The powerhouse roundtable tackles another headspinning week of politics. And after years of skepticism lets get with it. Lets get out of afghanistan. Trump reverses course. Im not going to say when were going to attack. But attack we will. Can he succeed and win americas longest war . Well break down the politics. Smoke out the spin. The facts that matter, this week. Good morning. We have a lot to get to this week. We begin with the latest on the devastating storm. Hurricane harvey has been downgraded. A tropical depression now. The damage is significant. The danger is real. Especially in the city of houston. More than 6 million americans are facing lifethreatening floods. Overnight, more than 1,000 rescues. Authorities now warning people to get out of their at ix and on to their roofs. The citys 911 system is overloaded. Citizens asked to call only if theyre in imminent danger. And with the ground already waterlogged, the storm slowing to a crawl. That danger could grow in the days ahead. The texas governor, the president s Homeland Security advisor are standing by live. We begin with abcs steen yor meteorologist rob marciano in the storm zone. No rain where you are right now. But houston getting pounded. Reporter everything east of the circulation, george, is where the heaviest rain is. Just incredible stuff happening. Worse than the floods over memorial day two years ago. Worse than the Tropical Storm alison of 2001 which devastated the city of houston. Overnight, scary stuff happening. As this rain came down. Rescues ongoing. Over 1,000 as you mentioned. Folks doing what they can just to get out of where their flooded areas are. The waters continue to rise. The National Weather service putting out an urgent message saying, dont go up into your attics. They dont want them to get trapped. Go up to the roof. Want to stress, persons should not go into their attics, but instead, on to the roof. This is a tweet. And if calling 911, stay on the line until its answered. That will be stressed today and tomorrow. The bayous, the rivers, flooding right now. 48 gauges going into major flood stage. Right through the city of houston. Buffalo bayou, jumping 30 feet in a few hours since saturday. The brazos river in major flood stage as well. The satellite, the radar shows all that rain coming off the gulf of mexico. This is very high rain rates. Some cases, six, seven inches per hour. No way for that rain rate to drain out efficiently. The next 12 hours, were looking for potentially another 12 inches on top of the 12 inches we have already seen. What should we expect in the coming days . Reporter more rain. Its a matter of where those rain bands set up. The circulation of what is left of harvey is not going to move that much. We think another 12 inches on top of the 12 inches that we expect today, on top of the 12 inches they got last night. Potentially, over three feet of rainfall expected through wednesday. We say time and time again, george, its not the wind from a hurricane or tropical system that kills people. Its the water. The inland flooding especially. Thats the number one cause for Tropical Stormrelated fatalities. The folks in houston are trying to prevent that from happening today. George . Okay, rob, thank you very much. Lets get more on this from the governor of texas, greg abbott. He joins us from austin this morning. Thank you for joining us. We heard rob marciano tell us about the devastating situation in houston. What can you tell us about the situation on the ground . Well, obviously, the water is rising. This is a situation that houstonians have dealt with before. Because houston is in an area that is prone to flood about once a year like this. This is one of the worst if not the worst that houston has suffered. What were involved in, at the local level especially, is rescuing as many people as possible. Understanding that our top goal is to make sure we save lives. This is an allout effort on search and rescue. And saving peoples lives in houston right now. You were warning people on friday to evacuate houston. That didnt happen. Mistake . Listen, the local officials know best about this. The reason why they made the call, i think, is because they understood that the hurricane itself was unlikely to hit houston. And they were prepared for the flooding that is occurring right now. So they have assets in place. Texas, overnight, has provided them additional assets. Including our military highlevel vehicles that will assist in rescuingi inpeople, as well as sending boats and perhaps helicopters to be involved in the search and rescue process. What is your biggest worry . Are you getting what you need from the federal government . I tell you what. We could not be more appreciative of what the federal government has done from the president on down. Because, everything we have asked for, they have given us. The most important thing was i made a disaster declaration that the president granted very swiftly. And what that does is it triggers femas involvement. Fema has been actively involved and engaged in this whole process, long before the hurricane even hit ground. Because of their assistance, texas will be able to begin the rebuilding process swiftly. Expect to come back to the federal government for emergency funds to help with that . The emergency funds will come through fema. What we will be doing is well be expanding the number of counties included in the disaster declaration. Obviously, Harris County now will be added to this. Were very thankful for the swift, effective action and support we have received from the federal government. The white house says the president expects to visit texas this week. Does that make sense or risk diverting resources away from the relief effort . Well, it depends. As you know, we had a hurricane hit around the Corpus Christi area that is now moving northeast. And is