Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live 20180915

Statement saying once again an investigation has concluded with a plea having nothing to do with President Trump or the Trump Campaign. The reason, the president did nothing wrong. Want to bring in Geoff Bennett who is live from the white house lawn. And tell us more about Paul Manaforts stunning past couple of days. Paul manafort struck a plea deal yesterday that requires him to cooperate fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly with investigators in any and all matters the government deems relevant. So the season of this Cooperation Agreement couldnt be any broader. It includes manafort being fully debriefed by prosecutor, handing over any relevant documents, testing at any proceedings and even participating in undercover work. And Robert Mueller and his team of investigators likely have a wide range of questions for manafort from his involvement in the Infamous Trump tower meeting where dirt on Hillary Clinton was promised to his knowledge of russian oligarchs. What we dont know yet is whether manafort has damaging information on donald trump. Now, given the similar statements you just read from the white house and the president s outside legal team, you can see the message they are trying to sell, that the manafort mess has nothing to do with President Trump. But the Court Documents make clear that manafort was involved in criminal behavior, money laundering, foreign lobbying work during the time that he was with the Trump Campaign. And here is one other point worth underscoring. Paul manafort has known donald trump since the 1980s when trump was a client of his lobbying firm. And Paul Manafort also has ties to other Trump Associates including the president s one time political adviser roger stone who by the way Robert Mueller is also investigating. And one other thing quickly ill mention is that the special counsel may also want to ask Paul Manafort whether the president or his aides tried to keep him quiet in exchange for a possible president ial pardon. And as you well know, that could go directly to the heart of the obstruction of justice part of the Mueller Probe. All right. Geoff bennett with the update from the white house, thank you. Time now to bring our panel in. Be betsy woodruff, kevin cirilli, paul butler, and also ghabe de debbetty. Were watching the president go through the tweet storm. He is not tweeting about Paul Manafort, but we have heard as we talked about the white house, Sarah Huckabee sanders, Rudy Giuliani have issued their statements saying it has nothing to do with the president. Where does that stand on the truth meter . It is more complicated than they make it sound. Geoff made an important point that some of the unlawful behavior that Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to friday was activity that he was engaged in while he was working for President Trumps campaign. Now, none of that activity has been tied by prosecutors to his work for president , but there was these two issues coincided. The work he was doing for trump and the work that he was doing that he now is potentially facing years in prison for. So to act like there is this huge amount of daylight between the plea deal that Paul Manafort has entered and his time on the campaign, certainly obfuscates some of the facts. The other piece that is important is the reason Paul Manafort has run into so much legal trouble is by all counts because he started working on the president s campaign. Mueller is investigating the people who worked with trump and russian individuals who potentially tried to help trump become practicesident. Manafort found himself in the crosshairs almost for serb becau certain because of the work he was doing for the president. And how is the tone from the white house changed since word of this plea deal came out . I dont think that they have changed their strategy at all. But i would echo what betsy just said in the sense that this is someone who i think the question becomes whether or not he found himself in the crosshairs because he was working for candidate trump or if part of the reason he was working for candidate trump was because of his prefer work with some of his previous clients that he didnt disclose. Look, i think the big takeaway from all of this is that Paul Manafort will be cooperating with the special counsels office, with bob mueller, and no one truly knows exactly when exactly that investigation is going to conclude. Is it going to be before the midterms, after the midterms, what exactly are the results of that, what is the political impact of that and what exactly will republicans say once that investigation is completed. We just dont know. But what we do know is that this is an investigation that has Paul Manafort now cooperating, Michael Cohen cooperating, the previous general flynn cooperating. This is intensifying incredibly over the past year. And the term Cooperation Agreement, how much do we read into that . He certainly could be providing all sorts of defendant things, but i think one of the important points to know, he is not necessarily only going to be talking about trump and they are not only going to be asking him about trump. So in that sense the white house thinks that it has cover because of course manafort will have a lot to talk about when it comes to foreign lobbying. Some of his past clients and past people that hes