Good morning. Its friday, august 25th. It is now a category two hurricane. The storm is expected to become a category three by the time it makes landfall, making it the strongest storm to hit texas since 2008. Now, the National Hurricane center is warning of lifethreatening and devastating flooding and has issued storm surge warnings for are parts of the texas coast. Of the 35 inches of rain, they are also possible in parts of Southeast Texas through next week. Mandatory evacuation orders are in effect for multiple cities and counties in texas and louisiana where harvey is threatening to be the biggest storm to hit new orleans since katrina 12 years ago. Nbc meteorologist bill karins joins us now with the latest. Obviously, a very scary situation. People heeding those evacuation orders, but this is really a race against time. Todays story will be the storm surge and the winds and how much damage they can do. Then over the weekend it will be about the rain and how this epic historic rain event plays out. Here is the storm. We have it on radar now. You can see the eye. It wobbles here, and thats very typical. We will be continuing to watch that general track motion towards the northwest, towards the Corpus Christi area. The first significant rain bands have now just moved on shore. Thats slapping the coast now with the first gust thats getting peoples attention, and then as you get to the Hurricane Force winds, thats really a small section right in here. Heres how it looks on satellite imagery. The brighter the red shows you the deeper the convection, the deeper the thunderstorms. This is the latest information. 105mileperhour winds. Thats a strong category two. To get up to a category three, it has to get 10 Miles Per Hour stronger. The forecast from the Hurricane Center, this is the new update just in, they have to become a category three major hurricane this afternoon by 1 00 p. M. Landfall sometime this line is 1 00 a. M. That landfall will be around 10 00 p. M. To midnight just to the east of Corpus Christi. Major category three hurricane at landfall. All the concerns we have going into last night remain today. There are no surprises. Thats really bad news for Southeast Texas. Oh, unbelievable. Thank you, bill. Joining us now from corpus chris christi, texas, where the eye of the storm is heading, nbc news correspondent Maya Rodriguez for us. I know you are on the ground for us. Give us the lay of the land. How are the residents preparing for the storm . What are you seeing out there . Well, just within the last hour the winds really started picking up here. We have one of the bands move through within the last hour, and thats not the only sign that a major storm is approaching here. Weve seen people filling up their cars, getting out of town. As we were making our way into corporate yis christy last night, we saw a steady stream of cars and rvs getting out of this area. Of course, we stopped at a store in houston on our way over here to get supplies ourselves, and we can tell you that there were a number of people stocking up on essential items for three, four, five days. Also, no water in that store. Now, here in Corpus Christi, they right now are under voluntary evacuations. You might be aware that Corpus Christi sits on a bay. Theres a Barrier Island just to the east of here. Right now those evacuations remain voluntary, but this is a vulnerable place when it comes to a storm like this. Heres what the mayor had to say about it. Take a listen. The only thing predictable about the storm is that its unpredictable. We are up to and almost at the threshold of mandatory evacuations. We are not going to cross that line right now. The is he is doing assisted evacuates. That started at 8 00 a. M. Today. Zbliefrmt one of the biggest issues when it comes to hurricane preparation is when residents dont heed those warnings to get out. The mayor was not mincing his words. He wants people to get out of dodge. Turning now to washington after seven months of one Party Control in washington. President trump is facing more than a stalled first year agenda. Now our series of looming fiscal deadlines that threaten the operation of the government itself. The Treasury Department says the debt ceiling must be raised by september 29th for the government to make its payments. Congress has until september 30th to pass funding through both chambers. Otherwise, the government runs out of money on october 1st. Yesterday the president tweeted that Republican Leaders on capitol hill had missed an opportunity accusing Mitch Mcconnell and paul ryan of ignoring his request to the raising of the debt ceiling to a Veterans Affairs bill, alleging they have allowed democrats to hold it up could have been so easy. Now a mess. Even though speaker ryan was named in the tweet, he told cnbc that he did not see it as a criticism. Take a listen. I dont really take it as going after me. Look, thats an option we were looking at, but the va deadline came up, and we werent able to do that then. Im really not that worried about this. We have plenty of options ahead of us, and we will pass a debt limit increase before we hit the debt limit. After hearing repeal and replace for seven years, he failed. That should never have happened. The White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders denied any friction. Sarah, there