Ago. We just prayed a lot and we praised god and we were rescued so were very thankful. Meanwhile, stranded motorists in the heart of the city needed rescue. These scenes playing out right now. Well bring you a live report. But the storm isnt over. Remnants of Hurricane Harvey, now a Tropical Storm, stalling above the lone star state. How long will it last . At the white house new fallout from President Trumps prehurricane moves, including word from a key Republican Party leader taking a stand against him. Plus i dont believe anyone doubts the American Peoples values or the commitment of the American Government or the governments agencies to advancing those values and defending those values. And the president s values . The president speaks for himself, chris. In minutes, reaction to secretary of state Rex Tillersons comments when directly asked whether the president reflects american values. Msnbc live starts right now. We begin with Tropical Storm harvey devastating houston, texas. The city is now facing a major flooding crisis and the worst may still be ahead. Emergency responders were overwhelmed by cries for help throughout the night and all day today. More than 1,000 water rescues have been made there and the Houston Fire Department is reporting five deaths so far. Rainfall totals in some parts of houston are at 27 inches and climbing fast. The slowmoving storm is expected to dump another foot of rain by thursday and some truly Inspiring Stories from houstonians stepping in to help each other. Ive been helping people to come over here with an air mattress. All we can do is have everybody stay safe and stay out of the water because we have seen snakes in the water. My husband cut a hole through the roof so we would have that access and we could hear them. The girls and i were inside and he was helping other people cut holes. This is our neighbor. He cut a hole in our roof. He wanted to make sure that we were okay. Hes one magnificent hero. And homes ago the houston mayor held a News Conference with a report on the Emergency Response efforts there which includes opening the george r. Brown Convention Center as an emergency shelter. We have received more than 2,000 calls for rescues on 911. I know people are trying to reach 911. That may not be getting a response. If you are stranded in your vehicle but you are in a safe place or a dry place lets give preference to those in a situation at their home where water is rising and they need our assistance. Now, neept reporters and producers are in the region reporting on the impact of what is now as we said Tropical Storm harvey as we await a News Conference from the governor, well be talking with correspondents throughout the next couple hours, lets go to nbcs Stephanie Gosk live in houston with the latest, these pictures tell the story. That looks like a highway, stephanie, behind you. It is, alex, or it was a highway. Obviously no one is passing here, were on the onramp to what used to be 69 south and we were trying to get south of the city because some of the worst flooding is had taken place overnight south of the city and we cant get there. In fact, we just saw a Fire Department crew come down here with a boat and that boat is needed. They had to turn around because theres nothing they can do. You talked about the emergency systems being overloaded. Its an incredible comment from a city official that they have to dwishl between life threatening and just dangerous and they want people safe and dry relatively to not bog down the system. Everybody has been trying to reach out in this area in any way they can, whether its social media, people have been reaching out on our Facebook Page for nbc asking for help. Last night people went to bad, i would imagine, thinking this isnt too bad. And its a torrential, feels like almost bibly cad flood overnight and people have woken up to almost a catastrophe here. Zb its extraordinary. But theyre having people try to distinguish between dangerous and life threatening when theyre making those calls. What else are they telling residents there before they dial 9 911 . Is there a checklist they need to go through . They want people to evaluate their situation. Try to gauge how quickly the water is rising. One of the alarming things i see is people are talking about taking shelter in their attics and thats an incredibly dangerous place to be because theres no way out if the water keeps rising. Youd rather be on the roof top. Thats the kind of flooding were talking about here. Extraordinary, weve had many people be rescued. Theyve even asked people to put a way to mark so they can be seen if they need to be rescued. Like towels or white sheets. I guess whatever you can find, right . To be identifiablidentifiabl a lot of these people were woken up with the water rising thinking everything was okay. We heard from a woman who made her first call at 3 00 a. M. In the morning. She wasnt rescued until 8 00. Imagine that, thats five hours thinking the water is rising and youre in trouble and the city is doing a fantastic