rising interest rates are fuelling a deep dive. what you need to know about your money. newly obtained text messages from that journalist. what they show as he entered the saudi consulate. michael leaving devastation along the florida panhandle. more than 800,000 homes and businesses are without power today. one storm chaser says panama city looks like a nuke was dropped on it. wind speeds of 155 miles an hour. this was the first category 4 hurricane to ever hit the panhandle. kerry sanders was in the thick of it and even an assistant with

jim cantore. i was on tv with kerry for a portion of that. it was stunning. >> wow! thank you. thank you. >> i mean, did you see that? his baseball helmet flew off his head. kerry made it safely inside and sent out a tweet, thanking his long-time friend for coming to the rescue. nbc kerry sanders is back with me in panama city, florida. i know you and i spoke in the last hour and i spoke to you yesterday while you were covering that. it gave me chills then and it does now. walk us through the last 24 hours and what it has been like there. >> it's been incredibly dramatic. people thought they would be dealing with a category 1, then

a two and it went right up to category 4 and to sort of show you what the after effects of a category 4 storm, i'm at a marina and probably a tornado spun out of this as well and came through here, but the damage we're talking about is extensive. these almost look like toys that have been tossed and then dumped. i had a chance to speak to greg eversol, who is here. greg is among those who come down, first of all, surviving the hurricane himself. greg, thank you very much. let's walk up a little closer here, if i can talk to you. first, just explain to me a little bit how you're doing after this experience. you live just a short distance over here. >> right. i'm up north of dune drive. >> what was that experience like for you with a category 4? >> it was like a 200-mile-an-hour car wash. obviously, the wind starts out

of the south. as the storm gets past you and the eye goes by you, everything switches to the north, the west, east. everything was always way around you. >> what's it like while you're there and what's going through your mind? >> i had three big pine trees in the front and i thought god, don't come over. they would take my power lines down and everything, which would complicate matters just really bad. >> reporter: look back on it for me. are you glad you stayed? what do you think? >> it's an experience. if i would have known it was going to be a cat 4 and a direct hit, wouldn't have stayed. >> reporter: you learned a lesson, you think? >> oh, yeah. i think a lot of people did. i mean, you can actually see what mother nature is capable of. >> reporter: let's take a look here. the reason you came down here is because one of these boats somewhere in here is yours. we can also take a look from above, because we have some drone video looking down on this. have you been able to spot your boat and how does it look? >> yeah. matter of fact, it's interesting. i've been here a few years.

i see different friends' boats. as i look here in the back, mine is sitting there all nice and pretty, clear up on the top rack. the little boat with the blue stripe. >> reporter: so your boat is okay? >> well, i don't really know. it's in a pile of twisted metal but it appears to be at least not rolled over like a toy like some of these unfortunate vessels here. i was really surprised. that's a very light boat. it's sitting there at the top of the rack as pretty as can be. >> reporter: you can never guess where one boat will be fine next to a pile like this. >> no, you can't. >> reporter: we wish you the best of luck. maybe people listening to you are learning what you said about the next time a major hurricane is headed your way. best of luck to you. >> thank you. >> reporter: you, like so many others, have to deal now with picking up the mess, putting tarps on roofs for rain because the roofs have been ripped up, but ultimately waiting for power.

in much of florida it's not like using gas. you have to rely on power for cooking and everything. it could take weeks before the power, stephanie, is returned to this area just because trying to drive around the roads is very slow going. >> thank you so much for your reporting, kerry. look at that damage. mother nature is serious. never doubt the power of a woman. let's go now to tallahassee. trees are down everywhere. matt bradley is there. talk us through the scene there. >> reporter: this is basically another huge tree. as we were talking about earlier, this is the status quo here, 120,000 trees down throughout the area. you're seeing this throughout the city. the real consequence here, this is knocking out power for 111,000 residents of tallahassee. that's a big problem.

the city is prepared because they knew they would have this problem. the mayor already called in reinforcements. when we're talking about first responders, we don't even need to just talk about emergency personnel like police and firemen. after a hurricane here, first responders include utility workers, people here trying to bring the electricity back. that's why mayor andrew gillum called in 500 to 600 additional electrical workers to be prepared for after the storm. they'll be needed here. that 111,000 customers who went without power that's something like 90% of all the electrical services here. so they'll all be working on stuff like this. this is dangerous work. it's going to take a couple of days. stephanie? >> couple of days and a whole lot of money. matt bradley in tallahassee. let's go to my dear friend, bill karins. people hear it's downgrade to a tropical storm.

