>> no. >> just checking. >> hello everyone. the nra has a new warning for president trump. we'll look at how it is reportedly trying to stop him from moving on background checks. we'll show you brand new polling on where americans stand on that very issue. >> we have new details on the heart wrenching story from mississippi. an i.c.e. raid pulls 680 workers from their jobs, leaving their children, who are at their very first day of school, behind. we'll go inside the community and speak with the superintendent of the school where many of those kids learned about their parents' arrests. >> unbelievable. plus a new child sexual abuse crisis. this time it's the boy scouts of america. a new lawsuit identifies 350 predator scout masters and claims the organization is hiding a pedophile epidemic. we'll speak to one of those attorneys on the case. today president trump and the entire nation are still grappling with how to tackle the ongoing gun violence epidemic after the mass shootings in el paso and dayton. while the president's openness to extensive background checks may be gaining support on both sides of the aisle and with the majority of americans, there is one organization standing squarely in the way. "the washington post" reports, quote, nra chief executive wayne lapierre spoke with trump on tuesday after the president expressed support for a background check bill and told him it would not be popular among trump supporters. >> but new numbers released this morning by morning consult suggest, please listen to this, 80% of registered voters strongly support requiring background checks on all gun sales. there is overwhelming support of this when it's broken down by party as well. 87% of democrats and 76% of republicans. across the board want background checks. and now, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is facing growing pressure to call the senate back into session to bring two house passed background check laws to the floor for an official vote. joining us now, nbc reporter hans nichols who is in senate majority leader mitch mcconnell's district in kentucky and "the washington post" opinion writer jonathan capehart and founder of moms demand action for gun sense in america, shannon watts. let's go to hans first. tell us what it's like there in kentucky where we know mitch mcconnell has not been holding any town halls. certainly not been seen around town. >> reporter: no, mitch mcconnell has gone dark. he clearly doesn't feel any pressure to address what some people here will say are outside calls for action. we've been trying to get a sense of just what his constituents think here talking to individuals all morning. i wouldn't say they're apathetic but, guys, they are agnostic about the approach. that is not to say they're for or against anything strongly. they want to see some sort of action but they don't want to get bogged down in these preconceived notions of politics before you even get to any conversation about solutions. pretty much everyone we've talked to has talked about mental health. at the same time a lot of individuals have said they are for background checks. when you combine the two, sometimes you get a little inconsistency but for the most part people are supportive of background checks. they're not demanding that mitch mcconnell take immediate action. again, this is just a cross section. we've been here for a few hours. this isn't comprehensive of the entire state. there is frustration with the political process but it doesn't necessarily narrow into a specific call for action on what mitch mcconnell is doing and that may explain partly, guys, why mitch mcconnell hasn't felt the need to come out and address this. remember, the last statement he gave was on monday. i challenge you to go back and read that statement on monday and see if there is any actual news in there. he is basically saying, i'll wait for the president to take action. >> right. >> reporter: one quick comment, guys, talking to one voter, said, look, if the president moves on background checks or the president moves, he has this state in such rapture that if president trump does move on guns, he could bring the state of kentucky and give top covered republicans. again, we haven't seen that. guys? >> that's the thing. he has the trust of so much of gun supporting america, he could move this. >> he doesn't need wayne lapierre to tell him who his supporters are. the one thing about donald trump is he does know what his base looks like and how to get them going. jonathan, since these shootings five republican senators have publicly said they're open to background checks. this is not the holy grail for people who are looking for more gun control. this is a basic entry point. but ultimately, it's going to be up to the senate to pass legislation on this because the house has. when you look at the polling data and the president's words, is there anything that makes you think this time might be different and the senate might actually do something positive? >> no. >> interesting. >> we have been here so many times. if the slaughter of children in new town, connecticut wasn't enough to move the senate and move the congress to do something, nothing will. i keep going back to, as we go, to my mind the third or fourth iteration of this conversation. i keep going back to a picture i saw in the newspaper of a roosevelt room meeting with president trump seated next to a beaming senator dianne feinstein of california, beaming. her beaming caught my attention because i'm not used to seeing her smile so broadly. why was she smiling so broadly? that was when the president of the united states, the republican president of the united states, was hammering republicans in the room, saying that they were afraid of the nra and that, you know, he was doing something about guns. maybe we should take the guns away. how about background checks? saying