job. They knew something. This is dickinson, texas. Theyre looking at a chopper doing searchandrescue operations but it looks to be just adjacent to a very overly flooded street. These scenes will be repeated for quite some time to come. Stephanie gosk, well check in with you again soon. Thank you for that. Also just a bit for all of you, well check in on the storms path with bill karins on that. Lets turn to politics. We have new reaction from secretary of state Rex Tillerson appearing to distance himself and the state department from President Trump for the way he responded to the racially charged violence in charlottesville two weeks ends ago. I dont believe anyone doubts the American Peoples values or the commitment of the American Government or the governments agencies to advancing those values and defending those values. And the president s values. The president speaks for himself, chris. Are you separating yourself from that, sir . Ive made my own kmaents as to our values in a speech i gave to the state department this past week. Meanwhile, a new report suggests President Trump sought to interfere in the justice departments case against former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and how his pardon friday night was already in the works. Sources telling the Washington Post as sheriff joe arpaios case headed to trial, the president asked attorney general Jeff Sessions whether would be possible for the government to drop the criminal case against arpaio but was advised that would be inappropriate. Meanwhile, mixed reaction from republicans on capitol hill to arpaios pardon, including House Speaker paul ryan who is breaking with President Trump over the move. A spokesman told nbc the speaker does not agree with this decision. Law enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the eyes. We shou we should not allow anyone to think that responsibility is diminished by this pardon. However, a spokesman for Mitch Mcconnell told nbc news its referring all questions on the matter to the white house and heres what Arizona Republican congressman trent frank said last night. Sheriff joe should never have been prosecuted in the first place. There was an overwhelming bias in the justice department, the Obama Justice department who was held bent on convicting him no matter what they had to do im just grateful the president had the courage to correct this injustice a new warning from former white house adviser Sebastian Gorka who is returning to breitbart news. Heres what he told a reporter there during an interview yesterday. We are winning and were going to continue to do so and with steve back at the helm its like the last scene from star wars, you remember when ben kenobi darth . If you strike me down i will be more powerful than you can ever imagine. The left thinks theyre winning, they have no idea whats coming around the corner and its going to be fun. Lets bring in howard dean, former vermont governor, form e dnc chair and republican strategist susan del percio. I think he did a good job impersonating obi wan kenobi and darth vader. It was very disturbing. Kind of. You heard Rex Tillerson. You heard him there saying that the president s values and american values, he refused to say whether they are one and the same. How did you interpret that . Thats how it came off and its not surprising Rex Tillerson is not in complete lockstep with the administration for the reason hes had several issues in the last eight months whether staffing issues or political views and this is i think Rex Tillerson saying to the white house we really need to focus on the mission at hand because otherwise you may lose me at the end of the year. Howard, whats your read . I agree with that. I think what trump doesnt understand is that Corporate Leaders are mostly in touch with where americans are not because theyre doing great things for americans but because thats their consumer base. Tillerson was in a competitive gas. I havent used exxonmobil gas because of what they did to gay people when they took over mobile but that matters if you add up a lot so tillerson understands that you cant do what trump did and be respected by the American People and trump is generally not respected by the American People because he appears not to have any moral compass whatsoever as his pardon of joe arpaio showed. To susans point. Do you think as well howard that we can interpret this as tillerson being on his way out . Sure. Well, if tillerson is on his way out, i suspect theres at least a 5050 chance hell pull the plug himself. As i said previously on msnbc, mattis is the de facto secretary of state because mattis doesnt have to worry about his staff being appointed by trump or cleared by trump because hes in charge of the pentagon. Tillerson does have to worry and they have hollowed out the state department, they have not made significant good appointments to the state department. They have a good crew who have been there for a long time but theyre incredibly demoralized. Tillerson is basically running a ship