Trump White House; Aftermath of Irma; Trump denies making new deal with Democrats.
LU STOUT: We are live from Hong Kong. Welcome back. This is "News Stream." U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to Florida to assess the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. But before leaving Washington, he denied claims that he has made another deal with Democrats. Democrats say Mr. Trump agreed to protect undocumented migrants who came to the United States as children. They also say he agreed to border security legislation that does not include a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. President Trumps says there was no deal, so who is telling the truth? Senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is standing by with the latest. Joe, what happened here? I mean, did President Trump strike a deal with the Democrats or not?</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, it certainly sounded at least like an agreement to agree and also seemed like it was signaling where the president was going on this issue. But this morning here in Washington, he tweeted firmly that there was no deal and that occurred after strong objection from some of the president's strongest conservative reporters.</s>JOHNS (voice-over): Democratic leaders are hailing another agreement with President Trump to protect hundreds of thousands of DREAMers from being deported in exchange for beefed-up border security. Key details about the agreement are unknown, but we do know it does not include the president's controversial border wall. House and senate Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi say, "we agree to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that's acceptable to both sides." But White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders disputes their characterization, tweeting, "while DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to." A senior administration official tells CNN the wall discussions were the same as the White House publicly suggested this week. The president will keep pushing for a wall, but it doesn't have to be part of this agreement. The framework hashed out at a White House dinner over Chinese food with Pelosi and Schumer. They were joined by eight others to discuss tax reform, DACA, and health care. Notably absent, the top Republicans in congress: the senate majority leader and the speaker of the house.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not also invite Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan?</s>SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, you've got the leader of the Republican Party sitting at the table.</s>JOHNS (voice-over): This potential deal on DREAMers comes after comes after the president infuriated his own party last week when he brokered a three- month deal to raise the debt ceiling and speed up relief funding for hurricane victims. But the president insists there's no reason to be skeptical.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: More and more, we're trying to work things out together. It's a positive thing, and it's good for the Republicans and good for the Democrats.</s>JOHNS (voice-over): The new approach a far cry from his usually harsh rhetoric.</s>TRUMP: I think the losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.</s>JOHNS: Now, about those conservative supporters and reporters would certainly include Breitbard, the conservative website here in the United States, overnight, labeling President Trump amnesty Don, two words that went viral on social media. Another conservative congressman here in Washington, Steve King, indicated that if an associated press report on this issue was true, the president's base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, disillusioned beyond repair. Kristie?</s>LU STOUT: Incredible to hear the criticism coming from Breitbart and from Trump's own base. Now, the bigger here, Joe, deal or no deal, what does it mean, this ongoing trend of Trump sidelining his own party and making deals with the Democrats? What does this mean?</s>JOHNS: Well, it's a clear indication that the president wants to get things done. He knows how difficult it has been to get signature legislation through the congress. So, it appears, number one, that he is trying to get some things done. He is also sending a very clear signal to Republicans on Capitol Hill that they need to get their act together to work with him. He has been very disappointed with both the speaker of the house and the majority leader, Mitch McConnell. So, it's a signal to them and Republicans on Capital Hill that if his own party won't work with him, he will work with the Democrats.</s>LU STOUT: Joe Johns reporting live from the White House. Thank you, Joe. Now, turning to the challenges and dangers that are just beginning in the wake of Hurricane Irma. Authorities suspect a power outage may be to blame for the death of at least eight residents of a nursing home in Florida. The home said it was prepared for the storm with a working generator and a week's worth of food and water, but it may not have been prepared for Irma to knock out the air conditioning in the oppressive heat. For three days, staff scrambled to keep the residents hydrated and cool. They were kept in hallways near portable air-conditioning units and fans. Early on Wednesday morning, the facility was finally evacuated after three calls to 911 over residents in distress. The deaths prompted checks of other nursing homes in the area as well and the criminal investigation has been launched. Over three million customers in Florida are still without power. The death toll for Hurricane Irma is now at 77. While Florida fears it could take weeks to restore power, in the Caribbean, it could take many months. On parts of the British Virgin Islands, 90 percent of the homes there are severely damaged. The U.K. has pledged $75 million in aid and hundreds of military troops and police officers. CNN's Polo Sandoval tells us how the island of Tortola is coping.</s>POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Tortola's east end was no hiding from Hurricane Irma's wrath.</s>ROBINSON GUZMAN, RESIDENT OF TORTOLA: The roof, gone. Gone.