over closer to the houston area. And it depends on where he goes. Were already, for example involved in the cleanup process in Corpus Christi. If the president were to visit there, it wouldnt hinder any efforts. Well have to wait and see where the storm goes, understanding that this entire storm has been very unpredictable in its movement. I couldnt tell you right now where it will be in two days. Governor abbott, good luck. Thank you for your time this morning. Thank you, george. Were joined by the Homeland Security adviser tom bossert. Thank you for joining us. You heard the praise from Governor Abbott on the federal response. What is your focus for the next phase . Good morning, george. Thanks for having me on the program. So the president s focus and mine remains on supportinging the governor. Its very nice to hear the governor give us that praise. I think its a mutual feeling. President trump is giving all the latitude of the federal government that he can. Brock long, our fema ed a a ministraiter is taking those reins and coordinating efforts. People focus on coordinating federal efforts. What brock is doing is really pretty special. Hes coordinating federal efforts across different departments and agencies. Hes coordinating volunteers and workers and professionals from other states, as well. We have talked a lot this morning about the search and rescue efforts under way. Lifesaving and lifesustaining is our effort right now. Help is coming from all over the country. Theres a lot of effort under way. What brock has to do and what the president has to remain focused on and what i try to help him focus on is unity of the efforts. Well focus on that for the next 24 to 48 hours. The president has just tweeted hell only visit when he can be sure hes not interrupting. Any idea . Well go where we can without getting in the way of the operator. We wont prevent lifesaving activities from taking place. The president wants to go to show support. He doesnt want to get in the way. Hes been very clear about that. Well let the details play out. Hell get there as soon as he can. You heard the governor say hes expanding the number of areas that need emergency funding. Is the president prepared to ask congress for more funds . Sure. Heres how this works. In a way that maybe people would understand. What the president did was gave the authority necessary to the federal government to the fema administrator to do what he has to do. Now, what the fema administrator has to do is work with the governor and figure out where to apply those resources. Well have some number of counties where well focus our efforts the. If additional counties require assistance, he doesnt have to come back to the president. In terms of money, i think we have 3 billion in the Disaster Relief fund right now. Thats money that can be spent on future efforts and current efforts. That is also the open disasters of which there are 30 around the country right now. The president on friday night around 10 00, as the storm was taking shape, announced by twitter he was pardoning Sheriff Joe Arpaio in arizona. He was convicted of failing to follow a judges order to stop racial profiling. Both Republican Arizona senators and speaker of the house paul ryan made comments. And this morning blast from former vice president. He says the president s contempt for the u. S. Constitution and willingness to widen this nation knows no bounds. Now hes pardoned a Law Enforcement official who terrorized the latino community, violated its constitution gnat right, he defied a federal court to stop, and ran a prison system so rife with your response . Vice President Joe Biden is loved and known for his hyperbole. I think thats another example of it. I think there is disproportionate coverage right now. As i and Governor Abbott focus on the 4. 6 people in the greatest houston area. I think the arpaio pardon is straightforward. George, as you know, the president you worked for and just about every modern president ends up with some controversial pardons. I think the president has been pretty clear on it. Its not fair to characterize him about not caring about the rule of law. That came from senator mccain and speaker of the house paul ryan, as well. Youre absolutely right. President s have absolute pardon power. President clinton got criticized for his pardon of mark rich. But this is somewhat different. President trump said arpaio was con vicked for quote doing his job. How is defis a court order to protect Constitutional Rights doing his job . As i understand it, it was a contempt order, not an issue of of his job or not his job. I dont know the details of it. I know the president is clear about his defense of it and his decision. Im pretty certain, too, george this is not something that will threaten our constitutional order. That is being disputed by the speaker of the house, paul ryan, senator john mccain as well. The president , you say hes been clear in defending the sheriff arpaio and his pardon, he called him a patriot who kept us safe also praised his Admirable Service. He held inmates in horrible conditions. Humiliated them. Promoted the birther lie about president obama. How is that Admirable Service . Im sure those are all assertions that youre much more familiar with than me. Right now, im focused on not only the 4. 