wreck and i dont think that can be much fun especially when the guy who hired you isnt behind you. And add to that you have Jared Kushner knew in israel doing middle east peace talks. The president has had his soninlaw step over a lot of tillersons responsibilities. Thats a good point. And we have heard it reported that tillerson says hell be lucky if he lasts one year in this job. So theres that. Can is we look at this garage of tweets from the president , most about what a good job the First Responders are doing in texas. Im curious what you think hes accomplished by repeating this . I never understand why donald trump tweet what is he tweets. Hes looking to show people have said this is an important first osteoporosis of the administrati administration and to date things are going as well as they can be expected on the federal level. The question is what happens in the days, weeks, months, and even years ahead when it comes to responding to this disaster and helping the people out. Howard, how is the president doing so far . This is his first major Natural Disaster . I think hes irrelevant. If your response is to make tweets when people are dying and losing their property, we dont have a real president in this country. I think they need judging by your reporting, msnbcs reporting the National Guard needs to be mobilized if they havent already. They need more capacity down there as they did in katrina, its a different kind of emergency but it can be just as fatal. They need boats. Youll get 20 more inches of rain. Choppers wont be enough. You have to have boats and the guard can help with that. Susan, tweets aside, how do you think the president is doing . So far fine theres not a lot for them to do except be prepared to respond. I saw 1e6r8 interviews do the fema director and from all accounts things are on track but the governor is right. I believe they have instituted enacted the National Guard but there is going to be a lot of work fortodo and then t cleanup. So i want to get back to that star wars scenario from earlier and that being sebastian or gorkas departure. Does it matter . No, mike mcfaul, former ambassador to russia had a quite quote that said i dont follow Sebastian Gorka and i dont care. Thats how i felt and how i feel about bannon. Once theyre out of the white house, who gives a damn. In no policymakers of any substance read breitbart so who cares what Sebastian Gorka and steve bannon say . Off to watch out for them because some of the stuff they say is treasonous so i wouldnt ignore them all together but theyre not pow policymakers but theyre gone and thank god. We have a lot of news to get to and we have to make it a wrap. Susan and howard, thank you. Thanks. Well take you back to houston where storm survivors are on the move as we give you a live look in dickinson, texas. People are looking out for themselves as well as their neighbors and theres tender stories to share on that. Speaking of help, there is this picture tweeted by a reporter at our houston nbc affiliate, a preacher checking for people inside submerged cars. Well be right back. Vent you ed something more barry . Watch your step. A pilot like you should be serving your country. Youre c. I. A. . Shh. Based on a true story. We need you to deliver stuff for us. Of the c. I. A. s biggest secret. Is this all legal . You trust me . No. On september 29. C. I. A. , d. E. A. Pablo escobar. I made a fortune working for them boys. There are bills blowin around everywhere. Ill rake it up in the mornin. tom cruise. Stop now if you want. Shoot the gringo it gets crazy from here. American made. Rated r. I expect a lifetime guarantee. And so should you. On struts, brakes, shocks. Does he turn everything to gold . Not everything. At midas were always a touch better. Book an appointment at midas. Com when you think of saving money, what comes to mind . Your next getaway . Connecting with family and friends . A big night out . Or maybe your everyday shopping. Whatever it is, aarp member advantages can help save you time and money along the way. So when you get there, you can enjoy it all the more. For less. Surround yourself with savings at aarpadvantages. Com you dont let anything lkeep you sidelined. Come on thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein, and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. Ensure, always be you. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. Livestreat the airport. E sport binge dvrd shows while painting your toes. On demand laughs during long bubble baths. Tv on every screen is awesome. The Xfinity Stream app. All your tv at home. The most on demand your entire dvr. Top networks. And live sports on the go. Included with xfinity tv. Xfinity, the future of awesome. Were back with more on the unfolding crisis in houston where catastrophic levels of flooding are expected to worsen. Look at this harrowing story from one woman who was fast asleep while the floodwaters around her home were rising. All i heard was screaming and beating and when i opened it, more water rushed in and they were like you got to get out, you got to get out. I was acelisleep and i would hat knew. I walked out and i was just screaming. I seen somebody they tried to put us on air mattresses, it didnt work. They had to put the babies on air mattresses, people were carrying bare bebies on their shoulders. I didnt have no shoes, my clothes floated out of the apartment. Its just everything. Like i just lost everything. Incredible. Well have more stories unfortunately to share just like that one. Meantime the president is caught in a flood of criticism of his own over a decision to pardon joe arpaio. Arizona senator john mccain says it undermines his claim for respect of rule of law and a ranking democrat on the House Intelligence Committee adam schiff says it sends a message to witnesses in the russia investigation to stay loyal and get a pardon. One of the few people defending the president was arizona senator steve montgomery. Whats on display here is frankly the hypocrisy from the left. You had president obama pardoning hundreds of thugs. You have here an 85yearold man who frankly has served his country since he was and the best the left can come up with after that do a political persecution is a misdemeanor who even then i dont believe that was done correctly through the judicial process. Just to clarify, that was Arizona State senator steve month montenegro. Joining me now, chris whipple. Chris, welcome back to the broadcast. Im curious what you make of that defense. Have other president s made questionable pardons . I dont think theres a comparison bill clinton pardoned mark rich in the middle of the night when john podesta was doing an interview on television. But this was beyond the pale. It made no sense substantively, politically, morally, in in way and its just more evidence that donald trump knows how to do one thing and one thing only and that is to divide and demon iiz and thats not governing, thats campaigning and you have to wonder where john kelly, the chief of staff was, and what he was thinking when this decision was made. Can i bring up the tweets you have put out there . One, you write earth to john kelly, what are you there for if not preventing half baked president ial tantrums like the arpaio pardon . Do you think kelly is responsible . I do. This is his watch. On friday Maggie Haberman wrote in the New York Times that kelly was taking control of the west wing, he was streamlining it, closing the door to the oval office. Streamlining the flow of information. None of that matters if the chief of staff cant do his most important duty which is to walk into the oval office, close the door and tell the president what he doesnt want to hear. Either kelly hasnt done that or donald trump has ignored him and either way hes failing. But, chris, prior to john kelly asending to that position and the immediate days after that everybody was saying this is Donald Trumps last best hope, this is the guy who can get it done donald trump respects the military that was naive. The chief of staff cannot change who donald trump is, but i said when he took over as chief of staff that the first thing kelly should do is draw redlines for donald trump and tell him that mr. President respectfully if you cross these lines i will be compelled to resign. Every white house chief of staff has to be repaired to resign. When gerald ford was in freefall after pardoning Richard Nixon in 1974, his chief of staff don rumsfeld, he decide dhd that he would start grooming a successor. He picked a young guy named dick cheney who ultimately turned out to be a good chief of staff. John kelly has to be prepared to resign if donald trump crosses one of these lines again. All right, chris whipple, thank you. Thanks for having me. We are expecting at any moment a grieving from Texas Governor greg abbot for the latest information on the efforts to save countless people trapped in the vast flooding in the lone star state. In the meantime, neighbors are doing everything they can to help their fellow citizens in houston. Ive seen the water come up a lot and ive seen a lot of people that doesnt want to leave their home but we managed to get them out and got them to a dry area. The last time we flooded i bought the boat in case people needed my help so i keep it around and when it floods i pull it out and if anybody needs anything i help them. Getting a look at what appears to be a welltraveled roadway. Looks more like the entrance to a marina. Heavy rains, widespread flooding. Hundreds of water rescues. Were awaiting news from Texas Governor greg abbot on efforts to help his people of his troubled state. Well be back with bill karins getting a look at the path of Tropical Storm harvey. Dont let dust and allergens get between you and lifes beautiful moments. Flonase outperforms the 1 nondrowsy allergy pill. It helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause symptoms. Pills block one and 6 is greater than 1. Flonase changes everything. Its looking up, not down. Ng fits being in motion. Boost® high protein its