Trump Campaign Aide rick gates striking a deal with the special counsel Robert Mueller. The third former trump associate to flip. What it means for former Campaign ChairPaul Manafort and the russia investigation. And olympic history. The American Curling Team and their brush with greatness hammering home a victory for its first gold medal. A silver in snowboarding with ivanka trump cheering on. Good morning, everybody. Were going to begin here with a Major New Development into the investigation into the massacre at Marjory StonemanDouglas High School. You are looking live. Parents, teachers and students will return for a orientation before classes resume next week. As the school prepares to reopen, there are new questions about how local sheriffs deputies responded to the attack. We learned the deputy assigned to protect the school did not enter the building or engage with the shooter. Overnight, a new development. The sheriff tells abc news hes investigating reports that three other deputies who responded to the scene, they also failed to enter that building. All this against a backdrop of an escalating National Debate over guns and school safety. President trump doubling and tripling down on his call to arm teachers. The governor of florida, meanwhile, bucking the nra calling to raise the age limit to buy firearms of any kind. We do have Team Coverage this morning, but we begin here with the latest out of parkland from abcs victor oquendo. Victor, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, paula and dan. According to those reports, those claims were made by officers from the Coral SpringsPolice Department. Both Coral Springs pd and the Broward Sheriffs Office along with other agencies were here on scene the day of the shooting. They worked together and they continue to do so but now broward sheriff scott israel tells me hes looking into those claims made by those officers, and if he finds any wrongdoing, hell deal wit. This morning the Broward Sheriffs Office now investigating reports that three other deputies in addition to Scot Peterson stayed outside of Stoneman Douglas high school as nikolas cruz allegedly opened fire. Sheriff scott israel tells abc news that on the video hes reviewed, he did not see any other deputies outside the school along with peterson. This news comes as we learn more about cruz. The thing is i lost my mother a couple days ago, so like im dealing with a bunch of things right now. The 911 call appearing to be the voice of cruz just three months before he allegedly opened fire in the Florida School taking the lives of 17 students and educators. Just moments earlier another 911 call. This one by the woman who had taken in cruz after his mother died. There was a fight in my house. A kid and my son. Okay. Im afraid if he comes back and he has a lot of weapons. He put the he did that to his mom. Reporter before those incidents they responded to cruzs former parkland home a total of 23 times, 18 of those related to cruz himself. This morning, new questions about missed warning signs. Abc news obtaining the transcript of the tipster who called the fbi last month. The female caller telling the fbi, cruz was, quote, going to explode saying she was worried about him getting into a school and just shooting the place up. The fbi has admitted to failing to follow up on the tip. This wasnt the first missed sign. In february of 2016, broward sheriff offices told by an anonymous caller that cruz had threatened on instagram to shoot up his school. The information sent to School Resource deputy Scot Peterson and in september 2016 peterson is informed that cruz had possibly been suicidal and wanted to buy a gun. Five days later an investigator from the Florida Department of children and families rules cruz is stable. Were also hearing from the Coral SpringsPolice Department and they say what those officers claimed in those reports were not official statements from the Police Department. They continue working with the Broward Sheriffs Office in this ongoing investigation. Dan, paula. Still, those children were failed on so many levels. Victor, thanks for your reporting this morning. And President Trump is publicly slamming the deputy who didnt engage the shooter in parkland calling him a coward. The president argues armed teachers could do a better job than Security Guards. Abcs Stephanie Ramos is in washington covering that part of the story. Stephanie, good morning to you. Reporter dan and paula, good morning. President trump in a Campaign Style speech pledged to do something about Mass School Shootings starting with Arming Teachers with guns. He estimates that there are already enough teachers across the country that are trained on how to operate a weapon. On friday President Trump vowed to take action by nixing gunfree zones at school and Arming Teachers with guns. Gunfree is an invitation for these crazy people to just come in and shoot. If there are guns inside held by the right people, by highly trained professionals, youre going to see this end. Reporter trump criticizing the armed sheriffs deputy who did not enter Stoneman Douglas high school during last weeks mass