we're in good shape. we obviously are not. >> besides the recovery and people need to get power back on, we still have problems. now we're dealing with the rainfall. this has turned into worse than i thought it would be, say yesterday, when we were talking about it. the actual north carolina fire department. they've had some campground areas flood. this gentleman here is in a hammock strung between these two trees. this river came up and they had to get boats in to rescue. they have ladders extended to get in there. there are numerous rivers in western portions of north carolina that have gotten into flood stage. that's where a lot of problems are. every county is under flash flood warning, good chunk of the mountainous areas of north carolina and also virginia. heavy rain and mountains are always a bad recipe. flooding issues here. another river near bat cave, north carolina, broad creek river will flood some homes and campgrounds there also.

as we take this through the afternoon the rain will move up the eastern seaboard on i-95. 63 million people still in flood watches. the ground is very saturated. it's been a wet late summer, early fall in this area of the country. this is a problem for this area. it will rain. it's going to rain hard. we're expecting rainfall totals to be anywhere up to 6" in this little narrow band that's going to follow what's left of michael. all those not completely done, unfortunately. >> bill, thank you. we'll be back with you in a few. let's go now to florida, 78 miles east of sarasota beach. you were holed up last night with your husband, your kids,

your pets. what was last night like? >> it was quite stressful. the hurricane had just made landfall or was making landfall and our winds kicked in significantly. the trees were cracking and tin flying off roofs and things of that nature. later on in the day, about 5:00, we were able to get out and ride around the community which you're not supposed to do that, but that's what we did just to make sure that there was nobody that needed immediate assistance because, as most of us know, first responders cannot get out until the winds die down to a certain -- a safe level for them to be out. then you go into the mode of check on your neighbors to make sure everybody is safe. and then you pull out the generators and try to get whatever you can plugged in, whether it be an ac unit, refrigerator, couple of lights,

your lanterns. make sure you have water. figure out what you're going to eat for dinner and then start -- thank goodness for modern technology, we have our cell phones, cell phone service and check in and let everybody know we're safe and then see if anybody else has immediate needs. >> let's talk about your town. you are the mayor there. what's your first priority to get everyone back in business and up and running? >> well, first priority, city of sopchoppy, we have a water utility. so first priority was communicating with our staff, public works director to maintain -- make sure our water system was not compromised. we have about -- little over 4,000 water customers throughout the county and our water system is running well. we have generators taking care of all of our systems. so, that was first. and then next -- well, we did it

late yesterday. we went around town, looked for the down trees, trees that were on houses and just made sure that there wasn't anybody out there that needed immediate assistance. today i have not left my property yet. i have several things to take care of here, but i will be walking around town, driving around town and helping to clear trees off some of our main feeder roads. outside of power, there's nothing we can do about power. we have just over 500 citizens in sopchoppy city proper, and several thousand around the outside of the city that live in rural areas and we'll be without power -- we don't even know. it's too early to get an estimate. mainly open up our roads, get the trees off the roads so people can get to their homes who left. >> mayor, thank you so much. good luck to you, your family.

i know you've got three pets in your house and your whole community in sopchoppy. thanks again. let's take a live look at markets right now. the dow is down just about 40 points. that is after a steep sell-off yesterday. the dow plunged more than 800 points, moestly over concerns about rising interest rates. remember, rates only go up when the economy is good. and, remember, the economy is doing very well. if you don't believe me, you can ask the president. but the president yesterday, and this morning, he seems to be blaming the fed and his own fed chair for the drop. >> the problem that i have is with the fed. the fed is going wild. i mean, i don't know what their problem is. they're raising interest rates and it's ridiculous. the fed is going loco and i'm

not happy about it. >> yesterday at "vanity fair" first thing he does after brushing his teeth, he reads morning money from politico that ben writes every day. let's talk about what you wrote today. why markets tanked and what is next. you say it's not because the fed go crazy. maybe that's because the fed didn't go crazy. >> it has not gone wild or crazy. it's not gone loco. it's on a slow, methodical path of rate hikes, well telegraphed. rates are still very low. markets did drop in part because interest rates are rising. yield and ten-year note is going up a little bit. they've been incredibly calm for a long time. some thought they were overvalued, particularly in the tech sector. they took a breath. that's not particular surprising. some think they'll go up from there but it has nothing to do with the fed going crazy.

