well. but he's done an excellent job. >> any concern about what he said to the mueller team? >> no, none at all. none at all. >> back to that developing news we had at the top of the hour, the president saying that he thinks don mcgahn is a great guy. he will be gone, though, after brett kavanaugh is confirmed, hopefully. one more thing before we go and this one is unbelievable or should i say stay unbelievable, my book is out in paperback now. if you wonder how we got here, i'll argue you'll best find answers in the pages of this book. so go buy it and help me get my publishers off my back. that will wrap things up for this hour. ali velshi has it. you were scrolling intently through the book. >> there was a passage i wanted to read but i had forgotten since having read this in its early publication there's a fair amount of cursing in here. not because you're a sailor but because you're talking about things in which there was swearing. i was trying to find one of the passages that i liked that didn't have swearing and i was unsuccessful.

but it is a remarkable book and it is that authentic and that is why there is swearing in here. >> i got a letter from a viewer who read the book who said it was very disrespectful and they didn't like it. >> i think it's a real experience of what you went through. you give a lot of details about the very specific things that go on in campaigns. in this particular case in the trump campaign. that's why i think it's worth reading. while the rest of us are watching it unfold on the news, you are telling us the story of what's going on behind the scenes and now it's convenient you can travel with it. >> you have it in paperback. >> i'm going to enjoy this as much as i did the first time around. you have yourself a great afternoon. good afternoon to all of you. i'm ali velshi. president trump is playing defense in a number of areas today. they'll do it quickly and violently. that's what the president said. president trump gave that private warning about upcoming midterms to evangelical leaders on monday night, telling them that their opponents were, quote, violent people and would

overturn everything they have worked for. these are dangerous words. according to recorded excerpts reviewed by nbc news, trump warned them, quote, you are one election away from losing everything that you've got. he mentioned several policies that evangelicals care deeply about, but he did repeat a debunked claim that he had gotten rid of a law for bidding churches and charitable organizations from endorsing political candidates. that's just nonsense. there's news, by the way, about the president, about white house counsel don mcgahn, not given a head's up about the president tweeting with his upcoming departure. we'll get to mcgahn in a moment but first i want to talk about that closed-door meeting with trump and evangelical leaders. joining me now is nbc news intelligence and national security reporter ken dilanian who first got news of this. ken, i saw this article that you wrote when this news first came out and i thought there must be

a mistake. the president cannot actually be warning a constituency that if they lose the midterm elections, there will be violence by their opponents, because this is america in 2018. that can't be true. >> you know what's interesting, ali, i almost read right over that passage as i was reviewing that transcript because we are so used to this kind of rhetoric from donald trump that we almost discount it. i've seen interviews with some of the people in the room who suggested that either this never happened or this wasn't material. but the words, you're absolutely right, the words are important and they fit a pattern with donald trump. you know, if you're for free trade deals, you're not just wrong but these are the worst trade deals in the history of america. if you're for immigration, you're not just mistaken but you must be pro ms-13. it's this extremism of rhetoric that trump has engaged in, unlike perhaps any other president in american history. and it kind of just -- this was part of a pitch to evangelicals where he was saying look at all

the great things i've done for you. including you can now say merry christmas, whereas before you couldn't say that apparently before he was president. we've got to win in these elections because they're going to take everything away. he examine say it in a hostile or aggressive manner, but he absolutely said there will be violence. >> so ken, the other matter where he told the evangelicals that he had changed something called the johnson law which prevents 50 w1(c)(3)s from gettg involved in politics, that isn't true. >> he's done this before, it's been debunked by politifact. the johnson amendment is on the poox books as a law. experts i talked to said an executive order didn't do very much. in fact he has not repealed the johnson amendment and he keeps saying that he has. he's touting this before an evangelical audience that really doesn't like the johnson amendment because it forbids

them from formally endorsing candidates in elections. it's just not true that he's repealed it. >> thank you for your reporting on that. ken dilanian, nbc news investigative correspondent. to talk more about trump's warning to evangelical leaders and possible violence in the wake of the gop's possible loss in november, i'm joined by malcolm nance who has more than 36 years of experience in u.s. intelligence and in the military. malcolm, i can't overstate how troubling i find this. history is littered with lots of examples, starting before world war ii, actually going back hundreds of years, but world war ii or rwanda or the balkans where leaders said this. they said if those people take power, there will be violence. they will do something to you. they will take your privileges away. that is the root of the weaponization of culture. >> you're absolutely right. this is the dictator's playbook.

