joining us. the tragedy in the small texas town. 26 people killed worshipping in church yesterday. inside politics with john king starts right now. thank you, kate. welcome to inside politics. thank you for sharing your day with us. a sad day it is. 26 dead and 20 wounded in a massacre in a small church. young children and a pregnant woman among those shot dead in sunday worship. >> we don't know why he showed up yesterday, but we know that when he left, he left destruction. >> there is no words to describe what everybody is going through. >> president trump reacting expressing condolences and after the second mass shooting in just 35 day, brushing aside whether

gun laws might be needed. >> i think that mental health is your problem here. based on preliminary reports. very deranged individual. >> tough words for kim jong un and he encouraged japan to buy a new weapons system to protect it from north korea's missiles. >> he will shoot him out of the sky when he completes the purchase of the equipment from the united states. he will easily shoot them out of the sky. >> we begin the hour with the small community grieving in texas after a man gunned down worshippers in a baptist church on sunday morning. this left 26 people dead and 20 others wounded. that's nearly 50 people in a town of no more than 200. the youngest victim just 18 months old. at least eight of the victims were members of the same family. the pastor's daughter only 14 years old also among those

killed. law enforcement said 26-year-old patrick kelly opened fire during the services at the first baptist church in sutherland springs. a neighbor confronted the gunman who dropped the rifle and fled the scene. the neighbor not even wearing shoes jumped into a car and they chased him. >> i had to catch the guy. i had to make sure he was caught. at one point they said you may have to use your truck to get him off the road. there was no hesitation. it was do everything necessary to make sure this guy is stopped. >> the sheriff said the gunman took his own life this that vehicle. diane is on the scene in texas. law enforcement wrapped up a news conference. what were the big headlines and any changes from last night? >> john, perhaps the most

somber. 18 months to 77 years old is the a age. 20 remain in the hospital ranging in age from 5 years old to 73 years old. it gives you an idea of how the congregation spanned in age and how indiscriminate the bullets were. this appeared to be a targeted attack. there have been a lot of questions surrounding motive. law enforcement is not ready to go into exactly what the suspect was thinking, but said that this appears to stem from a domestic-related incident. his mother-in-law attended this church and recently he sent threatening text messages they were told to her. they stressed this was not racially or religiously motivated at least at this point. they believe. they did not see any ties to terrorism. that doesn't mean that this did

not start out something that he planned. not only did he come dressed for war, all black wearing a ballistic vest with a plate in the front, he had a mask with a skull, like a white face over that black mask as he came into that church and opened fire. we are told three firearms. there is that ar 556 he used during that shooting in the church as well as two hand guns. they are now attempting to figure out how he was able to legally purchase those weapons according to the department of public safety. he was denied a license to carry. they are sorting that out. the pastor and his wife talked about their 14-year-old daughter and losing her.

they said we lost the majority of our church family. unfortunately these things happen too often and it may be easy to forget them in the weeks coming. >> withfamilies lost. for more on the investigation, the national security analyst in new york. with me here in washington and the crime and justice reporter and ln aft t& tom fuentes. tension in the family. domestic issues and angry texts to his mother-in-law who was not at the service yesterday and attends that church. what more do we know? >> exactly right about the text message. i'm told new information from the law enforcement officials. the mother-in-law received a text that morning from him.

a threatening text message. law enforcement is saying this has been going on for sometime. this has been this family dispute. this is not just started. it seems like the family was trying to deal with it on their. no indication they got any help. there was also a component of mental health issues. the family was trying to deal with it. it doesn't seem like his dispute with the family is founded anything. it could be more of stuff he had going on in his head. all of that is now part of the investigation. we have another situation where family saw signs and they wanted to help and deal with it. it got this bad. >> and tom, some of the stuff for years, it is incredibly sad and a family dispute. this man made a choice. if he had a dispute with his

mother-in-law, he could have gone home. he went to a church and knew there would be a larger crowd of people. what does that tell you? >> the problem as you said was more than a complaint against her or the family or his mother-in-law. it was society in general and now had become his enemy. the congregation in the church where the in-laws worshipped became an enemy in his mind. it speaks to the terrible mental condition this guy was in and the helplessness of what the family felt. i'm not sure you see something say something, okay, what if they call the police and say our son in law is derange and heavily armed and beat our daughter and granddaughter back when he was in the military. what would the police do with that? probably nothing. >> you say probably nothing. could they make a visit though and find the weapons? >> sure. he said oh, no, i'm not going to

