• President Donald Trump exploded at his former lawyer, John Dowd, after reading news reports that said special counsel Robert Mueller had subpoenaed records from Deutsche Bank.
• Bob Woodward reported on the exchange in his upcoming book, "Fear: Trump in the White House."
• Dowd reportedly received assurances from Mueller's team that the subpoena did not have to deal directly with the president.

President Donald Trump exploded at his former lawyer, John Dowd, after reading news reports that said the special counsel Robert Mueller had subpoenaed records from Deutsche Bank, journalist Bob Woodward reported in his upcoming book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," which Business Insider obtained and reviewed.

After learning of the news regarding Mueller and Deutsche Bank, a primary lender to the president, Woodward wrote that a furious Trump phoned Dowd at 7 a.m.

"I know my relationships with Deutsche Bank," Trump told Dowd, with Woodward writing that the president said the bank loved him and was always paid for its loans. "I know what I borrowed, when I borrowed, when I paid it back. I know every godd--- one."

Trump added that "this is bulls---!"

Dowd then spoke with Jim Quarles, a member of Mueller's team who was also an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate probe. Dowd repeated Trump's assertion that "this is bulls---."

During a conference call, Quarles said that Mueller's team had subpoenas issued to Deutsche Bank "way back in the summertime, but it doesn't involve the president or his finances."

The New York Times reported earlier this year that those reports led to Trump seeking to fire Mueller in December. But Trump backed down once the initial news reports, which said the subpoenas were aimed at Trump's and his family's dealings with the bank, were inaccurate. Instead, The Times reported that federal prosecutors in a separate inquiry issued a subpoena for entities that were connected to White House senior adviser and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Times columnist David Leonhardt wrote this weekend about the possible nexus between Trump's business and Russian money laundering involving Deutsche Bank, which has been tied to such illicit money.

The relationship between Trump and the German bank dates back two decades, a time when major Wall Street firms would no longer loan Trump money following a series of disastrous ventures such as the Trump Shuttle and Trump's Atlantic City casinos.

Prior to Trump's election as president, his financial disclosures showed he held roughly $360 million in debt to the bank, with about $125 million in two mortgages for one of the president's major Florida golf courses, Trump National Doral, The Washington Post reported.

Deutsche Bank was under investigation by the Justice Department for both its role in a "mirror trading" scheme with Russian oligarchs that allowed them to launder cash out of Russia in the face of US sanctions, and for its mortgage practices amid the financial crisis, which regulators sought a $14 billion fine for. Deutsche Bank ended up settling with the government on the mortgage front for $7.2 billion just days before Trump took office last January.

Last July, The Times reported that US banking regulators were reviewing the hundreds of millions of dollars in loans Deutsche Bank made to Trump over the past two decades. It was in the same story that The Times reported that the bank was in contact with federal investigators related to the special counsel's probe. Sources said the bank was expecting it would have to turn over information on Trump's accounts to Mueller.

Here are more details from the book so far:

• Trump hits back at bombshell Bob Woodward book, calls it 'just another bad book' and claims Woodward has 'had a lot of credibility problems'
• Woodward's book reportedly spurred Trump to look to replace Mattis — here's who's at the top of that list
• 'It's either that or an orange jumpsuit': Explosive Bob Woodward book reportedly recounts Trump's lawyer's effort to keep him from interviewing with Mueller
• Trump denied calling Jeff Sessions — or anyone — 'mentally retarded,' but old records show he has
• Ivanka Trump and Steve Bannon reportedly clashed over proper White House protocol, and she told him 'I'm not a staffer! ... I'm the first daughter'
• Trump reportedly told Mattis that he wanted to assassinate Bashar al-Assad after his chemical weapons attack on Syrians last year
• Gary Cohn reportedly snatched documents off Trump's desk to prevent him from wrecking 2 massive trade deals
• John Kelly was reportedly enraged with Trump over his handling of Charlottesville, said he would have taken a resignation letter 'and shoved it up his ass 6 different times'
• Trump has reportedly said that his speech after the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville was the 'biggest f---ing mistake' he's made
• 6 alarming passages from Bob Woodward's book show Trump's inability to properly lead the military
• Trump thanks Kim Jong Un for 'unwavering faith' with his own White House in open mutiny
• Trump reportedly went to extraordinary and unusual lengths to console grieving military families
• Bob Woodward book says Trump offered advice to a friend who admitted 'bad behavior' toward women: 'Deny, deny, deny'
• Bob Woodward book: Trump told Gary Cohn he 'hired the wrong guy for Treasury secretary' right in front of Steven Mnuchin
• Bob Woodward's book lays out how one New York Times story changed the entire course of the Trump campaign

SEE ALSO: Trump reportedly wanted to raise the top income tax bracket to 44%, but Gary Cohn talked him out of it

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Apple might introduce three new iPhones this year — here’s what we know

• National Security Adviser John Bolton on Monday made the unprecedented move of threatening the International Criminal Court if it follows through with investigations of alleged war crimes committed by US troops and intelligence officials in Afghanistan. 
• Bolton described the ICC as a threat to US sovereignty and national security.
• Human-rights groups blasted Bolton over his threats and accused him of signaling to the world that the US is "hostile to human rights and the rule of law."

National Security Adviser John Bolton on Monday made the unprecedented move of threatening the International Criminal Court (ICC) with retaliation, including sanctions, if it follows through with investigations of alleged war crimes committed by US troops and intelligence officials in Afghanistan. 

"The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by the illegitimate court," Bolton said in a speech to the Federalist Society in Washington, DC. 

Bolton described the ICC as antithetical to American values and a threat to US sovereignty and national security. 

"We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on its own," Bolton said. "After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us."

Among other potential repercussions, Bolton threatened to pursue sanctions against ICC officials if the court moves forward with investigations into US citizens. "We will ban its financial system and we will prosecute them in the US criminal system," Bolton said. "We will do the same for any company or state that assists an ICC investigation of Americans."

Bolton's verbal assault against the ICC came as the Trump administration announced the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) mission in Washington. The State Department said in a statement this is because the PLO has not taken steps to advance the start of direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel. 

During his speech, Bolton said this move was linked to concerns in Washington over Palestinian attempts to see Israel punished for alleged crimes in the ICC. "We will not allow the ICC or any other organization to constrain Israel’s right to self-defense," Bolton said. 

