hello. i'm womlf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. thanks for joining us. a set of bombshells rocking the white house. in just the past 24 hour, the president's son-in-law stripped from seeing america's top secrets as other countries look to exploit him. the president's communication director admitting to congress, meanwhile, that she, quote, tells white lies for the president. plus, the president's former campaign chairman in court facing new charges. and the president himself and his business dealings before the campaign now under new scrutiny by the special counsel robert

mueller. on top of all of this, corporate america doing what congress won't. at least not yet. as students in parkland, florida, return to school for the first time since a shooting massacre, a major retailer, dick's sporting goods, making big changes involving the weapons it else is. all that coming up. but first, the truly explosive revelations rocking the white house right now, raising new questions about the russia probe and a key trump adviser's role in the west wing. here's a look at some of the extraordinary developments over the past 24 hours. sources tell cnn special counsel robert mueller is looking into president trump's business dealings in russia prior to the 2016 presidential campaign. also, "the washington post" reports that jared kushner was targeted by other nations for manipulation. kushner has been stripped of his top-secret security clearance. white house communications director hope hicks at the same time admitting that she tells white lies, her words, for the

president. former campaign chairman paul manafort pleading not guilty to new charges against him today. let's begin with the breaking news and the tensions between jared kushner and the white house chief of staff john kelly. first, listen to what president trump said just days ago about general kelly and jared kushner's security clearance. >> general kelly respects jared a lot, and general kelly will make that call. i won't make that call. i'll let the general, who's right here, make that call. but jared's doing some very important things for our country. i will let general kelly make that decision, and he's going to do what's right for the country, and i have no doubt he'll make the right decision. >> let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. he's joining us with breaking developments. what have you learned? >> we did know the existing battle lines that have long existed in the west wing very entrenched by this decision from the chief of staff to

essentially strip the senior adviser, jared kushner, of his security clearance. i'm told the reality is more complicated there. we're doing new reporting, and we have a new story on cnn.com that is saying that jared kushner, of course, first and foremost, he remains the president's son-in-law. we were told again and again that's something to keep in mind. the president believes he's doing a good job. the question is, can he do his job in the same way. the answer probably is no. but the reality is, the middle east peace process is not on the verge of happening, so there's nothing necessarily that's going to stop anything urgently. jared kushner has known about this since friday. not everyone in the white house knew about this. of course, it seemed like a bombshell yesterday afternoon. but he's gotten used to this idea. one of the reasons i'm told he was up on capitol hill working on his domestic agenda. he doesn't want to seem like he's being shoved aside. someone who's a friend and supporter of him this morning told me that he doesn't want to prove right by his critics by leaving.

a bigger question is how does this relationship develop between the chief of staph aff jared kusher? we're told the president does not like the view of all this on television, that it looks like his son-in-law is hanging out there. jared kushner feels like he's being picked on in some respects. this is going to be one more chapter in this ongoing story about the white house chief of staff. right now it looks like he is secure, but of course these are sometimes minute-by-minute, day-by-day situations. for now at least, jared kushner did not ask for special permission to have the president review this. again, keep in mind, yes, he's the senior adviser, but he's the son-in-law. he's at dinner tables, lunch tables. he stands above almost anyone else in the west wing except ivanka trump, perhaps, who also is stripped of her interim clearance. so this is a developing story to say the least. >> the tension between general kelly, the white house chief of staff, and jared kushner, we've seen a lot of reports that the tension is very, very significant. the president thinks all these

reports about jared kushner have been totally unfair. >> right. i mean, the president believes jared kushner is doing a good job. we saw him say that at that press conference on friday. he's also delegating his chief of staff to do this. at some point, will the president have to make a choice between his chief of staff and his son-in-law? if so, i think the bloodlines will be much stronger, the family lines there. as of now, the president has not indicated he wants to make that choice. but watch for that relationship to develop. a lot of people, you know, have thought that john kelly was out a number of times. he still remains and has the president's support. we've seen this president as someone who can, you know, be just fine with feuding and fighting. look what he's doing to his attorney general here. this is something that again we'll see how it shakes out. jared kushner, he wants to get back to work. he is working. the question is will he be able to be in the situation room, other things, for those private meetings. probably not. >> a lot more on the president

