Locals trying really hard to help but many have lost their homes. Military is now on site, and i will be there tuesday. Wish press would treat fairly. Lets get to some indisputable facts out there. Tens of thousands of containers of food, water and medicine are backed up at the port. There arent enough drivers to distribute those supplies and there isnt enough fuel to power the trucks. Adding to the desperation, hospitals are running low on fuel to power their generators but yesterday, the acting Homeland Security secretary elaine duke described the federal response as a, quote, good news story. Something that illicitted this response from san juans mayor. Well, maybe from where shes standing thats a good news story. When youre drinking from a creek, its not a good story. When you dont have food for a baby, its not a good news story. When you have to pull people down from their buildings because, im sorry, but that really upsets me and frustrates me. I would ask you to come down here and visit the towns and then make a Statement Like that which, frankly, is an irresponsible statement and at contrast with the statements of support that ive been getting since yesterday when i got that call from the white house. This is this is not a good news story. This is a people are dying story. This is a life or death story. The Homeland Security secretary is in san juan today where she tried to walk back those earlier remarks. I am proud of the work thats being done. I am proud of americans helping americans, friends and strangers alike. I am proud of the work that dod, fema and the territory along with First Responders are doing. Clearly the situation here in puerto rico after the devastating hurricane is not satisfactory but together we are getting there and the progress today is very, very strong. For his part, the president did nothing to ease anxiety there when he tweeted this earlier. The fact is that puerto rico has been destroyed by two hurricanes. Big decisions will have to be made as to the cost of its rebuilding. And trump had this to say moments ago before leaving washington for a weekend in bedminst bedminster. As far as puerto rico is concerned, thats been going, as you know, really well. Its been total devastation. When you look at texas and when you look at florida, you know, its a whole different level. Nobody has ever seen. When you have a category 5 wipe out an island like this because you have nothing. You dont have the roads. You dont have anything, and you dont have the people to operate the equipment. Thats why we have, literally, hundreds of Truck Drivers being brought into the island to operate the trucks because those people have lost their homes. So they are unable to do it. And the police have lost their homes. So they are unable to do it. So its a tough situation. The white house has appointed a threestar general to focus on faster distribution of supplies and the pentagon is now rushing to send more military assets. But the question remains. Why werent these actions taken sooner . Joining me is new York City Council speaker melissa feverito. Im so happy to have you here. Ive seen your comments. Weve watched some of this together. Lets watch the mayor again just a few moments ago responding to all of the developments together and talk about it on the other side. Fema asks for documentation. I think weve given them enough documentation. And they have the gall this morning look at this. Look at this. They think that weighs enough . We have the gall this morning of asking me, what are your priorities, mayor . Where have you been . And i have been very respectful of the fema employees. I have been patient, but we have no time for patience anymore. So i am asking the president of the United States to make sure somebody is in charge that is up to the task of saving lives. They are up to the task in africa when ebola came over. They were up to the task in haiti, as they should be. Because when it comes to saving lives, we are all part of one community of shared values. I will do what i never thought i was going to do. I am begging. Begging anyone that can hear us to save us from dying. If anybody out there is listening to us, we are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency. Can i ask you to respond . Its hard to watch not not feel emotional. Literally whats happening is people are dying. Its not as if it was not known that we were going to get hit by a category 5. Everybody was tracking this and seeing it and for those of us that have family there, were concerned. Its not as if we did not know it was going to be a dead straighton hit. Its not as if we didnt know that puerto rico is an island and that it has its own set of challenges. The fema and this administration was not ready. At the go resources should have been on the ground to get supplies to the areas that needed it, to be responsive. And the first sign of leadership is to say, you know what . We screwed up. We didnt respond in time. We did not have a plan. And that is not what were seeing from this president. And what he is doing is continuing to try to make it seem that it is our fault, the people on the island, for what has happened. That somehow they were not prepared for it and its their responsibility. He wasnt saying that about texas. He wasnt saying that about florida. Hes saying that about puerto rico. And lets not forget the u. S. Virgin islands. Theres a double standard. Its racist, prejudicial and were not being treated as u. S. Citizens, which we are. Lets break all those down one by one. General honore on the ground after Hurricane Katrina said that he use someday colorful language that i cant repeat and basically called it bs. Their excuses at this point one week out. And said that there were more resources in new orleans, and it was a much smaller scale catastrophe. Exactly. What do you think the reason is today . I mean, weve now had an after action report at our ready for more than a week. What could the possible explanation be and how do they begin to mitigate all the damage thats already been done . I imagine theres a lot of contaminated water. I imagine with fuel running short on generators, there are a lot of