Already battered island. The powerful storm is expected to push waves into towns, possibly flding roads. And this is what the storm has done in the u. S. Sand ridgen islands. The torrential rain and wind causing widespread damage, power out for many there. Driving around the islanden cnn found trees down, roads blocked. This is just the beginning because this hurricane is expected to grow into a dangerous capturing 3 storm heading for the east coast. You are looking at some of the models taking the storm toward florida and south carolina. It seems the president s focus is not on the millions of americans right now in the path of the storm. Its on attacking puerto rico and his rivals tweeting today puerto rico is one of the most corrupt places on earth. The political system is broken and politicians are either incompetent or corrupt. Congress approved billions of dollars last time more than anyplace else got. Sent to crooked pols. No good. Goes on to claim im the best thing that happened to puerto rico, exclamation point. The best thing even though he claims he is not the one responsible for the bunkled response to hurricane maria. Devastating the island in 2017. And remember, killing 3,000 people. Cnn meteorologist tom satter tracking the storm. How bad could the storm get as it runs over the warm waters between puerto rico and florida . Well, most likely it will be a major hurricane. But this has been an intriguing storm, jim. If you had asked us about this three days ago we would say what hurricane . Yesterday it was okay, we see you dorian. Then today all right here we go. The president s tweets have slammed puerto rico harder than dorian. We got lucky. A couple of days ago it looked as if they was going to move over the high mountains and break apart and then maybe the moon aye passage. Then we found a center today. Without a center no track. And it looked like direct landfall on puerto rico. Then today is slides more east. Gnaw were going to be watching it in open waters where all the cylinders of the engine start roaring and into high octane fuel in the warm water. But breaking it down because its interesting. At 2 00 p. M. The center of dorian was right over st. Thomas. We had a wind gust of 111mileperhour on buck island. The british and u. S. Virgin islands were hit hard. The center of the storm not making landfall in puerto rico as you get in closer here. The hurricane winds extend outward only 15 miles. They didnt even come close. In fact the hurricane winds are really on the northern and eastern flank. The Tropical Storm force winds extend outward 80 miles. That would have covered part of puerto rico, a good part. But the winds were off to the east. They missed out on that. You can see where the heavier rain is. The strongest gust in san juan was 34 miles an hour. Thats a typical wednesday thunderstorm. They really missed out. Great news there. Excellent news thats what we want to see. But now Going Forward what will happen with the steering current . To find the steering current Going Forward we need to find out where they will be in the next couple days. As we watch the computer models hinting maybe free peter and the bahamas. The european model wants to take it across west palm. Cross the florida peninsulaen a maybe regenerate and get stronger in the gulf. There are possibilities it could slide south. It could move up north and long the coast of the carolinas. There is a lot of uncertainty. The one thing we know of that now its got the center and its making its way into warm waters as we look at the weekend we have at least a capturing three on our hands as it moves across the warm gulf waters. But its been an intriguing storm. Its together. But thank goodness puerto rico missed out on this one. A near miss indeed, tom sater thanks very much pch omar jimenez outfront live in puerto rico tonight. Omar i know its getting dark but folks still taking precautions. Look, jim, at this point the worst of it does seem to be over at least for the island of puerto rico. But as far as the mindset goes for the people here, they were preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. Now there are many people concerned about the amount of rainfall that would come through. We are seeing rain at this hour. And concern the rain would contribute to any sort of flooding impacts, especially in the mountainous portions of the island. That remains to be seen. In large part the storm moved east, mainly over the Virgin Islands was where we saw the huge impacts come, at least from the wind earlier today. We did hear from the governor of the u. S. Virgin islands, saying the roads seem to be okay but they are dealing with a scattering of Power Outages at the moment. But that was a major concern going into this here on the island of puerto rico, especially given how long it took things to get back or how long it took really to get the lates back on i should say in the aftermath of hurricane maria. Weve been speaking with fema over the course of the past two days trying to assess their preparedness in this. They had around 50 oh people on stand by in puerto rico before the storm came in. And we just heard from a spoke person moments ago saying between here and the Virgin Islands there are over 3 now ready to respond. Omar god to have you on the ground there. Outfront the puerto rican senator. He is a democrat. Thank you for taking the time tonight. Tell us about the conditions on the ground there, not a direct hit but certainly strong wind, waves, water. How is the island responding . Yeah, i think we were lucky, really lucky. This is a system that basically changes course. We were expecting a lot of rain. We didnt get it. We were expecting a lot of wind. We didnt get it, except for two of the mall islands next to puerto rico that were hit directly. Other than that, i think puerto rico did much better i guess than what happened two years ago after the devastation of maria. I think were glad this is over. We are for you concerned with our brothers and sisters in florida. And we know that