that's why i still do this. >> james lee witt, the interim director of rebuild north bay. thank you so much for joining us from little rock, arkansas. >> thank you. have a great weekend. >> you too. >> and now to broaden the discussion, joined by editorial director paul via skype from santa rosa and here in the newsroom, jon romero. we just heard james lee witt the new head of rebuild north bay talk about the issue of whether fema will ask undocumented immigrants about the immigration status. what are you hearing in the community about the fears among undocumented immigrants on this? >> i mean, that's definitely a concern. not only among undocumented residents who lost homes or jobs, but among their relatives who are u.s. citizens and who can apply for that aid. >> paul, you wrote a very impassioned touching op-ed asking fire victims to please stay. don't leave the region. was there a key moment or interaction that led you to write that op-ed? >> it was the result of a number of conversations i've had with many friends who are victims of this fire. this obviously is a very

james lee witt has extensive experience in dealing with disasters across the country. >> this is a great effort moving forward to get to where we need to end up. >> reporter: rebuild north bay is a nonprofit coalition of elected officials, business people and nongovernmental agencies and north bay county affected by the fire storms. it will operate for years to come. the goal is to raise as much money as possible to fill in the gaps where insurance can government and charities cannot make people whole. >> disasters are about people coming up politics. >> reporter: the newly appointed interim director is no less than former fema director james lee witt. >> they need to be identified and utilizing all the fema, state, hud, sba -- maximize this for the people here that have lost everything. >> we will as business leaders organize napa county and sonoma county, we will fix this. my personal goal in sonoma county is to do everything we can to not lose one single citizen to someplace else. >> reporter: the fires destroyed 8500 structures, mostly homes. 3000 of which were in santa rosa. that ha

james lee witt told us that assessment was for hurricanes harvey and irma. on the subject of his combative relationship with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. >> we are probably now, despite what we read, we're probably now, i think, at least as far as i'm concerned, closer than ever before. and the relationship is very good. we're fighting for the same thing. >> you know who else the president says he has a good relationship with? that's steve bannon. the same steve bannon who left the white house back in august. the same steve bannon who backed the candidate running against trump's choice in the alabama senate race. the same steve bannon promising to wage war against the leaders of the gop, like mitch mcconnell. >> i have a very good relationship as you know with steve bannon. steve is doing what steve thinks is the right thing. >> and trump also thinks he is doing much more for the families of fallen soldiers than his predecessor. >> if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls. a lot of them didn't make calls.

james lee witt gave us an a+. i think if he didn't include the fires he would have included the fires also. we have first responders there. we are working closely with representatives from california and we are doing a good job. [inaudible] pres. trump: all i can say is it is totally fake news. just fake. it is made up stuff. it is disgraceful. that happens in the world of politics. john? the wall, are you going to insist you must have wall fending -- funding? pres. trump: our country needs a wall. you see what happened with one of their big political leaders. in mexico. mexico is not doing particularly well in the kinds of things we have interest in. we need a wall in this country, you know it, i know it, everybody knows it. we have to have a wall. that will be part of it. >> mr. president [inaudible] >> the puerto rico situation is so -- >> [inaudible] pres. trump: that is according to the clinton administration's head of fema it has been outstanding. puerto rico is tough because it is an island. it is also toug

as you know, james lee witt gave an a+. plus -- militaryema there, there. we have first responders there. it is a tragic situation. we are working closely with the representatives from california and we are doing a good job. reporter: [indiscernible] pres. trump: all i can say is it is totally fake news. just fake. it is made up stuff. it is disgraceful what happens. that happens in the world of politics. reporter: on the wall [indiscernible] our country needs a wall. , you see what is happening there. you see what just happened yesterday with one of their big political leaders. particularly doing well, when it comes to the thing we have great interest in. drugs are pouring across our border. we are stopping it. we need a ball -- a wall to stop it. you know it, i know it, everybody knows it. we have to have a wall. that is going to be part of it. reporter: [indiscernible] pres. trump: the puerto rico situation -- reporter: [indiscernible] pres. trump: that is according to the clinton administration. very tough is because of the fact it is an island. it is a

