thank you for being here everyone. let's get to these top stories at this hour. first, president biden considering drastic measures to avoid a catastrophic debt default. the president now seems open to senate democrats using the so-called nuclear option to raise the debt ceiling, something he previously was against. listen to this. >> -- to raise the debt limit using a carve out with the filibuster to raise the debt limit? >> i think that's a real possibility. >> a real possibility now. getting rid of the filibuster here means democrats would need only a simple majority, 50 -- just over 50 votes which they would have without needing any republican buy-in. secondly, the senate is expected to hold a test vote this afternoon on a measure to suspend the debt ceiling until 2022. that's expected to fail. facebook ceo mark zuckerberg is breaking his silence in a new statement released hours after frances how long again urged congress to regulate social media giants like facebook, zuckerberg says her claims don't make any sense and the company, in his words, cares deeply about issues like safety and mental health. we'll have more on that in a moment. let's begin with the battle to raise the debt limit. cnn's manu raju is live on capitol hill with more on this. what are democrats considering doing at this point? >> reporter: well, there is serious discussion about changing the senate's filibuster rules. that's something that's been off the table for much of this congress because of the resistance from some moderate senators such as joe manchin and kyrsten sinema. others have resisting changing the filibuster rules. 60 votes are needed to overcome the filibuster. today republicans plan to block legislation that would suspend the debt limit until after the elections. as a result, democrats are trying to discuss what their next steps are. that being one of the leading options here in the days ahead. in talking to democratic senators, they believe there's new momentum behind this because they believe they're simply out of options. listen. >> do you think there would be 50 democratic votes -- >> there's a lot of passion in the caucus about not allowing senator mcconnell to derail our advancing the build back better agenda. >> why not allow the i'm some majority -- >> i think consent would take all 50 republican senators. i think you've got at least one -- if i heard right yesterday, the republican lunch, i think multiple republican senators who are going to object to that. >> reporter: so that last point is important. that's josh hawley, a republican from missouri. one of the things democrats have tried to do to raise the debt ceiling is get an agreement from all 100 senators, it would require a simple majority, 51 votes. any one republican senator can force a 60-vote threshold. josh hawley saying there are multiple republican senators who won't alou it to pass on that simple majority threshold today. as a result, democrats looking at changing the filibuster rules. they needful unanimity within the democratic caucus. wep eel see if they can get there. >> manu, thank you. that test vote later today. mark zuckerberg has testified now four times before congress since last summer with little fallout for being frank until today maybe. it has more to do with what the facebook ceo is not saying than anything he has testified to until now. breaking his silence in a long company letter on the whistle-blower frances haugen's damning accusations against facebook. zuckerberg's new statement putting out hours after senators excoriated him in which the former facebook product manager was the star wn. cnn's donie sullivan was here for the hearing watching all this play out. what do you make of the statement from zuckerberg and where do things go from here? >> a lot of deplek shun. he says at the heart of these accusations is the idea that we prioritize profit over safety and well-being. that's just not true. the argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical. he's also saying that we can't trust this whistle-blower about facebook's own research. he's saying that she is taking it out of context. but we have seen, even just a few months ago, facebook cherry-picking their own research to release publicly to make them look good. in fact, they shelved a report about the first quarter of 2021, the first three months of this year, which showed that one of the most popular links on facebook was an anti-vaccine, essentially, article. they shelved that q1 report and released the second quarter report. so they also cherry-pick what they want to make public. so for zuckerberg to be saying she's taking this research out of context, we can't even trust mark zuckerberg when it comes to facebook's own research. as to where this goes next, senator richard blumenthal, a top senator on that committee that the whistle-blower appeared before yesterday, said he wants zuckerberg to do his explaining not on facebook but before congress. and he wants to see him here in washington, d.c. in the next few weeks. >> that sentiment getting bipartisan support. we even saw that from marshal blackburn, tweeting back that exact same thing. let's have the conversation. maybe you should testify about all this. good to see you, donie. thanks so much. also developing this morning, several u.s. officials tell cnn that the suicide bomber that carried out the attack killing 13 american service members, dozens of afghans had just been released from prisons day before the attack. cnn's international correspondent clarissa ward is live in kabul. what more are you learning? >> reporter: really this is bound, kate u to reignite the debate about the u.s. handing over bagram air base to the afghan national army. that took place on july 1st. we now understanding from this new cnn reporting that abdul rehman al loghri, the terrorist from isis k responsible for killing 13 american service members and dozens of afghan civilians trying to get out of the country, that he had been held at parwan prison in bagram air base. when the taliban took