we'll go live to puerto rico in a moment but first let's bring in meteorologist chad myers with an update. >> it is now, alisyn, telling us it's 60 miles from st. croix. yesterday we talked about the western side of puerto rico. this thing has wobbled back and forth in the over night hours. still the same weed speed, 60 miles per hour, still the same pressure but looking at the storm really in the middle of this thing at this point. there's your landfall here somewhere after 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon. still has time to gain more strength. the problem is it has a lot of time to gain strength as it makes its way towards the u.s. being this labor day weekend, rethink your plans if you are about to travel into an evacuation zone or a potential evacuation zone. keep that in mind, keep watching

this. you still have a couple of days before you leave on your friday journey. but you don't want to be there on saturday and the police tell you you've got to get out. there's your storm right there, st. croix, the center of circulation. as soon as the center of circulation gets completely closed that's when we know this storm is going to start to breathe by itself and get stronger quickly. i just a 62 mile per hour gusts, 6 to 10 inches of rainfall across parts of puerto rico especially the eastern half, and then it moves towards the u.s. there are models that will miss the u.s., but there are also models as you mentioned, guys, that take it well above a category 2 on its way towards the u.s. east coast. we'll keep you advised. this is still five days away. a long time for those things to change their mind. >> five days away for florida, georgia, maybe south carolina but just hours away from puerto

rico. chad myers, thank you very much. still dangerous and shifting puerto rico still recovering from hurricne maria two years ago. so many houses still with the blue tarps on top of them, and this storm will pass over part of the island that has been so sloe to recover. cnn's pablo sandoval live in ponce with much more. what do you see? >> john, i spoke to a man from puerto rico who's saying, look it doesn't have to be a hurricane for people to lose sleep around here especially when you see the latest projection models that show a more direct impact here. it's still to this day continuing to recover particularly the power grid and that is the bulk of concerns. even after the storm may be long gone those after effects are likely, and so that's why officials are still warning people to continue to prepare. of course the weather right now is still cooperating, but in a

few hours all of that could change. and it's just the power grid also the risk for mud slides and also for torrential downpours miami learns from what happened in miami here and they have prepositioned not only a large amount of resources but also personnel. fema folks are already on the island preparing to respond and we're talking about hundreds of shelters, 350 shelters now prepared to open up their doors and begin to receive some of these folks not only before, during but after the storm. >> thank you very much for the update. joining us now is ken graham, the director of the national hurricane center. what do we need to know at this hour? >> big changes overnight. we were talking yesterday about these compact storms and the hurricane hunters were finding a center and so a lot of jumps. the big change overnight is a lot of the focus shifted a

little bit to the east, and that means less influence over the mountains. puerto rico, heavy rainfall. up to 10 inches ofane. big impacts for puerto rico. look, an eastern shift means more water, more warm-water. so the change overnight is a little east and a little stronger. >> why is this one such a wild card, why are those centers jumping around more? >> we've seen it so many times over the years where they're that small. even another thunderstorm could start to rotate and become a new center. until they form it's hard to forecast. it's compact but at the same time it still has a lot of impact. moving aroundgist a little bit can shift that track big time when it comes to the end of the forecast. >> chad myers told us smag alarming which it could hit florida or georgia or south carolina as a category 2 or as he said well above. what does that mean? >> there's so many different

factors when it comes to the extended forecast. look at this cone. i mean, the cone is really important in this case because two thirds of the time, alisyn, we can see the center of the storm anywhere inside this cone. and that means from the south carolina coast all the way down to south florida, any of those areas could be impacted because it all depends on the strength of this ridge. there's so many different factors to go into this, so everybody in this area, we just needs to be ready to have those plans to go. >> beyond the cone i'm concerned about the strength of it. are you saying it could be well above a category 2 or is it too early to tell? >> yesterday was interesting. when you have a track further to the west we're looking at the lower intensity, but look at the water. really what we have now is we're forecasting category 2. however, if you have another shift looking at towards the east, what happens is you have more of that warm-water, more time to get stronger, so, yes,

absolutely. we tell people it's important forecasting a cat 2, but there's nothing wrong planning for one up in case. >> is there any storm in recent memory that this reminds you of so far? >> i always tell people, 25 years of doing this stuff, every one of them is so incredibly different and that's why we tell everybody please listen to the impacts, please listen to changes. we can't focus just on the forecast now because it can really change going into the weekend. so every one of them are different now. listen to the impacts as we start ramping this up for puerto rico today and also into the weekend for florida or maybe up to georgia and south carolina. >> of course for the people in puerto rico they have, you know, horrible deja vu from maria which they're still recovering from, and that one correct me if i'm wrong, also hit the east coast and that's what devastated the east coast. now the model shows dorian hitting the east coast of puerto rico, does that make it more

