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Trump Bashes Puerto Rico, Brags Federal Help; Puerto Ricans Responds to Trump's Twitter Attack; HHS Secretary Resigns Amid Private Jet Scandal; More Americans Say Athletes Should Stand for Anthem; Ex- CIA Agent Lured His Son Into Spying for Russia. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired September 30, 2017 - 20:00   ET

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


[20:00:12] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you for being here. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

Breaking news tonight. President Trump attacking the Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico for, quote, poor leadership after she begged for more federal help to help save people from dying in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

CNN's Anderson Cooper has just spoken to that Mayor. We will bring you that in just a moment.

But, first, President Trump is saying the federal response is going great, but here is the reality on the ground 10 days after the storm.

Ninety-five percent of the people don't have power. Only 50 percent have access to clean water. And communication remains a major problem with only 11 percent of cell towers working.

Now, the President, who is set to visit Puerto Rico on Tuesday, tweeted this from his private golf club.

The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complementary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump. Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan and others in Puerto Rico who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort.

Ten thousand federal workers now on the island doing a fantastic job. Results of recovery efforts will speak much louder than complaints by San Juan Mayor. Doing everything we can to help great people of P.R.

Now, the Mayor responded by saying: the goal is one, saving lives. This is a time to show our true colors. We cannot be distracted by anything else.

CNN's Anderson Cooper is joining us now from San Juan.

Anderson, you just spoke to Mayor Cruz. What did she say?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I did. I spoke to her right outside the building where she is based in San Juan. She clearly wants to try to move on from this. She doesn't want to get into a tit for tat with the President of the

United States, but she did respond to my questions. Here is part of that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: You woke up this morning to tweets from the President of the United States. What did you make of what he said?

MAYOR CARMEN YULIN CRUZ, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO: I smiled. I smiled, really. I have no time for small politics or for comments that really don't add to the situation here.

COOPER: He said that -- he talked about you, your leadership, and he said they -- I don't know if he meant they, the leaders, or they, the people of Puerto Rico, want everything done for them.

CRUZ: I believe it -- you know, it was kind of funny because I got them real later -- late because we don't have internet. It's spotty at best. But he did say that we wanted things to be done, and, you know, the truth is staring us in the face.

Just today, I was telling you, we had to evacuate yet another hospital because the generator caught on fire. So this is in another hospital that will not be able to work for another week. We transported 14 patients from one of our facilities.

The dam in the eastern part of the island is two towns -- for the first time that I know of in my lifetime in Puerto Rico, two towns are being completely evacuated.

People are still coming and saying -- the mayor of San Lorenzo, the mayor of Comerio, the mayor of Ponse, the mayor of Loiza are saying, you know, where's the help? We need it. Please, help us.

COOPER: Do you feel that your speaking out has been effective?

CRUZ: I don't know. But if it has, you know, good.

COOPER: The President also said in a tweet early this morning that you had been nice to him early on, but that Democrats told you, you have to be nasty toward him.

CRUZ: You know, I don't know. Maybe he's used to women who have to be told what to do. You know, that's not who we are here in San Juan. But really, you know --

COOPER: And have Democrats said anything to you --

CRUZ: No.

COOPER: -- about how you should treat him?

CRUZ: Not at all. Actually, I am not a Democrat. I share values with the Democratic Party in the United States, but I do not participate in the Democratic Party. So it's interesting. COOPER: You also --

CRUZ: Senator Marco Rubio sent representatives to here, so he -- he's not a Democrat. And I just think he's looking for an excuse for things that are not going well.

COOPER: Brock Long, the FEMA administrator, has said today about you --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: I'm sorry. I had a problem there with the end of the tape. But I was asking her about comments that Brock Long, the FEMA administrator, had said that she -- that there's a unified command and that's essential to organization here, and that she needs to go to the joint field office and basically kind of get linked in on what's going on.

