Good morning, its wednesday, september 20th. We are following a number of stories. President trump was America First se u. N. And steps up his warnings to north korea meanwhile, republican as far as see daylight on Health Care Reform. Some gop governors arent so sure about that. The Russian Investigation rolls on with new details on whos paying the president s legal bills but first, two Natural Disasters unfolding in real time. Rescue efforts happening right now in mexico after a powerful earthquake ripped through that country yesterday and Hurricane Maria about to slam directly into puerto rico. Well go straight to meteorologist bill karins with a check on the storms latest track. Bill. Power knocked out. Roof damage done, structural damages beginning as the strongest weekends are moving on shore in puerto rico. Overnight, can you see the storm, 124mileperhour winds in st. Croix. Now the storm is about to make
landfall. Lets get into the zoomed in radar. You see san juan to the north here. Then the storm, can you see the center of it. Now beginning to come on shore here, it has winds of 150 Miles Per Hour. Because of what we call an Eyewall Siej The Center weakened last night. Its a 154 cat 4. This is regarded as the strongest storm to move into puerto rico since 1928. This will leave extreme damage. We are concerned what will happen with the northerly path around san juan in the populated area. Tammy. You had a wind gust of 92 Miles Per Hour t. Wind center was knocked out at the airport. I imagine you are feeling it . Reporter oh, bill, we are feeling it. No doubt about that. We had to move in out of the elements a little bit because trees have been falling, debris has been falling on cars behind
us. Pieces of roof has been peeled off and so we had to take sheltary little bit out of the elements, but were still getting it. I can tell you that there are about 500 shelters set up across the island, 50,000 people have taken refuge in them. Some people we spoke to told us they are hunkering down in their homes. Theyve boarded up. Hopefully, they are okay. We know there are tourists out here on the island that are trapped. That were not able to get 0u6789 out, that are at hotels, fema set up a command post. 300 People Search And Rescue from the occupation, theyre here, fema will be passing them. As soon as the Eye Of The Storm passes over, they will be making rescues. Undoubtedly, there will be rescues to be made. To let you and your crew know, have you four hours until that eyewall is expected with
the worst damage. Quickly, we are done with the damage in puerto rico by about 4 00 p. M. This afternoon. Off the coast by noon. Toward sunset hopefully we will get pictures in to see how bad it is. All right, bill karins, thank you. We will be checking in with you all morning as this hurricane hits the other Natural Disaster is happening in mexico. Rescue efforts are under way as people race to save people under collapsed buildings following that massive. 1 earthquake. It was centered 80 miles southeast of mexico city. Official versus lowered the death toll there to 217 after raising it to nearly 250 overnight. Dozens of buildings were reduced to rubble if densely populated parts of mexico city and another nearby states. President nieto says 40 of the
what, 13, 14 for its Approval Rate something. Yeah. They just never learn. Its really incredible. How so. I talk about putting your hand on the hot stove. Yeah, we have been mocking donald trump for doing what only 33 of the country wants, which by the way bumps his Approval Ratings gone up three weeks in a row for the first time. I wonder why, hes not trying to constantly agra 200 Million People. Its the republicans, theyre not on Steve Bannons 33 plan. Theyre on their own 17 plan. Every one of these Health Care Bills are horrible. Everyone is worse than the last. Theyre going to do it again and once again, theyre saying we are going to reorder onesixth of the economy and were going to rush it before we have the Congressional Budget Office giving us a score and say we dont need a cvo score. We will get to this. It will be a score. We will talk about it for one second. Willie, its unbelievable the socalled conservatives saying were going to reorder one of sixth of the economy and have no impact what it will have on all of america, on their health care. It is the most radical thing anybody can do. Remember, they have a real deadline of September 30th. So thats next saturday i believe, its about a week and a half where they can use reconciliation and get a simple majority and get 50 votes and have mike pence break that tie. They the ticking clock, they will not look at it appropriately. They wont have the hearings if you reorder the economy. Few look at the bill, its not clear to me what theyve changed to give someone like Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski who rejected the last bill reason to vote for this again. How do you do something that has all of the worst qualities of the last Health Care Bill. Imagine, we play this game, why had democrats had done what republicans had done, imagine what the press would say. Mark, we have been doing thatten the years, imagine doing that for ten years, imagine if the democrats reorder onesixth of the xi and rush through it without a Congressional Budget Office, republicans, right wing radio, everybody on the far right would be going absolutely ballistic right now. Few ask why would any of the republicans who opposed the previous bill support this one when by all indications it doesnt meet their objection, particularly in covering fewer people. Its bus of the dead lean that willie pointed out, a lot of republican donors, some republican activists say this is the last chance to repeal and replace the Affordable Act with a bill that has not been through regular order and which has a lot of the same problems as the original legislation and be i the way if the senate does this
its not entirely clear the house would pass the same bill so they may be going through this political torture. How can john mccain suddenly decide, oh, Mitch Mcconnell and donald trump have a deadline . 50i78 worried about that. So im going to have people remember me for passing a Healthcare Bill that strips Health Care Coverage from tens of millions of people, its something we do radically without even looking at a Congressional Budget Office, without doing regular order. John mccain was so right when he talked about regular order. Thats what, you want to know one of the tension along with gerrymandering that made washington as sick as its been over the past several years politically . Its no regular order. They get two or three people in a room. They draft up something. Then they shove it do down the rest of the congress and the American Peoples throat. I highly doubt john mccain is worried about these false dead
loins and is going to let his legacy be that he reordered onesixth of the economy. Without thinking. In such a reckless radical irresponsible way and i just dont know why my friends in the Republican Party come back and do the same stupid thing over around over again this year. Its as if they are just destanee vat to make nancy pelosi speaker of the house. Well, then that would be helpful. Now to President Trumps nancy pelosi. Certainly not to the republicans that are tweeting. Which we could use leadership, real moral leadership in the Republican Party right now as we turn to President Trumps remarks to the United NationsGeneral Assembly, where he held nothing back regarding the ongoing crisis with north korea. Now north koreas reckless pursuit of ballistic weapons and
missiles threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of human life. No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with Nuclear Weapons and missiles. The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself for its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. Rocketman is on a Suicide Mission for himself and for his regime. The president went on to praise the u. N. Security council for the harsh sanctions against pyongyang, specifically thanking germany and russia and also calling on the u. N. As a whole to step up its involvement. The scourge of our planet today is a small group of Rogue Regimes that violate every principle on which the united
feed. Reaction. And it seemed that donald trump doused kerosene all over himself and setting himself on fire. Then i started looking at the text of the speech and i saw, yes, very Strong Language towards north korea. Language you and i wouldnt prefer and be used. But he also criticized iran. He also criticized venezuela. He criticized rogue regems. He spoke glowingly of the marshall plan. He talked about dig cheney and Richard Pearl on steroids talking about the righteous many ago ens the evil few. I would say, okay, so im missing something here. Then i read you are oped later in the afternoon where you said actually you take away the bomb bath, this is actually a fairly conventional speech from a president at the United Nations. Well, joe, i had the same
reaction t. Speech had zingers in it guaranteed to kind of send the the news media crazy, were going to totally destroy north korea. This repetition of the president s new favorite catch phrase rocketman clearly replaced Crooked Hillary as his goto phrase, but when you go down the speech, what was fascinating to me the president in his first speech at the u. N. Was embracing a legacy of this institution. He mentioned president trueman, really the founding father of that world twice in his speech. He mentioned the marshall plap. Speed limitary of the marshall plan. The Building Blocks of the world you and i live in. And weve talked together. I would often talk with mikas dad when he was alive about the
danger that this world that was created in 1945 would be taken apart by donald trump and interestingly the speech went in a different direction. Its not to excuse the undiplomatic language. I dont think that that helps. But the substance of the speech tells me that nine months in, he is less determined to overturn the system than we might have thought at the beginning. So davgsd i was struck listening to that. Yes, it was different than previous president s speeches at the u. N. , but it was precisely what donald Trump Campaigned on, he said,ly defend America First,ly look out first for americas interests, unconventional, yes, but not unexpected i dont think from donald trump. Some of the analysis this morning is that the president Quote Reshaped the u. S. Role in the world with that speech. Did he really . Was it such a big departure from whats happened in this country in the past . I didnt think it was, willie. I think whats important is when
a figure who is trying to speak for the masses of americas who think the u. N. Is a big waste of time and money says we want to be invested in a United Nations thats a community of strong sovereign nations, thats reshaping the balance on which this rest itself, but its not overturning it. So i read it a little different from some of the other commentators. Well see. I mean, if President Trump is serious bringing the United States back in, for the reform of the u. N. , making it more effective. More of a place where problems get solved. That will be a significant difference for a conservative and republicans to do that would be a big step. I cant help but think that nikki haley, his fate Foreign Policy official, ambassador at the u. N. Is one of the reasons hes so excited about it, its his friend nikkis project. Well see where this goes. Mark, i was just going to say, the speech, minus the bomb bast could have been written by Secretary Mattis, could have been written by General Mcmaster, could have been written by ambassador nikki haley. There wasnt the ban noneesque isolation here. There wasnt the tip of the United States, a tip of the hat to the International Community and i would just, i dont know, it seems like a lot of headlines at least online were written before they actually heard this speech or digested this speech the way David Ignacious did a few hours after the piece. Both davids piece and the Wall Street Journal saw flaws in it but liked a lot of it. It reflected a lot of what the president thinks about these issues and a lot of what the American People would think. American people would like
america to be strong Around The World and stand up when american interests are threatened, would like to work with International Organizations and Doesnt Think America should bear all the burden. On forth korea, the longterm goals are to get rid of the weapons, in the short term, there are two other goals, one is to make this not u. S. Versus north korea and make it more multilateral. He encouraged the community to join the United States and solve it and deter an initial attack. I think some of this rhetoric david and other have criticize. Its downsized. I think it is meant to deter and attack. I think it may have that effect when the past three president s have failed in feeling comfort ability about where we stand. This president is shaking it up during a risky way but a different way. I will say also one of the Headline Grabers was he said he can destroy north korea. We can completely obliterate north korea. Of course, we were all concerned about that. We should be, he shouldnt have
said that, i think somebody brought up an old barack obama quote, where we talked about we have the weapons to annihilate north korea as well. Something you dont want to do. Again, its been done before and politically, again unlike all the other things that steve bannon had him doing where he was just keying into 33 and offending the other 200 million americans out there, this is a speech, whether a lot of people in the media like it or not that most americans would agree with. This is, if not an 80 20 speech, this is at least 60 40 peach. And represents again since ive listened to the president talk about americas role in the world, it represents what he really believes in a way a lot of his speeches dont necessarily do. From the beginning to the end, its what Donald Trumps world is, its a complicated world. The speech was contradictory, thats a part of the psyche of americas role in the world. He definitely made clear he believes kim jongun will only respond to military force. He gave a nod to north korea, he personally said speaking mantoman, i will destroy, thats dangerous, its an escalation and takes it to a place that maybe we dont want to be or havent been before. I believe he believes the only thing that will respond to north korea. I think one of the interesting things in this speech, david alluded to it, here you have a president that sound different nine months in or eight months in than he did during the campaign or his inauguration, suddenly he realizes, oh, wait a second, if im going to do anything with north korea, if there is any hopes at all of doing anything with north korea, i better stop insulting the chinese every day, i better stop insulting all of