and the humiliation of his attorney general coming up. extraordinary what's going on there. jeff zeleny, stand by. to get a better understanding as to what this downgraded security clearance means for jared kushner and his work in the white house, i want to bring in our military and diplomatic analyst, retired rear admiral john kirby. you've had a top-secret security clearance at the state department, at the pentagon. walk us through the difference between what kushner had, an interim top-secret, sci security kpleerns, clearance, as opposed to what he has now. >> sure thing, wolf. it's important to remember there are three levels of security clearance. confidential, secret, and top-secret. we're going to break down the differences between top-secret and secret. it's also important to also remember that it's not just your clearance that matters, whether you get access to information and material. it's whether there's a need to know, whether you actually have to have it to do your job.

so with that, let's take a look. top secret is the highest level of clearance, most sensitive information. if it's disclosed, it could cause exceptionally grave damage to national security. that's the two big elements right there. next, it's the most rigid storage and handling and access protocols. if you're going to have access to top secret, that kind of material is really going to be carefully safeguarded from the time it's created to the time it's destroyed. the clearance must be reinvestigated every single five years. again, owing to the highest sensitivity of that information. on the secret side, this is information that if it's disclosed could cause serious damage to national security as opposed to top secret, which does exceptionally grave damage to national security. there's going to be less detailed information with respect to secret material. it's not going to go into the sources and methods. it's not going to lay out where all this information comes from and the context behind it. you're not going to have access to the president's full daily briefing. i use the word full deliberately, wolf, because there's going to be articles and

material in the presidential daily briefing that will be at the secret level that mr. kushner would be able to see, but he's not going to be able to see all of it. that clearance is going to be reinvestigated now every ten years. again, because the material under the security clearance isn't quite as sensitive as it is under the top secret. >> all right. good explanation, john kirby. thanks very much for that. let's get more analysis on all of these extraordinary developments. joining us now, cnn legal analyst, former federal prosecutor, michael zeldin, and cnn political analyst gloria borger. you look at all the tumult going on, is it worth it? what does he bring to the table that would allow him in the face of this assault to continue? >> well, i think that's up to the president, honestly. it's a decision the president has to make. i think it's very clear that jared and jared and ivanka would not want to leave town right now because it would look like they were under assault and were leaving under assault.

you negotiation he know, he is criminal justice reform. he could continue to do that. i spoke with someone at the white house last night who pushed back on me very hard and said, you know, he can continue doing exactly the job that he was doing, but this white house adviser seems to be the only one who was saying that, to be honest. if he's going to be very involved in mideast peace, he has to be allowed to see classified information that talks about sources and methods, perhaps satellite photographs, et cetera. he has to be in the sit room at moments. i think it's really trying to do your job with a blindfold on. >> here's the problem though. let's say he's involved in sensitive diplomatic missions for the president. whether the israeli-palestinian peace process, which doesn't seem to be moving very fast, at least not now, but let's say he has to go to saudi arabia or the united arab emirates or let's

say he goes to china or mexico. he's going to have deputies who are there who have top-secret sci security clearances. he only has secret security clearances. what if they say something that is top secret in his presence that potentially could be awkward? >> to say the least, it could be awkward. it's really untenable. i think personally that the president is going to do a waiver. i don't think it's acceptable to the president to have his chief, you know, sort of guy, kushner, so handcuffed as you and gloria have properly described it. he has that authority on an issue by issue, event by event, person by person basis to waive. so i think to take your hypothetical, he goes to saudi arabia, president says in saudi arabia, he's got top secret. but it doesn't really help the briefing process. you really need to be briefed before you go into these

