And that does it for this edition of Andrea Mitchell reports. Im Chris Jansing in for Andrea Mitchell. Follow the show online, facebook and twitter at mitchell reports. Katy tur is up next here on msnbc. Thank you very much. Hurricane harvey with winds of up to 110 Miles Per Hour is bearing down on the texas gulf coast at this hour. It has the hall marks of a historic storm. The city of Corpus Christi lies directly in its path. Voluntary evacuations are now under way. And landfall is expected tonight between 10 00 p. M. And 2 00 a. M. Eastern time. The storm surge is projected to be between 6 and 12 feet. Widespread flooding from extended rain over the next few days could be the most serious threat, though, as some areas could see over 3 feet of rain. President trump has been briefed, and is being kept apprised of the developing situation, along the gulf coast, according to the white house. And in the gulf itself, personnel have been evacuated from some of the more than 700 manned oil and Gas Production rigs in the gulf. There are more than 2,400 production platforms in the gulf right now. We have a team of reporters along the coast covering the progress of Hurricane Harvey. Nbcs Kerry Sanders is in port lavaca, and nbcs Gabe Gutierrez is driving through Corpus Christi. Kerry, what does it look like at the moment . Reporter well, as you can see from behind me, the tree is blowing. I dont really need to hold on to this to steady myself, but there are some gusts. Im sort of holding on right now. Clearly, we know that there is a hurricane coming, and we know that the wind is picking up. But for anybody who has never been through a hurricane and is standing still by thinking they can survive all of this, this is not a hurricane yet. Im going to show you a little look at the bay here. This is lavaca bay. You can see its kicking up a little bit. It doesnt look that threatening, but you should understand normally this is flat. And then over here we have the causeway and there are a few cars back and forth on the causeway, but by and large, those are people heading way over there to the chemical plant. You can see some smoke and some of the fire. Theyre burning off the remaining natural gas as theyre shutting that down. So the few cars coming back and forth are those who are dealing with that before they head inland themselves. Now, some people in Calhoun County here had no way to get out. As they simply didnt have a car, one woman didnt have a drivers license. So the county got some buses together to evacuate them. We spoke to them about two hours or so just before their buses headed out here, heading up to new brom pells. This is what some on board the bus had to say. Just spoke with the president , not even an hour ago. We have been fully engaged with the white house on multiple occasions. And when you spoke to the president , what did he say . Hes given me full authority in conjunction with the department of Homeland Security to coordinate the federal assets down to the state and local level as soon as we are called upon. 37 years here. So there are people i know who were small children when it happened. But the port hasnt really experienced anything like this. The rain event is the big question mark. We have no idea how long that may go. Reporter so were here back at lavaca. You can see really just sort of an early indication of what its going to look like. Those who have been told to leave primarily have left. This is a mandatory evacuation. There are a few who decided theyre going to ride this out. But the police plan to go back around door to door one more time to encourage the few stragglers staying behind to get out. The bay is starting to churn behind Kerry Sanders. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez is driving through Corpus Christi. Gabe, you just left an Evacuation Center. Its been more than a decade, though, since texas was hit by a large storm. Are people taking it seriously . Reporter hi there, good afternoon. Yes, since hurricane ike was the last time texas had to deal with this. And, in fact, this storm has the potential to be stronger than ike. Potentially the strongest storm in the state of texas for nearly half a century. And the first category 3 hurricane in the United States in 12 years. So, yes, we just did come from an Evacuation Center here in Corpus Christi, texas. They have so far processed more than 700 people over the last day or two. And they have been busing them over to san antonio. We spoke with one woman, she just was with her 6weekold daughter and she was frantically trying to get to safety. Another woman who was 97 years old, shes been through storms before, but she felt that she had to head to san antonio. Another woman who was seven months pregnant. Certainly a lot of people realizing that this is a very serious situation, and heeding the warnings. Here in Corpus Christi, the authorities made a decision not to put forth a mandatory evacuation, but they have a strong, what they call a strong voluntary Evacuation Order. Still some of the lowlying areas in and around Corpus Christi do have those mandatory evacuations. Where one of them is port aranzas, where we are heading right now. But if we can take a look at this suv were driving, tony di mikko, my camera man keeping us safe here. If you look outside, a steady rain, not too bad. But most people have heeded the warnings and are not on the highways. We have been out in the elements all day. Overnight we did get some rain. We saw the wind pick up throughout the morning. But the conditions arent really expected to deteriorate here in Corpus Christi until