</s>SANDOVAL (voice-over): The eye of the deadly storm swept across the largest of the British Virgin Islands just over a week ago. Wicked winds consumed this once lush countryside. As Robinson Guzman describes it, it's as if a bomb went off in the middle of this Caribbean paradise.</s>GUZMAN: If I look around with a different island, it's like a fire feeling with the island. We'll lose the island. That's really terrible.</s>SANDOVAL (voice-over): This is the reality for the island of Tortola and its residents. Irma destroyed infrastructure. Critical supplies like food, water, and fuel are limited.</s>GUZMAN: We need international help because the island is destroyed completely.</s>SANDOVAL (voice-over): The damage only seems to worsen as we drive down the winding hillside roads into the island's capital. Crippled communications are sending residents to phone and internet businesses, their only hope of connecting with the outside world, picking up a wi-fi signal. Not far from here, we found one of Guzman's neighbors facing a challenge of her own.</s>SHAMMICA STEVENS, RESIDENT OF TORTOLA: Need prayers. Pray for us. Pray for us.</s>SANDOVAL (voice-over): Shammica Stevens waited hours with her son for medicine at a local hospital.</s>STEVENS: I don't know. I can't talk anymore because it's so devastating. I've never seen my country like this.</s>SANDOVAL (voice-over): Back at Steven's east side community, neigbors seem to be coming together.</s>GUZMAN: We got to stay here, to help the island stand up. We got to rebuild it and make it again.</s>SANDOVAL (voice-over): Amid the rubble, there are signs of resilience of rebuilding. Though these islanders have a long way to go, they're already on the path toward restoring their paradise. Polo Sandoval, CNN, on the British Virgin Island of Tortola.</s>LU STOUT: The U.S. and European governments have stepped up their efforts in the Caribbean, but many victims of Hurricane Irma say that they still feel abandoned. Clarissa Ward is in the hard hit island of St. Martin. She joins us now live. Clarissa, are residents fending for themselves? I mean, how much food, health supplies is there for them on the island?</s>CLARISSA WARD, CNN FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to the residents that we have been speaking to, Kristie, basically the role that the French military and authorities who have been kind of managing relief efforts here have been playing so far is to supply some minimal rations in terms of food and drinking water. The rest at this stage is up to the locals and you really see that. I want to show you some drone footage right now that we've managed to shoot yesterday after we arrived. It's just extraordinary, from up above, you really get a sense of those powerful winds of Hurricane Irma, how they just battered this island. You can also see residents have been trying to clear some of this debris themselves by hand often. And the real concern though now, if you can see along that street there, bags and bags and bags of garbage, Kristie. I'm talking more garbage I think I have ever seen in my life. The smell was just choking. Putrid trash smell. And of course, the big concern is where you have trash, you have rats. Where you have rats, you have disease. We spoke to one local who said they have already seen a lot of rats now. And their real fear is that there is potentially going to be some kind of outbreak. Because in addition to the huge problem with trash, you are also seeing a real problem with sanitation. There is no running water here. That means, there is no way for people to dispose of human waste. They haven't yet been able to bring in sort of disposable chemical toilets. Those will be particularly essential at this sort of choke points like the airport and a checkpoint that has been set up about just under a mile away from the airport to cope with the volume of people, the crush of people who are trying to get out of here every day. So, it is still a desperate situation here, Kristie. People can't even really think about trying to move on with their lives. I asked one man, I said, do you live here? He said, we're surviving. So, I think that tells you what you really need to know there, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: You are describing this as a desperate situation there on the island. You know, people are very afraid of potential outbreak of disease. Clarissa, there have also been report of looting. On top of all, growing lawlessness on St. Martin after the hurricane.</s>WARD: So, to give the authorities here some credit, the military has flown in hundreds and hundreds of personnel. I believe it's now over a thousand militarily personnel. They do appear to be getting a grip on the security situation. They are going out on patrols every day. There has been a curfew which has been in place from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. every single night. That curfew is not supposed to happen tonight because the situation in the past few days does appear to have improved. But for those first few days, Kristie, we spoke to a lot of people who said it was downright scary. There were just gangs of men roaming around, looting. Many of them carrying machetes. We saw one man ourselves yesterday carrying a machete down the street. You know, he didn't appear to be attempting to do anything with that machete. But still, obviously, unnerving. What it meant was all the food in those stores, all the medicines in those pharmacies, all of that was looted. All of it is gone. That leaves locals of course in a very vulnerable position. But as I said, security situation does appear to be improving as the French military stages these patrols, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: All right. Good to hear that the security situation has improved as you have been reporting. Still not enough food, water. Sanitation is dire as well. And all of that has to be addressed to avoid just another tragedy, another disaster hitting the island. Clarissa Ward reporting live for us. Thank you so much and take care. You are watching "News Stream." Still to come, Russia is carrying out a massive show of fire power and military prowess with Belarus. Why these war games are drawing international attention, next.