Coverage from across the hurricane zone. Jeff flock standing by in ft. Myers, florida. Well start in jackson have where Evacuation Orders are lifted and rebuilding is beginning. Peter . Reporter sandra, here in jacksonville, where there was city wide flooding, most of the problem came from the st. Johns river, which you can see has gone down considerably here in the san marco neighborhood, just south of downtown, which also flooded. You can see here, it may be difficult to see in the distance, but the water line is to here. And because the water has started to recede and disappear in some neighborhoods the mandatory Evacuation Order is lifted. Shelter population is down to about 1400 in jacksonville which is a lot less than it has been. But the problem is, and the reason some people will be in shelters for up to a week, if not longer, is because thats how long officials are saying it will take for this to go away. There is water just a few feet in to where it starts. It starts getting very deep. Ankle deep here. Gets to be knee deep. Looks to be about waist deep further down. We have seen some folks showing up. They want to get to their houses, see how the damage is. They have not been able to get in to this neighborhood which is one of 15 where people were putting white sheets or flags on their doors so they could be rescued. This is one of the places that got very specific attention as the water levels rose. The mayor told me he doesnt think that everybody realizes that they lived in an evacuation zone. This is one of them. And he doesnt think everybody realized that irma was going to hit so hard here because all the forecast model, all the talk, was about the storm going up west. As you can see, this should be a street that cars are driving through. It should be pretty busy with this many houses. There is nothing. Very few people have come back. We havent seen any personal vehicles try to get down here, only officials. Even the Fire Department when they came down stopped and then they walked. So theres still a lot of water here even though it is sunny, even though it is hot, even though the wind is gone, irma is not here, the water is going to be here for awhile, maybe aolt week or so before people can get back as a result of what the mayor called a category 3 storm surge, which means jacksonville got irmas water, not necessarily as much damage from the wind. Sandra . Sandra irony of a beautiful sunny florida day there with all that destruction. Peter ducey, thank you for your continued reporting on the ground there. All right. Our Fox Team Coverage from across the hurricane zone continues. Jeff flock joins us now live from ft. Myers, florida. Jeff . Reporter yeah. Just north of ft. Myers. I have got a sad scene for you here. If youre in line for gas, heres your headline. If youre coming back to ft. Myers or naples and youre coming by car, get your gas before you get to north ft. Myers. This is the line at the loves station. Runs back out on the exit. And then all the way in the other direction as well. I talked to a guy who said he had been waiting for two hours in line. This is the scene. I mean, it just snakes around and around. I want to get my get a word with a couple of these guys that have been waiting. Youve been waiting two hours . Yes, sir. Two hours. Reporter why wait this long . Are you tolly out . Yeah. Were preparing for the next two days. Reporter going back to where . Ft. Myers. Reporter gotcha. Wow. Good luck to you. Appreciate it, guys. Appreciate it, guyses. As you can see, always a good time in the gas line, sandra. At least theyve got gas here. Heck of a line. What can i tell you. Sandra jeff, youre so amazing covering these stories on the ground. Weve been watching your coverage for days. You get in there and you talk to these folks like we just witnessed. What else are you hearing from these people . How is their morale . Are they at least staying somewhat positive through all this . Reporter well, so far. But you know, it starts to get a little short. Here we saw, you got this huge line. You can go anywhere without the gas. Without the power. The other thing that makes tempers short, youre hot. If you dont have power at your house, youre not gonna stay cool. And this is florida. This is florida in september. Its very hot out here. Yesterday in the hurricane, same kind of thing. Youre cooled by the hurricane, but if youre standing out after it in the hot sun as were seeing right now, it gets unpleasant right quick. If youve got to wait in a line, at least you got your ac on. After that, you go back to your house. No power, no ac. Not a happy time. Reporter jeff, i heard you interviewed your own mother in the state of florida this morning. Hows she doing . Reporter shes in inglewood, florida. The track of the storm was right over her house. Shes 91. She gets around very well. She was a little surprised because i did surprise her this morning on the Stuart Varney show. Fortunately she was dressed in proper clothing. She is okay. She spent the hurricane in the bathtub. You know . But shes a tough one. She really is. She would go nowhere else. Lot of people like that. Lot of the elderly that live down here. Sandra i heard she has plenty of pictures of her very lovely son. Reporter bob here behind the camera, sadly when went into the house he goes to the wall. All parents, youll have it for your kids when they get older. Youll have their