power on that sunday, the first thing they did before coming into kabul was essentially to empty the prisons at parwan prison in bagram and also pul-e-charkhi. i remember that very well because there were very real security concerns across the whole capital that this could lead to a huge spike in crime and also terrorist activity. parwan prison at bagram held thousands of prisoners, but also specific lip hundreds of very dangerous terrorists. the taliban was obviously trying to release their own people from the prison. in the process they did release these isis-k members. that has real ramifications in terms of the security situation here on the ground. there was a large terrorist attack at a mosque here just a couple days ago. there have been on going attacks in jalalabad. this is becoming a problem for the taliban, kate. >> clarissa, thank you for your continuing reporting. appreciate it. coming up for us, as democrats fight through figuring out what stays and what goes in the massive spending bill that is all of president biden's domestic agenda at this point, they're also trying to keep the country from defaulting on its debts. the progressive lawmaker, member of the house, who met with the president this week, he joins me next. also, researchers find that people with substance -- and building it with my son has been my dream job. at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. find a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® is a pill that lowers blood sugar in three ways. increases insulin when you need it... decreases sugar... and slows food. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ please don't take my sunshine away ♪ you may pay as little as $10 per prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. for people who could use a lift new neutrogena® rapid firming. a triple-lift serum with pure collagen. 92% saw visibly firmer skin in just 4 weeks. neutrogena® for people with skin. you founded your kayak company because you love the ocean- not spreadsheets. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire back to the drama on capitol hill. the senate is expected to hold a test vote in a couple hours about the debt ceiling which must be raised or the economy will suffer what the treasury secretary says is a self-inflicted wound of enormous proportions. this vote will fail, it will put republicans on record voting against fixing this problem. that is the point that democrats would like to make. but what now? we'll get to it. at the same time the real challenge remains about president biden's domestic agenda. democrats are arguing with democrats over this still, and this massive spending bill will affect every american. joining me, democratic congressman peter welsh of vermont, member of the progressive caucus. congressman, thanks for coming in. >> thank you. >> let's talk about the spending bill and negotiations over that. what are you willing to lose to get this over the finish line, because it's going to need to be smaller? >> i would be willing to bring the number down. in our meeting with the president, he's totally committed to the policies, and he wants to focus on the policies, and he's totally realistic that the price tag is going to have to come down because of the resistance of senator manchin and senator sinema. bottom line, if we're able to do things in climate which are very popular with republicans and democrats across the country, if we're able to do things that will help families with child care, with family leave, with pre-k education, we might not be able to do it for as many years, we can shrink the years, but we can get those programs started. i think that's a path forward, and there's broad support among our caucus. unfortunately, we need unanimous support in the senate and every democratic except three in the house. the massive spending program, even at $3.5 trillion, over the next ten years, the gross domestic product in our country is $282 trillion. you put it in that context, and it gives you a different picture, that this is something we can afford to do. >> as we look ten years out, the numbers get squishy. what you're getting at, though, is an important piece, which is, is it better to cut the time that programs will be available, scale down who and how many benefit or cut out programs entirely in order to let things be as fully funded as you maybe originally wanted. you're thinking shrink the time period, yeah? >> i am. i also think we're not going to be able to escape some hard decisions. i think at the end of the day we're going to try to do things that is as immediate a benefit for american families as possible, do that perhaps in a shorter period of time and with the confidence that if people get accustomed to the tax reduction for working families, where the child gets a $300 credit each month or where there is affordable and accessible child care or when a loved one gets sick, you can take family leave with some help from the federal government. we think those will be popular. actually, i think those are really good for a family, whether that family voted for trump or whether the family voted for biden. families need that. so we think the success of the programs will be, once they're impl implemented, people will support them. >> will you vote for the bill if the hyde amendment, a measure prohibiting federal funds to be used for most abortions, if it's part of the final deal? i ask because other progressive members have drawn a line here. >> i'm against the hyde amendment. the hyde amendment is already law. so in here or not, it doesn't change what is existing law. so what you're seeing is an effort that is unrelenting on the part of the senate leadership and house leadership on the republican side to doom everything in the biden agenda, even things that many of my republican colleagues privately tell me they support. >> the debt ceiling. the test vote is going to fail in the senate today. yes, republicans are being hypocritical and not cooperating to avoid catastrophe here because they have