this is what happens when an elected leader decides that they are going to use the levers of power and the power of fear to split their nation and to actually pit one group against the other. i worked the rwanda mission when the broadcast channel was exorting people to seek out their neighbor. we have an intelligence term for this. it's called eliminationist rhetoric. donald trump uses this. now, you don't see it, but on an opposing cable channel around the country, there are tv commercials that are saying that the left are these violent, brutal attackers and that hundreds of attacks are going on weekly. i'm shocked when i travel and see these tv commercials. this particular mindset is being spread. the president knows it. nothing violent is going to happen after this election.

the most violence we'll have is violence against lattes the next morning for journalists that have to stay up all night. >> but when you say it's not going there, i know where you're coming from, malcolm, because you're not an alarmist and you're not trying to be. but i do worry that when it is the president of the united states saying these things. and let me just quote from trump talking about this. the level of hatred, the level of anger is unbelievable, he said. part of it is because of some of the things i've done for you and for me and for my family, but i've done them. this november 6 election is very much a referendum on not only me, it's a referendum on your religion. it's a referendum on free speech and the first amendment. a referendum on your religion? let's talk about bosnia, let's talk about germany in 1931. that was actually about religion. that was about someone else's religion and what they're gaining at your expense. i'm not making the argument that's the direction in which we are going. but when the leader of a country

tells people that i'm fighting for you and your religion and they're not, i think that's incredibly dangerous. >> it's extremely dangerous. you referenced bosnia. another mission that i performed where they went back 600 years to justify the mass murder of croatians and bosniac muslims. this is dangerous for any leader. r religion is not on the ballot november 6, they're not going to lose anything. we're people of faith. democracy is on the ballot because someone who would talk like this does not believe in the first amendment or the other parts of the constitution other than the second, and of course they want to change -- they want to change the tenth to allow states to use religion as a wedge against other people. we need to defend democracy and

not listen to this type of eliminationist rhetoric. >> one thing we have to look at this week which a lot of people are telling me is great, there is some beauty in the passing of john mccain not because he is not with us but because it has made us concentrate on what we think leadership and conciliation and good governance is actually all about. this is a man -- you were on the stephanie miller show earlier talking about how mccain was trying to help a fellow prisoner of war while in captivity. >> john mccain is a beautiful study in leadership. as a navy man i take the lessons that he's given us very, very seriously. he may be the last great republican leader. republicanism may have died with him. he would cross the aisle when necessary and he lived up to the precepts of the navy, which is honor, courage, commitment. in the hanoi hilton, his cellmate was horribly, horribly

tortured. john mccain, even though he was broken from multiple injuries himself, he would put his arms under the pits of his partner and pull his muscles so he wouldn't atrophy there. he was a selfless man and served this nation with greatness. what we are missing from this president is, well, decency, he's never going to get anywhere near greatness because he doesn't live up to any values and certainly not the values of the united states navy. >> i do hope this causes people, your comments about greatness cause people to think about some of the dictators we've had in this world. i think it's really instructive to read about rwanda and yugoslavia and it's instructive to read about germany in 1931, societies that were actually working in which this hatred was sown and threats of violence were spread around and the damage that does. malcolm, thank you for sharing this discussion with me. malcolm nance brings more than

36 years of experience in u.s. intelligence and the military. the controversy surrounding the president's rhetoric comes just before his surprise announcement that white house counsel don mcgahn will leave the administration this fall. in a tweet at 10:30 the president said white house counsel don mcgahn will be leaving his position this fall, shortly after the confirmation hopefully of judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. i have worked with don for a long time and truly appreciate his service. the decision comes just as special counsel robert mueller's investigation ramps up. nbc news white house correspondent hallie jackson joins me now. hallie, the president just spoke in the roosevelt room. any comments about this? >> reporter: yeah, and forgive me if i can go back to the topic you were just talking about on this question of the comment the president made at that evangelical dipper monday evening. he talked about a lot of stuff, he's apparently in a chatty mood. the president was inside the white house referencing some of this on camera. about that comment on violence,

