Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20171009

Quickly firefighters can simply not get out in front of them. 1,000 homes, hotels, businesses reduced to ashes as wildfires devour californias wine country. Welcome to the lead. Im jim sciutto in for jake tapper today. We begin with the politics lead. A prominent republican senator sounding the alarm about the president s very fitness for the office. Senator bob corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he fears that President Trump is setting the country, quote, on the path to world war iii and treats the office of the president like a reality show. Pointedly, he says that many of his senate gop colleagues share those concerns. And this is a republican senator who campaigned with candidate trump and who the president considered as his secretary of state. Senator corkers remarks to the New York Times come after the two engaged in a bitter twitter feud this weekend. And while President Trump golfed again this afternoon, this time with senator lindsey graham, one white house official tells cnn the president is not done with corker yet. Cnns sara murray has the story from the white house. Youre going to see very soon. Reporter even for a president known for bucking his own party, trump is kicking off the week with a remarkably public spat with a top gop senator. And the senator isnt holding back either. Tennessee republican bob corker turning to the New York Times to air his concerns about the president , saying trumps twitter threats toward other nations could put america on the path to world war iii. And adding he concerns me. He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation. While corker has acted as a trump ally on capitol hill and was even under consideration to serve at secretary of state, he hasnt shied away from criticizing the president either. Last week, while trump feuded with his own secretary of state, corker came to Rex Tillersons defense. I think secretary tillerson, secretary mattis and chief of staff kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos, and i support them very much. Reporter the comment seemed to leave trump stewing. He spent the weekend lobbing twitter grenades at corker, who recently announced he wont seek reelection. Trump tweeting, senator bob corker begged me to endorse him for reelection in tennessee. I said no and he dropped out and said he could not win without my endorsement. Hence, i would fully expect corker to be a negative voice and stand in the way of our great agenda. Didnt have the guts to run. Corkers chief of staff disputed trumps account, saying the president actually asked corker to reconsider his decision not to seek reelection and said he would have endorsed corker. Ad as for the senator unburdened by the constraints of a reelection fight, he fired back at the president , tweeting, its a shame the white house has become an adult daycare center. Someone obviously missed the their shift this morning and he elaborated to the New York Times, say for a fact i know that every single day at the white house is a situation of trying to contain him. As the feud played out, Administration Officials jumped to the president s defense. We thank him for his service, but i find tweets like this to be incredibly irresponsible. Reporter and one white house official tells cnn that trump isnt finished with corker yet. But other republicans in Congress Warned the president s firestorm against members of his own party could open jeopardize his agenda. I dont think that airing dirty laundry publicly is a good strategy, you know, going after the a senator whose vote youre going to need on tax reform is not the best strategy. Reporter now, while the president believes its a winning approach to go toe to toe with other republicans. There are aides and sources close to trump telling us they do not believe this will be a successful strategy and ultimately could hurt the president s ability to move forward on his agenda, particularly at an important moment for tax reform with very few republicans on the precipice to lose if he wants to be able to move that vote forward. Thats right. Bob corker a big deficit hawk. Hed have to get him on board. Sara murray, thank very much. Tension between President Trump and members in his own party, tension couldnt be higher over a major Global National security threat, that, of course is, north. It is dawn, tuesday no longer in north korea. A state holiday there, an important one. And state officials tell me could bri could bring another missile or nuclear test. Cnns Barbara Starr reports. Reporter its as if defense secretary james mattis seemed to almost be speaking directly to donald trump. It is right now a diplomatically led economic sanction effort to try to turn north korea off this path. Now, what does the future hold . Neither you or i can say. Reporter more north Korean Missile launches, poibl an icbm next are expected. Mattis call for diplomacy may not satisfy the president , who tweeted agreements violated before the ink was dry, making fools of u. S. Negotiators. Sorry, but open one thing will work. Whats the one thing that will work with north korea . Well, youll figure that out pretty soon. Reporter the drama didnt stop. Republican senator bob corker already at odds with President Trump publicly suggesting what some already