done it many times in the past, raised the debt ceiling with democratic support to make it an easy path. but even just getting to the edge of disaster and avoiding it when it comes to the debt ceiling could have reefl al eff, could be bad for the economy and the country. democrats can do this alone. do you think it is smart to wait any longer and take this any closer to the edge? >> that's up to senator mcconnell. as you mentioned, it is hypocriti hypocritical. by the way, i've always supported increasing the debt ceiling, whether a republican or democratic president. it's like a family sick of paying the mortgage, they won't pay the mortgage. that's not going to work out well for that family. it's not going to work out well for our country. we will do it alone if we have to. the imposition by mitch mcconnell of the reconciliation process which he's talking about is fraught with procedural peril. >> but it can be done, but it can be done. for a moment -- for a moment not blaming the other party, if you have a menu of options before you. you know it's a real problem. you know waiting longer makes it more of a problem. you have options before you. why not pull the trigger and avoid disaster? why not? >> senator schumer will do whatever it takes to avoid it. you're saying something here that has to be challengedment why won't senator mcconnell let the democrats do it alone in the straightforward process. >> because he wants to stop the biden agenda. the hypocrisy here is real. i'm not saying republicans aren't at fault for being -- i've run millions of sound bites, exaggerating, of the disaster it would be for default. you have the house, the senate and the white house if there's damage done from even getting up to the line on the debt ceiling. >> yeah. the person that has the most control about us resisting us doing what we're absolutely required to do is mitch mcconnell. as you know, the house has raised the debt ceiling. that was with all the democratic votes and massive resistance on the republican side. in the senate with the procedural roles where you have the filibuster, 60 votes, then mcconnell has a lot of authority to be able to stop america from doing what america needs to do. senator schumer will probably proceed -- this would be my guess -- with reconciliation. as you know, with reconciliation, you have two sets of vote-a-ramas, all these absurd all-night senate voting issues. you get grandstanding senators like ted cruz who can do a lot of mischief along the way. with senator mcconnell, let's put responsibility where it belongs. he's empowering, empowering the most extreme elements in his caucus to grandstand on the debt ceiling at america's peril. he's doing it at a time when he knows it's our collective responsibility to pay our bills. >> congressman, thanks for coming on. thank you. coming up for us, one area of bipartisan agreement in washington, cracking down on facebook and other companies like it. pressure mounting after the whistle-blower's damning testimony. a deeper dive into this next. foot-warming, temperature-balancing, proven quality night sleep we've ever made. save up to $800 on sleep number 360 smart beds. plus, 0% interest for 36 months on all smart beds. only for a limited time. i'm not getting through the pandemic just to end up with the flu. i asked for fluzone high-dose quadrivalent. it's the #1-used flu vaccine for people 65 and older. fluzone high-dose quadrivalent is the only vaccine approved by the fda for superior flu protection in adults 65+. i'm not letting my guard down. fluzone high-dose quadrivalent isn't for people who've had a severe allergic reaction to any flu vaccine or vaccine component, including eggs or egg products. tell your health care professional if you've ever experienced severe muscle weakness after receiving a flu shot. people with weakened immune systems, including those receiving therapies that suppress the immune system, may experience lower immune responses. vaccination may not protect everyone. side effects include pain, redness, and/or swelling where you got the shot, muscle ache, headache, and general discomfort. other side effects may occur. all flu shots are not the same. i raised my game with fluzone high-dose quadrivalent. ask your doctor or pharmacist for fluzone high-dose quadrivalent. 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committee mike ro rogers. thanks for being here. zuckerberg said the way he described it was, it's frustrating and difficult to read. what he calls mischaracterizations of facebook as it relates to their effects of instagram on kids. he's talking about your reporting. what do you say? >> there are a few things in mark zuckerberg's response that i think don't really paint the whole picture, and the main one is that, when he's describing why they rolled out this algorithm change in 2018 toward meaningful social interaction, which is what our story was about, he said this was something that changed the emphasis away from viral videos and towards friends and family. yeah, that's true, but that's only part of the picture. what he doesn't talk about and what our story really focused on is, at the same time, what that change did, it boosted facebook's obsession with engagement. during the whistle-blower's testimony yesterday you heard over and over again her talk about the dangers of engagement-based ranking. this obsession with getting comments and likes and reshares. this is where the danger lies for the current version of the algorithm. mark zuckerberg completely skips over that and then says that facebook was making a sacrifice by doing this because it sacrificed time spent. as we report, that doesn't really tell the whole picture because they were panicking inside the company before making that change, that these engagement metrics were going down. part of the reason for doing this algorithm change was to boost metrics for facebook's bottom line because it was going to help facebook's business in the long term by making sure people stayed on the platform. the second broad