The US opposed the ICC for years, with Bolton leading the charge

The ICC was founded in 2002 to prosecute individuals for international crimes such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.

The US is not a signatory to the convention that established the ICC. Former President Bill Clinton signed the convention in 2000, but it was never presented to Congress for ratification and former President George W. Bush unsigned the statute in 2002.

Bolton, who worked in the Bush administration at the time, was among the most vocal opponents to the US supporting the court's establishment. The Bush administration was accused by human-rights advocates of being on the wrong side of history' for its opposition to the ICC. 

"'Unsigning' the treaty will not stop the court. It will only throw the United States into opposition against the most important new institution for enforcing human rights in fifty years," Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in May 2002. 

'The United States' attack on the International Criminal Court is an attack on millions of victims and survivors'

Human-rights groups like Amnesty International blasted the national security adviser's remarks on Monday. 

Adotei Akwei, deputy director of advocacy and government relations at Amnesty International USA, in a statement described Bolton's remarks on the ICC as "an attack on millions of victims and survivors who have experienced the most serious crimes under international law and undermines decades of groundbreaking work by the international community to advance justice."

Akwei said Bolton's rhetoric and threats toward the ICC "sends a dangerous signal that the United States is hostile to human rights and the rule of law."

Bolton's threats against the ICC fall in line with the Trump administration's consistent criticism of international institutions such as the UN and NATO, and related actions such as withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord.

This unilateral, unorthodox approach to foreign policy has led to historic tensions with key US allies, especially France, Germany, and the UK.

SEE ALSO: America's global reputation will take 'years to repair' from the Trump era, experts warn

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NOW WATCH: Everything we know about Samsung’s foldable phone

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, heart-wrenching images surfaced and stirred the world.

Photos released by the US National Archives in 2016 show exactly when President George W. Bush learned the US was under attack.

See how Bush responded to what would be the defining moment of his presidency.

SEE ALSO: 20 haunting photos from the September 11 attacks that Americans will never forget

President George W. Bush participates in a reading demonstration on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida.

Dan Bartlett, deputy assistant to the president, points to news footage of the attacks while President Bush listens to new security information.

Bush watches television coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Center during a briefing in the classroom.

• Hurricane Florence is surging toward the US East Coast with sustained wind speeds of 130 mph.
• It is forecast to hit North Carolina later this week, by which time the storm could be as large as the state.
• It is expected to strengthen to a Category 5 storm by Thursday.
• The National Hurricane Center said it could bring devastating storms, rain, and floods.
• 1 million people have been ordered to evacuate.

Hurricane Florence is forecast to hit the US East Coast later this week, at which time the storm is expected to be about the size of North Carolina.

The hurricane was carrying sustained winds of 130 mph as of 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

"As it approaches North Carolina, Hurricane Florence will grow to the size of North Carolina," the meteorologist Eric Holthaus tweeted.

Earlier Tuesday, the storm was forecast to strengthen into a Category 5 storm, the most intense category label on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, within 36 hours.

The GIF below visualizes the hurricane swirling over the Atlantic this week. The color scale on the right side shows the brightness temperature, which is a measurement of intensity.

The graphs were produced by Tropical Tidbits, which used data from meteorological services in countries including the US, Canada, Germany, and Japan.

The storm, now considered a Category 4, was carrying sustained wind speeds of 140 mph earlier in the day. The NHC said the storm was likely to strengthen again soon.

As of Tuesday morning, it was moving toward the US coast at 16 mph from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda, southeast of the Carolinas.

The map below shows the probable path of strong winds from Tuesday to Sunday.

The NHC reported at 5 a.m. Tuesday that Florence could approach "Category 5 strength within the next 24 to 36 hours."

Category 5 is the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which is used to assess the intensity of hurricanes in the Atlantic and the northern Pacific. It is also used to estimate property damage and coastal flooding.

Storms with sustained wind speeds of 157 mph or higher are labeled Category 5.

Read more:Here are the areas that could get hit by Hurricane Florence

The storm could remain powerful as it passes over the US mainland, and it could penetrate as far as Pittsburgh, in western Pennsylvania.

The NHC on Tuesday warned of a "life-threatening storm surge" and "damaging hurricane-force winds" along the coastlines of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

It also said "life-threatening freshwater flooding" and "a prolonged and exceptionally heavy rainfall event" could take place in those states and move inland for hundreds of miles.

The main threat to life from Hurricane Florence is storm surge, which has historically accounted for half of all hurricane deaths, Holthaus said.

A buoy from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, located about 80 nautical miles north of the eye of the storm, reported tropical-storm-force winds over several hours on early Tuesday morning and sea levels as high as 23 feet.

The map below shows the probable path of the storm center over the next few days. "Hazardous conditions," such as heavy wind, rainfall, and floods, can take place outside the projected zone, the NHC said.

Read More:Here's a map of all the areas that could get hit

Hurricane Florence is poised to make landfall early Friday somewhere around North Carolina and South Carolina. It is expected to slow down as it approaches the coast and continue moving inland.

It could inflict the hardest hurricane on the Carolinas in recent history. North Carolina most recently experienced a Category 4 storm in 1954.

The two Carolinas as well as Virginia have declared a state of emergency as they make preparations.

About 1 million people have been ordered to evacuate their homes. Millions of others have been stockpiling supplies such as gas cans, generators, plywood, and sand bags, according to the Associated Press.

Read more: The 16 most destructive hurricanes in US history

President Donald Trump on Monday night approved emergency declarations in the Carolinas and authorized the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist in response efforts.

Two other hurricanes, Isaac and Helene, are also spinning in the Atlantic Ocean. The map below, published early Tuesday morning, shows their approximate locations.

Read more: Hurricane Florence and 2 other hurricanes are swirling in the Atlantic. Here's what they look like from space.

SEE ALSO: Here's what Category 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 labels for hurricanes really mean

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NOW WATCH: Should you actually drink your own pee in a survival situation?

• A company called MIRROR is selling a $1,500 interactive mirror that streams live workout classes into your home.
• It's controlled by a smartphone app and looks like a regular mirror when turned off.
• The Mirror is compatible with Bluetooth heart rate monitors and the Apple Watch.
• It costs $1,495 plus a $39 per month subscription to the workout classes.

A sleek new tech product wants to allow you to take a live workout class without having to go to the gym.

It looks like a mirror when it's turned off, but it has an LCD screen, embedded speakers and cameras, and it weighs 70 pounds. 