>> there's not a big problem, especially with corporate america. >> no. >> fortune 500 ceos would say the tax cut was great, deregulation is good. >> tax rates are low for corporate america, repatriation going on. capex is strong. there's no obvious signal for a cratering in the market. we had a long period where stock s ran up a great deal. you have concerns over the trade war, interest rates, things contributing to people taking a pause and saying maybe we ran a little too far, too fast, take a breath and we'll move on from there. the economy is strong. earnings are strong. everything looks fairly solid. there's no reason for a big crash. >> why would the president blame jay powell? there's lots of things he could point to. >> sure. >> we've seen steve mnuchin refute that. head of the imf came out and said jay powell is not crazy.

is the president's game plan to sort of spook jay powell so he could get more control? >> probably an element of that, to slow the path of rate hikes, maybe stop the next one this year. he will not succeed in that. remember, this is the same president who a year or so ago said the fed kept rates way too low. >> of course. >> it's a complete inversion of what he said before. >> nothing sticks to this president. >> no. >> can this administration successfully make the two arguments that the economy is stronger than ever and that we shouldn't raise rates? to public school jersey school girl like me, those two things don't add up. >> they don't add up. people on the left and progressives who also want to see rates stay low who do make the argument that, yes, the economy is strong. it's improving. but the labor force is not growing. there's still slack in the jobs market. >> but is there anyone on the right who agrees with the president -- >> no. >> -- the strength of the

economy who is also pushing to slow down rate hikes? >> no. they've been saying we have way too -- and the arguments they make that rates should have been going up much more quickly a long time ago. the conservative argument for a long time has been that rates are too low, they need to rise. this runs counter to that, this idea from trump that the fed has gone loco and crazy, runs counter to everything that the conservatives have said for a decade. >> bernanke, janet yellin. central banks have lowered their rates because we were coming out of the disastrous financial crisis in 2008, 2009. we've been on a steady positive climb so there's simply no need for that punch bowl anymore. not if you believe the economy is the best it's ever been. stick around, please. president trump is holding a campaign rally and fund-raiser. he did it last night.

he ain't done, calling in to his favorite tv show, spending an hour on air talking about the russia investigation. we haven't talked about that in ages. jeff sessions, midterms and his lunch guest this afternoon, the one and only kanye west. with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

hours after hurricane michael made landfall as a deadly category 4, president trump hit the campaign trail.

here in an interview with fox news this morning. >> people start lining up two days early. literally, they bring tents and -- you know, we have thousands of people lined up by the time i had to make a decision. my decision was do i want to tell people we're waiting 10 and 12 hours already, that i'm not coming and i just thought it would be -- we're talking about thousands of people. otherwise, it would have been really unfair to all of the people that were waiting. >> okay. and i want to make something clear. this isn't a negative bias. we're going to give you some facts. our nbc news crew and reporters on the ground could not find a single person who waited overnight. and the president tweeted this photograph writing couldn't let these great people down. they have been lined up since last night. but the photo was taken from a tweet by cnn's jim acosta, which he posted at 2:00 in the afternoon, five hours before the rally's start time.

so, again, let's make something clear. fact checking the president doesn't mean we're doing anything negative. there's certainly no bias. we're just telling you the truth. kristen welker is at the white house. what else did we hear from the president in that fox interview this morning? >> reporter: the president fired up, steph, and talk about a range of different topics, including the midterms. no surprise. he has been out on the campaign trail quite a bit this week. it was interesting he acknowledged, look, there's a possibility that republicans could lose the house, different than what we typically hear from him. instead of a blue wave, he's expecting a red wave. the president saying if that does, in fact, happen, it just means that republicans will have to fight that much harder. now the president, again, has been out on the campaign trail a number of stops, this week alone. iowa earlier this week, pennsylvania last night. he is scheduled to go to ohio and then kentucky. he's clearly focused on the midterms. but, steph, all those stops will