seems to be some acrimony. How do you repair the relationships going into the fall sf. I think the relationships are fine. There are going to be some policy differences, but there are a lot of shared goals, and thats what were focused on. Were disappointed that obama care, they failed to get it repealed and replaced, but at the same time President Trump has worked with leader mcconnell to reach out to other members and to work on those shared goals, and well continue to do that when the senate comes back from recess. A Senior Administration official tells nbc news that President Trump is serious about his tuesday night threat of shutting down the government unless the spending bill includes funding for a wall along the mexican border. The president made a similar threat last spring, but relent odd a shortterm funding bill to avoid a shutdown at the end of his first 100 days. This as the white house repea d repeatedly dodged the president had abandoned his campaign plenl that mexico would pay for that wall. How is that not a concession from this white house that mexico isnt actually going to pay for this wall and american taxpayers will . Again, this is something the president is committed to. He is committed to protecting american lives and doing that through the border wall is something thats important. Its a priority. Were moving forward with it. He is not saying that mexico is going to pay for it. He hasnt said theyre not either. Just for some reference, the last time the government shut down under one party rule in washington was during the carter administration. The white house is downplaying the discord as fissures seem to be deepening between President Trump and members of his party. White House Press Secretary sarah huck kwabee sanders told reporters yesterday that the relationships are, in fact, fine, but she also hit back at comments made by senator bob corker earlier this month in which he criticized the president. The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the confidence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. He also recently has not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation. I think thats a ridiculous and outrageous claim and doesnt dignify a response from this podium. Meanwhile, senator jeff flake, an open critic of the president as well, says its possible President Trump may face a primary challenge in 2020. Do you think the president is going to get a primary opponent in 2020 the way things are headed right now and then well let you go . I dont know. I dont know. I think that certainly depends on him. I think he could govern in a way that he wouldnt, but i think that the way the direction he is headed right now just kind of drilling down on the base rather than trying to expand the base, you know, i think he is inviting. Joining us now from washington, capitol Hill Reporter for the hill and our good friend molly hooper. Good to have you back with us this morning. Since congress failed to Pass Health Care reform last month, it seems that President Trumps relationship with republicans has been at least steadily deteriorating when you look at some of the comments like we just heard from senator flake as well as senator corker. What does this mean for his agenda Going Forward . I mean, he does not have any winds on the legislative agenda side. Is there any way he can repair these divisions so out in the open with people like Mitch Mcconnell and others . Emmoo, its a head shaker, right . Obviously, its supposed to be kind of a sleepy time here in d. C. It seems like everybody keeps getting jolted awake. There are a couple of things going on here. Lindsey graham, of all senators, sort of came to the president s defense yesterday when he said, you know, i can understand why President Trump feels frustrated. It has been seven years, and i can understand that he is speaking out and, you know, calling out republicans who have been talking about repeal and replace for seven years, but havent done everything they can to pass it. Thats one thing. On the other hand, Lindsey Graham said but, you know what, the president needs to get an agenda and stick to it. Right now we feel like we dont know where were being led. This is the tweets and the thiss and thats. Its more a matter of how what about trump trying to get votes during the health care bill, and something that turned off a lot of House Republicans was when he would make threats against certain lawmakers. I think if the president can learn sort of how he works with individual members of congress and how he goes about winning support for his agenda, that will be key. Lets talk about this border wall, molly. You like how i built it up there . So we heard Sarah Huckabee sanders dodging questions about whether mexico is actually going to pay for the wall. We remember from the phone conversations that were leaked a couple of months or so, i believe, between the president and mexicos president basically saying im not going to pay for the border wall. Mexico is not going to pay for this border wall. Now the president threatening to shut down the government if we cant figure out a way to pay for that border wall, if the u. S. Government cant figure out a way to pay for that border wall. How will this affect his base . In some, way, shape, or form the Trump Administration is able to sort