do anything bad. i'm a good guy. until he carries out an act in progress to stop him before he kills as he did here. >> the question is now in part, how did he get the guns. about four over a number of years and the bigger question should he have had the guns given the fact that he was given bad conduct discharge and sentenced to 12 months which is significant for domestic violence against his former wife ask a child. this was not minimizing any domestic abuse, but this was incredibly serious. listen to the governor saying this man did apply for a concealed carry permit and was told no. >> he was sought to get a license to carry a gun in the state of texas. but the state of texas denied him the ability to get a gun. how was it that he was able to get a gun?

all the facts that we know, he was not supposed to have access to a gun. how did this happen? >> how did it happen? is there a distinction between dishonorable and bad conduct that leaves the door open. >> absolutely. six different classifications for someone to be discharged from the service. the top is honorable what everyone seeks down to entry level separation when you go to boot camp and it doesn't work out for you. in between there, just above dishonorable discharge is the bad conduct discharge. what is so be giling is you are clearly prohibited from owning a firearm just as if you are a convicted felon or denounce your u.s. citizenship or an order of protection against you. have a misdemeanor conviction where by there was violence

detached to members of your family. battery. that happened in the court-martial. he spent a year. for some reason that did not make it in. again, we don't have all the paperwork. the atf was careful to make the distinction saying they are going back and referencing that, but it is utterly baffling and unconscionable that someone can own a weapon and not be allowed to carry it. remember in texas to have an open carry privilege you have to have a concealed carry permit. not every state requires that. texas does. >> when you listen to this, you have these questions now. should he have had these weap s weapons. system not talking to each other or is there a gap that needs to be fixed. the presentation to the top of the hour where they laid out the case and the domestic issues with the mother-in-law. what jumps out and what's your biggest question? >> the biggest question is did he obtain the guns fraudulently

or illegally? that's a distinction. if it was i by fraud, you can think of policy proposals that would close the capability of someone being able to get a gun fraudulently. if it was illegally, you go after the gun sale owner. this is what we have to begin to do. if someone illegally gives him a gun and knows that they shouldn't be giving him a gun, unless law enforcement goes after the sellers or manufacturers, you won't see any progress in terms of making the laws on the books effective. that too is a policy fix that we have to focus on. just because we now know his motivation, it wasn't terrorism or a race crime, but family oriented does not stop our

responsibility as law enforcement security people to talk about. we understand the motivation. they don't have the means to get it. whether they get it fraudulently, illegally or by mistake. >> a few moments ago in the briefing, there was video from inside the service. that has to be a horrible task. critical if anything was said or people were targeted. is that how that was put together? >> depending on the camera angle, if it was focused on the people at the front of the church and conducting the service for broadcast to other people in the community, it may not show if we don't see him. he may be in the back of the church off camera doing this or walking towards the front, but we may not see enough of that in the video. we will learn about that later. we don't know how much is in the video. >> i don't want to end this without talking about the remarkable scene that played

out. a gentlemen who lives across the street grabbing his own weapon and coming out into the street. somebody driving by, law enforcement believe those good samaritans could have saved additional lives and from an investigative standpoint, they show up preparing to die. this shooter was hoping to escape. >> he was wearing a bullet resistant vest and metal plate ready for battle of sorts. it seems he expected or prepared to escape. the other thing on the video, the police talked about he was able to move freely around the church. maybe some of that video captured that and some is based on witnesses, but they have a good indication of how he moved around inside the church. >> appreciate the insights which is just beginning in many ways. we will bring you the details. president trump gives his snap judgment on the shooting in texas. critics call it a double standard. okay folks!

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>> per welcome back. president trump is dealing with the second mass shooting in 35 days as he travels in asia. remember after the las vegas shooting where the president said it was too soon to talk gun control. the shooter was sick and demen demented and today he called the massacre a horrific act of evil and access to guns is not the issue. >> mental health is the problem here. based on program reports, a very deranged individual and problems over a long period of time. we have a lot of mental health problems in our country. this is a guns situation and we can go into it, but it's soon to go into it. fortunately somebody else had a gun they were shooting in the opposite direction otherwise it