point i would say is he sets up several straw men including this idea that we were suggesting or that the whistle-blower was suggesting that facebook was creating an algorithm on purpose to make angry content go viral. that's not what anyone is suggesting. we're suggesting that they did this, they created incentives that allowed this to happen. when their own researchers came to them with solutions, they didn't want to do it if it meant sacrificing engagement. >> congressmen, if you were sitting in this hearing and then reading zuckerberg's response, dismissing it as a false picture and pieces of it -- just not true is how he put it, what would you be doing today? >> well, making it very clear -- here is the problem. by the way, some great reporting, keach, on this. i think this is so long overdue. facebook is an advertising company that has a good technology platform. they earn their revenue by advertising. so, of course, they're making decisions that on the outside we would say probably ought not do that. i would be pointing out a couple things. one, they know and clearly didn't do anything about it, that this is harmful to kids on one of their platforms, certainly instagram. there's a few things we can do to that end. one is giving parents more control. it doesn't take any regulation. they can do it tomorrow if they want. i argue as a parent myself, kids are a little older now, would love to have that ability if my kids were younger, number one. number two, they knowingly, according to past testimony even in congress, they knew the russian government was causing some trouble using their algorithms targeting americans for their own malicious purposes. and one of the reasons they didn't want to engage is because it was advertising revenue they'd have to give up. so i think there's a way forward on this. but i think today i would be pointing out the fact that given this reporting, given the evidence, given their own documents internally, something has to change. you can't allow this to go on. who would sell a product knowing that 40% of the teens using your product are going to have emotional issues? we all ought to be outraged by that. >> unfortunately, guys, we need to cut this short and go to breaking news. i appreciate you both. we're showing you pictures from a texas high school on lockdown right now after a reported shooting. we're taking a live look at aerials over timberview high school in arlington, texas. you can see ambulances there and big police presence. over to brynn gingras is following more breaking news. this is all unfolding as we speak. what are you learning? >> we're making calls to try to get information. what we know right now is police have said that they're working on an active shooter situation at a high school in arlington, texas. that high school is timberview high school, part of the mansfield independent school district. there are several high schools in that school district. as you said, they're now on lockdown. looking at the same images, number of balances, police cars in that parking lot of that high school. if you kind of glean from what we're seeing, it doesn't seem a little too chaotic at the moment. we're seeing some armed officers running into that high school. again, we're trying to get information of what is the current situation there on the ground at that high school. all we know at this point, kate, is that this is an active shooter situation. we can't even get information about any possible injuries, the status of students at this point, only that it is a lockdown situation. of course, this is something we're going to stay on, continue to monitor there in arlington, texas. we'll bring you more as soon as we have more. >> absolutely. we have seen bits of video. here is one thing moments ago that caught my attention, kinds of in a row formation officers with -- obviously with guns drawn, heading towards the school. we've also seen -- obviously it's in the parking lot. a lot of -- it looks like students. i don't know if it's possibly parents kind of standing around wanting more information. there's a lot to be learned here. this looks like a pretty big high school, brynn. i don't know if you have information about this high school, where it is in location, if there are other schools nearby. there's a lot to be learned here. >> absolutely. like you were mentioning, you can see in the corner when it pans a bit, that shot, you can see those students, as you referenced, sort of waiting there. we're not seeing what we sometimes see during on going active shooter situations where the students are let out by law enforcement with their hands up. again, it's unclear, the status of what's going on inside those walls right now. we're just seeing more officers going in heavily armed really. it's not as chaotic as i've seen in the past. that's why we're trying to get more information, if this situation is somewhat under control. that doesn't answer the question of what went on, how many people could be injured, has anybody been braurt to the hospital at this point? those are the questions we're trying to ask. as big as this high school, we know it is one of many in that school district. however, i don't know how many students actually attend that high school. we're trying to continue to learn information, this all unfolding very quickly, kate. >> one thing we do know, unfortunately, as we've seen it happen time and time again is first the schools lock down. the students, teachers, staff, they lock down in place. that's standard procedure in these lockdown drills. and after police have been able to secure the scene, that's when they're methodically, the student body, let out. quite often that is how it plays out. in these intervening moments there are these very strange periods of what seems like calm from the outside. but you can be sure with that level of police presence on the ground, that there's nothing calm in terms of what i'm sure the students and staff and families and parents are feeling right now as they see this. remind me, when did first