He denied it. Seeking shelter. Hundreds of earthquakes are triggering volcanic eruptions this morning, spewing lava and deadly chemicals into hawaii neighborhoods right now. Mission to mars. Nasa checked out his paint work. Now its time to look under the hood. What todays launch is all about. You are in the cnn newsroom. Good morning to you. Live look at joint base andrews now. In moments President Trump will Board Air Force one and head to ohio, leaving behind the growing credibility crisis facing his white house for a chance to rally his base. Hosting tax reform events with supporters today hours after he cheered that Second Amendment with the nra. His speech already drawing some criticism from some survivors of gun violence. Cameron caskey for one, a student from parkland. I spoke to him this morning. He is a professional liar that will say anything to api e appease the crowd hes out. If hes in front of families he may something in common sense to gun reform. If hes with the nra, he will Say Something to get a big cheer. Ed lavandera is there. Ed, what will organizers hope theyll be able to accomplish today . The epicenter here in dallas, texas, of this gun debate. Just across the street over here you have the National RifleAssociation Annual meeting, tens of thousands of people spending the weekend in dallas. They heard from donald trump and mike pence yesterday, headlining the speaking engagements and out here in about an hour, the rallies begin today. This is the most intense days of antinra rallies well see throughout this meeting. There are a number of rallies scheduled here. Theyre billing this as a grassroots event, trying to register voters, get people motivated to vote on what they call common sense gun law. So, that is really the point of this. There are a number of rallies. Its fascinating to see as you picture the layout in Downtown Dallas, christi and victor. In the block surrounding it, several more thousands of people expected to descend on Downtown Dallas this morning to protest that organization. So, it should be a dynamic day here in dallas, for sure. Christi . Ed, good to have you there. Ed lavendandera there for us in dallas. President trump wants it to be about his tax law, tax plans for the future. The growing credibility crisis of his administration is threatening to overshadow that. The New York Times has a new report that President Trump did know about a hush money deal his lawyer made with a porn star several months before he denied it. Remember, a few weeks ago, the president claimed he didnt know anything about this. Investigators are looking into how that lawyer, Michael Cohen build up a 75,000 award chest as he worked to fix problems for the trump team. The president just left the south lawn. Did he answer any questions this morning . No, victor. It appears allowing the confusion to sit with the American Public as it relates to his payments, repayments of the hush money, payment to Stormy Daniels. Lets look where this started, though, latest iteration of this saga. Rudy giuliani, newly minted attorney took to fox news to search for the first time that the president did, in fact, repay Michael Cohen for that hush money payment. He later said it was a 35,000 a month retainer that facilitated that payment and said he spoke with the president before going on air to make those comments but yesterday the president appearing ing ting to muddle t situation further and urged reporters to take a look at comments about the payment so they did. Did you know about the 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels . No. Do you know whery got the money . No, i dont. The New York Times is report i reporting that the president , when he said that, the fact that the New York Times is reporting that the president has known about the payments for months now. Rudy giuliani, for his part, put out a statement yesterday clarifying he was stating his understanding of the matters not the president s. Avoiding the possibility of getting in any legal trouble by revealing that the president did, in fact, repay Michael Cohen while remaining hazy on the details of the payments because that would affect the president from a political perspective. Jeremy diamond, thank you very much. Eric swalwell of california. Congressman, good morning to you. Good morning. First lets start with the news of the day. We invited you here to talk about the nra and assault weapons ban. Lets start with this reporting from the New York Times that President Trump, indeed, knew of the payment of 130,000 to Stormy Daniels months before he denied having any knowledge of it. Whats your reaction . Of course he knew about the payment. I dont think most reasonable americans thought otherwise. They see nothing but deception from the president on this issue. To me its relevant, more so in what did he know about the work that the russians were doing for his campaign . If this president is willing to deceive americans about payoffs he made around the time of the election, its probably likely because he has operated in a shado shadowy way that he hasnt been straight with us about what was going on with the russia investigation, his family members, his businesses, his campaign and individuals from russia, who were seeking to help them. So i think the best thing