wall of fame. Youll be embarrassed by it. Exactly. Youll be embarrassed by it. But youll do that, too. Sandra my parents, they flip out the picture when i come visit to make it look like i have prominently featured all this time. Jeff, thank you very much for your coverage. Back to jacksonville, florida, where the city is moving from rescue to recovery mode after a storm surge. High tides caused catastrophic flooding. City lifting mandatory Evacuation Orders. Larry climber is district chief of special operations with the franklin tennessee Fire Department. His team was sent to help with irma Recovery Efforts. As i understand it, mr. Climber, people were ecstatic to see the good folks from your Fire Department come down and help out in florida. Yes. They were quite surprised to see us, but they didnt care. We had boats and men offering rides. They didnt matter whose boat it was in, we seen civilians when we got there, also. They were climbing on any boat they could get, just to get across the floodwaters. Sandra as i understand it, your department is the overnight shift. Theyre resting. They go back out at night . Yes. Well be back on shift at 8 p. M. Tonight until 8 a. M. Were working 12 hour operational periods. Daytime theyre doing wellness checks. Theyre going out covering streets. Night time were on call for 911 calls. Well get the police officer, whatever, across water, as needed, according to jacksonville fire. Were just here to assist them. Sandra what has the rescue situation been like . What sort of situations have you seen . Originally we were deployed to tallahassee. We were asked to move to jacksonville with the Florida Task Force five. And the original plan and action plan was to go to tampa and clear water. Then when the flooding started happening here, we were deployed with some boats. Then we had become a Swift Water Team because we have swift water technicians on our team also. We were asked to join jacksonville fire and their Task Force Team to get some people that were caught in the floodwaters by the st. John river. We were happy to help any way we could. Sandra how has that collaboration been . Your crew working with the jacksonville Fire Department . Obviously, were looking at the floodwaters behind you. The lack of power. How have you been able to communicate with them to make these mass evacuations, to make these rescues . They built up a mobile Central Command that we operate out of. They assign firefighters with us. They have communications. So were able to stay in Constant Contact and deploy anywhere they need us. We were just extra assets that they were needing to cover the zones that they had, which are growing rapidly on them. Sandra what do the men and women that have come down with you to jacksonville, what do they think of the conditions . Have they seen anything like this . Yes. We experienced flooding in nashville may of 2010. So this is nothing new to us. And we were happy to see folks from other parts of the country come help us. We realized really quick when the waters rising how small your department may be. You may think you can cover everything on a daily basis, but when Something Like this happen, a natural disaster, you realize how quickly overwhelmed you get. Sandra all right. Larry clymer of the franklin, tennessee, Fire Department, thank you for your service and all the help you and your department are bringing to that state. Thank you so much. Sandra all right. The White House Briefing we are awaiting, set to start. Were expected to learn more about government Recovery Efforts from Hurricane Irma. Well bring that to you live. Plus, Hillary Clintons new book hitting shelves today. It has some democrats concerned. Our Political Panel is here to weigh in just ahead. For the holidays, we get a gift for mom and dad. And every year, we split it equally. Except for one of us. I write them a poem instead and one for each of you too that ones actually yours. That one. Regardless, were stuck with the bill. To many, words are the most valuable currency. Last i checked, stores dont take words. Some do. Not everyone can be the poetic voice of a generation. I know, right . Such a burden. 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If you want to save fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance you switch to geico. Sir, we dont have tater tots. Its what you do. I will have nachos senators will be meeting on tax reform over the course of the afternoon and we will be quite busy. Sandra well, that was Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. Short, but interesting. Senators continuing to talk about tax reform, as we await the White House Press briefing. President trump is hoisting a dinner tonight to push that tax reform agenda. Joining us is simon rosenthal. Matt sclapp. Ill go to you first, matt. Going to Mitch Mcconnell there. Theres a lot to get done here. Theres a lot to get done and they dont have a lot of time to do it. Theres precious few legislative days left in the year. Grass roots conservatives across this country, they want to see some wins on these big issues. I think to fail to get a tax bill done would be pretty devastating. I think Mitch Mcconnell understands that, especially after the close, but failure to pass obamacare. Sandra lot to get done. Not gonna be done, simon. President s going to be hosting this dinner tonight talking to democrats, republicans. We hes going to have to