a little bit later this afternoon. Thats when First Responders are preparing for the worst. The governor, as you know, katy, has issued has declared emergency disaster areas, or states of disaster for 30 counties. Some 700 members of the National Guard are also standing by for any emergency rescues or evacuations that need to take place. But, again, people here seem to be taking this very seriously. We have seen people board up their businesses, and downtown Corpus Christi, most people seem to have left. This is a city of more than 320,000 people. Many of them have either gotten out of dodge, as the mayor said yesterday, and they are very concerned about what authorities and forecasters say could be a catastrophic storm surge here, katy. Gabe gutierrez, thank you. Katie beck is along the shore of Corpus Christi. Katie, the storm, is it getting worse out there . I see youve got your hood on now. Reporter yes. Over the course of the past several hours, we have seen these conditions starting to go downhill. The wind and rain coming at a sideways slant and becoming harder and harder to stand still without the wind pushing your body forward. As gabe said, Corpus Christi is sort of a ghostland now. We are along the beach front. There is not another Single Person out here at this hour. And as you can see, the waves really starting to come in now. The storm surge here expected to be between 6 and 12 feet tonight. Pretty sure all of this beach will be under water by midnight when this storm is supposed to make landfall. Now that eye of the storm is supposed to come east of Corpus Christi about midnight tonight. We are expecting that to be the most torrential rainfall. The hurricaneforce winds. Thats when there will be structural damage and possibly Power Outages in this area that the mayor said could last for several months in the state of texas. So this is a warning to be taken seriously. It appears people are taking that seriously. But the real problem with this storm is that the worst of it wont be over when it makes landfall. This storm is going to stall and hover over texas for several days and the rainfall is going to be catastrophic in terms of flooding. Thats what theyre expecting, up to 3 feet of water. So it is yet to be seen just how bad this is going to get. Were going to be here keeping an eye on conditions. Winds of 110 Miles Per Hour expected. A storm surge between 6 and 12 feet where you see katie beck standing right now. Then 35 inches of rain that could hit that area as this storm slowly passes through. Joe fryer is also with us. Hes in galveston, texas. Joe, what are you seeing out there . Reporter well, katy, you can see now things have deteriorated greatly in the last half hour or so. The winds have picked up a lot. It is raining by far harder than we have seen all day. Keep in mind, were in galveston, about 200 miles away from Corpus Christi where you just saw reports. Corpus christi is the heart of this thing, where the surges are supposed to be higher, where the winds are supposed to be stronger. Were just on the outer bands here in galveston, which isnt even supposed to get hurricaneforce winds. But this is the weather were seeing right now from this system. And this is what really worries the people who live in this area. If its raining like this right now, and the system is supposed to continue to pour heavy rain on here, not just for hours, but for days, how much flooding damage could there be in this area . And thats what has a lot of people concerned. So far, weve only seen some voluntary Evacuation Orders in galveston. Some have chosen to leave. Many are staying for this very reason. If they live in lowlying areas, they want to see just how badly it might flood here. Theyre trying to get sandbags up. Its hard to find sandbags here right now. But they want to know how bad its going to be. Certainly the winds will be an issue. The surge will be an issue later. Not as bad as Corpus Christi. But its the flooding after days and days of rain like this that really has people most concerned. You can see my photographer is higher than me right now. Its because he is standing on top of a seawall that was put in a good century ago after a devastating hurricane here. The seawall did its job. There you hear some devastating lightning and thunder there. The seawall did its job with hurricane ike in 2008 which devastated this area. The surges caused some flooding on the other side of the gulf, on the bay side. So they know flooding can be an issue here. Youll find markers all over town that show just how bad the flooding got during hurricane ike. At the same time, people are staying put. We actually shot a business just down the road here that had a sign up that said open until all the letters blow off this sign. I havent checked in the last few minutes but it will be interesting to see if the letters are still on that sign. Katy . Yeah, and if anybody in texas knows what its like to go through a hurricane, it is galveston, texas. Joe fryer, stay safe out there. I would tell you to stay dry, but i think that ship has sailed, my friend. Reporter too late. Lets bring in shanna mend hola. Lots of high winds, big storm surge and also all of this rain will hit. Talk to me about what youre seeing with this storm right now, category 2. Well go ahead and take a look at the currents right now in terms of where it is. It strengthened as we headed into the afternoon hours yesterday and as it approaches landfall, we have been talking about Corpus Christi. That is where the center will be and as it makes its approach on to land, it will strengthen and slow