he didn't directly address it head on but he did say he hopes there will not be violence after the midterms, referencing what he calls unnecessary violence. he talked about the trade war that is happening, the negotiations with mexico and canada and he also talked about don mcgahn, the person he just announced would be leaving come the fall. this was what you might call an open secret here at the white house and on campus that mcgahn after the confirmation of brett kavanaugh, as expected if in fact it happens, mcgahn will be departing his position as white house counsel. the president essentially confirmed that online today. he tweeted about it. i will tell you that according to what a white house official told me, that came as a surprise to mcgahn. i'm told mcgahn and the president have had several conversations about this tentative plan for mcgahn to head out. he called his staff together at the office, had a conversation with them about his future and

what the expectation was moving forward. who will replace mcgahn as white house counsel? let me just say the president called him a good guy. said mcgahn will have a lot of luck in the private sector. subtext there, maybe he'll make some money, more than he might make working for the government. who might replace don mcdpgahnc? right now there's a lot of speculation about emmet flood, the attorney brought in to work with the mueller investigation and manage the flow there along with mcgahn who has been leading that process. sarah sanders, when we asked her about it this morning didn't confirm that. she said he's well respected, well liked inside the white house, but there is no succession plan just yet. i can't talk about some of the names now, i've heard other names as well. this is something the president knows is happening. the relationship that he had with mcgahn has cooled in recent months. mcgahn, the president confirmed, spent 30-plus hours talking about the special counsel,

robert mueller. mcgahn was on the front lines on some of these major moments, including the firing of james comey. mcgahn talked the president out of firing robert mueller, firing jeff sessions. so lots of threads and pieces in play. a white house official says the timeline for mcgahn is separate and apart from mueller, it has more to do with kavanaugh. don mcgahn more than anyone has been pushing the kavanaugh confirmation, leading that process. in a broader sense, getting the number -- reshaping the federal judiciary in the area of donald trump and mitch mcconnell. that has been something that mcgahn, a former federalist society member has basically wanted to do much of his adult life and has been working on and working towards here at the white house, ali. >> and has had some success in doing. >> yeah, right. >> if one wants to look at the successes of the trump administration, a supreme court nominee, a second supreme court nominee, one justice on the supreme court and a whole lot of judges that have been vetted by the federalist society.

>> reporter: yeah, the federal judiciary looks a lot different than it used to and that will continue on because of efforts by specifically don mcgahn and mitch mcconnell over the last year and a half or so. it will continue through 2020 at least. >> i've got a little bit of what the president had said about don mcgahn. let's listen to that together. >> don mcgahn is a really good guy. been with me for a long time. privately before this he represented me. he's been here now it will be almost two years. a lot of affection for don. he'll be moving on probably the private sector, maybe the private sector, and he'll do very well. but he's -- he's done an excellent job. >> are you concerned about what he said to the mueller team? >> no, not at all. not at all. >> all right. go ahead. >> reporter: i'll just add the president went on to say, hey, and i'm paraphrasing, we've done everything by the book, what would i have to worry about, of course i'm not worried. >> hallie jackson for us. i want to bring in liz

holtzman, a lawyer and former u.s. congresswoman who voted to impeach president nixon. her new book is called "the case for impeaching trump" and it's out this october. liz, something keeps coming pbak to me and that is the president seemed frustrated with don mcgahn having spoken to the mueller investigation for a long time, even though you just heard him say that's not an issue. there's been talk recently that the president -- mcgahn did not support the idea of issuing a pardon for paul manafort. the president said if he's not going to come around to that, he'd like to replace mcgahn with somebody who would support that. >> well, if that's true, i don't know that trump needs anybody in the white house to let him do this. this has been -- the idea of issuing pardons to people has been in his mind for a very long time. he's let it hang out there with regard to mike flynn and others.