our allies every day, i better stop insulting everybody every day, diplomacy may be setting in a little bit. Again, david said it was a conventional speech, but there was still the trump bomb bast. That said, this was a president eight months in has seen that you have to patch together alliances if you want to get anything done across the globe, even if are you the United States of marc. We will talk about this more, still ahead on morning joe Andrea Mitchell joins the table. Plus three former cabinet itself on set. Former Secretary Of State john kerry joins us and former secretary Madeleine Albright and tim ryan and senator bill cassidy the republican breathing new life into their efforts to repeal obamacare and tonight joes band has a gig at the
cutting room in New York City to mark the friday release of his new ept. Show kicks off early 7. A. Be there sharp. It will be streamed live on facebook. Com slash scarborough. You are watching morning joe. Well be right back. The future, a Nations Technology will determine its power. In its economy, in medicine, in science and in National Security. One company designs and builds more supercomputers than any other. An american company. Hewlett packard enterprise. Leading the way to discover. To innovate. And to protect. Hewlett packard enterprise. A National Asset in supercomputing. Yasss queen what if millie dresselhaus, the first woman to win the National Medal of science in engineering, were as famous as any celebrity . [millie dresselhaus was seen having lunch today. ] [. Rumors of the new discovery. ] what if we lived in a world like that . crowd applauding we know a place thats already working on it. 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. Dental professionals recommend using an electric toothbrush. For an exceptionally fresh feeling choose Philips Sonicare diamondclean. Hear the difference versus oral b. In a recently published clinical study,
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straight from lincolns second inaugural. Iran was the other country that President Trump took to task in his General Assembly speech. Joining me now general columnist and contributor mike barnacle. Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent and host of Andrea Mitchell reports, Andrea Mitchell. Good to have you on board. Good morning. What did you think of the speech overall . A gut reaction . A campaign rally, bombbastic overly ret toric am, aggressive and not multilateral. The wrong speech for the the location the venue, so to spook, i that, i totally agree with you, i think while Many Americans would agree with a lot of what he was saying, joe this speech i feel was for what our place is on The World Stage, i dont think he articulated anything more than weve seen before. He tried to define america fi t
first. I mean this is about working together. He used the word sovereignty 21 times never name checked russia for grabbing ukraine. If hes not going to challenge russia, at the same time when the Secretary Of State is at the very day meeting with the russians on ukraine as a matter of fact, it just get, hes Goeding Somebo goa somebody in north korea. The speech makes me very, very nervous. The bulk of the speech you spoke to is pretty much boiler plate, what you expect from an american president t. Problem with the speech according to many, many people i spoke with yesterday after the speech is that every element he raised thats an issue is a global issue. Its not an American Issue. And we need America First is one thing, alone is a dangerous thing. Terrorism, climate, Cyber Attacks, these are global issues. He never addressed them. He stood in front of a fairly useless body. Every american knows that, the United Nations but didnt try anything collectively to gather that body together to confront these global issues. Im sure it was enormously popular with Donald Trumps base, but hes the president no, i think that speech, mike, was enormously popular or somewhat popular with more than just Donald Trumps 33 or 35 or whatever it is now, i suspect that speech was popular with the majority of americans. You have the president going after north korea, going after iran, going after venezuela. I mean, there was a moment where a lot of conservatives were Cheering Yesterday, where he said venezuela is failing not because socialism has been implemented badly, its because
socialism has been implemented well. Nobody clapped in the chamber. He just sat and waited it out. Im just saying there is Donald Trumps i think it would be a mistake to think this only played 31, 32, 33 . I think a lot of americans probably agreed with that speech yesterday. Well find out. But i dont know, a lot of americans, i dont know whether theyre going to agree, were going to destroy you, then after we destroy you, venezuela, watch out, cube barks i dont like you either. We can only do so much, joe. I think most americans know that. Do we get the sense he was talking about invading all these countries . You get the sense he had warrior language underneath he wasnt afraid to go after any nation. David ignacious, i could be wrong. I didnt pick that up. But and maybe im wrong, too,
i didnt sense the Isolationism Unilateralism that we saw nine months ago. Like you said, i saw a tip of the hat to harry truman several times, which at least for those of us who you know look for such things, thats a tip of the hat to the history of the United Nations to 1947 to the marshall plan. Again, im not saying this was, you know, im not saying this was fdr, im just saying i know that. This may not be donald trump january 20ing, 2017. Joe, i thought it was a speech from a president who is enjalgaged in the world sometim too loudly and too inflammatory a way but engaged. I thought there was an interventionist theme, frankly, saying, you know, cuba is an
undemocratic place and were going to put more pressure on cuba adding venezuela to the list. That was taken very seriously in latin america. I just would note one place where the rubber now meets the road. Its a clip you just played talking about iran, trump said, basically, we need to stop Iranian Missile testing. We need to stop dangerous activities in the middle east in the region. We need to do something so were not providing through the Iran Nuclear Agreement a cover for their eventual breakout when the agreement expires. Thats a list that should get broad agreement about from europeans, certainly if we had a french diplomat, president Macchron Sitting with us today. We get an agreement thats the right list. How do you go about making that happen . Thats what trumps got to figure out better. How does he organize the coalition that can make progress
on that . How does he engage iran . You cant just threaten and bludgeon them. Thats not going to work. Andrea, perhaps a cold comfort i may be getting from this speech is that were actually setting up normal lines once again of division, conservatives cheering him on about what hes saying about iran and cuba. True. Internationalists not doing that, instead of him saying im wrecking the entire world order. Im going off obamas iran deal, which i said from the beginning i thought was a horrific deem him going after cuba. Again, in two instances at least conservatives a lot of americans thought we gave a lot more than we got from these two regimes and their behavior over the past year suggests i take your point. There is a meeting tonight. For the first time Rex Tillerson will sit down at the table with everyone that negotiated the iran deal, including the Foreign Minister of eastern. That will be the fairs facetoface meet work he said
last night to bret baier on fox he thinks it needs to be renegotiated. We heard yesterday thats not going to happen. So thats where the rubber is going to pleat the road. What is the plan . Thats what i want to see on north korea. I do think iran is just rhetoric. I dont think were going to be able to unwind that deal, just like macron said yesterday there will be no renegotiation of paris. Its pinnacle of this speech. In his own speech he took several shots at it. Macron is one of the closest european allies to President Trump. So we need the see some diplomacy here. How do they want to make this work. Then we get to the point of who is available beyond, behind Rex Tillerson to do these negotiations . All right. Coming up, former Campaign ChairmanPaul Manafort is hitting back that he was wired by the fbi, now calling on the Justice DepartmentInspector General to get involved. Well dig into that when we come
right back. Joining us now, National Reporter care lee. Flood to have you on board, a spokesman for Campaign ChairPaul Manafort is call on the Justice Department to investigate reports that manafort had previously been wiretapped be i the fbi, On Monday Cnn Report Thad the fbi has been interested in manafort as far back as 2014. The report, with i is unconfirmed by nbc news claimed manafort had been wiretapped both before and after he ran Donald Trumps president ial campaign, cnn citing unnamed sources plans the reported eavesdropping has been authorized under the foreign under surveillance intelligencing a. If response to that reporting, jason maloney, Manafort Spokesperson says if true it is a felony to reveal the existence of a fisa warrant, regardless of the fact that no charges ever emerged. We have all seen the investigation is heating up, particularly on Paul Manafort. It seems Paul Manafort, we know public lip there is more reporting from cnn theyre back as far as january, 2006, what more than can you tell is theyre finding around Paul Manafort . We know theyre looking back at his financial dealings, his involvements with foreign governments, you get the sense of that theyre trying to squeeze him. And a lot of people believe mueller is trying to flip people like Paul Manafort to talk about other things they might know about the Trump Campaign and you really see that kind of it all squeezing in on him. If its a rob with the reporting, though, show me unnamed sources, some of these things, i dont know that theyre singly sourced, but youve heard a lot of talk. Youve heard it. I certainly hard it even this suggestion that manafort is, has
been warned that hes going to be under indictment. It may be thinly sourced, itself. But it gets thrown out, its gospel, everybody runs with it. Were in an incredible media environment. I do wonder, we always talk about all the lies that Donald Trump Tells and all the lies that his administration tells. Im glad nbc news is slowing down on this one and waiting. And waiting and not confirm it. It seems witness they throw it out, im not knocking cnn, but they throw out these stories, its churned on twitter, on facebook, it becomes the gospel before we really know what the fact is, on Something Like a fisa warrant which is almost impossible to confirm. Joe, if you think back to iran contra and watergate which was before my time, this is before social media. So now we are in a very exciting
newspaper war and a lot of stories being broken every night by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times the washington post, mcclatchey, and everything gets churned through social media and we have to be very careful. I just think slowing down and making sure we double confirm everything ourselves, rather than repeating and picking up every apparent break through from our competitors, just in fairness to everyone. I think mueller now has to worry about being exposed if there are reports that are not properly sourced, this as carol said, too es are the crown jules of a fisa warrant. If this is incorrect or it is a week, it would be the first week we know of directly from mueller, we have other sources, obviously, but if there is at least a leak them damaging, they also have to be worried about their own credible. And carol to that point, there is a huge difference between Finding Judge x to get a Search Warrant and the fisa warrant. Exactly. Explain the difference, how difficult those steps are. You have to prove that beyond what you would Formnormally Thif whether you would get a Search Warrant, its a rigorous process. And the universal people that know about a fisa warrant is typically very small. Have you just those focused on this particular investigation and the judge and thats it. And usually somebody who has a fisa on them doesnt know, thats Paul Manaforts lawyer doesnt know there is a fisa. At some point all of this will come out. We will see what is actually true in the investigation and everybody who covered this is going to have to look at their coverage and see where it matches up. And thats going to be, you know, it seems like sooner rather than later given how fast this is moving. Again, explain how secretive
this process is, even if you are in a legal community, you dont know the existence of who the fisa judges are for the most part. Everything is so secretive about this process that, yeah, i would be really surprised if muellers team was leaking that there was a fisa warrant against man jarring fomanafort. Because of a no knock search, they are squeezing manafort. This is not your typical White Collar Crime investigation. Those tactics of illegal breakins into his apartment and then going up to his bedroom door. That does not happen in any previous investigation of any kind of possible official crime. Andrea mitchell. Thank you very much. You bet. And still ahead on morning
