And survivors of the parkland shooting. Teacher ashley kurth and student david hogg. Mr. President , any concerns about rick gates . A dramatic new plea in the trump russia investigation. Will the plea deal for rick gates spell doom for Paul Manafort and others in the inner circle . Insight and analysis from our roundtable. Well break down the politics, smoke out the spin. The facts that matter this week. Good morning. It does feel different this time. We have seen heartbreak, shock, and fury after past mass shootings, from columbine to sandy hook. We have seen the passions cool. The moments fade. But never before have we seen anything quite like the never again movement. Students. Survivors, in the streets. Walking out of schools into state capitols. Major Companies Cutting ties with the nra. Banks rethinking their relationships with the companies that manufacture assault weapons. And long time members of the nra beginning to break ranks. Like Florida Governor rick scott, who now wants to raise the age for purchasing firearms. Joined last night by President Trump. It doesnt seem to make sense that you have to wait until youre 21 years old to get a pistol, but to get a gun like this maniac used in the school, you get that at 18. I mean, that doesnt make sense. And frankly, i explained that to the nra. Theyre great people. This morning, we talk to activists on both sides. Starting with the National Spokesperson for the nra, dana loesch. Welcome back to this week. Lets begin with President Trump. He says the nra is ready to do things. He wants to raise the minimum age. Will the nra support that . They have made their position clear. And i do want to caution people. Thats a no. I do want to caution people. Because i know people are trying to find daylight between President Trump and 5 million lawabiding gun owners all across the United States. These are things hes discussing. I think that its great that he, as the president , had individuals, constituents, come into the white house. He had the listening sessions. Nothing has been proposed yet. That doesnt make sense. The position is you dont want to raise the age. Thats what the nra came out and said. Thats correct. The president has talked about banning the bump stocks. Is the nra willing to back that . The nra made it clear that the atf needs to do their job. And they need to make sure that their definitions are consistent. The nra called for this before the president made a statement. As you know, dana theyre on the same page. Theyre not. The atf says they dont have the authority right now to ban bump stocks. The president now said he wants those to be banned. Will the nra back that . The nra doesnt back any ban. Theyve asked the atf to do their job and make sure the classifications are consistent. What about the call from the president to arm teachers in schools . I think that if a school, the if parents and teachers voluntarily choose to be armed thark that is something that schools have to come up with themselves. The nra has the School Shield program. Its assisted 150 schools across the country in coming up with solutions for this. Making sure students and teachers are protected. As Wayne Lapierre has said, as i have said before, the nra has resources at schools and parents and teachers disposals. You have seen teachers say, thats not a job we want. If teachers voluntarily choose to and the parents would like it. My kids go to a school where teachers chose to get trained and carry fire arms for their protection and the protection of the students. And this is something that, as parents of this school, and educators in this community, everyone came together and determined that was the best thing for that school. Parents and educators have to determine for their schools. The nras clear with School Shield. We have tons of solutions. If schools determine that maybe perhaps fire arms is not the way they want to go, the nra has resources for them, too. A lot of people are wondering how a shooter like this can get an ar15. There are many calls to ban semiautomatic weapons. Including from congressman brian mass of florida. Lost both legs in afghanistan. A longtime nra member. He says its time to have a ban. Lets look. I carried an m4. Similar to an ar15. I was carrying that weapon on the battlefield in the most dangerous country on earth for one reason. Because of its lethality. My community and my kids and our schools, i dont think that theyre made safer by the general population of civil quans having unfettered access to the best weapon the army could put in my hands. What is your response . I want to remind everybody that when students go back to school in parkland, the Broward County Sheriffs Office, who i think we need to have a conversation as well. Now they say its 23 times they had calls in, in addition to fbi tips. And under florida law, they had the authority to go and arrest that individual before anything could be done. I wish that as much attention were given to the sheriff and their abdication of duty as there is for blaming law