down. And why this is so unusual is because there is no steering mechanism in this storm. So we have been following its path. You will see that by the time we hit saturday morning, it will slow down to a category 1 storm but looking at winds up to 105 Miles Per Hour. It will make a turn towards the coastline. As i mentioned, nothing to steer it around. It will continue to rain days on end so the bigger concern will be that flooding all the way for tuesday looking at some rain up into houston, even the coastline of louisiana as we head into the next few days. So this is a look at what were seeing. Again, the heaviest rain, victoria, bay city. 20plus inches of rain. The highest amounts could be up to 35 inches. And just imagine how tall that is. If you have a small child, 3 feet, that can overtake them and with the movement of the water here, again, first floor, second floor of homes could be inundated. Thats why the warnings have been out to get out, evacuate. This is a lot of rain thats going to happen. Again, heavyhitting for several days. Watching that also, the storm surge. Those people who say i want to wait this out, i want to see what its going to do, i have two stories in my house, i can go to the second story. If they do stay, and if its as bad as it appears to be, if they get 35 inches of rain in some of these areas, and a storm surge, how long could they potentially be trapped if were looking at past as precedent here . Were talking about rain all the way through tuesday. This could be a severalday event where theyre going to be stuck. And you cant guarantee the safety of anybody staying on a roof for that long. So this is why these warnings have been out. Its not something to mess with. We have been tracking this. Its been getting stronger. And, again, its something thats going to be catastrophic. And we cant say that enough. So theres also storm surge on the way and well check that out in the next half hour. We sound like a broken record when we say its better to be safe than sorry. But believe me, when youre talking about the weather, yes, it may turn out to be good news, and may be overblown but the reality is, you would rather be out of there, because people can get stuck and hurt and its just never a good scenario. Shawna, thank you very much. Lets go to the National Hurricane center. And bring in michael brennan, chief hurricane specialist for the National Oceanic and atmospheric administration. Michael, i was talking to you a couple days, and you were laying out three of the bad scenarios of this storm. Has it gotten worse or has it gotten better . Well, unfortunately, katy, its developed pretty much as we expected. We have seen harvey strengthen over the last couple of days. Its now right on the cusp of major hurricane intensity. So we have this very intense area of winds here near the eye wall thats going to be moving onshore in the middle texas coast during the late night hours tonight and early tomorrow morning. So thats that first hazard. And then as your meteorologist was talking about, there is the other two hazards, storm surge, which is could reach depths of 6 to 12 feet above ground level in this area from south of Corpus Christi to sergeant, texas. And, again, im 6 feet tall. Were talking about water twice my height. And that can be certainly a lifethreatening situation for anybody who is still in this area under a storm surge warning thats been asked to evacuate. We would really hope they can try and get out before the conditions deteriorate even further. And then finally, because harvey is going to stall for several days, theres going to be this tremendous area of catastrophic flooding due to rainfall thats going to include the houston galveston area. Victoria, texas, Corpus Christi and southwestern louisiana, where we can see as much as 35 inches of rainfall as we go into the early and middle portions of next week. So the combination of the storm surge and rainfall flooding those are the two hazards were most concerned about in this storm, because its water that kills most of the people in hurricanes. Michael, you say catastrophic flooding. I dont often here noaa use the word catastrophic unless its pretty serious, right . Yeah, this is a lifethreatening situation both for storm surge, wind and especially flooding. The flooding is not just a coastal event. People think about hurricanes affecting right along the coast. This is going to extend well inland and affect potentially millions of people with near recordsetting rainfall from this particular storm. And the combination of the rain and the storm surge is going to just mean were going to be dealing with a lot of water for multiple days. So if you decide to stay in some area that ends up being flooded, you could be trapped there for many days, waiting for somebody to be able to help you or for you to be able to get out. And just because you are not right on the coast doesnt mean that you are safe from danger. Michael brennan, thank you very much from noaa. Appreciate it. And the Mustang Island city of port aranza sits directly in harveys path and residents have been ordered to evacuate the city. Mayor charles booian is on the phone with me now. Mayor, you are in a precarious situation right on Mustang Island. Youre going to be facing the brunt of the storm. Where are you right now, sir . Ive just left the island about an hour ago. And im over in Corpus Christi now. We have a command center here in corpus. Have you been able to safely evacuate all of your residents . We i issued a mandatory Evacuation Order yesterday, and as i checked the island last night, most of our