of say it in a way which is based as, okay, we get it. We get it. Yeah. No big deal. Youll pay for it down the road. Well get him to pay for it. Tricky math. Isnt that what enron got in trouble for . Just kidsing. Thats want going to happen immediately, and trump needs to build some form of that wall immediately. In the immediate future, the republicans are going to have to find a way to get noen e money in there for that border wall and we only time will tell. A few months one month time will tell if they can do that by the time they need to find the government. Theres a whole plan to have sort of viewing panels and a walking area. I mean, theres just some major tourist attractions. You pay for it with quarters. Molly hooper, talk to you again in a bit. Thanks, molly. Excellent. Okay. New polling shows that health care is still a top issue for american voters. In a new university poll, 22 Rank Health Care as the most important problem facing the country. 19 say race relations, 15 pick the economy, 12 say terrorism, and 9 said foreign policy. Immigration sits at just 6 . By an 11 point margin, voters want change in next years congressional election. 51 favoring the democrats for control. Among independent voters, the choice is 49 for democrats, 36 for republicans. Approval of congress is nearing the single digits. Just 10 among voters. 83 disapprove. And the latest gallop tracking poll puts President Trumps job Approval Rating at 34 . All right. Still ahead, tigers catcher james mccann gets rocked in the head during a chaotic game in detroit. More on the status of Hurricane Harvey has a storm heads towards the gulf coast. Those stories and more when we come back. Shawn evans its 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. Its our back to school beeone cent evente. At office depot office max. 10 pack pens, one cent. Composition notebooks,scissors, and plastic folders all one cent each hurry to office depot office max. Taking care of business. Beggin skinny strips or beggin black label . Theres two . what a delicious dilemma beggin strips premium edition. Twwwoooooo . . with real meat as ingredient one. Everything to your liking . Mmm mmmmm. Beggin strips premium. Becaussssseeee beggin ouch new bandaid® brand skinflex™ bandages. Our best bandage yet it dries almost instantly. Better . Yeah. Good thing because stopping never crosses your mind. Bandaid® brand. Stick with it™ tand the alzheimersf association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Visit alz. Org to join the fight. Thats why at comcast were continuing to make4 7. Our services more reliable than ever. Like technology that can update itself. An advanced fibernetwork infrustructure. New, more Reliable Equipment for your home. And a new culture built around customer service. It all adds up to our most Reliable Network ever. One that keeps you connected to what matters most. Skblienchts Hurricane Harvey is making a beeline for the south coast. Bill karins will tell us how things are progressing there. You have sometime to look over new information from the Hurricane Center. Going all the way back to 2005. One of the longest drauts could end. I think at landfall, possibly near to the east of Corpus Christi after midnight tonight. Now, heres where it gets crazy. This is 3 00 a. M. These are all our different computers. Slows down significantly. Then watch what our computers do. This is 7 00 a. M. Sunday. Its still lingering here. This goes all the way out until tuesday to wednesday. Flash flood watches for 11 million people, and this is whats going to make this an historic storm. This is the expected rainfall forecast from the National Weather service over the next seven days. Thats 20 inches of rain in pink. Huge area. This little x there is where theyre thinking there could be 25 inches of rain. Thats whats going to cause our historic flooding problems. Again, thats where were telling everyone from houston to victoria and Corpus Christi, your concern goes to the middle of next week. Billion, lets hope everyone there heeds those warnings, bill. We want a very big tax cut, but cannot do that until we keep our promise to repeal and replace the disaster known as obama care. We can get this bill passed in some form so that we can pass massive tax reform. Do you have to do health care before tax reform . When i speak to business managers, they say tax reform is so much more impactful to moving the needle on economic growth. You cant put any savings sbu the tax cuts. I think after health care, taxes are going to be so easy. Really. The white house official emphasizes that they never committed to releasing their own proposal. It comes at a frought moment between the white house and the hills top leaders with little of the president s agenda coming to fruition so far. Still ahead, a preview of the boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Connor Mcgregor, and thats not the only thing well be talking about in sports. My a1c wasnt were it needed to be. So i liked when my doctor told me that i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals by activating whats within me with onceweekly trulicity. Trulicity is not insulin. It helps activate my body to do what its suppose to do, release its own insulin. I take it once a week, and it works 24 7. It comes in an easytouse pen and i may even lose a little weight. Trulicity is a onceweekly injectable prescription medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. Trulicity is not insulin. It should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take trulicity if you or a Family Member has had medullary thyroid cancer, if youve had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to trulicity. Stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have a lump or swelling in your neck, severe pain in your stomach, or symptoms such as itching, rash, or trouble breathing. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis, which can be fatal. Taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin, increases your risk for low blood sugar. Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite and indigestion. Some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may make existing kidney problems worse. Onceweekly trulicity may help me reach my blood sugar goals. With trulicity, i click to activate whats within me. If you want help improving your a1c and blood sugar, activate your within. Ask your doctor about onceweekly trulicity. Tand the alzheimersf association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Visit alz. Org to join the fight. Its our back to school beeone cent evente. At office depot office max. 10 pack pens, one cent. Composition notebooks,scissors, and plastic folders all one cent each hurry to office depot office max. Taking care of business. My bladder leakage was making me feel like i couldnt spend time with my grandson. Now depend fitflex has their fastest absorbing material inside, so it keeps me dry and protected. Go to depend. Com get a coupon and try them for yourself. Benjamin. Touchdown, occasion care. Dead middle of the field. Third down. Down field. Smith is there. He has it for the touchdown. Welcome back. Some nfl action as week three of the preseason kicked off last night. Time now for sports. We begin with Major League Baseball and a brucing day in detroit where clashes between the yankees and the tigers lead to eight ejections to comerica mark as gary sanchez is pegged at the plate in the fifth inning. In comes new yorks chapman. Before he can throw a pitch cabrera starts joining with yank yes catcher and words turn into blows. The pair spark an allout brawl as players from both dugouts pour to the field to join the scrum while several punches are thrown and landed, no one seems to have been seriously injured. Both cabrera and roman also ejected there. The heat seems to die down for a little bit. Then the plunking continues in the bottom of the seventh. New yorks tigers catcher james mccann luckily, he is okay. Detroits Allison Wilson pegs sending teams out on to the field one more time leading to more pushing and shoving. Wilson is ejected, and so is tigers manager brad osmuss. The tigers end up beating the yankees 106 as both teemsz nam to hear what discipline will be handed down by league officials. It looks like its better than the fight this weekend. Speaking of fights, boxing and ufc fans are gearing up for saturdays big bout across somehowdown between ufc fighter Connor Mcgregor and Floyd Mayweather. Its setting up to be one of the most watched events in combat sports history. Being called a money fight with even a special belt to be presented to the winner by the wbc of 3. 3 pounds of gold, 3,300 diamonds, it 600 sapphires and 160 emeralds. Give me that belt and ill go home. The action goes down on saturday in las vegas at 9 00 p. M. Eastern. The yankees and detroit giving a nice little preview to a big fight weekend. Whats up if we can put that picture up of the two of them again, whats up with mcgregors pose there . That doesnt look like a boxing pose. How come theres never Dudes Holding still ahead, Widespread Evacuations are underway in text technical as Hurricane Harvey heads towards the gulf coast. Well go live to one city in the storms path. Plus, new reporting on how john kelly is trying to take voluntarily control of a white house in disarray. Well be right back. Whats the story behind Green Mountain coffee and fair trade . Lets take a flight to colombia. This is boris calvo. Boris grows mindblowing coffee. And because we pay him a fair price, he improves his farm and invest in his community to make even better coffee. All for a smoother tasting cup. Green mountain coffee. So find a venus smooth that contours to curves, the smoother the skin, the more comfortable you are in it. Flexes for comfort, and has a disposable made for you. Skin smoothing venus razors. My bladder leakage was making me feel like i couldnt spend time with my grandson. Now depend fitflex has their fastest absorbing material inside, so it keeps me dry and protected. Go to depend. Com get a coupon and try them for yourself. And its also a story mail aabout people go to depend. Com and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you tand the alzheimersf association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Visit alz. Org to join the fight. Intrzero alcohol™. Ine® it delivers a whole mouth clean with a less intense taste. So it has the bad breath germkilling power of this. With the lighter feel. Of this. Try listerine® zero alcohol™. Welcome back, everybody. Bill karins joining us with the latest on Hurricane Harvey now barrelling towards texas in just a moment. First, a