intelligent nutrition with 15 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. Boost® the number one high protein complete nutritional drink. vo more dper rollres for mom more doing chores for dad per roll more earning something you love per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50 longer than the leading ordinary brand. So you get more life per roll. Bounty the quicker picker upper. Welcome back. Im alex wit. Heres what were monitoring. Any moment the governor of texas will go to the podium to deliver a briefing on what is now Tropical Storm harvey and the flooding in the state. Lets look at the scene. This is the houston area. I said before it looks much more like a marina. Boats coming in and out of slips potentially, instead, thats a welltravelled thoroughfare. It has to be two or three lanes wide in each direction. Its a extraordinary sight. Lets go to nbcs Stephanie Gosk live in houston with the latest. Youve been around extraordinary sites all day. Whats the situation where you are. There are a couple homes other my shoulder. Were told theres no one in hose homes. You might look at the scene and think these homes must be at the edge of a major body of water. It overflowed its banks because it had become a river itself and its now flooded this neighborhood. You can see cars underwater, cars stranded. Its really hard to overstate how quickly this happened to this city. We were out last night in houston, we had dinner, there are other people around. I think there was a sense that perhaps it wasnt going to be as billed. People often suspect these storms are hyped, that they maybe underestimated the danger of the rain but now were getting a full dose. This is still a torrential downpour. Its hard to imagine where the water will go. It will keep rising. Its loud. Its really coming down. Well, where all of us, its very wet. Because youre my friend get out of the live shot Stephanie Gosk. Lets check in with msnbc meteorologist bill karins. Look at the rain here. This is extraordinary. I was talking with you about this storm moving at one miles an hour 678 i think its been upgraded to two miles an hour. Come on thats the problem. Where the heavy rains set up, its right over houston. A lot of people are saying these are the images they saw during katrina. You have to realize katrina was different. That was below sea level. These areas youre looking at are above sea level. This is flash flooding thats continuing for about the last 12 hours in that location all because these rain bands are coming up here to houston victoria is where the center of the storm is now. But we have a Tornado Warning now, lets just add to it, right . Tornado for the downtown houston area and these thormtsd and heavy lain will move over for the next few days. This is our futurecast, this is one of our shortrange computers. The center of the storm is here and these are the bands coming in, i dont want to ignore our friends. The beaumont area is getting bad in a hurry. Same with with port arthur. So as we watch the radar, this is during the day today all the way through tonight. And you notice this stuff doesnt move much. It regenerates. Thats why. How disheartening is this . Weve had one to two feet in houston. The highest total is 27 and a half inches in dayton, texas, just south of houston and the next 48 hours, our computer, our short range, says another 23 inches in houston 14, in beaumont. 19 in lake charles. That gives you an idea of how bad. We have flash flood emergencies from houston to beaumont, weve extended those into areas of louisiana and some pictures weve gotten, this is the university of houston, the bottom floor of all these buildings, water in all of them. Peoples property just gone. None of these people have flood insurance. This is inside someones home. Look at the inside of their dining room. Look at the roof structures and water damage. So much heart break. Flood insurance is only for people that have it. Your Homeowners Insurance doesnt guarantee you that. But since were seeing a flood weve sever seen before so many people wont get their money back. Heres images weve been showing you, this loose like the mississippi river. This is 610, the major highway around the area. This was an image i took an hour ago. This is a water bottle floating. This is a lamp post on highway 610. Thats two feet away from the lamp post. The camera was almost underwater. Other images all the same. Everywhere you look on Traffic Cameras around houston everyone looks the same. This is the bayou going up into the downtown area. You can see the light here halfway up to the light pole. Image after image. So many pictures of cars stranded. Thousands if not 10,000 vehicles will be done because of the water damage to them. This is a multibillion dollar weather disaster in houston. Catastrophic, historic, epic, whatever you want to use, its applicable. We heard fema say they will need help for years. Bill karins, thank you for that. We are expecting a briefing from Texas Governor greg abbot for the latest information