he could do is come clean with the American People, sit down in bob muellers chair, stop undermining the investigation and allow us to move on. Victor, the cost of this mess that he has created from the payoffs to the russia investigation is he is incapable of addressing the needs that the American Worker needs right now. They need a president who is focused, not a president who, daytoday is under these distractions. Despite calling for the president to sit down with the special counsel, we heard from the president saying nobody, more than him, wants to sit down and speak about this because, in his words, there was no collusion. Do you expect that will happen, as we watch the president leave marine one here, walking over to air force one . He will be heading to a round table later this afternoon. Go ahead, congressman. I dont expect that to happen. I expect more of these games and more obstruction and using his fictioners in congress to undermine Rod Rosenstein and bob mueller. He has been provided the questions. As a former prosecutor, i couldnt believe that the government had done that. Now im realizing the brilliance of it. The public now sees that these questions are straightforward, theyre fair and relate only to what russia was doing and actions that the president took. So, he really will have no excuse to the American People, who he has promised to be honest with and straightforward with, as to why he cant sit down. Remember, victor, in september of 2016, president , candidate trump told america that anyone on Hillary Clintons team if they took the fifth amendment in the investigation should be concluded as being guilty. He said only the mob takes the fifth. So, mr. President , will you follow your own advice, which is honest people come forward and that only somebody who has something to hide takes the fifth amendment . I hope our president shoots straight with us. We saw the president Board Air Force one, headed to ohio for an event on taxes. Unlike we saw yesterday, the president did not speak to reporters on the south lawn or at joint base andrews. The president made a lot of news yesterday, en route to the nra annual meeting. Let me talk to you about that, congressman. We had on one of the survivors of the parkland shooting, cameron kasky, this morning. They have been rallying for change, including an assault weapons ban. You wrote about that in an oped this week. Why are you calling for a buy back and ban . Most of the gun violence in the country, critics will say, is not through the barrel of assault weapons, but a handgun . I have evolved on this issue from being a prosecutor to a member of congress and seeing so many victims that i now believe that a childs right to learn in the classroom from fear, their right to go home and their right to live is supreme to any other right. I dont accept that a weapon of war and assault weapon is covered by the Second Amendment and that if we buy them back or limit them to gun clubs, we can dramatically reduce Mass Shootings. Victor, youre absolutely right. This is not a false choice. We either address the assault weapons or do nothing. Gun violence, prevention programs, invest in Mental Health care. Make sure we have congressmans background check bill. Federally information about Mental Health, individuals and their states. Theres so much more we could do. The cost of doing nothing, we know what that will get us. More carnage, more lives lost. Let me put to you the argument that the president offered yesterday, his address to the nra meeting in saying that, well, if youre going to ban assault weapons, maybe you should ban vans and trucks and cars. Dont sell any more cars because people are using those to mow down innocent people as well. To that you say what . Look at the last major Mass Shootings in america, they were assault weapons, from parkland to pulse to a church in texas and, of course, las vegas. These weapons, they have no other practical use with a pistol grip or stock to spray a crowd and mow down a lot of people. And if youre in their way, as you read in the oped, the young africanamerican gary jackson in oakland, california, the shooter fired dozens of rounds at him, hit him just once in the back of the thigh and he still died. The sheer energy leaves you no chance. We should do something about that. The cost of doing nothing will be more lives lost. Congressman eric swalwell, thank you. My pleasure. Were looking at whats happening in hawaii this morning. Theres lava almost everywhere. Its nonstop earthquakes, it feels like, for those people. But thats not even the worst of what hawaii is dealing with this morning. Also the mission to mars. How nasas newest toy could tell us a whole lot more about the red planet. Were keeping tabs on the president s false or misleading claims even though the white house says they do not have a problem with accuracy. We give the very best information we have at the time. I do that every single day. And well continue to do that every day in this position. Im allbusiness when i travel. Even when i travel. For leisure. So i go national, where i can choose any available upgrade in the aisle without starting any conversations or paying any upcharges. What can i say . Control suits me. Go national. Go like a pro. Money managers are pretty much the same. All but while some push High Commission investment products, Fisher Investments avoids them. Some advisers have hidden and layered fees. Fisher investments never does. And while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, Fisher Investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other money managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. Can you imagine . No. Oh, my gosh. Its so bright orange that it doesnt even look real. And the sound. Oh, yeah. When you hear the crackling and almost the hissing of the fire there. 