all of these things that the senator, herself, had been pushing for decades. and what happened days later? nothing. and so we are in this sort of groundhog day situation here. and in the end, it boils down to one person and that's president trump. as we've been talking about from the very beginning. if he were to stick by what seems to be his sort of gut instinct to go with background checks, we probably could get somewhere. but then wayne lapierre of the nra gets into his ear and he backs down. the american people, as the poll numbers show, are and have been for a very long time in favor of background checks, in favor of doing something about gun safety legislation. and, yet, nothing moves because the nra is whispering in the president's ear and the president gets spooked. >> let's talk about that access the nra has. shannon, two things stand out to me. if all americans are in support of being safe, we had two, well three mass shootings in the last two weeks and wayne lapierre, the head of the national rifle association, was able to dial up the president and have a direct conversation with him. you, yourself, are a major voice and force in terms of gun safety. this weekend you were one of the people leading a forum where at least ten of the democratic contenders are showing up in iowa to discuss gun safety. could you pick up a phone and get the president to take your call the way wayne lapierre can? >> no, but i didn't give the president $30 million in his last election campaign. i'm a full-time volunteer and a mom. you know, i disagree with this idea that nothing has happened since the sandy hook tragedy. so much has happened. we've passed so many state laws. we've stopped so many bad bills. we elected a gun sense majority in the house that actually has passed gun safety legislation this year. this is about the president deciding who he is going to listen to. are we going to continue to let gun lobbyists write our gun laws, which has gotten us the 25 times higher gun homicide rate than any other developed nation, or are we going to listen to the vast majority of americans, who want gun safety? look, we've seen some republicans in ohio and tennessee and other states come to the table in the last few days since these tragedies and to say, look, we do need background checks. we do need a strong red flag law. i will support that. >> shannon, to the extent that you say a lot of things have been done since new town, since parkland, some of that is the actual amount of money that is spent. you said, you know, you haven't contributed the money to donald trump's campaign, but in fact organizations like yours and others did contribute more or did have more to do with the last mid-term elections than the nra did. >> that's right. in the 2018 elections, we out spent the nra, which was a watershed moment in american politics. we also out maneuvered them. we elected over 1,000 gun sense candidates across the country. we flipped the makeup of seven state legislatures. we've already gone back in and passed stronger state laws there. last year was the best year we've ever had in terms of passing stronger gun laws. 20 states passed stronger gun laws. nine of them were signed by republican governors. this is a bipartisan issue for the most part in the states. it needs to be in the senate as well. >> so, jonathan, given all the facts that shannon just pointed out, but still on a national level and the sentiment you shared moments ago that so many feel like nothing has been done, does anything significant happen with mitch mcconnell still in office? >> right now, no. you know, senator -- senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is all about one thing and that is power. and, certainly, maintaining republican power within the senate. at which time the senate majority leader feels that his hold on power, republican hold on power in the senate is in jeopardy, is the time when he will move on gun sense legislation that's been passed by the house and is sitting on the desk in the senate. it's not that congress hasn't done anything. it's not that the house hasn't passed legislation. it's that it has gone over to the senate and the senate is sitting on it and the senate majority leader in particular is sitting on it, not allowing it to come up for a vote, because he has -- there is no political gain for him in doing so. >> thank you, jonathan capehart, "the washington post" opinion writer. shannon watts is with moms demand action for gun sense in america. hans nichols is following the story from kentucky for us. next, families torn apart after an i.c.e. raid on a food processing plant in mississippi. 680 people arrested leaving their children abandoned at school. we'll speak with the superintendent dealing with the crisis. you're watching "velshi and ruhle" on msnbc. let's get down to business. the business of family time... ...and downtime. ...and you time. ...and forgetting what time it is...altogether. modernized comfort inns and suites have been refreshed because when your business is making time, our business is you. get the lowest price guaranteed on all choice hotels when you book direct at choicehotels.com. welcome back. the biggest single day sweep in history, immigrations and custom enforcement arrested 680 workers yesterday across mississippi, most of them latino. the raids hit seven food processing plants across six cities on the same day that many of the workers' children headed back to school. i.c.e. released this new video today from a raid in canton, mississippi. today i.c.e. spokesman brian cox says more than 300 of the arrested workers have been released from custody. he says, quote, they were placed into proceedings before the federal immigration courts and will have their day in court at a later date. >> joining us, that reporter we mentioned with "the jackson free press" ashton pittman, nbc news reporter