shooting. He certainly did a poor job, but thats the case where somebody was outside. Theyre trained. They didnt react properly under pressure or they were a coward. It was a real shot to the Police Department. Reporter during his meeting with the australian prime minister, President Trump said an armed teacher would be more willing to protect students. A Security Guard doesnt know the children, doesnt love the children. The teachers love their children. They love their pupils. They love their students. Reporter trump also pushing the idea at the conservative Political Action conference. Id rather have somebody that loves their students and wants to protect their students than somebody standing outside that doesnt know anybody. I think the idea of having a teacher with a gun to defend against a mass shooter is better than a teacher being stuck with the teachers body to defend against a mass shooter. Reporter democrats disagree. Toxic lunacy is the way to describe the idea of arming 10 to 40 of all the teachers in this country. Reporter republican Florida Governor rick scott breaking with the president saying, Arming Teachers is not the way to go. Instead, scott suggests raising the minimum age to buy a gun. We will require all individuals purchasing firearms to be 21 or older. I want to make it virtually impossible for anyone who has mental issues to use a gun. Reporter and President Trump has said the same. Hes talked about raising the minimum age requirement to purchase a gun but did not bring that option up at cpac yesterday. Dan, paula. Perhaps because the nra is not responding positively to that. Stephanie, thank you. We turn now to the other major story out of washington, a fresh scalp for special counsel Robert Mueller. A guilty plea from former Deputy Director of the Trump Campaign rick gates. He is now the third member of the Trump Campaign to flip and agree to cooperate with the mueller investigation. Gates joins former National Security adviser Michael Flynn and former Foreign Policy adviser george papadopoulos. Abcs david wright is at the white house for us this morning. David, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, paula and dan. Rick gates guilty plea could be a Significant Development in the russia probe. He is trumps former Deputy Campaign manager, now cooperating with the special counsel in exchange for a lighter sentence. Just how significant . Well, that depends on who he imply kays and what for. Outside the federal courthouse in washington, d. C. , a dramatic entrance for this 45yearold former political consultant. Now center stage in the russia probe. During the campaign, rick gates was strictly a background player. Quite literally so at the Republican National convention. Thats him standing right behind the nominee during a rehearsal. Gates traveled on the candidates plane right down through election day and served as a consultant during the transition too. Hes now pled guilty to conspiracy against the u. S. And to lying to fbi investigators. Hes the third former trump associate to flip, along with former National Security adviser Michael Flynn and former Foreign Policy aide george papadopoulos. All of them agreeing to cooperate with special counsel bob mueller in exchange for lighter sentences. Despite my initial desire to vigorously defend myself, ive had a change of heart, he explained to friends and family. In a letter obtained by abc news, calling it a gutwrenching decision. Robert mueller would not have made this deal unless he felt gates had something substantial to add to their case and their investigation. Reporter President Trump has always insisted hes not worried about the investigation, which he sees as a distraction. Theres been no collusion between us and the russians. There was absolutely no collusion. There is absolutely no collusion. Reporter but gates decision to plea bargain clearly increases the pressure on the man who was his partner for decades, former trump Campaign ChairPaul Manafort who said in his own statement, i continue to maintain my innocence. I had hoped and expected my business colleague would have had the strength to continue the battle to prove our innocence. For reasons yet to surface he chose to do otherwise. Theres no question that manafort has to be concerned about the fact that his longtime partner is now playing on the governments side. Reporter well, in addition to the guilty plea from gates the special counsel also filed new charges against manafort, five new counts ranging from Money Laundering to conspiracy against the u. S. He, of course, continues to maintain his innocence. Dan and paula. David, before we let you go, a whole other topic. Weve been hearing about security clearances, the changes in policy to those at the white house. The president was asked specifically about his soninlaw Jared Kushners temporary security clearance. What did he say . Reporter thats right. This is another huge issue here at the white house exposed by the rob porter scandal. People performing sensitive jobs without full security clearances and among those affected, Jared Kushner there, the president s soninlaw. The president says that hes