worked with. So there is a broad web of things that he could be talking about here. But the other part of this is that he has admitted guilt, so he does have to talk to them about stuff that does relate to trump as well. So the idea that the white house thinks this is fine, nothing to see here, that is just not you true. I want to play a sound from last month during an interview with fox news where President Trump had this to say about people who flip. Here it is. One of the reasons i respect Paul Manafort so much is he went through that trial, you know, they make up stories. People make up stories. This whole thing about flipping they call it, i know all about flipping for 30, 40 years ive been watching flippers. Everything is wonderful and then they get ten years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is. Or as high as you can go. It almost should be yououtlawed. So when it comes to those comments with the special counsel, would they be perking up to Something Like that especially after manaforts plea . You know the president s words you flip as far as you can go, as high as you can go, are very telling because of course mr. Manafort was the chairman of the campaign. Other people who pled guilty had very senior positions including the National Security chief. So there is not a whole lot higher that mueller can go now but for the trump family, ivanka, don jr. , Jared Kushner and then the president himself. Especially when you connect the dots in that sense and with manafort and what information he may provide in drawing those dots. Betsy, i want to ask you about Rudy Giuliani. The two statements that he gave on this plea deal and the one that he took away, the line where he said that Paul Manafort will tell the truth. So why would he pull that . What were hearing or what giuliani himself has said is that he and jay sekulow somehow got their wires crossed and there were technical difficulties as they were drafting these parallel statements and then subsequently giuliani had to withdraw this one line from the statement that he put out. That explanation may or may not be credible depending on your view of the credibility of Rudy Giuliani, but the important piece here is that it certainly appears the white house or the president s legal team took a big step back from essentially saying that they werent worried about what information Paul Manafort might potentially be giving to mueller. That said though, they were certainly likely correct in that first statement when they said manafort would be telling the truth. When he is communicating with federal investigators over the course of his cooperation, he will be obligated by law to tell the truth and if he lies, then the terms of his plea deal could be up ended and he could face an additional criminal account. Lying to the fbi can get you thrown in prison. Ask mike flynn, rick gates. So manafort certainly will be under extraordinary pressure to tell the truth when Rudy Giuliani expects that or not. That coming from his current lawyer and former lawyer when it comes to the words of john dowd. We have Maggie Haberman tweeted this, john dowd emails other lawyers involved in the trump case and says of manafort, pm has no info on president or campaign. What do you make of that statement . Certainly the white house and people around to try to spin to say, you know, seriously nothing to worry about here, lets not let the world get worked up. But it is a bit of a curious thing to say here. Obviously john dowd was closely involved for a long time. But as a number of other people said both on this panel and for the last day or two, Paul Manafort was as high as it gets in the campaign. So the idea that he wouldnt have anything new to say is pretty curious indeed. He was the chairman of the campaign for quite some sometime. And directly worked with the top people on the Campaign Including President Trump then candidate trump himself. So of course he has a lot of information. What this specifically means, im not really sure. And when it comes to this plea, how has that actually weighed in when it comes to the conversations and using this word, impeachment, if at all . You know, i think the impeachment question is really a question for democrats. Particularly those if they take control of the house of representatives and what exactly that would mean for democrats and whether or not to begin to have impeachment proceedings. So far most of the senior democrats in the house of representative, they really kept this card close to the vest. They said that they want to let this investigation pan out. They want to see when exactly the Mueller Investigation yields. And just to the point of Paul Manafort though, i think i can remember back more than a year ago when there were democrats raising questions about Paul Manafort. Look, Paul Manafort became Campaign Chairman at a time in the Trump Campaign which Cory Lewandowski was seen as not having the experience nor the expertise to get the candidate over the finish line during the republican convention. He was sold to Trump Supporters as someone who was an adult in the room, someone who would be intricately involved in the details of the Trump Campaign. This is someone who essentially ran the convention, essentially ran the delegate operations. There was no other way to put it, this was someone intricately involved and virtually every facet of the Trump Campaign while he was the