[20:04:59] She certainly, you know, took issue with that. She says she has -- she is at a separate building, a separate office, than the rest of the government offices, the FEMA response. She said she has two FEMA envoys who are based in her office, and she felt that was satisfactory.

CABRERA: So, Anderson, I know you spent a lot of time today, beyond talking with the Mayor of San Juan, you've gone to some of the other parts of Puerto Rico who have been affected, talking to those folks in those places. Are they still feeling that they are waiting for the help they need?

COOPER: Absolutely. I mean, I think everybody is waiting in one sense or another. People are waiting on long gas lines. People are waiting for fuel. People are waiting at ATMs because there's a shortage of cash, and they're desperate for cash because they can't buy things with credit cards in any places or with food stamps.

People are waiting to get more supplies, waiting for stores to open so that they can use what cash they have to actually buy goods. So there is a lot of waiting, and there's certainly a lot of frustration.

People are, you know, friendly and calm and being extraordinarily patient. I was in a Aguadilla, a town all the way on the west -- the western end of Puerto Rico today, and they're -- you know, they say they've had some FEMA people there who were basically kind of there to see what the needs of the community may be. They've gone to the hospital as well.

I talked to the hospital administrator. He said he finally got the Army there yesterday, brought -- filled them up with diesel fuel, which he was very grateful for. But he's very concerned about the safety of his patients.

There were some New York City Fire Department guys there who on their own, basically, had requisitioned some supplies, gotten a truck, and driven it to this town. And they were handing out MREs, and those were volunteers from the New York Fire Department. So, you know, people are grateful, but, you know, the idea that, you

know, the President saying communities need to be involved, I can tell you, from what I saw today and from what I've seen yesterday as well, communities are involved here.

It's communities who are cleaning up the streets. It's communities who are clearing the roads. It is communities who are cooking. You know, a group of people on a street are cooking in a house and feeding the people on that block as best they can. So the idea that communities are just sitting around is just simply not accurate.

CABRERA: I know you've been speaking with first responders. And what is their feeling and your understanding of where the gaps are right now, the reason why they aren't able to help more people more quickly? Is it sheer numbers that are lacking?

COOPER: You know, look, they're certainly helping people, and they're -- you know, they're doing incredibly important work, and it's, logistically, a difficult thing. But, you know, this notion that all the roads are blocked and therefore that's a big thing, that's really not the case anymore.

The roads to a lot of places are open. Like this fire -- these guys from the New York City Fire Department, they were able to get a truck of supplies in, really, on their own, and they were handing out. This was not a FEMA-authorized operation.

And I've talked to a number of first responds today, about six of them talking off the record. And each of them, in separate places, said to me in different ways but using quite strong language that the organizational structure that they -- as they have seen, and these are guys at probably the bottom of the food chains.

These are not leaders of the relief efforts. These are people who are here volunteering, who want to, you know, get out there, who want to do everything they can do, and use their skills.

They're not able to get out. Many of them say -- of the ones who talked to me today said that they've been sitting around for days, just waiting for, you know, orders of where to go and what to do. And, you know, some of them are just kind of trying to volunteer and do whatever they can and take matters into their own hands and cut through the bureaucracy.

But there's a lot of frustration, you know. And the word, the phrase, I kept hearing all day was effed up from these first responders.

CABRERA: That speaks to the frustration indeed. Anderson Cooper, thank you for that report. Thank you for getting us that reaction, as well, from the Mayor.

Now, in the last 24 hours, reporting on this Puerto Rico crisis got personal and emotional for CNN Correspondent Leyla Santiago. She is a Puerto Rico native, born and raised there on the island. Leyla's family still lives in a small town nestled near the mountains. Now, days ago, when Hurricane Maria struck, it battered Leyla's

hometown with devastating force. This is Corozal, Puerto Rico. Homes there destroyed, power lines knocked over, water is still scarce.