going to let his chief of staff, general john kelly, make the final determination who gets to keep their access to top secret information even without a full clearance. And the Washington Post reports today that rod rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney general, has told the white house that kushners clearance could take a while. Interesting to see how the president reacts if kelly rules against kushner. Thank you very much, thanks, david. Reporting in from the white house. Lets bring in abc news contributor tara setmayer. Good morning to you. Good morning. Thanks for being here. I want to talk about this guilty plea from former Deputy Campaign manager rick gates who may testify against his old boss, Paul Manafort. These seem like major developments but what, if anything, do they have to do with the heart of the matter which is russia collusion . Right. We have to understand that Robert Mueller is building a case. There are many facets to whats going on here. His mandate has wide latitude. It goes beyond just collusion. It goes beyond just obstruction of justice. The mandate that mueller has also includes anything that comes up with the investigation of this. So the why this is significant is because of the proximity that both manafort and gates had to trump himself and the Campaign Given their positions. Manafort was the Campaign Chairman. Rick gates was the deputy. And rick gates stayed through the campaign and through the transition, so any information that they may know is important so the fact that they may have been involved in these financial crimes prior to the election and through the election and through their time on the campaign could also mean that they may know something going on if there was some intersectionality between Paul Manaforts dealings and the russians, for example, manafort was there during the infamous june meeting in trump tower with trump jr. , manafort, Jared Kushner where they thought they were getting dirt on Hillary Clinton from potential russian agents so this is just part of many layers that Robert Mueller is investigating that could lead to something much bigger. Lets talk about gun control. How do we get it to a point where were having rational and civil suggests and are you confident real change can happen . I think whats different about this debate is the fact that the students at parkland have been so active and so vocal and so many people have come to the point where something must be done and the president of the United States is affected by those stories. We saw the listening session in the white house. The president broke from the nra, actually entertaining the possibility of banning bump stocks, of increasing the age limit for assault rifles and then the background checks and i think that those issues that have some consensus like background checks and the age limit, you see more its more popular and the president may lead that. The idea of Arming Teachers not as popular and that could be polarizing and i think you see more lawmakers breaking with the nra and the president has an opportunity, a unique opportunity to lead that fight which i dont think weve seen in the past before. I spent some time with those kids from parkland in tallahassee this week. They are very they are doing a fascinating thing. They certainly are. Thank you very much. Really appreciate it. We want to turn to the breaking weather news. Flash floods leaving neighborhoods completely submerged underwater across the midwest and southern plains. Rising rivers a concern from texas to pennsylvania. Abcs marcus moore is in alexander, arkansas, where more Severe Weather is expected this weekend. Marcus, good morning. Reporter well, dan and paula, good morning to you. Already this week they have seen 8 to 10 inches of rain here in arkansas and in alexander where we are this morning. At one point this water was covering portions of the roadway and officials shut it down to be safe. Well, you can see that water has receded but any new rainfall will add to the flooding concern and that is a concern officials have in several states this morning. Overnight, a powerful storm system leaving severe flooding across the midwest and the south. The Kankakee River levee in indiana breaking causing widespread flooding and evacuations. Get out. Thats my message, get out. All youre doing is endangering the lives of the first responders. Reporter watch as this man also in indiana gets swept off his feet by the raging floodwaters. Flood watches are still in effect for texas and pennsylvania, kentucky and parts of michigan under a state of emergency. This is among some of the worst flooding weve had. Reporter in michigan rescuers have been going door to door helping anyone stranded in their homes. The water is up to their door, up to their doorknob. Reporter in texas people are evacuating their homes in anticipation of more flooding. Meanwhile, to the west from washington to colorado, heavy snow is making roads treacherous. Low visibility and slick roads causing several car pileups and take a look. Even las vegas seeing rare snowfall. And back here in arkansas, flooding is still the concern tod