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. 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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. Joini