Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20170828

Cnn is live in north korea tracking kim jonguns dangerous new moves. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf blitzer is off today. Im jim sciutto and youre in the situation room. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Breaking tonight, President Trump is promising full support for recovery from Hurricane Harvey as millions of americans suffer through a disaster that is growing worse by the hour. Right now it is unclear how many people remain trapped in unprecedented flood waters, swamping much of Southeast Texas. New evacuations are underway in some communities as the death toll in the flood zone climbs now to 7. Texas now deploying all its 12,000 National Guard troops to aid in this emergency urjgent operation. Pulled from standing cars, flooded hoem flooded homes and streets now turned to rivers. Much of the nations fourth largest city is under water, up to waist deep and still rising. At least 15 trillion gallons of rain, about 25 inches or so, falling since harvey hit land as a powerful category 4 hurricane on friday night. As the storm hovers over the region, some areas could get up to 50 inches of rain by saturday. Thats more than houston sees on average in an entire year. The rain and the danger extending into louisiana where a state of emergency has been declared. Also breaking, we are learning new details about the missile that north korea reportedly launched just a short time ago. Officials in the region say that it flew over japan and into the pacific. The japanese government is calling it an unprecedented grave threat. Stand by for a live update from inside north korea. Covering all of that with this with our guests including congresswoman Sheila Jackson lee. She represents a large area of houston. Our correspondents and specialists also standing by. First to cnns brian todd, he joins us live from houston. Brian, youre outside i believe the Convention Center now. What are you seeing there where many people are fleeing to safety tonight . Reporter thats right, jim. People behind me taking refuge here at the Convention Center. We are told maybe about 5,000 people will be here by the days end. Some of these people were rescued from their homes in dramatic fashion that has really been the story today. We just got back here from going out with a team of private rescuers who got to some people really without much time to spare. Flood waters are still rising in houston and its suburbs making rescues an urgent priority in house after house, stranded residents asking for help. They say the water in their house rose and rose. Everything started floating and we picked up what we could to try to save it but it didnt do no good because the water just done took over everything. Reporter they were up all night and huddled on the hood of their car until they were rescued by good samaritans. What do you say to these gentlemen here . I thank god for these gentlemen. Reporter Beverley Johnson was waiting to on her car. He says he came to this neighborhood last night and tried to find people, tried to get people out of their homes. It got pitch black. H couldnt find anyone to rescue because he just couldnt see anything. These people have been waiting on their car since last night and seth and his team finally got to them. Flood rescues are the top priority now in texas as rain from Hurricane Harvey continues to pour down. Houstons mayor says more than 2100 people have been rescued from high water, some even by coast guard helicopter. But countless more have been saved by private individuals which the head of fema said could make all the difference. We need the whole community, not only the federal government forces, but this is a whole Community Effort from all levels of government and is going to require the citizens getting involved. Reporter private individuals have stepped up using jet skis, paddles, even canoes. Rescued families carrying what little they can with their most precious valuables in plastic bags. How much water is in your house . 7 feet maybe. Reporter this comparison by the New York Times shows how deep the water is just west of downtown houston. On the left is a normal day and on the right is the flooding now. Flooding will only worsen in the coming days, forecasters say. About 25 inches more rain could fall in addition to about 25 inches that has already come down. More than 6,000 victims have already been evacuated to centers in houston, and authorities are bracing for that to reach up to 30,000 as flooding worsens under the continuing rain. Were going to have to leave because its just too much water. Reporter overnight authorities made an excruciating choice intentionally releasing water from two dams in west houston because they are so full. If they dont do it, say they hold back the water and it builds up, and then it will be force it will go around and the situation would be exponentially worse. Reporter that means more flood waters will hit neighborhoods downstream. Got to go, water is coming up really fast. Reporter residents downstream forced to evacuate even though their streets are not flooded yet. Theyre giving us till no time, its already up so were out. Reporter i just corresponded a few minutes ago with seth roberts, the gentleman who led that small rescue team we were with. He told me estimates he has rescued 200 people today. They are facing challenges in the coming hours. We are a couple hours away from night fall. And again, it gets pitch black out in those neighborhoods. There are going to be a lot of people waiting