calls come in? >> actually -- do we know when first calls came in? i'm asking our producer here. we don't exactly know, kate. this is unfolding pretty quickly for us. >> absolutely. >> it was recent. we got right on the air pretty much when this happened. that's how we have these images of people, police officers particularly, going in. but you make very good points there. we don't know the situation inside those walls at this point. you're right. it does take time for all the law enforcement, especially an area like texas, where schools aren't exactly on top of each other, they're spread out, to get there on the scene and get inside these buildings and, like you said, go room to room, making sure everything is okay, trying to completely assess what might happen or what did happen inside the school. clearly this is a serious -- something serious has happened. it's on going. as soon as we get more, we're going to update you -- actually, we're giving someone over here giving me a little more information, kate. this is the atf headquarters saying that -- tweeting out that they are at the scene of a shooting at that high school. again, timberview high school in arlington, texas. they're doing a methodical search -- this is from mansfield police, working with the atf doing a methodical search inside the high school. they're going to be announcing soon a parent staging location once they have that identified. this is the local police department sending out the tweet saying they're working with the atf. so now bringing in more law enforcement to this scene to get help about what's happening there inside that high school. >> one thing is these incremental pieces of detail do come out, and we are careful in all of these moments as it unfolds before our eyes and live on air, is that the police -- the mansfield independent school district police -- i believe that's what it says -- is confirming to cnn that police are working an active shooter situation, so we do have that, but stressing they do not have additional details right now available about any confirmation of injuries or the extent and magnitude of what we're looking at right now. this is timberview high school in arlington, texas. we'll continue to follow this. we'll take a quick break and see what more detail we can gather for you. breaking news out of timberview high school in arlington, texas, reports of a shooting situation at the school. we'll have much more on this after a break. ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ bipolar depression. it made me feel like i was trapped in a fog. this is art inspired by real stories of people living with bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place... ...and be hard to manage. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. latuda is not for everyone. call your doctor about unusual 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we are continuing to follow and monitor breaking news out of arlington, texas. a high school there is on lockdown after reports of a shooting. what we're talking about is timberview high school. we're going to show you live pictures, live aerial pictures, also video from moments ago of a heavy police presence, police entering the building, a row of ambulance vehicles outside as well. very limited details coming in at this moment. i want to bring in cnn law enforcement analyst anthony barksdale on this. we do know, anthony, the mansfield independent school district police do confirm to cnn that police are working an active shooter situation. there's very little information, though. in the video that you see, what is your sense and what questions do you have right now? >> right now i'm just thinking about what's happening on both sides of this, the police side and those kids and those teachers, administrators in the school. so we have to think that there's a key theory that works for those trapped inside during an incident like this. run, hide, fight. if you can run, get out of there. if you can hide, find the best hiding spot possible. if you have to fight, you have to fight. and that means you have to give it your all to survive. i just hope that that's not the case for them inside. the police side of this is, the officers responding have to get in there immediately. no pause, no wait. we learned from columbine that that's not the route. you have to go in. you have to neutralize the threat and stop them immediately. if it's a single threat, multiple threats, the officers have to go in, neutralize the threat. at the same time we've got to be worried about any victims. i just really hope that this -- i just hope that it's not so bad. >> we all hope that. we're going to be very careful in the information we bring to air because things are developing every second, and there are people still inside and there are families watching this play out live on tv. lauren, control room, what you sent me is a tweet from arlington, texas police. this just came out from arlington, texas, police. it says we are on the scene at a shooting at timberview high school. we're doing a methodical search and working closely with the atf and mansfield independent school district police as well as the mansfield police department and another police department and other agencies, they say. we will be announcing a parent staging location soon once the location is identified. so we do know there are multiple agencies, anthony, obviously, on the seen. very quickly, i do not know when first calls came in of reporting a shooting, but it's early on in the school day, right? the school is really -- has really gotten probably under way at timber view high school. >> you never know when it's going to happen. the thing is right now, based on what i'm hearing from you, reporting, the police responded immediately, and that's very important. you've got to get those resources there. you have to stack up and you have to go in. so that's a positive, and i'm going to stay positive, that the police are going to do what they're trained to do. and i'm just really hoping