joe. There are purpose, very important people up to all right. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi gets shut down by Immigration Activists for that daca deal she working on with the president. We will talk with congressmen that challenge her portion democrat tim ryan. Morning joe is back in a moment. Listen up, Heart Disease. You too, unnecessary er visits. And hey, unmanaged depression, dont get too comfortable. Were talking to you, cost inefficiencies, and data without insights. And fragmented care, stop getting in the way of Patient Recovery and pay attention. Every single one of you is on our list. At optum, were partnering across the Health System to tackle its biggest challenges. And always working to be better. Bad deal for our people. Congressman, what did you think of the president s speech at the General Assembly yesterday here in New York City . Micked reserves, conservatives, republicans liked it. He talked about America First, not an unfamiliar theme coming from him, all the way back to the campaign, but specifically the rhetoric on north korea, where do you think that put us in our back and forth with that country . Barnicle actually i dont want to agree with barnicle, but he made a good point. These arent american problems. These are global problems. I dont think hes being the kind of quarterback that the american president needs to be, pulling people together, handling these in a multilateral way. What he said about iran is true. I think we do have to have a firmer position on iran. They are Funding Terrorism throughout the middle east. I like that aspect of the speech. Overall you have to do this together. Nothing youll be able to achieve on your own. Was the iran deal a bad deal, as he said yesterday . I dont think so. It wasnt a great deal but it
was a solid deal, a deal that had to be done. The United States and basically president obama placed a bet. Theres a lot of young people in iran, a generation of people that are listening to western music. They have western technology. And were making a bet that if we can get these younger people to be slightly more understanding, slightly more moderate, and the iranian election proved that, that there are a lot of moderates in iran. We have to try to engage them the best we can, even though the deals not perfect. Republicans and tax cuts, they seem to be moving your way in talking about not cutting the estate tax, not lowering the top rate for the wealthiest americans. Is that encouraging to you . Do you think you see the world where you could work with republicans on tax cuts . If they stay away from the traditional supply side of economics i think a lot of democrats will sit down and say hey, is this going to benefit working class people in akron, ohio, youngstown, ohio . I think theyll be willing
partners. But, again, weve got to make sure that some of these things, like any Corporate Tax reform, for example, that is revenue positive. You have 100 of the top fortune 500 companies not paying any Corporate Tax at all. So thats not a progressive tax. If you want to lower the rate you have to make sure that youre closing the loopholes and getting some money. And the president is saying were not going to hurt the middle class on this. So, well see. Carol . Congressman, you have health care, tax reform, daca. What do you think that you that congress can actually get done . And how do you feel about democrats cutting deals with this president . We got sent there to get something done. I dont think you need to violate your values in the process. But i think we should try to be willing partners. We have got to get the political process moving forward here and no one is going to get what they want 100 of the time. I think its encouraging that
people are at least having conversations. The challenges that the country faces are enormal, economic inequality, diabetes. 3 billion more people will move into the middle class in the next couple of decades arnold t Around The World. We can do it everybody going on their own. Same with the speech on the u. N. We cant do this stuff alone. These problems are too big. We have to come together. Im encouraged by it. Congressman tim ryan, good to see you. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. New reaction to President Trumps address to the u. N. General assembly. Well speak live with former Secretary Of State john kerry and Madeleine Albright and former Homeland Security secretary michael chertoff. And we continue to follow Hurricane Maria, Making Landfall On puerto rico as we speak. At winds of 155 miles an hour, thats the strongest hurricane to hit the island since 1932. Officials there have warned residents to get out or die. Well get a live report from an
juan. Can i get some help. Watch his head. Im so happy. Whatever they went through, they went through together. Welcome guys. Life well planned. See what a Raymond JamesFinancial Advisor can do for you. [ Airplane Bell Chimes ] you should be serving youre c. I. A. . American made is the first great film of the fall. How about that. And now, its Rotten Tomatoes score is sky high. Shoot the gringo it gets crazy from here. American made. Rated r. A Nations Technology will determine its power. In its economy, in medicine, in science and in National Security. One company designs and builds more supercomputers than any other. An american company. Hewlett packard enterprise. Leading the way to discover. To innovate. And to protect. Hewlett packard enterprise. A National Asset in supercomputing. 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. The Bank Of AmericaMobile Banking app. The fast, secure and simple way to send money. Welcome back to morning joe. From the president s first address to the u. N. To a live report from mexico, following a devastating earthquake there. First, Hurricane Maria is bearing down on puerto rico right now. Lets get to nbc meteorologist bill karins with a check on the storms latest track. Bill, how is it looking . Worst of it is over portions of puerto rico. 155mileperhour winds. That makes this the strongest hurricane to make landfall in puerto rico since 1928. So theyre in the middle of something right now that no one alive has ever experienced on the island. Or they dont remember it if they were a little kid. Here is the Eye Of The Storm. I cant show you any more radar imagery. Two radars in puerto rico are now down. With the Power Outages its to be expected. Radar has run right through it. We cant show you the radar, unfortunately, to track the bands and eyes anymore. We have to use Satellite Imagery to do it. Winds are 155. It didnt make landfall as a cat 5. This is the extreme top end of a cat 4 and windfield expanded. Instead of one concentrated area of extreme catastrophic damage well have widespread destruction over a much larger area. Here is where its currently located to the south of san juan. The worst and the strongest winds arriving in san juan. Were hoping to show you our reporters in san juan. We cant do that now either because the winds are so strong and so intense its knocking our single down. Its also not the safest for them either. Were kind of in that blackout period when the center of the storm is doing its worst damage and worst destruction. Many people in the building have family and friends. The power was even going out. A lot of them were still able to call and talk to their family and loved ones, saying how horrific it is, houses on the coast blown away. Even in san juan, windows are being blown out all over the place. This is exactly what we feared with a cat 4. Its not until about 2 00 p. M. That the center goes off the coast of puerto rico. So, we still have another, lets say five, six, seven hours of destruction to take place across the island. And then as the sun is setting, hopefully well begin to see just how bad it was, guys. Joe and mika, i mean, you know, we have friends. Your Makeup Artist has family and friends there. And hes just, you know were praying. He cant believe how bad it is and, yeah, a lot of praying. Walt ait and see, and hope a pray. Bill karins, thank you. Well check in with you all morning long as this hurricane passes through. David ignatius and Mark Halperin are still with us. From the author of the book world in disarray, and elizabeth joins us. Ongoing crisis with north korea, President Trump held nothing back. Now north koreas reckless pursuit of Ballistic Missiles threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of human life. No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of
criminals arm itself with Nuclear Weapons and missiles. The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. Rocket man is on on a Suicide Mission for himself and his regime. The scourge of our planet today is a handful of small regimes. If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. Thats what the United Nations is all about. Thats what the United Nations
is for. Lets see how they do. It is time for all nations to Work Together, to isolate the kim regime until it ceases its hostile behavior. Richard haas, a lot of conservatives yesterday like, for instance, rich lowery saying this speech, minus some of the hyperbole that george w. Bush could have delivered in 2004, 2005. You listen to him say if the righteous many doesnt confront the wicked few. He calls out north korea, he calls out iran. He calls out venezuela. Is this axis of evil part two . You had, obviously, iran, north korea, a little bit of venezuela, little bit of terrorists, elements of that. There was an obsession with sovereignty, which wasnt something that george w. Bush particularly focused on. I didnt notice that american sovereignty was somehow under dire threat. We still have our veto at the United Nations and can decide what Climate Ceilings are in the paris agreement. What was missing was any diplomatic position for the rest of the world to rally around. I dont know if thats an echo of george w. Bush or not but this was not a speech in any way that was designed to Garner International support. David ignatius, what was your takeaway from this speech . I thought it had bombastic rhetoric, as always with donald trump. He dropped the equivalent of twitter bombs. When i looked at it, as you and i have discussed, i found there was an awful lot of conventional language, especially about the United Nations that, to be honest, i found welcomed. I thought that the president was attaching his America First view as a stress on sovereignty to the United Nations and its institutions. He has become a champion of u. N. Reform. Thats good. He actually talked about doing more on human rights issues. Thats a rare moment for the Trump Administration. I think the issue is how does he now get traction . He set an agenda for iran. As i hear it yet it doesnt talk about tearing up the deal. How is he going to engage iran to get the changes in iranian behavior hes talking about . We didnt hear any of that yesterday. Elizabeth, you talk to the people out in the street and hear this rhett about north korea, it worries them. The elevated talking about destroying north korea, the threat of Military Action against north korea is something that has people alarmed and on notice in this country. If youre kim jongun and youre sitting in pyongyang listening to that speech, does that serve as a deterrent if youre that man or is thdoes that stir up i cant put myself in kim jonguns place but to totally
destroy korea, the threat is not helpful. This will not be a deterrent and theres a real risk of escalating of escalation here. It was not seen as helpful. And i would agree with richard that the emphasizing american sovereignty so much, he mentioned the word 21 times, is a first for the United States. It was very much of an America First policy. You could see in the room that there was a lot of silence. It was not a well received speech at the u. N. Mark halperin, what do you think . The president believes in multilateralism when possible and unilateralism when necessary. The problem is the implementation of these things. The speech is just going to be rhetoric. What he laid no groundwork to figure out how you actually
build multilateral support for these things. Im wondering what you think china and russia thought of that speech. Would they be threatened by it in any way . Russia was essentially let off the hook for their interference with american sovereignty during the election. Exactly. Ukraine was mentioned once. No indication, for example, to provide lethal defense of the ukraine. From their Point Of View, the north koreans will double down. They look what happened to ukraine, libya, iraq. When the president used phrases like totally destroy, you cant do total destruction with conventional weapons. That suggested under certain circumstances the United States might actually resort to Nuclear Weapons. From chinas Point Of View i had a long meeting with the Foreign Minister this week and they hear that. It moves us farther apart from china and north korea. Obviously, i would have never wanted any president to say that. But 25 years later, what moves us closer to china . What is going to get china to
stop funding north korea . North korea is basically chinas 54th state. The chinese are allowing this to happen. So, tell me, What In The World works, richard . Weve had this conversation now for some time. What should donald trump have said yesterday that would have moved the ball . Two things. One is china will never stop funding north korea in part. At what point do they realize if they let north korea continue on a pace where they can deliver Nuclear Weapon to los angeles, san francisco, portland and seattle theyre actually acting to destabilize north korea . When does that not just destabilize north korea, but bring about i think the policy is short sighted here. What the president could have
