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New Day Saturday

President Trump Unravels Obama's Legacy; World Leaders Slam Trump For Not Certifying Iran Deal; Russia Investigators Interview Reince Priebus; Trump Decertifies Iran Deal, Tells Congress To Fix It; Freed Taliban Hostage Says Captors Raped Wife; Nearly 91 Percent Of Puerto Rico Without Power; . Aired 7-8a ET

Aired October 14, 2017 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- catch the game one of the NLCS tonight on CBS with the Cubs taking on the Dodgers. First pitch is at 8:08 Eastern Time.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you so much, Christina.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks for having me.

PAUL: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're very unhappy with Iran. They have not treated us with the kind of respect that they should be treating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iran is not in material breach of the agreement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here in the mountains of Central Puerto Rico, many residents say they're settling into the reality that a normal day isn't even a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel yet.

TRUMP: We're going to have great health care in our country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think what the president did with respect to suspending Obamacare was the right thing to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fix it, mend it, don't end it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reince Priebus, Senior most member of Trump's inner circle to be interviewed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's really a central witness, particularly on everything related to obstruction of justice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nearly 8,000 firefighters still working around the clock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. She's disabled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me get her feet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a house on fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to get her up. You've got to get her up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, you've got to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY weekend with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Nine months now after taking off and President Trump is continuing to try to erase part of his predecessor's key legacy elements. And despite the advice of his own cabinet and key U.S. allies, the president says that Iran is no longer in compliance with the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration. Now, the future of that agreement is unclear but here's what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They would love me to stay in only for one reason. Look at the kind of money that's being sent. You know, Iran is spending money in various countries. And I've always said it, and I say to them, don't do anything, don't worry about it, take all the money you can get. They're all friends of mine. Actually, actually, Emmanuel called up and he talked to me, and I said, look, Emmanuel, they just gave them of a lot of money. Take their money, enjoy yourselves, but we'll see what happens. Iran has to behave much differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, President Trump is also tearing into parts of President Obama's signature health care law, ordering an end to government subsidies that help the poor buy health insurance.

PAUL: Also, we're learning, Reince Priebus met with the team investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The former White House chief of staff is one of the several former and current staffers the special counsel's office is interviewing.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Boris Sanchez is live at the White House. Boris, what is next for the Iran deal now?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor and Christi. Yes, the president has long promised it's the days of the campaign to tear up the nuclear deal with Iran, and though he has twice certified it, he hasn't exactly torn it up even now; he's really just ticking it over to Congress. Lawmakers now have 60 days to decide exactly how they want to handle this nuclear deal, whether they want to reinstall sanctions that were lifted when the deal was made or if they want to, perhaps, modify them to include triggers for things like Iran testing ballistic missiles or if they essentially want to do nothing.

You've heard several officials within the administration saying that Iran technically hasn't violated the deal, but the president has made the case that Iran has violated the spirit of the deal by testing missiles, also by funding of terrorist groups like Hezbollah. He had said, he told reporters yesterday that he prefers a two-step process. In other words, he prefers Congress having some role in this decision, but ultimately, he has said again and again that if they do not act, he will tear up one of the signature landmarks of his predecessor's foreign policy, Victor, and Christi.

BLACKWELL: All right. So, Boris, let's now go to Reince Priebus and his interview with investigators. What does this mean for the Russia investigation?

SANCHEZ: Yes, this is essentially just another step in Robert Mueller's investigation. They are interviewing, as you said, current and former officials at the White House including former Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Communications Director Hope Hicks and others. What we've heard from sources is that Robert Mueller's team is essentially trying to find out the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of Michael Flynn, as well as the firing of FBI Director -- former FBI Director James Comey. One source actually telling CNN that they were interested in a meeting that Donald Trump had with Russian officials shortly after Comey was fired in which he apparently bragged about having fired Comey saying that it took pressure off of his administration, Victor, and Christi.

BLACKWELL: All right. Boris Sanchez, for us there at the White House. Thank you.