possibly on their rooftops, maybe on their cars, jim, outside some of these houses. Its going to be another harrowing night in the houston area. Jim . We are told thousands more still awaiting rescue in darkened homes. Brian todd, thanks very much. Now lets move closer to the gulf coast in dickenson, texas. Thats where cnns ed lachl inhas been. You have been embedded with National Guard troops doing some of these rescues. Are they going to continue rescues overnight . Reporter it is our understanding that we have been with them throughout most of the day, just jumped off. The soldiers that we were with was doing a shift until 8 00 tonight and another shift was picking up. And all of that still desperately needed. Theyre really going through a lot of these neighborhoods. What is fascinating here, jim, is even though it has rained quite a bit throughout the day today, this is one of those neighborhoods that was heavily washed out and flooded overnight. The water has dropped down a little bit where some cars have been able to are able to get through. So you get that sense that theyre trying to quickly move out as much as they can, get as many people out as they can. The good news has been as weve talked to people on boats and trying to look around for people, over the course of the last 24 hours, so many people have been moved that a lot of these neighborhoods, they believe, are fully empty. But that search and rescue still continues throughout. We see various helicopters still flying over the area. We are here in south houston. Those efforts continue because as you mention, that rain, even though its been falling throughout the day, many people really kind of coming to terms with the fact that they were stranded in their homes and they realized this is going to be lasting several more days. So, they wanted to get out, moving people to shelters, and that sort of thing. It was fascinating on one of our trips, jim, with a family that was evacuated a short while ago from an apartment complex. It was their first glimpse. They had been stranded in their home the last couple days. It was their first glimpse to get out on the streets. When they started seeing the flood waters that were in the immediate area around them and a little further out, inside the truck that we were in was an overwhelming sense of disbelief. They had been seeing some pictures here and there about the flooding situation, but nothing really specifically in their neighborhood. And it really then started sinking in for them quite clearly as they were being shuffled and moved out of their own neighborhood. Jim . For our viewers who are watching now, ed lavin, there is no doubt as to the extent and the danger of these waters. You have been watching live pictures throughout there of more rescues underway. Keep in mind, you see some people there in uniforms, First Responders. Theyre carrying out rescues. You see people in clothes, casual clothes. Theyre people just like you and me, citizen soldiers, you might say, who are coming to the help, to the aid of neighbors. Its been happening all day and it continues to happen. I want to go now to another hardhit area, richmond, texas. Thats where cnns Polo Sandoval is tonight. Tell us what youre seeing there now. Reporter well, jim, authorities here are concerned be that the next major flooding to happen around the houston area will happen in fort bend county. Ill tell you why. The river flows 100 yards away from where im standing now. You wouldnt be able to see it. Instead, though, you can see this water is actually coming from that river, its slowly creeping into peoples back yards and homes. The man who owns this house, jim, told me when it reaches level of 54 feet, the water line was here. In the next 12 hours, the forecast calling it to go up to 59 feet. The county judge here in fort bend is extremely worried that the levees meant to keep this flood water away from homes will not hold. Paolo sandoval, a real problem going forward. Long after the rain falls, the rivers continue to rise and the levees were built high, but not high enough for this water. I want to go back to houston, the unfolding disaster there. Were joined by congresswoman Sheila Jackson lee. She represents a large swath of the city. Congresswoman lee, thank you for taking the time. We know you have a lot on your plate. I want to ask you, if i can, by beginning, do you have a sense of the numbers how many people in houston are still in need of rescue . Well, i can tell you at the Georgia Brown Convention Center, there is an unceasing number of people coming in. Our First Responders, police and fire fighters, the coast guard and the texas National Guard and many, many others have done a great job. But i believe there are many numbers of individuals still needing rescuing and primarily because we have an older population that may be in their homes, as you have noted. Some people on their cars, some neighborhoods because we are so large geographically, that people are not able to get to as much as they have tried. And then, yes, our neighborhoods are rich with people, but they are dark at night and, therefore, it is difficult to work at night. And there may be many people. I am still believing that we should be in a constant rescue mode until the city is dry. As we were trying to rescue people today in a very heavily flooded area and cavi lca de and lockheed, they were telling us there were people in their homes, Senior Citizens that needed rescuing. We spoke with congressman al green that represents another part of the city there. He said it was his estimate as many as 10,000 people still in need of rescue just in the one part of town that he had been touring. Is it possible that there are many thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of houston residents who are stuck in their homes tonight as the flood levels rise . Well, the city is 2. 