. >> the hiring of james lee witt, we think was a step forward, in making sure we have the best knowledge base possible. >> reporter: the idea is that witt and his company will help folks work their way through government red tape. ensuring they get every bit of assistance. >> if the local officials need guidance our help, like project workers, documentation. >> you're very familiar with that. >> yes, i am. >> reporter: but witt does have some backage. during katrina, his firm charged a 100% markup on work done by his subcontractors. when i asked him about that? >> our rates were preapproved rates by gsa. so that's what we charged. >> the 100% on that. from what you were charged. >> yeah, it was a reimbursable cost. >> how is it going to work out here? >> the same, gsa rates. >> reporter: gsa is a general services administration. an independent agency of the federal government. it's unclear how much money is involved now. but there is certainly a lot of work to do. >> at the moment, mr. witt and his company, witt global partnerses does not have a contract to perform this work, but the org

james lee witt says it could take years to rebuild. >> the devastation was just incredible. and all i could think of was just how many lives were lost but also how many lives were destroyed. >> he toured the fire zone yesterday and says his organization rebuild north bay will aim to fill voids left by federal, state, and local agencies. witt led fema under president clinton. today a new assistance center opened in santa rosa to help fire victims remove rubble from their burned out homes. for many it's a difficult task. >> it's just an awful feeling but we just have to accept because the whole community is suffering the same way as we are. >> initial removal costs will be picked up by state and federal agencies. but if homeowner poltss cover debris removal they will be billed for it. the assistance center is located in santa rosa. >>> well, it's a dangerous job, of course, and today we learned a fire crew battling a destructive wildfire in lake county also had to dodge bullets. the mendocino county sheriff's office says earlier this month a cal fire crew parked on a man's pro

james lee witt says it could take years to rebuild. >> the devastation was just incredible. and all i could think of was just how many lives were lost but also how many lives were destroyed. >> he toured the fire zone yesterday and says his organization rebuild north bay will aim to fill voids left by federal, state, and local agencies. witt led fema under president clinton. today a new assistance center opened in santa rosa to help fire victims remove rubble from their burned out homes. for many it's a difficult task. >> it's just an awful feeling but we just have to accept because the whole community is suffering the same way as we are. >> initial removal costs will be picked up by state and federal agencies. but if homeowner poltss cover debris removal they will be billed for it. the assistance center is located in santa rosa. >>> well, it's a dangerous job, of course, and today we learned a fire crew battling a destructive wildfire in lake county also had to dodge bullets. the mendocino county sheriff's office says earlier this month a cal fire crew parked on a man's pro

i was honored to see james lee witt of the clinton administration, the head of fema , he gave us an a plus. i've always had respect for him. he is the fema director of the clinton administration. gave us an a plus for how we responded to the hurricane aftermath. all of the hurricanes, and that includes puerto rico. wherever you may be now listening, i appreciate that. that took it out of the world of politics. he was with the clinton administration and i'm sure remains loyal to the clinton administration. to finish off my relationship with this gentleman is outstanding, house -- has been outstanding. we are working to get tax cut. we will continue to get health care completed. i'm going to be surprising people with an economic development bill. i haven't even told that because . lot of focus on tax cuts justice.fr great he's going to be outstanding hopefully for many years. something people are not talking about is how many judges we have had approved. whether be district judges. review tremendous under the democrats are holding them up beyond comprehension. frankly they have terrible

former fema chief james lee witt has been named executive director of rebuild north bay, a citizen organization formed in wake of those fires, and the focus is the recovery from the disaster and the prevention and preparation for future wildfires. >>> president trump met senate republicans on capitol hill today to strategize on tax reform, but feuds within his own party dominated the day. arizona senator jeff flake announced he will not run for reelection. he is the second republican senator after tennessee's bob corker to give us his seat. both men have harsh words for president trump. >> so, mr. president, i will not be complicit or silent. i decided that i would be better able to represent the people of arizona and to better serve my country and my conscience by freeing myself of the political consideration that consumed far too much bandwidth and would cause me to compromise far too many principles. >> the president himself took shots at flake during a rally in phoenix back in august. >>> today senator corker told reporters the president should lee details of the tax plan to -- leave detail

james lee witt says it could take years to rebuild. >> the devastation was incredible. all i could think of was how many lives were lost but also how many lives were destroyed. >> he toured the fire zone on tuesday and says his organization rebuild north bay will aim to fill voids left by federal, state, and local agencies. he led fema under president clinton. helping fire victims remove rubble and for many it is a difficult task. >> it's an awful feeling because communities are suffering the same way we are. >> removal costs will be picked up by state and federal agencies. if homeowners' policy cover removal they will be billed for it. >> it's a dangerous job to begin with. we're learning a fire crew battling a destructive wildfire in lake county had to dodge bullets. a cal fire crew parked to establish a fire line. they heard a man yelling and then gunshots. 73-year-old john heron face as firearms charge. at the time of the incident he called 911 to report intruders and said that he fired his gun. >> more testimony from police. prosecutors showed jurors a surveillance

