we see the grief there. people grieving all over the country, indeed watching all over the world. we see politicians saying now is not the time to talk about this. well, it is the time to talk about this right now. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. cnn special coverage of the deadly school shoot inning florida continues on erin burnett outfront. outfront next breaking news, new details in the deadly shooting at a florida high school. how the gunman tried to blend in and get away after the massacre. plus the fbi was tipped off to the gunman months before the shooting. why wasn't he stopped? and the victims, tonight the community coming together to remember the 17 people who lost their lives. let's go outfront. and good evening i'm jim sciutto in for erin burnett. breaking news what is confirmed deadliest school shoot inning more than five years. shooter has confessed to opening fire with ar-15 killing 17

people, students and teachers, in cold blood. and tonight we are learning new details about his deadly rampage. authorities say that nikolas cruz went room to room firing at students and teachers, sometimes coming back to classrooms. he then dumped his backpack and rifle and fled trying to blend in with other students fleeing the shooting. investigators say he was on the run for more than an hour. cruz went to a walmart. he bought a drink at subway. and then went to an mcdonald's. 80 minutes after the first shots were fired, he was finally picked up by police. cruz has now been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. he made his first appearance in court today. earlier president trump addressed the nation. >> we are all joined together as one american family. and your suffering is our burden also. we are committed to working with state and local leaders to help

secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health. >> one word he didn't mention, guns, or gun control. and those words did little to come fort one mother whose daughter was killed in the shooting. lauri alahada her daughter melissa was a freshman at the high soule. >> president trump, you say what can you do? you can stop the guns from getting into these childrens hands? put metal detectors at every entrance to the schools. what can you do? you can do a lot. this is not fair to our families and our children go to school and have to get killed. >> i just spent the last two hours putting the burial arrangements for my daughter's funeral who is 14. >> 14 years old, mother's grief

tonight. and we have a lot to cover tonight. with new details. in parkland. and in washington new details on the investigation. but we begin at the jail. we learn about the shooters life leading up to the horrible, horrible murder. >> reporter: it is a young life, jim, that has been marked by loss, mental illness, and now this violence, leading here to this jail core complex where he made his first appearance facing 17 counts of premeditated murder. shuffling to the closed circuit court barely raised his eyes.

>> he has been dealing with entire life. that's been an ongoing issue. >> reporter: adopted at birth, shooter public defender says cruz lost his adoptive father more than a decade ago. suffers from brain development issues and depression. at school the miami her arld reports the shooter had history of fights and had been suspended for bringing in and and knew nugs. and last november, cruz mother died unexpectedly from flu. ended up working at dollar tree. >> we had been hiring someone. his mom recently died. felt bad for them. >> reporter: living with a family of former classmate in the store. >> you could tell he was off. but let's lock him away because he's that dangerous. >> reporter: when you say he was off, what do you mean? >> he wouldn't go out and seek conversation. >> reporter: but he may have

turned to a local white supremacist group. the adl says supremacist group claims cruz was brought up by another member and participated in at least one training exercise with them. riding with other members to tallahassee florida some six hours away. the group claims cruz was never encouraged to carry out any kind of shooting. law enforcement says they are looking into the supremacist groups claims. cruz did, however, manage to legally buy an ar-15 almost a year ago. the tragedy painful to cruz's own attorneys. >> this is a loss for this community. a tragic loss of 17 children. >> reporter: now on suicide watch the lawyers say cruz recognizes what he's done. >> he's sad. he's mournful.

he's remorseful. he is fully aware of what is going on. and he's just a broken human being. >> reporter: that court appearance was a very short one. more will certainly follow, jim, tonight. this gunman is now being held without bond. jim. >> a lot of broken human beings tonight. on the scene there. i want to go to shimon outfront in washington following the investigation from the fbi. learning new details about what the fbi new about him last year. at least something of an investigation. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, jim, they are saying they didn't know that much about him. they didn't connect him to anything. here's where all this started this was a tip that came to the fbi through their online database from a person who saw a posting on youtube that referenced this person named nikolas cruz who posted saying i'm going to be a professional school shooter. that tip was forwarded to the