clearly make his case. As matt said, theres a lot that has to get done by the enof the month. Im a little surprised hes not spending time wrapping up this legislative session before they move on to tax reform. I think the dinner tonight is an encouraging sign. I think the way that they did healthcare was a mistake. They locked democrats out. They tried to jam it down congress throat. There wasnt Committee Hearings. If we can go back to the way congress is supposed to work, have regular order and Committee Hearings and debate, democrats will have their opportunity to weigh in on the tax reform bill. And i think it will be better for the country if this comes out as a bipartisan process instead of the process of medical care. Sandra so, matt, are you optimistic that tax reform is not going to go by the way of healthcare reform . Yeah. I think they learned a lot. Theres nothing like having a little bit of experience. Donald trump and much of his team came into washington picking on the swamp. I think theyre getting a little smarter every day and they got to figure you got to have a roll out strategy, a travel plan. I think what simon said is right. I dont want to get fired for agreeing with simon, but i think hes right. Its a good healthy sign to use the legislative process. What you see in that, you have, votes everyone gets to see. You get to see the fight. The American People learn in that process. It helps to get it passed. Im hopeful they have a better plan and that were gonna get this done. Sandra you just wonder what that conversation is going to look like over dinner tonight. Ill ask you to bring out your crystal ball. Where does this all go and when does it get done, if it does . I think theres going to have to be look, theres no bill. Theres just sort of an outline and things that have been leaked. There has been virtually nothing from democrats on the stuff thats been leaked so far. I think were still in the very early stages of this. We got a long way to go. I think theres going to be a lot of push to finish up the stuff that needs to get done by tend of september. One of the things the democrats are going to remind republicans about is the economy that was handed over to donald trump was a pretty strong one. We got new Economic Data today from last year. We got to make sure that whatever we do is likely to make things better than set us back to the bush era that drove us off a cliff. Im not so sure everyone believes the obama economy was a strong one. There was growth, but it was pretty tepid. What were seeing with donald trump. If he keeps doing what hes doing this economy can positively take off. Thats what the American People expect. Sandra just the optimism alone has given a good boost to us. Totally. Sandra i want to talk ab this book, though, matt. Definitely. Sandra what what happened . If i had one wish from like a genie in a magic lamp, i would say one political wish it would be, could we get Hillary Clinton to just stay on the stage and keep talk. She blames the chief justice for her loss. She blamed white hillbilly force her loss. Shes now blaming Bernie Sanders for her loss. She can even get through an npr interview without sounding screechy and mean. Sandra simon we introduced you as a former Clinton Campaign adviser. Is it helpful to keep having Hillary Clinton in the picture . I dont think its a question of helping or hurting. Hillary has been a major figure in the life of this country for a generation. I think its important for someone whos played such a big role to explain to her supporters and the public about what she thinks did happen and what was an election that turned out very differently than we thought it was going to. I think this is a healthy thing. The book has been very well reviewed by the people who have read it and feel like shes been very honest and thoughtful. Im proud of her. I have known Hillary Clinton since 1991, early 1992. Shes had a rough year. I think shes coming out smiling. Shes going to reintroduce herself to the american public. She should write a sequel. Shes also made it very clear. She is never running for office ever again. Sandra i thought you were going to say, shes never going away. Okay. Never running for office. Its always fun to chat with you guys. Good to see you, simon, matt. Thank you. Sandra we are just minutes away from the White House Briefing and we will take you there live. Plus some Hurricane Irma victims returning home for the first time today to devastation. We are live from the badly hit florida keys from the very latest there. U. S. Forces preparing for joint military drills with south korean forces. We are live on the korean peninsula, next. In short these are by far the strongest measures ever imposed on north korea. They give us a much better chance to halt the regimes ability to fuel and finance its nuclear and missile programs. You dont let anything lkeep you sidelined. Come on thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein, and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. Ensure, always be you. Depend real fit briefs feature breathable, cottonlike fabric. In situations like this, theres no time for distractions. Its not enough to think im ready. I need to know im ready. No matter what lies ahead. Get a free sample at depend. Com. Fitting into my skinny jeans again . Thats cool. Feeling good in slim fit . Thats cool. Looking fabulous in my little black dress . Thats cool. Getting the body you want without surgery, needles, or downtime . Thats coolsculpting. Coolsculpting is the only fdacleared noninvasive treatment that targets and freezes away stubborn fat cells. Visit coolsculpting. Com today and register for a chance to win a free treatment. Sandra new time lapse video showing Hurricane Irma moving across miami beach from saturday into sunday. The scene starts with gray sky, then conditions deteriorate as day break, with heavy rain. The storm last left about 80 of homes in dade county without power. Many areas remain impassable because of downed trees as well as power lines. All right. Now to action on several different fronts in the north korea crisis with President Trump calling the new u. N. Sanctions, quote, nothing compared to what will ultimately have to happen. This comes on the heels of the deployment of the uss ronald reagan. And the fly by of b1 bombers and fig fighter jets. Greg palcott is live in south korea. What are the latest reactions on these sanctions . Reporter sandra, yeah. There were pretty Quick Reaction tuesday throughout the region to these sanctions voted on by the u. N. Security council. You can expect what the regime of kim jongun said that were fairly negative. One official calling them evil, saying south korea would inflict the greatest pain on the u. S. Promising a whole range of confrontation. The u. S. Allies in the region, south korea, japan, they were positive about them. China an russia, little more mealy mouthed saying they want talks. Analysts in the region say theyre not too sure, they didnt go far enough, they were looking for more incremental instead of more dramatic. Sandra greg, we understand you have been watching military maneuvers. Reporter absolutely. Thats why were down here on the coast, southeast south korean coastal town. We were watching both u. S. And south Korean Marines involved in joint live fire. Most of that stuff is real ammunition. Live fire exercise involving tanks, mortars, grenade launchers. You name it. All aiming at the objective of the end of this regime. Kind of a firing range. For all intents and purposes, the objective was north Korean Military target. Now, this is just one of several drills that the u. S. And the south Korean Military are involved with each year for the past many years. But now its a little bit more important. Partly its a show of force. Also partly its a way for these soldiers, these troops to get to know each other and know how to fight with each other just in case. Take a listen to a few of the troops we talked to. Were just doing some final training with the marines. What are they like to work with . Theyre all good guys. Its real training for them. They get a lot out of it. Continue to keep our allegience with them. Sandra sandra, everybody i spoke to tuesday avoided talking about politic, but its hard to avoid hearing the threat, seeing the action of the north korean regime just north of the dmz from this country. And the reason really why the folks are out there day after day. Back to you. Sandra all right. Greg palkot in south korea for you, thank you. Mandatory Evacuation Orders are lifted in parts of florida, and many are lining up to make their way back to the storm ravaged homes. Were following those Recovery Efforts from across the hurricane zone. This as officials begin to assess the extent of the damage from the unprecedented storm. This is the first time that our entire 27,000 square mile territory, 35 counties all in all have been impacted by Hurricane Irma or any storm. Your brain changes as you get older. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. For over 100 years like kraft has,natural cheese you learn a lot about what people want. Honey, do we have like a super creamy cheese with taco spice already in it . Oh, thanks. Bon appecheese okay. Oh, you yeah ht butch. butch growls at man hes looking at me right now, isnt he . Yup. butch barks at man butch is like an old soul that just hates my guts. laughs vo you can never have too many faithful companions. Introducing the allnew crosstrek. Love is out there. Find it in a subaru crosstrek. Sandra we are awaiting the White House Press briefing. It should be under way any moment now. Were going to go to that live when it begins. Possibly some questions about the latest in north korea will be of interest as well. We will go to that when it begins. Power restoration efforts under way for millions of customers affected by Hurricane Irma as officials begin allowing people to begin to return to their homes. Much of the florida keys are still without power and without and will likely remain that way without both for quite some time. Phil keating is live from a village in the florida keys with more. Phil . Reporter sandra, its always fun to come home. Always a great experience. Unless, of course, its this week in the florida keys and youre coming home to your home and what youre seeing is what Hurricane Irma unleashed with 100 to 130 mile an hour winds and a storm surge of five to eight feet. Storm surge pushed all of this debris, including the little red car, personal items, sign, coconut, 200 yards from the beach up to the overseas highway. Officially this is a scenic highway, but its not that scenic because your entire route down to key west and islamorada is now littered with debris. Early this morning, hours before sun rise, hundreds of cars lined up in