3 million. The county is between 4 and 6 million. It is certainly a possibility that there is even more. But i believe that we should focus on one rescue at a time. The good news is 12,000 texas National Guard will be on the ground are on the ground today. Thats what i believe we needed all along. And if we can get the intensity of those military personnel working alongside our fire fighters, ems and our police, and going over every corner of this community, we will get those that need rescuing. Right now i feel that ive left seniors in their homes. I understand people who are sickly in their homes. Stroke victims in their homes. Its not easy for them to communicate, to come outside and stand out on the front steps. And, so, i believe we still have a vast number of people that we need to rescue. Now, let me say this. At the same time, we have a massive volunteer team of people with their own boats. I have a constituent who traveled to dallas to buy a boat so that he could contribute to this effort. If we get the volunteer effort and we continue to work with this massive infusion of texas National Guard, we can get it done. And then we have to be able to provide for these people. And what im looking forward to, there are a couple days well be back in washington, if im able to go. But im intending to introduce an aid bill so that these constituents dont have to wait one minute, and thats going to be the marathon that were going to need to go and be successful. Let me ask you this. Houston area, of course, has a number of hospitals, some of the best hospitals in the country. We saw that some had begun to be evacuated. That, of course, was a major issue in new orleans with katrina, it was getting people out of hospitals. Are there hospitals now that are facing a crisis getting patients out to safety . I think we have stabilized that. Our major Public Hospital had concerns. They sent us a notice yesterday that they were fine and they were sheltering in place and had the food. Another Public Hospital, Linden Baynes Johnson was full, but they had the ability and capacity to take care of their patients and didnt have to evacuate. Saint Josephs Hospital which is in all of these are in my congressional district, either on the edge. Saint Joseph Hospital that has become the goto hospital for our First Responders is still open. They were taking on water last night. But fortunately they were sandbagging it and they were surviving. So, i think weve stabilized. 9 Texas Medical Center is working. Some had to evacuate, but they evacuated into the system they have. We have a system that works here in the Georgia Brown Convention Center. We have doctors with the ability to prescribe or transfer patients to the hospital. On the preparedness side, we really are working in a full throttle. And were watching live pictures of those rescues still underway as we speak to you, congresswoman. Before i let you go, you remember after Hurricane Sandy struck the northeast an aid package was rejected by congress, including voted against by some members of the texas delegation. Right. Are you confident that this time the money that texas needs will be passed by congress . Let me say that i was right there with my friends on the northeast with Hurricane Sandy. I was so disappointed that we would treat people who had been so devastated in that manner. I dont view this as a threat. I view it as a challenge. This is a incident that no one has ever seen. It is more than catastrophic. There are no words to speak. We he had an ocean yesterday, and we are continuing in that ocean. This is a statement about america. And whether we will build infrastructure and housing and well restore peoples lives, i believe the speaker and certainly my democratic leadership that has called me already to move an aid package, i think the real question is if the president of the United States has to be part of that leadership with a commitment not to shut this government down. I expect a bipartisan vote on restoring the swath of devastation that is not finishing today, its continuing. Its going to be tuesday, wednesday and thursday. We dont know how much more damage were going to face. Right now city hall is under water. We havent had that vast impact in jurisdictions for a long time. I know there were many that experienced it, but they were able to recover and get back on their feet, at least even though it took a long time. Were not even able to be at the recovery stage because were still in the rescue hurricane stage. It is still raining. I think the Hurricane Harvey rain package is going to have to succeed if america is going to be what america is. And that is a place that rescues people and restores people. Thats my challenge to the United States congress, is to Work Together in unity to make this work. Youve heard the forecast that another 25 inches of rain is coming to your city. Whats your biggest concern . That we wont get the people out. We can fix the buildings and homes. I dont want to see any loss of life, any more loss of life, or any expanded loss of life. We lost people down in rockport and other places. I want to make sure that we can save lives. People who are there now, i want to make sure that we can get to them. A lady just stopped me whose grandmother is in another location. A judge