as you know james lee witt gave us a a-plus and i think, if he didn't include the fires he would include the fires also. we have fema there. we have military there. we have first-responders there. it's a tragic situation. but we're working very closely with the representatives from california and we're doing a good job. [shouting questions] >> go ahead. reporter: [inaudible]. >> all i can say it is totally fake news. just fake. it is fake. it is made-up stuff. it is disgraceful what happens but that that happens in the world of politics. john? reporter: mr. president -- on the wall -- [inaudible] >> our country needs a wall. mexico, you see what is happening there. you see what just happened yesterday with one of their big political leaders. mexico is not doing particularly it comes to the kind of thing we have great interest in. drugs are pouring across our border. we're stopping it, but we need a wall to really stop it. we need a wall in this country. we know it, i know it, everybody knows it. so a wall will be part of -- [inaudible] >> puerto rico situation is -- reporter: [inaudible]

we'll start with an update from james lee witt, the interim executive director of rebuild north

james lee witt gave us an a plus. we're doing a good job. kirks you imagine buying a used car from this guy? can you imagine that? look at the white walls on this. look at the dual exhausts. it's illegal. for more i'm joined by john be right back bin and cornell, an msnbc analyst. let's talk about the realities, bottom line. he hasn't gobi anything on immigration except stuff by executive order. he hasn't done anything except for gorsuch getting him by the filibuster rule. hasn't gotten anything done on health care. doesn't look like even today i began to hear for the first time maybe next year we'll do tax reform. john, i didn't hear a lot of confidence when he was asked about it. didn't get anything done. and i can't say lying. saying that ronald reagan took eight years. ronald reagan, whatever i may have said at the time, did get it done. he got it done. i was opposed to it. i was working from the opposition. he got tax-free and all that stuff done the first year. why does trump come out to a bunch of republicans somewhere saying somethin

we'll start with an update from james lee witt, the interim executive director of rebuild north

as you know, james lee witt gave us an a plus. i think, if he didn't include the fires, he would include the fires also. we have fema there. we have first responders there. it's a tragic situation. we're working very closely with the representatives from california and we're doing a good job. >> mr. president, mr. president. >> go ahead. yes. go ahead. [ inaudible ] >> all i can say is it's totally fake news. it's fake. it's made up stuff. it's disgraceful what happens. but that happens in the world of politic. john? >> on the wall. >> our country needs a wall. mexico, you see what's happening there. you see what just happened yesterday with one of their big political leaders. mexico is not doing particularly well when it comes to the kind of thing we have great interest in. drugs are pouring across our border. we're stopping it. but we need a wall to really stop it. we need a wall in this country. you know it. i know it. everybody knows it. we have to have a wall. so that's going to be part of it. [ inaudible ] >> that's accordin

. >> i was very honored to see a man that i've had a lot of respect for, james lee witt of the clinton administration, the head of fema, he gave us an a plus. i just saw it just came out. and i've always had respect for him. he gave us -- he's the fema director of the clinton administration. gave us an a plus for how we

we have fema there, and as you know, james lee witt gave us an a-plus, and i think if you include the fires, he included the fires also. we have fema there, we have first responders there and it's a tragic situation and we're working very closely with the representatives from california and we're doing a good job. [ indiscernible ] >> yes, go ahead. back. >> in the allegations made against harvey weinstein your campaign is being subpoenaed for sexual allegations made against you. do you have a response to that? >> all i can say is it's totally fake news. it's fake and made-up stuff and it's disgraceful what happens, but that happens in the world of politics. john? >> mr. president, on the wall, will you insist on the wall before signing up for d.r.e.a.m.ers? >> our country needs a wall. you see what's happening there, you see what happened with one of mr. big political leaders, mexico is not doing particularly well when doing the things that are a great interest. we need a wall to really stop is. we need a wall in this country. you know it, everybody knows it. we need a wall and that

as you know, james lee witt gave us an a-plus and i think if he didn't include the fires, he would include the fires also. we have fema there. we have military there. we have first responders there. it's a tragic situation but we are working very closely with the representatives from california and we are doing a good job. go ahead, in the back. [ inaudible question ] >> all i can say is it's totally fake news. just fake. it's fake. it's made up stuff. it's disgraceful what happens but that happens in the world of politics. john? >> reporter: on the wall, are you going to insist on funding [ inaudible ]? >> our country needs a wall. mexico, you see what's happening there, you see what just happened yesterday with one of their big political leaders. mexico is not doing particularly well when it comes to the kind of thing that we have great interest in. drugs are pouring across our border. we are stopping it but we need a wall to really stop it. we need a wall in this country. you know it, i know it, everybody knows it. we have to have a wall. so that's going to be part of it. [ inaudible qu