head of it. And paul, what does this deal signal to you as far as the time line of the special counsels investigation . It signals that it is going to go on for a while. You know mr. Manafort is getting not a great deal because he had to turn over 44 46 million wor of Real Property and Bank Accounts and he will still probably do probably around ten years. But it could have been a lot worse. So the reason mueller gave him something is based on a proffer. That is when mr. Manaforts lawyers would have sat down with the special counsel and said what mr. Manafort has that might help the special counsel investigation. So we have no idea what that is, but we do know manafort was heavily involved in the campaign during just the time that mueller is looking at including that Wikileaks Dump of emails embarrassing to Hillary Clinton. If manafort had anything to do with coordinating that, if the president knew, that is impeachment territory. And were not even factoring in the whole cohen situation too. You guys will all stick around. Thank you. Still to come, we turn our attention back to Tropical Storm florence and the rain is continuing to batter both carolinas. Nine people reported dead. A live report straight ahead. Breathe freely fast, with vicks sinex. My congestions gone. I can breathe again ahhhh i can breathe again ughh vicks sinex. Breathe on. You wouldnt accept an incomplete job from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase sensimist relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. And all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. Flonase sensimist. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is warning people to stay indoors as Tropical Storm florence slowly moves westward. Record breaking rains are still falling and there are nine deaths. Nearly 1 Million People were without power at one point and more than 5,000 people are being held in red cross shelters in South Carolina alone. Florences slow turn is making it even more dangerous. Flash flood warnings are still in effect, but all storm surge warnings have been discontinued. Lets bring in now cal perry in wilmington. The sound of chain saws certainly helpful there for peop people. Reporter thats right and i have the man who is bringing that help, this is daniel what is the name of your company . Kement on coast to coast tree service. Reporter how long have you been doing this . About 20 years. Reporter how many storms . This is my 11th storm. Reporter so what are you pulling up . Were seeing a lot of lines down, trees on lines, trees on houses, cars, fences. There is minor flooding in some areas. And other neighborhoods that have major 234r50ding. Trees down across entrances to neighborhoods. I dont know how people are coming and going. Really just Everything Associated with a cat 1, cat 2 storm. So you will take the trees first i assume off the roads and then houses and then the power . Reporter well, the power lines usually are contracted by power companies. Were a private service, so we mostly do Residential Commercial work and we have the city account here. How does this compare to other storms youve seen . Reporter a lot of rain. Usually the storms will move through a lot faster, they are gone within a day. Were still having bands come through all day we were working in Tropical Stormforce winds doing nnlemergency removals. So the back side of the storm is still here. I cant wait for it to go. What is the point at which you can start working . Reporter basically we dont like to use the man lifts in gusts over 35, but basically we can be out here working in anything as long as were doing it safely. All right. Ill let you get back to work. Thank you very much for your help. Reporter frances, you heard him, they cant get out until the winds die down. That is what has slowed down a lot of the debris clearing. And i dont know how far you can see. Creeks are turning into rivers and rivers are turning into lakes. And that water is coming up. That is why the governor is still urging caution, that is why you hear officials still telling people if you are in your homes, stay in your homes. Dont come back yet. The back side of the storm will still pass through and it will be packing pretty big winds. Great to see the crews and Community Coming thank you. Lets bring in shawna mendiola. What do we know about florence. It is still weakening. We may even see a Tropical Storm cal depression in the next few hours. But so far still a Tropical Storm and you can see heavy bands moving around the wilmington area. So right around where that large dot is here. Still looking at the tornado watch which is the outline in pink. And again, it is a slow mover. Still at 2 miles per hour. That is the speed of walking. Sos a i walk over here, you can see how slow im going, that is how the clousd ads and rain are moving. This is what were seeing with the flood levels. River flood warnings still in effect and flash flood warnings for South Carolina all the way around that as well. That flood stage is going to be taking some of those rivers up above where they should be for this time of year. And also through the week. So again this threat will continue until at least tuesday. Not going to get a sigh of relief until this turns toward the north starting tomorrow and then all the way up the atlantic coastline by monday. So a lot to talk about, again it is the flooding that will be the problem, not