that everybody is going to be okay. >> another update coming in from arlington police department. it's a message to all parents as a followup to what we just heard, that they're setting up a reunification area. this tweet from the arlington police department that the school district is setting up a parent reunification point at the center for performing arts locateed at 1110 west debby and officers will be at the scene and students will eventually be bused to that location after the school is completely secured. one thing i will say is arlington police, they are getting this information out quickly, and it does seem in a methodical way to communicate at least the steps that, unfortunately, you and i have -- all of us have become accustomed to when these very scary situations play out. the lockdown, the police heading into the building and then a reunification point being set up, anthony. >> yes, yes. like you just said, them getting this information out is a crucial part of an incident like this. >> there's always a part of this, anthony, that we kind of dissect the posture of the police. this is a local affiliate. this is live coming in. let's listen in. >> they weren't getting a lot of information. they couldn't tell me much. as a matter of fact, they were asking me what was going on. >> they just knew they were locked down? >> they just knew they were locked down. >> what have they been telling you since while you're just wait? >> they just want information. obviously -- i can't imagine. it's got to be very stressful when you don't know what's going on and they tell you you can't move. you know what that means in this day and age when that happens. they just wanted information on what was going on. that's all they needed. >> how is it for you? you're trying to get the same information, i'm guessing? >> i was trying to get the same information. the police weren't really saying much. you're trying to just get questions, and it's hard to not know. it's just the not knowing. you just want to know your kids are safe, and when nobody can tell you that, it's stressful. >> stressful. i get it. tell me your name. >> joel benavides. >> joel benavides. >> i'm talking to you. you've got the glasses and the hat -- >> you just want to know your kids are safe, anthony. when you can't get that, it's stressful from one parent. that's absolutely an understatement, right? >> absolutely. that's the thing -- that's the problem. you want to know that your loved one is safe, that they're okay. the police have a lot of work to do once they enter the building. you've got to do a clear sweet, and at the same time keep in mind that sometimes those involved in these acts set booby traps. they'll set secondary devices where the police have to take their time, be methodical, slow but fast at the same time in these type of incidents. so i hear what he was saying, and i absolutely understand it, but the police still have to be right with what they report to the parents and to those that are concerned about those inside. >> as i was saying before the interview popped up from a local affiliate -- we'll continue to bring you that as we're waiting for more information from the police, from the school, any information we can get. say that one more time? oh, we have some more sound. >> it looks like they're cleaning up that shot. we'll go back to it with more from that affiliate when we do get more. in these moments between getting information, clear and concrete information, anthony, we look at these videos, and it's human nature to try to kind of dissect the posture of the police, what they're doing and what you can read from it. what do you say to folks about that? >> since columbine, since so many of these incidents have occurred, police departments throughout the united states train over and over again for these type of situations. unfortunately, they have to train, and they have to be prepared for incidents like this. the response of units that you cited, other agencies, et cetera, to me that is a huge positive. that shows a united command that is deploying to the incident, and i know some say, well, why so many police think it's so bad? that's a good thing, that's a plus. you want more units there to go in because you have a lot of space that you have to search. somebody could be hiding in the ceiling. you don't know. so you have to just have faith in your police agency and believe that they're in there to keep everyone safe and get them out of the situation. that's what i would say. >> absolutely. anthony, stick with me. i'm going to bring in cnn's josh campbell for more on this. josh, you and me and anthony have been on together in many more live shooting situations that have played out before, unfortunately. what are you thinking when you're seeing this situation unfold before us which, again, very little detail coming out, but confirmation that police are on the scene methodically working through what they say is reports of an active shooter scene. >> yeah, far too many of these we've covered, kate. what we know from authorities right now is this went from a suspected shooting to now both the atf and the police calling it a shooting. that bit of information, we know how they're handling the situation. one thing, we look at these images. on the right side of your screen you have law enforcement arrive, b arriving, but one thing we often see in these shootings is the stream of students coming out. sadly we see them lining up with their hands raised as they try to bring them out as part of that processing. >> what does that tell you, josh? >> the reason i bring that up is we really have to think about these students still in that state of lockdown, still in that be building, and you can only imagine the agony they're going through. in this day and age, police practice for these kind of situations, but until that actually happened, it's impossible to predict the feeling, how that experience is. so obviously our hearts are with the students and the educators that are in the school right now. we also know