they will get a bigger hurricane than we did down here. So certainly were early in the season, right. This may be one of the first. But it certainly is not going to be the last. You learned a lot. You suffered a lot from hurricane maria. Right. And have deployed a lot of resource that is werent around then, bigger generators to fill the gap if the power were to go out, et cetera. Do you feel that puerto rico is better prepared for storms now . Oh, i think definitely the people of puerto rico are much better prepared on this kind there was a reminder of what irma did prior to maia. Two weeks prior to mary. And didnt hit prokupek that hard. And we were lucky. But then mary hit two weeks later. The system is starting. The high season of hurricanes is starting. Puerto rico is right in the middle of the caribbean. And as such it will receive the pounding of hurricanes, you know left and right. And what we need from our friends and our fellow citizens of the United States its a lot more compassion and a lot less insults because wraer were in the middle of the caribbean. Part of the message i think that we have to put out there is, yes, we did much better this time because of the weather pattern that changed. But, no, were not over recovering from what happened in marchia. And we still need the assistance. Still need help. And still need fema and other attention agencies to work closer with the government of puerto rico than in the past few months. You mentioned insults and the president was deploying insults to puerto rico as the island was bracing for the storm. Here is what the president tweeted. Remarkable words from the sitting u. S. President in the midst of thp puerto rico one of the most corrupt places on earth. The politicians are incompetent or corrupt. Congress approved billions of dollars last time more than any other place got. By the way, im the best thing that happened to puerto rico. Whats the reaction there among your constituents, among Puerto Ricans to look at their president and see him lobing insults as a storm heads their way. Look, jim, i mean he is the best thing that happened to puerto rico said no one ever. And i i honestly think that we ought to stop trading jabs and trading insults with the president of the United States. We hear what he is saying. He is consistent with being a child, with being insulting the people of puerto rico, with being racist with the bigotry that comes out of hiswards. We have a bigger job. We have to rebuild, rebuild stronger and so much we have to do in puerto rico right now. I think the president is not helping. Leadership is about persuading people to come together. And that is an element never present in the words of the president. He is not helping. He is he has actually unified the people of puerto rico against him. Other than that, i think we i would rather move forward rather than trade insults with the president of the United States right now. Well, good for you np good for you for staying above it, senator. We wish you, the people of the puerto rico we wish the best as the Hurricane Season gets under way. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Outfront next, in hour, the president promising to pardon aides who break the law. Listen to that again. Pardon aides breaking the law. And the white house response, well we have heard it before. He was joking at the time. He was making a joke. The president was clearly joking. Plus President Trump lashing out at fox news telling his supporters the network is no longer working for him will the network cave to the president . Why does he expect it should be working for him . And the new poll cmos joe biden the clear front runner. What will it take for the other candidates to narrow that gap . If you tonight, listen carefully and chosely to this story. President trump promising to pardon his aides if they break the law in order to get his wall built by the 2020 election. This as President Trump claimed in multiple tweets gnat wall is already being built writing in one tweet, quote the wall is going up very fast despite total obstruction by democrats in congress and elsewhere. The tweet also a animated video of a wall fully built. That video is false. The fact is no new wall has been built on the border with mexico, only repairs to about 60 miles of existing barriers. Kaitlyn cal lynns is outfront. What is the white house saiding about the president s promise to pardon aides to break the law to build the wall what is the response. They say the president is joking when he told aides he would pardon them if they had to break the law in order to get his wall built before the 2020 election. But of course we should note they did not deny that the president made the remarks. Remarks he made before to the acting d. H. S. Secretary about pardons. But of course our sources are telling us this comes as the president has been expressing in urgent need to get the wall finished by the next election. He has been telling aides essentially his reelection depends on it being built at least part of the wall being built but as you noted no new wall has been built even though the president and his aides insist it has. Only existing barrier that was already deteriorating has been replaced. But really what were told a lot of this talk about pardons if you need to break the law to get the wall built mass to do with is the president is wrd about what accomplishment he is going to run on in 2020. Before now he has been alk to bank on the economy and its promising aspects. But now lately the president and his Economic Team have been becoming increasing worried about the potential of there being an economic downturn and what they are going to message for the president to run in 2020. He started looking at other promising going unfulfilled. One his chief promise from the 2016 campaign was nlding this wall on the southern border. Theyve been having the meetings here at the white house lately where the president is demanding to know updates whats going on. Thats in those conversations where president