believe, that there is a team of trump whisperers, including defense secretary mattis. Those people that help separate our country from chaos. Reporter but that kind of high profile puts mattis and the pentagon potentially in trumps crosshairs. The president already is making mystifying comments in front of his commanders. It may be the calm before the storm. Reporter and this blunt criticism. I also expect you to provide me with a broad range of military options when needed at a much faster pace. Reporter but just last month, trump said this about military options for north korea. I am more confident than ever that our options in addressing this threat are both effective and overwhelming. Reporter mattis making publicly clear the president knows the options and the risks. We have many military options and the president wanted to be briefed on each one of them. Reporter the head of the u. S. Army cautioning of the horror of a korean war. The damage to infrastructure, the economic effects, the casualties, the humanitarian impacts would be enormous, yes. It would be horrible. There is no question about it. But so would an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile striking los angeles or new york city. Reporter and reminding the world it will be a president ial decision about what to do next. Were not going to make the decision. That decision will be made by 9 duly elected representatives of the United States of america. And decisions that would have to be made before north korea could launch an attack. Jim . Barbara starr at the pentagon, thank you. Is the president sending the country on the path to world war iii, as senator bob corker claims . We will ask the former director of National Intelligence James Clapper what he thinks. Thats right after this. Where are we . About to see progressives new home quote explorer. Where you can compare multiple quote options online and choose whats right for you. Woah. Flo and jamie here to see hqx. Flo and jamie request entry. Slovakia. Triceratops. Tapioca. Racquetball. Staccato. Me llamo jamie. Pumpernickel. Pudding. 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Joining me now is the former director of National Intelligence under president obama, retired general James Clapper. I do want to get to north korea, but i want to start first on the president himself. You said on this network in august that you question President Trumps motivation and his fitness. For the office. Yes, i did say that. That was on right after the phoenix rally, and i did share on that broadcast my concerns about his temperament. Much along the lines of what senator corker had said then as well. So do you what i was going to ask you is, do the president s latest comments, his behavior in recent weeks, including threatening it seems via twitter military action against north korea, does that increase your concerns about his fitness . Well, it does, more for my understanding of what the impact of that kind of bellicose rhetoric has in north korea, which is already extremely paranoid. So threats such as was came out of the during the president s United Nations General Assembly speech about were going to completely destroy north korea. And words like that only heighten the paranoia and cause, i think, the regime there to counter with more provocative acts. So i wouldnt be surprised at all if they have another missile test or Something Else just to reaffirm their own safety and security and sovereignty. Of course, when they do these things, by the way, theyre not just doing it for the external audience, theyre doing it for their domestic audience in north korea as well. Do you think that the north korean leadership takes the president s words at face value . Oh, absolutely. They do. And i think in their mind, they can easily construe what hes been saying as a declaration or at least a threat of war, which really heightens the paranoia there. And what concerns me about north korea is and the fact that the all the decisions are vested in one person. You know, President Trump is surrounded by some exceptional advisers who are sober, sane, mature and seasoned, and kim jongun, the leader in the dprk or north korea is surrounded by sycophants. General whos tail after him writing down his every utterance in a notebook. Theyre not about to push back. And i do think about or worry about what is the fuse what is the ignition point for kim jonguns fuse with this provocative rhetoric . I understand, you know, military secretary mattis saying the right things. The military has got all kinds of options. The only problem with the options is its going to be very difficult to limit the damage thats caused by the exercise of those options to purely north of the dmz. That is not going to happen. Briefly, the president tweeted this morning that our country has been unsuccessfully dealing with north korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars and getting nothing. Policy didnt work. Does he have a point . In some respects, he does, but i would also offer that for 64 years we have had roughly speaking, with some exceptions, but generally speaking peace and stability on the korean peninsula. So, you know, we have a bad hand to play, and i think past administrations realize that and played as best they could. Its frustrating dealing with the north koreans, but i do think thats why im a big proponent of what secretary of state tillerson is trying to do. I do think the only way ahead here that is reasonable is through diplomacy. Director clapper, please stick around. There is a lot more to talk about, including whether secretary of state tillerson will be shown the door. That story right after this. Hi im joan lunden. Todays Senior Living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. And theres never been an easier way to get great advice. 