Leyla's family is OK. Her hometown is not. This is the moment she heard her family say, we survived.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is relief, seeing my family in Corozal for the first time, hearing them tell me they're OK.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SANTIAGO: That's the relief I found in this small town, but it's far from the relief needed on this island.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:10:00] CABRERA: I want to bring in Leyla Santiago in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

And, Leyla, what a beautiful reunion we just saw there with your family. Tell me, how is your family holding up?

SANTIAGO: Well, Ana, I actually haven't been able to communicate with them since I left that part because communication still very much an issue. The island only has, as you mentioned, 30 percent of the communication infrastructure restored. So still a hard -- or just a challenge to reach family members.

After I left, that was it. I haven't been able to call them, cannot reach them still to this point. But I'll tell you what I did see today that was very heart warming.

I, just like Anderson, saw quite a bit of people, Puerto Ricans helping Puerto Ricans. I watched as aid was distributed, and it wasn't, in any way, from the government.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANTIAGO (voice-over): She may need a walker and has an extra load, but the walk home is the easy part for Aracelis Negron. The 62-year- old was first in line for help when this package arrived in Toa Baja.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SANTIAGO (on camera): She says she doesn't know what's in the box yet, but she knows that it's a blessing.

A blessing but it's not from the federal government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just got to make sure that people get the food in their hand.

SANTIAGO (voice-over): Rather a super star who calls Puerto Rico home. Musician Daddy Yankee and a food bank.

Do you feel the government's doing enough?

DADDY YANKEE, MUSICIAN: No, I don't think so. I don't think so. And that's real. You know, there's no time to play politics right now. This is a chaos. We are struggling right now.

SANTIAGO (voice-over): Struggling is exactly how Edwin de Jesus describes it.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SANTIAGO (on camera): When Hurricane Maria whipped through town, he said he was able to get one pant, two shirts, and the radio he's got right now.

He's also one of the lucky ones to receive a box, each with a week's worth of food. The food bank says this load from private donors is enough for 4,000 families.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SANTIAGO (on camera): He says this is good because, at least, the help is arriving now.

Beyond this, the only other help residents tell us they've seen here, 10 days after Maria struck he --

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SANTIAGO (on camera): She says some water has arrived here as aid, but that's it. She hasn't seen anything else. That's why she was first in line to get these boxes.

For many, these boxes bring home a bit of hope.

Aracelis doesn't understand English, so I'm going to read to her what this says. It said, better days are coming. Be brave and stay strong.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SANTIAGO (on camera): And she adds, and have faith. Faith that more help like these will get here soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANTIAGO: And, again, Ana, all of that coming from private donations. Puerto Ricans going out into communities and delivering them themselves. I did see some of the members of the National Guard out there. They were from the Puerto Rican National Guard.

And, again, I was told water had been distributed. But none of that, none of that aid that you saw there, came from the government. So it's easy to understand why so many seemed a little shocked, seem a little frustrated, when they are told that they expect everything to be handed to them.

CABRERA: Leyla Santiago, thank you for that report. Good to see how people are coming together there, helping each other, doing the best they can.

President Trump tweeting again about Puerto Rico just a short time ago, writing, I will be in Puerto Rico on Tuesday to further ensure we will continue doing everything possible to assist and support the people in their time of great need.

Now, the first lady, we are learning, will accompany the President on that trip. CNN's Ryan Nobles is near the Trump golf resort in New Jersey where the first family is spending this week.

And, Ryan, President Trump has been tweeting a lot today, but there was a period for about six hours or so when he didn't post anything. Do we know what he was doing during that time?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: No, we don't, Ana. And you're right, the President was busy today but those of us in the press corps that are here with the express purpose of making sure that what we -- we know what he's up to today, we never laid eyes on the President. Or we were never given access to him at all today.

But we did read the 18 different tweets that he sent out about Puerto Rico. And you're right, there was a six-hour period where he stopped sending out those tweets. It was a little after 8:00 and then a little after 2:00 before he started tweeting again.

