Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With John Berman And Poppy

Saw significant wind damage and all the higher elevations. Think about this, wolf. Hurricane hunter just flew through the storm and at 600 feet above sea level found a wind gusts at 188 miles per hour. The higher you go in a hurricane the higher the wind speed as well. Then guadeloupe did see a Significant Impact with the northern eyewall and now its back in the ocean gaining more strength. This is still a very big storm. Likely to be a category 4 or 5 landfall in puerto rico. The entire island is still inside the cone, but this would be khreb raw and all the way down to elsongwua, and then over the city of san juan. Puerto rico has 3. 5 people, and its a significant increase in the population and infrastructure. How many power lines are up and how many power lines will come down with this storm. The storm does turn to the right. Every single model does take it away from the u. S. The u. S. Is also down here. The u. S. Virgin islands and puerto rico will see 10 to 15 inches of rainfall and that could cause more flash flooding, so we have everything. We have storm surge and flooding and mudslides and significant wind damage with this storm right over the u. S. V. I. And b. V. I. President trump already issued an Emergency Declaration for puerto rico, and the island is bracing for what could be the most powerful hurricane to hit there certainly within the past 85 years. Our correspondent, nick valencia is joining us from san juan right now. I assume folks are making major preparations . Reporter the preparations are well under way and have been. We are seeing behind us, shutters being put up at the hotel we are staying at and boarding up Small Businesses and anxiety. We are nowhere near the height of the storm but conditions already deteriorating. A while ago we saw a wall of rain form out in the distance in the ocean, and clouds eating up what is left of the blue sky. Its an ominous warning of government officials here, and earlier the governor spoke to cnns new day and said this could be as bad as it gets. Some people might think that might not really understand the magnitude of the hurricane and might not think it will hit us hard but all indications are this is going to hit us hard and be catastrophic. Reporter theres still noticeable damage here in the areas, roofs on parts of the island still devastated. There are still people without power in the community. You can only imagine the emotion that people here are going through, just gotten over one hurricane and looking down the eye of another. Wolf . Nick in san juan, good luck over there. Just minutes from now donald trump leaving to make his world stage appearance. He will speak before the United Nations General Assembly, an institution founded on Global Leadership and alliances. He said the speech will be deeply philosophical. Lets go to u. N. Headquarters and set the scene. This will be a very important speech, jeff. Reporter indeed it will, wolf, good morning. Donald trump has been unsparing in his criticism of the United Nations. When he was running for president he said it was not a friend of freedom, but today when he walks into the hall of the United Nations General Assembly and stands before a group of 170 other World Leaders, he officially becomes part of the club. Hes softening his criticism considerably, which is a more measured tone. In reality here, wolf, he knows he needs the United Nations Security Council particularly on north korea and other sanctions as they are increasingly showing their Nuclear Program and the ambitions of what it can do. We are told he is going to focus considerably on north korea in the speech today, and hes foeing to call it a menace and talk about the iran Nuclear Agreement. This is another chance for the World Leaders to take a measure of this president , to get a firsthand look and feel of his America First agenda. He tweeted this morning a preview, perhaps, of what is to come. Its a big day at the United Nations. Many good things, some tricky ones happening. We have got a good team behind us. Tricky ones, perhaps an underestimate wolf, the challenge facing this president particularly on north korea and the Rising Nuclear threat. We expect him to talk about the fact that there are military options as well as other diplomatic options. Wolf, the leaders here, hearing from President Trump for the first time in this setting, no doubt one of the biggest Foreign Policy speeches the biggest Foreign Policy speech he has given with so many challenges facing this president , wolf. Thanks very much. I am joined by the state department spokeswoman. Heather, thanks for joining us. A big day in the u. S. Foreign policy. As you know the u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, nikki haley, she says at the u. N. , the president , President Trump, in her words slaps the right people and hugs the right people. How are we going to see that play out in this speech this morning . The president is looking forward to addressing the members of the United Nations today. Its a big speech for the president and we will see him talk about his approach of realism and thats where we will continue to promote american interests and bring greater stability to the world and encourage other countries to have strong sovereignty and the countries with strong