said is what would the United States put forward in order to bring about a freeze . We dont want to put forward a stoppage of all of our military exercises. Why didnt he say, joe, well agree to a peace treaty to formally end the korean war . I heard nothing diplomatically. For eight months theres been a diplomatic vacuum. I dont know what Rex Tillerson is doing, other than downsizing the State Department. The president had a major opportunity to put something forward that the rest of the world could rally around. He was missing in action diplomatically. David ignatius, what is Rex Tillerson and Secretary Mattis, obviously get together regularly. They are shoulder to shoulder. Obviously Secretary Mattis is going along with General Mcmaster at the forefront of figuring out what to do with north korea. What have you heard . What is their plan . Joe, im told that secretary
tillerson has two channels to pyongyang that he has been using to good effect, to try to convey the following message. The u. S. Is prepared to begin negotiations with kim, basically without conditions. They fought a fthought a few we they may have gotten the response they wanted. They praised the north koreainform s. But theres no question that the u. S. Hopes to be in that negotiation. Trump didnt say it publicly yesterday but the u. S. Position is well known, especially to china. Theres been an extensive Behind The Scenes discussion with the chinese about what to do. In many ways, kims actions need
to be seen as an attack on china as much as on the u. S. Kim is driving the chinese crazy. He is creating instability on their border. He rebuffs their approaches. They ask him to stop testing, he goes ahead. Richard knows well that back in 2003, i think was the date, the chinese very quietly, without ever taking did stop Oil Deliveries to kim as a way of pressuring him into the negotiations that became the sixparty talks. Guess what, it worked. It didnt take very long. I think thats the kind of thing the u. S. Is thinking about here. Why wouldnt they be doing it now . Richard, elizabeth, david . Why didnt china do this two, three months ago . North korea now has taken steps to reduce their ability to china, halted oil. Its recently doubled in north korea. Why . They took some off the mark. Plus north korea has the ability to make oil out of coal. Theyve reduced their
vulnerability. They know its coming. Theres no love lost between them. They fully expect sanctions from china. Theyll never be total. China is actually worried that sangs get too great, north korea might actually start a war out of desperation. But north koreans know that sanctions will be ratcheted up. Are we at a place where the United States and the world is are we at a stage where were accepting a Nuclear North Korea . Is that a feta com plea and we have to deal with it . There is a Nuclear North Korea. Yes, weve within there some time. That is moving toward projecting that Nuclear Power toward the west coast of the United States. Were moving towards that. I think that, yes, they dont want to talk about that. Theyre talking about some limited Military Action in naval blockade, a talk of cyber actions. Intercepting a missile. That is what mattis is talking about quietly. Weve been moving toward that for a decade now. But, elizabeth, the acceptance of that, is the United States not the there will never be an official acceptance of it. I dont see where it goes the aye would be interested to know what richard thinks, if that is the ultimate end game here. If not an official acceptance a de facto acceptance of north korea able to strike cities on west coast and sell this Nuclear Technology to our enemies like isis. Only five countries are formally allowed to be nuclearized weapon states. North korea has taken notes and said were going to become a de facto Nuclear Weapons state and have talked about that. And this is regime and country survival. Well never formally accept it. The question is whether were prepared to attack it or manage it through some combination of deterrence, defense and economic pressure. Elizabeth, it feels like were painted into a corner at this point. Theyve ratcheted up sanctions at the u. N. Whats left on the table is Military Action. Is there another option we should be looking at besides sanctions or the military . Besides intercepting a missile, no. I think it is managing a problem and i think ultimately there will be this is what we will live with. Trump has a lot of rhetoric. I think its counterproductive at this point. Is it just rhetoric, mark
halperin . Do you think that donald trump will leave the white house, whenever he leaves the white house with the legacy of being the man that allowed north korea to strike the west coast with Nuclear Weapons . Some of the responsibility is the last three administrations that werent able to stop their march to developing Nuclear Technology. Most of the problems we face in the world now because we dont have any leverage or enough leverage over china and russia. In this case russia continues to say we dont want refugees. We dont want an American Military presence in a unified korea. He is doing it differently than the previous three president s who failed. I think he will be. Elizabeth, thank you so much. We continue to follow Hurricane Maria, by the way, battering puerto rico right now as a category 4 storm. Well go live to san juan as soon as our reporters are safe enough to do so. Also ahead, well talk to republican congressman bill cassidy about the heat hes catching for his Obamacare Repeal plan. Plus three former Cabinet Secretaries join us here on set, former Secretary Of State john kerry, Madeleine Albright and former Homeland Security michael chertoff. Why not come to the cutting room . Joes band has a gig there to mark the friday release of his new ep. Its going to be fun. The show kicks off early. Richard haas dance. In the middle of the dance floor, richard haas. All over twitter. Reminded me, willie, of michael jackson, 1980. I danced with richard haas. It starts at 7 00. Well always have our dance. Tonight is the streamed live on facebook. Com scarborou facebook. Com scarborough. Youre watching morning joe. Joining us now from san juan, puerto rico, gadi schwartz, following Hurricane Maria, which has made landfall there now. Whats it look like . Reporter i want to show you what it looks like right now. Take a look over here. This is how hard the wind is blowing. Over there on the far side of the parking lot, its impossible to make out right now, but the water levels are starting to come up. Right now, we are at one of the shelters, one of the main shelters here in san juan. This whole structure is concrete. So its basically bomb proof, but youve got these openings right here. That was the protected side. This is another corner here that you can see out. And weve seen debris flying all over the place. In fact, right over here, youve got some youve got some downed trees. Im going to take you in over here real fast. I want to show you what the shelter looks like. Watch these swinging doors. Those doors blew open a little while ago this is what was the shelter earlier. This whole coliseum was filled with people. Theyve now taken those people and have them in the wings on their cots because the roof started leaking. There are now concerns about things that might fall down. They are saying that this structure is still sound. Guys, back to you. Yikes. Incredible picture. Stay safe. Check back in with you in a few minutes. Joining us now on set, former Secretary Of StateMadeleine Albright. So great to have you on set with us. Thank you so much. Thank you. Your take on President Trumps address before the u. N. General assembly . Whats your gut . Well, my gut is, im glad he went. Okay. And that he actually spoke some positive things about the United Nations. I think it was actually two speeches. One in which it was written in a way to be much more nationalistic. Going up and talking about America First in that location and then having listened to many
speeches there. The tone of it was really bad, i think. And in so many ways, we all want to make sure that america is strong. But i think his speech weakened america. And i think its something that will make us very hard to carry on a lot of diplomatic work that we have to. But im going to try to be positive. Right. And see that he recognizes multilateral action and the history of the u. N. Its important. Part of it now will be as to whether they fund the u. N. We, by not paying or funding, is very hard to get reform if, in fact, you dont support the funding of it. So those are the aspects of it. We talk around the table often about how maybe a slight move to the middle by donald trump is always met with a harsh tweet, where he throws red meat to his base. Did you get a sense yesterday
that the two speeches he gave one may have been sort of a tip of the hat to the United Nations and an understanding of the realities that have sat in on him over the past eight months, but another part of the speech might have been for domestic consumption, for his base, saying, yes, yes, im at the United Nations but, my friends, dont worry. Im going to say National Sovereignty a thousand times so you can take that back to your Republican Club meetings and let them know donalds still with you. I think youre absolutely right. Mostly you dont go to the u. N. To give a domestic speech. I think that he was doing that. In so many ways. But it will hurt, ultimately. I know people dont like the world multilateralism. It has too many syllables and ends in ism. But ultimately its about partnerships and he has to do
that kind of work. I do think the language generally that he used was so harsh that i think, in some ways, it strengthened kim jongun, made him the center of attention. Yep. Richard, youre laughing i totally agree with that. Sort of laughing when i was talking about domestic consumption. I take it you agree . Because people need to understand for Donald Trumps hard base, him stepping in to the United Nations is a statement, is a betrayal. The u. N. Is the great symbolism in that world. A lot of literature about ultimately theyll take away american sovereignty, the Second Amendment rights. So for him to go to the u. N. Is totally inconsistent with his base. It wasnt a coincidence that he used the word sovereignty 21 times. That was his way of reassuring people that hes not going to be taken in by the fact that hes showing up in new york at this party. Secretary albright, the north
korean problem is one you confronted as ambassador of the u. N. And then Secretary Of State. The president said if that nation continued its pursuit of Nuclear Weapon he would, quote, totally destroy north korea. At least that the u. S. Had the capability to do that. Thats a pretty specific threat. Where are we . Where are we left 25 years or so after you all first confronted the problem of north korea . What hasnt worked for a generation and whats left . Lets say it is a difficult theres no question its a difficult issue. During the clinton administration, there were no addition of material, no Nuclear Weapons and no icbms. We were in the middle of negotiations when i left there in october, presented it when the Bush Administration had won the election and Secretary Powell was willing to continue the negotiations, and they didnt. So, there are any number its the most complicated history ive ever seen. But what is left are all the tools in the tool box and there has to be a better whole of
government approach to it and working within is the sixparty talks. We just cant decide that diplomacy does not work because i do think that some of the they need to do more with the sanctions and they need to do more with diplomacy. And we have to have deterrence. I fully agree. To put it in kind of defcon highest now is something thats troubling. It makes it difficult for anybody to talk to them. Talking to somebody you dont like is actually more important. Critics would say weve ratcheted up sanctions over and over and over again for 20, 25 years now and theres no response from north korea, except to continue its pursuit. Im not calling for a military strike. Im just asking if you believe that sanctions will actually solve this problem . I dont think theyll solve the problem. But i do think looking at what is available, i think what ultimately the sixparty talks, obviously, talk about what the chinese need to do. And then i find interesting the
fact that if he did, in fact, explode a thermal Nuclear Weapon, that there were news about the fact that some Radioactive Material had gone into the airspace of china and the russians, and i think that is something that they are afraid of. And, richard, you had talked about the fact of five Nuclear Powers. But i think the Nonproliferation Treaty Works to the extent it does because people understand they dont want radioactive over their territory. David ignatius will jump in from washington. David . Secretary albright, you and i have talked often over the last month about whether the liberal International Order, as we often call it, can survive the trump presidency. And im curious. After this major speech by donald trump at the United Nations, do you think thats more or less likely . You do need to work with the
other countries and he had not made clear enough sovereignty is one word. But i think in terms of what governments are like, how you, in fact, talk to your own people without riling them all up and then looking at the institutions that you can work with. The press, the judiciary and we have spent a lot of time thinking about this, you and i, and others. And i think i am worried. Sovereignty is a very important part. But the question and richard is the expert on a lot of sovereignty. What are the obligations of sovereignty . How do you work with others . And what is our responsibility towards other countries . Secretary albright, let me ask you briefly about the United Nations generally, 25 years later. 25 years after you said the u. N. Must reform or die, you saw it up close. 25 years later, weve seen syria unravel. And the United Nations and the International Order couldnt bring that chaos to an end. Weve seen north korea continue its march over the past 25 years. Now, again, nothing meaningful can be put together by an International Community. What do you say to americans . What do you say to members of the United Nations about its ineffectiveness over, lets just say, the past year . And how does it become more effective in International Affairs again . One thing we do have to keep in mind, it is a combination, a collection of Nation States. Sovereignty is the important part. And we can blame the secretariat and International Bureaucrats but ultimately it is a decision by the Nation States. And the United States and this was my problem when i was there. We were behind in paying our peacekeeping bills. And then congress unilaterally decided to lower the amount we were going to pay. And its very hard to call for reform if youre not paying, leading the british, our best