PAUL: We're going to bring in Steven Collinson, our CNN White House Reporter; and Kelly Jane Torrance, Deputy Editor for The Weekly Standard. Good morning to both of you. I want to read to you something that Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee has said. This is new this morning. He said, "You cannot publicly castrate your own secretary of state without giving yourself that binary choice." That binary choice being the U.S. choosing between war or North Korea or on Iran that's capable of threatening the U.S. with nuclear weapons. So, Steven, it's pretty strong language coming from the man who is essentially tasked with working with the White House to come up with a remedy here.

[07:05:30] STEVEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. Senator Bob Corker, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is going to be a key player in deciding what happens to the Iran deal in Congress, and you can see now that he has said that he's not running for re-election, he has no compunction about being deeply critical of the president. What he's talking about there is, I think, the president's tweet while Rex Tillerson was in Asia saying that diplomacy with North Korea wouldn't work. And it's an interesting comment because what he's expanding on is that remark he made in an interview with the New York Times that the president could cause World War III.

What Corker is essentially arguing is that it would be wrong to cut off the option of diplomacy in dealing with North Korea, because then you get into an escalatory situation whereby military force becomes the only option. It was like President Kennedy after the Cuban missile crisis said that what you have to do in these situations is to create a situation whereby your opponent doesn't have a choice between humiliating climbdown and a nuclear war, and I think that is what Senator Corker is trying to argue here is that while the president makes threats of military action against North Korea over its nuclear program, the diplomatic option as represented by Rex Tillerson, the Secretary of State, should be kept open.

PAUL: Kelly Jane, a lot of people agree with the president on one thing, that there is nefarious intent it seems in Iran. They are testing missiles. They are funding terrorism. However, you've got the IAEA, the Secretary of State Tillerson, Defense Secretary Mattis all saying, look, in this instance, Iran is complying with the parameters of this deal. Aren't we talking here, at the end of the day, about two different issues regarding that? I mean, how do you confront Iran on terrorism without having to touch this deal?

KELLY JANE TORRANCE, DEPUTY EDITOR FOR THE WEEKLY STANDARD: You're right, Christi, it is two separate issues but they are related. I'd just like to say, first of all, we actually don't know if Iran is in compliance at all. Leaders in Iran have said that their military sites are off limits, nobody can look there, and the IAEA actually won't check unless it has evidence that there is a reason to do so. You know, sort of probable cause and nobody is -- it's unclear what evidence they would need to do that, and so they haven't checked. So, we really don't know for certain whether Iran is in compliance. But you're right, there are two issues and this is how I think they're related.

The pursuit of a nuclear weapon is not the worst thing that Iran is doing right now. It is committing human rights abuses in its own country and other countries. The reason that the deal matters is that it allows the regime to get more money to commit those abuses. You know, we've got the sanctions relief. We've got money that came to them -- unfrozen assets and they are using that money to harm their own people and they're using it in Syria, for example, to help extend the civil war there.

PAUL: All right. I want to move really quickly, Steven, to Reince Priebus as he was interviewed or had a meeting with Mueller and his investigating team. What do you make of where this is going at this stage of the game? Are they close to maybe ending this investigation and coming up with some answers?

COLLINSON: I don't think they're necessarily close to ending the investigation, Christi, but you think -- it's clear that this investigation by Bob Mueller is grinding on behind the scenes while all these other things are going on. Priebus, of course, is going to be a key witness as Mueller probes the question of whether the firing of James Comey, the former FBI Director, was an example of obstruction of justice by the president hoping to shut down the Russia probe. So that's why -- one of the reasons why he's such a key player in this.

PAUL: Kelly Jane, your thought?

TORRANCE: What I think is interesting is that you know, Reince Priebus and Donald Trump had lunch at the White House on October 5th. You know, that was just a week and a half ago. And you kind of wonder what -- about the timing there, what did they talk about? Nobody said what they talked about and I'm curious if this investigation came up. And you know, I will say the people on Mueller's team, they've got to be some of the few people in Washington that aren't leaking everything that they're doing.