fbi. they then say they started looking into it. they ran internal checks, that's their database internally that they checked to see if his name came up someone fallen under their radar, they did not find anything. they then went and interviewed the man who offered this em this tip who sent in this tip. and basically they didn't really learn much from him because he didn't know who the person was that posted the tip. so really left them with no leads. they claim, and certainly from law enforcement firms that i've talked t r firofficials that i talked to they didn't have the legal authority to start any kind of court action, perhaps subpoenas or search warrants, you can't do something like this off a tip. so basically went no where. and certainly they've gone back since this happened and looking to see was there anything that they missed. but up to this point, there really, really wasn't much that

they could do, certainly, they feel that they tried to run this down as much as they could. >> shimon in washington, thanks very much. outfront now, chris, former assistants fbi director for the criminal investigative direction, former assistant secretary for the homeland security. art, former u.s. marshall. chris, if i could begin with you first. and i know there is a number of tips that the fbi will have at any one time about potential violent antibiotics like this or others. but you dossier pattern here, right, because you had this posting that they looked to chase it down, you had instagram images posted which were disturbing. and you had this contact, according to the adl at least with white nationalist group. when you have multiple signs like this, how difficult is it for the bureau to learn about those dots and connect those dots? >> extremely difficult. if you knew the volume of

information tips and complaints they get in their e guardian system, i think there might be more perspective why they didn't dig deeper here. they did when the attorney general guidelines allow, which is theta assessment. theta assessment is basically a record check. now if that record check criminal record check produces enough information, they can take it into a preliminary inquiry and full investigation. the problem here is they don't have primary jurisdiction in a school threat type situation. so i can seal where they would have run this out to a certain degree, and then basically closed it out. what perhaps they could have done is looked to see if they were posting, he was posting elsewhere, and perhaps that would have dug up more information for him. >> juliet, i don't want to dump on law enforcement here, i know they are chasing threats all the time, but based on your experience do you see any mistakes that were made here? >> it's actually hard to tell right now, as we have seen with

a lot of these cases, mass shootings, counter terrorism, probably learn a lot more given what we know right now, it does seem like the fbi, at least the fbi did not ignore it. ran it as far as they could. i am curious about certain things, obviously, access to the youtube channel. what else was posted on that? and i do think in the same way that we talk about the responsibility of these platforms, facebook, youtube, instagram, whatever it is to ensure that they are posting legitimate things, i do think that it's worth having a discussion about the kinds of things that are being posted on these platforms that might be hints or even confessions of what's about to happen. so, you know, in that way i do think that it's a similar conversation that we have in county terrorism which is what's happening on the platforms and what can we learn from it. >> even with the russian investigation. art, we learned. >> right, exactly. >> we learned a lot about how the shooter carried out this act, cruz confessing to the

crimes. and post miranda statement. he stated a few details. he began shooting at students that he saw in the hall ways on the school grounds. we believe he pulled that fire alarm to get people out of the classrooms so he could go after them. he brute additional magazines along with him. he had a lot of fire power. >> yes. >> and then carried this out in a number of minutes and caused all this death. this was a premeditated fairly well planned crime. >> i agree. it was fairly well planned to a certain degree. i mean, when we look at the amount of ammunition he had, he could have done a lot more damage. the mere fact he pulled the fire alarm but get people out there to shoot, talking 3,000 kids at various different exit points coming out of this building, he

could blend in with the crowd very well. but then he kind of reverts back to 16, 17-year-old kid and goes to walmart hand mcdonald's and has a couple drinks and gets picked up wearing the same exact shirt he had on when he committed the crime. so kind of a weird juxtaposition here, on one hand he had good planning to make the escape but then goes to walmart and mcdonald's afterwards. the two don't seem to add up very well. >> it's remarkable he sat down. bought a drink after killing these young people, he bought a drink at subway and sat downment folks, we have some new video in i want to play for our viewers. this is sft shooter just a few months before the attack doing target practice in his backyard. this was filmed by a neighbor that appears from the sound of it to be a bebe gun. but his neighbor filmed him shooting that weapon there out in public in broad daylight

october of last year. we just got this video in. chris, again, you put this back into this collection of signs here. so you have a guy firing a gun outside. i've spoken to someone who lived close to him who said that police had been called to his house a number of times for strange or sometimes violent behavior. again, folks at home, and again i know you guys have a difficult job, no question. but that's a lot of warning signs pointing in the direction of someone who looked like they needed help. >> agreed. i think we would be hard put to find another case of a mass shooter that was flashing more signs than this young man right here. and there are a lot of -- i think we'll find, we'll learn more about this motivation and how he did this, probably more than we care to know over the next few days. but there are safety nets. there are early warning systems or there should be in the school