julian ainsley who covers immigration and the school superintendent in scott county, mississippi tony mcgee. he says at least six families within his district had a parent caught up in the raids. >> tony, we've seen video of sobbing children in schools, businesses, on sidewalks, separated from their parents. talk to me about these kids who were in your care, in your custody when their parents were in some cases apprehended. what happened to them? are they still in school? where do you send them after school? >> well, thank you for having us and giving us a chance to talk about our boys and girls here in scott county. our kids were very upset yesterday as you might know. it was a very emotional day not only for our kids but our teachers and administrators. we did have probably about 15 families we know were directly affected by the raids, parents that were not at home when children left school that day. we were very blessed to have a lot of community members that reached out, a lot of organizations that were deeply ingrained within the latino and hispanic community in scott county, which helped us make sure those boys and girls had a safe place to go after school. our job is to care for kids, to make sure boys and girls are safe each and every day. you know, it's tough. you're a 5 or 6-year-old child in the second day of school and you don't -- you're not speaking the english language. it's already a little unnerving to go and feel good about school, but then to get word that mom and dad won't be there when you get home that afternoon or not be able to pick you up, it breaks your heart. it breaks your heart as a father, myself, and as our teachers are mothers and fathers, too, and just been a very trying, emotional day yesterday and today for us. >> ashton, we understand that many of these people are potentially in the country illegally. but help us understand the community there. the president often talks about these migrants and the invasion as criminals, as rapists, as drug smugglers. based on the news reported thus far, these people all appear to be employees in food processing plants. >> right. these are workers. these are not criminals as far as we know. these are people who are going and working and working to provide for their families while their children are at school or daycare. you know, just from talking to people, just from living in mississippi, i know that what a university of mississippi law professor told me yesterday is absolutely true. he told me, cliff johnson told me that in mississippi there might be people who say, you know, build the wall, but then they go back to their communities and their kids have a soccer coach who is an immigrant that might be undocumented. they have neighbors. they know people in their community. they might be saying build the wall but they're not necessarily saying come round up my neighbors. so this is shocking to a lot of people. videos and pictures of children crying at school on their first day of school, you know, and finding out their parents aren't going to be there to pick them up. this is shocking people. this is not -- it's one thing to talk about immigration in the national context about building a wall but it is another to see children in your own community crying because they don't know where their parents are. >> ashton, an argument we often hear is that migrants are stealing jobs from the american worker. so now you've got 680 people not at work today. what's happening at these plants? are americans now showing up to fill these jobs? are the smoke stacks brimming? the food processors going to get their orders out with different workers that aren't migrants? >> that is something i'm wondering. i haven't heard of any kind of stampede of people looking for jobs at these plants now that they've lost so many workers. and i don't think you're going to hear about that, because it's not really about -- i don't think these people are taking anyone's jobs. i never hear people in mississippi talk about, oh, the immigrants are here taking my jobs. people just don't talk about that here. we have one of the lowest immigrant populations in the country. we don't have a large undocumented population. yet here in 2019 and in 2008, i.c.e. performed each time the biggest raid on immigrants at work sites in u.s. history. here in mississippi. and it's kind of difficult for me to understand why. >> julia, let's go to those work sites. those food processing plants. has anyone there been charged? >> we have no verification that they have or will be, stephanie. the u.s. attorney for the southern district of mississippi yesterday said, this should send a clear message to employers that if you hire illegal workers we will come after you. then right after that, the logical followup question was, well what about these employers of these six food processing plants? they declined to say whether they will be charged at all. one thing to remember here is that a lot of times employers and not saying this happened in this case, but in past cases, an employer can cooperate with i.c.e. in order to bring about a large scale raid like this and in return they could get some kind of immunity. or certain people may be punished or it might be a fine but not a criminal penalty. so, you know, there are a lot of questions here about who is at fault. i think these employers could actually talk and bring a lot to this conversation about why they felt the need to hire undocumented workers and maybe they could say they're having a hard time finding u.s. citizens to fill this job. another thing that makes these raids easier for i.c.e. than say the grand scale raids we heard were going to happen last month that never came to fruition is that you have to work with the local law enforcement. a lot of those large cities, the local law enforcement was refusing to cooperate with i.c.e. they said they would only