A plea deal with Robert Mueller. Plus, a Top Senate Democrat shakes up the Supreme Court confirmation process. Diane feinstein gave the fbi information about Brett Kavanaugh but shes not saying what it is. One after another, homes in massachusetts went up in flames as gas line explosions tore through several communities. What caused it . Could it happen again . And the story that has us out of the studio this morning. Here we are in oxford, mississippi, today for a closer look at the not one but two senate races down here that could and won very real possible scenario decides the balance of power in the senate. We have many of the candidates on the show live this morning. Well hear from the voters as well. Some newscafascinating answers Trump Supporters in a conversation that we had yesterday we are going to play for you. And also is there a Football Game or something . I dont know. The Football Game. Vanny at notre dame . No, it is alabama and old miss. It is going to be impossible to keep joe from talking about. It is one of those days here on morning joe. A ton is happening all at once and well get to all of it. We are live in oxford, mississippi, mississippi is a state no danger to the devastating effects of the hurricanes. On the gulf side seeing the likes of Hurricane Katrina ravaged the state. Lets get to the storm. This may be just the beginning. Despite a mandatory evacuation order. The city of new bern has recorded more of 10 feet. Officials tweeted over night at least 150 people were awaiting rescue and warned residents, you may need to move up to the second story or to your attic but we are coming to get you. Nearly 5 Million People could see 10 inches of rain over the next few days. Some areas could see up to nearly 3. 5 feet. Bill, so a couple of days ago, we heard this is going to be a category three or four storm, it hits land and it is a category one and winds are down. Of course, still a great chance of a lot of flooding. Tell us whats going on. It is all about the water. The winds are doing their thing and it is causing damage right now. We just had a wind gust of 84 miles per hour. As bad as it is going to get right now with the winds. We got strong winds thats why we have 200,000 people plus without power. The water issues as we go throughout the day. Here comes the land fall over the next hour or two hours or so. Right around top topsil beach. The high tide thats expected around 11 00 a. M. This morning. They already broke the record at midnight for the highest water levels i have seen topping hazel back at 1954. This one is expected to be higher. Thats one of the developing stories. Over night new bern area, 10 feet storm surge and well in land of the water there. Here is the new bern area. They sent this image out of where the water was located when they were at 10 feet. You can see the water is spilled into town. Thats where they have people being rescued and people are still waiting. We know and we heard there are people that are at rooftops that are awaiting forest cu rescues. Those rescues are taken place right now and responders have been out there all night long. It is a slow jog north of myrtle beach. Well follow the storm micah. One of our computers said we only have 28 more inches to go. The flooding in North Carolina is going to last into the middle of next week. Well get live report from the coast. Bill karins. Thank you very much. Lets introduce our panels, i believe you are an alabama fan, right . Elise jordan. I am 30 minutes away from home. We brought you home elise. Eddie glaud is with us and Mike Barnicle is with us on Wellington Road and wily has the top political story this morning. Hold on. Eddie, another mississippi guy. Which by the way, speaking of hurricanes, we would come over from pensacola for about everyday africa trinter katrina you feel for the people. Absolutely. It is frightening. Like you, i have lived through three others. It is a horroring experience. This one looks like it is going to set up shops over the weekend. The flooding going through and not reaching its peak until tuesday. Sometimes we get to the category system and you wake up thinking it is cat one and it is not the case as all. The power of water. Yeah. And eddie, it appears that i have three choices of mississippi jersey to wear. I think you look nice. I picked the one thats offensive to you i love oxford. I am a Mississippi State fan. Mississippi state fan and dont forget jackson state. So i had four choices and i picked up. You will be able to go home wearing that . Yeah, i can go home wearing it. I will be wearing it in alabama. I want to show everybody i am wearing crimson tide colors tomorrow. This is the prelude. President trump is facing criticism from democrats and several republicans this morning after questioning the number of deaths attributed to Hurricane Maria last year. An apparent tweet yesterday morning, the president wrote, 3,000 people did not die in the two hurricanes in puerto rico. When i left the island, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. The president argued the report puts the death tolls of 3,000 was done by democrats to make him look bad. Rick stcott verified yesterday. I disagree with potus. A lot of huge races in florida. You are looking at the governor race and senate race in florida, florida, florida. Absolutely. Puerto rico is a huge issue in the state of florida whether it is republicans or democrats or in central florida. When you see rick scott coming out and when you see paul ryan coming out and when you see, of course, the governor of puerto rico whos really trying his best to be as positive towards the president through this whole process everyone thoun though t president is it is causing the republican of the state of florida discomfort. Thats a central issue with the governors race coming up snoch. Theyre americans. Thaeyre going to vote. Top republicans on capitol hill offering mixed reactions to the president s tweet. I was in puerto rico, it was devastated. I have no reason to dispute those numbers. Those are the facts of what happens when a horrible hurricane hits an isolated place like the islands. It was a tragedy and difficult problem for all of us here in the country. We should do everything we can to help people in those kinds of circumstances. I would hope hes not saying that democrats are blamed for the death toll. There has been a rush of trying to mistake a katrina moment for the president to say that was toxic for president bush how he handled the storm so lets see if we can do that to President Trump as well. Well, ei dont know the numbr of deaths but certainly it was more than 16. There is certainly a difference of 16 and 3,000. I dont know who picked the number 3,000, i would like to know more. The white house puts out the statement. The president says every death frs Hurricane Maria is a horror. President trump was responding to the liberal media and san juan mayor who sadly have tried to exploit the devastation by pushing out a constant Tropical Storm hermine of missing information. That was an independent study conducted by George Washington university and it is unclear why the president wants to dredge up the story that was horrible for the people of puerto rico and not a good one for the president. It goes back to the central theme that it is all about donald trump. No matter how many people died or how many people and families have been affected by a horrific tragedy, he brings it back to how it makes him feel. Thats very sad. It is a very sad moment for our country. Mike, republicans have an uphill battle for this fall. Thank you. Yes, the president s approval numbers are back down in the 30s. We got double digit congressional ballot test and intensity up there. Everyday republicans on capitol hill at least the ones that i am talking to or others haelping hm campaign wishes that he would stay away. Like this florida races, it is tough. I stop reading most of them. If you are a republican trying to get elected especially in the state of florida, the president just put you behind the eight balfour the entire news cycle. Lets say i am running in the state of mississippi, you got a good economy. Unemployment is down and the future looks brighter than today does and all of a sudden the president of the United States proves once again that hes a very small man. Yes. A lot of people and republicans and democrats and independence, you eventually get tired of the tweets and you get tired of being tired of his sense of victimization. It is always all about him. I also think that what we learned of the conversation that we had in knox ford of the wonderful dpr Wonderful Group here. A lot of Trump Supporters. Pat, she said bless your heart. I got to wink. She got a wink. It was like one of those the wake is a night twisted. Micah, you are a yankee. The center of this presidency is maybe what you said but also on the truth being so devalued that everything is in question. Former President Joe Biden also weighed in on the president s claim of the death toll as a result of puerto rico. That was on the topic of labor in the economy. Biden mocked trump for his comments. My dad had an expression for real, he used to say, joey, dont compare me to the all mighty but the alternative. I guess thats the only reason i am looking okay these days because of the alternatives. By the way, there are no problems in america, everybody is doing well and things are fair and decent and no one died in puerto rico. Eddie, we are talking about puerto rico this morning. It matters and it is going to matter in the state of florida. There is a hurricane thats crashing on shore in North Carolina. Thats what a lot of people are concerned about. We think back past the hurricanes, the failure of george h. W. Bush in south andrew and in florida caused him dearly and we know katrina and what that caused george w. Bush. I am not sure where puerto rico fit in there. You have several studies where thousands of people have died and republicans are saying thousands