be critical for his re-election campaign in 2020. it's clear based on his comments to fox news he also has his eye and his mind on 2020. he took fresh aim at some of his potential contenders. take a listen to what he had to say. >> i just hope that we don't get any star or good thinker coming out of nowhere. i see everyone that is talking about it. you look at booker, biden. how about elizabeth warren? she faked her heritage for years and years. she can't prove anything. she said her mother told her she had high cheek bones therefore she has indian blood. i have more indian blood in me than she does, and i have none. >> reporter: similar comments we've heard from the president in reference to senator warren in the past, controversial comments, steph, but clearly aimed at rallying his republican base, energizing them. keeping them energized, frankly, in the wake of confirmation of justice brett kavanaugh. now, what is happening here at the white house today? we are awaiting a big visitor,

kanye west will be visiting with the president. what's on the agenda? what are the topics? they'll be having lunch, discussing a range of different issues, everything from prison reform to gang violence in chicago. we're hoping we can grab our own interview with him, steph. our cameras will certainly be ready. >> i believe he's bringing his dad as well. kristen, thank you very much. director of progressive programming for sirius xm and political analyst. i want to play another part of president trump's interview this morning where he's talking about kanye. >> i'll tell you, first of all, i like him a lot. he has been a friend of mine. i've known him for a long time. he is a very different kind of a guy. i say that in a positive way, but he is a different kind of a guy. those in the music business say he's a genius and that's okay with me because as far as i'm concerned, he is. i will say this. when kanye came out very

strongly a number of months ago, something happened. my polls went up like 25%. nobody has ever seen it. >> is he right? will the kanye meeting benefit him politically? it is a positive that the white house wants to take on criminal justice reform, especially because as important as it is, it doesn't get a huge amount of attention. >> that's definitely true, stephanie. while they're on the one hand taking the meeting with kanye west, which is high profile, to talk about criminal justice reform, they're also putting children in detention facilities, which are part of the private prison industry. while they're expanding on one hand they're having these meetings that are high-profile and make good headlines on the other. and i think kanye west is not -- that's not the first person i would bring in when i need an expert to talk about how to reform the criminal justice system. it doesn't mean that he doesn't have valuable insight. it's just you might want to get some more stakeholders and experts beyond just a rapper.

>> someone who is working on this and has been for quite some time is the president's son, jared kushner. he has worked closely with democratic and republican lawmakers and has won warm reviews. kushner has worked for months to shepherd through a legislative package that reforms federal prison policy and potentially mandatory-minimum sentencing laws. he is getting bipartisan support. if the democrats flip the house you're going to see a lot of democrats in the middle, and potentially republicans, try to push this thing through. >> yeah. you have to give some credit here to jared kushner. he has some personal family history with the criminal justice system and i think it's personal to him how this has changed and addressed. if democrats do take the house there will not be a lot of areas where the white house, president and the democrats can come

together. some of the things that are screwing up our society and putting people in incarceration for their entire lives could change. let's be hopeful for a second. and that is if there is divided congress, republicans in the white house, democrats on capitol hill in the house, that they could come to some sort of agreement that would address these really systemic, troubling problems and let's give jared some credit here for actually working on this. >> is it not a coincidence, though -- criminal justice reform is not a priority for jeff sessions. >> right. >> the president has been in line with jeff sessions on a lot of things. the fact that jared's focus is in chicago, barack obama's hometown, where obama is working on his library, which former presidents do -- >> right. >> -- would the president not want to have a very big win helping the poorest community in obama's hometown? that is exactly what president trump loves to do. >> absolutely! he likes the personal -- when he can push policy and seek out

political revenge on his enemies, he loves that. he loves that fight. i do think that the problems in chicago are not going to be fixed with one meeting with kanye west. the problems in chicago have developed over the course of -- >> but something is better than nothing. >> absolutely. >> nafta 2.0 isn't a game changer but is better than nafta the original. >> absolutely and i hope they follow through. what we've seen in the past, specifically with chicago, politicians have terms, right? four years, eight years, and then they're out of there. they don't have an incentive, long term, to implement the poli policies to fix education, housing, all the structural problems that lead to gun violence and gang violence we see in chicago every day. criminal justice reform conversation and actually lifting up communities and reinvesting in them so that people that are coming out of prison can re-enter society, get housing, get a job, get ahead. all of that is part of the process. >> yes. >> yet politicians only have a