step in and issue a public safety. in this case in mississippi it seems they did have the cooperation of local law enforcement. but that doesn't mean that because it's easy it makes it easier on immigrants. actually workplace raids are the ways historically we've been able to round up the largest number of immigrants but they usually focus on noncriminals and they focus on people with families which is a reason why work place raids were put on hold during the obama administration. >> so, tony, were there i.c.e. agents at the schools? did the schools get a heads up about what was going to happen? >> we didn't have any i.c.e. agents come to the schools and we didn't get a heads up on that. you know, we found out much like everybody else, after the situation happened, actually passed one of the processing plants that morning coming to work and saw some of it taking place there. of course once i got to school i found out a little more what happened, kind of the gravity of the situation. but did talk with some of the agents after that through phone conversations, just to verify and make sure that we verified the parents were not going to be at home that afternoon so we could find places for children to go. we did want kids to go home -- we didn't want kids to go home without anybody and we talked with our bus drivers about making sure we had some kind of visual reference of a parent or guardian was there. if a child felt unsafe or uneasy about getting off the bus to bring them back to school. we'd make sure they found a safe place to go that night. >> tony, did you ever believe when you went into education, when you became the superintendent of that school, that this would be something you're dealing with? >> i told my staff the other day, this is the kind of stuff they don't prepare you for in school. it's not there. there is no preparation for this. all of a sudden the only preparation is the heart of an educator. you never want to see children torn away from families or families broken. we're just thankful and blessed and we've got a strong community, a strong group of loving teachers that surround our boys and girls each and every day and did i ever think i'd see it? no. to be honest with you i hope i don't see it again. >> tony, thank you, tony mcgee the superintendent in scott county, ashton pittman a "jackson free press" reporter and julia ainsley our msnbc correspondent. thanks to all three of you. >> thank you. >> i ask you, ali. isn't it amazing that these employers, these plant operators can work with i.c.e.? we're talking about 680 employees. it's not like a random. they know where to go to work. a program, a system is in place to hire undocumented immigrants. but it's those employers who can now turn on them and contact, work with the government. >> remarkably vulnerable position to be in to be a law abiding working undocumented immigrant in america. those are the ones we're actually targeting. that was not what president trump said when he started with, he talked about bad hombres, rapists, murderers, felons. just recently in his speech. ticking off murderers and -- >> the counterargument will be, they came here illegally. >> that is true. >> that is true. >> but this administration said -- john kelly said this when he was homeland security secretary. he said, those people are not going to be priorities for deportation. it's going to be people who have committed crimes and committed felonies. so it's just a misrepresentation of what they were going to say. it is equally legal but, you know. >> food processing jobs are not in high demand. not a lot of people desire those jobs. but they certainly need to get done. >> all right. one of the most notable events of 2020 is kicking off, the iowa state fair. 22 democratic hopefuls are set to attend over the next two weeks. we'll be there live with one contender who is stepping up to the soap box today. you are watching "velshi and ruhle" live on msnbc. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? [ referee whistle sounds ] ♪ sport dr[ cheering ]s when you need the fuel to be your nephew's number one fan. holiday inn express. we're there. so you can be too. i felt completely helpless. trashed online. my entire career and business were in jeopardy. i called reputation defender. they were able to restore my good name. if you are under attack, i recommend calling reputation defender. vo: there's more negativity online than ever. reputation defender ensures that when people check you out, they'll find more of the truth, not trash. if you have search results that are wrong or unfair, visit reputationdefender.com or call 1-877-866-8555. welcome back to "velshi and ruhle." we have just learned the 2020 presidential candidate andrew yang has officially qualified with eight others for the next democratic debate in september. meanwhile more than 20 party contenders are descending on the iowa state fair to make their pitch in the runnup to the caucuses. >> a new monmouth poll shows former vice president joe biden leading the field among likely iowa caucus voters at 28%. hot on his heels senator elizabeth warren at 19% who just yesterday unveiled her plan to invest in rural america. biden and montana governor steve bullock are expected to speak this afternoon. joining us now is mike memoli our msnbc correspondent there. >> michael, steve bullock is expected to speak in a little while. i know you're with him right now. >> reporter: that's right. we're expecting more than a million iowans to descend here on the iowa state fair over the next 11 days. we also expect two dozen presidential candidates to be speaking at the soap box. we have with us right now the first of those candidates to take the soap box, thanks for being with us. you were one of the last candidates to get into the race but practically set up camp here in iowa. this is your eighth trip. what is your strategy