friends, actually, to deliver a message they had waited over 200 years to say, representation without taxation. And we do, in fact, have to make it work. The new Secretary Gutierrez is bound and determined to move on reform. Then the cliche, if it didnt exist we would invent it. It is a necessary way to have countries operate together and find common goods. I do think also one thing ive been pushing for a lot, the private sector has to be at the table early. Public private partnership in working on some of these problems is important. You cant bring them in at the last minute. And there needs to be a way to reform the u. N. Theres no question. But in order for us to push that agenda, we have to believe that it can be done. Secretary Madeleine Albright, it is great to have you on this show. She has tried to be positive, joe. She is trying to be positive. Trying. And, of course, we need the seat afar right there. Just critical, richard. Always good to see you. Thank you so much. From one former Secretary Of State to another, john kerry joins the table. And we continue to keep an eye on puerto rico as Hurricane Maria is battering the island right now with 155mileperhour winds. Well be right back. vo dogs have evolved,
to visibly reduce wrinkles. Neutrogena®. When i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. I just snapped a photo and got an estimate in 24 hours. My Insurance Company definitely doesnt have that. You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance. Former Secretary Of State john kerry. So great to have you here. Happy to be here. Of course, we want to talk about what everyone is talking about. That is the Boston Red Sox winning in Extra Innings last night. I know, Extra Innings. At least three people here who cant wait for the playoffs. Thats right. Thats right. Yankee fans, richard and i. I said at least three people. Exactly. So, you just got back from ukraine. Were going to get to the u. N. Speech in a second. You just got back from ukraine. What can you tell us about the state of affairs there . Theyre in a critical place. Theyve got to make fundamental decisions about corruption, getting rid of it. They need to attract private investment. The government has to show that its serious. How much of a shadow does
russia Still Cast Over enormous, obviously. Its the ball game. But they really have their destiny in their own hands. Its up to them to decide that they are going to be a model nation for transformation. And theyre still stuck theyre trying to have it both ways. I think we made it very clear, richard, myself, others who were there, that this say critical moment for them. Richard, any fear of any realistic fear in ukraine of the russians moving westward . No. I think people understand that crimea is not coming back any time soon. The most interesting, positive thing is the russians put out an offer about, what, two weeks ago now talking about peacekeeping forces in the eastern part of the ukraine. And the question is, does that mean that maybe putin understands some of the costs of what theyre doing . Are they beginning to look for something of an exit . I dont know. The recommendation everybody made to the ukrainian government, we all saw the president , was why dont you at
least explore that, see if the russians are up to something, if its a ploy, expose it. If its not a ploy, work with it. The president s speech at the United Nations didnt dig into it much further. What did you think of the speech overall . Joe, i think you all have talked about it a fair amount already. But, look, what is the purpose of the speech by the president of the yUnited States to the United Nations . It is to sell americas policy, to bring countries to the table in order to achieve your goals. And the president gave a speech about America First, which winds up, in effect, i think, Making America Last and diplomacy last. Or making america alone fundamentally. It pushes people away. I mean, this childish kind of the rhetoric. If name calling was going to solve this problem, donald trump would have already solved the problem. So, thats not going to move
anybody to do what you have to do. You have to ask yourself, is america safer because of rocket man . Did we bring anybody to the table as a consequence of that language . You dont give a speech at the United Nations to talk to your base. You have plenty of opportunities to do that. You give a speech at the United Nations to bring people to the table. What do you need more than anything . You need china to do things. China provides 100 of the fuel to north korea. Every plane, every truck, every car that moves in north korea, chinas doing that. Every bit of north koreas financing goes through chinese banks. China would shut north korea down in one week, two days. Why dont they . Because they keep saying were afraid of the stability issue. Were afraid theres going to be a massive implosion of the regime. In reality, joe, i think the reason is that theyre fearful that you know they dont know what comes afterwards, for sure. But that could, in fact, be
guaranteed. There are ways i talked to a number of people. There are absolutely ways in which to guarantee a transition here, guarantee that something happens. So, look, i think that also, he invokes the marshall plan. I love the marshall plan. Ive recommended that we have a modern day martial plan that uses the private sector to combat terrorism, grow countries and deal with young people who have no jobs. Did he mention no. He has a 37 cut in the budget. Thats his recommendation. Willie . So its i really think the speech lost an opportunity to be able to do what president s should do there, not isolate america in the minds of lots of leaders, but bring people together. He really should have made it a case for china. That would have been a legitimate diplomatic gambit, why chien wra and how china could do more. That would have been valuable. When you were Secretary Of State, dealing with the north korean problem, what were the
most hopeful avenues for you . Maybe we can get a deal done to stop the Nuclear Program this way. Why didnt it happen if it was i keep hearing people say, hey, we tried this for 25 years. Weve had diplomacy and it didnt work. No, thats not true. We have less sanctions against north korea today, which has a Nuclear Weapon, than we had against iran, which did not have a Nuclear Weapon. Now how do you figure that out . We brought more pressure to bear on iran to come to the table and negotiate. When people say weve tried no, we havent tried everything. We need to put greater pressure on sanctions because thats the way you exhaust diplomacy. And if donald trump is ever going to get to the point where he has to, quote, destroy north korea, which we all understand, this could come to blows. But you dont have to brandish that every moment so that its always the big stick and no
talk, literally, softly or otherwise. You have got to have both. And theres no sense here of Diplomatic Initiative or effort by them to bring russia or china to the table to do this. Now you look at what we did over a period of time with iran. It took us 35 years to actually get iran right. And we finally got iran right, as George Mitchell once said. You have 1,000 bad days in negotiations and one good day. It takes patience. And what we need to do with north korea is actually work with china, russia, others, to ratchet those sanctions up to a point where they have an impact and exhaust the possibilities of diplomacy so that if it came to blows, everybody in the world would understand why. Its a last resort, not a first resort. Didnt you just say china was not a willing partner right now in doing that . China has ratcheted up four times. We went to china. We ratcheted up sanctions. Then we ratcheted them up a second time. Ive supported the Trump Administration in their diplomacy to try to ratchet it up. We had oil Embargo Sanctions in the last round. The chinese walked that back. But we did ratchet it up. With the last firing we have the reason to put even more pressure on and go back to china. Look, youve got to go through that process. By the way and this is really important talking about getting rid of the iran deal and going after iran, we all have were all aware that iran is doing things we dont like and theres things we want iran to stop doing. If you go after the iran deal and iran the way he did yesterday, and talk about throwing it out you make your diplomatic efforts of solving north korea far more complicated whachlt does north korea think, looking at the way hes talking about shredding a deal that was made . If thats the way america
behaves in the world, throwing out something that works because you dont like it, but it works, youre actually inviting a much more active path. Mike barnicle . Another deal on the verge of being shredded, the paris accord. Hasnt been spoken about much. The Trump Administration is on the path of destroying the paris accord. We had a twoday conference at yale that ended yesterday. Secretary jim backer, former republican treasury and Secretary Of State came. He spoke about the need to price carbon. Hank paulson, former republican secretary of treasury, jeff immelt, general electric. We had a group of former secretaries of energy and all of whom talked about how what were seeing today should convince people that they need to move on Climate Change. Irma, First Hurricane to ever
have sustained winds over 185 miles an hour for 25 hours. Harvey, Largest Record rainfall in the history of hurricanes. Wildfires burning out of control in the western part of our country. The evidence is building all Around The World. Every leader in africa, every leader in europe, most leaders in asia all believe that Climate Change is happening and mankind is pushing it into faster acceleration. Paris, almost 200 nations came together. And all of them agreed simultaneously not to accept the burden imposed by any other country. Donald trump has not told the truth to the American People about this. The burden that weve accepted is one we defined. He doesnt have to pull out of paris. He just has to change the targets. When hes talking about terms that are more acceptable to the American People, theyre terms we set ourselves. Terms that america set
ourselves. He could change. Theyre voluntary. Here is the good news, though, joe, 29 states in america have already passed renewable portfolio laws. Eight states have voluntary laws. You have 38 states in america, the governors of which will convene today at 12 30 here in new york. Many of those governors will announce theyre going to continue to meet paris. So while the president may say im pulling out of paris, 80 of the American People, in these 38 states, theyre going to continue on, mayors, governors and were going to meet Paris Standards and i think we can exceed them if we do what Technology Allows us to do. David ignatius In Washington and then richard haas. David ignatius . I want to go back to iran. Do you think theres any way to make progress on the things President Trump talked about yesterday, dealing with iranian
missile testing, with iranian regional behavior, in some way, trying to figure out a way to extend the duration of this agreement, without blowing that agreement up . Absolutely. And i have reason to believe that because i met with Foreign Ministers in oslo some months ago and we raised every one of those issues. He has stated that with European Community in the region they are prepared to deal with those countries directly involved. And they are prepared to discuss Regional Security issues that would have a profound impact. You dont push the possibilities of conversation. If all you do is rattle the sabre, you are shutting off the opportunity to do these things. Yesterday it was made more difficult because of the level of insult. You can raise the issues. There are ways to do it. But the way it was done yesterday will make it harder for them to engage with us. But they are, i know, absolutely prepared to engage with europe and regional countries and that should be put to the test. Secretary, your successor has made focus to downsize the amount of Resources Available to diplomacy, to shrink the department. He hasnt filled a lot of positions. Do you think you can succeed at Secretary Of State with the kind of trajectory secretary tillerson is taking . I think its extremely difficult to do diplomacy without diplomats. The world needs more of the leadership that the United States has calculated to reach out and build alliances and do the things that we 2 billion people, 2 billion young people in the world under the age of 15. 1. 8 billion between the ages of 15 and 24. Many of them are in places where extremists are recruiting them, bringing them over because they dont have opportunity. They dont have a say in their country. They dont have the possibility of a future. We need to be deeply engaged in possibilities of legitimate opportunity and work and taking our values and marketing them. Thats the best of american diplomacy. When you cut off the ability of your ambassadors we dont have ambassadors in many of the critical countries in the world. We dont have Assistant Secretaries of state to meet. Countries have told Me We Dont Know who to talk to so how does the world get safer if youre not doing the hard work of diplomacy. Thank you so much. Your tan, your rested and ready, youre younger than everybody else talking about running for president of the United States. Is it kerry 2020. I dont have any plans right now honestly. Thats not a denial. Im not thinking about it. Youre younger than most people talking about run right now in the democratic party. Thank you so much. Youre a trouble maker. No, no, no. We think we may see you again on the campaign trail. Still ahead the latest on the gops Last Ditch Effort to repeal obamacare. Taking on his Health Care Bill with lindsey graham. We got senator cassidy ahead. My experience with usaa has been excellent. They always refer to me as master sergeant. They really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. Weve got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. Had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police. Usaa was there handson very quick very prompt. I feel like were being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. Were the webber family and we are usaa members for life. Usaa, get your insurance quote today. I got some financial howd that go . Le ago. He kept spelling my name with an i its bryan with a y. since birth. Well, i happen to know some people. Do they listen . What . Theyre amazing listeners. Guidance from professionals who take their time to get to know you. 