sovereignty can work best with other nations to address what is in front of us, like north korea. Its not the United States that stands against north korea, its actually the world. We have seen that best at the u. N. Security council. People are anxiously awaiting what the president has to say about the north korean threat in his speech today. How close is the u. S. To war with north korea right now . Well, i think Everybody Needs to calm down the rhetoric a little bit. First of all, diplomacy is the preferred approach. Thats our first line in dealing with north korea. I work for secretary tillerson and for the president as well and the american people, so to speak, and one of the things i can tell you, the secretary, when he sits down with nations all across the world, and countries you may never think of have a relationship with north korea. They could kick out north korea guest workers who are slave workers, and you have seen them in african nations, you name it, and they make money and the government confiscates all of it, if not most of it, and that goes back to the north korean illegal Nuclear Program, not the people themselves. Tillerson has that campaign and he keeps forwarding that and advancing that. You heard secretary ma knewtion talk about countries that do business with north korea, and thats a piece of it. And the military piece of it as well, and the first approach is always diplomacy and we are pushing ahead with that. As you know, most of north koreas business is with china. 90 without china, north korea is out of business for all practical purposes. Will youre right. Will the president be specific in going after china and urging china to stop all trade, for example, with north korea . Excellent point, and you are correct, china is a huge piece of this and russia is a huge piece as well, and a good sign that russia and china signed on to the last resolutions, two of them, and thats a step in the right direction. The president has an Upcoming Trip to china later this year in which he will continue the conversations with chinas president. Whether the president will call them out today in the speech, that i dont know, but we are working with china to put pressure on them peacefully with north korea. And the Trump Administration and your state secretary, and will the state department certify at that time that iran remains in compliance with the Nuclear Agreement . Look, our whole iran policy review is still under way. I dont want to get ahead of what the policy review will be. You are talking about the j. C. P. O. A. , and thats just one part of how we look at the issue of iran. That just deals with the nuclear part. Certainly an important part of it, but this administration prefers to look at the totality of our relationship with the regime and iran, and what iran does. We have seen incredibly destabilizing activities from the regime and iran, including crisis in yemen, which is people are at near starvation point, and we saw the kraoeus in syria because iran is sending weapons to hezbollah there. Iran is probably going to be somewhat part of what is going bad. We are taking an over all look and approach of how we view iran and i dont want to get ahead of that but its coming up soon. I know you have to run but one final question before we let you go. Au and it was said america will pay a high cost from the trump scraps the deal. Will you respond . I will not respond to every world leader rhetoric. If i may mention, i know you have been talking about the hurricane, Hurricane Maria, the state department was a huge part of getting americans into safety from the last round of hurricanes, and if i can just encourage any americans traveling down there or any americans here who have loved ones in the region to sign up for the state departments step program, and that allows us to get in contact with americans if we need to in emergency situations, and that would apply to hurricanes or disasters around the world, and we hope and pray that everybody goes well for american citizens and others in the region. The hurricane looks awful. It certainly does. Were watching it carefully. Doing important work over there. Thank you for all that. Heather is the spokeswoman at the states department. And joining us now is our chief international correspondent, and joining us live from the u. N. You had this important interview christian, and what is the expectation based on everything you are hearing . Will the u. S. Continue to certify iran remains in compliance . Very interesting to hear the state department spokesperson. I was sitting in the french area, and i will interview the president of france. He tkroedeveloped a friendly relationship with President Trump, although admits and so do his people there are areas of agreement and disagreement. One of the areas of disagreement is about the iran nuclear deal. And they believe particularly in this context, where you have Nuclear Crisis emanating from north korea, you do not want to throw away an agreement that actually controls and secures the Nuclear Element of iranian policy. I put that to the iranian president and he said, as you mention to the state department, there would be a price to pay, but he also put it in the context of trying to get north korea to abide by the international communitys will. I think what the iranian experience shows is a good experience of what could be