meetings, and that briefing wants you to be as informed as your counterparty is going to be. so i don't see how it works unless there's a waiver of some sort. >> gloria, "the washington post" had a major story saying that at least, at least four countries, they named china, israel, mexico, and the united arab emirates, have privately discussed ways to manipulate jared kushner because of leverage they may have to their advantage over him. this is an extremely serious potential matter. >> well, it is a serious matter. and you know, these stories, we've done them, the post has done them, about questions about jared's conversations potentially mixing his business with his work during the transition are probably a large part of the reason that he's not been able to secure the security clearance that he wants. i mean, we don't know whether this information came from intercepts of these

conversations. we also know that diplomats tend to brag to each other about how much influence they have over high-ranking people in the united states government. and we know that that occurred with michael flynn, for example, where russians were bragging about their relationship with flynn. but again, you have to put one and one together and come up with two here. you have to say, look, here's this person who has never been in government before, who considered himself the person to be the back channel during the transition to russia and other countries, and suddenly now he is unable to get his security clearance -- or not suddenly, it's taken a year -- he's not able to get his security clearance, why is that. and the post story is a very good example of it. >> last week cnn exclusively reported that the special counsel robert mueller's interest in kushner had expanded to include what are described as non-russian foreign investors,

for example china. you think those attempts to seek leverage over him, these reported attempts, played a role in the decision not to grant him top-secret security clearances? >> it sure would seem so because one of the issues in issuing a top-secret clearance is are you vulnerable, can you be leveraged, can you be blackmailed, can you be financially compromised. all of the reporting that gloria has been doing on the chinese insurance company and veb bank, the russian bank, all of these meetings occurring while we know, at least it's been reported, that one of his, kushner's, marquee properties, 666 5th avenue, is a billion something in debt and it's coming due quickly and if they don't get that money from a foreign investor, something terrible could happen to that building. so you have this confluence of public role and private interests. that, i think, is going to hold up anything that relates to top

secret because he's too vulnerable. >> it's a major problem for the white house right now. guys, stand by. there are other governmedevelop unfolding. is robert mueller crossing the president's so-called red line? new cnn reporting the special counsel is looking into president trump's business dealings long before his presidential campaign. so what does this tell us about the scope of the russia investigation? also, once again, the president publicly, yes publicly, insults his own attorney general, jeff sessions. what tis the president's end gae here? is he trying to get sessions to resign? and dick's sporting goods, a major retailer, making a huge announcement about the guns they sell as parkland students return to school for the first time since the massacre. we'll go there live. oh, that's lovely... so graceful. the corkscrew spin, flawless... ...his signature move, the flying dutchman.

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president trump's business dealings with russia before the 2016 campaign are under the

microscope right now. sources tell cnn investigators for the special counsel have been asking a lot of questions about those earlier business dealings. questions include the timing of trump's decision to run for president and any possibly compromising information russia may have had about him. walk us through the timeline of events that mueller's team is looking into right now. >> that's right, wolf. sources we're talking to tell us there are several areas of interest to the special counsel when it comes to trump's business dealings in russia before he launched his presidential bid. there's some key dates that are important to mueller. first, november 9th, 2013. that's when trump hosted the miss universe pageant in moscow. he made significant money from the event and met with russian oligarchs. it's also when he began discussing plans to brand trump tower moscow. two days late e trump announces it's a done deal. he tweets trump tower moscow is next. the deal fell apart relatively

quickly, and the tower was never built. sources have been asking witnesses about his meetings with people during that trip and asking if it's possible russians have compromising information on trump. one source said investigators appeared interested around the timing of when trump decided to run and how that coincided with his talks. in 2014, that's the year one source told mueller trump got, quoted, serious about running for president. fast forward to 2015. trump makes a second run at trying to brand a trump tower moscow. trump had his attorney michael cohen begin negotiations with some different russian backers. trump even signed a nonbinding letter of intent in october of that year. this is after he launched his campaign. he was running for president while he was trying to push this deal through. then three months later, just before the iowa caucuses, the negotiations for trump tower moscow fell apart, and the project never got off the ground. now, at no point during his campaign did trump ever reveal he was negotiating with russians