systems. when you rise to the level where you've been expelled you've done a lot of bad things in today's school system. you have accumulate quite a record to get yourself expelled from school. and in the school system there needs to it be assessment pros stes and someone has to decide and follow up on whether that person presents a danger. and i think it's fair game at that point to then start checking social media, you've been expelled, you've threatened people, everybody talks about the ammunition and he shouldn't have been -- he was banned from coming on campus with a backpack. well that wasn't enough. i'm not armchair quarterbacking, i'm just suggesting there needs to be a well defined threat pros stes, perhaps restraining order in a case like this, and then arrest on-site. >> juliet, i have to say, yet with all these warning signs, police visiting his house, tip to the fbi, firing a weapon in his backyard inside of his neighbors we saw in that video there, he was able to go into a

store in florida and buy an ar-15. florida has a waiting period for handguns. doesn't have them for ar-15. how is that possible? he's 19 years old. he couldn't buy a beer. >> he could not buy a beer. you know, it's remarkable. and this is where the fallacy that laws can't help in these situations is a joke. right. because the laws have structured certain behavior. they allow someone to more easily buy a weapon that's going to kill people very quickly as compared to a handgun. so, you know, this idea that we can't solve this through legislation or at least minimize the harm. i've been harping on this for the last 24 hours. people will have guns and people will use guns unlawfully. the question is do we want a society in which they can get a gun that has no place in our civil society at an age of which someone has been still a teenager and kill that many

people so quickly. so in other words this is the laws actually can fix that. because what's the amazing thing is besides some of the little things we are hearing about, it really wasn't until yesterday that he committed a crime. everything he did until yesterday was perfectly lawful. that has the whole system is just upside down at this stage. >> i'll tell you, when we heard the videos of gunfire under way, the sound, the volume of those pops, i haven't heard gunfire like that except in war zones, frankly, and i'm sure you might say the same. listen, chris, art, juliet, thanks very much. as always, outfront next we go live to a vigil in the heart of this community confronting its pain and grief tonight. they are remembering 17 people who lost their lives. many of them love. including the athletic director chris hicks son and we speak to his wife. and breaking news in the russian investigation. trump adviser close to plea deal

with special counsel robert mueller. what does that mean for the president? erin burnett outfront brought to you by volvo experience it at your local dealer. there are two types of people in the world. those who fear the future... and those who embrace it. the future is for the unafraid. ♪ ♪ the future is for the unafraid.

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>> breaking news, as we speak, you see them there, hundreds of people gathering for a vigil for the 17 people killed in the high school shooting. among those killed, several students, geography teacher,

popular coach. our martin savage is right there at the memorial. martin, i know you've been speaking to students and their families. tell us how they are doing tonight. >> reporter: you know, they are having a very difficult time. we moved to the back of this gathering here just to be respectful of the way that this is both the way to mourn and also a way for people to come together. the truth is, this is a community that is still deeply in shock. they haven't measured their suffering and trying to come to grips what is happening here. but what is remarkable about this gathering, and tragically you and i have covered lots of vigils like that. and first to speak were parents who lost children and that was electrifying and devastating to this crowd. but it has changed. as it's moved on, it's grown more political. you hear shouts of people demanding no more guns. the call has come not just from the crowd but also from the stage. speakers have been up front

saying they must organize. this this crowd must take the grief, motivate themselves and move on to something. if the leaders wontd make change, than the people must. something before the break, something remarkable, almost the entire crowd took up the chant, no more guns. we are just 24 hours after when grief is still very strong. but action is on the minds of many here as well. jim. >> martin savage there at that gut-wrenching memorial service. one of those lives lost in yesterday's shooting was the athletic direction chris hick son, now his wife, you see her there next to him, deborah joining me on the phone. thanks so much for joining us. we were reading the comments about your husband, clearly a be loved member of the faculty. one friend wrote chris is

probably nicest guy i ever met. he would give you the shirt off his back. tell us what you can about chris. >> well, take me hours to explain that. that definitely describes him. everyone of his students he thought of his own kid. we took many students into our house when they needed it. he would give them lunch money, rides. he just loved being around kids and giving back to the community. >> well, i know he was a service member, deployed to iraq in 2007. and i understand your son, a marine as well, service is part of the family. >> it's definitely a huge part of the family. he loved being an american and serving his country. and he instilled that in our kids. >> is that part of the reason he