this is -- i just go back to watergate. somehow that's stuck in my head. >> which would make sense because you were there. >> i was there. the offers of presidential pardons were given to the burglars, the people who broke into the watergate, dnc at the watergate, and it was done to shut them up, to stop them from telling the truth. this is what we have -- appears to be what we have here. if donald trump goes ahead with the pardon of manafort, that should trigger a serious inquiry if not an impeachment kbinquiry. you can't go around stopping people from telling the truth. he is the president of the united states. he swears an oath to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. when he tries to stop a witness from cooperating with the government, whose side is he on, his side or the american people. >> that's an interesting point. when mcgahn was talking about

why he did speak to mueller's investigation, he said i am the white house counsel, i'm not the president's counsel. you heard the president say he worked for me beforehand. to the president it's about loyalty to the president.cgahn, drawn that line, i work for the united states of america and the white house, not the president. >> right. that's a big and important difference. if you work for the white house, you're working for the interest of the american people. maybe you're mistaken, but that's what's primary in your mind. what's primary in donald trump's mind is how do i get out of this. that was what was primary, by the way, when you go back to the nixon tapes, what does president nixon talk about all the time? how do i get out of this? how do we cover this up? how do we deal with this problem? he's never talking about -- never, what is good for the american people, what is good for america. it's always how do we cover up, how do we deal with this problem, how do we get out of it for ourselves.

>> it's kind of remarkable the similarities. every time you and i taulk, the similarities between now and the 1970s with richard nixon only seem to grow. liz holtzman's book is out in october. coming up, we're live in phoenix with senator john mccain is lying in state at the capitol. hundreds are lining up to pay their final respects to the war hero and six-term senator. his wife, cindy, seen here laying her head on his casket. can be relentless. tremfya® is for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i'm ready. with tremfya®, you can get clearer. and stay clearer. in fact, most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin, and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough.

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men had followed john mccain into battle, and we knew we could do the same. this man was trusted, and he was tested. qualities in increasingly short supply. we sometimes think that politics is life and death, but john mccain knew better because he had actually seen death and dying and tragedy. make no mistake, he fought like hell for the causes he believed in. >> on the day that he would have celebrated his 82nd birthday, the nation paid its respects to senator john mccain. right now he's lying in state at the arizona capitol. he is just the third person to receive that honor in 40 years. one powerful moment was when the senator's widow, cindy, kissed

the casket and rested her cheek on the flag. the senator's children, including his sons, both in uniform, and his daughter, meghan, also took turns saying their good-byes. nbc's white house correspondent, kelly o'donnell, joins me now. can we talk about the planning of the senator's funeral. this is obviously something going on several days in different cities. the senator had a level of involvement in the planning of his own funeral. >> reporter: he did, and that was really something that was awe recognition certainly from the staff and the family and the political place he's had in history that there would be a desire to remember him in different places. obviously you must acknowledge his home state and the people who have been a part of his community who want to honor him today. obviously seven children, not all of them as well known as those you mentioned, the sons in uniform and daughter meghan, but seven children, sons and

daughter-in-law and grandchildren. then the friends, community friends, veterans communities, all of that. in recent months there was because of the nature of glioblastoma, brain cancer that has a very aggressive approach, he gave thought and time and he and his wife, cindy, did work on this. they also worked with the federal military district of washington, which handles the funerals for presidents and dignitaries of that level. and so there was a lot of planning. what you'll see reflected are personal connections to those who will speak, including joe biden, who will speak tomorrow, long-time senate friend, pal, obviously was on the winning ticket in 2008 and they remain friends and biden's son, beau, died of the same cancer. then it was john mccain himself who invited former presidents obama and bush who both blocked the door for him to become president himself to speak. part of that is to say there is life after defeat and the

country goes beyond defeat. those once steep deep divisions can be healed over time out of mutual respect. those are the kinds of things you'll see over the next several days and it was also his choice to be buried at the cemetery at the u.s. naval academy where he began his public service 60 years ago as a young cadet there. >> kelly, thank you for that. kelly o'donnell for us in phoenix. up next, fresh off his florida gubernatorial primary win, ron de santis is drawing accusations of racism made about his opponent, andrew gillum, an african-american. the gillum campaign's communications director joins me to respond after the break. you're watching msnbc. you're watching msnbc.