just stopped me and said his sisterinlaw with children is in another location. Weve got to get them out. Once we get them out, we can make them safe, if you will. We can ensure that they have clothing, medical care, a lot of them need medical care. So, my greatest fear is the human element, not the property element because there is going to be a massive loss in Property Damage because houses are being damaged across the economic spectrum. But what i want to do is to make sure that we save lives. Thats what were trying to do. Thats what the volunteers are trying to do. Thats why we have this shelter. Thats why weve called in general nichols. Let me thank you, of the texas National Guard. Thats why weve called in all of the texas National Guard working with all of the leaders across the state. Thats what our focus has to be, saving lives. Thats right, homes can be rebuilt. Congresswoman lee, we are thinking of your state. Were rooting for it and we wish you the best. We know you have a lot of hard work to do. We thank you. And if i might, for those who are looking, were in this vast place with people with a lot of need. And if youre in the area that can get to us, if youre in the region and youre dry, one, would you please help others by housing them and providing them a safe place . Would you provide us with clothing and towels and baby formula and food . We still need it. And wed welcome your donations. Thank you so very much. Well make sure to share that information. Thank you, congresswoman. You heard it there from Sheila Jackson lee. Thank you for having me. Baby formula, food, clothing, towels, cnn on the cnn website as well, there is information about how you can impact your world and help with the Recovery Efforts for Hurricane Harvey. Just ahead, there is more breaking news. Record rainfall brings catastrophic flooding in houston. Other areas of Southeast Texas as well. The rain totals could double in the days ahead. Is the worst yet to come . Well get the latest forecast. And more breaking news, another launch by north korea. 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Nondrowsy allegra® for fast 5in1 multisymptom relief. Breakthrough allergies with allegra®. Were back now with more breaking news. Coverage of the catastrophic flooding in texas, the disaster now blamed for seven deaths with search and rescue operations still ongoing. Weve gotten estimates of thousands, tens of thousands still trapped in their homes. Official warning the crisis in east texas is spreading into louisiana may only get worse in the days ahead. Cnn meteorologist chad meyers joining us live now from the cnn weather center. So, chad, weve already seen historic rainfall. Every time i come to you i feel like you tell me theres going to be more. It just wont end. It will not stop. The pressure now, the low pressure, the Tropical Storm harvey is back over water. It is right there. It is back over the gulf of mexico and will likely gain some strength overnight before it makes land fall on wednesday somewhere near lake charles are so. The rain continues tonight. More in the way of heavy rainfall right now with flash flood warnings. Back in effect for just the latest round of rain in houston and sugar land and richmond and places where its already flooding. Im also worried about new orleans and even lake charles. We will see heavy rainfall come off the ocean tonight. Here is a model of what the radar might look like all night long. Were going to see one shower after another, heavy rain coming into lake charles. Also into new orleans all night. There could be 4 to 8 inches of rain on the ground in new orleans by morning. Thats what this map describes right here. Heavy band over lake charles and beau mont, also very heavy across the southern parishes of southern louisiana, right into places that just cant take any more rain. Here is the number i have for you right now. This number is already a few hours old and its been raining all day. I suspect day ton, texas now well over 40 inches. Waller at least 35, maybe 36. Thats 3 feet of rain. Thats a yardstick of rain. Right now, jim, about 120,000 people without power and although that sounds scary, 2. 2 Million People still have power, and the waters rising. Electric and water dont mix. So many dangers in those waters. Chad meyers, thanks very much. I want to go back to houston now. Thats where city officials certainly struggling to deal with this unprecedented disaster. Were joined by houston city councilmember at large, amanda edwards. Ms. Edwards, thanks very much for joining us tonight. We know youve got a lot on your plate. Were trying to figure out if houston knows how many people are still trapped in their homes. We had the estimate from one congressman, al green, who represents one district there. He said he thought just 10,000 people just in the neighborhoods he was visiting. Do you have a sense of how many people still are in need of rescue . There is its very difficult for us to tell at this particular moment in time how many people are still in need of rescue. What we can say is as of yesterday we had 56,000 calls to 911 and we are still returning going out in the community, rescuing people and trying to get them into shelters. Currently im at the george r. Brown Convention Center which is a large Emergency Shelter that we have in downtown houston and so were trying to get people access to the resources that they need. 911 has been a resource and we obviously have been utilizing that, but weve got a lot of folks coming in to also help and support us. Weve got a lot of partnerships and support