Now, we know in the 2:00 hour that he spent some time on the phone with five different leaders from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, getting a sense of exactly what is going on in that region.

[20:15:06] Now, we expressly asked, did the President golf today? He was at his private golf resort for the third consecutive weekend. His aides could not tell us one way or another if that's how the President spent his day. So all we know for sure was that he spent some of his time tweeting about the situation in Puerto Rico, Ana.

CABRERA: And, Ryan, I understand Vice President Mike Pence just commented on the President's assessment of the disaster. What did he say?

NOBLES: That's right. Vice President Mike Pence was touring FEMA headquarters today. He did a local interview with a station out of Orland, Florida, and he backed up the President and, specifically, his criticism of the Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz.

And this is what Pence had to say. He said, quote, well, it is frustrating, I expect, to millions of Americans to hear rhetoric coming out from some in Puerto Rico, particularly the Mayor of San Juan, instead of focusing on results.

Our joint field operation is at -- beside of a convention center in San Juan has more than 1,000 personnel working out off a football field environment. The Mayor of San Juan has only visited our joint field operation just once.

And the Vice President also saying that he will visit the U.S. Virgin Islands sometime next week. So the White House busy defending its response to the situation in Puerto Rico, Ana.

CABRERA: All right. Ryan Nobles for us. Thank you.

Coming up, Puerto Rico crying for help. Why is President Trump praising his response to the disaster while residents there are suffering?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It hurts.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You can't even believe what's happening here. I mean, she's -- there's no power. There's no water.

She's a diabetic. She doesn't have insulin. She has an infection that could threaten her life. No ambulance will take her to the hospital.

That's what's happening here.

COOPER: A lot of people can't even bring their cars here. They're just waiting in line in person with as many gas cans as they can. But this line, there are dozens of people, and it stretches all the way down here. And a lot of people here have been waiting for hours as well.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is their improvised method for trying to reach the outside world. We just spoke with a couple who had crossed this way and then walked two hours to the nearest supermarket to try to get bread and food and rice for their children and then had to walk two hours back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:21:25] CABRERA: Puerto Ricans are reacting to President Trump's Twitter attack on the Mayor of San Juan and his comments that the people of Puerto Rico, quote, want everything to be done for them. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's ridiculous. We don't -- we needed help, and he denied help. He denied us help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Trump is wrong in criticizing the mayor. I mean, the Mayor is reacting to a very chaotic situation in Puerto Rico. Unless you're here, you don't really know what's going on. If he's not here, he shouldn't be criticizing the community efforts. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you know, Trump has his way of saying

things. Sometimes he's right, but the way he says it hurts people, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, I'm very happy that he's coming and seeing what we're going through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN Contributor Lieutenant General Russel Honore is joining us now from San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is the author of the book, "Leadership in the New Normal."

General, you commanded the military response to Katrina in Louisiana. You've been on the ground there now in Puerto Rico for a couple of days. What's your assessment of the federal government's response to Hurricane Maria?

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE (RET.), UNITED STATES ARMY: We still have a lot to do to get the enablers up, the gasoline stations, the cell towers, and the food distribution and the medical. There's still more capacity needed on the ground.

And the people are basically taking care of themselves. I mean, if you give the federal government credit for having 15,000 people here, you got 4.3 million people and the loss of life has been saved by people helping people.

I got good news today, though, Ana. Just a few minutes ago, I got a text from a Vice President at AT&T. Tomorrow, they're going to be flying in some portable towers that are being brought in by the military. That's the enablers.

The military is doing their job. They're going to build this thing up. And the fact is they put one in today and had 100,000 calls in a matter of a couple hours.

CABRERA: Yes.

HONORE: So getting the communications up in the far out places is a challenge, but it's coming up and it's going to take time. And the other issue, we got to get the drivers secure, so they'll leave the port.

