gulf coast more than five people rescued in charlotte and lee county so far. if you need to be evacuated step out of your front door. the fort meyers fire chief said they conducted 200 water rescues overnight. lee county was the hardest hit. this is a home on fire after the storm. fire crews as you can imagine unable to reach it. this is a neighborhood completely inundated as you can see floodwaters have yet to receive. new video from the lee county sheriff s office confirming the work worse. whole towns have been completely level and mayors giving details about their town out the day. i came here in the mid-70s and was on the police department for 25 years and saw a lot of storms. this is by far the worst storm i have ever witnessed. debris is everywhere. my yard looks like a war zone. as of this hour there is some places that are impossible to reach by road. this is the only bridge destroyed in multiple spots as a result of hurricane ian. this is fort meyers bea
ian now setting its sites on the south carolina coast, as we come on the air, with the tropical storm expected to strengthen back into a hurricane as it moves, look at it there, very slowly across the atlantic and back towards the east coast, after a trail of destruction in florida. people there are reeling now from one of the worst storms that has ever hit them, and doing what they can to start picking up the pieces. sanibel island, captiva island, a storm surge, with a huge chunk of the causeway there, that is the only way in or out, in a state overall, more than two and a half million people are without power and look at where that deep red is, some counties in southwest florida are totally we re live with officials, from across florida, as well as somebody from part of the federal response to this storm. cabinet secretary, homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas, hallie jackson in washington and we have the team covering every angle, and every location, and steve p
headquarters in new york city. donald trump ready to run for president for a third time, but is the country ready? before we start debating what it means for 2024, what does it mean for the midterms now less than 100 hours away. plus, the former head of the oath keepers, stewart rhodes, takes the stand in his own defense. what he said about the 2020 election and his surprising take on the right-wing militia he founded more than a decade ago. overnight, we got word that a treatment for rsv has now been approved but not in time for what s predicted to be a terrible winter here in the u.s. so lots to get to, but we start with the news that will no doubt mark a new chapter in the political life of this country and could escalate the stakes in what has already been a wildly unpredictable and stunningly close midterm race. nbc news has confirmed that donald trump is expected to officially announce his third run for president later this month. it s something he s teased relent
vote with their wallets. democrats are arguing that if democracy doesn t hold, nothing else matters. when true democracy goes away, people get hurt. it has real life consequences. it s not some abstract political science question. we are all affected. and we take this for granted, and we can t. so, who s right? we ve got reporters in some of the most closely contested states in the country. plus ukrainians now bracing for the unthinkable, a possible nuclear attack by russia. and if that wasn t bad enough, vladimir putin now appears to be joining forces with another one of the most dangerous men in the world, kim jong-un. and finally, anyone who s tried to cram themselves into an airplane seat knows they can be unbelievably cramped and uncomfortable. but could they also be dangerous? what the faa and lawmakers are doing to change things. that s later in the show. but we start with president biden and his decision to focus his formedable bully pulpit, a prime-time spe
superstar brittany grine ner russia, what the white house is now saying about a potential prisoner swap with moscow s, spoiler, it s complicated. i will tell you what americans saw today when griner had the first in opinion person visit in months. the one time adviser to former president trump getting immunity from the d.o.j. and why the government is giving kash patel a pass to try to get him to talk to the grand jury in the larlg case. and the huge amount of conservative cash pouring into midterm races that typically fly well under the radar, school boards and how it affects education across the country. i m hallie jackson. we want to bring in kelly o donnell, shaq brewster is in wisconsin, and ellison barber is in georgia, where we expect to see senator raphael warnock out this hour. kelly, i ll start you with. teeing up the speech that we expect to see from the president, if he s on time at some point this hour, talking student debt relief, coming at a time as you kno