from outside the city as well. So, what do you need most, then, to get a handle on exactly how many people are still in need of rescue . But then, of course, to get to them, to get them to safety . Right. So, weve been assessing what are the safe routes for people to travel right now. A lot of our highways are under water. A lot of our roadways are under water and so unless unless you consider it to be an emergency circumstance, we are not encouraging people to get on the roadways. Those calls are going to continue to roll in and so predicting how many calls are still left to come is very difficult at this particular moment in time. But what we are trying to do is make sure we are clear making sure that people have clear information, clear messaging about where those temporary shelters lie, where there are more longerterm shelters, and what kind of support they can get. Right here at george r. Brown Convention Center, for example, we have one in campbell where we have red cross who has been diligent in making sure we have resources and were asking people to also make donations, donations both in terms of financial donations but also in terms of goods. Things that people need, warm clothing, shoes, socks, also additional supplies, diapers, a number of things you would expect to have left behind if you were leaving your house in a hurry or in an emergency situation. No question. Important all around. We know that houston is forecast to get some 20 inches more rain this week. We keep hearing from our meteorologist that the storm is getting stronger as it moves out over the ocean. What is your biggest concern over the next several days . Our concern is that people will not stay in their homes if theyre not will think they can venture out of their homes and try to drive around the city, do things like try to go to a store to get extra supplies, extra things that they might need around the house. The problem with that is sometimes you dont know where some of the dips are in the roadways, particularly if youre taking a road thats unfamiliar to you. And, so, our challenge is getting people to stay put for as long as theyve had to stay put. People started getting hunkering down, if you will, as of friday. And, so, there are a lot of people who want to go and buy some extra supplies, extra water, gatorade, whatever theyre buying. The challenge is getting them to stay put. If theyre not in an emergency situation, of course, we do have houstonians who are facing emergencies as we speak, we are fielding those calls. We are working diligently. And we are appreciative of all the people who are helping to volunteer once we get people into shelters, such as these. So, for some people, obviously, its not a matter of whether they can drive out of their house. Theyre stuck in homes now. They have been flooded. Right. Nighttime is coming. We know that the civilian rescuers who have been op rating, there have been so many of them, its been one of the most heartening parts of this story. But its been recommended to them not to be on the water after night fall. What is going to happen overnight . The rain is still falling. You still have people trapped in their homes. What is going to happen to them . Were going to continue to operate the rescue missions as need be, but we are asking people, please, if you believe that the water is too high in your home, if you believe that you need shelter, its not safe, you believe its something that you need to escape from, to go ahead and do that now when its still daylight out. We do not want to have people venturing out in the dark on their own. That is the last thing we want to have happen. I was with the Houston Fire Department today. We were passing by roadways, scouting safer paths and even in doing so saw manholes that were uncovered because of the water being pushing them up. So, understanding that even though you may think you know a particular route, in this circumstance you may not know it because of the conditions due to the rainfall and flooding. Amanda edwards and the houston city council, were going to keep on this story. We wish you the best of luck. We know you have a lot of hard work. Thank you. I appreciate. Can i make one plug, asking people if they are interested in helping, please to go online to red cross. Org. Also the Greater Houston Community foundation is has a Hurricane Fund relief set up by the mayor of the city of houston, mayor sylvester turner. Were asking for people to also, if they are looking to donate, also looking at that foundation as a resource for donation as well as the red cross as well. You heard that there, the red cross and the Greater Houston Community noun addition. Thanks very much amanda edwards. And more breaking news. Right now, another major story weve been following this hour, the pentagon now confirming that north korea has fired a missile which flew over japan. I want to go live now to pyongyang. Thats where cnns will ripley is the only western reporter inside north korea. We are getting some details now, will ripley. This missile flew some 1600 miles at an altitude of 300 miles straight over u. S. Ally japan. Certainly a threatening act by north korea. Reporter it is, jim. And we also know, we just learned that this missile was launched from the pyongyang sue nan airport. That is the airport we flew into, all the commercial flights into pyongyang fly into. We flew in just a couple days ago. They launched a missile from the vicinity of the airport they use for commercial purposes but also obviously for military purposes as well. Very close to the hotel where we are