did what he did, helping kids, teaching kids, supporting kids at a school like this? >> definitely. he loved athletics. he loved being the athletic director. he's actually also the wrestling coach at douglas. and it was his passion. and he just loved being in that environment with the people and part of that community for sure. >> i know this was a tight community. it was a happy community. it was a peaceful community. tell me just how shocking it was for all of you to see this happen here. >> it's never going to be in your backdoor. this is not where that kind of stuff happens, you know. it's surreal. it just feels like it's a bad dream. and we just can't wake up from it. >> i hear you. we always think these things

happen in the distance and will never hit us close to home. how is the community coming together tonight? i imagine folks are reaching out to you, trying to offer support that they can. >> yeah, well, i also teach at a different high school, and people have been -- he was at south broward before he went to douglas. so he has a really large community of people who love him and just wants to be here to support us. and outpouring has been phenomenal. >> i'm glad to hear that. i hope that hepgs. i wonder as you look at this, and i know it's early, what do you want to see done next to help keep the community safe? >> well, my husband would not agree with me on this, but i believe in gun control. if it there is no guns, nobody can shoot anybody else. but i believe that we have done our children and community a

huge disservice in the way that we treat mental health. and something has to be done to stop this. if that's what can come out of this, that's something good, then that will be my mission, we have to change it and stop it. it has to stop. this is ridiculous. >> and you are paying a price like so many others, too many others, such a personal price. i'd ask you just, finally, how would you like your husband to be remembered for people listening to the stories about him tonight? >> well, he was an awesome husband and father to many friends and country men. and he was probably the best man that i -- >> goodness. deborah, i'll tell you, we can see it in his face there, we are seeing some of the photos of you with him that you shared.

let me tell you this, we are thinking of you, the whole team praying for you tonight. okay. please take care. >> thank you so much. >> well, there were 16 others killed in that mass murder. most of them justine agers. we'd like to tell you a little bit about them. aaron physiology assistant coach also served as security guard there. students say he died as he lived looking out for others before himself. used his body as a shield to save his students. jamie gutenberg was a student, her father said my heart is broken. tonight he's wondering how his family will get through it. nicolas tur ret was a senior, good athlete, planning to attend the university of indianapolis and join the swim team. elisa elisa alhada 14 years old. you saw her distraught mother. she says elisa was loving and

caring. and doesn't she look it. scott beagle scott geography at the school. he ushered students into the classroom during the shooting. one of the students told cnn he shot her life before he was shot outside the classroom door. luke courier family described him as always happy, always smiling. cousin says that he loved his mother and father with all his power. martin due kay also a student says quote words cannot describe my pain. joaquin oliver, originally from venezuela became a u.s. citizen just a year ago. gina just 14, described by a teacher sweet es seoul ever always smiling. 2017 merit scholar, semi

finalist, carla laugh flynn, a line a peter, peter wong, meta pollic, shacker has now been identified as those killed yesterday. let me say this, we'll share our sincere es condolences to all who new and loved them. outfront next the former neighbor says she saw disturbing encounters with him. she will be my guest. and a student who survived with a message please take action. will that finally happen? if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream.

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posted pictures with him on nifs a knives and guns. outfront now, ronda rocks burg lived down the street until a couple of years ago. thanks for joining us tonight. i know you had a few run ins with him over the years. can you tell us what those were like? >> really the first was in 2012. and he actually slammed his backpack into my car door, which, you know, i got out and approached him why did he do that, why dp id he try to damag the car. he wouldn't look at me. he was giggling. so mischievous boy. so i confronted him directly. >> you confronted him on the street? >> yes. yes, i did. and i'll tell you, he didn't want to answer anything. he had a very cold stare.

he couldn't care less. >> did he have any interactions like this with other neighbors, other kids in the neighborhood? >> he did. he did. he got in several fights with kids throughout the neighborhood. one he bit his ear and injured him, his ear. >> another kid's ear? >> yes, yes, he got in fight with several kids in the neighborhood. and i didn't physically see that but i heard about it. but also i did see him with a pull pellet gun, and there were squirrels that he was shooting and killing. there were cats that were missing in the neighborhood as well. >> there was suspicions that he had killed the katcats, animals? >> yeah, this was floating around the neighborhood. i can't confirm that. i dl nid not see that, you know. but i know i saw him with a