people who the elderly or very young that without cooling or access to cool spaces, their health will be compromised. What is the most urgent need in your view. Youve been there. I saw you do some interviews right when you got back. Was was it tuesday night . Yes. What from your trip and your family still there, how are they doing . Theyre fine, obviously, and im lucky that my mother lives in the greater metropolitan area so theres some access to immediate resources but the people in the remote areas. This is an island, 100 by 35, and it has mountainous and remote areas that are hard to access. People that do need medical attention, people that are on ventilators. People that have asthma or other debilitating diseases are having a hard time. And people are, as the mayor is saying, dying. Hospitals are running on generators. That cannot happen endlessly. Generators burn out. Access to fuel. Its just layer upon layer of challenge. And right now, we only have 10,000 between troops and relief workers, 10,000 people on the ground. That general that you spoke to that dealt with katrina said right now hed have 50,000 troops on the ground. Not federal workers, troops. Let me bring in the rest of our panel and please stay. Joining Us White House reporter and msnbc political analyst jonathan la mere, former Communications Director jen palmieri and the reverend al sharpton and president of the National Action network. I want to let the others ask you questions as well. But i want to i have one more for you. Is there anything about the president talking about his own press coverage and his own reviews that is just like rubbing salt in the wound for you . I mean, i want to just sort of tick through some of his responses. A few days ago he talked about puerto ricos debt as though it was some of the problems were puerto ricos fault. I cant get inside his mind. Im not sure i would want to, if i could. It seemed to imply there was something that there was some fault to be laid at the feet of puerto rico. Whats your response to that . This is the most ignorant president that weve had sitting in the white house. This is an individual who does not have an Attention Span and does not understand complex issues, refuses to understand context. And so i cannot respond to that. Obviously, his fragile ego is what matters here about the attention that hes getting or the lack of proper coverage. People are dying. We need attention. We need more resources on the ground. We need the department of defense to step up. We need every single federal agency to have more responsibility and more involvement on whats happening. That is what we need most immediately because every second counts. Were hearing the Horror Stories from people on the island. Were hearing people just not having access to food. Dehydration. The agriculture, 80 decimated. If you go through the island as i did and you see how the agriculture and the vegetation was literally sucked dry, right, that you are seeing it. And that is just layer upon layer of complexity and challenge and its horrifying. Its horrifying to sit at the sidelines and say, you know, what can we do . The level of response here stateside has been incredible but if theres no infrastructure being developed on an interim basis to facilitate those resources getting to where they need, to then all of what were collecting is, what do we do with it . The mayor has demonstrated great leadership, and i really am a friend of hers. Were providing assistance to her from new york city. Were also providing assistance to the Central Government but more needs to be done, and the pressure needs to come from us, those of us stateside have to take action and continue to put pressure on this administration. Rev, the mayor saying i am begging crow. We are dying. I think if you have any sense of humanity at all, when you hear the statement as you played it, she is beyond politics, beyond our feelings of president trump. She said were dying. And you are sending someone out in front of the cameras on the garage of the west wing to say this is a good news story . People are dying. This is way past president bush saying in catrin abrownie, youre doing a good job. People are literally dying while shes standing in the driveway saying this is a good news story. And it is absolutely insulting. When you look at the fact, and the mayor said it right. The reaction to ebola. The reaction that president obama had to haiti. Yeah, i think we have were going to put some of that up. In haiti before dawn, they were sending troops into haiti. These are american citizens. 22 so here we have it. You talk and we have this ready. 22,000 troops sent to haiti. And, you know 8,000, i think, within two days. A earthquake is not forecast. We knew that there was a hurricane headed to puerto rico. 300 helicopters in haiti because there was a similar challenge to infrastructure and distribution. 25 federal helicopters. And president obama didnt say, oh, you had a lot of debt there. You had a lot of poverty. Its your fault. We knew a hurricane was coming. We knew there was debt in puerto rico, which we did not do all we could have to help and you are going to blame the in the middle of people dying. Why, though . Whats the why . The why is its a double standard. What . I think the speaker is right that when it comes to black and brown people, this president sends every signal that he does not care. It is not a priority. For him to sit up and rationalize a slow to no response, he would not do it if it was anywhere else, dealing with anybody else, and i dont think you can sugarcoat that. Im not going to try to sugarcoat it. I want to ask you, jen, is there any chance that they just dropped the ball, or does this just look so different . It looks so different from the response to harvey and irma that the revs explanation is the only plausible one . No, i think it is. Like every opportunity hes seeking to divide us, whether its the nfl or singling out puerto rico as not worthy of the same response that you had in texas. And, you know, i thought it was telling when the mayor said we need somebody in charge because no matter how good fema is, maybe theyre not so great, you