eye abiding gun owners across the nation. No blaming here. The position on the ar15. The ar15 is a semiautomatic rifle. I want to remind everybody. When you had a former Bernie Sanders staff member who tried to shoot up a baseball field full of congressional members with an skk. It was that security that used their handguns to take down that individual. As far as an ar15, its a semiautomatic. This thing originated in the civilian market before it was adapted by the military. This is a discussion about banning all semiautomatic fire arms. I wish we could be genuine in the discussion. Thats the position on ar15s. Theyll be in the school protecting students and teachers when they return back to class. As far as banning on semiautomatic fire arms, think people ought to come out and say thats what theyre talking about. He was quite clear there. He said they have to come up with a definition. It should be done. There was an assault weapons ban for ten years actually didnt have any overall effect on the crime rate. It did not it did not eliminate that. There have been studies that show an effect. I want to bring up from the university of massachusetts. Look at that. From 1984 to 1994, you had 19 incidents. 155 deaths then. It goes down from 94 to 2004. 12 ints dents. Only 89 deaths. The ban expires. Casualties go way up. There are studies that show, and you yourself have acknowledged, a couple of years ago. Not perfection. Absolutely. It did not have much of an effort on the crime rate. Furthermore it does have an effect on the legality of mass shootings. 3 of homicides in the United States are carried out with rifles. The highest number actually goes in with handguns. These are illegally possessed by repeat offenders. Excuse me for a second. No one is saying this will eliminate every single killing. We do know that were the only country with wide access to these kinds of weapons. And no one else has the frequency or the intensity of the mass shootings. That is actually not true. France had a higher casualty rate in one year than the entire administration of barack obama. Were talking about banning fire arms. The discussion is about banning all semiautomatic fire arms. Thats really the discussion. Can we look at what could have prevented this . That firearm didnt walk itself into the school. An individual who was allowed to go unchecked by the Broward County sheriffs unchecked, aloud the firemen arm to go in the school. Its not the fault. Nor are 5 million lawabiding americans culpable for this. I want to see as much attention on the Broward County sheriff. The two fbi tips. Im not a member of the fbi or Law Enforcement. If someone is online using their name, saying theyre going to shoot up a school. If theyre banned from a school because theyve taken bullets and knives to school. If theyre sending messages that theyre going to shoot and kill their classmates, that sounds like a potential shooter. Im not going to argue that. Family and neighbors called and reported this individual. They did not follow up. That is the headline. I could not guy more. That is a factor here. That minimizes this. That minimizes casualties. When we follow up. Its one of the things that minimizes casualties. Almost all americans believe that background checks for all gun purchases make a huge difference. A recent pole from quinnipiac, 97 of americans support that. The nra opposes it. We have seen all the nra members. And i want to point out, the question for that poll, by the way, was do you support background checks if it is previous groups that are dangero dangerous. Terrorists, et cetera from getting fire arms. You think it doesnt work . It was the nra that created the nix system. Right now, and politicians could change this today. They could change it tomorrow. Did you know that right now, 7 million prohibited possessors can walk into a gun store and legally purchase a firearm . People who have received due process. People who are illegally barred from carrying firearms. People have been adjudicated mentally unfit. They can right now go and buy a firearm. Because, as it stands right now, only 38 states are reporting. Less than 80 of these convictions to the nix system. The reason states are not mandated to go through that system is because of a lawsuit that the nra filed. Thats a grotesque misunderstanding. Im sorry to say that. Prince versus the United States. That case youre referring to was a case where the federal government was trying to force states to implement and administer a federal program at the state level. The case youre describing. That case did not do anything to keep states from reporting dangerous people to the federal government. The nra has consistently sought to defund the background checks system. Has fought against the background checks system. Thats not true. We created the nix system. Were the ones for over 25 years that have been saying these states need to report these dangerous people. I want to get the 7 Million People that are a danger to others, i want to prevent them from getting a