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It turns out that russian operatives also used going the products, including youtube and gmail to interfere in the 2016 election. Sources telling cnn that kremlinbacked agents purchased ads on google as part of their campaign to sow chaos and Racial Division during the campaign. These advertisements, however, do not appear to have been purchase bid the same russian troll farm that bought 100,000 worth of ads on facebook. Were back now with retired general James Clapper. Former director of National Intelligence. What youre discovering with facebook, google, these are the most popular digital platforms that most americans probably use every day. Do they have reason to doubt what theyre seeing on these platforms Going Forward . An element of doubt at least has been injected into this. Absolutely. I think, first of all, let me preface, jim, the russians have a long history during the soviet era of interfering in elections. Theirs in other peoples. And what is so dramatic about this case is because of all of these tools made available by the age of the internet that the russians have astutely applied. We addressed this sort of the tip of the iceberg in our Intelligence Community assessment that we published last january, and now the depth and the scope and the magnitude of this activity by the russians, targeting specific audiences and the whole objective here is to undermine confidence in our system. And theyre succeeding in that. I worry about our general Public Awareness of this and what do we do about it. Because what this is leading to is a number of different realities that people have about what what are the facts . So this is not surprising. Its very consistent with what theyve always done in the way of information manipulation. Its just they have so many more tools to use than they did in the heyday of the cold war. Its a force multiplier, i suppose you could say. Final word on secretary tillerson. Youve served in government, multiple administrations. For decades. A secretary of state in effect being derided by his commander in chief in public via twitter and other public comments. Can he survive that and should he in your view . Should he stay . Well, i dont know. I would hope he would, but i think its going to be increasingly difficult for him to with the president kind of undercutting what hes trying to do. And i think secretary tillersons got the right instincts about, particularly with respect to say north korea, that exploring what the what the potential paths are diplomatically. And i think thats the only way way ahead. So to me, secretary tillerson is is a voice of reason. Director clapper, thanks very much, as always. We appreciate your comments. Thanks, jim. The Vice President of the United States flies from las vegas all the way to the Indianapolis Colts game only to walk out before that game even started. Was the whole thing a political stunt funded by you and me . 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Espn is a broadcast partner of the nfl, the home for monday night football. Hill remained on the air a few weeks ago after calling the president a white supremacist on twitter. The white house called for her firing in response to that tweet. Now to our politics lead. A closer lock at how much you and i paid for the Vice President to take a stand against an nfl protest of a different kind. His travel is under scrutiny now after he and his wife walked out on yesterdays colts 49ers game when several players took a knee during the anthem. To get to the game, pence travel add cross the country from las vegas to indianapolis. Then after his exit to that game, pence got on a plane and went back west to los angeles for private fundraisers and a tax reform event. The cost of those flights, they add up. He also missed the main event, we should say. Team pence said he made that special trip to indianapolis to support former colts qb Peyton Manning who was offered at the half time. Instead, pence tweeted he didnt want to dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our flag or our national anthem. Sorry, peyton. I want to bring in cnns rene marsh. So, renee, pence by far not the only Trump Administration to have raised questions now about his travel, particularly use of private planes to get back and forth and whether that was a wise expenditure of our tax money. Exactly. You know what, jim, we want to make sure no one is arguing with the fact that the Vice President needs to play on air force two. The bone that critics have to pick is whether this was the best use of tax dollars because it appears the Vice President made that Cross Country krtrip air force two knowing hed walk out before the main event even began, and it comes as several other trump cabinet secretaries are being investigated by government watchdogs for their use of private jets and military planes. Reporter Vice President pences nfl walkout sunday has stirred up plenty of controversy. This looks like a pr stunt to me. He knew our team had the most players protest. He knew that we were probably going to do it again. Reporter stunt or not, pence left the Indianapolis Colts versus San Francisco 49ers game in his home state when players from the 49ers took a knee during the national anthem. Sunday started with a tweet. Looking forward to cheering for our colts. 