dangerous somehow? >> yeah, the whole island really covered in precipitation. we got the new plot this morning looking at that track chance. once you change that track, you've got to change all the impacts as well. yesterday we were talking about the heavy rain on the west end of the island and now it's the east end. up to 10 inches of rain in some areas. absolutely you take the gusty winds plus all that rain and you get some flooding in the mountains as well. you get increased amounts of rainfall, so rain, mud slides, flash flooding, a lot of impacts on top of the tropical force winds. >> what do you want people in florida and georgia and south carolina and puerto rico who are are watching right now, what do you want them to know and do at this hour? >> one thing is keep paying attention to the forecast because this storm is still compact. it could still change. we have quite a variety of solutions when it comes to the models. just be ready. have your plans ready, be ready to go. please pay attention to updates

in the forecast because it could change also in the next couple of days. >> thank you for being on standby for us all morning and keep us posted whenever that model changes. thank you. we do have breaking news right now. a new national poll has just been released ahead of today's qualifying deadline for the september debate. so who is in and who is out? cnn politics senior writer and analyst harry henton has been breaking down the numbers. this is moment you've been waiting for? >> i think the big question was whether or not tom steyer who needed 2% or more, the poll answer was no, he did not, he was at 30% in this poll. >> the other big story poll this week suggested biden was falling. we thought it was an out liar at the time, it was in fact. this quinnipiac has him leading. >> i just dug through some of the numbers in this poll. also some really tough numbers

for the president of the united states on the economy. >> yeah, he's under water on the economy. his economic approval rating is under water in this poll which is something given that number is his best number. if you look at the matchups against the top four candidates, he's trailing by double digits to all of them in the horse races. >> do we have that graphic? i think that's interesting to see the head to head matchups with pretty much. if not you're saying double digits? >> he didn't crack 40 against any of them. biden holds the largest lead. biden is up around 15 points the same as sanders. >> i have a number which i think explains all of this in terms of the president. for the first time quinnipiac says since president trump was elected more voters say the national economy is getting worse than getting better. >> yeah, and that to me is very troubling news. and given the economic news we've received, we stood over there at the magic wall a few

weeks ago in which i pointed out job growth is very much tied in and trump has been generally trailing behind that despite the fact we had pretty good job growth. that means americans, voters are seeing the economy perhaps not as well, and voters consistently vote them down on character. >> the reason this poll out now is so significant because it does sort of set the tone i guess for the rest of the campaign because it locks in the debate on september 12th, right, and then after that i think according to you it gets harder for the candidates who don't make this debate stage. >> look, if you don't make this debate stage, your fund-raising may very well dry up and fund-raising and money is basically the gasoline that pumps up that automobile for a campaign. and today is the last day you could get that qualifying poll, and we have ten candidates. there will be one stage with ten candidates.

the rest of the candidates unfortunately for them looks like they're not going to make it. >> there's only six candidates above 21% also. >> this is race between sanders, biden, harris at this point. >> fascinating stuff, thank you. all right, breaking this morning former defense secretary jim mattis speaking out really for the first time about his time in the trump administration. very carefully chosen words. and as far as jim mattis goes, it's much farther than he's ever gone before. that's next. the water. the exercise. the fiber. month after month, and i still have belly pain and recurring constipation. so i asked my doctor what else i could do, and i said yesss to linzess. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. linzess is not a laxative, it works differently. it helps relieve belly pain and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. do not give linzess to children less than 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to less than 18,

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did as well as i could for as long as i could. when my concrete solutions and strategic advice especially keeping faith with our allies no longer resonated, it was time to resign. joining us now is cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. we also have cnn political analysts with us. thank you for being with us early because, you know, this is significant. people wanted to know the back story. they wanted to know why jim mattis was resigning as the secretary of defense, and now he's explaining it. your thoughts. >> well, he is explaining it, but i think he goes even a step further that is really going to catch everyone's attention. and let me just read one more sentence from what he wrote. he said we're dividing into hostile tribes, cheering against each other. so this is jim mattis really calling out what is happening in the society right now under the trump administration. he doesn't name president trump directly, but he's clearly referring to what he sees going on, a divided society. he says this is a threat.