firearm. Are you . I want to prevent we have background checks. For all gun purchases. Not for every one. Give me an example. Theres no mandatory background checks for private sales or gun shows. Well, most gun shows have background checks. This is all federally regulated. The penalties are terrifying and severe. There is no loophole. Its a criminal act to acquire a firearm if youre are you going to have politicians on the program and demand that they have their state s comply by reporting the prohibitive possessors to the system . I think that is a great idea. President trump said the nra is ready to do new things. Is there any new proposal that youre willing to support now that you werent before . We have been calling for proposals to make sure that the system works. We have been calling for politicians to work with us and make sure that dangerous people who have received due process and should not be accessing fire arms. No one were all if the agreement, george. This madman shouldnt have been able to purchase this firearm ever. If i could follow up on those red flags and prevent it, you bet i would. Im a parent. I see my kids in every child. Parents make up the nra membership. We see our kids in everybody. We dont want to see anything like this again. This is why we have been calling so loudly, george, to make sure that politicians step up. They could change this. Report these prohibitive processors into the system. Number two however schools and parents determine that they best want to keep their kids safe, the nra is here to work with them. Our resources are at their disposal. School shield program is a great start. Dana loesch, thank you for your time. Thank you, george. Were joined by david hogg a senior at Marjory Stoneman douglas high school. And ashley firth. A teacher ho shielded her students, including david. You see what youre up against there. Honestly, its just disgusting. They act like they dont own the politicians. They do. Its a republicancontrolled house, senate, executive branch. They can get this stuff done. Theyve gotten Gun Legislation passed before in their favor and the favor of gun manufacturers. And what i want people to know is, look at dana. Is she saying anything or is that just a tone to distract the American Public and distract her nra members from the fact that shes not serving them . Shes serving the gun manufacturers. The people joining the nra. 99. 9 of them are amazing people that want to be safe, responsible gun owners. And i fully can support that. How do you convince them to convince their leadership that we need change . They have to do it. In the same way that this is a democracy that is currently broken, the nra is an organization that is completely broken. Ashley, youre a teacher. Guns in the classroom . I would say definitely not. I have no problem having a concealed weapon or being at home and having it in my home. I dont own one. But my inlaws next to me do. Yeah, it does make you feel safer. To have at the point of protection. In the classroom, i dont know. There are so many fights i have broken up at the Different School that ive been at and the school im currently at. These are kids with passions. Very raging passions. And, when they get into fights or arguments on twitter, instagram, just how their day went and somebody reacts to them wrong, having Something Like this in their vicinity is not a good idea. I have a 7yearold. I would not feel comfortable with him going into a classroom with a potential weapon, whether its loaded or not. Because some of the people have made comments. I have had conversations with friends and such a saying, you have a concealed weapon on you. Does it have ammunition in it . It has to be locked in a accept in a separate area. These kids get into everything they can. At a high school level. David, you heard the other point. Do you feel let down by the Broward County Sheriffs Office . Honestly, i know that the people that work in Law Enforcement are some of the hardest working people in america. I know they work every day to protect the lives and innocence of American School children and the American Public in general. Where there mistakes made . Absolutely. Is anything going to change . I certainly hope so. But this is something that we cant go back and change now. We have to look to the future and fix it. From before these investigations come out, from what i have seen from sheriff scott israel, hes a good man. He cares about the people. I dont know what happened in his organization. Im not a sheriff. I cant speak for them. Honestly, i know that i support anyone that is trying to protect the lyes and the future of america. We were talking before we went on the air. You have many family members with experience with weaponry. Things like semiautomatic weapons. You heard the nra saying absolutely no ban on semiautomatic weapons. What is your response . I dont understand the need to have them. One of the things ive been thinking about, we have the officers on campus that are armed. And, you know, if you had a person