The street intelligence is two things. The drivers want a security guard with them. The other one is they were negotiating with the union until they get the security guard. That issue needs to be solved.

We got about 2,000 federal agents down here. A quick fix would put them on those drivers, and let's get that stuff into the warehouses.

CABRERA: I'm so glad to hear that good news you brought us about AT&T and the plans for improving the communications there.

I want to take you through some of the numbers, some of the latest information out of Puerto Rico. Ninety-five percent still without power, about 50 percent still without water. Only 11 percent of cell towers functioning. Hopefully, that number balloons soon.

Meantime, 60 percent of gas stations are now operating and providing fuel, and 49 percent of grocery and big box stores are now open. Those numbers from FEMA.

Is that, General, what you would expect 10 days after the storm?

HONORE: I think it is what it is at this time. We got to look forward and apply all the energy we can from the government to get those enablers in. Because if people got gas, they'll go to work.

Just today, I went in and did a reconnaissance around the tourist district because we couldn't get to the airport because we didn't have gas for a car to take me out there. That being said, that street walk was very informative.

I went to the Walgreens. They had just closed. Why? Because the employees said they have to close at 4:00 so they can get home before curfew. I did the same thing to another store next door.

[20:25:05] We have to end the curfew here. You can't do a recovery and a search and rescue missions in daylight hours. You got to work 24 hours a day to get those gas stations full because the average worker don't want to get caught out after curfew.

And I plead with local government, the mayors, and with the Puerto Rican government, to move on and end these curfews so we could get 24 hours a day work done.

The other thing I was impressed with, I ran into a local leader here of the district, the community leader, and they've cleared the streets here themselves. So a lot of that work is going on, and we got a lot more to do.

The other thing is, I talked to a gentleman, and it's indicative of what happened after every disaster.

CABRERA: What's that?

HONORE: He wants to start working and cleaning the outlying debris. He's not certified with FEMA. He doesn't have a DOD's number. We're going to have to do this locally and put 40 percent of the population who's not at work at work.

But we're not -- won't do it the way they do contracts with the co- engineers and with FEMA. You have to let the local governments issue local contracts, so they can get this work done. We will not get it done like we do it in the mainland.

CABRERA: All right. We will be watching, waiting, and eager to hear the update again soon. Lieutenant General Russel Honore, thank you for your time.

Coming up, paying the price. The Health and Human Services Secretary resigns under fire, but he is not the only Trump cabinet member with a taste for private jets. What does it all mean for the President's pledge to drain the swamp? We'll discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:31:04] CABRERA: We're getting new details now about the events that led to the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. CNN has learned that despite calling him a good man, Trump was furious at him for his use of expensive private jets and told aides he thought what Price did was stupid.

Now, what made things worse, Price offered to reimburse taxpayers for only a fraction of the flight's total million-dollar costs, leading to yet more questions and more outrage. As one GOP congressional aide told CNN, you are never going to survive with this president if you're clogging up cable with that headline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you lost confidence in Secretary Price?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is not a question of confidence. I was disappointed because I didn't like it cosmetically or otherwise. I was disappointed. So I don't like to see somebody that perhaps there's the perception that it wasn't right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining me now is CNN senior political commentator and former senior adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod.

David, great to have you with us. Now, aside from Price, three other cabinet members of this administration have come under scrutiny for spending big bucks on their use of private or military flights. That's despite this promise that then-candidate Trump made during the campaign. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When it comes to Washington, D.C., it is time to drain the damn swamp. Drain the swamp.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We're going to drain the swamp of Washington. We're going to have fun doing it.

When we win on November 8th, we are going to drain the swamp.

CROWD: Drain the swamp.

TRUMP: We are going to drain the swamp of government corruption in Washington, D.C.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: It is time to drain the swamp.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So it was pretty clear what he was going to do. How do you think this plays with Trump's base?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, not well. This is something that everybody can see and relate to, this kind of lifestyles of the rich and famous on the expense of taxpayers. And really, I don't know that dealing with Price is enough. I believe that they need to promulgate some pretty tough rules and regs about how planes are used and requisition.