11 56 a. M. , his aides tell reporters he may depart early. 12 55 p. M. , some players from the 49ers kneel during the national anthem. 1 08 p. M. , pence tweets that he left the game after some players kneeled. After just 30 minutes, pences motorcade departs. Later, President Trump says he and pence discussed walking out beforehand, tweeting, i asked vp pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and second lady karen. This led to sharp criticism from some calling it an expensive political stunt on taxpayers dime. Air force two costs 30,000 per hour to fly. Pences flight from las vegas to indianapolis saturday cost about 100,000. Pence then flew from indianapolis to los angeles. That costs about 142,500. The grand total, nearly a quarter million dollars. The flight cost estimates do not include costs of advanced personnel, secret service or support on the ground. The vps office contends if not for the game, he would have flown to washington, d. C. At a greater cost. It all comes as several trump cabinet secretaries are under investigation for their use of government planes and private jets at taxpayers expense. Im not happy about it. Reporter expensive flying habits cost health and Human Services secretary tom price his job. And a total of six investigations, most of them being led by Agency Inspector generals are now underway. Something is very wrong. There seems to be a lack of a culture of public service. They dont seem to realize that theyre spending our tax dollars. Reporter interior secretary ryan zinke gave a speech to a Campaign District attornonors then took a 12,000 private jet. Both his trip and whether he crossed the line between Government Service and politics are under review. The Inspector General investigating the Environmental Protection agencys head, scott pruitt, has now expanded its probe to look at all of pruitts travel. Documents show he spent around 60,000 on private planes and military jets. While the interior department has pushed back, saying past secretaries have used private planes and government jets. In fact, they handed over details on that to a Congressional Committee currently looking into cabinet travel across government. The documents show that nearly 1 million was spent on noncommercial travel for interior secretaries under the Obama Administration during a sevenyear period. That would include travel on both chartered planes as well as the interior departments planes. But, you know, some would say that its not apples to apples, that that number is for a sevenyear period and here within the Trump Administration, were looking at a matter of months here. So, you know, people are just, again, asking the question, is it justified to be flying on these aircraft . The numbers adding up quickly. Rene marsh, thank you very much. Im joined by my panel. Jen psaki, kevin madden. Lets talk about this travel budget thing writ large. Its not just the pence trip. Its a bunch of trips in. Is this an issue outside of the beltway as well . Is this hitting folks at home, the middle part of the country . Are they looking at this and saying, hey, where is my tax money . I think you have to put the pence one aside. I think they have a very different standard of security and expectations, quite frankly, for a president and Vice President. Yeah, these do become problems. I think if youre inside they become a huge perception problem for the cabinet members. If youre inside one of these cabinet agencies and dealing with this problem, you have to remember that youre on your own here. I dont think the white house wants to deal with this as a political distraction. One of the key things you have to do inside one of these cabinet agencies is take direct control over the response of this. Either apologize, put new tough standards in place and really begin to minimize the political damage that this puts on the president and the white house. After the tom price resignation, led to his resignation, the chief of staff john kelly was supposed to be taking charge of this, was he not . He was. I will tell you how is t workedn our white house. First to was the deputy, they had kroe had control over this and watched like hawks over cabinet members if they were trying to take cabinet or private flights. It was the exception, never the rule. Far from the rule. The reason is these are taxpayer funds. When you serve government, when you serve the american people, thats not the expectation. If you want that, go work for a private Sector Company and fly on a private plane. I work for a private Sector Company, you know, folks look at your travel here. Lots of folks watching now. Go back to being the ceo of a business. Always ask for permission before you have to beg for forgiveness. Works in marriage as well. On the nfl issue, though, lets talk about that. Thats a separate issue. I wonder if you