on to a big political conversation that's brewing in the florida -- in florida. the democratic gubernatorial nominee, andrew gillum, responded moments ago to comments made by his republican opponent during an interview on fox news. >> that part wasn't lost on me. it's very clear that mr. desantis is taking a page directly from the campaign manual of donald trump. but i think he's got another thing coming to him. if he thinks that in today's day

and age florida voters are going to respond to that level of derision and division, they're sick of it. >> here's how it all started earlier today, also on fox news. >> he is an articulate spokesman for those far left views and he's a charismatic candidate. i watched those democrat debates. none of that was my cup of tea but he performed better than the other people there, so we've got to work hard to make sure that we continue florida going in a good direction. let's build off the success we've had on governor scott. the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. >> the last thing we need to do is monkey this up. the florida democratic party said it's disgusting that ron desantis is launching his general election campaign with a racist dog whistle. the desantis campaign is saying ron desantis was obviously talking about florida not making the wrong decision to embrace

the socialist policies that andrew gillum espouses. to characterize it as anything else is absurd. msnbc has invited desantis to come onto our air to talk about his comments. he has declined. joining us now is jeff bergen, communications director for andrew gillum's campaign. jeff, good to see you, thank you for being with us. >> thanks so much for having me, i appreciate it. >> what's your sense of what desantis meant? his people say he was talking about andrew gillum's what they call socialist tendencies. how do you read this? >> well, there's no hidden message. you know, it's clear that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when you're looking at the desantis and trump playbook. it's not even 24 hours into this general election campaign and we're already down in the mud. i can't think of a worse way for the desantis campaign to be getting off to their general election. >> so what do you think needs to happen now? ron desantis -- i guess this could have played out a lot of ways. he could have said, wow,

shouldn't have said that. i should be more sensitive about how that may play out to people. i certainly didn't mean it that way. i'm just experimenting about the things that he could say. the fact that he turned it around into something else, how does this move forward in the campaign? >> i think ron desantis should keep talking. keep taking these pages out of the trump playbook. they're going to fire up democratic turnout because our voters are sick and tired of this white house treating communities of color with disrespect. ultimately this is about issues too. wages, the economy, health care, stopping gun violence. under rick scott we slid way back on these issues. >> last night looking at all the press coverage of why gillum won, there were a lot of references to bernie sanders-backed gillum. a lot of people on twitter had pushback against that to say bernie sanders got into the race pretty late in terms of supporting andrew gillum and

there were other things. by other things, people say young people, they say folks who wanted better gun control in florida. tom steyer was involved in that campaign, george soros was. talk about what caused andrew gillum who was not running ahead in the polls, what you think caused that victory. >> well, the senator's endorsement was huge for us. while some of the other opponents were airing tv commercials, we are doing rallies with senator sanders in tampa and orlando, gave us a huge boost. we did a statewide bring it home bus tour. the gillum surge, as many folks heard about, was real and it showed up on election day. we've been talking about the issues that will motivate our voters to get out to the polls in november. we've been on that for 18 months and will stay on that all the way through november 6th. >> what's the response to what desantis calls the socialist issue, but when i talked to andrew, he was not shy about his progressive policies around health care and wages and things

like that. how do you move forward with that in an electorate that is a little more conservative than andrew gillum is? >> sure. ultimately this approach has not been tried in a gubernatorial election. in the last 20 years we've been centrist and they have fallen short. in 2006 we ran a centrist when the republican president was very unpap lar. we fell short by six or seven points that year. we're confident that a progressive agenda will motivate voters to show up and show out in november. they need a reason to vote when a president is not on the ballot. >> jeff, good to talk to you. thank you for joining us. >> thanks so much for having me. >> jeff bergen, communications director for andrew gillum's gubernatorial campaign in florida. nearly a year after hurricane maria decimated puerto rico shall the government has raised the death toll from 64 to almost 3,000. but just moments ago, the president again praised the recovery efforts. >> i think we did a fantastic job in puerto rico. we're still helping puerto rico. the governor is an excellent

didn't i and he's very happy with the job we've done. we have put billions and billions of dollars into puerto rico. it was a very tough one. >> i'm going to the to the mayor of san juan to respond to the president's comments next. you're watching msnbc. ents next. you're watching msnbc.

