and thank you so much for being with me today. i'm fredricka whitfield. "inside politics" with john king starts right now. thank you, fredricka. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. remember the president promising to lead the guns debate and being scolded for going against the nra? the report is out today and the nra is happy. tomorrow is an election in pennsylvania. if a democrat wins, be prepared for some panic. and on the left of the democratic fields. >> if you win the election today, are you going to pledge another six-year term? >> i am not running for the president of the united states, i am running for the united

states senate, 2018, massachusetts, whoo hoo. i am in this fight to retain my senate seat in 2018. that's where i'm focused, that's where i'm staying focused. >> no pledge, though, on the six years? >> i am not running for president. >> whoo hoo. i didn't know folks in massachusetts said wouhoo hoo. we begin the hour with new presidential tweets and one that speaks volumes. the president is retreating about guns and gun violence. the president who lectured just days ago that people are afraid of the nra, they retracted the nra wishes. also missing, any big white house rollout. the memo was distributed sunday night. the president is tweeting today but no event on the schedule, no effort to use the traditional bully pulpit.

instead this pair of tweets. strong improvement of background checks will be fully backed by white house. legislation moving forward. bump stocks will soon be out. highly trained expert teachers will be allowed to conceal carry, subject to state law. armed guards okay. deterrent. on 18 to 21 age limit, kauchg court cases and rulings before action. states are making this decision. things are moving rapidly on this. quite a contrast to promising parents and students that he would lead this fight. now apparently content to watch florida, watch congress and ask his education secretary to do something he mocked just 48 hours ago. lead a study commission. >> a lot of people are looking at that and thinking, it sounds like the nra got to him. >> as i said earlier, everything is on the table, and we will be looking at this. the state of florida just passed

a law this past week that looks at this issue, that raises the age -- >> it raised it, and they didn't engage in a long process. they just passed the law. >> everything is on the table, and this commission will be studying it along with many other issues and will be forthcoming with solutions. >> we begin with cnn's jeff zeleny live at the white house. jeff, people can justifiably say it's a retreat from the president. >> reporter: john, it certainly it. the president can evade attention on something unlike any country in the world. he decided to rescind his gun plan. not talking about it, at least not scheduled to. he is taking time today to welcome the houston astros, world champion to the white house. that is the only public event on his day. john, certainly so much different than the tone and the look in his eye and the tone in

his voice when he welcomed the gun victims and their families from the parkland shooting almost a month ago here, vowing to do something. he talked about the specifics he wanted to do. he held that open meeting with the lawmakers. well, the reality here is now all that has changed. yes, it's possible he could still do something else in the future, but the urgency of the moment seems to have passed him. for this point, the white house says that's all we're expected to hear on guns right now. john, certainly a striking change from almost one month ago. john? >> striking change. jeff zeleny at the white house. appreciate it. here to tell me their insights, ma manu raju. new parent there. beautiful baby boy. if you look at the president's proposal, it would be a mainstream proposal from a traditional republican white house. it is the fact the president got so far out there in his meetings

with the parkland students and parents, and victims, parents of past school shootings. then he said, you guys are cowards. don't be afraid to fight the nra. hey, maybe we should raise the minimum age. what happened? >> we've seen this before, suggesting he would be willing to go pretty far, traditional republican orthodoxy, but then retreat to standard positions. there is really nothing in this proposal that the nra would oppose. when he's talking about fixing background checks and strengthening background checks, really what he's talking about is the criminal background system already used by the fbi ensuring that states report into that system. other agencies do that as well. that's a bill that's pending in congress. that does not expand background checks or do internet sales, gun sales, something the mansion-toomey bill would do.

he doesn't get behind changing the age from 18 to 21 on buying rifles. >> i imagine he's also watching the state of florida where his friend governor scott just signed a bill into law and the nra immediately filed a lawsuit to -- on the 18 to 21 provision of that bill. we'll have to see what the outcome of that will be at the end of the day. but certainly, this is just like the daca meeting. and i think a lot of us who watched that meeting and watched his meeting with lawmakers on guns kind of expected this outcome, to be honest. >> so if you're out there and you want the age rates and you want significant gun control, could it be, in terms of the 2018 midterm election, set the policy aside, smart politics in the sense to use the daca analogy. now he's not going to ask conservatives to cast a vote on what he considers amnesty in an

election year. now he's not going to ask conservatives to cast a vote on the gun law in an election year. is that what this is about? >> i think you're putting a little too much strategy into the movements. i think it's very much a situation where the president is saying what the audience in front of him wanted him to say a couple weeks ago when he met with those parkland students and families, and then the gravity brings him back. i think the practical effect of it very much will be what you just described. and that's something that i think a lot of republicans are breathing a sigh of relief over. and also i think it just simply reflects, again, the politics of this thing. it's not necessarily being captured by the nra. it's just a political fact that there is really no interest in congress, or really no path to congress for getting anything more than what he's now agreed to, what he's proposed now. >> it's certainly true that congress doesn't want to do that and that the president is aware of that and is dialing back what