pellet gun. and, you no he, there were animals that were dead throughout the neighborhood, unfortunately, yeah. >> did anyone report this kind of behavior to the police, to the local authorities? >> absolutely. from what i -- i did, just about the backpack incident. and i had heard through other neighbors who had reported his behavior to the authorities that they had been called out to that house over 30 times at that time. >> the police? >> and that was in 2013. >> police called out to that house, his home more than 30 times? >> correct. >> goodness. >> when you heard the news that he was the suspect in the shooting, he's now confessed to these murders, what did you think? >> i just -- i said i knew, somehow some way when i staired

in stared into his eyes that day, he was so cold. he couldn't care less. and i was not shocked, to be quite frank, with that news. and i just never imagined it would be on that scale. >> just harrowing to hear that. and i'm sure it was difficult for you to hear the news. ronda rocks burg, thanks so much for joining us tonight. >> you are most welcome. jim. thank you. >> back with me now. art, you listened to the neighbor there. the police called to his house 30 times. and you have all the other clues we have seen, instagram postings, fbi tip. should those dots have been connected? >> it seems like the dots should have been connected here. i mean, when i looked earlier at some of the initial reporting, and actually a lot of us have been saying for the past couple days, if you see something, say something. and i think now we are figuring out that we did have the youtube

blogger who actually did the right thing and called law enforcement. but i think because of the way that cruz just commented 0en this blogger's page, the fbi couldn't connect the dots. now we are hearing this information about law enforcement being called to that particular home 30 times. it is quite troubling h a. and it seems like every time we talk about one of these shootings, we always find these individuals have fallen through the crack somewhere in our system. and it appears that's exactly what happened here again. >> chris, i know you do security assessments for schools. you say that many don't have programs to deal with threats like this. this school did, we believe, have drills to prepare, lockdowns, et cetera. but in your experience a lot of schools just aren't prepared? >> well, it's an ecosystem. security can't just be on auto pilot. it can't just be gates and guards. it has to be -- there has to be

a real program in place where you actually intake threats. there is a way to report suspicious activity known to everybody. somebody is looking at that information, analyzing it, and assessing it. and then a team has to decide, okay, does this really present a threat. this will be a multidisciplinary team of the security people, administrators, somebody notice medical field, especially in the counselor or psychiatry field, and they would have to decide what kind of action to take. now, suppose they had taken some action after they expelled him, and went to the police department, and with their concerns, and if you match that up with the information there h then these dots start to get connected. but there has to be a real living, breathing assessment process, and then someone accountable to follow up on that process. >> yeah. juliet, i have to ask you, what do you have to do to get red flagged when you walk into a store to buy an ar-15?

this kid wasn't red flagged. what do you have to do? what causes someone to prevent buying a weapon like this? >> according to, you know, in florida, not much. in other words, he satisfied the age requirements and satisfied background check. because he didn't have a sufficient criminal record beforehand. it sounds like at least whatever, what this neighbors is at least saying, these calls to law enforcement may not have been because of crimes, but maybe because of disturbances and so they are not tracked. you know, for weapon like that you would want the exact opposite in terms of what data you want. for example, first of all we shouldn't have these guns being sold. i'm going to say that. but if you do, what's the regulatory system you want for that. one is expulsion would be somewhat relevant. another of course is age. and then is there proof of any behavior or mental behavior. and so we can fix this.

this is honestly not rocket science, it's failure to do it politically and incentive to get a gun like that seems to be greater than get a handgun because it's easier. >> art. i often hear from law enforcement folks that they endorse some gun measures. i mean, is that a common feeling from folks like yourself, folks you work with, they want to see stricker rules for access to firearms? >> absolutely. i mean, i mewe go against bad g every day and make arrests. just my old agency makes approximately 100,000 felony arrests every year. and just last month january 19th we had a marshall shot and killed in harrisburg, pennsylvania by a felon with a handgun. when you look at some of these incidents we all recall the baton rouge shoot tg and that was ar-15 against handguns. so yes, all looking for some

kind of control. >> thanks very much. outfront next, everybody, including the president agrees that something must be done to address gun violence, but no one agrees certainly on what exactly should be done. so what will happen? will anything happen? and breaking news la top trump campaign adviser on the verge of a plea deal with robert mueller how will this effect the russian probe and the president? for all the noses that stuff up around pets. there's flonase sensimist. it relieves all your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist. money managers are pretty much the same. all but while some push high commission investment products,