that didnt have this weapon that came on to campus. Maybe they had a different type of weapon, would we need to fight the same weapon with the same weapon . For me, i dont feel the need. To have that specific type of weapon. Its more important the capacity. The amount that he went through in that seven minutes that we were in there is is is just unreal. With the kids that were running from it. Yes, youre going to have people making mistakes like the bso or the fbi. Were human. Humans make mistakes. You have a lot of things you put on to these people. Thats what theyre trained to do. Just like we are teachers. Were trained to get the best we can out of the kids. When it comes to weapons and the capacity of damage they can do, we need to sit down and say, this is society. Like david said, not a republican or democrat viewpoint. Its what do we need to do for our kids in our schools . You kids are taking the lead. Young people are taking the lead in the wake of the shooting. Address the point i made at the top of the program. We have seen these horrific shootings. We have seen columbine. Virginia tech. Newtown. Weve seen white hot intensity in the days after the shooting. It goes away. Zero change. How do you prevent that from happening this time . Honestly, its our generation. Columbine was about 19 years ago. Now that an entire generation of kids has grown up around mass shootings. And theyre starting to be able to vote, explains how were going to have this change. Kids are not going to accept this. Critics of my generation will say millennials are lazy. I think were critical. Especially on social media. We love to complain about things. We absolutely do. Honestly, trying to fix this issue. We were saying that before. Yes. We do. Its something where were going to have to look and look really hard into what the foundation of the country is and ask ourselves, is that what were becoming . To the members of the nra i want to say this. Listen to dana, is she really speaking to you . Is she trying to fight for you . Or trying to fight for the gun lobby . She seems everything she was saying seems like spectacle. Is it just her tone . Or what shes saying . Going back to school on wednesday . Actually, i go back today. A couple of students will come on with their parents, collecting their belongings. Getting acclimated. We have planning days monday and tuesday. The students join us for half days wednesday, thursday, friday. Ready for it . I dont know. Imagine having to get in a plane crash and then having to get on the same plain every day and having to fly to somewhere else. Its never going to be the same. I dont support i cant imagine emotionally what me and my fellow students go through that day. I havent thought of my thought process. Stepping back into the same grounds. Having to walk past the freshman building. To my a. P. Environment science class. Walking past chef kirks room. I had to huddle in there. Were having glass replaced. Its not bulletproof. Were not having interchangeable locks replaced to lock them from the inside. To prevent shooters from getting in. If we dont fix this now, when will it change . How many more children have to die . Honestly, i know we dont have the funding. The federal government. The state government. Private citizens can help us out. Help us create more bulletproof glass. I know its expensive. But because of economies of scale, that price can and will go down because its a huge demand. Good luck going back. I know it will be a tough week. Thank you for your time this morning. When we come back, dan abrams. Preet bharara weigh in. [coughs] that cough doesnt sound so good. Well i think you sound great. Move over. Easy booger man. Take mucinex dm. Itll take care of your cough. Fine ill text you in 4 hours when your cough returns. One pill lasts 12 hours, so. Looks like im good all night. Ah david, please, listen. Still not coughing. 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Nine months into the Mueller Investigation, he has five guilty pleas. Including from the president s former National Security adviser. Now his Deputy Campaign chair. New charges filed against Paul Manafort. Could face decades in prison. Indicted 13 russian nationals. When you look at all of that, what does it tell you about where mueller is right now . Where hes going . Hes relentless. Hes thorough. It tells you he takes very seriously crime related to obstruction. Lying. It tells you that given how much surprise there has been every time theres a charge, an indictment, a plea. Sometimes with respect to people not on the radar screen, theres a lot we dont know. At any moment, more could happen. We dont know where its going to lead. Thats the question about rick gates. How much more information he can give. Weve seen from the deal he made. He pled guilty to two counts. Could face five to seven years in prison. According to muellers own lawyers in the courtroom, that could go to probation if he cooperates. You have to view all of these as building blocks. The 13 russian indictments. View