executed elsewhere, but keep in mind, please, if the United States wishes to with draw from the jcpoa, why would the north koreans waste their time to sit around the table of dialogue with the United States, because they would think perhaps after years of talks and potential agreement the next administration could step over or pull out of the agreement achieved. So there he is saying in context of deals and honoring deals, but when he said to me that, you know, the u. S. And the rest of the world would pay a price for pulling out what he actually means is, that means iran will go back to the predeal days where they would be rapidly inreaching uranium, and if the president was clear not to impose sanctions on iran. Here, about to speak to the french president in the context of what you have been reporting, the breaking news, Hurricane Irma and maria and harvey, and the french president wants to persuade trump on pulling out of the Climate Change deal. Theres a lot more news happening right now, including wiretapping. Cnn broke the story first. The u. S. Government was listening in on former Trump Campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, before and after the president ial election. What did they find out . Minutes ago, President Trumps long time attorney and confident, there you see him, he arrived on capitol hill and is about to face questions behind closed doors from senate investigators, and at issue the russian meddling in the u. S. President ial election. 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The internet is waiting start for free today at godaddy. Cnn has learned u. S. Investigators wiretapped the former Trump Campaign manager, Paul Manafort, before and after the election. Surveillance continued into early this year covering a period in which manafort was known to be talking to President Trump. And shaepla, tell us what you and your colleagues learned . Sources tell us the fbi got permission to monitor Paul Manafort before and after the election. This is an extraordinary thing for the fbi to do this kind of surveillance. Now theres a meddling probe and we are told there are intercepted communications that raised concerns about whether manafort was encouraging russians to help the campaign, and other sources tell us this intelligence was not conclusive, and special counsel bob muellers team has been informed of this. The fbi has been listening to some of the communications and other intelligent officials and these are russian operatives that are relaying what they claimed were discussions with manafort, and none of this has amounted to what people consider a smoking gun in the investigation. Theres still more work being done to determine if theres a criminal violation here. Manafort, wolf, its important to note, has denied knowingly communicating with russians during the campaign. Do we know whether President Trump communicated directly with manafort while he was under fbi surveillance . This, wolf, has been a hot topic on social media and elsewhere, people have been wondering this. What we have been told by sources is that the president and manafort were still talking this year, well after the campaign and after the president took office. During that time the fbi was listening to manaforts phones, so its possible those conversations were collected, wolf. Was the president right when he tweeted several times that he was being wiretapped by the Obama Administration . This is another question that a lot of people now have. The Justice Department denied they tapped any of the president s phone lines. What we are told, though, is that basically, you know, this is still ongoing. They dont have any information indicating the sources we have talked to, that the phones of the president were ever tapped. Its possible, as we have been reporting, that communications between the president and manafort were picked up during this surveillance. Interesting stuff. Good reporting. You and your team doing excellent work for us. Joining us to talk about this, a key member of the Senate Foreign relations committee. Senator, thank you for joining us. Good morning, wolf. Its not an easy thing to be able to carry out this fisaapproved surveillance. You have to make a case before the fisa court to prove theres just cause to do this. What is your opinion about Paul Manafort under surveillance before and after the election . I think its a level of seriousness and thats why congress is taking a bipartisan stand to the investigation, and i commend the committee, and they are talking about the facts before conclusions were drawn. There seems to be a lot of fingerpointing but no smoking gun so its important that we continue the search for the answers and make sure we get to the bottom of it as we also support the Mueller Investigation Going Forward. Yeah, looks like theres bipartisan cooperation. Lets get to other major issues facing the country today. As you know the president is set to address the u. N. General assembly in the next hour. We are told the speech is expected to be what officials describe as philosophical, and we are expecting the president to issue harsh warnings to iran and north korea. What would you like to hear the president say . I think the president needs to layout a clear delineation about what we expect to see happening in iran and north korea and terrorism around the globe and other ac