"MIRROR is the first to bring the collective benefits of quality fitness studios into the home with a beautiful piece of hardware that enhances any room," Brynn Putnam, founder and CEO of MIRROR, told Business Insider. "Studio classes are great for high-quality, hands-on training, but are often draining on time and budget. We're creating a personalized experience with the best trainers and classes around the world, so anyone can enjoy the benefits of a workout, whenever and wherever they want."

As she told Well + Good, Putnam said she started the company after she had a child and found herself too busy to get to a physical gym.

Here's how it works.

SEE ALSO: I tried a $260 Roomba alternative that automatically vacuums and mops floors — here's what using it was like

DON'T MISS: The 20 best smartphones in the world

The product, appropriately called "Mirror," has an LCD screen but looks like a regular mirror when it's turned off. It can come as a wall mount or with a minimalist carbon steel stand.

Source: MIRROR

The Mirror, which has a carbon steel frame and weighs 70 pounds, streams live fitness classes with real-time instruction and "personal shout-outs" to help you stay motivated.

Source: MIRROR

The Mirror is embedded with speakers and cameras and comes with a complimentary Bluetooth heart rate monitor to help you maintain your target heart rate.

• People are evacuating South Carolina, Virginia, and North Carolina on Tuesday ahead of Hurricane Florence.
• It's predicted to make landfall on Thursday evening or Friday morning.
• States have storm maps helping people find what evacuation zone they are in, what level of risk they are at, and whether they need to leave their homes.
• South Carolina's Gov. Henry McMaster ordered the state's entire 187-mile coastline to evacuate by Tuesday afternoon.
• Mandatory evacuations in North Carolina are in place for Bertie, Onslow, Brunswick, Currituck, Dare, Hyde, and New Hanover counties.
• Residents in Virginia's Zone A along the coast and low-lying areas have also been ordered to evacuate.

Evacuations have been ordered across Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina on Monday and Tuesday, as Hurricane Florence approaches the US.

The storm is so large that it could be the size of the entire state of North Carolina when it likely makes landfall there early on Friday.

Here are the areas affected and what to do if you're in them.

South Carolina

South Carolina's Gov. Henry McMaster ordered the state's entire 187-mile coastline to evacuate by Tuesday afternoon, The Post and Courier reported on Monday.

This "Know Your Zone" map from the South Carolina Emergency Management Division shows people how to find out which risk zone they're in.

More specific information can be found for Beaufort County, Berkeley County, Charleston County, Colleton County, Dorchester County, Horry County, Georgetown County, and Jasper County.

Each location is given a zone. Zone A is most at risk, and I the least. Residents can also search their address in this interactive map of the evacuation zones.

McMaster ordered lane reversals on major highways leading away from the coast so residents can leave as quickly as possible.

WMBF News reported these are along I-26 and US 501, with US 278 and US 21 if necessary. The evacuation routes are available on this interactive map.

North Carolina

North Carolina's Gov. Roy Cooper urged everyone in the coastal area to follow state evacuation orders.

Gov. Cooper said: "Wherever you live in North Carolina, you need to get ready for this storm now, and you need to evacuate if asked to."

The storm is expected to make landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina, on Thursday with impacts starting as soon as Wednesday.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation said on Monday that mandatory evacuations are in place for Currituck, Dare, Hyde, and New Hanover counties. Voluntary evacuations are in effect for Bertie, Brunswick, and Onslow counties.

Residents can find evacuation routes and information on hurricane preparedness in this guide from the state's department of emergency management here.

Virginia

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced an evacuation for Zone A that started at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. This applies to the areas along the coast, parts of the Hampton Roads area, and Eastern Shore.

State officials told NBC Washington that 245,000 people live in the affected area.

Virginia residents looking for their evacuation zone can search the state's Know Your Zone interactive map here. The map ranks risk zones A-D, with the highest risk of flooding and storm surge in zone A.

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management said: "Emergency managers at the state and local level will work with local media and use social media and other tools to notify residents of impacted zones what they should do to stay safe."

Those evacuating should follow the routes outlined on the map in grey to seek higher ground, the department said.

Read our full coverage on Hurricane Florence:

• Here's a map of all the areas that could get hit
• Hurricane Florence is close to hitting Category 5 as it surges toward the US East Coast
• Here's where Hurricane Florence is due to make landfall
• South Carolina's governor is warning Hurricane Florence could bring more wind than Hurricane Hugo and more water than Hurricane Matthew
• Here's what Category 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 labels for hurricanes really mean
• Video from hurricane hunter planes show the eerie calm inside Hurricane Florence as it heads for the US
• We've reached the peak of Atlantic hurricane season — and 3 hurricanes are churning at once

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Medical breakthroughs we will see in the next 50 years

• Johnny Walker was working for the NYPD on September 11, 2001. Today, he has stage 4 colon cancer. 
• Scientists studying 9/11 survivors say they have higher rates of many kinds of cancer, including breast, cervical, colon, and lung.
• Walker had his family's DNA mixed into red tattoo ink used on his arm to keep them close during treatment.
• The DNA extraction technique was developed by a company called Everence, which can turn hair, ash, grass, sand or any other material into a microencapsulated powder that tattoo artists can mix into their inks.

Retired NYPD officer Johnny Walker is living with the toxic effects of responding to the World Trade Center attack on 9/11.

As a result of the time he spent in the dangerously dusty air that circulated "on the pile" after the twin towers fell, Walker said, he's now dealing with stage 4 colon cancer, the most advanced kind. He spent three full days at Ground Zero, helping with the recovery, cleaning up rubble, filling buckets, and even inadvertently digging out body parts, as he told Men's Health earlier this year.

Yet Walker maintains a wry sense of humor about his condition.

"That came back to bite me in the rear end," Walker said, referring to the intestinal cancer. "No pun intended." 

Many 9/11 rescue workers and survivors are plagued by tumors. According to the federal World Trade Center Health Program count, more than 9,000 firefighters, cops, office workers, and children who were living in or working around downtown Manhattan have high rates of many kinds of cancer. An estimated 420 9/11 survivors with cancer have died. 

This group has higher rates of roughly 70 types of cancer, including cervical, colon, and lung cancers. There have  even been 15 cases of breast cancer in men, as the New York Post reported. Many of these cancer cases are likely because these workers and survivors breathed in air contaminated with asbestos, lead, mercury and other toxic substances in the days and weeks following the attack. 