florida city, the last stop before you descend into key largo. Finally 7 00 a. M. The state patrol unleashed a wave of residents to finally get home after a week of frustrated evacuation. One of the people that came back to their home was dave sporanski. He lived in a trailer for years. Hes been overnighted in boca raton for the past couple days. Turns out his trailer was in a sea of 80 of a trailer park thats now destroyed. Heres his reaction to what he saw. Just stunned. How do you recover . How do you start over like that . Plus my boats probably shot. Total loss for me. Reporter worse than you thought . Absolutely. Absolutely. Reporter now that the barricades have been dropped, heres what youre seeing as well as residents. Convoys of Law Enforcement coming in. Weve also seen convoys of utility companies. Thats promising for residents hoping to return here. Weve also seen convoys of fema trucks, Emergency Response teams are on the scene. So is the humanitarian effort. Theres a big convoy. These people coming in today, most of them, majority of them, are coming in for a few hours, driving to their homes and property, seeing how bad it is. In some cases totally totalled. In other cases its clean up able. But lot of them are going to head back out because theres so much debris everywhere. Power iffy, cell phones iffy. No one can drive over the last 17 miles toward key west because the Florida Department of transportation still has not officially ruled those remaining bridges safe and sound, sandra. Sandra thats got to be frustrating as well, phil. Being told you cant even look at what the damage is to your property. Phil keating, thank you for the update. Hurricane irma ripping through marco island. The powerful storm causing three to four foot surges and leaving behind a scar on nearly every home on nearly every block. A good portion of the island is still without power and water. For more, lets bring in marco island chief of police. Chief, thank you. I know youre extremely busy, but can you please give us an update on the situation there in marco island. Yes. Thank you, sandra. Were in post Recovery Efforts now. We have opened up our bridges to citizens and visitors and Business Owners to come onto the island. Were in the process of restoring power and water which are without. Certain areas do have power, but were trying to restore that. Were beginning that recovery process. Sandra what are you hearing from people and Business Owners that they do make that return and assess the damage . Yeah. Its very emotional for them. Quite an amount of damage. Lot of homes throughout the island. Were working real hard to restore that. We have our city all opened. Our Police Department is fully staffed with additional personnel throughout the state. Sandra chief, what does the recovery look like there . This considering youre still telling us that power is down, water still out. What is this recovery effort look like and the timing of it all . Well, you know, were making every effort to provide our citizens with all the communication necessary. Weve been working with different groups. Salvation army is offering to come down and provide meals for our citizens. Were just starting to open up some supermarkets and Grocery Stores on the island. Were trying to begin that recovery process. Its going to happen. We got a Great Community effort. We pulled together and were gonna get it back. Were strong. Sandra chief schettino, i think we have a picture of a vehicle stored inside a parking garage during the hurricane. Your Police Department tweeted this out saying hash tag sad, hash tag heavy, hash tag marco island, hash tag collier county. I would imagine this is just one of many stories coming out of this. You still have a lot to see. You probably even had a chance to survey all of the damage. Were continuing to do that. Theres plenty of vehicles on the island. They were still damaged by blowing debris, falling debris. Its just something were dealing with and were moving on. Sandra youre keeping a very optimistic tone. Im sure thats needed. Chief al schettino, chief of police, thank you for coming on with us. Thank you. Sandra all right. Fox news alert. You are looking at the White House Press briefing room. Briefing is expected to begin at any moment. Of course, we are going to want to get an update from the white house on irma and the conditions down in florida. Any update will be wanted. Any response to north korea and those sanctions. Nikki haley saying this is the strongest action thats been taken ever. We will want to listen to what happens there at the White House Press briefing about to begin. Meanwhile, we want to get another update on irma. The pentagon mobilizing our military to help in Hurricane Irma relief effort, deploying dozens of helicopters to disaster areas since the hurricane made landfall. The air force and coast guard also Running Missions that include dangerous search and rescue operations. Matt finn is live at Homestead Air reserve base right outside miami. Matt . Reporter sandra, we just got off an ma60 with a navy air crew. They flew us over the keys which have been devastated. Our photographer said theres extreme destruction, so mangled and piled together, foul odor, homes and bridges destroyed. Right now the u. S. Navy, uss Abraham Lincoln is stationed about 25 miles off the keys and they are primarily looking for victim, sending choppers out around the