this is not new as a concern to the top u.s. military. mattis talking about it now because he's retired, and he can talk about. you can't criticize a president when you're serving, but look at it this way, we have seen troops, active duty troops appearing with red make america great hats again. that is political statement by that they're not supposed to make. we saw president trump gave a speech at the pentagon where he suddenly veered into criticizing the democrats. again, politicizing the military. this is one of the biggest concerns we continue to hear about what is happening right now. if the military is becoming politicized as many believe it is fundamentally it's relationship to american society changes under president trump. it's going to be a very interesting day here at the pentagon. at 1:30 this afternoon jenren

dunford, also a marine, chairman of the joint chiefs comes out for the first press conference he's given in a year. this is likely i would predict to be a topic of the questions. >> you know, barbara says that james mattis doesn't name the president but he almost does. it seems like he's making direct references to president donald trump. let me read one more sentence here. he says a polym cyst role is not sufficient for donald trump. sarah, you worked inside the trump administration, but before that you worked for republicans like mitt romney and others if there's an above mountain for mount rushmore, james mattis is there. so what impact does this have? >> absolutely. and to anyone who's watching who hasn't read this, it's also just

beautifully written. you realize why he has that respect both from people in and outside the military. what comes through is this sense of duty as well that it wasn't that he joined the administration because he agreed with it or wanted to or had just always wanted to be secretary of defense, he joined because of a sense of duty. you see that military civilian divide as well where a lot of civilians don't understand what it's like to spend your career in the military. i do think it makes a difference for those in the military reading from the former secretary of defense that there are problems at the top that he sees massive, systematic issues with the way our foreign policy is being run right now, whether that will be met with cheers or boos from the ranks, we'll see. >> and david, what do you think is the significance of someone who was this involved, who was the defense secretary, who was highly regarded coming out and saying these things?

>> you know, jim mattis is an eloquent statesman and so this is tough piece. but it's eloquently written as sarah says. and while i think the criticism is pointed, it stops a points. he's not revealing conversations that were private. he's not naming the president. what he's saying is, look, i had a sense of duty, i was there. i believe in certain principles of leadership as the secretary of defense and for our country generally. and when i wasn't being listened to and when my influence waned and when the president went in different directions on key areas that included our allies strategically and how they perceived american power abroad, he had to go. and it's not just about president trump. and he's not the first military leader to point out whether it's areas of our national debt or our politics, start to rank higher as national security threats because as he says in

the piece, he's less concerned about our external adverysaries than how divided we are as a country. so it's a powerful statement. we have to see what kind of impact it has. what's clear to me president trump or anybody else is not going to dismiss mattis as somebody who's a partisan or who shouldn't be believed. so people will take this serious. >> never say never. i want to give you the last word here on james mattis. is this enough? if he disagrees with the president as much as he's hinting at, is it the type of thing he should make clear when he was in the pentagon or maybe name names now? >> this has been a long-standing issue. if you are on active duty you are not permitted to criticize the commander in chief. but he was the civilian secretary in defense. what we do know about him is he was very reluctant to say anything that the president or the white house at the time might perceive at criticism because he thought he would be side lined and in the end he

was. so perhaps that's the most telling lesson of all. how do you speak up when you don't agree with the commander in chief? >> barbara, thank you very much for your reporting and insight. >> the other big story we're following is that people are in harms way because of tropical storm dorian which is expected to grow and strengthen into a hurricane, into a category 2 hurricane or above. >> as millions prepare to be affected by a hurricane the president seems to be going after them. he writes we are tracking closely tropical storm dorian as it heads as usual to puerto rico and fema and all others are ready and will do a great job. when they do let them know it and give them a big thank you. not like last time. gnat includes from the independent mayor of san juan. there's a choice here. there's a hurricane going to hit puerto rico in just hours. why send this message to people

who are about to be victims of a national disaster? >> well, the president also has another problem looming which is as he's discussing cutting money from fema to put towards immigration informent and border security you also have a hurricane heading towards a swing state as that map shows, it's a serious issue, a safety issue for these people and i don't want to minimize that. but politically speaking if a hurricane hits florida and the president has just cut money from fema for hurricane relief, for instance, that could be a major election issue as you saw with president back with katrina. >> but it's the tone, heading to puerto rico again as usual, coupled with the tweet of yesterday, wow, yet another big storm, will it ever end? what are we hearing in that tone in terms of preparation, compassion? >> well, it's not new. it's un-presidential obviously to say the very least. the fact he takes political pot