The bulk of the cancer cases, more than 7,500, are in first responders like Walker. His cancer has spread outside of his colon, and he has lymph node tumors pressing on internal organs near his digestive tract and pelvis. Sometimes, when he's undergoing chemotherapy treatment, he likes to feel the support of his wife, kids, or a close friend. 

That's when he touches a cluster of red inked tattoos on his left arm. 

The ink on Walker's arm is infused with a powder that contains his loved ones' genetic material. The powder, called Everence, is essentially a bunch of tiny, plastic containers that hold individual DNA strands. Each of the plastic enclosures is about one-tenth the size of a human hair.

"I'm stuck on a machine, all by myself in there, I actually rub my arm, and I'm not by myself," Walker told Business Insider. 

Putting your people in a tattoo

When a colleague told Walker about the possibility of putting genetic material into tattoos, he wasn't immediately enthusiastic about it. 

"My first reaction to hearing about it was, like, 'that's creepy, I don't know about this stuff,'" he said. 

But after he thought about the idea a little more, Walker decided he wanted to be able to take his family with him wherever he went from now on.

"Wait a second," he said, "I have cancer, and there's a possibility that I might not be here that much longer." 

In the spring, Walker inserted DNA from his wife, son, daughter, and a fellow NYPD officer into tattoos. His tattoo artist mixed the Everence powder into the red ink. Later, Walker added some tattoo chains to connect the tattoos.

"It's something tangible, something I can physically touch," he said.

Here are the tattoos Walker has with Everence powder:

Walker said the drawings are good luck talismans like the ones the Knights Templar used to carry. Each represents something different: health, protection, or brotherhood.

A tattoo of a blade and chalice, Walker said, "is symbolic of perfect love and perfect trust." That's where he put DNA from his wife.

"No matter where I go in this world, if life takes me somewhere else, I'm going to have them with me," he said.

How Everence powder works 

The week-long process for creating Everence dust was developed by chemist Edith Mathiowitz at Brown University and tested by Bruce Klitzman, who researches medical device implants at Duke University.

The fine, silvery powder is made from a polymer called PMMA (poly-methyl methacrylate), which you might know better in its acrylic glass form, Plexiglas. Each grain of the powder acts as a tiny plastic container that holds one strand of extracted DNA, ash, or hair. The coating is sterile and won't erode over time, so it sits under a person's skin forever. 

Mathiowitz and Klitzman assert that the powder is clean and safe for implantation. 

"It’s a medical-grade material that is being used all over the world for many therapeutic applications," Mathiowitz said in a video on Everence's site.

Everence co-founder Patrick Duffy said more than 250 people have Everence tattoos. The powder costs $350.

The process Duffy uses to package DNA into tiny capsules also allows clients to add non-human materials into their tattoo if they want. Those materials get milled into an ultra-fine powder, then encapsulated in the same plastic polymer coating. 

Everence has created tiny particles of blades of stadium grass, Harley Davidson motorcycle shards, and bits of volcanic rocks to put into Everence powder.

"Ultimately, you could really put anything that you imagine into your tattoos," Duffy said.

For people who aren't fans of tattoos, the powder can even be mixed into a clear, ink-free solution, then invisibly injected into the skin. It's the same process, sans ink, but the powder still sits in you forever. 

SEE ALSO: A 77-year-old doctor diagnosed himself with a deadly lung problem while climbing Everest — here's how he survived

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NOW WATCH: Here's what has to happen under your skin to permanently remove a tattoo

• Paul McCartney discussed his history of collaboration with Kanye West in a new GQ interview.
• The former Beatle joked about how social media users thought West "discovered" him in 2015. 
• McCartney also touched on how he met West in 2008, and discussed the making of their 2015 hit single "Four Five Seconds."

Paul McCartney gave a wide-ranging interview to GQ for a recent feature, and his late-career collaborations with Kanye West were an extended topic of conversation in the piece. 

In the interview, the former Beatle joked about how social media users thought West "discovered" McCartney following the release of the artists' first collaboration, West's single "Only One," in 2015. 

"The great thing is, all sorts of hysterical things come out of it," McCartney said of his work with West. "I mean, there's a lot of people think Kanye discovered me. And that's not a joke."

McCartney also touched on the creation of "Four Five Seconds," his 2015 collaboration with Rihanna and West that would become his biggest hit single in 32 years.

McCartney told GQ that he didn't recognize his contribution to the finished product of "Four Five Seconds" until he reached out to West and learned that an acoustic guitar riff he had laid down in a studio session was "sped up and consequently raised in pitch" as the backing track.

McCartney also talked about his first time meeting West in 2008, when the former Beatle was coming off an acrimonious divorce from his second wife, Heather Mills, and West was going through the breakup that inspired his fourth album, "808s & Heartbreak."

"I'd just gone through my divorce, and I was kind of a little bit raw from it, and I said something to him about it, and he'd just broken up with someone," McCartney said. "And he just pulled out his phone and played this great little track—I don't even remember what it's called, but it's one of his famous ones. So I sort of liked him, and I liked this tune."

Read the GQ feature here. 

SEE ALSO: The 50 best-selling albums of all time

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NOW WATCH: How actors fake fight in movies

• Gary Cohn, the former chief economic adviser to President Donald Trump, has pushed back on the veteran journalist Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House."
• The former White House staff secretary Rob Porter also disputed his characterization in the book.
• Cohn and Porter feature heavily in the book, and some of the most explosive allegations in it revolve around the two.
• "This book does not accurately portray my experience at the White House," Cohn told the news website Axios.

Two people central to the veteran journalist Bob Woodward's new book pushed back on Tuesday on how they were characterized in it.

"This book does not accurately portray my experience at the White House," Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump's former top economic adviser, told the news website Axios in a statement. "I am proud of my service in the Trump Administration, and I continue to support the President and his economic agenda."

Cohn is quoted extensively in the book, titled "Fear: Trump in the White House," and the relationship between the former Goldman Sachs executive and Trump is a focus of Woodward's reporting.

Some of the more explosive allegations in the book also deal with Cohn, such as that he stole documents off Trump's desk to prevent the president from pulling the US out of major trade deals.

In his statement to Axios, Cohn did not deny any specific allegations made in the book.

The former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, another key figure in the book, also issued a statement on Woodward's reporting.

"Having now read Bob Woodward's Fear, I am struck by the selective and often misleading portrait it paints of the President and his administration," Porter said.