short-term incentive to implement those types of policies. >> we need to give people in this country who need it the most more than just hope. >> absolutely. we need to give them a home, a house. >> maybe we should realize that he has cut budgets, tens of millions of dollars that would give law enforcement more resources to protect citizens. ben, i want to go back to president trump at his rally last night and the politics around presenting during a natural disaster. i want to share what the president wrote back in 2012, criticizing obama. yesterday, obama campaigned with jayz and springsteen while hurricane sandy victims across new york and new jersey are still decimated by sandy. wrong! your thoughts. quickly put it in perspective, criticizing obama for being out there with jayz. hurricane michael is still alive. it is making its way to the

carolinas now and kanye is coming to lunch. >> this goes back to the fed tweets and the fact that he had the exact position on the fed. he is completely inconsistent on these -- particularly when it comes to obama. he will slam obama for something and obviously he's doing a similar thing here. i'm not a huge believer in that you can't do two things at once, that you can't address hurricane response and do something you already planned to do. but it is completely hypocritical to slam obama and then do it yourself. >> why does the president's hypocrisy not matter? they're willing to compartmentalize it. but in your word, your spouse, your life, your word is your bond. how come corporate leaders today don't seem to mind? >> only when you catch them in a moment of candor like the jamie

dimon thing, i easily could be trump. >> then walk it back. >> two words. tax cuts. they like having lower corporate tax rate and lower regulation and until yesterday liked the markets going up. they can put aside all the nonsense just like the policy. >> even down they're still up. i'll take two words from first lady melania trump, be better. we'll be back with some of the hardest hit areas and we'll speak to one of the men who will play a big role in rebuilding the area, the lieutenant general of the army corps of engineers. fidelity's rewriting the rules of investing. again. introducing fidelity stock and bond index funds with lower expense ratios than comparable vanguard funds. and we now offer the industry's first true zero expense ratio index funds directly to investors. plus, we have fidelity mutual funds

with zero minimum investment. how many other firms give you this much value? absolutely zero. ♪ why don't they do what they say ♪ ♪ say what they mean ♪ baby, one thing leads to another ♪

warning, california. a handful of billionaires have spent over $70 million on campaigns to undermine our public schools. and electing a former wall street banker named marshall tuck to superintendent of public instruction is all a part of the billionaires' plan to take money away from neighborhood public schools and give it to their corporate charter schools. that's why tony thurmond is the only candidate endorsed by classroom teachers for superintendent of public instruction. because keeping our kids safe and improving our neighborhood public schools is always tony's top priority.

welcome back. i'm stephanie ruhle, sitting in for hallie jackson. right now hurricane michael is moving through the carolinas. 2 people are confirmed dead. 140,000 homes and businesses are without power, the majority in georgia and florida. and we are getting a morning look at the panhandle. take a look at these images where widespread devastation of michael has crushed the area. now let's go to georgia, where that state's governor, nathan diehl, is briefing right now. hurricane michael arrived in georgia as a strong category 3

storm. tammy leitner has been checking out the damage in georgia. >> reporter: we were on the way to seminole county where that 11-year-old girl died. we only made it 10 miles down the road before we came on this. a tree actually went through the middle of this house, cut it down the middle of the house. i'm here with the homeowner, steve. he tells me that that was your master bedroom and you were actually in the master bedroom and you had the foresight to get out. >> i started hearing loud noises hitting the roof. i decided i better get out. once i went to the other room, then i really heard the noise and this big tree come down. >> reporter: and thank goodness you're okay. >> yeah, i'm okay. scared. >> reporter: i can only imagine. you told me that you also just survived a tornado a year ago? >> last year. it did almost the same thing except the pine tree come from the back and cut it in half.

same end of the house. >> reporter: same exact thing and you just had your house redone? >> i hadn't been in it a couple of months i guess. >> reporter: you also told me you're done, this is it? >> i hope so. >> reporter: so sorry, steve. i'm really glad you're okay. stephanie, we've come across a lot of devastation this morning but this is, by far, the worst we've seen. back to you. >> thanks so much, tammy. joining me now lieutenant general todd seminite, commanding general of the army corps of engineers. what is your number one priority today? >> the corps of engineers as well as the department of defense is here to support administrator long and fema. they're there to support the governors. whatever those governors need us to step up to do, we're ready to do it. other hand, it's very, very early in the storm.