all of the plea deals as building blocks. What do i mean by that . The reason the government is eliminating an enormous amount of counts is because they believe they have something to offer them. Something beyond what we already know. And so, when you think about the broad scope of the investigation, you have to think about why did he make this deal with flynn . What is flynn offering him . And gates. The people that think this is just about manafort is missing the point. The crimes manafort is charged with here. Banking crimes. Tax evasion. These are documentheavy crimes. Meaning theres a lot of evidence there. You dont really need gates to prove the manafort case. Youre saying he gave up someone else . Im saying could it help. But for the government to want to make a deal, there has to be more. How much does mueller know . At this point about what gates is saying, about who . Presumably, if hes reached a cooperation agreement, they should know everything. Already everything . You dont sign a dotted line unless you have heard everything. And they have to find it credible. Obviously, there is some point, as recently as february 1st, gates was talking to prosecutors and fbi agents and they didnt believe him. I agree with dan. On one point at least. That the case against manafort is very, very, very strong. Already strong. Without gates. Its not an esoteric, you know, theoreticaltype case. You paid your taxes or you didnt. You had an account or you didnt. Paul manafort is in a heap of trouble. You were a prosecutor. You know Robert Mueller pretty well. In your mind, what does gates have to give to get the kind of deal were talking about now . I dont know. From my experience as a prosecutor, we didnt let cooperating witnesses off the hook. If we charged them with 40 counts, and then they wanted to do something differently, they head to plead to 40 counts if not more. I dont know what evidence he would need. Could be, look, they want to be certain they convict everybody that they charge. If you want to charge, i agree with what dan said, they probably dont need him to convict mananfort. If it raises the likelihood of convicting manafort from 95 to 99 , you line up a guy like gates. Dan, take us into this. What is he the telling us . A good defense attorney willing to be honest. Thats the critical point. If you have an attorney that will be honest with him about where things stand. Hes facing a heap of trouble. Because of the types of crimes youre talking about. Very often in the law, we talk about intent. You have to prove intent. Here, you have the records, the documents. If his lawyer is fair, and smart, and sober, hell be saying, were in real trouble here. This is is a real problem for us. Does that mean Paul Manafort ought to or will cooperate . No. If his lawyer is giving him good advice, hebe telling him. This is serious. This is real. Were not going to be able to defend this easy. It will be a very tough case. A deal is something Robert Mueller would be interesting in . Of course. Yes. If manafort has something to give up, it can happen on the eve of trial. I dont see how he defends these charges well. Well be watching. Thank you both very much. When we come back, two governors working across the ail. Will they join forces in 2020 . John kasich, John Hickenlooper are up next. Kelly were out of body wash what are you doing . . I thought you had a cold . . I dont need all this. Mucinex fastmax is powerful enough to handle most of my symptoms. Name one. How bout 9 . Sore throat, cough, even. Yea i can read, you know. Were done here. Ahhh boogers to betsy Mucinex Fastmax cold, flu sore throat. 9 symptoms. 1 dose. Lets end this. 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In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Kelly were out of body wash what are you doing . . I thought you had a cold . . I dont need all this. Mucinex fastmax is powerful enough to handle most of my symptoms. Name one. How bout 9 . Sore throat, cough even. Yea i can read, you know. Were done here. Ahhh boogers to betsy Mucinex Fastmax cold, flu sore throat. 9 symptoms. 1 dose. Lets end this. And for kids multisymptom relief, try 1 recommended childrens mucinex. We have not seen much Cooperation Across Party Lines lately. Two prominent governors are trying to change that. John kasich from ohio. And democrat John Hickenlooper from colorado. Twoterm governors crisscrossing the yits talking about the ideas they share. Jon karl spoke with them on friday. He began with the reflections on the School Shooting in florida. Were at a point where were allowing ourselves to be terrorized. By ourselves. If you want to weaken the country, what better way to do it than to make children afraid to go to schools. Its going to church. Its going to concerts. All the places we create community is being hit with our inability to do this. Search your heart. This is not about political power. This is not about a campaign contribution. Its about how you want to look in the mirror. Nobody wants to take everybodys guns