think, kevin madden, again, ill ask both of you. The president big picture is getting this one right . Oh, yeah, i believe the white house has calculated correctly that the political benefits here outweigh any of the criticisms that theyre getting from the media and inside the beltway. This is one of the culture wars that the many folks on the right believe has swung back towards them. And that this shows that the left and even the media are very much out of step with some of the concerns of average americans when it comes to Something Like standing for the anthem. I know there are a lot of different views on whether or not this really is about the national anthem, but it in the minds of most americans right now has become that. It has become a proxy debate over that. How do you answer that . I think politically in the moment if you look at polling, kevins right. However, this is actually about people feeling injustice, people feeling like they are being discriminated against as a race, and that is something that may have a longer lead. So is it right politically . Yes. Trump is really focused on 40 of the population. So in that sense, what he did was along the lines of many decisions hes made, which is about his political future, but it is also alienating a swath of the country, a part of the country that could also be motivated to come out in the midterm elections and in 2020. If youre looking at it through purely the political lens. Right. Each party has different motivators, right . It is. This has become a bit of a political test for peoples partisan tribalism. We have another issue. Which arguably is bigger than any. You have people publicly, republicans in this case, senator bob corker openly questioning the president s fitness for office. I mean, this is you can the word crisis i feel like has almost been overused because there is a crisis three times a week. Is that not a crisis for this administration to have Senior Republicans questioning not so publicly . Well, i think the problem is is that it opens up a larger debate that is inside the republican party. I think the president is actually winning that debate. Think because of his focus on some of the key issues that so many senators inside his own party that may be critical of him in private, so many care about. Did he win that debate on health care . He might have won the debate, but he didnt get the results. Thats true. I think theyre going to continue to focus on that. The same goes for tax reform. The same goes for National Security and many of the Foreign Policy debates were seeing right now. So while we do have that a little bit of a crisis there and there is some tension, senator always is tension between the white houses and congress. It has become a bit of a distraction. Distraction. If president obama had senior democrat, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee questioning his fitness for office in his own party, what would be the reaction in the white house . What would be your level of nervousness . Pretty high. Look, its a little too early to know whether this will take hold for months and months and months, but what could be shifting here is the perception from, oh, hes a little out of the ordinary and pretty offensive to hes unstable and dangerous. Thats something people, as you know, jim, have been saying in the National Security community from both sides of the aisle and now its tricking into republicans in congress. That could be a shift. Whether people in the country pay attention. I dont think were going to know for some time. Please stay there. We have a lot more to talk about. Including President Trump still touting his response to Hurricane Maria on twitter. I have no idea how were going to get through this. Follow me. Unitedhealthcare has the people and tools to help guide you through the confusion. Well that wasnt so bad at all. Thats how we like it. Unitedhealthcare. Can i kick it . Yes you can can i kick it . Yes you can can i kick it . Yes you can well im gone Marie Callender starts her tuturkey breast to perfection. So that you can spend time on what really matters. Marie callenders were back now with our politics lead and an update on the sty the still dire situation in puerto rico. This nearly three weeks after Hurricane Maria struck there. 85 of the island still does not have power. 40 does not have running drinking water. The islands governor is lobbying congress for an influx of cash, warning, quote, absent extraordinary measures to address the halt in Economic Activity in puerto rico, the humanitarian crisis will deepen. My panel is back with me. You have that very dire. I mean, its in the numbers, too. 85 without water three weeks later and yet you had the president tweet yesterday, quote, nobody could have done what ive done for puerto rico with so little appreciation, so much work. Exclamation point. Kevin . Well, look, it doesnt come as a surprise that the president is very sensitive to negative Media Coverage and there is not a whole lot of positive Media Coverage right now. Wait, this is not Media Coverage, this is in the numbers. This is three weeks later. Im trying to explain why the president is reacting as he has. I think also not getting enough credit for what they have done down there. There is no doubt there is an incredible level of devastation, but there are still