to expand his business there. all of these points along this timeline are great interest to mueller according to our sources, as he's been asking different witnesses specific questions about all of this. wolf? >> very intriguing indeed. thank you very much. as the russia probe takes direct aim at the president's inner circle, a pivotal moment could be at hand. listen to what the president said just a few months ago in this exchange with two "new york times" reporters. >> mueller was looking at your fans, your family's finances unremittu unrelated to russia. is that a red line? >> would that be a breach of what his actual -- >> i would say yes. >> the president said it would be a breach of that so-called red line. let's discuss this and more. once again, michael zeldin is with us, robert mueller's former assistant, and gloria borger. has this red line been crossed now that mueller and his investigators are asking various

witnesses about donald trump's business dealings with russia long before the campaign? >> no, i don't think so. i think the question was unrelated to russia. this is related very much to russia. and i think in asking these questions, you know, our sources say, look, we don't know why mueller is asking these questions. was he just trying to check a box and go through a timeline regarding donald trump and his businesses? or is he looking for ways that the russians had potential leverage over donald trump and his business associates and his business over the past years? so i would say that this is a completely legitimate area of inquiry. i know that kenneth starr, former special counsel for bill clinton, says that it is not. but i believe that we have seen from bob mueller the 13 dooir indictments against the russians that he is pursuing all things russia, and this is a part of it. >> listen to what ken starr said

on cnn's "new day" earlier this morning. listen to this. >> i think it's beyond his mandate. the mandate is what happened during the 2016 election in terms of collusion. that's the key idea. >> that's not accurate, is it? >> no. there's a multipart mandate. point one of it is to continue the counterintelligence investigation that comey testified was under way in march. so front and center in mueller's investigation is the counterintelligence aspect of it. i think this -- gloria, you were just speaking about it -- relates exactly to that. was there an effort by the russians to compromise trump and similarly kushner or anybody else, flynn, cohen, all those people, in an effort to have leverage on them should the president -- should trump become president of the united states.

this is exactly in his mandate, which is exactly about counterintelligence. now to ken starr's point, there is a secondary part, which is was there a collusive relationship? were the russians trying to do something counterintelligence-wise, and were any americans trying to cooperate with them? so that's the second part. but first and foremost is the counterintelligence. >> i was surprised to hear ken starr's answer that the mandate is what happened during the 2016 elections in terms of collusion. he clearly didn't read the mandate that robert mueller got when he was named by rod rosenstein, the acting attorney general. the first part was any lengths and/or coordination between the russian government and individuals associated with the campaign and president donald trump. that's correct. part two, quote, any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation. part three, any other matters within the scope of -- then he

goes through at matter. the same reason why mueller is going after paul manafort, for example, on things that he allegedly did long before the campaign, opens up the president to the same kind of inquiry. >> exactly right. gloria is dead on when she says these inquiries that relate to whether the president could be compromised fits squarely within the mandate. as to the manafort indictment, it's not as closely tethered, but if it creates an understanding of what the russians were doing and if it creates an understanding if there was a collusive relationship it falls within the mandate. we know from rosenstein's testimony that he and mueller talk. mueller brings things to him and says, what do you want me to do about this. rosenstein gives an answer. for example, the eastern district of virginia cases, which are tax cases against manafort, mueller had to have gone to rosenstein and said, what do you want me to do? he said take it. >> there's other news breaking right now. just in, the attorney general of

the united states, jeff sessions, has now responded to this latest insult by the president of the united states in a pretty frank pushback to the president. we'll have that and a lot more right after this. with the travelocity customer first guarantee... your only worry... will be navigating the local traffic. get help with hotels, free twenty-four-hour flight changes, and our price match guarantee. travelocity.® wander wisely.™