reporting from at this hour. We know that the missile, as you said, flew over northern japan, the hokkaido region. Residents in that area received an alert telling them to take cover. This is a system that japan has put in place after previous north korean launches came very close to hokkaido. Some smaller communities have even conducted north Korean Missile drills which gives you a sense of the fear in this region. But this launch as provocative as it is, and is the most provocative since the two previous times that north Korean Missiles flew over japan, once a failed satellite launch attempt in 2009, and before that, 1998 when north korea launched a satellite, its first satellite into orbit. So, this is the most provocative launch north korea has conducted in a number of years, but this was a test. We dont believe there was a warhead on this missile. The missile flew over hokkaido. It landed in the waters off japan after breaking into three pieces. This is a demonstration by north korea, a very clear message to the United States and the Trump Administration after weeks of fiery rhetoric, but it is one of dozens and dozens of missile tests north koreas leader kim jongun has ordered. Also note worthy to mention the National Intelligence service briefed lawmakers. They have seen activity at the nuclear site that could indicate possible, possible preparations for a 6th nuclear test. That would be yet one more provocation. Will ripley inside north korea. And just ahead, much more of our breaking news. Were going to go to our reporters in texas, in the texas disaster zone, amid urgent efforts to rescue people trapped by the rising flood waters as night falls. And President Trump traveling to texas tomorrow, vowing federal help for the stricken region. One family. To the people of texas and louisiana, we are 100 with you. We asked a group of young people when they thought they should start saving for retirement. Then we asked some older people when they actually did start saving. This gap between when we should start saving and when we actually do is one of the reasons why too many of us arent prepared for retirement. Just start as early as you can. Its going to pay off in the future. If we all start saving a little more today, well all be better prepared tomorrow. Prudential. Bring your challenges. Wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong insurance company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Breaking tonight, we are following live water rescues underway in and around houston. Harvey unleashing yet more rain, more flooding, more misery. Days after making land fall as a category 4 hurricane. Tonight President Trump promising support for flood victims as he prepares to visit texas tomorrow in the midst of this major disaster, he seemed eager to take questions on some other subjects as well, including his controversial pardon of former arizona sheriff joe arpaio. Lets bring in senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny. Jeff, we heard from the president a short while ago and he had lots of comments on a number of things. Reporter good evening, jim. He certainly did. He was standing in the east room of the white house striking a more unifying conciliatory tone than weve heard in quite sometime, talking about the first Natural Disaster of his presidency, saying were all americans, we struggle together, we hurt together, the next breath, he talked about one of the most divisive decisions hes made, the controversial pardon of sheriff joe arpaio. President trump today pledging his administrations full support to those affected by the massive devastation in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. We are one american family. We hurt together. We struggle together. And believe me, we endure together. We are one family. To the people of texas and louisiana, we are 100 with you. Reporter the president is traveling to texas on tuesday to get a firsthand look at the damage. Speaking alongside the finnish president in the east room of the white house, mr. Trump said hell ask congress for emergency funds to help the state recover. I think that youre going to see very rapid action from congress, certainly from the president , and youre going to get your funding. Its a terrible tragedy. We expect to have requests on our desk fairly soon and we think that congress will feel very much the way i feel. In a very bipartisan way, that will be nice, but we think youre going to have what you need and its going to go fast. Reporter the first major Natural Disaster of his presidency is still unfolding by the hour. Creating a careful balancing act for how he and his administration responds. Its the biggest ever. Theyre saying its the biggest, its historic. Its like, really like texas, if you think about it. But it is a historic amount of water in particular. Theres never been anything like it. Reporter yet he plans to steer clear of houston, the nations fourth largest city to avoid complicating Recovery Efforts. Many evoke memories of hurricane katrina. He sends a message that his administration is on top of the catastrophe. He announced the move on twitter only hours before Hurricane Harvey made land fall, a spokesman for Speaker Paul Ryan said, the speaker does not agree with this decision. Several other republicans and most democrats also blasted the move. Despite the criticism, the president saying today he has no second thoughts for his decision, including the timing of the announcement. In the middle of a hurricane, even though it was a friday evening, i assume the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally. Sheriff