ongoing efforts. Thats where you see the president push back, he believes he should get more credit for the fact they have the rescue missions going on, working overtime to get power to places there isnt power, food, water, all of that. Thats the im trying to explain the reason behind the tweet, is that the president s sensitive to negative news coverage. Weve had a lot of experience with that. Jen, do you see the makings of a katrina here . Well, look, i dont think we know yet, but i do think there is an element of it that we dont talk about enough, which is that if this were kansas city, if this were columbus, even houston, they would have gotten a lot more attention and probably assistance and maybe even sympathy from the president. And that last part i think is pretty key. Now, i dont think puerto rico does feel like its not a part of the United States. It is a part of the United States. But it feels like a different place to many people. But there is a racial aspect of this that i think could make this a bigger problem and crisis for this administration. U. S. Citizens just as much as we are. I want to talk about the iran nuclear deal. Jen, you were heavily involved in this as it was being negotiated. The president has all but telegraphed that later this week hes going to announce hes going to decertify the deal, which we should make clear, it doesnt mean he pulls out of the deal but effectively punts it to congress here. Jen looking at that, how much of a mistake do you think that would be in your view . Well, a huge one. Heres why. It is working. Every external every independent analyst says its working. Most people dont argue that, even democrat whos opposed the deal initially are for it. Even republicans have said they dont want to unwind it. Even people from the Trump Administration have said on background they dont want it to unwind. So what that leaves you at is that this is a political decision. He wants to deliver on something he promised to his base. Now the problem is he thinks congress is going to bail him out. I dont know what leads him to that conclusion because they need some sort of offramp to make him and them feel like its a win. Its really playing with fire here. And meanwhile, as you know, jim, european countries, partners who are part of these negotiations, theyre going to start to look at this and think, well, why should we have all these sanctions in place . This could unwind before our eyes. Its very dangerous. It seems clear hes going to do it this weekend. Its a big problem. Ive spoken to some europeans, in no uncertain terms. Kevin, whats the best Case Scenario for this working out is it congress not reimposing the sanctions but imposing new sanctions for instance on Missile Technology . Well, i think i dont know about some of the details they were trying to put back in some new recertified deal, but i think the goal here ought to be to get all the coalitions that were working on this issue on one page up on capitol hill again. And then also working hand in glove with the administration. One of the things i would worry about, i would disagree with jen on the fact this was a political decision because this was a policy stance that the president was very clear about during the course of the election. So you can disagree with him on that, but it was clear this was something that he ran on, but i think one of the things i would worry about is some of the differences that are in the administration do come out again in public. Kevin, jen, thanks so much. As always. Evacuations underway as fastmoving wildfires consume buildings and homes right in californias wine country. Now that fire has turned deadly and dozens of other people are in the hospital. We come into this world needing others. Then we are told its braver to go it alone. But there is another way to live. A way that sees the only path to fulfillment is through others. avo but you also have a higher risk of heart attack or stroke. Noninsulin victoza® lowers a1c, and now reduces cardiovascular risk. 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Gallbladder problems have happened in some people. Tell your doctor right away if you get symptoms. Taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, indigestion, and constipation. Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Ask your doctor about victoza®. Welcome back. Turning to our national lead. Wildfires in california have now turned deadly. The fires have put california under a state of emergency with over 14 major fires burning across eight counties, from Orange County in the south to mendocino, wellknown wine country just part of the 57,000 acres ablaze as we speak. Health Officials Say more than 100 patients are at napa and Sonoma County hospitals from firerelated injuries and two hospitals were forced to evacuate. The flames moving so quickly that people are pouring out of their houses. Sometimes not even having time to grab a change of colleagues. Cnns dan simon is in santa rosa, california. Dan, this all seemed to escalate very quickly there. Reporter jim, this fire was just incredibly explosive. It spread so quickly because of the wind. Were talking about 40 to 50mileperhour gusts last night. You can see what it did to one subdivision. Take a look at this. This is the sky view subdivision in santa rosa, california, and it just