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at&t, not so much. get internet on our gig-speed network and add voice and tv for $34.90 more per month. call 1-800-501-6000. attorney general jeff sessions is now firing back at president trump. earlier, the president tweeted this. why is attorney general jeff sessions asking the inspector general to investigate potentially massive fisa abuse? will take forever, has no prosecutori prosecutori prosecutorial power, and already late with reports on comey, et cetera. why not use justice department lawyers? disgraceful, close quote. let's go to our justice reporter at the justice department for us. i take it you're now getting some response from officials there, including a statement

from the attorney general himself. >> yes, a rare statement from the attorney general after months of tweets and public humiliations and dressing downs. the attorney general is now breaking his silence and firing back against the president. i want to read you the statement that we just received from him in full. he says, we have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary. what he means there, of course, is the referral to the inspector general's office here at the justice department on the so-called fisa abuse situation from the nunes memo. then he goes on, wolf, and this is really important. he says, as long as i am the attorney general, i will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and constitution. so wolf, i can't convey enough to you how rare this is. after months -- you remember the tweet storm back in july when

the president was going off every minute on the attorney general. he never said a word. and today is the first time he has broken his silence, wolf. and when asked -- i talked to a close source to the attorney general about what was the difference today, why today would he break his silence. i was told it was because the president went after doj attorneys. and for him, that was something of a red line. he felt like the president was just too in the weeds, weighing in on how doj attorneys, according to the president, should be prosecuted for fisa abuses and for the attorney general enough was enough, wolf. >> he went after the inspector general at the department of justice, who was named attorney general by president obama, but earlier to other senior positions was named to those positions by president bush. he's a career specialist in this area. laura, thanks very much. there's a lot of anger at the department of justice. this public humiliation by the

president of the attorney general of the united states, not the first time, but by name. then ending that tweet in all caps, disgraceful. it's extraordinary. >> well, it's not only against the attorney general. it's against the department of justice. you know, i can only imagine what laura's saying is something that made sessions finally decide that he had to respond. and by the way, the inspector general who was approved unanimously by the united states senate, who worked for both republicans and democrats, is also someone who routinely makes criminal referrals. so if he finds criminal misconduct, wrongdoing, then he can refer it. so, you know, let him do his work. >> that's exactly what his job is, gloria. >> the inspector general. >> yeah. he receives these sort of complaints. he undertakes an exhaustive

examination and makes a finding. as gloria says, if it requires criminal involvement, it's referred to the criminal division for prosecution. if it involves ethical, it goes to the office of professional responsibility, and they take care of it. that's what he's there for. i think this is what put sessions over the edge. the tipping point was to attack a career prosecutor who's doing his job earnestly. to say it was a disgrace that this is the way it was being handled was just too much for jeff sessions. and good for him for protecting the people of the justice department. i think he's got to get a lot of hand clapping in the justice department from people at their desk. >> a lot of folks, gloria, as you know, they think the president would like sessions to resign. >> yeah, he would. >> to quit so he could bring in someone else who would be more acceptable. he hated the fact that sessions recused himself from the russia probe and as a result was unable to protect the president. >> right. look, you know, we've been talking about this since the summer. when will sessions leave?

the president doesn't like him. his anger is still there about sessions recusing himself and not telling him in advance that he intended to recuse himself from the russia investigation. i think there are a lot of people internally who are advising the president that he shouldn't fire anybody right now, that right now is an important point in the mueller investigation and the president should not be doing anything with his attorney general. but we'll have to see where this plays out because the attorney general is responding to the president saying, no, you don't, no, you don't, i'm sorry, you don't get to do this to my justice department. and we'll have to see what happens next. i think the ball is in the president's court right now. >> it is a pretty serious humiliation by the president of the attorney general of the united states and others at the department of justice. the president's making these statements, and these tweets, these are official presidential statements, calling all of this

disgraceful. >> we saw him do the same thing with mccabe, sort of creating hostile work environment so that mccabe retires early. maybe that's what he's hoping for. >> former fbi director. deputy fbi director. >> yes, exactly. and maybe this is what he's trying to do. if he can't fire him, maybe he can humiliate him out of his job. jeff sessions has cesaid today, work for the department of justice, i have to protect the integrity of the department of justice. there are clear rules about communications between the white house and the justice department. you've overstepped that boundary again. >> thanks, guys, very much. coming up, the survivors of the parkland, florida, shooting make an emotional return to school today. i'll talk to one of the students about his first day back and how he's keeping the memories of his classmates so close. plus, taking a stand. the nation's largest sporting goods retailer announcing it will stop selling assault-style rifles.