life safety has to be priority won and we have to get teams to find people still at risk. a lot of debris out there. if we can clear some of those roads, help assessment teams get in, our teams are in helicopters this morning, flying over that area to try to figure out how bad is that damage. >> what's fema asking for? take us inside the command center. >> you talked about over 800,000 people without power. there's a lot of civilian power companies from 14 different states that are ready to come back in. until that power gets up -- you've seen on some of the earlier shots, some of this infrastructure is really damaged and it will take several weeks to get those hardest-hit areas up. what the corps does, we come in with generators. if there's a critical hospital, nursing home, somewhere we need to get temporary power up and run i running, that's what we're really focusing on. we have our teams ready to go with a lot of generators and capability to flex in and respond to those requirement. >> and thank you to you and your teams. where are you deploying most of

your resources? >> we try to keep them as close to where the storm impact area will be so we can go in as fast as possible. maxwell air force base is where most of the fema's assets are. that's where the generators are. we have big teams in jacksonville and mobile. and also the department of defense has 5,000 different people ready to flex back in. we talk about surrounding the storm. so, as soon as something happens, those assets will be able to get to as fast as possible. >> tell me, where have you seen the most damage? for us we're seeing images in mexico beach, panama city and they all look pretty rough. my gosh, look at that! >> stephanie, that's exactly right. that's the hardest-hit area. that's exactly where we're trying to focus on. we have to continue to think of the depth of your storm. as you talked to your weatherman a couple of minutes ago, this will continue to go up, all the way up to norfolk. we in the corps try to model where is that wind and rain going to be and what are those ramifications? maybe two or three days from

now. >> lieutenant general, you are one great american. thank you so much for your work. and that's to all your team. >> we're glad to be part of a great team. >> thank you. nbc news exclusive. when we come back, our team obtaining text messages from that missing saudi journalist. they're giving us new details in the timeline of his disappearance as pressure builds on president trump to confront the saudi government about what happened to jammal. allstate is adapting. with drones to assess home damage sooner. and if a flying object damages your car, you can snap a photo and get your claim processed in hours, not days. plus, allstate can pay your claim in minutes. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? gimme two minutes.

and i'll tell you some important things to know about medicare. first, it doesn't pay for everything. say this pizza... [mmm pizza...] is your part b medical expenses. this much - about 80 percent... medicare will pay for. what's left... this slice here... well... that's on you. and that's where an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company comes in. this type of plan helps pay some of what medicare doesn't. and these are the only plans to carry the aarp endorsement. that's because they meet their high standards of quality and service. wanna learn more? it's easy. call unitedhealthcare insurance company now and ask... for this free decision guide. inside you'll find the range of aarp medicare supplement plans and their rates. apply any time, too. oh. speaking of time... about a little over half way and there's more to tell. like, how... with this type of plan,

you'll have the freedom to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. great for staying with the one you know... or finding... somebody new, like a specialist. there are no networks and no referrals needed. none. and when you travel, your plan will go with you- anywhere in the country. so, if you're in another state visiting the grandkids, stay awhile... enjoy... and know that you'll still be able to see any doctor who accepts medicare patients. so call unitedhealthcare today. they are committed to being there for you. tick, tick, tick, time for a wrap up. a medicare supplement plan helps pay some of what medicare doesn't. you know, the pizza slice. it allows you to choose any doctor, who accepts medicare patients... and these are the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. whew! call unitedhealthcare today and ask for this free decision guide. call unitedhealthcare today whooo! want to take your next vacation to new heights?

tripadvisor now lets you book over a hundred thousand tours, attractions, and experiences in destinations around the world! like new york! from bike tours, to bus tours, to breathtaking adventures, tripadvisor makes it easy to find and book amazing things to do. so you can make your next trip... monumental! read reviews check hotel prices book things to do tripadvisor

new details related to the disturbing disappearance of jamal khashoggi, seen walking into the saudi embassy in turkey. saudi arabia's crown prince ordered an operation to lure khashoggi back to saudi arabia and detain him. nbc news has exclusively obtained screen shots of text messages they show khashoggi checked his cell phone just before he entered the consulate, but he never read the messages sent to him just minutes later. here is the president, weighing in on the situation just this morning. >> we are being very tough and we have investigators over there and we are working with turkey. frankly, we're working with saudi arabia.