have just a branch agency. Dennis mcdonagh went to haiti. Not part of the United States but we were concerned about it to run the operation there. And then during sandy, you know, which is right before the reelection, we had a very tightly run white houseled because it has to be the white house. Weve got to coordinate with dod and fema and the other agencies. And we were so handson. Gene sperling was calling through to find gas stations open in new jersey to plot out how gas trucks would make it to new york city. Thats how handson the white house has to be and its got to come from the top. But he is sending the signal that is doesnt matter. Theres a growing sense they know this is a problem but the president himself is what kind of problem . A political and press problem or humanitarian crisis . I think among senior staff, both. But the president , only in recent days, has become personally engaged on this issue. Unlike texas and florida why . I think some of the reasons discussed at this table could potentially be valid. We always hear about his base and who he states he won. He won texas and florida. These are places hes much more familiar with than puerto rico. Able to grasp that idea. Up until the last 48 hours, most of his private discussions were not about this. They were about the nfl. Telling people around him he found a good issue for him. He found something he believes he can rally the base around. This is only the last few days has he suggested like, okay, we put pressure on here. Hes obviously touted several times now that hes going down there on tuesday to inspect the damage. And lets remember this. As the speaker said, what matters here are the lives on the ground. Presidencies are often judged by the response to natural disasters. The second term of george w. Bush never really recovered from Hurricane Katrina. I lived through it and that is true. And the other thing you dont recover from is the First Impression that you make. So the truth is that after the impression was left, after the inexcusable initial reaction, we as senior staffers spent every day rebuilding. So the question for you before we go to a live report from san juan is, what can happen today . I mean, obviously, the people in puerto rico dont even have power. Theyre not watching him congratulate himself. Theyre not watching him sing his own praises. 95 of the island still does not have power. Think about that. Were talking about puerto rico that has a population larger than gon states in this United States. Do you think that if connecticut as the mayor of new york said, do you think if connecticut was going through a similar situation that we would not see a response that is very different than the response . Trump might leave connecticut in the dark but hed definitely get dallas back up. Now in terms of puerto ricans, more than 1 million live in florida and thats a swing state and that does become a political issue and liability. Unfortunately thats the language were using but thats probably for them what they are thinking. The congressional reps, the senators are going to understand this is a problem. In the meantime, we need more resources and troops on the ground. More relief works or the ground. Life and death every minute they are not doing what they need to do, we are losing out and we are losing lives. Let me add to the discussion Mariana Atencio just south of san juan in bayamon. We heard from the mayor of san juan that she is begging for help, that people are dying. What is your latest reporting telling you . Nicolle, i can tell you the last bags of ice in the city of bayamon outside san juan are being given to these folks right here. There was no more ice left, according to this ice plant, and this lady here started complaining. She says she has not had her insulin in two days. She needs the ice. All these people here need the ice to preserve the little food they have left. As you were discussing, most of the island is without power. They need the ice to be able to feed their children. They need the ice for their medicine. Thats why you have the mayor of san juan saying this is a life and death situation. Hector, i was chatting with you here at the front of the line. How dire is this situation here in puerto rico and how much worse could it get . Its going to get worse if we dont get help as soon as possible because not only do we need help, but they need help also because they depend on electricity and water and if they dont get it fast enough, they wont be able to help us. So its very critical. Usually ten days in you expect things to start to get better. Thats what weve seen in Hurricane Harvey and irma. But here, things seem to get worse every day that goes by. That is correct. I dont know why. I see gas trucks are moving but this help isnt moving fast enough. Supplies arent moving fast enough. Thank you, hector. This young mom is in the front of the line. She started crying when they said there was no more ice for her. Her child is sick and now shes happy because at least shes going to get two bags today. Tomorrow they have to stand in line again to continue to live here in puerto rico. Mariana, thank you so much. Let me get your Quick Reaction to just seeing that. Seeing what was just described for us. We are dying. We are begging. Its just incredible. I dont think people really get the scope of it. And if people are pass away and dying, talk about morgues overflowing. What do we do where First Responders and media personnel are still trying to save other people. The health hazards. Water that is still stagnant and what happens in those situations. Thats happening in smaller towns. Theres still the possibility of a major dam breaking and 70,000 individuals were being evacuated. Lowered down about to 50,000 being evacuated. An area thats going to have a major problem if that dam breaks and who knows what work is being done to safeguard that. And how do you even tell them whats coming . That was whats happening last week. The governor did do that. Was evacuating and making sure people left that area because the breach is possible. So theres a lot happening at the same time and were not getting enough support. Its not