joe is a patriot. Sheriff joe loves our country. Sheriff joe protected our borders. And sheriff joe was very unfairly treated by the obama administration, especially right before an election, an election that he would have won. So and he was elected many times. So, i stand by my pardon of sheriff joe. And i think the people of arizona who really know him best would agree with me. Reporter the president also not backing down from his threat to potentially shut down the government if congress doesnt approve funding for a wall along the u. S. Border with mexico. I hope thats not necessary. If its necessary, well have to see, but i hope its not necessary. The wall is needed from the standpoint of security. Reporter the president saying he hopes its not necessary to shut down the government over the wall. That wall on the southern border, but did not rule that out. He also said that he will ask congress for emergency funding. Were talking in the multi billions of dollars here, jim. He said that that would go forward smoothly, perhaps overlooking some of the history of many of these other bills that have been actually much more complicated to pass, like Hurricane Sandy, for example. He said there would be no government shut down over that. Its a separate issue. But in fact, jim, when Congress Comes back to washington next week, they have all of this to contend with. And this funding bill will be part of the entire spending bill that could lead to a government shut down if they dont agree. Jim . Jeff zeleny, thanks very much at the white house. Lets go to our panel now. Caitlyn collins, this is shaping up to be, this crisis, an enormous test of the trump presidency. Weve been discussing for sometime there will be a crisis of some sort, whenever it comes. Of course there have been other issues, whether it be terrorism or north korea. We spoke to congress two representatives who said there could be thousands, tens of thousands that could be still trapped. You have many more people impacted. What is President Trumps response so far, in your view . Well, i think that theyre trying to be incredibly engaged. Weve seen the president tweeting about it. We saw vicepresident mike pence doing a lot of interviews with local radio stations in texas today. So, i think they are trying to learn from the Bush Administration mistakes with hurricane katrina, by being on top of this, and having his fema administrator. I think the president is pretty thankful thats one person he does have confirmed and that he did pick someone who was pretty well backed up. But well see what happens when the president goes to texas tomorrow. As you know, just last august, he famously criticized barack obama for being on vacation in Marthas Vineyard when floods were pounding louisiana. He said that he wasnt going. He was playing golf. But really barack obama was saying he wasnt going because it would be too early. He didnt want to disrupt the Recovery Efforts that were happening there. So, i think people will be watching to see what happens when the president and the first lady travel there tomorrow. And also are the resources there to rescue the people who are in need. Manu, you cover the hill. You know the hill well. He made a promised to, were going to get the money through ts going to be bipartisan. He also stayed hes going to stand by his shut down threat over the wall. How do you rectify the two . Its not going to be that easy because one reason why emergency funding has been more of a challenge than has recently is because a lot of conservatives want to see spending cuts to offset the spending which is why that sandy relief package was voted against by a number of senators, a number of congressman, too, and senators from the texas delegation, including ted cruz. The question is do they insist on a spending package for what happened in texas that would include these offsets, because its very difficult to agree on spending cuts as we know. Thats one issue. And its very possible that this gets wrapped into the negotiations to keep the government open past september 30th. And i can tell you, almost certainly, the funding bill funding for the wall will not get approved in the United States senate. The democrats are almost universally opposed to this. A lot of republicans opposed to it so what does the president do . A lot of republicans think he will back down, but if he doesnt, then we can have a standoff, but well see. He may be forced to back down given the situation in texas. Putting the wall up against the suffering were seeing on the air right here now after that very public promise. In the midst of this, of course, on friday the president announces his reprieve, his pardon for joe arpaio. It was interesting, asked about it tonight, david, the president could have said, well, it was an important decision to make. Disconnected, in effect, from Hurricane Harvey, but he connected it. He said, in fact, i thought the ratings would be high. So, i announced it on friday on purpose, in effect. Yeah, almost trying to spin away from the narrative that started to build on friday night, that this was a big friday night news dump. Hes saying, no, in fact, i knew people would be tuned into tv to see coverage so thats when i wanted to announce it. Either way you slice it, jim, i think its tone deaf in this sense. The focus of the president , any president should be putting on a disaster of this magnitude is the disaster itself. The arpaio pardon, we could have a whole separate discussion about that. But whatever it is, it didnt have to happen on friday