clock. So far they have not had to recover any humans. But what they are doing is dropping off water in huge pallets in five gallon jugs. It is salt water thats being purified on the Abraham Lincoln and delivered by air to victims of irma. Theyve been here, the navys been here since saturday. Theyre going to stay in the area until needed. Its an emotional mission for these guys because theres a lot of men and women on board who have family in the islands and the keys. They are responding to calls 24 hours. They just want to help anybody in that area get back on their feet, sandra. Sandra all right, matt. Unbelievable footage that you are bringing to us. This is fresh video just in from that trip up there. Thank you for that. Im sure that all of this continues to help with Recovery Efforts in assessing the damage in florida. Thank you very much, sir. North korea reacting to the tough new u. N. Sanctions. Whats the next step . What is the next step . What will it be in this showdown . We will see if any, if we get any reaction or any indication from the white house at that press briefing that is about to begin at any moment. We will go there live when it happens. Its ok that everybody ignores me when i drive. Its fine. Because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months im accident free. And i dont share it with mom right, mom . righhht. Safe driving bonus checks. Only from allstate. Switching to allstate is worth it. Sandra the White House Press briefing has begun. Lets listen. Senators donnelly, hatch, manchin and toomey for a dinner at the white house to Work Together to achieve real tax reform that allows americans to keep more of their hard earned dollar. Secretary mnuchin and director cohn are on the hill to con their conversation with key members in this important policy push. The Vice President also attended Senate Republicans weekly policy lunch today and is meeting with house leaders on the upcoming legislative agenda. On issues the president is reaching across the aisle and to cut deals that help the American People. The president truly believes, as he often says, that in order to succeed and grow, we must work as one team, one people and one american family. Finally speaking of family, i wanted to say a big congratulations to eric and laura trump on the birth of their son eric luke trump. We all look forward to meeting him soon. With that ill take your questions. John . Sarah, on tax reform, mark short today said that one thing he learned from obamacare, you can even rely on your own party for votes across the finish line. But at the same time you havent really been able to get much bipartisan support either. With that in mind, what is the president hoping to do tonight with this bipartisan dinner . I think it starts the conversation. Start talking about things that we all agree on. As i have said many times, i think most everyone can agree that americans should keep more of their money than the government. They spend it far better than the government can. I think thats something that is a common goal that a lot of people want to come together on. I think by nature of them sitting down with the president , thats a very good first start. Im not gonna get ahead of the dinner tonight, but i think that it shows and is a tkpwraeult indicator that we have a big agenda and a very ambitious agenda this fall. We want to Work Together to make sure we can get as much of that done as possible. Looks like you might be able to get bipartisan buy in on lowering taxes for corporations, middle tax cuts. Democrats are drawing the line in tax cuts for the highest income earners. Can the president cut some kind of deal with him that satisfied them . Is there an unbridgeable gulf there . I think the president has demonstrated both in his Business World and as president that he can make deals and thats certainly what hes looking to do. Hes going to work hard to make sure we get the best deal possible on tax reform. That starts with things like tonight, having this conversation, moving that ball forward, working bipartisan support from both sides. Hes expressed empathy for people who live in high tax states like new york and california. If the administration goes forward and Congress Approves a plan that eliminates the state and local taxes, theoretically people could see their tax increase, notdy crease. Is the administration committed to doing something that helps people in those high tax states . Look, again, were looking to work with congress to make sure we get the best deal possible for all americans across the board. That includes people in high tax states. Matthew . Its being reported the malaysian Prime Minister stayed at the trump hotel. Did that come up in conversations with the president during their meeting . Is it problematic for someone under doj investigation to be supporting the president s for Profit Company . Im not sure about if that came up. Im not aware that that was ever discussed. We certainly dont book their Hotel Accommodations so i couldnt speak to the personal decision they made about where to stay here in dc. Any sort of attempt to curry favor with the president . No i dont. [ inaudible question ] yesterday you said you thought they had only spoken once. Would you speak more regularly than maybe you were led to believe . Can you give us an idea of how often theyre talking . I dont think they speak that frequently. Im aware of like