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obtained new video of the gunman, nikolas cruz, shooting target practice just a few months ago, the neighbor who recorded this telling us cruz would often shoot bottles on his back patio, as you see there. and tonight we've learned he has confessed to killing 17 people with an ar-15 semiautomatic weapon.

earlier today president trump expressed condolences to the victims emphasizing stronger security for schools. what he didn't talk about at all was guns. >> we are committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health. it is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. we must actually make that difference. >> governor comey out tonight taking the time with us tonight. >> thanks for having me, jim. >> here we are another shooting. young americans dead in the classrooms and school hall ways. we often find ourselves, the question gets asked, what can be done, what's going to get done, and so often nothing gets done. what can actually change, in your view, after a tragedy like

this? >> yeah, jim, you are right. i understand the frustration of the american people. it's over and over and over again. and it's mad ness. and there is a bustle of activity in the aftermath then it goes away. we actually did something in the state of new york, we had the handy hook massacre five years ago, sandy hook in connecticut but right on the new york border. and people were outraged. 28 school children. it was horrific. and we actually did something about it. and we passed something called the safe act which is basically common sense gun control. it says number one you have to do a background check and we say we have background checks but that's only if you walk into a store and buy a gun. if you can't pass a background check, you buy a privately or buy it at a gun show. and there are no background checks. so we closed that. we have background checks on any sale whatsoever. we have a mental health

database. when they say, jim, well, it's not ha gun problem, it's a mental health problem. that's ma larky. it's a mentally ill person with a gun. that's the problem. and the answer is to keep the gun out of the hand of the mental mentally ill person. so we have a database now of mentally ill people that should not have a gun. and we have guns that are extraordinary dangerous and not worth the risk. why have ar-15? you don't hunt with it or shoot birds with it. that's what our law did in new york. >> let me ask you though. >> pass a law, jim. >> because at the state level, to be fair, makes a difference. but of course our borders, our poorest people move across the borders. at national level a different story. i want to play briefly for you a student who survived yesterday's mass shooting. take a listen to what he said. >> my message to lawmakers in

congress is, please, take action. ideas are great. ideas are wonderful and help you get re-elected and everythingment but what's more important is actual action that results in saving thousands of children's lives. please, take action. >> do you have a sense of what kind of action that would be? >> any action at this point instead of just complete stagnancy and blaming it the other side of the political aisle would be a step in the right direction. >> isn't that governor, komo , democrat control, and again nothing happened then. >> yeah, jim, there is no doubt, they are afraid of the issue. there is no doubt that this is a politically charged issue. the student was right. don't ask a politician what they say and what they support. ask them what they have gotten

done. judged by results. we did it five years ago. the mental health piece, background checks, et cetera. nobody's gun was taken away, jim. hunters still hunt. the world still spins. but it's that initial fear that the politicians don't want to tackle. >> let me ask you this -- >> and i understand it. and they won't unless they are pushed. >> the irony is with the wake of this horrific tragedy, but the irony what's moving through congress now is not a gun control measure, it's something, you know it well, conceal carry, reciprocity that would allow folks states that have conceal carry laws to carry those weapons into a state like new york who doesn't have those laws. i know the new york city plioli commissioner not happy with that. what would mean to a state like

that? and do you look import . >> look, with this congress nothing would surprise me in terms of what they pass because it is all symbolism. they're playing to an extremist base. second amendment, i should have the right to carry my gun anywhere, and if i have a concealed permit carry -- carry permit from texas i should be able to use it in new york. bologna. it violates states' rights, et cetera. it would be total mayhem if people remain adamant, the way they are right after a crisis. i passed my bill literally within days of sandy hook because people were focused. you need the focus of the american people because the politicians are not going to take the risk unless they know they're being pushed. >> yeah. >> it is that simple. >> and sadly memory fade quickly. governor cuomo, thanks so much for joining us tonight.

>> thanks for having me. up next, a plea deal is in the works for a top trump advisor who has given a wide-ranging interview to the special counsel. should the president be worried? h cameras and radar, contemporary cockpit, 360 degree network of driver-assist technologies, and sporty performance, what's most impressive about the glc? all depends on your point of view. lease the glc300 for just $449 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