Porter, the other White House official named in the document-theft anecdote in Woodward's book, also addressed that in his statement.

"The suggestion that materials were 'stolen' from the President's desk to prevent his signature misunderstands how the White House document review process works — and has worked for at least the last eight administrations," he said.

According to Woodward's book, Porter was concerned when the president demanded an order pulling the US out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Most economists have said that a dissolution of NAFTA would be an economic disaster for the three member countries: the US, Canada, and Mexico.

After Porter told Cohn about Trump's request, the economic adviser decided to take the document off the president's desk to prevent him from signing it, the book says.

"I can stop this," Cohn told Porter, per Woodward's book. "I'll just take the paper off his desk before I leave."

According to Axios, Cohn's and Porter's outsize roles in the book have led Trump and other administration officials to assume they were sources for Woodward. The author has said that "Fear" is based on extensive interviews with former and current members of the Trump administration and that many interviews were taped.

While the White House has denounced Woodward's book, the scenes of dysfunction described in it are similar to other reports about the chaotic nature of the Trump administration.

SEE ALSO: Woodward book: Trump refused a joke from Gary Cohn about stretching the word 'Trump' over 1,200 miles of the border wall

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: I woke up at 4:30 a.m. for a week like a Navy SEAL

• Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," has dropped major revelations about how President Donald Trump's White House operates.
• Woodward, in uncovering the Watergate scandal that led to Richard Nixon's resignation, pioneered a new form of reporting using unnamed sources.
• Trump has sought to attack Woodward's book as fiction since sources are unnamed.
• But Woodward explained on Tuesday that anonymous reporting is often necessary to get "the real story."

Bob Woodward has explained why he used anonymous sourcing in his bombshell new book about President Donald Trump's White House, saying that reporters often have "no alternative" when it comes to reporting on the highest levels of power.

Appearing on The New York Times' "Daily" podcast on Tuesday, Woodward said using unnamed sources is necessary "to get the real truth."

Woodward said he was "confident" in the truth of his reporting.

"The sources are not anonymous to me," he said. "I know exactly who they are."

Woodward's reporting on the Watergate scandal for The Washington Post lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Woodward said on Tuesday that he and fellow reporter Carl Bernstein turned to using unnamed sources then because otherwise "you can't get the truth."

"You won't get the straight story from someone if you do it on the record," Woodward said on "The Daily". "You will get a press release version of events."

Without allowing anonymity, he said, "we wouldn't have got the most important stories about what Watergate was about."

But Trump and his allies have sought to dismiss Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House", based on its use of anonymous sourcing.

"The Woodward book is a Joke - just another assault against me, in a barrage of assaults, using now disproven unnamed and anonymous sources," Trump tweeted on Monday.

Woodward said he was unbothered by Trump's response: "He has a right to say what he wants. He has First Amendment rights. And I feel really comfortable with the picture I have presented and the evidence."

He also revealed that officials who have decried the book's contents in public have privately told him it's accurate.

"After the information in 'Fear' started breaking last week, one key person who is in office called me and said: 'Everyone knows what you said here is true, it's 1000% correct'," Woodward said.

He continued: "And then this person has said some public things that contradict that. And I am not happy, but I have a smile on my face because the truth in all of this is going to emerge. There's too much evidence, too many witnesses."

But Woodward also said he can understand why people are hesitant to trust unnamed sources. Having lots of documents and testimony is better, he said, "but you're not going to get that" every time.

Woodward's book opens with a note to readers that explains his process. In it, he writes that interviews were done on "deep background," which means the person being interviewed said it could be used but that they could not be named.

Nearly all the interviews were recorded, he said, and he also obtained meeting notes, files, and documents, among other materials.

SEE ALSO: All the revelations that have come out so far from Bob Woodward's explosive book on Trump

DON'T MISS: Bob Woodward says a White House official told him his book was '1,000% true' but has said the opposite in public

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• Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear," is full of damning allegations about the Trump administration. 
• The book portrays the Trump White House as chaotic and disloyal to the president. 
• Woodward's book is was released on September 11. 

Journalist Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear," is full of damning allegations about the Trump administration.

Woodward, a reporter who rose to fame through his coverage of the Watergate scandal, paints a chaotic picture of life within President Donald Trump's White House in the book.

Based on a number of the accusations in the book, senior members of the Trump administration do not respect the president and routinely work against his wishes.

Trump has called the book a "work of fiction," but it has reportedly sparked a "witch hunt" within his administration for people who may have spoken with Woodward.

Woodward's book was released on September 11.

Here are all the revelations from the book so far:

• Trump hits back at bombshell Bob Woodward book, calls it 'just another bad book' and claims Woodward has 'had a lot of credibility problems'
• Woodward's book reportedly spurred Trump to look to replace Mattis — here's who's at the top of that list
• 'It's either that or an orange jumpsuit': Explosive Bob Woodward book reportedly recounts Trump's lawyer's effort to keep him from interviewing with Mueller
• Trump denied calling Jeff Sessions — or anyone — 'mentally retarded,' but old records show he has
• Ivanka Trump and Steve Bannon reportedly clashed over proper White House protocol, and she told him 'I'm not a staffer! ... I'm the first daughter'
• Trump reportedly told Mattis that he wanted to assassinate Bashar al-Assad after his chemical weapons attack on Syrians last year
• Gary Cohn reportedly snatched documents off Trump's desk to prevent him from wrecking 2 massive trade deals
• John Kelly was reportedly enraged with Trump over his handling of Charlottesville, said he would have taken a resignation letter 'and shoved it up his ass 6 different times'
• Trump has reportedly said that his speech after the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville was the 'biggest f---ing mistake' he's made
• 6 alarming passages from Bob Woodward's book show Trump's inability to properly lead the military
• Trump thanks Kim Jong Un for 'unwavering faith' with his own White House in open mutiny
• Trump reportedly went to extraordinary and unusual lengths to console grieving military families
• Bob Woodward book: Trump told Gary Cohn he 'hired the wrong guy for Treasury secretary' right in front of Steven Mnuchin
• Trump reportedly once asked his 27-year-old assistant what he should do in Afghanistan
• Bob Woodward said Trump nearly provoked North Korea into war with a single tweet
• Bob Woodward book says Trump offered advice to a friend who admitted 'bad behavior' toward women: 'Deny, deny, deny'
• Woodward book: Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell privately praised CEOs that quit Trump's business councils after the Charlottesville fiasco
• Hope Hicks and other top staffers reportedly tried to set up a committee to vet Trump's tweets after he attacked Mika Brzezinski, but he ignored their input
• Trump reportedly exploded at his ex-lawyer after he heard Mueller was looking into his relationship with Deutsche Bank: 'This is bulls---!'
• Woodward book: Trump refused a joke from Gary Cohn about stretching the word 'Trump' over 1,200 miles of the border wall
• Trump reportedly wanted to raise the top income tax bracket to 44%, but Gary Cohn talked him out of it
• Bob Woodward book: Gary Cohn was 'astounded at Trump's lack of basic understanding' about the federal debt
• Woodward book: Lindsey Graham wanted Trump to tell China to assassinate Kim Jong Un

Join the conversation about this story »

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Apple is poised to launch new iPhones on Wednesday, as it introduces new gadgets at an event on its campus in Cupertino, California.