two conversations they had and nothing onthat. Not every two, three days. Im only aware of two conversations that have taken place. One other topic. Why hasnt President Trump called the president of mexico in the wake of that earthquake to offer condolences . They have a call scheduled today thats taking place i believe within this hour and well have a readout for you this afternoon. Maggie . Is the president aware thats okay. Everybody likes to ask the same question many times. Is the president aware that steve bannon said firing james comey was the biggest mistake in political history . Whether he is or not, Everybody Knows where the president stands on that issue. The president is proud of the decision that he made. The president was 100 right in firing james comey. He knew at the time that it could bad for him politically, but he also knew and fell he had an obligation to do what was right and do what was right for the American People an certainly the men and women at the fbi. I think theres no secret comey, by his own selfadmission, leaked privileged government information weeks before President Trump fired him. Comey testified that an fbi agent engaged in the same practice theyd face serious repercussions. I think he set the stage for himself. His actions were improper and likely could have been illegal. He leaked memos to the New York Times phep politicized an investigation by signaling he would exonerate Hillary Clinton before he ever interviewed her or other key witnesses. Hes very happy with the decision he made. I think hes been fully vindicated by a lot of those things, and knowing it was the raoeu one. When will the president be going to florida . We hope to have some of that ironed out today. Well keep you posted on that travel. John . Sarah, two questions. Did the on going doj probe, did that come up in conversation with the president today . And then secondly, different matter. Next week, of course, the president will be going to the united nations. President s usually have a theme or idea they want to get across in their speech or individual leader meeting. What will President Trumps be . Im not aware of the specific conversation coming up in tod todays meeting. In terms of the u. N. General assembly, we will plan to outline some plans in more details about that trip attend of this week as we have done in past practice on those types of things. We will certainly do that. You said that actions of james comey could have been illegal. You the other day referred to potential false testimony. The doj is not commenting. But i would ask you, did the president encourage the doj to prosecute comey . Thats the job of the department of justice. Is that something you would like to see . I think if theres ever a moment where we feel someones broken the law, particularly if theyre the head of the fbi, thats something that should be looked at. My second question on north korea. Is this administration determined that north korea tested a Hydrogen Bomb . We are not sure. Yesterday you were talking about james comey, you mentioned he gave false testimony. I hear you say that again today. Do you still stand by that . I did say that, yeah. Sorry. Separately, when it comes to steve bannon, wall street general reported they spoke the other night. Do you know if they discussed the interview and has the president said it was something he didnt like . He hasnt said whether hed like to discuss that, at least not to me on that front. John . Thank you, sarah. Question if i may. Going back to johns original question regarding the Christian Science monitor breakfast this morning. Mark short was also asked about whether the president still supports senator luther strange. When i asked you that question you said legal constraints kept you from answering. He said this morning that hes standing by senator strange an he fully supports him in the role of september 26th. Is that the white house official position . Again, the president has liberties that i dont. Legally, im not allowed to comment on specific political elections that are on going. Im not going to weigh in on that conversation. Im sorry, im not in a place where i can comment directly from behind the podium about elections that are upcoming. My other question is a political question as well. Two United States senators from nevada and arizona face spirited primary challenges. State representative justin simmons, strong supporter of the president in pennsylvania declared his candidacy friday. Will the white house back challengers to sitting republicans in the primarys . Again, im not going tpo weigh in on elections that are on going from the podium. Thats something that the hatch act prohibits me from being able to do. The president s u. N. Sanction resolution was not a big deal . He said this is a small step and part of the process. But look, i think that the ultimate goal here is a denuclearized korean peninsula. Were going to continue taking those small steps. At the same time, we know the very parties that voted to do this all have to do more. The president s called on them to do more. We con to hope they will. Is the president comfortable with his son donald trump jr. Testifying publicly up on capitol hill . Im sorry . Is the president comfortable with his son, donald trump jr. , testifying publicly on capitol hill . Senator feinstein said shed like to see that happen. I think she said shed just like to see him