he's asking for. it's also true that if he had held strong to what he had said that day with the families and really pushed for this, we would see whether there is any room for congress. he has made a decision not to do that. >> and to that point, let's go back two weeks, february 28th, the president of the united states at the white house. he has lawmakers at the table, a bipartisan group where the president sounds like he's fighting with the democrats and at the end you hear him lecturing a republican. >> you can't buy a handgun at 18, 19 or 20, you have to wait until you're 21. but you can buy the gun, the weapon used in this horrible shooting at 18. you are going to decide, the people in this room pretty much, you're going to decide. but i would give very serious thought to it. i was just curious as to what you did in your bill. >> we didn't address it, mr. president. >> you know why, because you're afraid of the nra. >> with a smile there, because you're afraid of the nra. if you don't believe gun control is the answer, you believe that

people get guns and commit crimes on 99.9% of law-abiding citizens, but if you look at the president there saying we should raise the age, tells them they're afraid of the nra. states should do this again, if you believe in federalism, now he's saying the states should decide these things. but where is the presidential leadership? >> i'm just going to be cynical for a minute. i know that's shocking. and say that this way he kind of gets credit dpfor both. he said those things that he said on the first day that many of those families wanted to hear that he may have believed at the time he said it. the answer was congress isn't willing to do it. it's not that he didn't push for it, it was important for him to get something done and the appetite wasn't there for it so now he's going to be pragmatic. he can try to argue it that way now. but in making the decision not to go pedal to the medal on this, if he gets it, he gets it,

and if he doesn't, he doesn't, he has chosen the political path of least resistance over the idealogy. >> there is the challenge of being a member of congress and dealing with this president. he'll say things you don't really know if that's actually where he ultimately will stand at the end of the day. he'll suggest -- throw these trial balloons out there and say, well, is this what the white house really believes? will he get behind this, and then he ultimately retreats from it and it makes it very difficult for the policymakers to ultimately decide, make strong decisions, because they don't know where the president stands on this. >> they take three steps forward and then a step back. >> you see him kind of saying, let's see where it ends up, because there are so many things that on first blush they don't agree with this president on, that maybe if they wait a couple days, they won't have to go out there against him. >> i come back to the presidential leadership question. if you watched the president on the road friday night, he was up in pennsylvania, he's talking about a different issue here. now he's asked his education

secretary betsy devos about an interview she's taken a lot of heat for. now he says, let's watch if the nra primaries, let's watch to see if the age increase in florida withstands a federal court challenge that the nra has already filed. let's watch. that's the president of the united states' approach now. here's what the president thought on saturday about commissions. >> we can't just keep setting up blue ribbon committees with your wife and your wife and your husband. and they meet and they have a meal and they talk. talk, talk, talk. two hours later they write a report. look, that's what i got in washington. i got all these blue ribbon committees. everybody wants to be in them. >> 24 hours after that, the white house released its paper calling for a blue ribbon commission. >> does he know he's president?

that's a campaign rally, right? he won. >> he also doesn't know what's in his proposal, which is the more stunning thing about this. maybe not so stunning. he's done this in other proposals as well, not seeming to know the details, clearly not knowing that here because why would he undercut what they're pointing to as a good idea going forward. >> but as someone who uses power as a way to influence people, as a way to bend people to his will on the regular. we see it on a whole range of issues. it is notable he has taken a step back here and allowed this to go forward. presumably he now knows that there is a blue ribbon commission in there. we'll have to see what he says today, tomorrow on this. >> i think he recognizes that this is where things go to die, right? these kinds of commissions, this is not an issue, i think, on which he's particularly animated. he is a little bit much to the left of his base. it's just not something that i think ultimately he is motivated enough to cross that base in order to get done, so send it to the commission. he just explained he knows

better than maybe anybody that that's where issues like this go to die. >> motivated enough, however, and to his credit, to bring in the past victims, to bring in the parkland students, to bring in the parkland children, students and their parents. to bring in the lawmakers and have the conversation when the news was fresh in the headlines, but two weeks later it's the consistency issue that makes it hard to figure out exactly what he believes and what he's willing to fight for. how a special election in western pennsylvania on track to test not only the president but his party.

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breaking news to bring you right now. the adult film actress stormy daniels making an offer to president trump aand his lawyer in hopes that an agreement will end the silence. what's the latest move? >> john, every day there seems to be something new.

this is brand new. the attorney for stormy daniels has sent a letter to michael cohen and michael cohen's attorney, lawrence rosen, saying, look, we want to end this nondisparage agreement between stormy and michael that they signed that they also say donald trump is a party to, although he did not sign the agreement back in 2016. and i want to read this to you because it's interesting the way they're doing this. they're saying, look, she will pay back the $130,000 in hush money she was paid to keep this story out of the news, but she's saying that she'll pay it back to donald trump by wire transfer. donald trump, by the way, has never said there was an affair, has never admitted there was any kind of affair between the two of them, has not talked at all on a personal level. it's always been through spokespeople or his attorney, michael cohen. that was the e-mail sent to me that details this. it also goes into details about