PAUL: Good point. Good point there. Kelly Jane Torrance and Steven Collinson, so good to see you both this morning. Thank you.

TORRANCE: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Well, there's this shocking new claim today by that family freed from militant captivity in Pakistan. First, of family, Joshua Boyle, who's Canadian, along with his American wife, Caitlin Coleman, and their three children, all of them were born in captivity. They arrived in Canada last night safely. Now, Boyle told reports in Toronto, his kidnappers authorized the killing of one of his children and that they also raped his wife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:10:16] JOSHUA BOYLE, HELD CAPTIVE BY THE TALIBAN-AFFILIATED NETWORK: The stupidity and the evil of the Haqqani networks kidnapping of a pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife engaged in helping ordinary villagers in Taliban controlled regions of Afghanistan was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now, we want to be clear with what we know. While Boyle said that murder of his infant daughter was authorized, he didn't say whether a death actually occurred.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, the conditions in Puerto Rico. They're getting worse by the day and there are still so many people without power, without food, without clean running water. There's a nurse helping out there and she's witnessed the devastation up close. What she's seeing there versus what the Trump administration says is happening there. That's next.

PAUL: Also, Iran is lashing back at President Trump after he puts the future of that nuclear deal in doubt we were just talking about. We're going live to Iran for new reaction this morning.

BLACKWELL: And the dramatic new video of a deputy, what they call five minutes in hell. California first responders are just trying to get through these flames and the ash searching for survivors. We're going to show it to you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's disabled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Let me get her feet. Let me get her feet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her husband's right behind you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff (INAUDIBLE), we're doing a carryout.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold out. Hold out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:48] PAUL: It's been three weeks since Hurricane Maria, and look at what the people in Puerto Rico are still dealing with. We know 45 people have died as a result of that storm and there is belief that that number could keep rising. 91 percent of that island, three weeks later still doesn't have power. And more than 1.2 million people don't have safe drinking water. I cannot imagine living like that long.

BLACKWELL: And the recovery will go on for some time. The question is: is it keeping pace with what it should have been at this point? This is happening as the president touts that the administration has done a great job with recovery efforts. Well, joining us now to discuss that, President of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten; and Llamara Padro-Milano, a Registered Nurse assisting in Puerto Rico.

Ladies, hello to you. Thank you for being with us. And Llamara, I want to start with you. There's no doubt that the workers there are doing amazing work, working hour after hour to try to help the people there. We've got some pictures of some of the living conditions that the workers are seeing. You see the mold infested rooms and some people don't have any rooms at all because their homes have been destroyed. But the question to you: is what you're seeing on the ground, matching the rhetoric from the president?

LLAMARA PADRO-MILANO, REGISTERED NURSE: Absolutely not. Many of the places we've been to, we're the first people to actually reach them.

BLACKWELL: And when you reach them, what are you seeing?

MILANO: What we're seeing is people in need. Basic needs of food, shelter, medicine, water; we carry that with us when we go and set up ambulatory clinics where we go and try to help people. We go in large teams with a doctor, provider, our own pharmacy, and a lot of foods and water wherever we go. People are dying here. They're suffering here and that's not -- the true story is not being told. We see it every day.

BLACKWELL: Yes, from what we're hearing from our reporters that these are day two conditions on day 22 as this continues. Randy, let me come to you. Thursday, the president tweeted that the federal government cannot stay in Puerto Rico forever, and then yesterday another tweet saying that FEMA will be there and the country will be with them for the long haul and this is what Speaker Paul Ryan had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: This is something that we're all invested together. We've been working on Puerto Rico legislation for a few years now, and so we've got a lot more to do to make sure that we can invest in the long haul to make sure that the Puerto Rico economy is strong, that Puerto Rico government is financed and self-sufficient.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: One day, it's can't stay forever, the next day it's there for the long haul. What's the impact you believe with these inconsistencies?

RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: Well, you know -- well, first off, most Puerto Ricans don't have electricity, so the only way they're getting any information whatsoever is through the radio. People are going into cars to try to -- try to get some electricity so that they can have some smartphones.