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. A Nations Technology will determine its power. In its economy, in medicine, in science and in National Security. One company designs and builds more supercomputers than any other. An american company. Hewlett packard enterprise. Leading the way to discover. To innovate. And to protect. Hewlett packard enterprise. A National Asset in supercomputing. To be. The worst of the destruction is taking place right now in areas of eastern puerto rico and that northern Eye Of The Storm is heading into or overthetop of san juan as we speak. Its scary times, willie. Obviously a major Population Center, too. Bill, follow that storm track for us and weve got a report from on the ground in puerto rico as well. Plus, senator bill cassidy whose taking some heat from a late night host over his push to kill obamacare to repeal and replace. Does the new republican bill fail the socalled jimmy kimmel test. Well talk to senator cassidy about that when morning joe comes right back. Tie oh, millies. 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meteorologist bill karins with the check on the storms latest track, bill . Just got the new 8 00 advisory in from the hurricane center. Down to 150milesperhour winds. Now the centers only 15 miles from san juan, puerto rico. Thats the Population Center of puerto rico. 2. 5 Million People just to the north and that northern eye wall is now overthetop of them. We dont have radar to show you because the radar went down in san juan. We do have supersan juan, puerto rico, gabe gutierrez. The situation here in san juan is dire. The winds here have been intensifying and the worst is yet to come. We have taken shelter in a concrete structure. Theres a wall blocking me, blocking the wind to our right. As you can see behind me, theres a scene of utter chaos. Authorities here have been warning people for days that if they live in wooden structures or flood prone areas that they needed to evacuate or die. Well the time for that has
passed. Theres nowhere to turn at this point. We have seen parts of buildings being blown off, debris strewn throughout the streets, trees being toppled and communications are starting to go down. The power is out too. A large chunk of san juan already. This in a region that was raised by Hurricane Irma but it knocked out power to 75 of the island. Maria could knock out power to some parts of this region for four to six months. Authorities are warning that this is will be catastrophic. We expect to get hit by these howling winds and torrential rain for the next several hours. Theres no telling how much damage this could cause but a big concern as well is the storm surge. Back to you. Wow, incredible pictures and his hotel room is to the back of the strongest winds purposely to show you the winds. Theyre not into his rooms. Heres the update from the
hurricane center. Were still category 4, 150milesperhour winds, moving to the northwest at 10milesperhour. Heres imagery. Theres the eye. This the worst case scenario, cat 4, northern eye wall right over the most Populated Areas of puerto rico by about 2 00 p. M. Today we take it off the northern coast of puerto rico so by late this afternoon, the winds will relax. Well have a couple hours during the Late Afternoon to for the officials to assess just how bad it is out there and the concerns are with the winds and we already had the storm surge on the southeast coastline and we still have to deal with the flooding rains. There are mountains on puerto rico. We have flash flood emergencies for rivers that have risen 20 feet. The water kills more people than the wind. So theres the surge as far as the rainfall flooding goes, even though youre not getting the worst of the winds, western
portions are doing the worst of that. I want to finally finish up, so you the long range track here, turks and caicos and we watch is t going in between the southeastern United States and bermuda. Its going to parallel the u. S. Coastline as we go into next week. Some computers have it getting very close to the outer banks, others close to new england but itll be a much weaker storm and thats seven days away. Back to you. Thank you. A very dangerous situation rapidly developing. We have the washington posts david ignatius. So should we get to President Trumps remarks. Sure. We have health care. Yeah. Which the republicans are once again trying to pass an absolutely terrible bill this one im curious. The over under maybe 13, 14 for its approval rating. Yeah. They just never learn. Its really incredible. Its the hot stove. Putting their hand on the hot stove. Weve been mocking donald trump for doing what only 33 of the country wants and which, by the way, phillip hes gone up three weeks in a row. I wonder why. Hes not trying to aggravate 200 Million People. Whats wrong with them . Theyre not even on Steve Bannons 33 plan, theyre on their own 17 plan. Every one of these Health Care Bills are horrible. Everyone is worst than the last and theyre going to do it again and once again, were going to reorder 1 6th of the economy and were going to rush it before we have the Congressional Budget Office actually giving us a score and we dont really need the cbo score. Well get to this, its going to
be the we just got to talk about this for one second. Its unbelievable the socalled conservatives saying were going to reorder one sixth of the economy and have absolutely no idea what impacts its going to have on all of america on their health care. It is the most radical thing anybody could do. And they have a real deadline of September 30th, so thats next saturday i believe. Its about a week and a half when they can get reconciliation and get 50 votes and have mike pence break that tie. Theyll have a ticking clock. And if you look at the pill its not clear to me what theyve changed to give someone like Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski who objected to the last bill reason to vote for this bill. It has all the worst qualities of the last Health Care Bills and again, we always play this game. What if democrats had done what
republicans had done, imagine what the press would say . Imagine if democrats tried to pass a bill in seven or eight days, reorder one sixth of the economy and rushed through it without a Congressional Budget Office . Republicans, right wing radio, everybody on the far right would be going absolutely ballistic right now. If you ask why would any of the republicans oppose the previous bill support this one by when it doesnt meet what they want, its because of the deadline. With a 13 plan. With a bill that has not gone through regular order and has a lot of the same problems as the original legislation and, by the way, even if the senate does this its not entirely clear that the house would pass the same bill so they may be going
through all this political torture for something that would never get to the president s desk. John mccain showed the courage he showed before, why would he say, oh, Mitch Mcconnell and donald trump have a deadline so im going to have people remember me for passing a Health Care Bill that strips Health Care Coverage from tens of millions of people and something we do radekly without even looking at a Congressional Budget Office, without doing regular order. John mccain was so right when he talked about regular order. Yeah. Thats you want to know one of the things along with gerrymandering that has made washington as sick as its been over the past several years politically, its no regular order. They get two or three people in a room, they draft up something and then they shove down the rest of congresss and the American Peoples throat. I highly doubt that john mccain is worried about these false deadlines and is going to let his legacy be that he reordered
one sixth of the economy without in such a reckless, radical, irresponsible way and i just dont know why my friends in the Republican Party keep going back and doing the same stupid thing over and over again this year. Its as if theyre desperate to make nancy pelosi speaker of the house. Then that would be helpful. Now to President Trumps first to nancy pelosi. Which we could use leadership, real moral leadership in the Republican Party right now as we turn to President Trumps first remarks yesterday to the United NationsGeneral Assembly where he held nothing back regarding the ongoing crisis with north korea. Now, north koreas reckless pursuit of Nuclear Weapons and Ballistic Missiles threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of human life. No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with Nuclear Weapons and missiles. The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. Rocket man is on a Suicide Mission from himself and for his regime. The president went on to praise the u. N. Security council for the harsh sanctions against pyongyang specifically thanking china and russia for joining the unanimous vote while also calling on the u. N. As a whole to step up its involvement. The scourge of our planet today is a small group of Rogue Regimes that violate every principal in which the u. N. Is
based. If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few then evil will triumph. The United States is ready, willing and able but hopefully this will not be necessary. Thats what the wrunited nation is all about. Thats what the United Nations is for, lets see how they do. It is time for all nations to Work Together to isolate the kim regime until it ceases its hostile behavior. North koreas Prime Minister walked out in protest before President Trump began his speech. I thought it was just me yesterday, i was we were traveling and doing a lot of Different Things so i didnt get to see the speech when it was going down but i was reading my twitter feed and breaking news and it seemed that donald trump
had doused kerosene all over himself and set himself on fire and was like setting off fireworks in there and then i started looking at the text of the speech and i saw, yes, very Strong Language towards north korea and language that you and i wouldnt prefer him to use but he also criticized iran, he also criticized venezuela, he criticized Rogue Regimes. He spoke glowing of the martial plan. Talking about the righteous many against the evil few and i was okay, so im missing something here and then i read your op ed later in the afternoon where you said this was actually you take away the bomb bast this is a fairly conventional speech from a president at the United Nations. Joe, i had the same reaction,
the speech had zingers in it guaranteed to send the news media crazy, well going to totally destroy north korea, this repetition of the president s new favorite catch phrase, rocket man has clearly replaced Crooked Hillary as his goto phrase. What was fascinating to me in the speech was the president in his first speech at the u. N. Was embracing the legacy of this institution. He mentioned president truman, the founding father of that world twice in his speech. He mentioned the marshal plan. Complimentary of the marshal plan. The Building Blocks of the world that you and i live in and weve talked together i would often talk with mikas dad when he was alive about the danger that this world that was created
in 1945 would be taken apart by donald trump and interestingly the speech went in a different direction, thats not to excuse the undiplomatic language, i dont think that that helps, but the substance of the speech tells me that nine months in he is less determined to overturn the system than we mightve thought at the beginning. So david, i was struck listening to that, yes, it was different than previous president s speeches at the u. N. But it was precisely what donald Trump Campaigned on. I will defend America First, and always look at first for americas interest so unconventional, yes, but not unexpected i dont think from donald trump. Some of the analysis this morning is that the president reshaped the u. S. Role in the world with that speech. Did he really . Was it some big departure to whats happened in the country in the past . I didnt it was, willie. I think whats important when a