shots in the course of what his duty is which is to make sure the president is standing by to help puerto rico which is beleaguered by storms, so it is incredible the puerto ricans would face this kind of threat again, everybody understands that. but now it's a matter for the local and federal authorities to be there and to standby. i mean, the only way to react to this is to condemn it for what it is, but also to realize that for president trump there's always an opportunity to take a shot and to energize his own supporters who say, oh, you know, puerto rico could be in trouble again and these are folks who criticize the government rather than saying thank you. it's how he operates. >> one other story getting a lot of attention this morning. "the washington post" reporting, sarah, at the president is laser focused on building the border wall he campaigned on. so laser focused he's telling aides, break the law if you have to get it done. this is direct quote. when aides suggested some of his orders are illegal trump

suggested he would pardon the officials if they would just go ahead, aides said. he waved off worries about contracting procedures and use of imminent domain saying take the land, don't worry, i'll pardon you. he's told officials in meetings about the wall. pretty extraordinary for the president of the united states telling people who work for the government of the united states, break the law in the united states if you have to. >> well, the white house's response is that he was joking, but i think it goes to underline just how important he knows this is to his re-election. when you talk to trump voters oftentimes the number one issue, the number one promise from 2016 was build the wall. it was more than a chant. they really believed that was something he was going to accomplish. if heading into 2020 he's not built the wall to an extent they feel fulfilled that promise, you could see his approval numbers drop among his own supporters, something we haven't really seen yet even if his approval numbers

top out at 40% nationwide among republicans and among 2016 trump voters, they remain quite high. but he knows how important it is to get that promise done, and he's running out of time. >> i think that's such an important point particularly because if you see any dip in enthusiasm among his core supporters and you look at the poll from quinnipiac that you were just talking about in a previous segment, as worries about the economy increase, let's remember those midwestern voters, voters who voted for president obama and then voted for donald trump. these are people who experienced a lot of pain in this changing economy. they thought trump was an answer for that natch they were willing to move. they could definitely move again. >> that's a great point. as the economic numbers go down and we're seeing it in the "q" poll this morning, you can expect a tttacks on building th wall, puerto rico go up. that's new. >> sarah, david, thank you both very much. now to this, more than a

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the suicide of jeffrey epstein has not silenced his alleged victims. in a dramatic move a new york judge allowed dozens of them to speak on the record about what they say epstein did to them. afterwards some accusers explained how thankful they were for that opportunity. others of course still pushing for some form of justice. >> it was so powerful in there hearing all the other victims and very similar stories that i have endured. i want to thank the judge for letting us speak, having some closure. >> it makes me sick to my stomach that there's perpetrators out there that obviously helped him in many ways for a very long time and they're still out there with no punishment. >> joining us now is gloria allred, an attorney representing several epstein accusers.

she was inside the courtroom yesterday and read statements from a number of her clients. great to see you. is it true in all of your years of defending victims, representing victims you've never seen what happened yesterday in the courtroom? >> 100% correct. because what happened yesterday ws in a sense kind of a hybrid of a victim impact statement. but those statements by victims which are so important generally happen at a sentencing after the defendant is convicted. here the victims have been denied the ability to confront the defendant in court because he's deceased. jeffrey epstein died by suicide or some other cause which is being investigated. but usually the victims would not have that opportunity unless the defendant was convicted. here the court exercised its discretion, which is in a very i think unprecedented situation to allow the victims the respect

and the dignity to be able to provide a statement about what happened to them, what they suffered. and i really commend the court for allowing that. >> some of the statements that they read and/or that you read on behalf of them are so dark and disgusting it's no wonder they wanted to air it, i think, in public so that people could see what they say jeffrey epstein did. here's one, it's really disturbing. here's someone, client statement 2 who's anonymous. i had never even kissed a by before i met him, and never throughout the horrific abuse did jeffrey epstein kiss me even once. when he stole my virginity he washed my body compulsively in the shower and then told me if you're not a virgin i will kill you. and then i wasn't a virgin

anymore. >> she wanted her privacy protected and that is why she asked me to read it as a jane doe rather than providing her name. but she has a very dark story. perhaps one day she'll provide all the details. a lot of the victims at this point, alisyn, are taking baby steps. you saw a lot of statements from jane does yesterday. of course two of my clients did read it themselves. and throughout the day we saw a number of victims identified as jane does. they sometimes had feelings of fear, being ashamed, which of course they shouldn't be because they are victims, they are not the perpetrator. and it's a process for them to be able to come forward. i'm so proud of those that did. >> one of the better known victims who's gone public is virginia jeffrey -- i hope i'm saying that right. >> virginia roberts, i think. >> well, you'll recognize her. >> yeah, her maiden name was roberts. >> here is what she explained about how she was recruited. so listen to this moment from yesterday. >> i was recruited at a very