As Llamara said, when -- we are going out into the countryside. I'm here, Victor, in two capacities: one, we're the second largest nurse union and 30 of our nurses are part of the 300 labor unionists that came down to help over the last two weeks. And two, we, our affiliate is the teacher's union here, so what we're doing is over the course of these two weeks, we're going to all of these different villages.

In fact, we are (INAUDIBLE) today and Guayama today, and delivering 1,000 meals and going with some of the nurses to do some ambulatory care because people haven't seen anyone from FEMA yet. I'm not saying that FEMA isn't working hard. I'm sure I saw lots of people yesterday, they are exhausted. But this needs a Marshall plan. That is what Representative Ryan should have said yesterday.

Just like we did a Marshall plan in Europe after World War II, this is our country, these are our citizens. We need a Marshall plan, and when you do that, we can regenerate, rebuild the economy here. That's what the teachers are doing, that's what the nurses are doing. And frankly, I'm here this weekend to cry for help because that's what we need in Puerto Rico. That's what we need in this territory.

[07:20:21] BLACKWELL: Randi, let me ask you before I get back to Llamara for a final question. There are members of this administration who have dismissed the calls from the mayor of San Juan and some of her criticism saying it's simply politics. I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge, at least, that your group endorsed Hillary Clinton in the general election. What role do you believe, if there is one, of politics in this exchange in the criticisms of the administration?

WEINGARTEN: I've been -- frankly, there are several natural disasters that have happened this summer and fall. California voted for Hillary Clinton, Texas voted for Donald trump., Florida voted for Donald Trump, Puerto Rico don't get an electoral vote. This should not be about politics. This is about people. A president of the United States has an obligation to safeguard the people of his country. That's what this should be. And you know, we've had teamsters and building trades workers on this

trip who may have voted for Donald Trump. What they are seeing is that the people are not getting the emergency services we need. So, it's time to put politics aside, put people first, and do the things we need to do to safeguard the people of the United States of America -- Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and California and Texas and Florida. That is our responsibility as Americans.

BLACKWELL: All right. Randi Weingarten, Llamada Padro-Milano, thank you so much for being with us and thank you for the work you're doing there in Puerto Rico.

MILANO: Thank you.

WEINGARTEN: Thank you very much.

MILANO: Thank you.

PAUL: All right. Rogue behavior -- that's how Iran is describing President Trump's refusal to recertify an Obama-era nuclear agreement. We have a live report for you from the Iranian capital.

BLACKWELL: Plus, this video and you have to see it. This is from Northern California; huge fires are wiping out parts of Wine Country. The deputies, driving through the fire and the ash looking for anyone who survived it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:26:42] PAUL: 26 minutes past the hour. Good Saturday to you. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell, good morning.

PAUL: So, President Trump's refusal to recertify the Iran nuclear agreement is getting some criticism from key U.S. allies. And this morning, Iran is slamming President Trump after he put the future of the nuclear deal in doubt. CNN Senior International Correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, is live for us in Tehran. Good morning to you, Fred, what are you hearing from the government there?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Christi and Victor. Certainly, a lot of very strong words coming from the president of Iran but also from other Iranian government agencies as well. The President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, yesterday came out in a fiery speech shortly after President Trump made his remarks and accused President Trump of not understanding the nuclear agreement, saying that the U.S. can't unilaterally pull out. And also saying that he believed that it was the U.S. that was destabilizing this region and that therefore, the Iranians would, for instance, not give up their ballistic missile program.

Now, one of the things that they're also saying is that they will stay on their current path. There's a statement that came out earlier today. I'm going to quote it right here, they say: "The transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars-worth of arms into the region, that have turned the region into a tinderbox require the Islamic Republic of Iran not to be complacent about the country's defense needs." Obviously speaking about their ballistic missile programs, which the Iranians say it's purely defensive in nature. And then, it goes on to say: "The president will have to bear full responsibility for all the consequences of," what they call, "his rogue behavior."