on the efforts to save people trapped across this flooding area. Were checking with reporters in the region so stay with us on nbc live. Dont let dust and allergens get between you and lifes beautiful moments. Flonase outperforms the 1 nondrowsy allergy pill. It helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause symptoms. Pills block one and 6 is greater than 1. Flonase changes everything. Just like the people every business is different. But every one of those businesses will need legal help as they age and grow. Whether it be with customer contracts, agreements to lease a space or protecting your work. Legalzooms network of attorneys can help you, every step of the way. So you can focus on what you do and well handle the legal stuff that comes up along the way. Legalzoom. Legal help is here. When this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night. Hold on dad. Liberty did what . Yeah, Liberty Mutual 24hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. My dad says our insurance doesnt have that. Dont worry i know what a lug wrench is, dad. Is this a lug wrench . Maybe . You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. So find a venus smooth that contours to curves, the smoother the skin, the more comfortable you are in it. Flexes for comfort, and has a disposable made for you. Skin smoothing venus razors. Whats Critical Thinking like . A basketball costs 14. Whats team spirit worth . cheers whats it worth to talk to your mom . Whats the value of a walk in the woods . The value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. Morgan stanley we are awaiting a News Conference from the governor of texas. He will give a briefing on what is Tropical Storm harvey and the flooding throughout the lone star state. Well bring that live once it gets under way. Yes, its a Tropical Storm now but the recommend havents of Hurricane Harvey also include the emotions and memories of those who survived and are talking about it have. We have nothing, not left. By 1 00 it was terrible. I was crying. I was on my knees praying that we made it. Why didnt you evacuate . We just didnt have the money. Our town is destroyed and it hurts. This would have been the wall that you can see that is still literally hanging. It just flipped over on itself and half of it ended up down there. And all of a sudden i felt boop boop boop and boom. Was it pitch black . I said jesus, help us. Thats what i said. Its heartbreaking. The front page of the Houston Chronicle says it all state of destruction. Lets go back to Maya Rodriguez joining us live from houston. Maya, what are you seeing where you are . Well, actually, alex, im in a suburb of houston. What people have been doing is coming to this road, theres a creek here. They are literally dropping off their boats. This is an attempt to help police who are out rescuing people. We spoke to friends with police a couple hours ago. They told us they had been undergoing hundreds of rescues in this particular suburb of houston overnight and there was a need for boats so people in the public stepped up and are bringing their own personal water craft and launching from creeking ing ts to get to thes that are flooded. Theres a bridge that goes over the creek. We encountered tons of standing water and as you can see its raining torrentially. Its been this way for an hour since we got here. These people are trying to help those who might be in need. Weve been getting reports of people who have been on their roofs, people that are being told do not go into your attic if the water is rising and, of course, that is a huge concern in this area but as you can see, people are stepping up, we have people walking across the bridge, you can see some of them look like theyre carrying their person belongings with them. This is an area that has been hit very, very hard by these rains from Hurricane Katrina and youve been hearing about this all morning long as you know. Alex . Im going to ask you something. As i was watching this guy walk through the water what popped in my mind are still photos i have that seen of people picking up alligators and other creatures that would normally live in the swamps. Is anybody talking about that . Are there concerns about that . Because youre not in downtown houston. Youre in a residential area, a little more rural. Do people worry about that thing . Water snakes or gators or anything else . Yes, that has been a concern, in fact theres been warnings on social media from not just Police Departments but also the Emergency Managers to be care f ful. All of this high water could be displacing things like water moccasins. It has to be careful. This is the area where theyre getting people out. Well bear with you so if you want to make your way to talk to those folks, how many people have you seen being dropped off. Are you talking dozens or hundred hundreds. Well, were going to talk to people very quickly. Im Maya Rodriguez. Whats your name, sir . Troy hopkins. Where did you come from . How did you get over here. This is getting them