so much the wind anymore or the storm surge. All that water again saturating the ground, rivers all overflowing and the water needs to go somewhere. So well be seeing flash flood problems and also maybe mud and debris floe. So well give you an update here in the next hour or so. A tough go the next couple weeks. Shawna mendiola, thank you. Joining me now is admiral that h thad allen with the u. S. Coast guard. He was in charge of hurricane katrina. Thank you. So as were hearing some of these efforts, walk us through what the government response looks like at this point. Well, we need to understand at the outset that responses from the local governments and the key is to integrate what the local responders are doing with federal assets when those capabilities are needed. So the Emergency Operation centers in South Carolina, North Carolina, there are federal representatives and the coast guard folks are there coming in as soon as they can operate. Take us inside how it works and how crucial it is especially with this particular storm so troublesome because it is just stalling. The key is to move or assets out of the area that is impacted and place them so we can bring them back in as soon as they have operating conditions. And this includes staging Shallow Water boats in places like augusta, georgia, moving our helicopters from North Carolina down to savannah. And as soon as they are operating conditions that allow entry to start doing searches, and of course coordinating with local authorities to make sure that you can find the people that need help. Obviously this part of the coast doesnt have the same Population Center as like houston, texas which got hit so hard last year. So walk us through the difference here of going through these areas versus a major city. Well, of course there is a scale associated with population densities. But the problem remains the same. People that can call for help, you know noe know he where they you can get them. But people have no way of communicating. A lot of people try to use social media rather than calling 911 or the coast guard on the radio. There is nobody monitoring social media. So the issue is to get the request for help to somebody who can respond. And based on what youve seen so far compared to Hurricane Maria last year, who you would you rawould how would you rate how the government is doing . Every hurricane is unique and an exercise in applied civics and requires local and National Leaders to come together and script a response that meets the needs of the american public. Ill leave to those to compare the two responses. But the unity of effort is what is needed in any response. And what are you expecting to see and hear from the president when he visits sometime this week . Everybody wants to see the commander in chief on the ground demonstrating empathy and understanding of the situation with the people that are there. Also understanding what the First Responders are up to and Everybody Needs the boss to be there and tell them they are doing a good job. And time and time again when you have responded it theto the cries cease, what is it consistently that you see with people that people now who are watching can learncease, what i consistently that you see with people that people now who are watching can learn from, mistakes that are made, faul fa sense of security or assurances . Resiliency starts with individuals. And the more individuals are prepared, the less demands they police on Emergency Responders and plus they can follow the direction of their leaders and help their neighbors. And if you move that up to the community level, after a while it is a cycle where everybody is in position so they can help. What you dont want is put yourself in a situation where you put a demand on First Responders. It really starts ahead of time with things like building codes and how prepared communities are, but it takes unity of effort. Everybody all trying to help each other out. And working together. There is no replacement for unity of effort. And we see that when we look at all these pictures that are astounding from the aerial views of these neighborhoods and live pictures now as we see the devastation coming in here. And this goes beyond our coverage here. We see what you are talking about, the response to these kinds of things goes long after the skies clear and the sun comes out, as we see an image of this residence in new bern. But that is something that also seems to be forgotten again long after camera crews have left these areas. We know that the rivers are rising and the areas behind the coast in both north and South Carolina are river basins. And this will be something that will play out over the next four, five, maybe seven days. So we need to be careful that the floodwaters are a threat too and not move too quickly before we know what the risks are. Admiral, thank you so much for your time. One other night before we go on break. Cape hatteras is famous for its wild ponies. And they are all safe and they have weathered florence. A look of the picture of the beautiful animals. When oh, we cowe come back, newg on what mook michael cohichael up to. guard ive seen things i shouldnt have. Unnatural things. These people they dont sleep. Like ever. They reveal in extremes and defy limitations. These pursuits may seem unnecessary. But the scariest thing i can imagine is a world where this, doesnt exist. Who would have guessed . An Energy Company helping cars emit less. Making cars lighter, its a good place to start, advanced oils for those hardworking parts. Fuels that go further so drivers pump less. Improving efficiency is what we do best. Energy lives here. 