residents did abide by that. And have left the island. We are finding, however, this morning that there have been a few people who decided, i guess, at the last minute or decided they wanted to stay and then at the last minute they wanted to leave. So were trying to make arrangements to get them off the island as i speak. And what is your cutoff point . Usually theres a point at which First Responders cannot get in, because its in the heart of the storm. What is the cutoff point for your city, sir . Our ferry operation shut down at 8 00 this morning. So the northern port of our Transportation System is now shut down. The only way off the island would be the island road that i just came in on. And i understand that the city of Corpus Christi is in the process of shutting down the island road now. And what are you expecting from this storm . What are you expecting to return home to . Well, i hope there will be home to return to. My family has lived on the island for 130 years. And weve been through a number of these. Some of them could be very bad. This one seems to be very erratic, and its hard to tell what its doing at any point in time. Are the homes there are the homes there built to withstand hurricanes . Are they lifted up in any way . All the homes that have been built in recent years have are required to be hurricaneproof, so to speak. That does not mean that a hurricane will not take them out. Yeah. If you get a hurricane of 130 to 150mileanhour winds over extended time period, say in three or four or five hours, nothing will withstand that. Oftentimes when we have storms like this, the winds can be strong and devastating. But its, you know, the storm surge and the rains that are more precarious. Are the homes lifted there . Are they on stilts . A lot of the homes are on stilts. We have a lot of threestory buildings. A lot of the older homes are on what we call piers, very short stilts. A very few of the homes are on concrete foundations or anything like that. Most of them are up on piers anywhere from three feet to fifteen feet. Mayor, thank you for joining us. I hope all of your residents get out safely, and sir, i truly hope you have something to return to after this storm. Thank you so much for go ahead. We hope so too. Yep. Thank you very much for joining us. And well continue to watch Hurricane Harvey throughout the hour. Next, well check in with a former fema director on the latest emergency response. And were expecting a press conference this hour from the governor of texas. Governor greg abbott. Well bring that to you live when it happens. And President Trump criticized president obamas response to flooding in louisiana last year when he was just candidate trump. Hes scheduled to leave for camp david in just a few hours. How is he going to handle harvey . His first big test. Airline credit card. So she only earns double miles on purchases she makes from that airline. Whatd you earn double miles on, please . Ugh. Thats unfortunate. Theres a better option. The capital one venture card. With venture, you earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, everywhere, every day. Not just airline purchases. Seems like a nobrainer. Whats in your wallet . Its witnessed 2 diy duos,s 31 crashes, 4 food fights, and the flood of 09. Its your paradise perfected with behr premium plus paint. The best you can buy starting under 25. And were continuing to cover Hurricane Harvey. Here are live pictures at the coast in Corpus Christi. You can see the waters there starting to churn. Rain, were seeing. The rain bands were seeing along the coastline, too, as well. Joining me now by phone is Barry Scanlon excuse me, not by phone, on camera. Former assistant to the director of fema under bill clinton. Barry, thank you very much for joining us. I want to talk about the current fema administrator and how he is saying that the president is being apprised of the situation in the gulf and that fema is prepared for this storm. What sort of steps are they taking in advance . Well, they prepositioned many materials. They have urban search and rescue teams. Six of them, actually, in texas, to help rescue people should things happen. You know, water, tents. They have a lot of different materials down there. They have incident management teams, colocated with the state of texas. Two of them, as well as with the state of louisiana. You know, the interesting thing about brock long, the new fema director, he was a former state director, as was mentioned before in alabama, and he handled the tornadoes and the bp incident. And he also worked in the private sector. So hes been on all sides of this. So he has got a good team there. Also as mentioned earlier, theres a lot of career people at fema. The person who runs the region for fema, tony robinson, has been there 25 years and is very well thought of. So its really all about a partnership with the state and local governments, both texas and louisiana are fortunate. Governor abbott has been in office for some time, as has governor edwards. Governor edwards dealt with the catastrophic flooding last year all around baton rouge. And they have the benefit of having director kid in texas and director was co in louisiana who both have been through this many times and are very experienced in helping to coordinate with the local government. We changed administrations a number of times since katrina. Has fema learned the lessons of what happened during that storm . Well, i certainly hope so. Youve seen greater coordination and communication during the obama administration, director fugate, of course, had been through literally