400 earthquakes in 24 hours. And then roads blocked off by this, lava. People on hawaiis big island are just trying to stay out of the way as the lava from the kilauea volcano destroys everything in its path. Two families have lost their homes already. Theyre opening up more cracks, more fissures in the road for that lava to fill. 6. 9 magnitude earthquake was felt on another island more than 200 miles away. One woman said she knew this could happen one day but the reality is that its just now sinking in. She almost feels like shes in a movie, she says. Understandably. The big island is under a state of emergency. Thousands have had to leave their homes. Many say theyre not receiving any updates on their homes or even when it will be safe to return. Cnn spoke with a man who lives on a farm in that leilani area. Listen to this. Were holding up good. Im with 11 people that have been displaced and are homeless and workless right now, that were also working on my farm. And its been a real shocker. The last day we were there, you know, just thursday, we were making a goodbye dinner for one of our friends, about to enjoy dinner and then cops show up and tell us we have to go. Everything changed in an instant. We had five minutes to back your bags with what you think youre going to need and youre off. And i was in a supermarket when the 6. 9 hit, which is one of the scariest places you can be. As you can imagine theres glass falling, bottles falling, things falling off the shelves. Everybody is going crazy. And it last aid good 10, 15 seconds. You just become hyper aware of the situation. That leilani subdivision is at the center of the destruction. More cracks have opened up, releasing more lava. Theres an even bigger threat on the horizon. Alison chinchar is in the cnn Weather Center with more. This is one we cant capture on video. No, you cant. You cant see t you supposedly can smell it. It has a very pungent smell to it. Thats the only warning you get from this. Sulfur dioxide, one of the gases released in the cracks we talked about, along with the lava. If youve never had any history of breathing problems, in low doses suchlt lfur dioxide can trigger breathing problems and in high doses it can be fatal, just one of the reasons theyve put evacuations in place. Earthquakes have been around. Not that you need another reason to evacuate. And a lot of them. Over 430 now in the last 24 hours. Were also keeping an eye on additional fissures or cracks that could open up as the system continues to evolve. And it is. But the question is why . Why exactly is this happening . We have to start with the volcano itself. Underneath the volcano, you have the Magma Chamber, its building pressure underneath because it has nowhere to go. The thing you have to understand, its just just under the volcano. It spreads out very far away. That Leilani Estates community weve been talking about is 25 miles away from the crater of the actual volcano. Within that Magma Chamber underneath, pressure builds, has to be released in some shape or form. These fissures or cracks develop. The lava makes its way to the surface and you have that toxic gas that comes up. Were dealing with six of the fissures in addition to all the earthquakes. Take a look at all the earthquakes weve been dealing w incredibly impressive numbers, 6. 9 on friday, very shallow, about 3. 1 miles deep. This was large enough to trigger a mini tsunami, caused sea level changes 15 inches give or take. Nothing major. It goes to show you the strength that these have had. Vast majority of quakes have been small. It goes to show you the amount of activity thats taking place here. Again, victor and christi, we point out even though most of them are small its a warning sign that you could end up having more fissures. Its still something to Pay Attention to. No doubt about it. Alison chinchar, thank you so much. Thanks. We talked this morning about the false claims and misleading statements that the president has made. Were trying to figure out a way to really get you to understand how many of them he has made. I remember the game of jar of gumballs. If you had just one gumball for every lie or misleading statement from the president , how many jars would that fill . Youre going to show us. I will. Of course. Also you might be wondering, how private, how safe are my phone conversations . Theres a new report that the nsa is increasing its surveillance and the numbers are pretty spectacular. Stay close. An incomplete job from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. electronic dance music im trying to manage my a1c, then i learn type 2 diabetes puts me at greater risk for heart attack or stroke. 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