we want to find out what happened. he went in. it doesn't look like he came out. it certainly doesn't look like he's around. >> nbc's ayman mohyeldin is with me now. he's saying we have investigators in turkey but not saying much else. >> except defending the relationship between the u.s. and saudi arabia. >> which he has a good one. >> it certainly has been if you look at it from the transactional perspective that has benefited both countries. at this particular stage you have a bipartisan group of senators who have essentially triggered an investigation by sending a letter to the president to see if there are any violations of the mignitski act. something like this would fall under that category if it is, in fact, proven to be the saudi arabian government. there are still a lot of questions. my colleague at the investigative unit here has been trying to piece together the timeline of his disappearance.

we certainly have narrowed down a window of when he was communicating with people in these what's app messages. you know the checkmarks when they're grayed, when they're unread. when there are two checkmarks it means they've been delivered and when they're blue they've been read. so obviously communicating with jamal khashoggi the night before, reading the links or messages that were being sent to him and suddenly around 1:06 p.m., about eight minutes before he goes in was the last message that we have confirmed. in it, he essentially falls off the grid. there are no more confirmed messages or blue checkmarks that he was actually seeing those messages that came in once he entered the building. >> ayman, stay with me. this is so disturbing. former white house sr. director and state department senior adviser during the obama administration. here is the president reacting to "the washington post"

reporting about the alleged role in this. >> that sounds like it goes right to the top, mr. president. >> that would be a very sad thing and we'll know in very short future. we have incredible people and incredible talent working on it. we don't like it. i don't like it. no good. >> this creates a big political problem for the white house. specifically jared kushner has an open line of communication, very good relationship with the crowned prince and the president says he will not block saudi arm sales over this but still we don't exactly know what has happened. what happens next? >> here is what we do know about mohammed bil salman, mbs, the crown prince, he came to power in a bloody way, executed and exiled about 11 of his relatives to become the crown prince earlier last year. in that process, the united states also was the subject of a big publicity tour for a new

saudi arabia that was going to allow women to drive, that was going to try to open up its economy and so he was hailed by many people here, including the white house, as the face of a new saudi arabia. what we have seen since that publicity tour is that saudi arabia is still the same. many of those women were arrested. many of the activists have been arrested and now this attack on a journalist without anybody in the saudi government engaging publicly or speaking publicly to condemn it indicates that this goes not just to the highest levels of the saudi government but to the u.s. government as well. you have jared kushner, the son on one side, and you have the son on the other, both effectively operating as families running a country. they have a lot in common personality wise. and now we have to see if that personality can save a u.s./saudi relationship. >> your hindsight is 20/20. but could the u.s. have done more in this situation? based on what we know, was this an intelligence failure or did the intelligence not show enough

of the threat? >> i think this was a failure, political failure to focus on u.s. values and projecting them abroad. the relationship the united states has had with saudi arabia has been an unholy alliance for many, many years. saudi is the subject of many human rights abuses and in this situation has now been receiving increasing armed sales approved by the u.s. government to attack civilians in yemen, for example, all in the name of being able to curtail iran. the united states, under the trump administration, has taken a very heavy hand, siding with saudi arabia, instead of trying to play more balance in the region and this is ultimately the direct result of it. they now feel they can act with impunity to undermine freedom of the press, women's rights and that the white house is going to take more than a week to even say boo about the situation. >> ayman, realistically, what can this administration do to get real answers about jamal? >> they have robust intelligence

gathering in that part of the world. >> they may be deploying them. we don't know that. >> they may be deploying them. consulate like saudi arabia in istanbul would be worthy becaus of where it sets in the gee owe politics of the region. that's one. certainly through the cooperation with a lot of intelligence agencies in the region gather what they also have. the turks who have been piecing this together and leading the investigation have come out forcefully. they have said they have the evidence, although they haven't provided it to the public, they say they have the evidence of what happened inside that consulate, and for their own intelligence capabilities, the united states and turkey would share that. it's interesting because it goes back to the politics that the u.s. and turkey's relationship has been strained in the last couple of months because the president has been tweeting about the turks. they've been very upset about the detention of an american pastor. the relationship between the u.s. and turkey is strained. that might mitigate a little bit

of the intelligence sharing cooperation. you wouldn't be hearing from american senators so defin tivoli. you had chris murphy on morning joe when he was asked, does he have any reason to believe jamal is still alive, he said no. he has gotten to the point where he is convinced he is no longer alive. where they got that from their saudi, turkish or other allies, that is the central question, when that information will be made public. >> and to ayman's point about turkey's relationship with the united states, turkey has its own relationship with its own immediate and international media as well. they have jailed several reporters who have been working as freelancers for american publications. they may not take the american's side on feeling good about freedom of media. >> this is complicated. we certainly hope to get more information and we hope that jamal's fiancee gets

information. this is a really upsetting story. when we come back, president trump, he's going off about the russia investigation this morning and the man in charge of it, rod rosenstein, what he says about his deputy ag after that meeting on air force fun. gredie. like vermont white cheddar. then... add bacon, bbq chicken, or baja blend. catering and delivery now available. panera. food as it should be.