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Call or visit and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. Like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. phone ringing get details on this state program call or visit there is renewed interest in Michael Cohen amid new reporting about whether he is in touch regularly with Robert Mueller. Vanity fair is reporting that he is now in contact with the special counsel. Emily jane fox broke the story yesterday. It is unclear how far down the line they are, but it is a step in the direction Michael Cohen had not gone down before. This is not where he was even about a month or so ago when he pleaded guilty. He was at that time kind of befuddled that investigators were not reaching out to him, were not seeking his Cooperation Agreement, that they were going to indict him in the Southern District of new york without really sitting down with him to reach a cooperating agreement. Last month cohen pleaded guilty to Campaign Finance violations and other charges in addition to implicating the president in relation to the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and karen mcdougal. For more, i want to bring back my panel. Betsy, lets start with you. We dont know the purpose of these talks especially when it comes to the reporting from vanivanity fair, but what doe this mean for the president . Over the course of the last several weeks around the time when Michael Cohens legal problems started getting really dramatic and came a to the forefront, cohen and his lawyers basically jumped up and down, waved their hands over their heads and said please talk to us, Robert Mueller, we have things that you may want to know, you should come talk to us. So it is not a surprise that mueller and his team essentially took up cohen on that offer and now they are in communications. And in fact you would probably hear arguments that mueller was being dare lierelict if he did bring in cohen after the onslaught we saw when he was facing the most dramatic moments of his legal crisis. So it is not a surprise that cohen and mueller are now in communication. The big open question that isnt answered is, is mueller doing this to check the box, or did mueller find out somehow in the last several weeks that, oh, shucks, i forgot to talk to Michael Cohen. We didnont know. And weve all reported that he said that he would take a bull let for the president and w he is talking to muellers team. The article says that cohen closely watched the white houses reaction to his as allocation in court and he has bristled at the feeling that he has taken the fall for a man who refused to take any responsibility or face any consequence himself. So kevin, break he down how we got to this point. Is it because he is not as rich as manafort . His family is number one, his finances arent there. How did we get here . I think this is someone who has even said publicly, his attorney has said publicly that this is someone facing intense financial pressure. I mean, it was almost seemingly a joke when lanny davis said that he wanted to have a gofundme account. You almost it is like a surreal moment in that sense. I totally agree with what betsy said because at the end of the day, Michael Cohen practically was waving like a flag at bob muellers team saying come talk to me, come talk to me. And they were rolling their eyes saying they werent going to do that. Ive talked to sources that essentially say bob muellers investigation is use the Second District court of new york to suggest that as a front line of offense in terms of building some type of legal case. I think at the end of the day this is going to come down to little more than checking of the box. Because they did not take the bait. Bob muellers team did not take the bait back when this was going through the new york court. Gabe, i want to bring you in. So not checking the box. But what is it that cohen could offer, what is it that he has, or is it just about kro corroborating witness . Certainly could be both, but the reality is what you have in cohen and not someone like manafort is someone with a very long, very close relationship to trump and a lot of the financial interactions that he has had for years and years here. And cohen clearly thinks that there is some benefit in talking to mueller other than just letting the world know that he is talking to mueller. So whether it is some sort of deal or whether he genuinely thinks that there is some sort of Material Information that he can offer the Mueller Probe that isnt out there yet, that remains to be seen. But he has it, no one else really has in terms of a personal opportunity to tell mueller about this is again, years worth of firsthand experience. And of course were hearing from michael avenatti, he tweeted that Michael Cohen is a criminal and he deserves the max penalty. He conspired to help rig the election so his close friend trump would be elect and he is now trying to prevent my client from discovering the truth about trumps conduct. His loyalty is to trump, not america. So paul, this question is for you. Does avenatti have a balance lid argument here . I think it is so interesting