could have been much worse. >> "the washington post" and cnn and barbara with bloomberg. we watched the president there. some say double standard. you shouldn't talk about gun control right away. that's disrespectful to the victims. after the new york terror attack, the president reflects within seconds and was talking because this person was an immigrant, we need a tougher standard. >> one reflects his policy and one does not. he never campaigned as an anti-gun candidate and he is not that type of president. he has been pushing for regulations and restrictions on immigration for a long time. one inspires the knee jerk response and one inspiring a hold on, let's back off this right now. the president is not alone in

that either. this is a partisan split. hard and fast down the center. you get a not normal response. they were able to move and nothing happened. here we are again. the split of it's democrats saying you need to talk gun control and can't prevent someone who is going to do this. it's disrespectful to have that debate. >> the only way that congress will be able to get something done on this issue is if there is a significant amount of leadership able to bring both sides together and work with the nra and see what can be done to find consensus. that's going to take a lot of effort and focus by this white house. that's not the message coming from the white house. we know how difficult it is to get anything done on gun control

or background checks that -- look at what happened after newtown. there was a democratic controlled senate and they couldn't get past the bill. it is difficult for democrats to get something done. you will need the white house's push on this. the president doesn't feel this is something for them. >> the most expensives of health care is mental health care. there is two other tracks that we watch in terms of health care debate. one, the president's effort to undo the affordable care act and change the cost model into cheaper insurance that is more available for people. things like the association plans that will not include coverage for preexisting conditions for mental health issues. the other is the opioid problem which is very expensive also. he was tempted by an emergency declaration through fema and

decided not to because it takes hurricane money. the opioid treatment includes a tremendous amount of mental and drug counseling. it's true that people who are not mentally ill do not shoot dozens of people, but it's harder for people who are ment american leaguely ill to kill people with a knife or their bare hands. >> for this president, it's a modest number of individuals. this president did sign a law that reversed an obama rule under which the social security administration could report to the background check services those who they deemed mentally unfit to manage their benefits. if you are unfit to manage the finances, we would report you and they sign the law that stops that. >> he didn't buy the firearms legally. he lied on the background check application. i wonder if that would be a cosmetic change.

that might get enforcing those more. if you look at the calendar and everything this congress has to do and this president wants to do, it seems unlikely. if they wouldn't act after new and vegas despite the good will with bump stock, it's unlikely. >> if we will be talking about mental health versus gun control. that's domestic battery. you had that something he was court-martialed for. you probably don't go from that to threatening a mother without something in between. it's stereo taboo. they might say this person has problems. the first issue often times is home battery issue. we know that was an element in the past. >> you do see this is assault. ar 15 was the rifle you said at the church. now the nra will tell you the

gentlemen who lived across the street who came out probably saved lives that he had a gun and used it responsibly to chase this man down. to the bump stock question which we had after vegas, let's remember in the day after vegas, the most horrific mass shooting on american soil, maybe we should do something. >> i am willing to move forward with republicans on banning the bump stocks. apparently this allows you to take a semi automobile and turn it into a fully automatic. >> we will be looking into it over a short period of time. >> members of both parties in multiple organizations are planning to take a look at bump stocks and related devices. we welcome that and would like to be part of that conversation. >> they are legal converting a weapon into an automatic is legal. i never heard of a bump stock until this tragedy. however that gets fixed, i'm for

it. >> that was all in the week after vegas. there was a bipartisan piece of legislation introduced and the speaker of the house pretty quickly saying we should do something this and we should deal with it administratively and since then, crickets. >> the nra said to deal with it administratively and the last thing the groups and supporters want is for congress to start meddling and adding things they don't like. you haven't seen a lot of them. nr awaited. republicans in congress are backed off. that's sort of what happens. >> everyone is so afraid of limits, they don't have the wherewithal to get done what they want. they are afraid to open the floodgates. that's the state we have been in for years and there was actual bipart an unity on this. people are afraid of what might

come income. >> it's impossible to justify the bump stocks. why the president said we are going to do this one thing. i'm not going for big legislation. he can do that with the stroke of a pen or pick up the phone. 35 days later, nothing. president trump is in asia in kim jong un's back yard. so far, all stick. no carrot. fargo? $107.00 at...doggie lovers warehouse? no. i would never. "doggie lovers"? please! you know me. i don't even know where that is! look, i'm replying deny. see? oh, come on! [phone rings] hello? wells fargo. i did not make that purchase. i didn't do it! i'm so glad you caught that. uh huh.