so let's promote our falle a homecomingtravel dealame, on choicehotels.com like this. touchdown. earn a free night when you stay just twice this fall. or, badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com

. this morning the president is not ruling out an interview with special counsel bob mueller. listen. >> mr. president, there's no collusion, but there's no conclusion either. so -- intentionally laying out now, and is there anything -- have you thought again about sitting down for an interview or written questions or any type of hybrid approach there? >> well, it seems ridiculous that i'd have to do it, when everybody says there's no collusion. i'll do what is necessary to get it over with. >> former u.s. attorney and msnbc legal analyst joyce vance joins us now. the president says i will do what is necessary to get the interview over with. what's your reaction to that? >> i think we've heard that before, stephanie, and i think bob mueller is still waiting on his interview, so i wouldn't read too much into that just yet. >> the president responded to the reporting out there that

says he spoke directly to jeff sessions chief of staff matt whittaker about replacing sessions, and i want to share what president trump said. >> i can tell you, matt whittaker is a great guy. i mean, i know matt whittaker but i never talk about conversations that i had, but, you know, "the washington post" gets it wrong a lot. >> the conversation is that you are in active talks to replace the attorney general of the united states? >> i'm not doing anything. i want to get the elections over with. we'll see what happens. >> speaking to your attorney general's chief of staff about replacing your attorney general, i'm going to say that's a whole other level? >> yeah, it's a little bit unusual. i think this sort of direct communication between the president and the chief of staff for one of his cabinet level executives is extraordinarily unusual and a red flag that the conversation would have been about something that would not have been in the ordinary course of business. it's interesting to note that matt whittaker would be one of

the individuals who could be designated as the acting attorney general. you have to be either senate confirmed or a doj employee for a certain period of time at a certain grade, and whittaker is one of the people who would be eligible to replace the attorney general as an acting attorney general if the president chose to do that. >> all right, let's talk rod rosenstein. he has yet to testify before congress about what he potentially said about possibly secretly taping the president. do you think a subpoena is coming next? >> you know, it looks to me like the folks on the hill have backed down since rosenstein had his plane ride with the president. we don't know what happened. we don't know what's led to this renewed good relationship against one of the perennials or rather the president's perennial twitter targets up until a few weeks ago, maybe rosenstein is safe for a while. >> we'll see. joyce, thank you so much.

that wraps up this hour. i've enjoyed spending the last two hours with you. i will see you again at 1:00 p.m. with my partner ali velshi. right now more news with my dearest friend, the one and only craig melvin. >> are you going for a hat trick today? three hours? >> it is the international day of the girl. give me a little room. >> that's true. that's true. always good to see you, stephanie. good morning, craig melvin at msnbc headquarters in new york city. path of destruction, that deadly storm still wreaking havoc on parts of the southeast right now. we are live across florida and georgia where the danger is not over yet. plus, trump talks, in the last 16 hours, the president has rallied supporters. he's given two interviews to fox news. he talked collusion, a missing saudi dissident and his beleaguered attorney general, when he says he overrules jeff sessions. plus, the kanye west wing, president trump and kanye west are slated to meet at the white house this hour. what's on the agenda and how

this unlikely pair become unexpected allies. charlemagne will join me. first responders just beginning to assess the damage across the florida panhandle and southern georgia from the devastation of now tropical storm michael. michael, which came ashore as a category 4 hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm overnight as it moved through south central georgia. so far two storm-related deaths have been reported. one of those deaths an 11-year-old child. hundreds of thousands of people in florida, georgia, alabama, and the carolinas are all without power this hour, and officials say it is likely going to be weeks before the lights are back on for a lot of those folks. michael still packing sustained winds of nearly 50 miles per ho hour. in the panama city news herald this morning with a headline that simply reads "like an