from the creek and taking them to the shelter . And this little one, too. She isnt my child. Im just rescuing. How did you come to be here . Im a friendswood resident. Thats how i came to be here. Theres a neighborhood called forest bend and they fear from there. What does it look like . Its all the way up to the roof. Are these boats coming in and out of here . Yes, but the majority are private boats. How bad is the situation . Very bad. Very deep. Well let you get this little one out of the rain, i know its torrential. Your tv debut you can see this is the situation were encountering out here right now as people are being rescued. This guy came out on his own accord to rescue people and ferry people aoude of the flooded area where this creek has clearly come over its banks in friendswood, texas. Alex . That is extraordinary, ive read places are sold out of things like kayaks and canoes, people anticipating having to use that mode of transportation to get themselves around let alone pack up everything they have in their homes. One thing we were hearing from jacob rascon is how quickly everything went to hell in a hand basket. That the waters rose so quickly. Theres stories of people out last night having dinner restaurants and yes it wasnt a pretty day but very quickly things went from unpleasant to dangerous. Can you speak to that, maya . Just as we were driving over here and we came up from victoria, texas, so weve been encountering this rain for ours. There are so many areas where the water is creeping up. You can see that in a matter of an hour the roadways will be covered with water. Its becoming increasingly inundated and thats the danger because this rain isnt letting up. Maya rodriguez, that you can so much for that live report. Were glad that that man is helping out his neighbors. Thats what others can do. Much appreciated. We are expecting a briefing from Texas Governor greg abbot with the latest information to save the people trapped in that state. Well check in with reporters in that region so stay with us. The white house is defending President Trumps decision to pardon former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I think theres a clemency argument that can be made for the long history of service, both in the United States military and in Law Enforcement for the sheriff. I think the president s been pretty clear. Its pretty straight forward that he believes that that long history of service merits this clemency and hes acted accordingly. Now, his reaction comes just hours after this Washington Post report. As joseph arpaios federal case headed towards trial, the president asked attorney general Jeff Sessions whether it would be possible for the government to drop the criminal case against arpaio but was advised that would be inappropriate. Joining me now, catkatie bo williams. And jane small, time magazine. Lady, welcome to you both. Katie, your reaction to the White House Defense of this controversial pardon and the signal its sending when it comes to any future pardons. Certainly the criticism you are hearing from democrats on capitol hill is that they believe the president is sending kind of a winkwink nodnod to some of the potential witnesses in the federal probe into russian interference in the election. The suggestion being that the president might be saying to them, look, ill take care of you no matter what happen, even if special counsel mueller does come to levy charges. Now, theres certainly pushback from the other side this is overblown, the criticism youre hearing from republicans has more to do with the Law Enforcement question. Remember, sheriff arpaio was convicted of defying a federal court order and for some republicans, that is a signal from the president that, you know, that the people that are in charge of administrating our laws dont have to follow them themselves. So, what about former adviser dan pfeiffer who tweeted about that post, the kind of thing people get impeached for, do you get any sense the officials at the white house are all worried where this might lead . Theres no sense in the white house theyre worried this might lead to impeachment. Theres certainly a sense of outrage. I think they are a little taken aback perhaps when their own allies like House Speaker paul ryan have condemned this move. Theres very broward powers for the president to partp whomever he wants to pardon. Most experts agree he hasnt actually broken the law. Where the question is, is this colugs, collusion, is this political payback . It doesnt seem to be in the case. Its a very hard case to make. They can go ahead and try. The president has lots of other investigations going on and lots of lawyers to defend him. He has lots of people to defend him. Katie, pardoning joe arpaio, it certainly keeps the base happy, but was there a strategy to ousting Sebastian Gorka . Lets just say for the record, gorka himself says he actually resigned but the white house is not confirming that, so were going to say ousting at this point. Any strategy to it . I think the important