this is a very large complex. we're talking about a high school that covers many, many acres there. as anthony was saying earlier, that's a lot of real estate that authorities have to work through methodically room by room, as they try to determine that they actually know where the shooter is. if there is a shooting in progress, the very sound of the gunfire will take the officers toward the shooter. but if the shooter hasn't been taken down, that person could be anywhere, so you see those officers in and around that building. we also know from this aerial coverage just a flood of officers brought in, including their mobile command center. we know just a host of different agencies are all fusing together as we often see as they try to work through this situation unfold ing there in texas. >> josh, is it significant, does it mean something that the atf is on-site and involved? >> you know, in this day and age, the atf, the fbi, the dea, all the alphabet soup of law enforcement agencies will immediately respond. it's called self-deploy. that means if you get word of a particularly violent thing like a shooting, they're going to respond. because of these situations, and we know as we were describing earlier, post-columbine, the first officer on the scene regardless of what patch that officer wears on his or her vest, they're going to try to take down the shooter, so you're going to see these agents flood in from different agencies, from different officers. as we look to the left of the screen, we see school buses being brought out. we know earlier the police had said that they're preparing for a reunification, so that's obviously a methodical process as well, trying to get the students out of the building once it's declared safe and secure and taken to this reunification center. an agonizing scene for the parents there, the students, the teachers worrying about what exactly is transpiring inside that building. >> an observation about the big line of school buses now entering that complex, so we can see what's going to be coming in the coming moments, positive te -- potentially. we're looking at a high school in arlington, texas. this is timber view high school in arlington, texas where police in arlington have confirmed that they are on the scene at a shooting at this high school. and the way arlington police have put it is that they are doing a methodical search, working closely with the atf and other police departments in the area and other agencies, and they've announced there is a parent staging area, a reunification area at the center for performing arts, which is located at 1110 west debbie. law enforcement will be at that scene and students will be bussed to that location. as we can see, those buses seem to be getting in position. police say after the school is completely secured. i don't know if that means we'll be getting more detail on that very soon, but, josh, we do see a bit more movement here. but in these agonizing moments of uncertainty, you know, as one parent put it to an affiliate, josh, before you jumped on that we listened in to, he said, it's just the not knowing. that's true on so many levels. >> it is, and, you know, i've been in different areas with law enforcement and covering these difficult incidents, the hardest part is dealing with the victims and the family members. they always say to a person that it's this period of time that we're in right now. not knowing is what's so difficult. in this day and age, obviously many students have cell phones so people are able to make contact oftentimes in that instance with some people, but others they may not be able to make that contact. it's just that point of waiting and not knowing. one thing i want to point out as we look at these images as well. there is a lot we still don't know, details about what's transpiring, but as we often analyze these incidents as well, it's worth pointing out if an active situation is stilley me -- eme emergent, is still a threat, seeing them bring in not the emergency resources but those who were non-sworn law enforcement, and of course, we're waiting for additional updates from officers about the status of that search. again, a very large facility that they have to go through and get all of the students out and educators that are still in there and move them over to the reunification area. >> that makes a lot of sense, josh. thank you for pointing that out. you're not going to bring more people into an ongoing dangerous situation, just even looking at this line of school buses, you're not going to bring them into the property, most likely, of an ongoing threat if they don't potentially have it under control. again, we don't know what's happening inside that building right now. we do not have a read yet. let me bring back in anthony barksdale on if anyone has been shot, how many people have been wu wounded, if any, or if there's anything worse than that. anthony, you say it's good news the atf is on the scene. >> yes, having the federal partnership, having the atf there is a positive for local law enforcement. let's say there is a weapon recovered there. the atf can help run the weapon, trace it to the point of origin. because, you know, there's still going to be a lot of work to do post incident, and the atf is huge, maybe some ballistics they can help. this is a good thing. it's a positive in a bad situation. >> it's a positive in a very, very uncertain situation. so to recap for everyone as this continues, we're going to have much more of this breaking news. a shooting at timber view high school in arlington, texas. more details to come. a parent/family reunification point has been located, has been decided. police are on the scene. "inside politics" with john king is going to start right now. hello, everybody, i'm john king in washington. a high school in arlington, texas in the dallas-ft. worth area. law enforcement investigating reports of an active shooter situation. you're looking at live shots. this is in arlington, texas, police doing what is a methodical search. f