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truly emotional day today in parkland, florida, where students returned to stoneman douglas high school for the first time since the horrific massacre there exactly two weeks ago. 17 people died on that day, 14 students and 3 adults. the building where the shooting took place remains closed and will likely be torn down. joining us now, alfonso calderon. he's a junior at the high school. when i spoke to you last week, you said it was going to be really physically, emotionally difficult to return to school, but you thought you would. i assumed you were in school today. how did it go? >> i just want to start with it's difficult. a lot of people sometimes take for granted how hard it is to go back to a place that remind you of something so tragic. at the same time, it was actually very uplifting because it was amazing to see how the community and all the students

and the school got together. there were so many hugs and so much time just bonding with people and teachers and, you know, rebuilding those bridges that were once burnt. it was amazing. but at times very emotional for me. >> did most of the students go back today? some decided apparently not to, right? >> absolutely. i would say most of the student body was there. as i said before, it was just an amazing spectacle to see because i saw teachers and students who used to get into arguments on a daily basis hug and cry in each other's arms. i saw people who wouldn't dare speak to each other just open up. it's really heartwarming. >> and now it's going to be regular days as of tomorrow, all of next week. everybody's going to be going back to school. what was it like going in? there was a lot of armed presence there, a lot of police,

right? >> yeah, i think some students might find it comforting, but personally i felt like i was choking, like if i was having an asthma attack. it was very difficult to grapple with everything, you know, especially with the freshmen building, which is where the tragedy happened. there's a fence built around it. there's armed officers at all times, including through the night now. walking through there to get to some of my classes, it was tough. >> is that going to stay like that as far as you know? are you going to have to endure that kind of police presence for the rest of the semester? >> absolutely. i'm sure that most of the police officers that were here today will be gone by next week, and the ones in school as well, but the ones around the building where it happened, those aren't going anywhere. that's still an active crime scene until the case has been settled. i think it'll forever be locked down. >> yeah, it's an awful situation all around.

i know it's painful and difficult for you and all of your friends at school. let me get your reaction to what's happened with dick's sporting goods, a major retailer business that actually sold the florida shooter a shotgun last year at the age of only 18. they say they will stop selling ar-15 style rifles. the ceo of the store, of the company, also says a decision was made for the kids of stoneman douglas. you're going to have to be 21 from now on to purchase any kind of weapon there. what's your reaction? >> i know i just talked about some very depressing issues, but i want to say that is the most uplifting news i have heard in a while. it's been very tough going to my state capitol in tallahassee and being told that i won't be able to do anything or the hill in washington, d.c., and facing some trouble. but i'm glad to see that companies are finally hearing not only the children's outcry but everybody in this country who is sick and tired of the

dysfunctional laws and system we have set in place. i'm glad that dick's sporting goods supports common sense gun laws, such an as 18-year-old should not be able to buy a shotgun or ar-15. that's just not sensible. and i'm glad that companies, which are what will stop the nra from doing what they're doing, basically killing kids, the companies are going to be the ones that are going to stop this. and i'm calling out every single company right now who is not in favor of cutting their ties with the nra. the nra has shown themselves to be toxic, vile, and to not support the right to live, which is in the preamble of the constitution. i want them to remember they always talk about the second amendment, but that preamble is before it. because of its importance and its necessity for america to be the way it is. >> alfonso calderon is a junior at stoneman douglas high school. today was the first day back at school. we'll continue these

conversations down the road. good luck to you. good luck to all your friends at school, your families. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you very much. coming up, as the parkland community continues to mourn, a republican florida lawmaker reacts to those calls for stricter gun restrictions and whether he thinks there is any real change on the horizon. that interview coming up. (vo) make her day with just one touch. with fancy feast creamy delights, she can have just the right touch of real milk. easily digestible, it makes her favorite entrées even more delightful. fancy feast creamy delights. love is in the details. a hilton getaway means you get more because you get a break on breakfast get an extra day by the pool