So certainly, some very strong words there coming from the Iranian. It looks to us as though two factions that have been quite divided here in this country. The moderates and the hardliners seem to be uniting. So, if President Trump was trying to push them apart, it really seems as though at this point in time, the opposite is happening here in Iran, Christi, and Victor.

PAUL: All right. Fred Pleitgen, appreciate the update. Thank you. And I want to remind you exactly why the Iran deal was struck in the first place here, just to get the back story. It was signed in 2015 by Iran, the E.U., and five world powers -- the U.S., U.K., Russia, France, China, and Germany. It lifted economic sanctions on Iran, and in return for Iran scaling back its nuclear program -- that's why the sanctions were lifted. That includes: reducing its Uranium stockpile, and a number of centrifuges, keeping its levels of enrichment at 3.67 percent and allowing inspection of nuclear facilities. If Iran does not stick to the deal, sanctions will be reinstated per that deal.

BLACKWELL: Let's continue the conversation now with former Obama White House Communications Director, Jen Psaki; and former Georgia Republican Congressman, Jack Kingston. Good morning to both of you.

JEN PSAKI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR UNDER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Good morning.

JACK KINGSTON, FORMER CONGRESSMAN FROM GEORGIA: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: Congressman, let me start with you and I want to read for you a response and reaction from the former secretary of state -- obviously, one of the chief negotiators of the Iran deal. Secretary John Kerry, he says in part: "Unravel this agreement while Iran is complying and you will call into question whether a country can keep its word, making it infinitely harder to reach agreement on other urgent international challenges. That's a recipe for America isolated, America alone, and the Middle East on the brink." What's your reaction to that?

[07:29:48] KINGSTON: Well, it's a good statement. I understand where Secretary Kerry is coming from, but he's one of the authors of this flawed agreement. Under this agreement, Iran still has access to its Uranium. They have the plutonium-producing heavy water reactor. They have not allowed full access to the inspectors. And so, I think what President Trump has done is he said, listen, there's a way to split the baby, I'm going to throw this back to Congress.

[07:30:12] And I'm also going to bring in the fact that they're doing other activities outside this agreement that are harmful not just to the region but to the world.

Terrorism and going into Yemen and backing Assad in Syria and pursuing ballistic missiles. All these things are of great concern to the world. And so, I think what Trump has said is look, we're going to look at sanctions for the Islamic revolutionary guard. We are going to look at potential sanctions about these other activities but we're also going to make sure that the Atomic -- International Atomic Energy Agency has access to the military sites and anywhere else that they need to go to make sure Iran is not pursuing all these nukes.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: All right, I want to talk about the terrorism element there because that was intentionally set aside. This was a deal specifically about the potential for Iran to get a nuclear weapon but Jen, to you, I don't know even any of the people who support this deal who said that this was perfect. Can it be improved and through this process?

JENNIFER PSAKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You're absolutely right, and no diplomatic negotiation results in a perfect outcome for either side. And certainly, if we could have addressed ballistic missiles, we would have. But the problem -- the big question here I should say is whether we're better off with or without the deal, Victor.

And before the deal, we had no visibility into what Iran was doing. What activities they were taking place on the ground. They were two months away from acquiring a bomb. Now, they're a year away and we know exactly what they're doing and we have an international monitors that were on the ground and able to see what they are doing.

So, I think the problem here is not whether we should be addressing ballistic missiles, whether we should be addressing our human rights abuses. There are significant sanctions, severe sanctions in place to address exactly those issues. But whether we should keep the deal and ripping up the deal actually hurts our leverage on those other issues that we all agree we should be addressing.

BLACKWELL: Hey Congressman, let me get to one of the elements that the President has been dissatisfied with and I understand this team of Tom Corker -- Tom Cotton and Bob Corker in the Senate. They working on these sunset provisions in the 2030s. There are some provisions that (INAUDIBLE) Edwards would suggest a expire. This is what President Obama said in 2015 about those provisions just to remind everyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, >> It is true that some of the limitations regarding Iran's peaceful program last only 15 years. But that's how arms control agreements work. The first all treaty with the Soviet Union lasted five years. The first start treaty lasted 15years. And in our current situation, if 15 or 20 years from now Iran tries to build a bomb, this deal ensures that the United States will have better tools to detect it. A stronger basis under international law to respond and the same options available to stop a weapons program as we have today. Including if necessary military options.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, what about that? The stall treaty back in the 70s, that one was five years, the start treaty and George H. W. Bush administration was 15 years. Isn't this just how this works?