scores of events in florida. So there was a better job done during sandy in some of the other major events. Its really about coordination. And partnership. That there has to be a willingness on all sides and all levels of government to work well together. When you have those different parties not working well together or not working well with the private sector, you can see where some things fall down. Hopefully that wont be the case this time. I think that with the folks that are at fema under brock long, you know, im confident that they will do a good job and work well with the states. Theres still a few brock is the only person who has made it through confirmation for fema. So there are still on capitol hill still waiting to be confirmed. What is the role of the white house during an event like this . I mean, as you mentioned, they keep them abreast. You know, the director of femas job, the administrator is really like being a quarterback. And grabbing from different parts of the federal team what you need. Theyre going to work closely with the department of energy. Its clear that if this stays in the size and severity that it looks like, theres going to be massive Power Outages. And there needs to be coordination and mutual aid system among different utilities. So the department of energy has a role to play. Housing and urban development. The Small Business administration. If theres military assets or dod assets. You know, what would happen in the 90s, because it was pretty successful in the 90s, there was a good federal team and good work with state and locals. Where the white house comes in and secretary now chief of staff kelly comes in, if youre finding a federal agency thats not being as responsive as they need to be, certainly thats something that the administrator of fema can call on the white house to help with. So its letting fema do its job and making sure that everyone else is pitching in as theyre being asked to. Make sure everybody else is on point. But there are still a number of positions that are left open. After john kelly moved to the white house, dhs is now being run by the deputy secretary, elaine duke. When it comes to noaa, there is only a gentleman named Benjamin Friedman who is, quote, performing the duties of the noaa administrator. I was reading about general honore saying we wouldnt allow someone to do the duties of a College Football coach in the s. E. C. Yet you have somebody not permanently appointed to noaa. Does that sort of thing concern you in a storm like this . Yeah, i dont know about that analogy. We worked very closely with noaa. In fact, fema has folks, liaisons in the National Hurricane center, and they obviously have scores of meteorologists working on this. So as you heard in your last segment, youre getting the right information. And they, you know, have the tracker that gets it to you every four hours. So i think the professionals there are doing their job and working well within the federal family to get the right information out. Of course, you would like to have a director and a leader of all the different agencies. But theres a process to that. Yeah. Barry scanlon. Thank you very much. Good to know, sir. Thank you, katy. Nbcs jacob rascon is live in houston. What are you seeing there . How is the city preparing . Reporter we just got to the office of emergency management, the city county, the judge, mayor, all of them will be here later to do a press conference. Were going to get a tour to see what theyre looking at. 15 to 20 inches of rain in this area in the next few days. More than 6 Million People live in the houston metro area. This is going to be catastrophic, they say. At least the forecast as it is now. When they get 10 inches of rain, which is huge, they flood and you have rescues with helicopters and boats and neighborhoods are under water. So theyre projecting, theyre saying twice that much. So this is bigger than anything they have really seen in about a decade here in houston. And theyre taking the necessary precautions. We were just at a neighborhood where a number of homes are raising, elevating themselves. One had planned the construction for next week but saw the forecast, and now theyre rushing in to raise their home, a process that usually takes a couple weeks. But the construction workers are working around the clock to do this. I mean, theyre taking it seriously. They know they should. And, you know, theyre all waiting to see if the forecast holds. And houston knows how serious these storms can get. Most of the evacuees or many of the evacuees, at least after katrina, went to houston. And many of them permanently relocated there. Jacob, is there any concern that people are going to potentially need to evacuate their homes in that city, or is it just too early to tell . Reporter you know, they did that before. They did that with rita. They told people to evacuate, and it really didnt work out. You had like just one big long line from here to dallas. It took 24 hours to get to dallas. I think more people died on the way than in the actual flood. And so they havent for whatever reason told people to evacuate here. You know, well see. And you made a good point earlier. And really, this is one of the fastestgrowing cities in the nation. Has been for some time. The last time a hurricane hit, you know, a quarter of the people didnt even live here. And then you have in addition a quarter Million People or so who were displaced from Hurricane Katrina who now live here, now facing a similar threat. Jacob rascon, good to see you, my friend. And as Hurricane Harvey barrels toward the texas