away. Nobody wants to repeal the second amendment. Oh, a few people. This is about reasonable approaches to keep our communities safe. So i hear a lot of bipartisan agreement from you. When the two of you get together. I want to ask you something that you probably dont agree on. What is going to happen on the Midterm Elections . Are you going to be working to elect democrats . Are you working to elect republicans . I will work to elect democrats. I expect the Midterm Election to be a reflection largely of the trump presidency. Well see how that pans out. The midterms is an election moment. A referendum on the success of the administration. I want to support candidates i believe want to take the high road. Those that want to create discord and put the party in front of the country, im not showing up. Ill tell you another thing. We may be beginning to see the end of a twoparty system. Im starting to really wonder if were going to see a multiparty system at some point in the future of the country. I dont think either party is answering peoples deepest concerns and needs. I want to report back something you said about your party. You said, about donald trump, that i simply could not swallow hard and set aside everything i believed for the good of the party. You decided not to support him. Well, the party is my vehicle, not my master. Is that what too many republicans are doing right now . I cant look. Im not going to start criticizing others. Heres the thing thats interesting. People want me to criticize my party. Let me tell you about democrats. I have no clue what they stand for. Were heading into a Midterm Election where theyre counting on the republicans bouncing the basketball off their foot and it going out of bounds. They have no agenda. Democrats will tell you that. What is the agenda of the Republican Party . Both parties dont seem capable of thats why im saying that our young people are fed up. And why im saying that the prospect of a multitaert system in this country is a rel possibility. Both of you will be out of office in 11 months. Are you running for president . You know, the moment i Start Talking about this. I say it all the time. I have an amazing cabinet. Were working on a swiss version of is that a maybe . Well focus on finishing strong. I havent gotten a pac. I dont have committees all over the country. Its not a yes or no, its maybe . Exactly. Jon, i have no idea what im going to do when i ill tell you where i leave this. I would like to have a voice. I would like to be constructive. I would like to it rally people. Frankly, at the end of the day, its in the hands of the lord. As to what my future is. Dont cut me off when im saying that. I wont. Its in the hands of the lord. I dont know what he wants me to do. Youve ruled out running as a ticket. If he gets the nomination as a democrat, i could maybe be his Vice President as a republican. Weve moved some ground here. I didnt mean it. No, im telling you. Could you ever support president ial candidate hickenlooper . Running as a democrat . Is he a nominee . Im a republican. Okay . And i like john very, very much. Aw. No. I think hes a fine leader. I cant predict what the future is going to look like. So youre a maybe on running for president. Im a maybe. I didnt say that. I said i dont know what im going to do. Its not a no. Not a yes. A maybe. Are you more likely to run as an independent or a republican . Im a republican. But you dont rule out challenging donald trump for the republican nomination . Im not thinking about it. I dont have you have to think about it. No, i dont. I dont think about it. I cant predict the future. And i cant do what is going to be expected of me to serve my country at some level. I dont know what that means. Im sorry. I just dont know. Do i sit around at night thinking i want to go through running for president again . You ever try it . Try it once. Give me a call. See how much fun it is. Well see what the future brings. What would it take for you to do it . Im not speculating. Were done with this. Im not going anywhere any farther. On that note, thank you very much. Governor hickenlooper. Governor kasich. Thank you. I cannot predict the future either. That is not the last we have seen of them. Jon karl joins the roundtable when we come back. What a nice picture that is. Look at that. I would love to watch that guy speak. Oh, boy. Thats so nice. Oh. I try like hell to hide that bald spot. Folks. I work hard at it. President trump having some fun with himself at cpac this week. A light moment in a tough week. Lets talk about it with jon karl. Julie pace. Jorge ramos. The author of the book stranger. Congratulations. And lon he chen. The former policy director for the romney ryan campaign. And our own cokie roberts. Lets talk about the gun debate. I started by saying is it different this time . I was struck by dana loesch. Suggesting that President Trump may not know where hes going to end up on this debate. Shes probably right. Thats the thing that is different. We have had outrage. Victims very