figure is trying to speak for the masses of americans who think the u. N. Is a big waste of time and money, we wanted to be invested in the u. N. Thats a community of sovereign nations, reshaping the balance on which this rests but its not overturning it. I read it a little different from some of the other commentators. Well see. If President Trump is serious about bringing the United States back in as a participant in reform of the u. N. , making it more effective, making it more place where problems get solved, that will be a significant difference for a conservative, a republican to do that, would be a big step. I cant help but think that nikki haley is favorite Foreign Policy official or ambassador to the u. N. Is one of the reasons hes so sited about it. Its his friend nikkis project. Michael churtauf joins us. Plus senator bill cassidy may hit a role block. Can he win over sceptical governors from his own party . Join us tonight around 7 00. It kicks off streaming live early bird special. Watch wheel of fortune. Facebook. Com scarborough. Was messing with you, wasnt it . Yeah, happens to more people than you think. Try lactaid, its real milk, without that annoying lactose. Good, right . Mmm, yeah. I got your back. Lactaid. Its the milk that doesnt mess with you. Will people know it means theyll get the lowest price guaranteed on our rooms by booking direct on choicehotels. Com . Hey badda book. Badda boom mr. Badda book. Badda boom book now at choicehotels. Com a Nations Technology will determine its power. In its economy, in medicine, in science and in National Security. One company designs and builds more supercomputers than any other. An american company. Hewlett packard enterprise. Leading the way to discover. To innovate. And to protect. Hewlett packard enterprise. A National Asset in supercomputing. When this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. Yeah, my dad says our insurance doesnt have that. What . you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with youâ„¢. Liberty mutual insurance. Building dangerous missiles and we can not abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a Nuclear Program. The iran deal was one of the worst and most onesided transactions the United States has ever entered in to. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States and i dont think youve heard the last of it, believe me. Believe me of course lifted straight from lincolns second inaugural. Iran was the other country that President Trump took to task in his General Assembly speech. Joining us now veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and host of mitchell reports, Andrea Mitchell. Andrea, what did you think of the speech overall . Campaign rally, bomb bass tick, overly rhetorical, you know, aggressive and not multilateral. Not the wrong speech for the venue. Exactly. I totally agree with you. While Many Americans would agree with a lot of what he was saying, joe, this speech i feel like was for what our place is in The World Stage and i dont think he articulated anything more than weve seen before. He tried to define America First. I mean, this is about working together. He used the word sovereignty 21 times yet never name checked russia for grabbing part of ukraine. If hes not going to challenge russia at the same time when his Secretary Of State is that very day meeting again with the russians on ukraine, as a matter
of fact, and and yet hes goading somebody who incredible unstable in north korea. Wheres the plan . The speech makes me very, very nervous. The bulk of the speech as you spoke to in the earlier segment is pretty much boiler plate, its what youd expect from an american president. The problem with the speech, according to many, many people i spoke with yesterday after the speech, is that every element that he raised as an issue is a global issue, its not an American Issue and we need America First is one thing. America alone is a very dangerous thing. Terrorism, climate, cyberattacks. These are global issues and he never addressed them. He stood in front of a fairly useless body, every american knows that but didnt try to do anything collectively to gather that body together to confront these global issues. Im sure it was enormously
popular with Donald Trumps base but hes the president of the United States. I think that speech was enormously popular or somewhat popular with more than just Donald Trumps 33 or 35 or whatever it is now. I suspect that speech was popular with the majority of americans. You have a president who was going after north korea, going after iran, going after venezuela. I mean there was a moment we had a lot of conservatives that were Cheering Yesterday where he said venezuela is failing not because socialisms been implemented badly, its because socialisms and nobody nobody clapped in the chamber. He just sat and waited it out. Im just saying there is Donald Trumps base, i do think it would be a mistake to think that this only played for 31 . A lot of americans probably agreed with that speech yesterday. Well find out. I dont know. A lot of americans i dont
know whether theyre going to agree with were going to destroy you and then after we destroy you, havens wailla watch out and cuba i dont like you either. We can only do so much, joe. I think most americans know that. Did we get the sense that he was talking about invading all these countries . You got the sense that he had warrior language underneath, that he wasnt afraid to go after any nation. Coming up on morning joe, New York City is always on high alert especially when nearly all the World Leaders are in town. Were going to talk to former Homeland Security secretary michael chur tauf about whats involved next on morning joe. A pilot like you shouldnt be flying buses. Welcome to miami. You should be serving your country. [ whispering ] im working for the cia. That sounds made up, barry. This is going to be good for us. Nice wheels. [ laughter ] thats for the damage. And your bike. You never saw me. [ bell rings ] american made. Rated r. Rated r. Istart at the new carfax. Comar. Show me minivans with no reported accidents. Boom. Love it. [struggles] show me the carfax. Start your used car search at the allnew carfax. Com. Have you any wool . Eep, no sir, no sir, some nincompoop stole all my wool sweaters, smart tv and gaming system. Luckily, the Geico Insurance agency recently helped baa baa with renters insurance. Everything stolen was replaced. And the hooligan who lives down the lane
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ceiling and theyre not sure how much it can withbe stand. Theyve moved people back in here, this is a family right here and there are a lot more families underneath the bleachers. Walk with me this way. Let me show you what it looks like. The winds are weakening just a little bit. We dont know where the storm is right now because we lost radar but we do know the eye was about 15 miles away from us 20 minutes ago. That is how strong the wind is. Were inside of a coliseum and it was able to rip that door off its hinges and its been blowing things around but as we take a look outside, you can see this is where a lot of the trees have come down, and again these winds are considerable calmer than what weve seen. We dont know if were starting to see what may be the eye because weve lost radar contact but we are seeing things calm down just a little bit. Some doors down here were blasted. Youve got crews down there. They were trying to secure those
doors with zip ties and fire hoses but they were unable to do soso right now as these winds die down people are coming back out to assess some of the damage. Weve got another round if this is, in fact, the eye. The winds will continue to hammer us for six to eight hours. Were glad youre inside of that shelter. Everybodys lucky to be in a concrete structure like that. Well check back with you in just a second. Joining us now former secretary of Homeland Security, michael chertoff. Very good to have you. In fact, just looking at the hurricane coverage, femas under Homeland Security, its more often and they are stronger. Yeah. How is the department do you think in interprets of preparing for these and how are they responding so far . I think the governments done quite well bearing in mind that its always going to be an ugly situation and people are under a lot of stress, but i think this
shows the result of over ten years of working to reformulate what our doctrine is to prepare to train, to exercise and of course this has been an exceptional hurricane season. We havent had one like this since 2008. So it really is going to test metal of the folks both at the federal and the local level. So and reformulating the doctrine in terms of preparing, but what about what about Climate Change and does that play into this or is that a separate entity of the government that should be addressing that . Im not an expert i know but we all have brains. I would say that weve certainly seen intense periods of weather. Whatever the cause s we have to start thinking about how do you become more resilient and one thing i would say, if we look at what the dutch have done, dutch have lived below sea level for centuries and theyve developed technologies and building requirements that make it easier
for them to resist a catastrophic result. Weve got to start thinking about longterm. How do we build an infrastructure and protects us and mitt gates the damage of what may be a period of rising sea levels and more storms. Okay. Lets move to President Trumps speech before the u. N. Did you think it was a productive speech . I think its a speech where bearing in mind his personal style as a speaker which is a little different than what were used to, i think its a speech that you could almost read in to what you wanted to. There were elements that sounded like America First, its all about america but there were also elements that showed engagement with the rest of the world and focusing on countries where people are actually being oppressed. So i think it was a balanced speech but its not certainly a typical speech. To me the real question is what does he do, not what does he say . Given your background, secretary, were you at all surprised that given the nature of the global threat of
terrorism, the global threat of climate, the global threat of Cyber Attacks that there wasnt more in the speech about the need to address it globally rather than just America First, america alone which seemed to be the direction of the speech . I always view these speeches not as a road map to what actually policy is going to be but an overarching theme setter and i think the theme here was we are Nation States, we do have obligations to our own people, but as Nation States we can Work Together in our mutual interest. So i dont view this as closing the door on globalization. It certainly was not an apology speech as some weve heard in the past. It was not the most bell koes thing weve heard either so to me the question is what does he do rather than what does he say . Whats more bellicose than were going to destroy north korea. The axis of evil was bellicose. Ive watched people interpret this in different ways over the
last 24 hours. I dont think he said if you dont reannounce your weapons were going to destroy you. I think what he said was, if we have to defend ourselves, we will destroy you and i think thats a rather crude, perhaps, but accurate statement of what deterrence is and that was really in the cold war what we told the soviets. If you attack us we will fight back. So the axis of evil speech was not delivered to the u. N. And im just curious because youre one of many who have said weve got to watch what he does, not what he says. That doesnt seem okay. This is the president of the United States. What he says is supposed to be extremely important and its supposed to represent what hes going to do. And what his intentions are and what his hopes and dreams are for this country and the World Community and our place in the world. Are we supposed to discount everything he says because he might do something differently . I agree with you. Ideally you want a president who
can use the bully pulpit as a way to be honesty. To Community Messages to our allies and adversaries. You just have to face the fact this president s rhetoric is not what we expect and i do think in the end a lot of it will be discounted precisely because it is not necessarily connected to what happens. Wow. To me the policy issues and the way he actually execute become the really important things. If i look at what hes done in dealing with our allies and actually what he does its been a lot more mainstream than what some of the rhetoric is. Wow. Im interested in your reaction there secretary to another element of President Trumps Foreign Policy and that is refugee admissions and cutting that number in half as a response to what he views as the global threat of terrorism from certain countries. I was reminded after 9 11 that president george w. Bush made a point going out and saying were
going to keep the number where it is. Why do you think that was important for george w. Bush to do that and do you think its a mistake for donald trump to do what hes doing . As ive written, putting aside humanitarian issues which of course are important, i think from a National Security standpoint its important not to be cutting the number of refugees that we have as a cap because that sends a bad signal to our allies many of whom are hosting refugees at great burden. I want to be clear about a couple things. I absolutely agree when we have refugees who apply to come in, we need to vet them carefully and make sure theyre not a risk. Which we do. I have to say in fairness, weve had a Record Number of Asylum Seekers coming into the u. S. I think were on track to have over 200,000 this year and so thats outside the cap. So we are certainly in a position to be taking people who are fleeing from persecution when they arrive at our shores. Nevertheless, the Refugee Program i think is a Flagship Program for solidarity with countries like jordan and turkey and other countries in the region and its important from a security standpoint that we show that solidarity. Its interesting to hear you say its a question of National Security to keep that number, because the argument is its a question of National Security to limit the numbers so some of those refugees dont sneak in that have ill will toward the United States. In terms of the risk coming in to do harm, the Refugee Program where people have to wait usually 18 months to get in is very low risk compared to simple travellers and so i mean, weve obviously got to do whatever we need to to reasonable check but putting a cap on the Refugee Program doesnt really serve a purpose and is actually contrary to our interest. If you tied together several of the challenges the administration is facing, cybersecurity, terrorism,