You know, I spoke to a former cabinet member in the Obama administration who is nonplussed by all this and said the only way we could get a military plane is if we could prove that there was absolutely no other way that we could get to someplace we absolutely had to be.

That wasn't -- that clearly wasn't the case in Price's case. The White House would have had to approve the use of military planes. That's true in these other cases as well. They need to set out a really firm policy about how they're going to move forward in the future.

CABRERA: Do you think Trump supporters will blame the President?

AXELROD: Well, his base is pretty loyal. I think they're more likely to be angry at Price and the others for jeopardizing the President than they are to be angry at the President.

But the country's larger than just the president's supporters, and there are people who aren't necessarily in one camp or other camp or are soft Trump supporters who are going to be deeply, deeply disappointed about this.

And it would be smart of him to deal with this as an issue and not just as the problem with one personality.

CABRERA: Now, when you take a look back at all we've discussed, it has been kind of a rough week for this administration, starting with that NFL anthem protest fight. There was, of course, the failure of the GOP health care plan that was mixed in between all of this. The plane controversy. What do you make of the week that was?

AXELROD: Well, let's be clear. I don't think the President views the anthem imbroglio as a bad thing for him. He precipitated it for a reason.

[20:35:05] He knew that he had other events that were going to happen this week, that he was probably going to lose the health care fight, that he was most likely going to lose the Alabama Senate race, that these would be viewed as defeats for him, and he wanted to change the subject. And he very successfully did change the subject.

Now, his handling of Puerto Rico seems to me to be a really substantive problem for the administration. I think back to Hurricane Katrina when another president said, you're doing a heck of a job, brownie, to his FEMA director in the midst of the disaster of Katrina, and end up paying a big price for it.

I think the President's slowness to react to the gravity and the desperation of the situation in Puerto Rico was the worst thing that happened to him this week because it goes to the fundamental competence of this administration. And in the minds of some Americans, it goes to whether he views what happens to American citizens in Puerto Rico differently than he views what happens to citizens in Houston or in Miami.

CABRERA: All right. David Axelrod, thank you, as always.

Coming up, is President Trump winning fight with the NFL over the national anthem? A new CNN poll has some revealing numbers ahead of another football Sunday.

Plus, the Mayor of San Juan goes one-on-one with CNN's Anderson Cooper after being attacked by President Trump on Twitter today for poor leadership. How she's responding, next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:40:35] CABRERA: President Trump is doubling down in his public battle with the NFL. He just tweeted this, this evening.

Very important that NFL players stand tomorrow and always for the playing of their national anthem. Respect our flag and our country.

Now, today, we are learning that more NFL teams may answer that call and stand for the anthem this weekend. Drew Brees from the Saints tweeting: as way to show respect to all, our Saints team will kneel in solidarity prior to the national anthem and stand together during the anthem.

Now, a new CNN poll shows that more Americans think these athletes should stand. Overall, 49 percent of Americans say the players are wrong to protest during the national anthem. Forty-three percent say it's the right thing to do.

Joining us now, former NFL player and retired Green Beret Nate Boyer.

Nate, thanks so much. You got player Colin Kaepernick to go from sitting to kneeling during the anthem.

Now, the cover of the new "TIME Magazine" is depicting President Trump as an inflatable tackling bag with the title, "Why Always Bounces Back."

Nate, is the President right on this one? Is more of the country with him on this issue?

NATE BOYER, FORMER NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYER: I mean, it's -- first of all, it's not a right or wrong thing. It's not, is it right to do to stand and wrong to kneel or vice versa. Like, we're getting so in the weeds on that.

I mean, it's definitely -- and it's not -- and I also think it's not necessarily disrespectful. They're not disrespecting the flag or the anthem. They're demonstrating about something else during that time.