young age from mar-a-lago. and entrapped in a world that i didn't understand and i've been fighting that very world to this day. and i won't stop fighting. i will never be silenced until these people are brought to justice. >> she said a lot there i think is interesting. first of all her story she was recruited from mar-a-lago where she was working, physically under age, providing under age massages at mar-a-lago which is president trump's resort. but she talked about associates. you say there are so many victims still afraid of jeffrey epstein's associates. like who? who are they afraid are going to come after them at this point? >> it's just that he knows a lot of powerful people, whether they're political people or entertainment world, business world that they have this generalized fear. but this tape that you played is extremely important. so many of my clients were

recruited. maybe they were recruited from a mall. maybe they were recruited from some other place where they happened to be. it's the essence of the conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of children that is what is being investigated by the united states attorney. so anyone in that chain who may have recruited them, knowingly recruited them to be sexually victimized by mr. epstein i think should right now be very concerned because i know that the u.s. attorney is conducting a very serious investigation. actually, yesterday right after court i was at the u.s. attorneys office and one of my clients was being interviewed. and i know they're doing a very intensive investigation. >> but how confident are you that associates of his will be legally held accountable? >> well, i'm very confident there's going to be a serious investigation of who were his associates, what was their role, what did they know, what did

they tell our client, in what way did they assist? so it's a matter of conspiracy that's a high burden to prove that. but again that was charged originally. coconspirators unnamed when jeffrey epstein was arrested and also indicted and charged. so i think -- i know. i spoke to the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york yesterday in the courtroom. he assured me that there's a serious investigation, and i know that having been involved with those who are investigating. >> this is not the end of the road for the investigation and certainly not for the victims. thank you very much for explaining all this. we have important breaking weather news. puerto rico bracing for a direct hit just hours from now from what will become hurricane dorian. we're going to bring you an update where the storm is headed first and then look at that. everywhere from miami to south carolina, get ready. don't just dream about your next vacation.

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the breaking news which is

must watch for millions of americans this morning, puerto rico bracing for a direct hit from what will become hurricane dorian. the storm expected to make landfall over puerto rico and the popular tourist island just off the coast of puerto rico off the eastern side. they were so badly hit two years ago by hurricane maria. and then look at this, dorian expected to turn towards the mainland united states, gathering strength as a category 2, possibly a category 3 storm. chad myers, our meteorologist, has been tracking this forecast all morning. and this really changed overnight, chad. >> it sure did, john. the entire model that we had yesterday to show what was going on completely failed, both of them. the american and european and everything else in between. the storm sneaked onto the nord about 80 miles farther than it was supposed to. so all these models said right through here, south of puerto rico right through the dr. that's not going to happen.

that was a complete swing and a miss. it's going to be a 70 mile per hour storm or very close to a hurricane when it runs over st. croix and even into the eastern half thereof puerto rico. and a lot of times you see the storm being bad on the right side, this one actually has more rain on the left side. 100 mile per hour storm somewhere between miami and maybe charleston. and i know alisyn talked about this with the hurricane center. it could be a lot less, could be more, this is still five days out. many, many things could still happen here. here's the radar. oats not an eye, but what we will see this heavy rainfall will get to st. kroiks, will get to all of puerto rico and at least 6 to 10 inches of rainfall coming down. and in those mountainous areas that will be bad. new hurricane hunter aircraft, alisyn, just had a flight level

wind 10,000 feet at 82 miles per hour. that doesn't mean it's at the surface, but it's high. >> that means it is getting worse. chad, thank you for keeping an eye on that for us. meanwhile, this story, the va is investigating 11 suspicious deaths at one of its hospitals in wuj. the probe was launched after the family of an 82-year-old patient filed a claim citing a medical examiner who concluded mcdermot died by homicide. >> this is string of suspicious deaths that happened at this va medical center that's now under investigation. both the va inspector and looking into potential wrongdoing in clarksburg, virginia. now, senator joe manchin who represents west virginia and is