coast, it could also bring a critical test of President Trumps abilities as commanderinchief. How will the white house handle the first potential Natural Disaster of this presidency . Nbcs Peter Alexander joins me now from the white house. Peter, you have worked covering administrations now for quite some time. You know that these sort of things can be make or break for a white house. Does this white house take it as seriously as they should be . Reporter yeah, these disasters can be politically perilous, obviously. George w. Bush and katrina is a good example of that. Well show what the president is doing today. First of all, trying to be visible as he gets briefed on whats taking place right now. Along the gulf coast. Heres a picture that he posted not too long ago showing the president in the oval office being briefed by tom bossert, Homeland Security adviser. There is chief of staff john kelly in the room as well. Elaine duke from Homeland Security. She was a part of this call, as well as brock long. Youve been speaking about. He is the fema director right now. The bottom line is, the president says, as he tweeted a short time earlier, as well, that he has spoken with the governors of texas and louisiana. He says closely monitoring Hurricane Harvey developments and here to assist as needed. Security officials here at the white house tell me the emphasis right now for americans should be on what their state and local officials are telling them. That the white house, the National Teams are prepared to respond and to assist as necessary. But for the moment, this remains, as they say, in the hands of those local and state officials, katy. And peter, president obama was criticized by donald trump, the candidate, for not visiting floodwaters in louisiana last year. He was also crediticized last august for not cutting short his Marthas Vineyard vacation to do that. The president is going to camp david this weekend. Is there any talk in the white house about potentially staying in the white house in order to respond quickly to this event . Reporter yeah, we havent heard any talk about staying here at the white house. But white house officials would say, as they have done in this occasion, as well, that the responsibilities of the president follow him wherever he goes. Camp david obviously well equipped for whatever needs he has. If he has to get beyond briefings whats taking place with Hurricane Harvey. Abo but to emphasize the point about the perils of disasters, this is a point made by the republican senator, Chuck Grassley today on twitter. Take a look at what he tweeted. In effect, urging the president to be on top of this. He said, keep on top of Hurricane Harvey. Dont make same mistake president bush made with katrina. So while this time i think its too early to make any judgments about how the administration is handling this, and certainly we hope they handle it well. Obviously, there are a lot of people who will be watching what the president does in the next 24, 48, 72 hours ahead. I always find it interesting how Chuck Grassley likes to tweet the president his advice or tweet him, asking him to call on a certain topic. Another scenario where that is the case. Peter alexander at the white house. And theres going to be a White House Press briefing at 1 45. Were going to bring it to you live as soon as it happens with Sarah Huckabee sanders. Meanwhile, bracing for the worst. Shelves and stores along the gulf coast are cleaned out as residents stock up ahead of harveys impact. Were expecting a press conference from the governor of texas any moment. Well also bring that to you live, once it starts. What powers the digital world. Communication. Thats why a cutting Edge University counts on centurylink to keep their global campus connected. And why a Pro Football Team chose us to deliver fiberenabled broadband to more than 65,000 fans. And why a leading car brand counts on us to keep their Dealer Network streamlined and nimble. Businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. This dive into the classicbster. Crab lovers dream or new dueling crab legs with dungeness and snow crab. Only during crabfest. Now this is seafood. And hurry in to enjoy our new crab melt, part of our seafood lovers lunch weekdays just 9. 99 another antiwrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. With the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce wrinkles. Neutrogena®. I kept looking for ways to manage my symptoms. I thought i was doing okay. Then it hit me. Managing was all i was doing. When i told my doctor, i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of moderate to severe Crohns Disease even after trying other medications. In clinical studies, the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Just managing your symptoms . Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. Moving over to politics. President trumps chief economic adviser admits he thought about quitting in the wake of charlottesville. Msnbc learned Top White House economic adviser, gary cohn, drafted a letter of resignation but never submitted it to the president. He is also the first Senior Administration official to criticize the president s response to charlottesville. In a new interview with the financials times, he says the administration can and must do better and consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities. Joining me now are nick confessore, New York Times political reporter and msnbc contributor and anne gearan, Washington Post diplomatic correspondent. Nick, ive been hearing from folks commenting that this is basically gary cohn trying to dare the president to fire him. You know, i think gary cohn was under enormous pressure as a highranking jewishamerican in the administration to Say Something or resign in protest. I think his comments to the Financial Times we saw and the news of this letter are actually very interesting and shows he really thought about it. He was very concerned about it. And just to point out, it was extraordinary to have a Senior Administration official of any administration essentially rebuke the president. And this was obviously kind of an offhand or sideways rebuke. But its still extraordinary and shows the real tension this whole incident has created behind the scenes. What was extraordinary also was that when donald trump went and did that impromptu press conference that was supposed to be about economics, in the lobby of trump tower and started basically going back to the original statement where he blamed many sides for the violence in charlottesville, gary cohn was standing right behind him the whole time. And he had to go take the podium after that and continue to give what was supposed to be the planned presentation alongside alongside other advisers. And he in the Financial Times also says this. As a jewishamerican, i will not allow neonazis ranting jus will not replace us to cause this jew to replace his job. I feel deeply for all those targeted. We must unite together against them. Brett stevens said, as i said a moment ago, basically asking the president to fire him. But for him to come out now and to condemn the president in this way, essentially condemn him, why today . Why not last week . Well, i think certainly there were reports earlier this week, and there were going to be more reports today, that he must have been aware of about just how close he came to resigning, katy. And i think he wanted to make clear that passage you just read i thought was one of the most affecting things in the interview, where he is saying, you know, this is why i chose to stay. And i got pressure both to stay and to leave. And, you know, he is acknowledging that that pressure was real, and that that pressure had a genuine effect on him. Because it would be uncomfortable for him and difficult in many ways to continue to work for an administration that where those views had been expressed. And as you point out, expressed right next to him. He goes on to lay out why he thinks he can do more and be of greater use by remaining inside. But its not only a challenge to the president in the moment, but its a challenge to the president going forward. Like, hey, im going to keep saying things like this, and im going to stick to my principles. You know whats so interesting, we keep hearing from those who are close to cabinet members or close to people, advisers in the white house, or aides of theirs or friends of theirs say these are not the these are not the beliefs that any of them hold in private. They wont necessarily agree with the way donald trump is choosing to lead. But many of them say to these folks that theyre there because theyre trying to essentially protect the country. Nick, that sort of reasoning for staying in an administration, that is just remarkable. Should we believe that, or is it Something Else . Look, i think there is a mixture of truth and selfflattery going on there. Gary cohn has aspirations to be at the federal reserve. All of them have aspirations to be in power. Power is intoxicating. And to be able to shape policy at the highest levels of power is a really big deal. I do think, though, that if you think that the president is having trouble or is making very bad decisions for the country, if youre one of those people, the question for you is that do you kind of want a white house that has more people who agree with the president or more people that will steer him in a different direction . And i think thats actually a reasonable thing to weigh for people who are being criticized for staying in, despite comments like the ones the president made. Nick confessore, anne gearan, thank you very much. And waiting out the storm. Authorities have told residents of the texas gulf coast to evacuate in advance of Hurricane Harvey. But not everyone is listening. Up next, well go to Corpus Christi, texas, where medical staff are staying in place to help those who have decided to stay in the hurricanes path. You always pay your insurance on time. 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. Music Edible Arrangements for summer. Order in store or online. 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. The White House Briefing is set to begin at any moment. Were going to bring you there once it begins. Meanwhile, Hurricane Harvey is barreling towards the texas gulf coast. A state of emergency has been issued for 30 counties in the storms path, and mandatory evacuations have been issued for hundreds of thousands of texans. But not everyone is leaving. Nbc medical correspondent, dr. John torres, is live in Corpus Christi. Dr. John, why are some choosing to stay behind . And katy, that happens. Sometimes people stay behind for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they have something they have to really take care of, they have loved ones, property they dont want to leave. For whatever reason, people do stay behind, which means that people have to stay behind to take care of them. Now we drove down this morning from san antonio. The roads were definitely passable. But we could see ambulances constantly going north, getting patients out of here. In the hospitals, they have gotten the critical patients out of here. But theyre still