to win? >> ten weeks into this race, eight weeks to iowa because, look, we're 178 days away from iowans being the first voters to express their preference. what i hear in iowa is they have one-third of their counties went obama, obama, trump. they recognize we have to beat trump but one of the ways is winning back the places we lost. as the only one in this field that actually won a trump state i think i know a little bit about that, mike. >> reporter: we've been talking about former vice president biden and his speech yesterday talking about the president in the wake of the shootings in el paso and dayton. you also gave a speech yesterday and one of the things you said was that democrats are well on their way to losing this election. what did you mean? >> i think we got to make sure we're talking about the challenges facing every day americans. when i was in ottumwa a couple weeks ago a retiree said who on that stage is going to have my voice? she doesn't need a revolution. her challenges are the here and now. when we're talking about policies we got to make sure we're talking to the folks that end up voting not just to the twitter verse if you will. >> reporter: what is your message to president trump? what did you think when you see how he conducted himself yesterday at a moment when a lot of people thought he should be trying to unify the country? >> well, he was. it was so damn disappointing. for him even on a monday to say we have to speak with one voice when it comes to racism and bigotry and white nationalism and that's not what he did the last two and a half years before and then to make this, supposed to be comforting people, about him and then attacking people? we as a country deserve a heck of a lot better. >> reporter: what is the strategy going forward? are we going to see you on those debate stages in september and october? >> as long as everybody goes to steve bullock.com absolutely. you know, from that perspective, my strategy will be just as it has been, to get out, talk to folks, listen, talk about the challenges of every day americans. it's always been not the debates that take big fields down to small it's the voters. i'm counting on the voters to do that. >> reporter: thanks for taking some time. i know you got to get up on the soap box. >> i got work to do. >> reporter: all right. as you see one of the candidates eager to make his mark here in iowa ahead of the caucuses next year. >> all right. coming up next a child sexual abuse crisis in the boy scouts of america. a new lawsuit claims 800 new victims have come forward identifying 350 new predator scout masters. we'll speak with the attorney for the victims. e victims. 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>> well, that's false. number one. but number two, if that was the purpose it was an utter failure, because what we have done is essentially done a criminalogical survey and the 350 hidden predators are still just the tip of the iceberg. we have another 150 names where we only have partial identifications. and what we find is that nine out of ten of the men contacting us are identifying perpetrators that do not appear in the boy scouts perversion files and have for the most part never been publicly identified before as abusers. so these are the real hidden predators in our community. it's only because of the courage of our clients coming forward and sharing their stories and identifying their abusers that we now know about these additional people. the boy scouts of america's file system is, you know, like closing the barn door after the horse is out of the barn. >> tim, draw us a picture. >> it's reactive. >> draw us a picture of what the characteristics were of these abuses. was there a pattern? was there a way in which it happened that would indicate systematic acceptance of this by boy scouts of america? >> let me put it into the simplest way i can, which is, would you entrust your son to an organization that sends him alone out in the woods on overnights with a man that you know absolutely nothing about? that you've trusted that this person is going to be vetted because it's, after all, the boy scouts of america. but in reality, there's been no vetting. the vetting that was done was by mom and dads who don't know how to really do a proper vetting. they have no support from boy scouts of america. and so it was so easy for perpetrators to infiltrate this organization and get access to children. >> but could that mean that the organization was very weak, that could be different than the organization having a massive cover-up. >> well, here's the rub. they've known about this for a hundred years. they've been quietly removing them one every other day since 1916. there are not 8,000 files. there were probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 perversion files. but since they destroyed a massive amount of them in the 1970s we don't know how many there were. but if you do count up the rate, you come up with 40,000 or 50,000 files and then you have to multiply that by nine because that's the rate at which people coming forward are identifying new abusers. hundreds of thousands of abusers, probably still living, maybe they've moved on to other youth organizations. and when you consider that the fbi says that the abuser has on average a hundred victims over a lifetime of offending, we're talking about millions of boys who were abused in this organization. the boy scouts of america says that they've had over 120 million children in their program since they were founded. >> wow. >> so this is not new. what is new is the magnitude of it and the fact that the boy scouts despite their best efforts to try and keep this secret, to minimize it, to hide it from the public, the evidence is now coming in and it's overwhelming. we were contacted after our press conference in one day by 4700 men who saw news stories about what we were saying and have contacted us to tell us their stories about abused in scouting. so this, while a very large number is simply the tip of the iceberg -- >> thank you for joining us. tim kosnof an attorney for abused in scouting. >> thanks for joining us today. all right. in the wake of a series of mass shootings in california, texas, and ohio even president trump and some republican lawmakers are calling for new gun legislation. they're calling for it. next. we'll look at the so-called red flag laws and how effective they are. >> we're traig to get guns out of the hands of people who are dangerous who actually may kill themselves or somebody else. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. and this is me now! any physical changes to this man's appearance are purely coincidental. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i was told to begin my aspirin regimen, blem. and i just didn't listen. until i almost lost my life. my doctors again ordered me to take aspirin, and i do. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. listen to the doctor. take it seriously. dprevagen is the number onemild memopharmacist-recommendedng? memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. ruhle." new details in the el paso massacre suggesting police were alerted about the suspected gunman weeks before 22 people were killed at a walmart. according to attorneys for the 21-year-old suspect's family, his mother expressed concerns to police that her son owned an ak type firearm. she was apparently concerned because of his age, maturity level, and lack of experience. >> the attorney says a public safety officer said police couldn't do anything because he was an adult, legally allowed to own a weapon. the attorneys told cnn the mother's inquiry was only informational in nature and not out of concern and she did not provide her name or her son's name. a day after the massacre the allen police department said in a statement, quote, our contact with that person, meaning the suspected gunman, can be described as limited at best. >> can i just ask you, what is the difference between informational and concerned? it was a concerned person who picked up the phone and provided the information. >> so even in the states with red flag laws you have to be able to go before a magistrate or judge and say there is an imminent danger. part of the problem is this mother's concern seemed to have been, my son is immature, doesn't know much about guns. i'm not sure even the red flag laws that would pass muster. >> all right. >> as pressure mounts for lawmakers to move on gun control, it appears to be some momentum for this idea of red flag laws. i think 15 or 18 states have them. >> they have them here. >> in new york, right. they would allow police to remove weapons temporarily from someone who might be a threat to themselves or others. nbc news senior national correspondent kate snow has more. >> reporter: as communities grieve and demand action, republican senator lindsey graham, says he plans to introduce a so-called red flag bill with support from democrats and the president. >> we're not trying to take anybody's guns away from them. we're trying to get guns out of the hands of people who are dangerous who actually may kill themselves or somebody else. >> reporter: red flag laws already exist in 17 states. they allow someone to seek an extreme risk protection order that enables police to temporarily seize weapons from a person who is a danger to themselves or others. >> are there any firearms in this house? >> reporter: in indiana all these guns were confiscated in a four-month period. >> my son lives with paranoid schizophrenia and when he is not on his medication he becomes incredibly aggressive and violent. >> reporter: darlene patrick lives in maine where the state voted against a measure last year. her son is doing well right now but twice she's had to figure out how to keep weapons out of his home. if you had a way to call the police and make sure your son didn't have a firearm, what would that do for you? >> well, that would give me some peace of mind, for sure, that he wasn't going to hurt himself or anyone else. it would also instill a lot of anxiety on what was going to happen to him afterwards. >> reporter: the nra does not outright oppose red flag laws but wants due process protections which is what concerns weld county colorado sheriff steve reams. >> they don't have a chance to defend themselves and plead their case. >> reporter: and concerns after different kind from the senate democratic leader who called the red flag measure tepid and not nearly enough. >> all right. coming up next -- the plot thickens in of registered child sex offender jeffrey epstein. now we've got the most detailed account yet of his relationship with the billionaire lex wexner, whose company owned victoria's secret, and it involves a claim of $46 million, quote, misappropriated. >> where did all that money go? 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mmm! with no artificial preservatives or added nitrates or nitrites, it's all for the love of hot dogs. