americans. Because they certainly agree with him as we have seen not just in the public support, but also in public polling on that very specific issue. [ inaudible question ] i think they spoke either yesterday morning or this morning. And we have a readout coming on that. Follow up just quickly, two quick questions on the nfl thing. I may not be the brightest guy in the room you said it. But my question but nobody else argued either, so nobody will argue. But i really dont understand. I understand that he is saying you should stand up. But if a guy is sitting there going i dont want to stand up, he still recognizes that he has the First Amendment right not to, yes . Its his opinion. Or is he asking us to carve out an exception to the First Amendment . No, were not looking for an exception. I think the president has been clear of what his position is. And he feels very strongly that when the National Anthem plays, people should stand up. And i have a second question. In regards to the private emails that have gone out, has the president admonished any of his staff, is he concerned about them using private emails for public business . The white house has been clear and instructs all staff to fully comply with president ial roor records act, all staff has been briefed to preserve those records. This will be the last question. About senator cochran and the health care vote. It is the white houses understanding senator cochran was not able to physically be here this week. Senator cochrans office has said that there have been plans practice for senator cochran to come to washington if there was going to be a health care vote. Was the white house not aware ever those plans . That was our understanding as itched, th itch i67d, that snort was not article to be here. Were glad that was not the case. Well be in the glad the rers of the day. So that was quite a briefing beginning with gary cohn talking about tax reform, why did he say, he said he wants to help the president rewrite tax reform. And then tom bossert tried to clarify the waiver on the jones act which we can get in to although we heard sort of a different story from the president yesterday, on into tom price taking all those private jets. The ig is looking deeply into that. She made news saying that there will be no more private planes for that department until that review is complete. Making news and saying the president is not thrilled with him at all. And then also making news on the nfl saying that President Trump will not back down from the nfl fight and this is all coming in the wake of the president yesterday saying that hes buddies with some of the owners and how they are afraid of their players. All of that, lets get into pieces of it. I have jeff zeleny standing by. Lets begin with puerto rico. I heard your question which was excellent on the fact that this three star general which is wonderful news, you know, is medded will be in puerto rico dayton. And your question why did it take him eight days. That is the question were hearing on the ground from our many colleagues in puerto rico, from lawmakers and others, why on the eighth day is the administration finally sending a three star general to puerto rico. So i did ask the president s Homeland Security adviser that and he said look, this three star general had been monitoring all this from san antonio. I had been keeping track of all this from there. But i tried to get him to ask wouldnt it have been easier to monitor it all this on the ground in puerto rico and tom bossert did not really answer that. He defended the administrations response. But i do think we now know that that he they are sending the general, he will be on the ground later today if not already, a sign that there is indeed a need for more coordination on the ground there. So right now the administration is quite defensive of their response, quite defensive talking bureaucratic language about what is going on there. The underlying feeling in puerto rico is that look, its an island, it is more difficult than florida, more difficult of course than houston. But of course everyone knew puerto rico was an island going in to this. So the question still is something that is ongoing and it is a were hearing a theme that the president is not interested in paperwork, east interested in people. Helping people there. So there is no question now the administration seems to be focused entirely on this. We still havent heard the president talk about this at all today. In fact unusually he noose evha events on his public schedule. So a lot of advisers with conflicting messages. Acting deputy of Homeland Security said she was satisfied by the response. Fema chief said he was not satisfied with the response. So that is another thing to point out. There is still no secretary of Homeland Security here. So i think that this response will be looked at and examined for some time to come to see if it was effective, but of course the immediate concern is on the ground there brooke not what is happening back here in washington. Of course. Jeff, thank you. Great questions there. We were talking to the Lieutenant General in charge ever all of the wake of hurricane katrina, he was on live with me and tom bossert actually name checked him because he is highly critical