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can start in the colon constiand may be signs of an imbalance of good bacteria. only phillips' colon health has this unique combination of probiotics. it provides four-in-one symptom defense. it's your daily probiotic. ♪ more breaking news now. former trump campaign advisor rick gates is close to a plea deal with special counsel robert mueller's office. this according to sources familiar with the case. gates would become the third former member of trump's team to cooperate with mueller, and that's just the ones we know about. sarah marie broke the story. she is out front tonight. sarah, how important would gates' cooperation be in this investigation? >> reporter: jim, this could potentially be a very important development. clearly it is possibly troubling news for former trump campaign

chairman paul manafort that gates is preparing to tell mueller about the criminal case they're both involved in. sources are telling me and my colleague investigators are preparing to file new charges against manafort and gates. all of this could put additional pressure on both to cooperate. remember, both of these men have pleaded not guilty to financial crimes unrelated to the presidential campaign. the big question, of course, is how could this impact the president. that's a little murkier. gates' cooperation could be a building block for mueller in a possible case against trump or key members of his team. the white house insist they're not concerned at all about a potential plea deal in this case. they don't believe mueller has any interest in gates or manafort's activities in the presidential campaign or the transition. there would be no anxiety here if gates strikes a plea deal, that's what a white house official told me. people close to the person say he has expressed sympathy for gates and manafort for the fact they found themselves in legal

troubles. jim. >> sarah, very great reporting. we have democratic congressman mike quigley on the house intelligence committee. congressman, i want to give you the opportunity to react to cnn's reporting, rick gates cooperating are mueller's investigation, the third cooperating witness now. what does this mean crucially for the president in your view? >> yeah, obviously all investigations begin on the periphery and they move toward the middle. they move a lot faster when people start talking and cooperating. you asked if the white house should be worried. i think their worry was manifested as the indictments took place and the news that two of them had started to cooperate, now a third. i think if you had a parallel track here as this news came out, the white house started being very worried and they started more and more elements of obstruction. today we witnessed some of that when one of their former employees was following their gag order. >> you mentioned that, that being of course the former chief

strategist, steve bannon, appeared before you committee today for the second time. we've been told he would not answer questions about the transition, invoking executive privilege. again, tell us from your perspective what happened in that room. >> yeah, if it wasn't so sad and tragic for our country it would almost be funny. i don't think they know exactly how to exert privilege. to do so you have to do so in writing with explanations. they certainly didn't do that, and there was a sense of waver. he was answering some questions the first round, a few today, and obviously there were other members of the trump associates who answered questions in the same time frame. so they haven't exerted the privilege. they seem to do it occasionally and waive it, which you're simply not allowed to do. but here is why this matters. if the white house is allowed to dictate investigations like this, you might as well forget

the fact that this is a separate but equal branch of government or there's any hope for an independent investigation. quite honestly, the speaker of the house has to step up. it is not going to happen with the chairman of this committee, mr. nunes. we've seen that, a track record there. the only person that can get mr. nunes to step up by his actions and his orders is the speaker of the house. we simply can't let the white house dictate what's taking place here because they want to obstruct this investigation. >> is there any republican support on the committee for holding steve bannon in contempt for refusing to answer those questions? >> well, look, i think both sides in all honesty were upset with how today went forward. the questioning on both sides questioned the validity of the privilege that was being exerted. so now would be a good time. we're not in d.c. next week. i hope my republican colleagues get together and decide how to

move forward with contempt proceedings. it is far beyond just mr. bannon. it is far beyond this investigation. if they want to have any credibility to make witnesses testify in the future on important investigations like this, if they let mr. bannon do this and tell the white house that you don't have to follow orders, mandated orders from the congress, then all future investigations are in serious jeopardy. >> is your committee's investigation close to coming to a conclusion? >> well, it is certainly in a bad period. i mean this is an investigation that we've had a lot of progress, but we haven't had a witness for some time. i will tell you right now there are no witnesses planned in the coming weeks, none. what we've done in the last four weeks, a colossal waste of time in the majority's memo. also a memo which did extraordinary damage to the

relationship between the intelligence community who keeps us safe and congress. so all of that, all of that so they can delay, deflect and distract, trying to find out exactly what the russians did, how to prevent it and who helped them. >> and we're still waiting for the fate of the democratic memo. thanks very much, congressman. "ac 360" starts right now. thanks for joining us. >> good evening. we are in parkland, florida where yesterday's terror has faded into horror and anger and loss. this is now a community of forensic teams and grief counsellors, mourners and trauma surgeons and funeral directors. it is a town of vigils. this one drawing thousands tonight. this is parkland tonight, points of light shining in the darkness. we have seen far too many vigils like this one, in awe roar ah, colorado we remember listening as the names of the dead were read