context to view the ouster of gorka under is chief of staff john kelly. Remember, john kellys been has been in the white house for about a month now and since his a rival, weve seen the departure of three of the most Controversial White House figures within President Trumps orbit. Weve seen former Communications DirectorAnthony Scarmucci get shown the door and probably most significantly former chief strategist steve bannon and now gorka so i think what this signals is kelly has been given broad latitude to kind of clean house in what has been an extremely tumultuous white house. The question now that im hearing from gop operatives that are to the white house is, you know, this doesnt necessarily, just because kelly has been given the authority to impose order on white house staff, this doesnt change the president. Donald trump is still the president. So whether or not kelly will be able to kind of put a curb it on the president s more freewheeling style, that remains to be seen, and i dont think most sort of outside gop watchers are particularly thinking that thats likely. You know, jay, whats interesting is i spoke with howard dean and howard said it doesnt even matter that steve bannon and Sebastian Gorka are gone from the white house, their roles there were such that ultimately it doesnt matter. Then chris whipple, author of gatekeepe gatekeeper, all about the role of the chief of staff, he said john kelly is not doing his job unless he can corral the president and whats the likelihood of that happening . You know, he was the last great hope by some accounts. When he was replacing reince priebus. Where do you think this is heading . Well, certainly it seems that john kelly is making his presence known amongst the staff and enforcing discipline. Youre right in the sense i dont know its going to make a huge difference now that bannon and gorka are gone. You can argue theyre going to be more powerful and effective in influencing the president from outside the white house because the president will avidly read breitbart, read whatevers being written. Thats something he clearly respond to on twitter and other places. Its true in the last two weeks he was seen the president , the response to charlottesville, the pardon, the transgender ban, all these actions on friday night and the friday night dump. Hes sort of as unhinged or free wheeling as he ever has been even with a new chief of staff. Its true john kelly really hasnt reined in donald trump. I dont know that anyone can rein in donald trump. Thats also being said today as well. Ladies, thank you so much. The very latest on boat rescues in and around houston. Msnbcs meteorologist bill carron says in the next 48 hours another 23 inches of rain is possible for houston. Were waiting for a briefing from the governor of that state. Dont let dust and allergens get between you and lifes beautiful moments. Flonase outperforms the 1 nondrowsy allergy pill. It helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause symptoms. Pills block one and 6 is greater than 1. Flonase changes everything. I expect a lifetime guarantee. And so should you. On struts, brakes, shocks. Does he turn everything to gold . Not everything. At midas were always a touch better. Book an appointment at midas. Com a trip back to the dthe doctors office, mean just for a shot. But why go back there, when you can stay home. With Neulasta Onpro . Strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection, which could lead to hospitalizations. In a key study, neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17 to 1 . A 94 decrease. Applied the day of chemo, Neulasta Onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the next day, so you can stay home. Neulasta is for certain Cancer Patients receiving strong chemotherapy. Do not take neulasta if youre allergic to neulasta or Neupogen Filgrastim . Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries, and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. Report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. In patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. The most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. So why go back there . If youd rather be home, ask your doctor about Neulasta Onpro. That Airline Credit card yout . Have. It could be better. Its time to shake things up. With the capital one venture card, you get double miles on everything you buy, not just airline purchases. Seriously, think of all the things you buy. Great. Is this why you asked me to coffee . Well yeah. But also to catchup. Whats in your wallet . Welcome back to the top of the hour. Right now, were waiting for the governor of texas to speak about the historic flooding in houston from whats being done to help those stranded to how much worse things could get with several more days of historic rain on the way. Also this hour, a lot to talk about concerning the white house and this Statement Today by the secretary of state. Plus, we have some different takes on the president ial pardoning of a controversial