look at the other top stories were going to be following this morning. Last night it is says u. S. Nae recovered the remains of a second u. S. Sailor who disappeared when the u. S. S. Mccain collided with a tanker ship monday. Those of 26yearold Electronics Technician and third class officer louis doyan of connecticut. Officials had already recovered the body of 22yearold l Electronics TechnicianKenneth Aaron smith. The Recovery Mission continues. The state department now says that at least 16 americans were targeted in that socalled acoustic attack linked to the u. S. Embassy in cuba. Earlier this month the officials said five americans were targeted by some sort of device that led to hearing loss. Were told the incident started as far back as late 2016. More than a year after the Obama Administration reopened the embassy there in havana. And the man accused of killing one person and holding several others hostage inside a busy South Carolina restaurant is in Critical Condition after being shot by police. It happened during the lunchtime rush hour in downtown charleston yesterday. Officials say the suspect was a disgruntled diswasher who had been fired. The victim was a chef. Were told no one else was hurt. Lets start with our big story this morning. Residents in texas, they are bracing now for Hurricane Harvey, which is barrelling straight towards them. Bill karins has been tracking it for us. Give us the latest here. No surprises overnight. Thats bad news. Were expected to be just as bad as when you went to sleep last night. Were seeing the storm clearly on radar. There is the eye. That will do the most wind damage when it comes on shore about midnight tonight. Its a small little eye. Were at 105mileperhour winds. We need to go to 1 11mileperhour winds. They do it in 5mileperhour wind increments. If we go to 110, its still a category two. 1 15, then it becomes a major category three hurricane. Thats exactly what the Hurricane Center predicts will happen. Friday, 1 00 p. M. This afternoon. Expected to go to 120mileperhour winds. Once we get to tomorrow afternoon, were not going to worry so much more about the wind damage anymore. It goes down to a lower end hurricane or a Tropical Storm by saturday evening. Then the problem is going to be the rainfall. All indications are that this storm will be with us until wednesday or thursday of next week. Some computer models bring it back on shore, and then another landfall on wednesday near houston or galveston. Thats why this is a Long Duration event. I rarely have ever given a forecast for rainfall over the next seven days of 20 inches in this huge area. They even mention the possibility of 35 inches of rain, three feet of rain is possible in isolated spots. Again, the concern right now is going to be in Corpus Christi. Thats where we have the possibility of storm surge and wind damage later on tonight with that eye and with the landfall. We want to go to nbc news correspondent mi arod reeg ez. Mia, you are probably starting to feel the effects of the outer bands as they swept through. Its a taste of what we can expect throughout the day here in corporate yuts christy. This is a town that is preparing for this hurricane. Last night as we were coming in, we saw people filling up their cars, their rvs with gas. Some of the courts are closed today. Garbage pickup has been suspended. The National Hurricane center is saying whatever preparations needed to be made, pretty much need to be wrapped up very, very soon. The only thing predictable about the storm is its unpredictable. We are up to and almost at the threshold of mandatory evacuation. We are not going to cross that line right now. We are going to encourage the residents in the lowlying areas to, as they say, get out of dodge. For you and your crew there, the go time for you guys when you need to get shelter, about 10 00 p. M. This evening is when the really strong Hurricane Force winds will arrive, and it will probably continue until 8 00 or 10 00 a. M. Tomorrow morning. Be wish you the best there. Let me show you the storm surge. This is the two stories today. The wind today and the storm surge what will do the damage. The storm surge of 6 to 12 feet. Heres corporate yis christy. We think the center is going to come somewhere near in vicinity. To the north and to the east of this, thats the dirty side of the storm. Those areas are ghost towns. Well still have a lot of structural damage. Further up the coast, a lot of concern with more highly Populated Areas here. Once we get up towards galveston island and jamaica beach, this area in galveston bay, thats two to four feet. Not quite bad, guys, with the storm surge there. Thats just head scratching. Bill, you help me put this in perspective. If you live in the northeast during hurricane sandy, that was cat one. This is expected to be a category three. Just unbelievable. You can never compare one storm to another. Every storm is so different and has different dangers with it, and this one is going to be the legacy and the length of the storm that may be something weve almost never seen. Incredible. Well check back and see you in a bit. Gig to Washington Well learn more about the Trump Administrations thinking on the proposed border wall. The issue would come up again when its time to fund the government in december. Another thing