incinerated everything. There are many dozens of homes in this one neighborhood. A few homes across the street survived, but thats about it. You can see just the utter devastation involved. You can see this fire is smoldering, but there are still active flames in many parts of santa rosa. We saw a storage unit that was going up, a whole business filled with Storage Containers that was on fire. I saw a mcdonalds that burned to the ground, a furniture store, a hotel, a hilton hotel, its been unbelievable. There have been a number of evacuations. Thousands of people have been evacuated. They had to evacuate two hospitals and take the critically ill patients sounds towards marin county and San Francisco. I saw streams of ambulances going south as i was coming up here this morning. Quite the situation, jim. And, of course, the smoke is really thick. Ill share a quick personal story. I woke up at about 2 00 in the morning. My wife said she smelled some smoke. We checked on the kids and looked throughout the house. The house was not on fire, fortunately. We subsequently learned all the smoke was pushing its way towards San Francisco. Some 50 miles away. The entire city smelled like a wildfire. Of course, were lucky in San Francisco. Here, not so fortunate. Theyre going to be dealing with this for some time, jim. Good ness, the pictures behid you. The homes, just so fragile. Dan simon, thank so much. Also in national news, the fbi is now questioning the brother of the las vegas killer. He told the Las Vegas Reviewjournal he wants to help investigators understand what theyre seeing here and theyll take all the help they can get. With still so many unanswered questions, what clue might the gunman have left behind . What made him snap . Did anyone know of his elaborate plans of that shooting inside the mandalay bay shooting on that concert, killing some 58 people . The gunmans own words might give us some inside. Cnns sara sidner joins us live in las vegas. Sar sara, the shooter tried to sue another hotel in 2013. Its from that deposition were learning a fair amount about him now, isnt it . Reporter its true. It gives you a little bit of insight into at least his gambling habits and how heavy of a gambler he was. He himself in this deposition in front of an attorney for the Cosmopolitan Hotel that he sued for a slip and fall back in 2013. Asked about his gambling habits and calls himself the biggest video poker player in the world. When asked how he knows that, he said hes gambled about 1 million a night. Were talking about a lot of money going into those video poker machines. He would say he played all night and slept during the day. He played somewhere between 14 hours a day, 365 days a year. Thats what he said in the deposition. Now, mind you, that was about four years ago because that does not give you much time to have a personal life. Certainly since then we know he has a girlfriend who said that he loved her and she loved him. They did spend time together. Maybe those habits changed a bit. He certainly was a highroller in this town. Weve talked to folks who knew him through other people, saying, yes, indeed, he didnt really socialize with people. Video poker is a solitary persons game, but it is a thinking mans game. When he was also asked about how much coins or how much money hes put putting through those machines, he said 200 million coins a day. Were talking about huge amounts of money. Also, were hearing from him in this deposition that he had an attorney not an attorney, a doctor who was on retainer who prescribed him valium. We know that the side effects from valium can be making someone a little bit violent at times. If thats whats in their personality. At this point in time, investigators still trying to figure it out, trying to figure out why this man did what he did. Jim . Goodness. Sickening to hear. Most pormt, timportantly. The victims. We know the family members are retrieving remains and belongings. Just a horrible process for them to go through. Reporter it is a terrible process. We know personally from a mother named neysa tonks. She had three boys. They are there celebrating her life today. We know they have been able to see the body and get the body. This just has been a horrible time for so many people, those who lost loved ones forever and those who are injured. Families worried about their loved ones, still, were talking about more than 500 families having to worry because of what this man, stephen paddock, did. Jim . I just feel like those montages of victims photos, they just keep getting bigger and bigger. Sara sidner, thanks very much in las vegas. Be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter. You can tweet the show. Im jim sciutto. In today for jake tapper. I turn you over now to wolf blitzer. He is in the situation room. Happening now. Path to world war iii. Republican senator bob corker accuses the president of lying and treating his office like a reality show, saying mr. Trumps reckless threats could set the nation on the path to world war iii. Corker says nearly every Senate Republican shares his concerns. White house official fires back, telling cnn that the president is not finished with corker. Stand ready. After the president warns that only one thing will work with north korea, defense secretary james mattis says the u. S. Army must stand ready. As