So we have to understand that. We've got to get past that. I agree in the sense that I think we should all stand, personally, because of my experiences, but these guys have a message.

All these players, most of these guys that are leading the way are very read up on this issue and very intelligent on this issue and are passionate and feel strongly about it. So I will always support our rights as Americans regardless of whether I agree with them or not and -- but I think that unity is the key. The NFL did show quite a bit of unity last week.

And I do like personally seeing, you know, that maybe taking that knee as a group before the anthem itself and then standing for the anthem like Drew Brees is saying there, I think that's a good call.

CABRERA: Now, I want to play you something the President said this week on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have so many friends that are owners and they're in a box. I mean, I've spoken to a couple of them. They say we are in a situation where we have to do something. I think they're afraid of their players, if you want to know the truth. And I think it's disgraceful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And most of the players, as we all know, are African- American. Do you believe that comment was a dog whistle to his base as others have suggested?

BOYER: I mean, I don't know. I'm proud of a lot of the owners from this last week because they were down on the field, many of them embracing their teammates, arm in arm, locked. Some of them taking a knee along with the team before the anthem.

And just seeing that, because the short time I spent in the league and just, you know, my limited knowledge of it, there are so many instances where the players and ownership, the organization, just don't really communicate well. They don't really get along.

And to see them sort of come together for that, I feel like it's brought them together in a lot of ways, this whole situation. I mean, you know, Roger Goodell and D. Morrie Smith, who's the head of the NFL P.A., usually are at odds about everything. And they've been on the same page with this in trying to stay bonded as a league and come together. And I think some players are listening to others' point of views where

they haven't really before. And I think those relationships are maybe developing in those locker rooms like they haven't before through all this.

So it's very interesting. It's an interesting time for the league and for America, but I'm proud of the way the league has kind of banded together. And we're moving forward with this.

I think the owners and players are communicating on a different level, probably not in every circumstance but in most cases like they haven't before.

CABRERA: Nate, very quickly, do you think, at the end of all of this, we'll see Kaepernick hired because, in part, of the attention that's been drawn to this issue?

BOYER: I'm not sure. I mean, that's a tough one. He's absolutely qualified as far as a player. You know, the fear from these owners, I believe, in the organizations is, you know, they see him as a backup quarterback right now.

[20:44:59] And usually a backup quarterback doesn't garner this much attention or in a lot of cases, what they may feel is a distraction or someone, you know, they worry their fan base will fear having on a team like them and they don't want to lose those people. They don't want to lose that viewership.

And so that's where that worry is in signing him. I think it's much more that than -- or blackballing him because of his beliefs or we don't think he's capable. I think it's just that worry of the bottom line because, at the end of the day, it is a business.

CABRERA: That's right. Nate Boyer, thank you so much for your perspective, and thank you for your service.

Now, yesterday, the Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico begged for help. Today, she woke up to attacks from President Trump. Anderson Cooper is in San Juan and just spoke to the Mayor. Find out how she is reacting, next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:50:07] CABRERA: Today, President Trump took a swing at the Mayor of San Juan, the hurricane devastated capital of Puerto Rico.

And the President posted on Twitter that Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz presented -- represented, quote, poor leadership in San Juan. That's after she made several emotional pleas for help, saying people were dying in her city and that federal relief was bogged down in bureaucracy.

Now, a short time ago, CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke to the mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: You woke up this morning to tweets from the President of the United States. What did you make of what he said?

CRUZ: I smiled. I smiled, really. I have no time for small politics or for comments that really don't add to the situation here.

COOPER: He said that -- he talked about you, your leadership, and he said they -- I don't know if he meant they, the leaders, or they, the people of Puerto Rico, want everything done for them.

CRUZ: I believe it -- you know, it was kind of funny because I got them real later -- late because we don't have internet. It's spotty at best. But he did say that we wanted things to be done, and, you know, the truth is staring us in the face.