the white house is still struggling to explain, the part where mexico is supposed to pay for that wall. Why is he now threatening a Government Shutdown if Congress Wont pay for it . The president is committed to making sure this gets done. We know that the wall and other security measures at the border work. Weve seen that take place over the last decade, and were committed to making sure the American People are protected. Were employing to continue to push forward. He talked about the campaign over and over again. He said mexico is going to pay for the wall. He asked people crowds chanted back at him. Mexico is going to pay for it. Now he is pushing threatening a shutdown of the government. Once again the president is committed to making sure this happens, and were going to push forward. He is not saying that mexico is going to pay for it now. He hasnt said theyre not either. The president promised to end the program immediately. Now attorneys general from 1 1 states are threatening to sue if the administration does not begin phasing it out. Capitol Hill Reporter for the hill molly hooper. As we mentioned there. It doesnt do a whole lot to improve them, and keep in mind, there are a number of republican border state lawmakers who dont think that building a border wall is the right answer, including will herd, who worked and has a district along the border. Jeff dplak, who is embattled in arizona. Its not just democrats that are going to be problematic for the president. Its also a number of republicans who represent those districts along the border. That is an interesting wrinkle in this whole unfolding debate. Molly, let me ask you quickly about the tactics that have been employed by the president. He put obviously a lot of pressure on republicans over health care. He did it very publicly. This is where john kelly doesnt have a hunl impact. This is where john kelly works when congress is in session and dealing with these big issues. This is one of those points where its like are you going to learn from past mistakes or not . If john kelly is able to sort of i wouldnt say reign in because i dont think anybody can really reign in donald trump, but sort of navigate and guide him in sort of the right approach to take with individual members of congress because thats key. You know, your relationship with individual members and how you go about, you know, what motivates them to vote with you as opposed to voting against your measure, thats very important, and it seems like President Trump hasnt quite figured that out yet. Thats something that Mitch Mcconnell knows well, but obviously the president is still learning on the job as it is. This could be a way, in fact, the president is able to maintain his base through all of this and that he attacks people on twitter and it deflekts attention away from his responsibility saying, look, its their fault. They didnt do it. They werent able to get the job done. I tried. Lindsey graham saying this is a way to mull few your base. Theyve said it for seven years, and i have listened it for seven years. Repeal and replace. They havent done it yet, and it almost feels like they havent given it as much of a good faith effort as it could have been given. That is one issue where President Trump kind of has it, but he has to kind of move on if he wants to get bigger items passed. All right. Live for us on the hill. Molly hooper, thank you. Thank you. Still ahead, were following breaking news from the business world. The samsung chief found guilty and then sentenced in that south korea Corruption Case overnight. Were going to get the latest. Plus, white house advisor Jared Kushner starts a new round of talks trying to restart middle east peace talks. A live report next. Were drowning in information. Where, in all of this, is the stuff that matters . The stakes are so high, your finances, your future. How do you solve this . You dont. You partner with a firm that advises governments and the fortune 500, and, can deliver insight person to person, on what matters to you. Morgan stanley. At the lexus golden uncoopportunity sales event before it ends. Choose from the is turbo, es 350 or nx turbo for 299 a month for 36 months if you lease now. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Its our back to school beeone cent evente. At office depot office max. 10 pack pens, one cent. Composition notebooks,scissors, and plastic folders all one cent each hurry to office depot office max. Taking care of business. So find a venus smooth that contours to curves, the smoother the skin, the more comfortable you are in it. Flexes for comfort, and has a disposable made for you. Skin smoothing venus razors. And its also a story mail aabout people and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you tand the alzheimersf association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Visit alz. Org to join the fight. My bladder leakage was making me feel like i couldnt spend time with my grandson. Now depend fitflex has their fastest absorbing material inside, so it keeps me dry and protected. Go to depend. Com get a coupon and try them for yourself. Go to depend. Com theso when i need to book tant to mea hotel room,tion. I want someone that makes it easy. Booking. Com gets it. And with their price match, i know im getting the best price every time. Visit