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hit the united states. more deadly than hurricane katrina, which made landfall 13 years ago today. about 1,000 more people died from hurricane maria than from katrina. early on, we reported on that situation on the ground in puerto rico, and it was very different than the story that was coming from the administration. though president trump had plenty of praise for the recovery efforts. here's what he said during his only trip to the island back in october when he tossed paper towels to survivors. >> i hate to tell you, puerto rico, but you've thrown our budget a little out of whack because we spent a lot of money on puerto rico and that's fine. we've saved a lot of lives. if you look at the -- every death is a horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe like katrina and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, you can be very proud of all of our people, all of our

people working together. 16 versus literally thousands of people. you can be very proud. everybody around this table and everybody watching can really be very proud of what's taken place in puerto rico. >> so in addition to throwing towels and saying you've thrown our budget out of whack and it's not a real catastrophe like katrina, the president also said there were just 16 deaths from the storm. since then the puerto rican government slowly revooised tha number and in december they announced there were 64 deaths. then yesterday they officially reviesed the number to 2,975. that includes those killed during the storm and in the six months after. the study is an estimate from researchers from george washington university and was commissioned by the government. from the time the storm hit in late september until february of this year, there were 22% more deaths than would likely have occurred if there hadn't been a storm. in fact in some poorer areas the risk of death jumped up to 60%

higher than what would have been normal. puerto rico's recovery was plagued by rampant power outages and blackouts that sometimes lasted for months. some survivors had difficulty receiving medical treatment. the puerto rican government resisted revising the number of deaths until the study was released, even though just days after maria hit, the mayor of san juan begged for help and warned that things were much worse than they first appeared. >> again, this is what we got last night, four pallets of water, three pallets of meals and 12 pallets of infant food, which i gave them where people are drinking off a creek. so i am done being polite. i am done being politically correct. i am mad as hell.

because my people's lives are at stake. >> i'm joined now by san juan mayor, carmen yulin cruz. we spoke, mayor, on the day that hurricane hit, you and stephanie and i. you were in a shelter with other people from san juan and you said from that moment, and i think you and i must have spoken every day in the days that ensued, you said every day that we're not being told the truth, that things are much worse than they are. are you satisfied that finally this research has vindicated the idea that the response to the hurricane was not sufficient? >> first of all, this is a very painful day and shameful day for puerto rico. i hoped i wasn't right, because that means that probably most of those 2,975 people did not die. and to hear the president just

today and the white house yesterday just recant their self accolades about how well they did, it just means that he just doesn't get it, isn't capable of getting it. we died because bureaucracy and inefficiency took hold of things. we died because many in the political class in puerto rico decided to dance to donald trump's tune rather than doing what everybody ought to do, which is tell the truth, no matter how mighty the person you're telling the truth seems. these are 2,975 people that will no longer see the light of day. these are parents, children, grandchildren, grandparents. people whose lives will never be the same. and the onset of fear and lack of dignity in which the trump

administration continues to treat the people of puerto rico makes you mad, makes you angry, and makes you realize that this man, it's not that he doesn't want to get it, is that he is incapable of feeling solidarity and empathy. >> let's listen to what the president just had to say about this. >> don't forget their electric plant was dead before the hurricane. you look back on your records, you'll see that that plant was dead, it was shut, it was bankrupt, it was out of business. they owed tremendous amounts of money. they had it closed up. then when the hurricane came, people said what are we going to do about electricity. that wasn't really the hurricane, that was gone before the hurricane. but we've put a lot of money and a lot of effort into puerto rico. i think most of the people in puerto rico really appreciate what we've done. >> so, mayor, this is an interesting point. there were issues with the electrical grid before the

hurricane, but the president's implication that the electricity generation was not there before the hurricane, i think that's just entirely untrue. >> it's a lie. he just simply is lying through his teeth. we had issues of generation, but this is what he's doing. he's trying to appease his own mind and his soul, if he has one, about this 2,975 deaths by saying, you know what, it is a fault of the people of puerto rico. no. we had electricity before maria came. maybe he doesn't know that irma came 15 days before that and really hit us, because, you know, he thought he was being so bright by telling us that we are an island surrounded by water, lots and lots of water, ocean water. so what the president is doing is not only undignified but it's unbecoming of the president of the united states. this is just like telling somebody that's gone through a fire that it's their fault that

they didn't run fast enough. no, it is your fault, mr. president. you should -- shame on yourself and your administration. you left us here to die because you were more concerned about the political spin than about the human reality that we were dying. and now that number, 2,975, will follow him wherever he goes for the rest of his life. >> one of the interesting things that happened at the time, as you know because we were talking to you on the ground in puerto rico, we had a number of reporters there at nbc and msnbc, but brock long from fema kept on saying and he said it to stephanie and me before i went to puerto rico, because he challenged me to do so, he said your information is wrong. people on the ground, including you, and the media, are misleading the world about what the situation is in puerto rico. it's actually much better than what everybody was saying. in the end, this report stipulates that it was not only not much better, it was much worse.