open, the ones more secure, and theyre keeping the patients that arent quite as critical in thesecure, and t rooms are staying open to take care of people around here. The patients pregnant, babies dont come by appointment. So someone staying behind, beth overton, a certified professional midwife with the Corpus Christi birth center. And you stayed to help a client who is pregnant and could not leave for any reason. I dont feel nervous, i feel prepared. And people dont leave for a variety of reasons. Sometimes theyre taking care of property, sometimes its medical. They dont want to give birth halfway down the road so youre here to help them out. Yes. Walk me through your birth center here. Youre kind of doing a balancing act. You got some of your staff out of here, but you stayed behind to help people here. This is your birthing center. One of the more interesting things, the door here, every time someone gives birth, they g graffti the door here. What are one of your biggest concerns . Safety. We want to make sure our patients if they were to come here they can only come if it is safe to come here and i can get to them. I live very close to this person, the birth center is boarded up, we have stocked water and food, and were ready for the storm. We have extra lighting if the power goes out, so were as ready as we can be. Emergency medical supplies, so you would ride out the storm with a patient who has a baby. Sometimes they cant get here, they may be stuck at home and you have plans for that as well . We tried to in advance prepare so our patients can pbu out. There is a birthing center in san antonio, were part of a texas birth Center Coalition group. And you may have to do it by phone. I will stay on the phone and try to talk to through it and they have been preprepared for emergency child birth as well. She is one of the many people f who are riding it out. Watching someone through their birth by phone. Dr. John torres, thank you very much. Were going to be going back to the white house just as soon as that briefing starts. Were also tracking Hurricane Harvey. Well have more on the storms path and those right in the middle of it, coming up next. Thank you so much. Thank you so were a go . Yes we got a yes what does that mean for purchasing . Purchase. Lets do this. Got it. Book the flights hai si si ya ya ya what does that mean for us . We can get stuff. Whats it mean for shipping . Ship the goods. Youre a go you got the green light. That means go oh, yeah. Start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Were gonna hit our launch date scream thank you goodbye let us help with money and knowhow, so you can get business done. American express open. So you can get business done. Its our back to school beeone cent evente. At office depot office max. 10 pack pens, one cent. Composition notebooks,scissors, and plastic folders all one cent each hurry to office depot office max. Taking care of business. Hi. And i know that we have phonaccident forgiveness. Gent, so the incredibly minor accident that i had tonight four weeks without the car. Okay, yup. Good night. With accident forgiveness your rates wont go up just because of an accident. Switching to allstate is worth it. Hey youve gotta see this. Cno. N. Alright, see you down there. Mmm, fine. Okay, what do we got . Okay, watch this. Do the thing we talked about. What do we say . Its going to be great. Watch. Remember what we were just saying . Go irish see that . Yes im gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. Find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. And Sarah Huckabee sanders has just taken the podium at the White House Press briefing. The administration has been closely monitoring the situation so we want to make sure the American People are fully briefed on this Important News of the day. After the three of them wrap up i will be back up to take a few of your questions on other topics, thanks. Good afternoon, everybody. As you have seen the president signed a new executive order that strongly punished the venezuelan regime. It commdemonstrates more clearl than ever that they will not allow a dictatorship to take hold in the western hemisphere. They will target the means for which the dictatorship will corrupt their insiders and perpetuate his impressive behavior. Only six weeks ago several smile ve venezuelans voted against it. The United States and the Regional Community today in solidarity with the venezuelan people, but he chose dictatorship over his own people. As a result a dozen of their neighbors gathered and rejected his actions. President trump promises strong action if modoro moved about and ignored his peoples will. The president is keeping his promise today of strong action and continuing to show strong leadership. This exact live order does not need be permanent. The president has said that a stable and peaceful venezuela is in the best interest of the entire hemisphere. We will continue to support them until rights and democracy is restored. Thank you, todays executive order demonstrates the condemnation of tyranny and dictatorship in venezuela. This has been a catastrophe for the country. Nicholas madoro has financed his regime with mismanagement, corruption, and debt. Todays action is focused on restricting the regimes access to american debt and equity markets. He will no longer take advantage of the looting of the economy at the expent of the venza ezuelan people. It is increasing pressure on the regime. The special if ied dealings involving venezuela and their instrumentalities. This includes the stateowned oil company. In an effort to