Based on analysts, leaks, and reports, we have an idea of what Apple could be launching this fall.

Apple could launch its biggest iPhone ever as well as a more affordable phone with an edge-to-edge screen. 

Here's everything you need to know about what Apple could launch later this week:

Apple sent invites to journalists and others for an event on its campus on September 12.

That means you will almost certainly be able to buy a new iPhone this September.

Since 2012, Apple has unveiled its latest iPhone in September. Typically, the new phone is available to preorder a few days after Apple's announcement.

Here's the recent history:

• 2012: The iPhone 5 was announced on Wednesday, September 12, and started shipping on Friday, September 21.
• 2013: The iPhone 5S was announced on Wednesday, September 10, and started shipping on Friday, September 20.
• 2014: The iPhone 6 was announced on Tuesday, September 9, and started shipping on Friday, September 19.
• 2015: The iPhone 6S was announced on Wednesday, September 9, and started shipping on Friday, September 25.
• 2016: The iPhone 7 was announced on Wednesday, September 7, and started shipping on September 16.
• 2017: The iPhone 8 and iPhone X were announced on Tuesday, September 12. The iPhone 8 started shipping on September 22. In a change from previous years, iPhone X started shipping on November 3, almost two months after the announcement.

Reliable analysts and journalists have predicted that Apple will release three new iPhones.

The short answer to what to expect from the new iPhones is more Face ID, Apple's facial-recognition software that replaced the fingerprint sensor on the iPhone X. Signs are pointing to it becoming a default feature on this year's models.

Apple watchers are expecting three new iPhones this year: one that looks like the iPhone X but with updated components, one that's a supersized version of the iPhone X, and one that's a less expensive iPhone with an edge-to-edge LCD screen and facial recognition that could cost $649 to $749.

• Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham once urged President Donald Trump to encourage China to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
• Graham suggested China replace him with a general they could control, according to Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House."
• That approach would've been decidedly more aggressive than the one Trump ultimately adopted, which saw him hold a historic summit with Kim in Singapore back in June.
• The White House on Monday said discussions are underway to hold a second summit between Trump and Kim. 

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham once urged President Donald Trump to encourage China to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and replace him with a general they could control, according to veteran journalist Bob Woodward's new book.

Woodward said Graham posed the idea to Trump during a meeting at the White House with the president's national security team in September 2017. The meeting came at the height of the war of words between Trump and Kim over North Korea's nuclear program, and not long after the president had dubbed the North Korean leader "Little Rocket Man."

"China needs to kill him and replace him with a North Korean general they control," Graham said at the time, according to Woodward.

Graham added: "I think the Chinese are clearly the key here and they need to take him out. Not us, them. And control the nuclear inventory there. And wind this thing down. Or control him. To stop the march to a big nuclear arsenal. My fear is that he will sell it."

Graham's office declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider. 

Such an approach would've been decidedly more aggressive than the one Trump ultimately adopted, which saw him hold a historic summit with Kim in Singapore in June. At the summit, North Korea pledged to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 

Since that time, there have been few signs North Korea has lived up to its end of the agreement, and there's been significant back and forth between Washington and Pyongyang. 

According to recent intelligence, North Korea is privately continuing its nuclear activities but publicly attempting to appear cooperative. The North Korean government, for example, recently excluded intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, from its annual military parade. In the past, it often used the parade as an opportunity to show off new missiles or technology. 

"North Korea has just staged their parade, celebrating 70th anniversary of founding, without the customary display of nuclear missiles... This is a big and very positive statement from North Korea. Thank you To Chairman Kim. We will both prove everyone wrong!" Trump tweeted.

The White House on Monday said Kim recently wrote to Trump and suggested they hold a follow-up summit.

SEE ALSO: All the revelations that have come out so far from Bob Woodward's explosive book on Trump

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• Democrats in conservative-leaning states and districts are showcasing their use of firearms in campaign ads in 2018.
• Many of the Democratic candidates using guns in campaign ads are veterans of the US military.
• While they are breaking with Democratic Party orthodoxy, they are doing so in contested districts where they have to be more flexible on certain issues like gun rights, moderates say.

WASHINGTON — At a time when gun violence is a major topic of discussion in American life and many on the left are pushing for more strict gun control measures than ever before, some Democrats are taking an entirely different approach — using guns in their campaign ads to show they regularly exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Guns in campaign ads have frequently been Republicans' bread and butter. GOP candidates looking to shore up support among the party's base routinely use guns to tout their appreciation for the Second Amendment. But in an era during which many national Democrats are drawing hard lines on gun control, the party's moderates in more hotly-contested districts and states are taking a page out of the GOP playbook.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, is no stranger to using firearms in campaign ads. Manchin famously shot a copy of the cap and trade bill during his 2010 campaign.

He reprised the bit on Monday when his re-election campaign released a new video ad in which he shoots a health care law-related lawsuit filed by his Republican challenger, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

And Manchin is not the only Democrat to use guns in campaign ads this election cycle. Manchin's colleague and current Montana Sen. Jon Tester also displayed his lever-action rifle in an ad earlier this year. 

Veterans running for office want to show they can still shoot

A common theme among the Democrats who are using firearms in their campaign ads is that many are veterans of the US military.

Rep. Conor Lamb, who won the special election in Pennsylvania's 18th District in March, made clear in his first television advertisement that while he is no longer in the Marine Corps, he "still likes to shoot."