KINGSTON: You know, if you look at what President Clinton said in 1993, 1994 when he was negotiating the North Korean agreement which is very, very similar, in fact, eerie in terms of being so similar to the current agreement with Iran. It was the same thing that North Korea would get out of the nuclear business as respects weapons. They would only pursue it for electricity for the good of the people. They would be a wide open for anybody wants to come and inspect. And I think that's where we are right now with Iran. We're fooling ourselves if we don't take a lesson learned in North Korea (INAUDIBLE).

BLACKWELL: But, Congressman, let me ask you this. OK. So, the lesson learned in North Korea. What's the evidence that sanctions will work against Iran? It didn't work before the nuclear deal. Sanctions aren't working with North Korea, is none of this happens in a silo? Is that not the lesson from the U.S. Interactions with North Korea that sanctions won't work?

KINGSTON: Well, I actually believe that sanctions were working which is why Iran came to the table because these were sanctions, by the way, that were passed by the U.S. Congress, not by the White House. They weren't the ones pushing. It was Congress that was pushing the sanctions and I think they had a huge role in it.

But I think going back now and saying, we're going to put on some sanctions as respect the pursuit of ballistic missiles and you're backing of Assad in Syria. But we're also got -- were very worried about the sunset provisions in this. And so, I think that what Cotton is saying and Corker and I believe it's going to be a bipartisan effort to say, when these sunset provisions expire, you will have already had access to nuclear weapons or nuclear devices.

And the International Atomic Energy Agency has said, we can't confirm that they're not pursuing nuclear devices right now. I think all that is very scary. So, that's why, I believe throwing it back to Capitol, in a one thing Jen had -- Jen had said, he's not tearing up this bill.

[07:35:29] BLACKWELL: He is not tearing up the bill.

KINGSTON: But he still would have done that yesterday, he (INAUDIBLE) at the Congress.

BLACKWELL: Let's actually remind people if we have that sound bite goes with the President said, when he was a candidate, about what he do with the nuclear deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This deal if I win will be a totally different deal which will be a totally different deal.

My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.

I'll make it much, much better. I will renegotiate that deal --

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Yet, this is not that, Jen. What's your degree of confident that Congress will come up -- come to some consensus on what to do moving forward?

PSAKI: Well, first it's important to note that Trump also said yesterday that if Congress did not act he left open the option to unilaterally remove the United States from the deal. So, that is the same as ripping up the deal. What Congress is talking about now, what Corker is talking about is putting a bill in place that would actually violate the terms of the deal because it would put new sanctions in place.

That means the United States would be the out liar from the rest of the world. From Europe, from China, from Russia, from Iran. And as John Kerry said in his statement, why would we be trusted to negotiate deals in the future but it also leaves us in the place where we would be violating the deal and we would be the ones destroying the nuclear deal. I don't think that's the place where we want to be in the world.

BLACKWELL: All right, Jen Psaki, Jack Kingston, thank you so much for being a part of this conversation.

PSAKI: Thank you.

KINGSTON: Thank you, Vic.

BLACKWELL: All right, Christi?

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: Yes, we're watching the chaos in California as these deadly wildfires burn Wine Country to the ground, it seems. Look at some of the pictures we're getting in. We have new video for you and there is a desperate search for survivors this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, mortgage rates were mixed this week. Here's a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:43] BLACKWELL: The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office released this traumatic body camera footage of rescuers braving the massive infernos in Northern California calling it five minutes in hell. It shows the deputy running through ash and looking for survivors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON CUTTING, DEPUTY SHERIFF, SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: There's a house on fire. Let's go. You got to get her up, you got to get her up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Help.