>> well, brock long also said and i think on your network that everything that came out of the mouth of the mayor of san juan they pushed aside as political noise. now, this is a man that's in charge of the agency that is supposed to deal with emergencies making a political statement. they never got it. they never understood that this was not about politics. this was about saving lives. and your cameras and your crews because you weren't sitting at mar-a-lago when this was happening, you were there where people were scared. and you saw the devastation that happened after irma and maria. so i wasn't saying anything that was so distant from what reality was saying, but you know what, there is nothing worse than people that don't want to hear the truth because the truth if

they accepted it would make them understand that they failed. and the trump administration failed the people of puerto rico. thank god for the american people. thank god for the puerto rican dias per, thank got for the latin people because where trump failed, they opened their hearts, tended to our wounds, brought water and food to us and took care of our sick. thank god for the people that have a heart because if we were waiting for the trump administration, the heartless trump administration, we still would be dying. let me tell you, there is a place on the island where there is no dialysis center and the people are still having to get on a boat which usually has a lot of trouble to come and get dialysis in the main island of puerto rico. so this is not over. this is not by far over. there are thousands of blue roofs and tarps. if a hurricane category 1 should

hit puerto rico right now, we would be in a worse circumstance than we were before. but i don't know why is it so difficult to understand that this is about people. this is not about politics. this is not about positioning the u.s. response as a good news story. this is about people who died. this is a 2,975 people that died because of the neglect of the trump administration. >> mayor, thanks for joining us. we are sorry that everything you said, which we knew to be true then, has turned out to be true, 2,975 deaths from hurricane maria in puerto rico. mayor carmen cruz of san juan, puerto rico. we'll be right back. you're watching msnbc.

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originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. the united states has given canada until friday to decide whether to enter into a three-way trade deal with mexico. moments ago president trump gave an update on the negotiations. >> i think canada very much wants to make the deal and i think it's going to be obviously very good for canada if they do. and i think it's probably not going to be good at all if they don't. we have a very good relationship. they came yesterday to the white house and we negotiated late into the evening.

they are in the white house right now, we're negotiating with them right now. they want to be part of the deal. >> let's take a quick look at how canada is heavily intwined in the united states economic and employment picture. canada is america's second largest trading partner after china. last year the countries traded more than $673 billion in goods and services and the united states had a trade surplus of nearly 8 1/2 billion dollar, something the president continues to deny to be true. according to data compiled by the canadian embassy and the u.s. department of labor, about 6.4% of american jobs, in total, are depend president on canadian trade and investment. at least that was as late as we have numbers for in 2013. that's nearly 9 million americans. south carolina, new york, georgia, and north dakota are among the states with the highest number of jobs dependent on trade and investment with our northern neighbor. we're continuing to keep our eye on trade talks in washington and bring you the latest as it happens. i want to take you to arizona

where we have live, a live look at the arizona state capital where the public is now being allowed to pay its final respects to senator john mccain. there is his casket in the center of the screen. we'll be right back. hi, i'm joan lunden with a place for mom, the nation's largest senior-living referral service. for the past five years, i've spoken with hundreds of families and visited senior-care communities around the country. and i've got to tell you, today's senior-living communities are better than ever. these days, there are amazing amenities, like movie theaters,

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just talking about the trade deal with dan they're trying to get done by friday, the president was talking it up saying it's likely to happen. markets seem to be encouraged by that. we do not have information that this is going to happen. but take a look at where markets have gone on the assumption that

something good is happening, because remember, it's not just the trade deal with canada. it means that it might be an end to this trade war that president trump started. that wraps up this hour for me. a quick programming note. senator elizabeth warren will join ari melber on the beat on msnbc. i i will be back here at 11:00 eastern for the 11th hour. please join me. "deadline white house" with katy tur in for nicolle wallace starts right now. >> it's 4:00. i'm katy tur in for nicolle wallace. the white house is showing don mcgahn the door pushing out a central witness in robert mueller's justice investigation. he confirms imminent departure first reported this morning by axios. white house counsel don mcgahn will be leaving his position in the fall shortly after the confirmation hopefully of judge brett kavanagh to the u.s. supreme court. i have worked with don for