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ welcome back to "velshi and ruhle" -- >> welcome back when -- you know, when it says stephanie, i usually go. welcome back to "velshi and ruhle." a businessman with strong ties to financier jeffrey epstein is now accusing the accused sex offender of the misappropriation of $46 million of the many's money. lex wexner, behind victoria's secret and el brands, had hired epstein as an adviser years ago, much more than that. in a letter to his foundation, he says he first recognized the loss of funds in 2007 after he severed ties with epstein. he wrote "i am embarrassed that, like so many others, i was deceived by mr. epstein. i know now that my trust in him was grossry also misplaced and i deeply regret having ever crossed his path." >> they did not return a comment on wexner's allegations. epstein is under indictment for alleged child sex trafficking and has pled not guilty to all of the charges. in a separate letter to employees last month, wexner claimed he was never aware of the illegal activity that epstein has been charged with. >> joining us now, one of the reporters who broke this story, "the new york times" investigative reporter steve eder. steve, let's start with this -- is it $46 million total that wexner claims epstein took from him? >> it looks like it's at least $46 million, perhaps a larger number. >> okay. >> you know, it's -- yeah, go ahead. >> let's say it's at least $46 million. when that happened, wexner did not report this to the police? >> yeah, as far as we know, there was no reporting to police at the time. and you know, it was all sort of handled as part of a separation back in 2007. >> have you ever heard of anything like that before? at least $46 million, allegedly taken by someone else, and first guy who may have been embarrassed or looked naive said, no biggie, we'll just stop talking? >> it certainly does, you know, raise questions about the way that this all ended. you know, during that period, you'll note that epstein was already under investigation. he was in the year 2008 was when he sort of finalized sort of the first round of his plea agreement with the authorities down in florida. so it was right in the middle of a lot of things that were happening, and you know, certainly, one would ask, why not call the police? >> wexner says he was able to recover some of the funds misappropriated and he wrote about a contribution that epstein made to wexner's charitable fund in 2008 as representing, quote, a portion of the returned monies." how's that even work? you stole money from me, so now make a donation to my foundation? >> right. so, that's where you're referring to the $46 million question. and yeah, i mean, that is part -- you know, at this point, we can't see the whole picture in terms of how the money sort of flowed back and forth, certainly something we're still interested in as we continue to report on this, but that $46 million represented to the foundation, to a foundation called ylk, which was set up at that time, did represent this payback of sorts, and there's still -- >> is this the same foundation that epstein kicked wexner's mother off of? >> no. that would be a different foundation. you'll notice in the wexner and epstein orbit that there are a number of different foundations that come play. so that was a different foundation that with a wexner foundation, and that dates to a set of circumstances in the 1990s. >> something else in the letter that stood out to me that wexner wrote -- he says -- he was given power of attorney as is common in that context. so, based on our own reporting, we have reached out to a number of founders, c-suite executives, who have said that was absolutely uncommon. we can't find any other person, a peer of wexner's, who has said, yep, they would hand over power of attorney to someone who could hire, fire, borrow and buy with that person's money. what exactly did he mean when he said it was common? >> well, you know, it is part of the question here. i mean, it was a wide authority that epstein had for a long period of time, dating back to the early '90s up through 2007, where epstein had this authority, this power of attorney to do all sorts of things on his behalf. and you know, it did sort of come into play as an important distinction that he had that power. >> steve, thanks for talking to us. steve eder is an investigative reporter for "the new york times" who is following this story of the increasingly -- what seems to be increasingly opaque and complicated relationship between lex wexner and jeffrey epstein. >> ali, we are getting more answers to the what, and we remain completely in the dark as to the why. >> yeah. all right, let's take a quick check of markets right now. they are climbing, wiping out many of this week's steep losses. the dow is up right now 323 points, the s&p 500 as you can see up 47 points. the nasdaq's doing well as well today. again, no major changes, but what we've seen for the last couple nights is that the chinese have not taken the decision to particularly strongly devalue their currency against the u.s. dollar, so maybe they're getting the message that that wasn't working out too well. >> a bit of a roller coaster week, i would say. thank you for watching this hour of "velshi and ruhle." >> i'll be back here at 3:00 p.m. eastern. >> and i will see you tomorrow here at 9:00 a.m. eastern. >> watch or listen on serious example radio. tune in, msnbc.com/now, the msnbc app or apple tv. and ayman mohyeldin picks up our coverage. >> good morning. i'm in for katy tur. it is 2:00 p.m. in the east, 1:00 p.m. in mississippi, where there is outrage today after mass arrests in what's believed to be the largest single-state immigration raid in more than a decade. nearly 700 workers detained yesterday in an operation that hit seven food processing plants in six cities across the state. most of those arrested are latino. the raids fell on the first day of school in mississippi. here's the heartbreaking part -- it left some children, among them, kindergartners, alone after school without a family to go home to. congressman joaquin castro condemned the raid saying "let's be clear -- i.c.e. raids of this scale are not conducted for the purpose of imgraction enforcement. they are to strike fear in our communities in a time when latinos are already living in terror." the mass arrests of latino workers happened as the country reels from the deadliest attack on hispanics in this country's history. and on this same day, president trump traveled to el paso amid questions about whether his own rhetoric may have

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