booking. Com. Booking. Yeah welcome back. Special advisor to the president and his soninlaw Jared Kushner met with israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu yesterday in israel. Kushner also met separately yesterday with Palestinian Leader mahmoud abbas. Its part of the Trump Administrations latest attempt to restart middle east peace talks. All right. Joining us live from london, nbc newss ali arouzzi. Good to have you with us. Lets talk about the meetings, how they went yesterday and what if any impact could they lend to potential future peace talks between the two sides. Well, as you know, kushner met with israeli Prime Minister netanyahu before to try and jumpstart these waning peace talks. They were looking as difficult as ever to resolve. He had a threehour meeting with abbas, but it wasnt clear whether kushner offered any clarity during that meeting. The palestinian are sprut fruts rated with what they say is a failure by the president to present a road map for peace. Specifically, theyre seeking i a halt to israeli settlement construction and occupied territories and a u. S. Commitment to an establishment of an independent palestinian state as part of a deal with israelis. Theyre doing a lot of talking right now, but i dont think a lot of progress is being made. Amman. Life in london for us. Ali arouzzi. Still ahead, the latest from bill karins on Hurricane Harvey now threatening the coast of texas. Plus. Were currently at Mercy Medical center, and i was there for 32 years, and i was a unity center care patient. Are you still there, or are you ive called them and told them i will not be coming back. So apparently thats what happens when you become a multimillionaire. Right . Is that what you would have done . More from the big powerball winner coming up next. This is not a cloud. This is a tomato tracked from farm to table on a blockchain, helping keep shoppers safe. This is a financial Transaction Secure from hacks and threats others cant see. This is a skyscraper whose elevators use iot data and ai to help thousands get to work safely and efficiently. This is not the cloud you know. This is the ibm cloud. The ibm cloud is the cloud for enterprise. Yours. The ibm cloud is the cloud for enterprise. Super cool notebooks. Done. Thats mom taking care of business, but who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. Order online and pickup in store in just one hour. Taking care of business beggin skinny strips or beggin black label . Theres two . what a delicious dilemma beggin strips premium edition. Twwwoooooo . . with real meat as ingredient one. Everything to your liking . Mmm mmmmm. Beggin strips premium. Becaussssseeee beggin welcome back, everybody. We are continuing to follow the latest with Hurricane Harvey, as residents in texas there bracing more impact. Bill karins has been following it all hour for us. Bill, give us an update. Overnight, we didnt see any big changes. Slowly intensifying, as we expected. So were still watching the eye. This is where the center of the Hurricane Force winds are. Thats the strongest winds. Where we get wind damage is where this comes onshore later tonight. The rain bands are expected to fill in closely here for the coastal areas. On satellite imagery, still looks very impressive. At 105mileperhour winds. Went up to a strong category 2. 10 more Miles Per Hour, and well have a major category 3. The forecast does call for that by about 1 00 p. M. This evening, 120 Miles Per Hour winds, landfall around 10 00 p. M. This evening. The cone of uncertainty still does inside Corpus Christi, but weve had that center line to the right of them for a while. That would be the weaker edge of the storm. Were hoping that happens, but if it shifts to the south, they could get the direct hit in Corpus Christi. Well watch that. And victoria still going to get hit hard, too. Not only rain, but pretty strong winds later on tonight. Heres the craziness. Overnight, our longrange computer forecast models give us the new 12hour updates. This is our european model, it is the best for longterm forecasting. This shows you where the center of harvey is as we go through friday. Thats pretty much as expected into saturday. Then as we go into sunday, into monday, notice what happens. It backs it up, back over the ocean. It actually regenerates it a little bit. This is tuesday. So at this time, we still have terrible rains, all through the houston and victoria areas on the dirty right side. By the time we get to wednesday, it tries to make a second landfall up around galveston, between houston and lake charles. And thursday, about a week from now, it takes it into areas of louisiana and arkansas. That is why we think this is an ultralongduration, epic rainfall, historicproducing storm. I cant even throw anymore adjectives in there. I dont have anymore. 