Just today, I was telling you we had to evacuate yet another hospital because the generator caught on fire. So this was in another hospital that will not be able to work for another week. We transported 14 patients to one of our facilities.

The dam in the eastern part of the island is two towns -- for the first time I know of in my lifetime in Puerto Rico, two towns are being completely evacuated.

People are still coming and saying -- the mayor of San Lorenzo, the mayor of Comerio, the mayor of Ponse, the mayor of Loiza are saying, you know, where's the help? We need it. Please help us.

COOPER: Do you feel that your speaking out has been effective?

CRUZ: I don't know. But if it has, you know, good.

COOPER: The President also said in a tweet early this morning that you had been nice to him early on, but that Democrats told you, you have to be nasty toward him.

CRUZ: You know, I don't know. Maybe he's used to women who have to be told what to do, right? You know, that's not who we are here in San Juan. But really, you know --

COOPER: And have Democrats said anything to you --

CRUZ: No.

COOPER: --about how you should treat him?

CRUZ: Not at all. Actually, I am not a Democrat. I share values with the Democratic Party in the United States, but I do not participate in the Democratic Party.

COOPER: You also --

CRUZ: So it's interesting. Senator Marco Rubio sent representatives to here. So he's not a Democrat. And I just think he's looking for an excuse for things that are not going well. COOPER: Brock Long, the FEMA administrator, has said, today, about

you that there's a joint command and that's essential. There's a unified command and that there's a joint field command office and that you should go by there to kind of get clued into what's really going on.

CRUZ: Well, yesterday, after my press conference, all of a sudden, things started coming in from FEMA. And when they get me my phone, I can show you the text. I got a text saying that more supplies were coming, and all I want is more supplies, you know.

COOPER: So you feel speaking out has actually pushed FEMA to bring them in?

CRUZ: A lot of people, a lot of mayors are scared of speaking out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Our thanks to Anderson for that interview. For more information on how you can help the victims of Hurricane Maria, log on to cnn.com/impact.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:57:54] CABRERA: Welcome back. On tonight's season finale of "DECLASSIFIED," it is the untold story of the hunt for a CIA officer who betrayed his country and his son for Russia. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCCLURC, FORMER DEPUTY BRANCH CHIEF, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: You had this pool of unresolved polygraphs, so you want to push and get those resolved as quickly as possible.

ED CURRAN, FORMER CHIEF OF COUNTER ESPIONAGE, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: When you start from 300, it takes a long time to get down to half a dozen.

MCCLURC: Now, unfortunately, a lot of the reasons why people were having trouble with the polygraph wasn't because they were a spy. It's that they've been playing loose with the rules when they're out there in the field.

CURRAN: But it's not espionage. Are you a spy? That's all I'm interested in. I'm not going to care if you didn't pay your income tax. In 98 percent of the cases, we were able to resolve that had nothing to do with espionage.

MCCLURC: But then in the summer of 1996, out of the herd, one individual particularly emerges. That was James Harold Nicholson.

CURRAN: Nicholson had failed a polygraph, plus we was assigned to various areas where cases went bad. So he was a suspect, a strong suspect, at that time. MCCLURC: Jim Nicholson was an instructor at the CIA's training

facility, the farm.

CURRAN: He was one of the instructors to train spies, so he knew the identity of every agent that we were going to send overseas. And he could've provided this information to Russians and that's what concerned us the most.

JOHN MAGUIRE, FORMER SIS CODE OFFICER, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: When you expose a spy who is working in a hostile country that is not allied with us, for them, that's a death sentence. You're accused, you're tortured, and you're murdered.

CURRAN: His career, his experience is just devastating. Even worse than Ames. I can't believe the potential damage he could have done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: That brand-new episode of "DECLASSIFIED" airs next, right here, on CNN.

And that's going to do it for me tonight. Thank you for spending some of your weekend with us.

I'm Ana Cabrera. I'll see you back here tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Have a great night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)