Lamb's stance on guns was a major break with Democratic orthodoxy on the Second Amendment. Weeks before the election, Lamb said additional gun laws would not be necessary to prevent mass shootings, but rather stricter enforcement of laws already on the books.

"I believe we have a pretty good law on the books and it says on paper that there are a lot of people who should never get guns in their hands," he said. "And we know that the background check system is not achieving that result. What I think it's going to take is people in Congress who are willing to do more than just talk, who are willing to actually work together and stay late, if it requires that, and do some things that would really produce change."

Lamb's use of firearms was hardly the last for Democrats looking to unseat Republicans in 2018.

Jared Golden, a 36-year-old Democrats challenging Republican incumbent Rep. Bruce Poliquin in Maine, unveiled an ad on Sunday titled "Bullseye."

Like Lamb, Golden also touted his service in the Marine Corps and moderate political positions in his video ad while shooting a rifle. 

"While Bruce Poliquin hides from his votes to gut Social Security and Medicare, I'm a straight shooter," Golden said in the ad that also prominently features his work under Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Democrats in more left-leaning districts are doubling down on gun control positions

The use of guns in a handful of campaigns is in direct contrast with what many Democrats are doing across the country.

A series of mass shootings in the US have galvanized activist groups and others to be more open about their support for stricter gun control. Candidates in less rural, more Democratic-leaning districts have gone all-in on gun control as a major policy agenda.

A USA Today study from August found that most of the campaign ads for governor, House, and Senate races since January were pushing stricter gun control, not less. The study's results showed dramatic increases in the pro-gun control side compared to campaigns in 2016 and 2014.

While there has been a surge of Democrats running in 2018, the candidates in more conservative districts have more complex constituencies, forcing them to balance what positions on which they will draw a hard line.

Democratic operatives are split on the issue. Those who believe in an all-of-the-above approach to getting Democrats into office like it, while it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of operatives closer to the base.

In the case of someone like Manchin, who has produced multiple ads in which he shoots legislation or lawsuits deemed a threat to West Virginians, it makes voters remember the gimmick, while also allowing them to make broader points about other policies.

What it boils down to is that candidates need to be allowed to embrace guns, among other positions that might not be popular with the Democratic base, according to Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, a moderate Democrat in the House.

"Whether it's Second Amendment or social issues, they're gonna need room if they're gonna win in more conservative districts, and if we want to win a majority we're gonna need to make sure to provide them with that room," Himes told Business Insider in March shortly after Lamb's victory.

"He wasn't afraid to maybe break with some orthodoxy where he thought it would work in his district," he added. "And I think it's indicative of the kind of room that our congressional candidates are gonna need in purple or red areas."

SEE ALSO: Here's what Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said about key issues like abortion during his marathon confirmation hearings

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• Sandeep Jauhar was part of a group of doctors and nurses from Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan who headed downtown to help on September 11, 2001.
• A police officer asked the 32-year-old cardiologist to help at a makeshift morgue in the Brooks Brothers store located across the street from Ground Zero.
• After several other doctors left the scene, Jauhar was surprised to be put in charge of the morgue for almost an hour.
• Listen to the full story on the "Household Name" podcast. 

Sandeep Jauhar started September 11, 2001 with his wife at her obstetrician. While at the doctor's office, the 32-year-old cardiologist saw the news of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center.

At first, Jauhar didn't think much of it.

"I just thought it was a terrible thing that happened," Jauhar said on the latest episode of Business Insider's Household Name podcast. "I did not think we had to get involved."

Jauhar, who had just finished his medical residency and was beginning a cardiology fellowship at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, was in the cab on his way to work when he heard the report of a second plane hitting the World Trade Center.

It was then he realized what was happening was not normal.

When Jauhar got to the emergency room of the hospital, he found out that the first of the Twin Towers had come down. He did not believe it until he looked out the window and saw only one building standing, surrounded by a cloud of smoke.

With all hands on deck at the hospital, the doctors and nurses waited for patients to arrive to the trauma center. But communication with first responders downtown was poor and no patients were coming, Jauhar said.

Alongside a group of nurses and doctors, Jauhar volunteered to go down in an ambulance to Ground Zero.

"I didn't know what to expect," Jauhar said. As the contingent made their way to the site, the color changed from perfectly sunny in Midtown to dark and smoky as they got closer.

"This is Beirut," Jauhar said about that day. "This is insane that this is actually NYC."

When Jauhar and the group of doctors and nurses from Bellevue arrived, Jauhar expected to see more injured.

"I blurted out 'Where are the patients?'," Jauhar said. "And someone said 'They're all dead.'"

Despite his wife not wanting him to go back to Ground Zero the next day, Jauhar returned to the scene to keep helping.

When he arrived, a cop asked Jauhar for help in a makeshift morgue. It was set up in the Brooks Brothers across the street from Ground Zero. He followed the cop over to the morgue located in the high-end retail clothing store.

Not long after arriving and assessing the scene, Jauhar was horrified to realize that he was the most senior doctor in the room. With no idea what to do, he described the thought of possibly being called on to run the morgue as "disturbing."

But as other doctors began to step out and leave, Jauhar was put in charge for almost an hour. Medical school didn't prepare him for this scenario.

"I didn't want to be in charge," Jauhar said on "Household Name." "I'm a cardiologist. I don't relish emergencies. This was so beyond anything I was trained to do."

As he began to feel physically sick and nauseous looking at severed bodies, Jauhar ended up leaving the makeshift morgue.

He didn't go back to help out at Ground Zero the next day, nor did he want to read anything about 9/11. Other than visiting the 9/11 Memorial, Jauhar has sought to keep that day in the corner of his mind so that he didn't have to talk or think about it.

"I would have stayed if I could have done it," Jauhar said. "It was such an emotionally troubling thing that I just had to get away. It's impossible to not have emotions in that situation."

You can listen to Jauhar's full story on the latest episode of Business Insider's Household Name here. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

SEE ALSO: How a Brooks Brothers salesman inadvertently saved a man's life on 9/11

SEE ALSO: Stunning images of the New York City skyline every year on 9/11

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• Deciding what to wear to an interview can be confusing, as offices shift from formal to business casual. 
• To figure out what to wear, call your recruiter in advance or ask a friend at the company what they recommend. 
• You can also scan the company's social media pages for photos of their offices.

Interview attire is simple, right? Men should don a suit and tie, and women should wear their best dress and a jacket or pantsuit. 

Well, those days are gone.