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assault weapons was defeated while a measure to arm teachers was approved by committee. a republican member of the florida state house representative, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> very angry at the state congress, and at the national rifle association, students say, they're not doing anything s substantive. what's your reaction? >> i don't think that's true. we're seriously considering new measures for school safety, programs that will involve the sheriff and local communities being directly involved in protecting these schools. we shouldn't have had to wait this long on mental health issues. i've supported things back in my district but this is an appropriate response in that

regard. in terms of the other proposals they violate the second amendment. at the end of the day you won't have legislators, at least legislators like myself, i'm no more going to violate the second amendment than i am going to violate someone's first amendment rights. they're the bedrock of our country. >> there are restrictions, there are problems that you can't cry, you know -- go into a crowded theater and you can't scream out "fire." that would be a violation of the first amendment because it endangers people. so, there are restraints and even the supreme court have said there are restraints on the second amendment which gives the right to bear arms in the united states. are you willing to accept any restraints? >> listen, absolutely, wolf. children don't have the same access to civil rights as adults do. that's why child pornography is

illegal but adults have that right. 18, 19, 20-year-olds ought to be able to purchase a firearm. that's something i'm certainly pondechlt ring on to try to decide if that's really appropriate. you have 20 million floridians f we raise the age to buy a firearm, a hunting shotgun or rifle, you're talking about 600,000 floridians who will have fewer civil rights the next day and that really gives me pause and i'm struggling with it in terms of how we move forward on those proposals. >> your republican governor of florida, rick scott, says one common sense change be is, in fact, to raise the age to 21 to purchase any firearm. are you with the governor on that? >> again, that's really going to be difficult for me to get there. i need to see how that's going to make a difference. when you look at the different types of school shootings we have across this nation and each one of them is a tragedy, it really was spectacular to have the students come up here and visit and share their personal

experiences, one on one with me last week. and i do appreciate that. some of the ideas they brought us are things you'll see us move forward on. on this one, again, what is it really going to change? how will that affect the outcome? you look at the tragedy that happened in sandy hook, it didn't matter what the age restriction would have been in that instance. that maniac killed his mother and stole all her weapons. we need to focus on mental health. we to focus on making the schools more secure and treat these individuals like they are. they're lone wolf terrorists. they're people that sit and plot and plan. they take six months, a year, to lay out a strategy, to look at the building, evaluate how they're going to attack their peers and people they know. their inspiration may not be religious but it's definitely terrorism in terms of how they go out and conduct these activities. and that's where i think our focus has to be. >> there are a lot of steps under consideration, including raising the age limit. very quickly, dick's sporting goods, major retailer, now announcing they're going to ban the sale of all firearms to

anyone under the age of 21. they also will no longer sell these assault-style weapons like ar-15 style weapon. here is what the company's ceo told chris cuomo on new day earlier on cnn. >> when you look at those kids and their parents and the grief that everyone is going through. we don't want to be part of this story any longer. we actually sold the shooter a shotgun in november of last year. we looked at that, found out that we did this, we had a pit in our stomach and said we need to -- we don't want to be part of this story. we need a responsibility to these kids. >> do you support the freedom that this chain, this dick's sporting goods store has to make a decision like that? >> yeah. look, wolf, i totally agree with the supreme court's decision in the citizens united case. corporations have the opportunity for free speech f they don't want to sell a gun if, they want to take a position in the public space that is a strongly held belief of theirs,

they have every right to do that. by the way, i think that should extend to everybody. you'll see me disagreeing in cases where we force people to participate in activities they don't agree with. those first amendment rights extend not just to citizens but corporations that are made up of our citizens. for dick's sporting goods to decide and i certainly respect their decision in that regard. >> representative matt caldwell, thank you so much for joining us. >> absolutely. thank you, wolf. just in, a white house insider telling cnn that president trump is growing more and more frustrated with his white house chief of staff and the enemies that john kelly is apparently making, both inside and outside the west wing. stand by for new details. then i learn type 2 diabetes puts me at greater risk for heart attack or stroke. can one medicine help treat both blood sugar and cardiovascular risk? i asked my doctor. she told me about non-insulin victoza®. victoza® is not only proven to lower a1c and blood sugar,

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