impactful. Now we have these students. Clearly a lot of momentum there. We have had that before. What we havent had is a president that nobody has any idea what theyre going to do. And i will tell you, george, that the president has been telling his people, his staff, that hes serious about raising the age for rifle purchases to 21. Hes talking about universal background checks. Those are two things the nra is dead set against. Will he actually stick to that Going Forward . I think will are reasons to doubt that. Hes hinted in the past he would do something and hasnt. Right now hes talking about things that the nra is dead set against. The fact that hes not reliable on it means that republicans in congress cant decide where to go. They sit there and say, if i do this, if i take this stand against the nra, does the president have my back . They dont know the answer. I think the other big difference now is not only these fabulously articulate kids. But the fact that a lot of businesses are cutting their relationships with the nra. First of all, who knew they all had them . Made me want to become a member, if youre getting all these discounts. The big thing would be if the banks get serious. About what they do with gun manufacturers. We have not heard much from the Republican Leaders in congress. We havent. Thats been striking. Congress was out of session. We didnt have republicans on capitol hill. This will be an important week. Theyll be back in washington. Asked about the proposals that the president has been floating. And cokie is right. The Republican Party is nervous anytime trump gets involved in serious issues because he changes his mind so frequently. They dont want to end up backing something that puts them at odds with the nra. Some at odds with their constituents. There seems to be a disconnect with the kids were seeing. I spoke with some of them. You live in florida. Exactly. Ive been talking to them. And the sense of urgency that they have, we dont i dont see it in the political class. Theres a huge disconnect with what they want and what they want. It does appear your governor has made a bit of a move. Not necessarily. The same talk we have been having for the last 25 years. We live in a country with more guns than people. According to the Washington Post study three years ago. We have done nothing about it. The sense of urgency we see in the kids, i dont see that. Translating into the political process. Is there a danger for the Republican Party holding the line completely with the nra . I think there is. Youre beginning to see how untenable its going to be. The danger we run into, george, is that were going to engage in policy change for the sake of change. Rather than evaluating what is going to get to the heart of the problem here. I agree. We have to do more on background checks. The kinds of weapons. Who can purchase them at what age. We do something to act out rather than addressing the problems. I dont know if our political system is capable. In recent years, cokie, we have seen people waiting this out. Not doing something. But i think jorge is right. The kids are so angry. They dont want to hear, i cosponsored a bill. Political gobbledy speak. I think thats where the Political Energy is going to be. If the policy doesnt change, i think it affects the politics. You have two factors of energy this year. This one now. And the women. And the two of them. They go together. And they go together, absolutely. Moms and i think that that thats going to change the political calculation. I have been covering these debates since before columbine. The paducah and pearl shootings. And what we have seen since then. Two decades, the weakening of gun laws. Steady weakening. The strengthening of the nra. Its the democrats, too, by the way. Four months after sandy hook, an assault weapons ban came up. 15 democrats voted no. It got only 40 overall votes. So the question is, is this different . What i can tell you is talking to republicans in congress, there is absolutely no sense of urgency on this. They think this can be waited out. If its going to happen, it only happens if the president is going to make it happen. And we dont know if hes going to do that. Meantime, the president , in some ways, this has overwhelmed some other progress. The background clearances. In the wake of the rob porter episode. I was struck by President Trump on friday saying his soninlaw, Jared Kushner, will have to abide by the policy. Its up to chief of staff john kelly to decide. Kind of putting a bulls eye on kushner. Thats right. The president is the one person who could take action unilaterally on his own to give kushner the clearance necessary. Hes saying hes not going to do that. It was an open question when we left on friday about what would happen with kushner. His lawyer, who had been out there saying, theres though problem here. Hes going to be able to do his job. He went silent. Theres a lot of dynamics in the white house in play. Kelly tried to reassert himself after the missteps around the rob porter