to contrast the way mueller dealt with manafort versus how he is dealing with cohen. With manafort, mueller threw the book at him, clearly hoping that he would flip. And manafort just didnt. He even went to trial, got those convictions and finally after 11 months he flipped. Mueller got his man. With cohen as everyone said, he has been auditioning for a sitdown with mueller. Mueller hasnt seemed all that different. What is different . First of all, millions of documents were uncovered in that search warrant of cohens apartment, his law office. So now the investigators have had a chance to go through that. They probably have questions. I think about two things. One is cohen has gone back and forth about whether trump knew about that infamous meeting with the russian lawyers. So mueller wants to hear from him. And again there is also exposure or questions about other kinds of dealings that trump may have had with the russians. You know, the infamous steele dossier says that cohen was the gobetween between the Trump Campaign and the russians, that mysterious prague trip, did cohen go to prague, didnt he. Mueller already knows. But cohen again as with everything said two different things. Betsy, what is more damaging when it comes to the president , cohen or manafort . Mueller certainly seems to be under the impression that manafort has information that is more valuable to him than cohen does. And just to echo what paul said, that seems to be highlighted by the fact that mueller has spent a huge amount of the resources and energy and man and woman power on his team over the last year and change focusing on prosecuting manafort and meanwhile in the cohen situation, there are reports that mueller found some information about cohen that could have indicated he was engaged in criminal activity. And then rather than taking that investigation under the umbrella of his special counsel probe, he handed it off to investigators in the Southern District of new york to let them take over it. So we can surmise just from the radically different ways that mueller has treated cohen versus manafort that mueller is a lot more interested in the foreman fort has than he is in the information that cohen has. And were all watching to hear from the President Trump when it comes to manafort. We havent yet. So we shall see. Thank you all so much. Still ahead, Garrett Hague joining us live from new bern where he and his team captured some of the most dramatic video of the aftermath, images of the widespread flooding. The same . Thats why capital one is building something completely different. Capital one cafes. Welcoming places with people here to help you, not sell you. With savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. That are easy to open from right here or anywhere in 5 minutes. No smoke. No mirrors. This is banking reimagined. Whats in your wallet . Of course, daniel. Fridge, weather. Clear skies and 75. Trash can, turn on the tv. My pleasure. Ice dispenser, find me a dog sitter. Okay. And make ice. Pizza delivered. Whats happened to my son . I think thats just what people are like now. I mean, with progressive, you can quote your insurance on just about any device. Even on social media. Hell be fine. [ laughs ] will he . I dont know. We are still tracking florence which has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm. The National Hurricane center has lifted its Tropical Storm warning north of surf city, North Carolina. All storm surge warnings have been discontinued, but florence has left tragedy in its wake. Nine deaths have been blamed on the storm and about 900,000 homes in that region are without power. More than 5,000 are being sheltered in South Carolina. While the storm is weakening, there is still the threat of river flooding as rain continues to downpour on the region. President trump has approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina. Lets go now to mayor phillips of jacksonville, he joins us by phone. When it comes to those rivers overflowing, talk about the situation there and how that is affecting rescue operations as well. Were actually have the new river here and right now, most of the flooding were experiencing is coming from the rainfall itself. Not as much as it is the tidal surge from the hurricane. There are some areas along the river in low lying areas that are flooded and people are having to be evacuated even in some of the outlying neighborhoods outside of the city. There are rescue operations that are continuing. We do have the u. S. Coast guard involved with actually flying evacuees out to Memorial Hospital where they are being driven to shelters by our city transit buses. So with those evacuations and rescues, is the weather right now or the conditions, have they gotten a little bit better so that they can make those rescues as were looking at people getting around these neighborhoods on their boats . Are you hearing of people strand stranded on rooftops or attics . What do the rescues entail . It is people trapped in homes for sure, but right now the conditions, it is still raining but not raining real hard right now. And the wind is more like a breeze more than it is windy like it has been the last couple days. But hopefully this will allow a little easier effort as far as rescue efforts are concerned and also with trying to get power restored. And talk about the resources that you have for the people who are being