testify. This administrations been very clear. Were going to be cooperative with this process. We know there was nothing improper took place. No wrongdoing. Were ready to see this come to its full conclusion and everybody else to see that as well. President would be comfortable with his son testifying . President is comfortable with being fairly transparent and cooperating as weve done every day since its started and we will continue to do. Jared kushner was there any discussion of him stepping aside leaving the administration . No, no conversation that im aware of. No presentation as both the president s attorneys have gone on record to say. David . Shor also said the administration would not tie funding for a border wall i believe he said it would be premature to determine whether or not that would happen. Was that the impression that the administration would be open to a bill for the Daca Recipients that would legalize them . I think what were saying is what weve been saying. We havent mixed messages here. We want responsible Immigration Reform. That hasnt changed. The president s very much committed to the wall. Were also committed to some other principles that weve laid out. None of those have changed. Just a couple questions if i could about the dinner couple . Your efforts on tax reform. You mentioned guests this evening, three democratic senators, donnelly, senators manchin all up for reelection next year. Do you know how those particular guests were chosen, first of all . I think just by their willingness to want to sit down and have these kfrg conversations with the president. Something we are looking forward to and hopefully will be very productive steps forward in the process, having a very ambitious legislative agenda for the fall. Indicated he was open to talking about tax reform. Does that mean he perhaps could be a future guest of the president for dinner . Will the president reach out to senator tester in that regard . The administrations been clear. We want to sit down with anybody whos willing to be serious about real tax reform for this country, about providing real relief for middle class america and actually looking to make bold changes. Those are the conversations we want to have. And i would imagine if senator tester wants to be involved in those and is serious about it, we would be willing to have that conversation with him. Campaign trail, president said he would support amnesty regarding daca. Why the change of heart . I think the president has spoken out very clearly that he wants us to make this decision based on a variety of factors, but the number one thing is he wants responsible Immigration Reform. Part of that is including that in the process. Trey . What convinced him to want responsible Immigration Reform . I think the president s always wanted responsible Immigration Reform. Something that is important for the country moving forward. He also wants to make sure american jobs are protected, american citizens are protected. Thats why it cant be just one piece, but comprehensive. Trey . Earlier you referenced two things about former fbi director, james comey. First you said the leaking of information likely could have been illegal. You went on to Say Something that could be looked at. Are you encouraging, is this white house encouraging the department of justice to investigate the former fbi director james comey for leaking information . No. This is anybody that breaks the law, whatever that process is that needs to be followed should certainly be looked at. If they determine that thats the course of action to take, then they should certainly do that. Im not here to ever direct doj in the actions that they should take. Follow up on an earlier question. Lot of conversations about the Midterm Election in 2018. Will he be supporting specific candidates . Will he be using his support as leverage to have those members of congress import his domestic agenda . Look, i think the president is going to support the agenda and accomplishing things that help america. But in terms of specific elections and whether or not hes going to weigh in, i said im not going to be able to weigh in from the podium on that. Can you talk about the scott meeting tomorrow evening and what is the crux of it . Also, supposed to be about charlottesville, africanamerican perspective, what would you say . Im not going to get ahead of their meeting. I will be happy to provide information after the meeting is over. At this point i think it is a conversation that senator scott wanted to have with the president. The president wanted to have the Opportunity One on one with the senator. Im not going to get into anything beyond that at this point. Is the conference happening or it is going forward, it is happening and will take place at the white house. Last question. How does the president receive and get calls from his cell phone . I know it sounds trite. But theres a lot of controversy about how the president is being handled by general kelly and how he keeps certain people in, certain people out. You hear steve bannon that he hasnt been called. He said he talked to the president several times. Youre not aware of that. Leads us to believe the conversation can you talk about the use of his cell phone . Theres stories about his cell phone use a lot of things that you guy have written that are controversial. The president has access i mean, he can make calls from a land line,