hurricanes, this is a white house that has one individual essentially handling all of those things or overseeing that, tom bossert, is that effective . Do they need to have more people focusing on these issues . Is he enough . I know tom and i worked with him back in the days of the Bush Administration and hes very experienced and hes smart and i think hes really capable. We should be pleased hes in that position. I also think that the folks in the security staff and the white house that hes brought in are very capable in the area of cyber. Actually i think the real issue is populating the departments and making sure you have staff in the departments. I thought secretary kelly was a good dhs secretary. Hes now at the white house. The acting secretarys very good. Theyre starting to fill the positions out and the good news is actually Homeland Security as opposed to some other departments is actually relatively well populated at a senior level and with people who have real operational experience and i think you saw the result
of that in the hurricane response. Im encouraged by that. Id like to see the State Department a little bit more filled out and i think the Defense Department has some vacancies. One thing you learn when youre dealing with a multitude of crisis you need to have all hands on deck. Former Homeland Security michael chertoff, thank you so much for being on with us this morning and still ahead well talk to republican senator bill cassidy whose racing against a deadline to pass his Obamacare Repeal bill but does it fail the socalled jimmy kimmel test. Thats next on morning joe. Their experience is coveted. Their leadership is instinctive. Theyre experts in things you havent heard of researchers of technologies that one day, you will. Some call them the best of the best. Some call them veterans. We call them our team. [fbi agent] youre a brave man, your testimony will save lives. Mr. Stevens . This is your new name. This is your new house. And a perfectly inconspicuous suv. You must become invisible. [hero] ill take my chances. 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. Its realizing beauty doesnt stop at my chin. Roc®s formula adapts to delicate skin areas. My fine lines here . Visibly reduced in 4 weeks. Chest, neck, and face cream from roc®. Methods, not miracles. ™ for tech advice. Dell Small Business advisor with one phone call, i get products that suit my needs
and i get back to business. Reporter good morning. We had been seeing winds that were rapidly intensifying. Just for the moment theyve died down just a bit allowing us to go outside. This is still a devastating storm slamming into parts of san juan. This city weve already seen parts of buildings blown off. Weve seen torrential winds and how torrential rain and howling winds throughout the morning. Parts of hotels have started to take on water. We can see the fear is right now the storm surge that could go into certain parts of the city. The more than 10,000 people in emergency shelters, theres no power to this area and as you can see its still very dire situation with the winds picking up at any point. Authorities here had warned people to evacuate for days. They hope people heeded that warnings especially those in wooden structures but unfortunately many of them didnt and it will take time to assess the damage from this and we still have hours of maria still slamming puerto rico. Back to you. Well be back to you in just a minute. Thanks so much and were back in a moment with senator bill cassidy and what could be the republicans last best hope to repeal obamacare. Keep it on morning joe. Kimchi bbq. Amazing honky tonk . . I cant believe you got us tickets. I did. I didnt pay for anything. You never do. Send me what i owe. Ive got it. I mean, you did find money to buy those boots. Are you serious . Is that why you dont like them . Those boots could make a unicorn cry. Yeah, tears of joy. The Bank Of AmericaMobile Banking app. The fast, secure and simple way to send money. Can we at least analyze can we push the offer online . Legacy technology can handcuff any company. But yes is here. The new app will go live monday . Yeah. With hewlettpackard enterprise, were transforming the way we work. With the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. 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. Tap one little bumper and up go your rates. What good is having insurance if you get punished for using it . For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. A mihappy birthday, sweetie oh, millies. Trick or treat were so glad to have you here. What if we treated great female scientists like they were stars . Yasss queen what if millie dresselhaus, the first woman to win the National Medal of science in engineering, were as famous as any celebrity . [millie dresselhaus was seen having lunch today. ] [. Rumors of the new discovery. ] what if we lived in a world like that . crowd applauding we know a place thats already working on it. This morning President Trump is tweeting about republican efforts to repeal obamacare, writing, rand paul is a friend of mine but hes such a negative force when it comes to fixing
health care. Graham cassidy bill is great. Ends ocare. Senator paul has been a vocal opponent of the plan. President trump continued on twitter, i hope republicans centers will vote for graham cass did i and fulfill their promise to repeal and replace t and replace obamacare. Money direct to states. The comments come as republicans race to beat a September 30th deadline so they only need 51 votes. Meanwhile jimmy kimmel had this to say. A few months ago after my son had open heart surgery which is something i spoke about on the air, a politician, a senator called bill cassidy from louisiana, was on my show and he wasnt very honest. It seemed like he was being honest. He got a lot of credit and attention for coming off like a rare, Reasonable Voice in the Republican Party when it came to health care for coming up with something that he called, he named it this, the jimmy kimmel
test, which was in a nutshell no family should be denied medical care, emergency or otherwise, because they cant afford it. He agreed to that. He said he would only support a Health Care Bill that made sure a child like mine would get the Health Coverage he needs no matter how much money his parents make. And this guy, bill cassidy, just lied right to my face. Do you believe that every american regardless of income should be able to get regular checkups, maternity care, et cetera, all of those things that people who have Health Care Get and need . Yep. So yep is washington for nope, i guess. And by the way, before you post a nasty facebook message saying im politicizing my sons Health Problems, i want you to know i am politicizing my sons Health Problems because i have to. Wow. And with that, joining us now is republican senator bill cassidy of louisiana. Sir, i guess i will ask you to respond. Does yep mean no really . And in your efforts to do this again, will it pass the jimmy kim mel test . Absolutely. There will be more people covered under the Graham CassidyHeller Johnson amendment and we protect those with preexisting conditions. There will be billions of dollars of coverage for, woulding families in states like maine, virginia, missouri, florida and elsewhere, states that have been bypassed by obamacare, but under those folks will have insurance and theres protection for those with preexisting conditions. So any child born with a congenital Heart Disease would get everything he or she needs . Absolutely. Okay. But its true, is it not, senator, that states who get the waivers, while they may offer coverage to people with preexisting conditions are now free to offer them at such a price that it would become unaffordable to those families, which to a lot of people is not having coverage at all. If i cant afford it, i might as
well not have coverage. That is not true. Under our bill, the coverage has to be adequate and affordable. What does that mean exactly . We run this through the chip program, we are running this through the chip program, which is wildly popular with both democrats and republicans. And there are safeguards both within the chip program that whatever coverage is offered is, if you will, adequate and affordable but we specifically say that it has to be adequate and affordable. By the way, let me also mention status quo. Theres a fellow back in louisiana whose daughter has special needs, he has to buy coverage, doesnt get a subsidy. Hes paying over 40,000 a year plus a 5,000 deductible for his family coverage. Now that is not affordable and that is pricing somebody whose daughter has a preexisting condition out of the market. Under our plan they would be helped. Senator, who decides what specifically adequate and affordable means. Those are vague terms and can be Different Things to different
people. Who decides whats affordable to a family because thats very different for family a versus family b. That would be the secretary of hhs as in the Affordable Care act, as in this bill. Theres some discretion on things that are allowed. For example, we think that if you say adequate and affordable, a reasonable person would say its got to be about the same price. Now, its possible that someone has a different definition of affordable, but typically those people who have different definitions are trying to protect obamacare, think its the only way to be and, therefore, they attempt to discredit our plan. Do you see that some see affordable as a suggestion to be manipulated by Insurance Companies as well. It has to be approved by the secretary of hhs. This is not left up to the Insurance Company. But let me say, no one likes change. No one likes change even from worse to better. On the other hand, theres a fundamental philosophical difference. Democrats are more comfortable
with power being In Washington, d. C. , and individuals being directed how they live their life. Republicans are more comfortable giving power back to the patient, power back to the state with the kind of solutions that americans come up with to solve our problems. Were not going to agree on some things because theres a philosophical difference in that regard. Dr. Cassidy, can you guarantee that your bill will not result in people, families in louisiana, massachusetts or anywhere else paying higher premiums for preexisting conditions than they pay right now . Our families will pay less under the Graham Cassidy hell r Graham CassidyHeller Johnson amendment in states like that once the governors implement those plans. But there are protection for those families. I go back to the fellow in louisiana paying 40,000 a year, his daughter with special needs, his premiums will be lower. So your bill, dr. Cassidy, as i understand it, cuts coverage for low income seniors, children and people with disabilities thats not true. Well, explain why its not true. So im not sure if youre let me talk about two things. First, we focus the theres two pots of money. Theres the traditional medicaid and the flexible block grant. The flexible block grant dollars go through the chip program and that has to be focused on those who begin at 50 of federal Poverty Level going up. States can spend it higher on the chip program, but the focus has to be on those from 50 to 138 of federal Poverty Level. So those are kind of focused upon. In the traditional medicaid pot, you may be referring to what is called the per capita cap. A proposal first made by bill clinton and then endorsed by people like the senator from
washington, patty murray, as a way to kind of give stability to the Medicaid Program but still deliver good care. Its what states do with managed care companies. We give you a certain amount of money per patient. Now, the federal taxpayer says to the state, you get a certain amount of money per patient and the state says to the Medicaid Managed Care company we give you that money. So we think its fair and frankly consistent with bipartisan support in the past. Quickly now were back to senator cassidy. What do you say to people who indicate and articulate the idea and the thought that this proposal, as with other proposals is more about rejecting anything attached with president obama, obamacare, than it is about improving our Health Care System. You know, i bring to this not a thought about president obama but about my ethics as a physician who worked for 25 years in a Public Hospital for the uninsured trying to Bring Health Care to those who are poor and working families or
even middle class families who didnt have insurance. This will bring power to that patient, power to that state for them to have control of their health care future. Thats what motivates me. Senator, both the governor of your state and jimmy kimmel dont like your legislation. Are you able to win their support or youre going to proceed without their support . No one likes change even from worse to better. Ive spoken to my governor. We both care passionately about the people in my state. I feel more comfortable with power moving out of washington to our state and to the patient. Again, there is a philosophical divide. Democrats are more comfortable with the federal government putting an individual mandate penalty on us, coercing us to buy insurance. Which boy the way, 58 of those penalties are paid by those earning 50,000 or less. Republicans think we should help those families, not penalize them. Its just a philosophical divide. I think when they see the success of our program, theyll
be pleased. All right, senator bill cassidy, thank you very much. We have just moments left in the show. Im wanting to get final thoughts. You can talk round and round in circles. Ive gotten emails during this interview saying that the senate is saying is simply not true. Its available versus affordable versus what the governors do. It is a very why it was so hard for president obama is why this is going to probably be impossible for republicans in the climate In Washington now. Mark halperin. Republicans are doing the same thing that the Obama Administration did. You cannot change the Health Care System without having consumers who are worse off than under the status quo. Like barack obama, senator cassidy is claiming no one will be worse off. Its just not true. Carol. Im looking forward to what jimmy kimmel has to say because it sounds like they both are having different interpretations of the same legislation. Some 430,000 people in the state of louisiana alone have signed up the last year under medicaid expansion. Their future remains in doubt