rescued who are still evacuating there. Talk about that and what is available to the residents. There are a number of shelters open. There are some businesses that are open now you, not many, but the ones that some that do have power are able to sell gas. But right now but it is still kind of all closed up. There is a lot of flooding here and still a lot of power lines that are down all around. I understand that you have imposed a curfew. How long do you expect that to last and what are the conditions and situations and circumstances that you will consider before lifting that . Well, a lot of it will have to do with the receding of the waters. The big problem we have right now is the water, it has rained so much so hard for such a long period of time that the water just is not escaping fast enough. And it is building up. And that is one of the reasons for the curfew is the fact that once it starts getting dark outside, it will be very hard to see a lot of the hazards that are out there such as high water, power lines, trees. Those sort of things. That is where our dangers are letting people be out so late after sunset. All right. Certainly dangers come into play when the sun goes down. Mayor phillips, thank you. Now looking at new video just in from new bern that shows roads buckled and inland flooding submerging parks. Lets turn to Garrett Hague in new bern. And what are you seeing from where you are . Reporter we just had a chance to get our drone up in the air again here when we had a bit of a break in the wind and rain which of course has returned as it seems to deep doing here. What we were able to see with you are our new Vantage Point along the river was the full power of that storm surge. We saw boats tossed into homes, we saw significant damage to homes that have stood along the riverfront here in some cases for more than 200 years. It is an interesting juxtaposition to the kind of damage we saw earlier in the day for more slow motion flooding that happened further away from the river where the water came up quickly. But didnt rush into neighborhoods like what we saw here from the storm surge. It speaks to the breadth of this storm and its power to do so much damage in so many different ways. Now, some good news over the last hour or so, the city of new bern has said that they have completed all of their water rescues. They are still working on what i think will be a fluctuating final count, around 400 or so rescues. But every call has been answered. Folks who needed help have now gotten out. So a huge relief for the residents of new bern and their families spread out across the country and a little bit of a break for city and state officials here who can now turn their attention to other parts of the state getting hitted by this slow motion storm even now. And that is crucial because when we first started our reporting when florence first made landfall, new bern was one of the first places that had those rescues, people calling from their attics, roof stops s tops saying we are stranded. And they were one of the first places with responders addressing those rescues. Reporter yeah, i think that the rest of North Carolina and the South Carolina coast that is being hit by there are looking at new bern as a taste of what is to come for them in the next 24 hours. We saw this storm start on thursday when the storm surge started to bring the river across the street. Before the first raindrops had even fallen. So for everyone else further down the coast who was expecting this storm to behave a certain way, what we saw instead here was this slow motion wet monster just dropping tons of rain and storm surge. And that is what everyone else has to look forward to here over the next 12 hours or so. And looking at all of that behind you, those boats and vessels just toppled on their sides. Garrett hague, thank you so much. Our coverage continues right here after the break. Do these moves look familiar . Then you might have a condition called dry mouth. Biotene is clinically proven to soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. Plus, it freshens breath. Biotene. Immediate and long lasting dry mouth symptom relief. Start with 100 cleancheese . Ingredients. Like vermont white cheddar. Then. Add bacon, bbq chicken, or baja blend. Catering and delivery now available. Panera. Food as it should be. vo ovewhelming air fresheners can send you running. So try febreze one. With no aerosols and no heavy perfumes. So you can spray and stay. Febreze one. P3 its meat, cheese and nuts. I keep my protein interesting. Oh yea, me too. I have cheese and uh these herbs. P3 snacks. The more interesting way to get your protein. W of consideurse the carolina no stranger to catastrophic storms. Earlier storms that made landfall in the region were more devastating. In 1954 hazel touched down on the north and South Carolina borders as a category 4 hurricane. According to the National Oceanic and atmospheric administration, hazel caused 95 deaths in the u. S. , 100 deaths in canada and between 400 and 1,000 deaths in haiti. In 1989 hurricane hugo slammed into South Carolina as a category 4. 