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>> welcome back. a familiar refrain from the president within earshot of north korea. >> the era of strategic patience is over. some people said that my rhetoric is very strong. but look what's happened with weak rhetoric over the last 25 years. look where we are right now.

pay pay a big question is whether he will just offer tough talk or roll out policy ideas. north korea will be put back on the list of nations that sponsor terrorism. the president will be in south korea and not far from the dmz included suggestions that japan beef up the missile defenses. >> he will shoot them out of the sky when he completes the purchase of military equipment from the united states. he will easily shoot them out of the sky. >> the era of strategic patience is over. that's a line coined by the secretary of state and repeated by the vice president. the president trying to stick to a script from the administration, but that's a challenge to north korea by encouraging japan to beef up the muskar or military perspective. i didn't hear anything from the president. that sounds more open minded or

optimistic. >> if he does a declaration, that is diplomatic. something that obama and bush might do that trump would say looked weak. there are options other than we know as the gun came out. that's putting something on the ground. whether china is going to do anything more and they feel it is exhausted. what they are willing to do. it is tremendously frustrating. the most recent assessment on what's possible short of actually a ground commitment. >> you mentioned china. and then goes to china. a huge consequence if there is

anything to move. i promised to be tough on trade. he does think china is helping and is there an indication that the president will hear china is willing to do more? watch the last stop on the trip. the southeast asian nations. some of them have been harborists for north korean money. the president is not offering carrots. the carrots are complicated and saying we promise not to try a regime change. they lower the number of trips in south korea. we can do a peace treaty which is technically ongoing. you don't hear it very much from him, but other diplomats. direct talks are a waste of

time. they are having it in secret. these have been sticks. he didn't -- his res rick has been insendiary as it has been. calling him rocket man and saying we will blow up the nation and fire and fury like the world has never seen. there has been a little bit of dialling back and can they stick to the script? particularly in a sensitive region and an awkward trip. they suggested automakers make cars in the u.s. which they already do. there were questionable remarks with shinzo abe earlier today when talking about the u.s. e n economy being the best. i don't think abe thought that was as funny.

>> for stayed pretty formal. >> the focus is on the see how the president handles that one. another big issue is trade. donald trump pulled the final plug on it.

saying my way is better. >> we have more trade than anyone thought of under tpp. it was not the right idea. probably some of you in this room disagree, but i will be proven ride. we will have much bigger trade than the way we are doing it right now. i much less complex situation. >> that are is his view. country to country, on one 2r5id deals. there is zero expectation that will deliver on any of that yet. correct? >> they have a lot of these participants.

>> he always casts tpp. >> my relationship with shinzo got off to a rocky start, but i didn't know you were not supposed to see world leaders until after you were in office which was january 20th. you were just not supposed to because it was considered bad form. it was not a nice thing to do. so it's november and he said to me congratulations on your victory. it was a great victory. i would like to see you. i would like to see you as soon as possible. i said any time you want. come on in. don't worry about it. i was referring to after january

20th. the press is going crazy because the prime minister of japan is coming to see me. i think it's absolutely fine. i didn't really mean now, i meant sometime in february, march, or april. they are going crazy. they are saying you cannot see him. it's so inappropriate. i said what do i do? they said let's call. so i called him and he was not there. he was on the airplane. flying to new york. and i said you know what, there is no way he is going to land and i'm not seeing him. i saw him and it worked out just fine. do you agree with that. >> prime minister abe thinks so. a very different reception than when he travels to europe. i like the behind the curtain moments. this president is not often to say i wasn't supposed to do that. >> was i not supposed to do

that? i remember obama raising his eyebrows. that was not an outcry. that was a different situation. we will digress. next, that june tror meeting as the russian lawyer gives her the russian lawyer gives her account of what went on.

accused of obstructing justice to theat the fbinuclear war, and of violating the constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations that report the truth. if that isn't a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president, then what has our government become? i'm tom steyer, and like you, i'm a citizen who knows it's up to us to do something. it's why i'm funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. a republican congress once impeached a president for far less. yet today people in congress and his own administration know that this president is a clear and present danger who's mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. and they do nothing. join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing what's political and start doing what's right.