evening. It could have been done any other day. Its not like joe arpaio was being sent to jail on monday morning. So, i think he hasnt been sentenced yet. He hasnt been sentenced. So, i think its tone deaf and speaks poorly of the way the president handled this decision, you had seen Republican Opposition to this president on other moves in the past, but this one seemed to get a bit more public opposition, not just from sitting lawmakers and from, for instance, analysts on fox news or the d. C. Examiner, the washington examiner. How significant is it that this got more pushback among the president s various, at times, controversial decisions than previous ones. Does that matter to this president . It is significant. It was house Speaker Paul Ryan and senator john mccain, who is from arizona. And today when the president was saying why he pardoned him and expected to get great ratings on a friday night, he said the people of arizona love joe arpaio, which is not true. Hes a very controversial figure. When he was going to phoenix to hold his rally, the mayor asked him not to pardon him there that night because he didnt want it to inflame passions leading back to charlottesville. He was trying to bury it on a friday night. It happened after 6 00 p. M. And when he sent his directive to carry out his transgender ban in the military and with the out offer ouster of Sebastian Gorka as a hurricane was barrelling towards texas. One person we have not heard from mitch mcconnell. Hes been silent on this so far. The president will need him for a spending package. Manu, kaitlyn, thank you. More on the flooding in texas after a quick break. Its time for the biggest sale of the year with the new sleep number 360 smart bed. It senses your every move and automatically adjusts on both sides to keep you effortlessly comfortable. And snoring. Does your bed do that . The new 360 smart bed is part of our biggest sale of the year where all beds are on sale. 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The Hurricane Harvey disaster expanding with more pounding rains in the forecast overnight. The president and mrs. Trump are heading to texas tomorrow. In the midst of a busy news day, other news on the russia investigation and the New York Times reporting that a longtime associate of President Trump feel believe burning a trump tower in moscow would aid vladimir putin. In a 2015 email, trumps personal email was written to, our boy can become president of the usa and we can engineer it. I will get all of putins team to buy in on this. I will manage the process. Manu raju, quite an email there. I think this undercuts the Trump Campaign, there were no business dealings whatsoever with anybody in russia. They were very categorical about that. Also, weve learned that President Trump, michael cohen, tried to speak out to Vladimir Putins top righthand man in russia on one occasion to reach out about the trump tower project that had essentially stalled and we now know that from our own reporting there was an email turned over to congress saying that one of President Trumps top aides had been reached out to by a man from West Virginia to discuss a meeting between russians and the Trump Campaign about, quote, shared christian values which some folks believe in the intelligence world could be an effort to, by russians, find inroads into the Trump Campaign. We dont know if thats the case yet. It underscores the investigation and a lot of questions remaining and they are going through tons of emails. Remember, the denials throughout the trump team has not just been business dealings but communications. Both certainly the communications has been repeatedly be lilied by the fac. How does the president maintain this, as the revelation of the russia investigation and muellers Investigation Underway belie his denials . Right. How does he maintain that . Were really seeing the state of mind of his associates here, that it was a political advantage for them to be in contact with donald trump and it doesnt take a genius to know that a lawyer who is representing a candidate should not be contacting a Foreign Government to seek favor in this. Michael cohens lawyer David Swerdlick also spoke three times. He cannot claim to have no knowledge of what was being discussed. Right. Based on that reporting, he can claim that theres no knowledge. And again, were not talking about minor figures either on the trump side of the equation or the russian side of the equation. Michael cohen is a longtime lawyer and it doesnt mean that its a quid pro quo. Were a long way from connecting dots but it suggests that the president s narrative about nothing to see here, nothing was said, nothing was communicated. No trump tower. New york times reported that there was repeated contacts between a high level of the russians and the facts have shown that to be true. Im jim sciutto. Thanks very much for watching. Cnns special i can braing News Coverage continues tonight. Were hearing harrowing stories as nightfalls in the flooded areas. We turn to erin burnett outfront. Outfront next, breaking news, Hurricane Harvey regaining strength and getting ready to strike again. Thousands of rescues and tens and thousands expected in sheller its. Very latest in the catastrophic storm. Trump doubling down on pardoning joe arpaio saying that he did it when Hurricane Harvey hit because he thought the ratings would be high. And were live in pyongyang. Lets go outfront. Outfront tonight, the breaking news, bracing for another hit. Harvey right now is regaining strength, getting ready to strike again. Its an unprecedented