25 inches of rain is the prediction from the National Weather service. Thats not a computer model. Thats people sitting at desks looking at all the information. And they think this 20 inches of rainfall over the next seven days is very likely. And they even mention that someone could get 3 feet of rain. Just imagine what thats going to do. Businesses, life, pretty shumuc shut down for seven days in a huge populated area here from galveston back towards victoria. Thats some of the concern. Today is about the wind and the damage the storm surge will do, and well go for the next seven days, talking about the epic rain producer this storm is going to be. Hurricane harvey looking like a largescale event and a storm that just wont go away. Well stay with you, bill, on all the updates. Lets turn to some breaking business news. Overnight, samsungs defacto ceo, lea Lee Jae Young was just sentenced to prison for bribery. He was found guilty and immediately sentenced. Can you take us through what went down there . Yeah, so the sentence is for five years in prison for his role in the bribery allegations that actually rocked all of south korea over the past year. The five years is a lot less than the 12 years that the prosecution was asking for, but it does bring to an end a sixmonth trial, which has led to the impeachment of the former president , pack geunhye and lee is accused of bribery in anticipation of favors from the former president. Lees lawyer is expected to appeal this. And in other news, amazon shocking the grocery world once again yesterday, saying that upon the completion of the takeover of whole foods, it is going to be slashing prices. And that sent shares in its competitors like walmart, krogers, costco into a tailspin once again. Collectively, they lost some 12 billion in market value. Obviously, investors are very concerned that this will be the latest in the price war happening in grocery space in the u. S. Amazon saying, we are determined to make healthy and organic food affordable for everyone. And last but not least, yes, all eyes on jackson hole. The symposium happening in wyoming later on today. The dollar a little bit higher ahead of that. And usually this is a place where policymakers drop some hints about future policy. May not be the case this time when we heard from janet yellen later on today, but watch out for some clues a as to when Balance Sheet will be reduced. All right, thanks so much. We all wish we were her. So much for that job at the hospital. Meet 53yearold mavs wanczyk, winner of the largest individual jackpot. Massachusetts is one of those states that requires winners to go public. Here she is explaining the moment that she realized she won. By the way, shes still alive after winning. I was leaving work at night, and leaving with this guy, robby, and he said, i bet somebody won with these numbers, birthday. I was like, i know, its never going to be, its just a pipe dream ive always had. And im reading these numbers and i pull mine out, and i go, hey, i have that, i have that. He goes, let me see that ticket. He goes, you just one. I said, youre joking, come on, please. He said, sign that ticket now. Its incredible she actually gave him the ticket. Give me that ticket back right now if she chooses the cash option, shell receive a lump sum of more than 480 million before taxes. If she chooses to receive 30 payments over 29 years, they will total just under 759 take the cash now. Really . I would do over because you dont want to end up on people magazine, basically, saying, what happened when you won the lottery and then theyre on the street. You get it over 30 years, youve got a bunch of money. Coming up next on morning joe, the white house says all is fine with the president s relationship with congress. But well have the latest indications that suggest the opposite. Also, joining the table this morning, former secretary of homeland security, jeh johnson. Morning joe, everyone, just moments away. Ouch new bandaid® brand skinflex™ bandages. Our best bandage yet it dries almost instantly. Better . Yeah. Good thing because stopping never crosses your mind. Bandaid® brand. Stick with it™ its about moving forward, not back. T. Its looking up, not down. Its being in motion. In body, in spirit, in the now. Boost® high protein its intelligent nutrition with 15 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For when you need a little extra. Boost® the number one high protein complete nutritional drink. Be up for it tand the alzheimersf association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Visit alz. Org to join the fight. Its our back to school beeone cent evente. At office depot office max. 10 pack pens, one cent. Composition notebooks,scissors, and plastic folders all one cent each hurry to office depot office max. Taking care of business. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. Were doing so much, folks, like the wall. We all love the wall, dont we . Its my favorite album its lake, what do we want . The wall whos going to pay for it . Mexico thats right, you are, the american taxpayer. Good morning, its friday, august the 25 president. Joe and mika have the morning off. Theyll both be back with us on set monday. With us, we have senior political analyst for msnbc news and nbc on casual summer fridays for mark halperin. National Affairs Analyst for nbc news and msnbc, john heilemann. The soeshd editor of commentary magazine, noah rothman, republican strategist, susan del percio, and former governor of vermont and former chairman of the Democratic National convention, howard dean. Good to see you. We have two sets of sneakers. Governor dean with a nice pair of vermont new balance kicks. Thats not an outing, thats a showering of praise. And halperin with the casual friday and the complete cons. A classic con. And a cuffed khaki. Its