CUTTING: OK, hold on, here we go. OK, watch your leg, watch your leg, watch your leg. Watch your leg, watch your leg. Sir, you got to go! Please don't hit me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: All right. So, you can hear the desperation on an officer's voice there. I mean, these folks are struggling to breathe in that thick smoke and ash that they have. This is the deadliest wildfire in the State's history. 36 people in four Counties have already been killed since the wildfires began just a week ago and right now first responders are searching what left up there of nearly 6,000 destroyed homes and businesses.

They're looking for survivors, any progress in containing the flames though, that's about to be reversed because there are intense winds coming their way this weekend that have already started actually.

CNN's Ryan young is from -- live for us from Santa Rosa, California. So, we know that there are still -- and this is what's disturbing -- hundreds of people that are missing there.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, still hundreds of people missing, you were talking about more than 200 people, that's the part that's really breathtaking, Christi and Victor. The idea that so many people could be missing and they're saying some people will have to be identified by not only their dental records but maybe medical identifications of once they go through rubble. Just like the ones that's behind me.

I can tell you those fires are still raging, more than 8,000 firefighters are out there battling the fire as we speak. Just over that bridge over there, there's actually an active fire. You can't see it in the camera, unfortunately, because of all the lights concentrated on me. But it is still an active situation, we even had a helicopter pass over our head just in the last past five minutes or so. We wanted to sway the air quality there, as part of the reason why I'm wearing the mask.

You can see the particles in the air, there's just ash everywhere and it just rains down upon you. We also wanted to show you the video of us with firefighters yesterday, they are battling this. We talked to them, a lot of them very young and they are very ready to go fight the fires. One guy telling me, look, we've been fighting for four days. We want to be here, we want to be the guys who knock out one of these fires. And you could see them as their doing their back run. So, we got up close to them, talking to them about the idea that they wanted to be there.

One man was telling us he was a firefighter for 31 years and he was happy to be back working with the guys. And the reason why they're all pushing so hard is because they want to stop scenes just like this behind me. Because when you look here you get a chance to see the destruction that has been left behind. This was an entire neighborhood on a mountainside, just a gorgeous views but unfortunately, this is what's been left behind.

And when you think about today, the wind that is still picking up here, there have been some strong winds even our lights have been push down at one point. We, of course, are all watching out for each other. Bill Curcos (ph), my producer, Mike (INAUDIBLE) my photographer. For the same time, you realize it's going to be a very long day.

[07:45:09] BLACKWELL: A very long week. Ryan Young, their force in Santa Rosa, California, thanks so much.

PAUL: Well, after major losses on health care, Congress now looks to pass tax reform. Republicans say it's going to help the middle class. Can they get it done this year though? We're going to ask one of those Republican Congressmen, right after the break, stay close.

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PAUL: About Staying Well. We're taking a look at why adults who play more stay healthier.

BOWEN WHITE, M.D. NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR PLAY: When we were born, we came into the world and we knew how to play. Play is what kids don't have to be taught. Creating something that's so engaging and so interesting, losing track of time, that's the adult version of it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all remember playing kickball from P.E. when we were in grade school. It brings you back to a little bit of your childhood. I'm a mortgage banker and each day has its own deadlines and timelines that can calls for a very, very stressful day or week and kickball is a good way to relieve that.

WHITE: The workplaces where people have fun working together, they do better work. What you get from the culture is work's important, more is better, so we don't honor the fun factor. Play is a great stress management tool, your blood pressure goes down, you release dopamine. It allows us to connect better with people. Their family systems were people have fun together, they played together, they're healthier family systems.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being outside, playing with your friend, you're kind of forget everything else. You're not thinking about whatever personal things might be doing on in your life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get excited I'm going to see my friends. There's just something about that cohesion that I don't think you can create it anywhere else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good game. Good game.

ANNOUNCER: Staying Well, brought to you by Aleve. Just one pill for 12 hours of pain relief.