made the offhanded remarks were told about promising these pardons. But jim you have to look a lot of it has to do with whether or not the president is going to be reelected in 2020. Thats what he is keeping an eye on when making compensates like this. Capabilities collins always good to have you at the white house and a brief fact check of the president. Its democrats and republicans in congress who did not vote money for the president s wall. Outfront now White House Reporter for npr. Isha roscoe and cnn president president ial historian doug brinkley. Doug, folks at home can be forgiven for shaking heir head and saying its just another trump headline but put it in context. The president of the United States telling aides its okay to break the law to build the wall before the 2020 election. If you do, ill pardon you. Has a u. S. President ever egregiously misused the pardon power like this. Not the pardon power but i edited Ronald Reagan diaries at one point he yelled at his National Security team i dont care if you end up in leavenworth, prison, i want the hostages out of iran. And that attitude got Ronald Reagan in a lot of trouble, almost undermined his second term. Now you are looking at donald trump telling aides to break the law, i have your back and will pardon you. It immediately demands congressional investigation saying its a joke is not enough. And this is supposed to be the chief Law Enforcement officer of the United States. But what you have touched on, what we is that this is about promising unkept. What is a bigger promise than donald trump and the wall . And he has come up with a zero in aid. There is no wall. He will be hammered by the democrats for lying to the American People because there couldnt be a wall due to environmental laws, eminent domain. Its trump trying to get ahead of the news cycle in 2020 by trying to put images of an artificial wall up because there isnt one built during his administration. Isha, the white house says the president was joking about the pardons. We should note its not the first time the white house claimed that. Here is the response to donald trump asking russia to find Hillary Clintons missing emails about telling Police Officers to be rough with suspects, about calling democrats treasonous for for the standing and applauding during the state of the union speech and about saying he loves wikileaks. Whats common about all the answers . Have a listen. He was joking at the time. We all know that. I believe he was making a joke at the time. The president was clearly joking with his comments. Clearly the president was making a joke during the 2016 campaign. You cover this white house. Aisha. Is that a credible defense. I think at this point its not really credible. He is the president of the United States. So what he says matters. And they want it matter when its convenient for them. So the white house will say that the president s statements on twitter or what have you just last week he imposed tariffs through twitter. On china. And so they say those words matter but when its something they cant defend or dont really have an answer for, then its just a joke. At this point, it would seem like its not wise for a president of the United States to be joking about pardoning people, because that pardon them, because that raises real questions. Thats something that congress would look intoen li and could lead to questions with impeachment, because people could look at it as abuse of power. Doug, its not the first time cnn previously reported trump told customs and Border Protection commissioner kevin mcleanen that he would grant grant him pardon from going to jail if he should defy u. S. Law. This is something the president did before and offered before. It seems that corroborates that this is an actual offer to the aides as opposed to a joking offer to them. I agree. And, you know, he did Dinesh Desuza a rightwing commentator. He gave him a pardon. He says he is bigger than the constitution, big are than the law. Do my bidding and ive got your back. That is something thats almost mind boggling the president of the United States would be off the cuff saying such a thing. And you just wonder when the rooster is going to come home to roost . Because, i mean, you cant just keep telling people to break the law and not coming back to haunt you. There is no border wall. We have had a killing mass killing in el paso due to rightwing hate rhetoric. Its important i think the American People realize the whole border wall immigration thing has been a figment of the president s imagination that the whole wall was never going to be built and mexico was never going to pay for it and now he is going to score some political points with the base. Aisha, the president believes he is scoring points with the base. The fact is the republican partys own post mort emof the 2018 midterm elections found gnat president s harsh messaging on the wall at the time about invasion, migrant caravan, et cetera, hurt gop candidates in the midterm elections. Is the white house convinced that this is pennsylvania positive and workable and helpful message for the president. I think theyre convinced its a helpful message for the president. And i think they lock at the 2018 election as different when you look at the house and things of that nature versus what the president is trying to do to rile up his base. And i think that they look at in idea of immigration as something that they could get people to go and this is what people at the rallies and what his base wants to hear. They want to hear about immigration. They want to hear that he is building the wall. Thats why there is concern. It would seem to me that even with the wall not being built, his base is so for him that they would be able to look past that. But for whatever reason the president seems to like at this as weakness or something that he could be hammered on. I guess if you couple that with weakness in the economy i think thats where he is looking at trouble and why in might matter more to him np aisha, doug