50 people died. In 1999, the category 2 hurricane floyd made landfall in cape fear, North Carolina, and it is most remembered for its record rainfall. Flooding caused dozens of deaths. Floyd is also remembered for images like this, hundreds and thousands of hogs drowning in floodwaters. All of these storms made direct hits on the carolinas just like florence, and about a quarter of the costliest storms in the u. S. Struck the carolinas. Accuweather is now estimating florence will cause 30 billion to 60 billion in damage and economic impact. I want to bring in hans nichols in jacksonville, North Carolina with the latest on the governments storm relief efforts going on there. Reporter yeah. Good afternoon, frances. We are here at the Emergency Operation center and what theyre doing is coordinating the response. One thing theyre really monitoring is the flood levels. You have the new river, earlier it breached the record. It is more than 25 feet above its normal levels. They expect that to go all the way maybe to 30. So theyre coordinating a lot of efforts here. Earlier we spoke with the county manager about the challenges ahead. The fednext phase will be th cleanup. That will be the longest and difficult in terms of logistics, manpower and, quite honestly, just heartbreak. Reporter have you guys ever seen anything this severe . No, and the the people who have lived here a lifetime had never seen flooding to this extent and were still not to the worst of it. Reporter frances, this is a hive of activity in here. You have a lot of data coming in in realtime. You have First Responders, those in charge of sheltering evacuees. You may also see marines in the background. We are close by camp lejeune. Because were part of the community here, they can assist with search and rescue. Earlier in the day we were out with them helping to move people from one shelter to another. According to the mayor, those rescues still going on. Going to be crucial to do that, get as much in before the sun goes down. Hans nichols for us in jafl, North Carolina. Thank you. A last check with nbc meteorologist in the weather center. Where is the storm now and what is it doing . It still will be a Tropical Storm. We are waiting for it to be downgraded bei want to show you the rain folts. Swansboro coming in at 30. 58 inches of rain. Thats over two feet of rain that has fallen, breaking the record of the most rain from a tropical system in that area. We will continue to follow the reds, the heavy rain this afternoon. Coming up i will show you the radar and the track of the storm. Thank you. Msnbc coverage continues when we come back. E wrinkles. And i dont add up the years. But what i do count on. Is staying happy and healthy. So, i add protein, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. New boost® high protein nutritional drink now has 33 more highquality protein, along with 26 essential and minerals your body needs. All with guaranteed great taste. The upside im just getting started. Boost® high protein be up for life boost® high protein [stomach gurgles] when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. 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Janssen wants to help you explore cost support options. Since joining ninehahi, ubmonths ago,o. My priority has been to listen to you. To cities and communities, and to my own employees. Ive seen a lot of good. Weve changed the way people get around. Weve provided new opportunities. But moving forward, its time to move in a new direction. And i want you to know just how excited i am, to write ubers next chapter, with you. One of our core values as a company, is to always do the right thing. And if there are times when we fall short, we commit to being open, taking responsibility for the problem, and fixing it. This begins with new leadership, and a new culture. And youre going to see improvements to our service. Like enhanced background checks, 24 7 customer support, better pickups, and ride quality, for both riders, and drivers. Youve got my word, that were charting an even better road for uber, and for those that rely on us every day. And that does it for me. Im frances rivera. Your news continues. We managed to give you a couple of hours and now youre back. Im david gura at msnbc headquarters in new york. Quid pro quo. What does Paul Manafort have to offer . Now that the president s former Campaign Chairman has struck a deal with Robert Mueller, should the white house be worried . Catastrophic flood threat. Rescues and recordsetting rainfall as Tropical Storm florence slowly creeps across the carolinas. 11 people have died and Officials Say the worst is yet to come. Explosive allegations. A secret letter accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of Sexual Misconduct when he was a teenager. Is his confirmation now in danger . President trump feeling the heat today as his former Campaign Chairman is talking with special counsel Robert Mueller and his team. On friday Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to two charges, conspiracy against the u. S. And conspiracy to obstruct justice, all of that in exchange for full cooperation with federal prosecutors, which began earlier this week. As part of his plea, he was forced to forfeit several assets including several homes after he was convicted in a federal trial in virginia. His future is now in Robert Muellers hands. That brings the number of people in trumps orbit who pleaded guilty to five, but the white house and President Trumps legal team continue to maintain donald trump has done nothing wrong. With me to discuss is former federal prosecutor glenn kirschner. Here with me onset, political reporter and host of the podcast off topic on