of people have died and just seems that somebody can get to the president and say if anything, just do no harm. Let these republicans run their races without you making it h harder for them everyday. We are in the fight of our lives, mr. President. If they lose, nancy flpelosi is going to have the power of subpoena. You would think that. I tend to hold a view that donald trump struggles to be decent. Thats about as generous as i can say it. This moment to lack empathy and think of the disaster thats burying down on the carolinas and not think about that and instead think about whether we are here to blame the disaster that happened in puerto rico suggests that kind of narcissium. When you read the book or the stuff, you think the administration is dysfunctional and you combine that dysfunction with the i am pempending disast. Hes talking about whos the 16 and we know close to 3,000 people died. I am worried and with others whether or not they are prepared to deal with this. What this is a lot like is the entire question of russia and collusion. I think the president is finally cracking the code over a year and a half because if you talk about russia interference in the election, he would say no collusion and there was no such thing and now most of his top aides were terribly frustrated. You could have won the presidency but russia could have tried to interfere the election. He has never been able to figure out. Same thing as puerto rico, you ka cant have 2,000 or 3,000 deaths as him taking as personal failures on his front. At least ton the russia front, hes now talking about punishing countries thats interfering american democracy. There is a lot more ahead this morning. New developments on former Campaign ChairPaul Manafort, is he angling for a pardon . Democrats launch, stalling the president s pick of Brett Kavanaugh. And we are following florence, land fall isimminent. Live to our reporters on the ground. You are watching a special edition of morning joe. Live in oxford, mississippi, well be right back. 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We have seen the rain start to fall much faster and these oak trees that basically this whole island surrounded by then starts to sway much more. Thats something that worries authorities because this Barrier Island is vulnerable on all sides. 150 yards away from the intercoastal water way and about a mile from the beach. As the storm passes, if it passes north, it is good news for the beach because it is a south facing beach. We wont know until the storm goes by. Theyre worried authorities of that storm surge and especially that historic flooding and also because this storm got downgraded to a category two and a lot of residents decided to stay and may not be prepared for flooding. Mika. Mariana atencio. Thank you. One person is dead after a series of gas line ripping through the community in massachusetts. It happened yesterday in lawrence and dover and north andover, massachusetts. Setting homes on fire and an 18yearold was killed and sent a chimney crashing into his car. They say another 25 people were hospitalized with injuries and as many as 80 homes were burned or damage. Residents impacted by the educati explosion could be out of their home indefinitely. Authorities are looking at the possible connection between the blast and a notice sent earlier of the day to customer of columbia gas saying the company will be updating natural gas lines. Mike, tell us about the area. Suddenly and all of these houses on fire. Multiple explosives. This is an older community, right . Lawrence, massachusetts, it is an Old Community and andover joins lawrence. The gas company in this case has not been forthcoming of what they were doing or how the initial explosion began. News report and i talked to a couple of people late last night, looking at a war zone one street after another, explosion and explosion after at explosion. Kept going through repeatedly different neighborhoods. Yeah. And spread across a major interstate of route 495 to andover and the gas explosion continued then. We still have not gotten details from the company. Thats a problem. They had evacuations a month ago. This is an ongoing problem. Maybe infrastructure . It seems and gosh, you had 20 homes burning at once and other buildings and explosions and everybody evacuated. Schools evacuated and hospitals have evacuated and people not knowing for hours if they can go back in. Over a fairly wide region. My god. Coming up, new york governor, andrew cuomo cruises to victory. I thought that was going to be closer. I thought it was a fascinating question along the way. There is still Big Questions of his popularity. Well talk about that and Paul Manafort. Morning joe is coming right back. Us. Its what this country is made of. But right now, our bond is fraying. How do we get back to us . The y fills the gaps. And bridges our divides. Donate to your local y today. Because where theres a y, theres an us. 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