of the response. And here is the generals response now. Brooke, look, that was a good commentary about tom bossert. I got full confidence in that man as well as mr. Brock at fema. But they have to give general buchanan full command authority. There is a couple things that mr. Bossert said that if they wanted to do air drops, he could make it as a recommendation. They have to have the authority to command and do what they need to do as well as waiver federal laws as needed. Otherwise they wont get to the people. And i still think we need second airborne or whoever the brigade is to be there tomorrow to help with distribution. The 10,000 troops are doing a great job once they get another 5,000 to 10,000 federal troops. But remember, in katrina they had 20,000 federal troops. Need a hell of a lot more. And more helicopters. In katrina, i had 200. Thank you for allowing me to comment. Thank you so much. Lets go straight to the ground to puerto rico, boris sanchez. Weve been telling the stories and you are showing us the Cargo Containers full of aid and the questions being why havent they been dispersed. The white house is bringing this up. What is going on . Reporter yeah, in the last hour or so, weve seen an uptick in activity here at the port. The 10,000 or so Cargo Containers that have a been stick at different ports are starting to move. I referenced the barge off to our left a short while ago because several hundred couldnt be unloaded because in wasnt space. But now there is some progress. But there has been a of these shipping containers. We heard from a spokesperson at the Governors Office telling us that there was aid in these containers, and a short while ago weve heard from officials at the port saying that those were rumors, that those reports were false, there was no aid being stuck here at the port. To help us get through and clarify exactly what is going on, i again have the Vice President of operations for crowdly in puerto rico. Help us understand, what exactly is on these containers . Is it aid or what is going on . Well the relief cargo has already been ungated by fema since the first day we reopened our terminal. Now, the commodities that are in these container are no less important than the relief cargo that was consigned to fema. We still have water in these containe containers. Theres till ice, theres still medicine, theres still building materials. Theres till refrigerated food, and the importance of these containers is that we need to start moving them to their final destination. Meaning the shelves, meaning the tables of the people of puerto rico. Because theres not enough water on the island, same as food as well. So since day one, fema has been doing their job and they move their cargo immediately, but we need to start moving this commercial cargo as well. We need to make sure that if a puerto rican needs to go to the store and buy water, theres water on the shelves. That is needs to buy a can of food, theres food on the shelves. If it needs medicine in the pharmacies, theres medicine in the pharmacies as well. So thats the difference between the relief cargo consigned to fema, which is very important, but not more important or this one less important than that one. Theyre equally as important. So femas doing their job, now we need to start the flow of the distribution supply chain on the island to make sure that these kmadties just they reach their final destination. Thats what we were saying that we need hands on, right . To make it. Reporter jose, thank you very much for taking the time. Hes making the case that these resources are just as vital as resources brought here by fema. And that every day Puerto Ricans who are reaching out for portable water and cant find it, it doesnt really matter who is giving it to them, brooke. Of course, thank you. Well stay in close contact with you as that story progresses. Let me quickly switch gears on to tom price, hhs secretary. I have erol lewis sitting next to me, we heard the president yesterday, and the gaggle saying he doesnt know what hes going to do with tom price. Now we have word that tom price took 13 trips where he flew private, which, you know, totals thousands and thousands of tax payer dollars. Could he survive this . I dont like his chances of sush vooifl. I think he ends up in a weakened position if he manages to cling to the job. In order to run ab vast, vast, powerful buick ok si like that, you have to have credibility, people on capitol hill, youve got to have people in your own agency who are going to listen when you try and exercise some leadership. He seems to have squandered some of that and so with that goodwill gone, with the president and perhaps others gunning for him, at least unimpressed with him, hes going to have a hard time doing that job. Well see what happens with tom prices fate in the meantime, leave you with this interview i did earlier with the mother who is puerto rican. Her son is down in puerto rico, she hasnt spoken with him in eight days. She is heartbroken. Heres our conversation. I called him to go into a room with no windows. I said do not go anywhere near the doors, dont get curious, go hide in a closet, and lastly do not let go of your grandmother. Whatever happens, hold on tight to each other. And what did