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[07:51:17] President Trump now facing criticism from members of his own party for ending government subsidies that help low-income people buy health insurance. To move which Democrats calls fight full and pointless means the Congress is scrambling to figure out how or if they're going be able to replace these critical funds Republican Representative John Faso, from New York -- with us now He's a member a member of the House Budget Committee. Representative Faso, thank you so much for being with us. Does Congress have a plan --

REP. JOHN FASO, (R-NY) HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE: Thank you very much, good morning.

PAUL: Thank you. Does Congress have a plan to help those lower- income families?

FASO: Yes. I mean, many of us are part of the Problem Solvers Caucus in the House and the Senate. And what we're trying to do is make sure that we can fund those subsidies. But also make some fundamental reforms in the affordable care act that will help small business provide lower cost health insurance for their employees. It's critical to note that the subsidies under affordable care act were ruled illegal because President Obama and his administration had moved money in a way that was not constitutional.

So, the President Trump's move in saying, cutting off these subsidies. It's a little more complicated than what the Democrats are representing because Congress does have to appropriate these funds. It had not previously done that. So, what's incumbent upon us actually to fix these problems and to appropriate these funds? But also as part of the Problem Solvers Caucus that I'm a part of, a bipartisan group. We want to make other changes that will make health insurance more affordable particularly for small business. So, let's two both things at once.

PAUL: I want to talk about something the President just tweeted. He said, very proud of my executive order which will allow greatly expanded access in far lower cost for health care. Millions of people benefit but by eliminating the subsidies to help lower-income families, unless Congress does something, they're going to be left in the dark. So, how is this benefitting them?

FASO: Well, there again, these are two different things or two different groups of people we're talking about. The subsidies, the so-called CSR's that the President caught off funding for, that has to be appropriated by Congress, and that goes to certain people who are low income.

What the President's executive order does, it attempts to resurrect something called association health plans, allowing small businesses to groups together so that they can acquire more insurance options for their employees. That something the affordable care act eliminated unwisely in my view. And we need to allow those association health plans to come forward because all one size does not fit all, either in shoes or in health insurance.

And so, the President is trying to spur the association health plans, bring those back to life. I think that's a good thing. But at the same time, we should take care of the subsidies that go for lower income people so that they can afford the premiums and deductibles.

PAUL: So, how do you do that? Where does that money come from?

FASO: Well, the Congress has to appropriate it.

PAUL: From?

FASO: And it's something -- it's something that the Congress has been -- it's been -- that money has been spent by the federal government over the last number of years. So, the money is in the -- the money is in the budget but we have to specifically appropriate that money because, again, President Obama's action was ruled unconstitutional and illegal.

PAUL: Right. It was, you're right by a federal court. You're right, it was. I -- if I just have a couple of minutes here left and I do want to get to one thing. I want to come to tax reform because I know that you're looking forward to that on the itinerary as well. You spoke to CNBC a couple weeks ago and you said this. We shouldn't have double taxation. The amount that people pay to their State, their local government, their school districts, shouldn't be subject to federal taxation. How is this bill that is being proposed now going to be the big win if people are being double taxed?

[07:55:13] FASO: Well, what we have to do -- we have to fill in the blanks. The framework which a lot of people are operating off of now leaves many details unanswered. So, many of us from States like New York and California, Illinois, New Jersey have concerns because we have high tax States. And our folks are accustom to deducting the cost of their State and local taxes, especially their property taxes. So, we're working with the tax-writing committee, Kevin Brady and other leaders in the Congress to try to accommodate the needs that our States have. Because right now there are more questions and answers on the tax bill. But we do need tax reform because we need to get a greater economic growth in our country. And that's the overriding issue.

PAUL: Can you get it done, can you get it done, this year? Do you think you can get it done this year?

FASO: I think we -- I think we can and frankly, I want us to get it done because we've got to make sure that when 2018 comes, people are able to start lowering their taxes --

PAUL: OK.

FASO: -- in January, and that's the critical thing.

PAUL: Republican Representative John Faso, from New York, we appreciate your time. Thank you, Congressman.

FASO: Thank you very much.

PAUL: Sure. We'll be right back.

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