also a member of the senate committee on veterans affairs says that a -- and this is quoting him kwaegs a person of interest is no longer in contact with patients at the facility. now, he said at least one of the deaths is confirmed a homicide. now in a claim filed just last week by the family of felix kirk mcdermott, a patient who died at the hospital, this family alleged he was injected with a fatal dose of insulin either negligently or willfully by an unidentified person while he was a patient at the center. now, the 82-year-old veteran did not have diabetes. and i'm quoting each of these 9 or 10 patients had received a large or wrongful injection of insulin in the abdomen that was neither ordered by a doctor or medically necessary. now, a spokesman for louis a. johnson medical center told cnn allegations of potential

misconduct that we've heard essentially in the media do not involve any current louis a. johnson medical center -- johnson medical center employees. back to you, john. >> quite a storree. thank you so much for being on top of this for us. so the boys little league team, the world series champs headed to the white house after their big win. but what about the girls? what about the softball team that won the world series just a few weeks ago? no invitation. the coach reaching out to the president to ask why. we'll talk to him and the team's star pitcher next. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

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we have some breaking news. the kind that will make you smile. so the coach of the little league girls softball world series champions has been fighting to get his team recognized at the white house. the north carolina squad won it all earlier this month. but after president trump invited the little league

baseball boys team to the white house, the softball team was wonder, hey, where's our invite? >> joining us now is steve yang, the head coach the little league softball champions and campbell shang, the winning pitcher of the team. and we understand you have some breaking news for us. what have you just received? >> yes, about 15 minutes ago i've received a phone call from the white house that we'd officially received our invite. so all this hard work that everybody has put forth has come to fruition, so we're excited. and they're supposed to be e-mailing some dates on what days will work great for us. so we're excited and thanks to everyone. >> well, congratulations and good for you. and coach, just explain to us what the feeling was like, this process was when you saw that initial tweet from the president of the united states after you'd

already won the softball series. how did this work for you? >> i had a parent send me a message sunday evening after they saw the message and then president trump respond to his tweet, and so a mom sent me a text saying what do you think, steve, do you think we could get something like this? i was like i'll just send a message and see what happens and things have gone viral since and here we are. >> bingo, campbell. you're going to the white house. how are you feeling? >> i'm really excited to meet the leader of our country. >> campbell, by the way, is a ridiculous pitcher. so congratulations to you for winning the world series, congratulations ongoing to the white house. why do you think it's important for your team, for you guys or the girls more specifically to get invited to the white house when the boys also get invited why is this important?

>> i just think that we both have the same accomplishments and we both won and girls can do things that boys can do, too. >> well, that is very important message that you certainly personify. coach, just out of curiosity you launched a campaign, you tweeted i guess at the president when the boys had been invited and there was nothing about the girls. and do you think i don't know being on national television this morning with your story, do you think that that also helped to expedite the invitation from the white house? >> yeah, i wouldn't call it pressure put on the white house, but i do think the president and a lot of our politicians locally and within our state has been communicating with the white house. so we've had a lot of help with that. so as one of our local county commissioners sent me a message

last night, it'll be a national scandal if we weren't invited after all the hard work everybody has put in which we sincerely appreciate to get to this point. >> i'm sure the hard work you did to get the white house nothing like the hard work you and campbell and the team put in to win the world series. enjoy your trip to the white house. you've certainly earned it. >> thank you very much. >> have a great time. i really hope she watched bad news bearers because tatum o'neil i believe was also the pitcher. >> they didn't win, though. campbell won. >> and when we came to her live campbell wasn't smoking a cigarette. >> the good stuff is next.

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okay, time now for the good stuff, a true bond of brothers between two marines in the mountains of utah. >> a few days ago i drove by and i was like you know what, i think i'm going to take john up to the top of that by myself. >> that's john nelson. he and jonathan blank served together in afghanistan. that's where blank lost both of his legs in an explosion. on an emotional hike through the summit nelson carried blan his back through more than 14 miles of steep terrain. >> i got legs. i couldn't imagine if i -- >> jonathan hopes that their journey can inspire other people. >> not only have i lived through this, he's lived through it as

well. we're also, you know, special operations guys. we can do anything. >> the two plan to hike mt. whitney on veterans, the tallest mountain in california. >> and they'll make it. they're lifting each other to the top there. that is wonderful. puerto rico bracing for a direct hit from dorian. newsroom begins right now. good morning to you. i'm jim sciutto in new york. poppy harlow is off today. tropical storm dorian is intensifying this hour and now just hours away from hitting puerto rico. according to the latest tracking it is just days away from hitting florida or georgia as a possible category 2 hurricane. right in time, we should note for labor day weekend. today as it hits puerto rico it could bring hurricane strength winds, flash flooding and the most rain the island has seen in a