situation. You cant overstate how much chaos, confusion, drama this is. You have been reporting on this as well. When you ask the white house has the clearance been stripped for Jared Kushner . You dont get a direct answer. What they say is that the memo from kelly saying that nobody with temporary clearances still has access to topsecret information, that applied to everyone. That including Jared Kushner. Im also hearing that the president has expressed irritation with this not at kelly but at kushner. The fact that jareds problems are becoming his problems. Thats true of the investigation, as well. This is all against the backdrop of the Mueller Investigation. We dont know who else might be in his cross hairs. The most important thing that we have to remember, all these memos, have to do with politics. At the end is what matters is what the Mueller Investigation is going to say. At the end, i think it goes to the core of the insecurities of donald trump. Was donald trump elected in a way that was not fair . We know that the russians interfered. Was the Donald Trump Campaign involved . Thats the final question. The rest is just words. We have this democratic memo rebutting the idea that there was impropriety in the carter page fisa process. What is happening in congress is a side show. Was there any vulnerability in republicans to take up the fight here . I dont know that they have a choice. I think that is part of the problem. As we go into the Midterm Election year, we have heard this over and over again. This is all about where the president stands. And republicans in Congress Know that. Even if republicans in congress who are up for election decide, look, i dont want to be associated with the president. Theyre not going to have a choice. They have to take up this fight. This is their fight whether they like it or not. Political documents raised concerns. About the fisa process, yes. But fundamentally, they dont really have a link, necessarily, directly to what will happen with respect to a trumprussia investigation. They should pick up the fight against russia. And leave trump out of it. Look, the kremlin interfered in our democratic process. And we spent the last half of the last century fighting that. That would be an easy fight to take up. Exactly. Its not like anyone is going to stick up for russia. And i think thats part of the problem here. The challenge is, how deeply can they wade into the issue before they get backlash from the white house . The house investigation has been overtly political from the republicans and the democrats. Richard burke trying to be a bit above politics. He has a Good Relationship with mark warner. The democrat who heads that committee. If theres going to be any credible report that comes out of congress, that is still an open question. It is not coming from the house. That was true of the irancontra inve gags. The house was partisan. The senate was not. It was even true with watergate. You look to the senate to be more sobersighted in these kinds of situations. The house intelligence committee. Getting into the kind of partisanship they have gotten into. They were never seen those two memos read Like Campaign documents. This is the one committee not overtly partisan. Three weeks ago, we were talking about immigration, daca, dreamers. Whats going to happen with all of them . Its come meetly disappeared. We did learn that this week, President Trump, had quite a confrontation with the mexican president over the border wall. The wall is trumps new toy. He wants the toy for christmas. And hes not going to get it. Mexico is not going to pay pesos for that wall. Its simply not going to happen. Congress might not either. Exactly. So, 25 billion for the wall for what . Its a useless wall. Because, 45 of immigrants come with a visa or by plane. That wont change. Absolutely anything. Trump had the opportunity to get a little bit of that wall. Maybe 300 miles for daca. And, um, i wonder if this week hes going to do that. Thats coming back. This next deadline, march 5th for the deemers abili dreerm dry to stay in the country. The president is making it clear hes not ready to move on this. I was in the cabinet room when he said to the democrats and republicans, you all come up with a solution on daca, even if i dont like it, ill sign it. I went down to the signs. The president threatened a veto. Daca, immigration, the gun lobby. President trump is in a unique position. Were going to do a trade. A little bit of the wall in return for dacca. The president is the only one to take the lead on that. He cant punt this to paul ryan and mitch mcconnell. Swhaps the republicans have no cover. Theyre unwilling to do it. Nothing gets done. And the president who killed daca is donald trump. That is going to have to be the last word today. Thank you all very much. A big welcome to our newest viewer. Eva indigo chan. Born to our producer, joy lynn and her husband, trevor. Thank you for sharing part of your sunday with us. 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