our country depends on it. two indicted campaign officials were back in court. the kremlin-connected lawyer who went to trump tower in june 2016 is now talking. sharing details about what happened in her meet meeting with donald trump jr. bloomberg sat down with natalia in moscow. you will remember trump jr. thought she would share what was advertised to him as clinton dirt. we know what that information was. the lawyer said she told trump jr. democratic donors had made u.s. taxes and brought money into the country. trump jr. according to her offered what sounds like a

classic quid proquo. the younger trump wanted written evidence that that illegal money made its way into the clinton campaign. looking ahead, we can return to this issue and think about what to do about it. if he asks. this is remarkable. everybody here has their interests at stake. she has known to be connected with the kremlin. one of the big allegations and is doing things like this on purpose. we assume you have documents from jared kushner about this. you are investigating aides about this. you want to interview hope hicks

who was part of an air force one damage control meeting. what should donald trump jr. say about it? it's a big deal. >> 2.5 hours is a long time to sit with anyone. you can get on with things. the willingness to sit down and interest for that period of time rngs you have to look at what does she want from the special counsel? exchange for coming in if she were asked to come in. that's incredibly important. someone who at one point with the trump campaign saw as an ally or potential ally or partner had the tables turned. this is interesting. you could end up important as well. >> it's remarkable that the meeting that trump jr. has downplayed as nothing significant and this was all in 20 minutes and jared kushner claimed he got a phone call and he could leave the meeting early. that doesn't mean he learned about earlier this summer, but

there is new revelations that continue to come out about this meeting. it is a very significant meeting for investigators and not just robert muler and capitol hill as well. they were trying to interview everybody and don jr. himself. it shows that this still remains the key question about what donald trump jr. actually said. we know what he said publicly. there was nothing there. what do people remember from that when and what does he say when he talks about mueller as well. >> if the account is correct, it shows the quit pro quo. they were able to offer something. not only are they against russia, they they want to roll all of that back and it's tied to russian schemes that have to do with everything from

violations to money and where it goes. it am cans back to putin and the idea that maybe the trump organization was able to look at that. more details about them meeting with the russians and they suggest it be with putin. carter page meets with the russians after denying he met with russians and the campaign said he was a nobody. donald trump jr. and paul manafort and donald trump jr. are not noebs. maybe nobody in the meetings did anything wrong, but it's fascinating to listen to america's top spy and the nsa. listen to him describe how even if nothing comes of this in the criminal investigation, russia already won. >> we teach our case officers a step by step process. spot, assess, develop, recruit.

now we have two instances. one with papadopoulos and the other in the summer of trump tower. the russian service already got through steps one and two. they were spotting and assessing. keep people in the trump campaign. that should make every american service. >> the point he was trying to make is russia already won and you have to be naive to take the meetings and he thinks it's a fair avenue to explore. >> woor to see how they are responding and about the news of social media and the relationships between russian officials and the the people in the trump circle. they are one news cycle from declaring these were all volunteers. saying they don't matter. the documentation that bob mueller is digging into might pan out.

>> papadopoulos he said is a tiny piece of the puzzle. coming up next, the texas town banding together after losing so many friends and loved ones in the nation's latest mass shooting. it's a small finger...a worm! like, a dagger? a tiny sword? bread...breadstick? a matchstick! a lamppost! coin slot! no? uhhh... 10 seconds. a stick! a walking stick! eiffel tower, mount kilimanjaro! (ding) time! sorry, it's a tandem bicycle. what? what?! as long as sloths are slow, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

>> pa. >> we have yet to see the faces that were shot and killed in the killing yesterday. annabelle pomeroy's parents said she died surrounded by the church family she loved so deeply. we know were from the same family. several who died were children including an 18 month old baby. all day long they were telling stories of grief, hope, and faith. they will get through this. >> there is no words to describe

what everybody is going through. what would have ever thought that the safest place to be and look what happened. >> the man went through there. creature, whatever you want to call it. he went through there firing with an assault rifle. took no mercy on anyone there. why do you have to deal with a situation like this? we don't know. >> i will never forget those shots. that noise. this is two and three generations of two or three families are not with us anymore. >> these people, many of these people have lost loved ones. one thing they have not lost is their faith. our job is to respond to hate with love. and forgiveness. >> i hope that everyone affected is able to rest a little better

knowing that this guy will never breathe again. >> we will continue to learn and tell you the stories of those lost. we pick up coverage of the horrible massacre in texas after the break.

>> per i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 here in washington. thanks for joining us. we begin with breaking news. the massacre in a small texas church may have resulted from family problems. the suspect's mother-in-law attended this church