6 Million People in the houston area, but the millions of people around the country trying to bring together outside of these Divisive Political questions, their efforts and their prayers to help those people who are in need. My guess is not too many people care about this one guy right now. They care about the millions of guys that are but wait. Wait a second, tom. I understand that. And you have been praised for the work youre doing on the flood. But youre also the adviser of Homeland Security. Sheriff arpaios actions come within the realm of Homeland Security. Im asking, how can you call the actions laid out by sheriff arpaio, contempt of court, man, something hes shown no remorse for, Admirable Service . Well, i didnt what i think youre doing is asking me what the merits of the pardon are. I think theres a clemency argument that can be made for the long history of service in the United States military and in Law Enforcement for the sheriff. I think the president hads been very clear, hes been pretty straightforward that he believes that that long history of service merits this clemency. Hes acted accordingly. I suspect youre disagreeing with it. I understand that. I respect it. Im asking whether or not you agree with it. Lets move on to the border wall. That comes in your responsibility. The president in phoenix threatening to shut down government funding for the wall. Lets listen. [ chanting ] all build that wall. Build that wall. The obstructionist democrats would like us not to do it. But believe me, if we have to close down our government, were building that wall. The president promised repeatedly in the campaign that mexico would pay for that wall. So hi should the government shut down over a wall that mexico is is supposed to pay for . I think the key here is that the funding for the wall that has to come now, the the immediate funding for this Capital Project has to come through this appropriations process. The means and mechanisms for reimbursing our and to making some agreement with the mexicans can come through other forms. I think the president has alluded to that on a number of occasions. I think what is important here is that the wall works. I said recently words matter and walls work. I said that for a reason. Just before the speech you played, george, we had visited the yuma sector where a wall was built in 2006, or starting then. The results have been pretty undisputable in terms of the reduced number of border crossings. And the length of that 370mile or so region of responsibility for that sector was not p patrolable without some kind of wall. From my perspective. The wall works. Its a small investment for the return we receive. The president has asked for it in a responsible budget package. That carries out the responsibilities of the entire federal government. I think the responsibility falls back to the democrats and others in congress to decide whether that priority is something they would like to shut the government down over or if they would like to carry out the president s order. The president threatened to shut the wall down. He said the mexicans were going to pay for it. You said the words matter. The president has known since january from the mexicans from a phone call himself, that the mexicans are not going to pay for it. The secretary of state hasnt brought it up in meetings with the mexicans. Neither has the secretary of the treasury. Can you concede that the mexicans are not going to pay for the wall, which is why youre asking congress to pay for it . No, as i said a moment ago well go through the mechanism to get the initial money we need from congress through an appropriations process and well responsibly construct a barrier on the border. As we work with the mexicans and other policies and trade policies and such, well determine ways to make that right. No indication from the mexicans theyre going to pay for it. Is the president saying hes going to veto any funding bill that doesnt include wall funding . Well let that play out. I have ever confidence right new that congress is going to meet the president s budget request. It puts us on a path to solvency. I think well get a good bill from the congress. If we dont, well end up in a continuing resolution. The American People will see there is obstruction from congress. And theyll be continued in their frustrations. The democrats and republicans made it clear theyre not going to have the wall funding. The president talked a lot about charlottesville in phoenix this week. Late in the week, gary cohn, your colleague in the white house, spoke out to the financial times, he said citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neonazis, and the kkk, this administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups. Do you believe that the administration can and must do better . I believe the administration has condemned those groups. I have gone on the record and done it a number of times. I would like to say it again in clear, unequivocal terms. There is is no room in this country for racial violence, or bigotry, or neonazi groups. At all. Period. I cant be clearer. I think the administration has been clear. For me, im focused on the 4 or 5 Million People, probably 23 Million People at the end of the day in the direct path of the storm that are suffering. I hope that gary cohn is focused on the 300 Million People who need tax relief. I know donald trump is. The president also said there were very fine people marching with the white supremacists. Who did he have in mind . Well, i think youll have to ask the president how he wanted to parse the groups of people. But i suspect from being around him at that time, that youll find some reason to believe that there were two groups that were there, multiple groups that were there, not creating any moral equivalency between them. But citizens from charlottesville, not the outside protester groups. I would ask you to ask the president for clarification. That is my suspicion. Speaker ryan has spoken about this. Once you see the torches, hear the chants, how can you be a very fine person and continue to march . I dont think anybody chanting those things is a very fine person. Period. Tom bossert, thank you. Thank you. The roundtable coming up. Taking on another week with President Trump demonstrated hes going to do things his way whatever the consequences. Well be right back. 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