he say to you . I dont know. We lost communication. Its my understanding your son as asthma, is that right . And that he uses a device that requires electricity, none of which is that is, yeah. Can you tell me about that . That is correct. He has an inhaler, which when i spoke to him on monday, over the weekend, i said do you need know send you a new inhaler . He said no mom, i have enough to send it like thursday. His nebraska liezer treatments are supposed to be every four hours, and especially when hes in high humidity area or the heat is pretty high. It gets worse. And that has to be incredibly concerning. As his mom, i just feel like i should be doing more. It shouldnt be happening. Lets talk about what you have been doing. I mean, its my understanding you have been trying all kinds of different ways to get in touch with someone who could reach your son and his grandmother. You were able to get in touch with some relatives, but they, they were too far away. Correct. I was able to speak to my cousins, they said that the roads are so bad and some places that you cant even get passed all the debris and the trees that have fallen. So they couldnt get in also the ration of gas theyre getting is not enough to get them there far and theyre actually about two and a half hours away from where my son is. And so its almost like you get so far, and then you cant get people to go further to check on your family, what does that feel like . It feels horrible. You dont even know where to go. You pace back and forth. You wake up in the middle of the night thinking you missed a call or what did you miss . Get back on the computer. You know, i called every Police Station i can find on the internet in puerto rico and to no avail. I have written to prffa, i filled out forms just to get the generic letter five days later, keep looking on our site for their name. I did the pr accurate name and filmed out another form. I have gone to google and filled out their form. Ive gone to the red cross and filmed out multiple forms. I even called the phone number that governor christie put for families in new jersey that have loved ones in puerto rico. Only to get a live person to tell me, to give me a number, one says the verizon customer youre trying to call is not in service. And the other number is a voice mail that i have called about 25 times and have left a voice mail every single time. To just get no response. So i emailed my congressman, i posted it all over facebook. Ive joined every facebook and snapchat, instagram, hurricane maria, puerto rico, thats out there just to try and get some information or bless you. Or just some word that, you know, your son is fine. Anything. If President Trump were watching right now, what would you say to him . What would you implem plor of h . I really dont need to hear about whos kneeling and whos standing, thats not whats important right now. Thats not what we need to hear. He needs to just step up to the plate and be our fearless leader and handle this situation. Its not were not some its not a third world country, and it looks like thats where its headed to and he is not really doing what he it is supposed to be doing. Hes supposed to be there helping them and letting them get the services they need or at least funding them and not just taking his time to do so. I beg him to just step up to the plate. To do whats right. And i know this man has it in his heart to do whats right. He just needs to think of it as that being his son. Because im pretty sure if that was his child or anybody in government job child thats of importance, they would know whether their child was okay or needed anything and get them out of there sooner than later. So this is uncalled for. It should not be happening. Not to me. Not to any other mother out there. Any brother, any sister, any aunt, uncle, it should not be happening to any of us right now. Its uncalled for. You are sitting next to me id grab your hand right now, jackie, i wish i could tell you it will be better. Lets be optimistic that the aid will get to where it needs to go. Lets you and i connect again once you hear from your son. Jackie gormly, thank you. Thank you, i appreciate it. Thank you for your time. Jackie, thank you so very much. Obviously we are staying all over this story in puerto rico. Were going to have so much more coverage coming up through the course of the next few hours including next in washington. Were going to send it down there right now. The lead with jake tapper starts right now. This is cnn breaking news. Thanks brooke, welcome to the lead im jake tapper, were going to begin with breaking news on the politics lead. Earlier this week, cnn reported that Jared Kushner, the president s Senior Advisor and soninlaw had used his personal email account for official white house business. Cnn breaking the story now that kushner had not disclosed the existence of this personal email account to the Senate Intelligence committee and the senators who head that committee are not pleased they learned of the existence of this email account from the media. Cnn is exclusively reporting right now this morning, the chairman of the committee, richard burr and the vice chairman, mark warner, sent a letter to kushner through his attorney instructing kushner to