"Some of the most common mistakes people make when dressing for an interview are following old and outdated advice, or not taking the time to do their research and ask questions about the company culture ahead of time," Marc Cenedella, CEO of career site Ladders, told Business Insider.

Plenty of offices have gone business casual, or just flat-out casual, so you might look strange showing up to an interview in a suit and tie if the VP is sporting flip-flops.

And while it's definitely better to over-dress than under-dress, Cenedella said looking too formal for an interview can suggest that you're not a good cultural fit for the office. 

"Over-dressing for an interview can send important and negative cues to your future coworkers at a more casual workplace," Cenedella said. "They may make conclusions about your ability to read and understand their environment."

To avoid that situation, call your recruiter or a friend at the company and ask them what to wear. (And be sure to ask a friend who is working in a similar team as yours, as the dress code might vary across the company.)

Cenedella suggested questions like these:

• Is half the office wearing ties?
• Is half the office wearing flip-flops?
• What will my interviewers be wearing?
• Will I feel out of place in formal business attire?

You can also check the company's Facebook, Twitter, or Glassdoor pages to see photos of the office and what people are wearing. 

"Some industries, positions, or individual companies are simply more formal than others," Cenedella said. "It is the job of the candidate to understand this and to determine the appropriate dress depending on those factors."

If in doubt, Cenedella suggested going with "smart business casual" — neat and clean clothing, shoes, and accessories. 

SEE ALSO: 16 things you should never wear to work — even if you work in a business casual environment

DON'T MISS: 12 bad and outdated job-hunting tips you should stop believing

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Evacuations have been ordered across Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina on Monday and Tuesday, as Hurricane Florence approaches the US for a potentially record-breaking landfall.

Governors from the three states in the storm's path issued harsh warnings for citizens to evacuate immediately, causing a harried scene among stores and communities to prepare for the possibly devastating storm.

Here's what it looks like on the ground:

SEE ALSO: Hurricane Florence could be the most powerful storm to ever make landfall north of Florida

DON'T MISS: South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia are under mandatory evacuations as Hurricane Florence approaches. Here are the areas affected and what to do if you're in them.

Hurricane Florence has been showering the Carolinas and Virginia with rain before it's set to make record-breaking landfall in North Carolina later this week.

Source: Business Insider

Some citizens weathered the very early signs of the storm with ease, but reports and warnings from public officials are painting an increasingly dangerous picture.

Coastal counties in Virginia, South and North Carolina were all under mandatory evacuation as of Tuesday afternoon.

Source: Business Insider

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping took a break from meetings on Tuesday to show off their cooking skills.

While attending an economic forum in the far eastern port of Vladivostok, Russia, Putin and Xi donned blue aprons to cook up some traditional Russian pancakes, called blini.

After making a short stack, the pair ate their blini topped with caviar and washed it down with shots of vodka. See the photos for yourself:

SEE ALSO: 800 Russians were arrested over protests against Putin raising the country's retirement age

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The two world leaders whipped up pancakes at the Eastern Economic Forum on Tuesday. Both countries are notorious for spreading positive propaganda about their leaders.

Source: New York Post

It was the second time the pair have cooked together. When Putin visited China in June, he learned how to make dumplings, which Xi then tasted.

Source: RT

The bake-off took place on "Far East Street," reportedly a showcase of the region's cultural and economic achievements on the sidelines of the forum.

Source: AFP

• President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed his administration's response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year was an "unsung success" and "incredibly successful."
• Thousands of people died in the wake of the storm, according to a study commissioned by the Puerto Rican government.
• Trump's response to Puerto Rico has been broadly criticized.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed his administration's response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year was an "unsung success" and "incredibly successful," despite the fact thousands of people died in the wake of the storm. 

Trump described his administration's approach to the aftermath of the hurricane "one of the best jobs that has ever been done." 

The president was speaking alongside the director of FEMA as Hurricane Florence barrels toward the east coast of the US. He was responding to a question from a reporter about what could be learned from what happened in Puerto Rico following Maria. 

Trump's response to Puerto Rico has been broadly panned, as many critics have accused him of neglecting the US island as it struggled to recover from the devastating impact of Maria.

A study commissioned by the Puerto Rican government and released in late August found nearly 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico in the wake of the storm. Based on the study's findings, Hurricane Maria was the second deadliest storm in US history. 

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, blamed the federal government for not adequately preparing for Maria in response to the study. 

"The latest study ... puts the tragedy of Hurricane Maria on the same scale as the September 11th attacks," Thompson said. "Because FEMA and the federal government were simply unprepared, thousands of our fellow American citizens have perished — and we now know that the poor and elderly were the most at risk."

Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, directly blamed Trump for the deaths in addition to lack of preparedness from the government on the federal and local level. 

"The administration killed the Puerto Ricans with neglect. The Trump administration led us to believe they were helping when they weren't up to par, and they didn't allow other countries to help us," Cruz told CNN in late August. "Shame on President Trump. Shame on President Trump for not even once ... just saying, 'Look, I grieve with the people of Puerto Rico.'"

Hurricane Florence is predicted to make landfall on the east coast later this week. It is being characterized as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 hurricane.

SEE ALSO: 'If you've been asked to leave, get out': Hurricane Florence is barreling toward the Carolinas

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• A waterfront luxury hotel in Maine almost looks like it belongs on a Caribbean island, but it offers a quintessential New England experience.
• At the West Street Hotel in Bar Harbor, guests can eat authentic Maine dishes such as lobster and clam chowder and take in panoramic views of the harbor from the adults-only rooftop pool.
• The hotel serves as a base from which to explore nearby Acadia National Park. 
• It will cost you between $249 and $2,000 per night to stay at the resort.

The West Street Hotel, which sits on Maine's largest island and has stunning views of the harbor, offers a distinctly New England experience.

The rooms are decorated in a charmingly nautical style and the restaurant serves Maine lobster, seafood chowder, mussels, and fish and chips.

The upscale resort, which can cost up to $2,000 per night, is also an ideal base from which to explore Acadia National Park.

Here's a look at the hotel and the variety of activities guests can enjoy while staying there.

SEE ALSO: 13 things you must do in Maine

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The resort is in Bar Harbor on the coast of Maine, a little over 100 miles from Canada.

Source: Google Maps

It's in the town of Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island and serves as "a gateway to Acadia National Park."

Source: Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce

The island, which is the largest off the coast of Maine, is a popular summer vacation destination.

Source: Visit Maine