how they want this to go forward, and it says that basically no one can come after her if they agree to take this money back, that she's allowed to tell her story, and that they would dismiss the nondisparagement agreement without prejudice. so it is asking quite a bit. it will be interesting to see what michael cohen says about this. you can almost bet that this may be a no-go. john? >> you can almost bet. sarah, come back if you get any new information. this is without a doubt yet another publicity play, some say a stunt from stormy daniels. however, whatever you think of her, whatever you think of what she says, it puts the president and his team now in a very tough box. she says, sign this document, i'll give you the money back. i get to talk. if you say no, then you're saying you want to keep in place a nondisclosure agreement that she says is about an affair with the president of the united states. if you say fine, send the money. number one, she gets to talk

freely, and number two, this is part of the stunt part, she will send the money back to an account designated by the president who said, i didn't have this relationship, i don't know anything about a payment. where do we go? >> the white house is in such a difficult position here because they have not given a full accounting of exactly what happened, what the president knew, was he aware of this payment right before the election to allegedly keep her quiet? yesterday rod shaw was asked on one of the sunday shows whether trump was aware of that payment, and he said, not that i'm aware of, but then he acknowledged he has not exactly talked to the president about this, either. last week, you guys could attest to sarah sanders would not explain this at all. she shut down almost all questions about this. so this is not a story that's going away, and the white house is not making it easier because they're not really giving any facts or explaining exactly what happened. >> again, if you're a trump supporter or even if you're a law student and you're reading what matters and what doesn't matter, she signed a piece of

paper saying she wouldn't talk about this. now she's talking about this and she wants more. now there's some saying her point is, number one, her attorney has talked, therefore, it freeze hs her up to talk. the lawsuit she filed in los angeles said donald trump never signed the agreement so therefore it's not binding. and now her lawyer is saying they have 24 hours and she'll send the money back. and she said they would keep anderson cooper's interview from airing. but there was always the possibility of the trump team going to court saying, no, she signed a nondisclosure agreement, she can't do this.

>> even then it puts them in a tough position. what are you afraid of here? what are you afraid she's going to say? this is also a president who has said a bunch of things that are lies and accusations against him. so what does she have that some of these other people don't have? >> if this "60 minutes" interview happens and airs, it's a very big deal. it's a big deal. president trump himself, when he was in business, liked to use aggressive business tactics and techniques to get what he wanted, whether it has to do with payment for services or kind of renegotiating a contract that wasn't happening. this is kind of the worst taste of his own medicine and it presents some of the perils of consorting with someone years ago in whatever fashion who now has nothing, really very little to lose by stopping. she has so much publicity advantage to gain from this. she's probably trying to shift her career into a different mode for more of a long-term strategy.

and this has brought attention back to someone who faded out at the spotlight. he has all the motivation in the world to get people to stop talking about this, and she's just not going to let up. he's in a very difficult spot. >> but i think to do that, the white house needs to have a better strategy, or how about a strategy at all at dealing with these questions. it doesn't seem like they've got anything going on. they haven't discussed a way to move forward on this. they're going to have to do that really quickly, because cbs, "60 minutes," they're not part of any adas at all. i don't think there will be any legs on that sort of suit. they've got to figure out, the white house does, how to respond to this in a way that doesn't just keep bringing more questions. i think they're in sort of a whirlpool here that they can't get out of. >> this is the risk of signing a nondisclosure agreement, because to get a legal nondisclosure agreement, you have to put down in writing what you're not allowed to disclose. not in her lawsuit, in the side

letter that is initialled by michael cohen on behalf of his llc, it says, again, the man alleged to be donald trump did not sign the document. but stormy daniels signed it, michael cohen signed it, and it says prior to entering into this agreement, pp, her pseudonym, came into confidential information of dd, that's donald trump, as more fully defined below. it includes, but is not limited to, certain still images or text messages that were authored by or relate to dd. again, dd is supposed to be donald trump. that, she said, clear this up, i'll send your money back, i get to use those any way i want. >> the risk is some of that may come out ultimately anyways, especially if this lawsuit is allowed to go forward through the court process. that's the real concern. crisis management 101 is you let all the facts out, you rip the band-aid off, you say everything

right away and you just take your lumps and move on. in this case you're legally not allowed to say that or the white house does not want us to know what the actual facts are because it's very ugly that there was an affair allegedly, and there was a payoff to keep her quiet and it could be a violation of campaign finance law. >> and this becomes malpractice at this point, because remember what sarah huckabee sanders did say. she said this thing about the president winning in arbitration. everyone in the briefing room, i'm sure you were there, said arbitration, what you are talking about? which is another nugget that everybody has started looking into. so that made a bad situation just slightly worse. >> she connected the president's attorney to an arbitration hearing about a document that says the president had a sexual relationship with a porn actress, period. we'll keep an eye on that and see how this turns out. when we come back, an election tomorrow in western pennsylvania in trump country. if the republican loses, watch out for gop panic.

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garlique® helps maintain healthy cholesterol naturally. and it's odor free. and pharmacist recommended. garlique.® a little math here, a reminder of pennsylvania's importance in 2016 as we look ahead to a very important special election tomorrow, an early test of 2018. remember pennsylvania 2016? yes, the president turned a blue state red by about 44,000 votes. pretty close. but this was a big part of the president's huge victory, right, winning pennsylvania. so let's take a look here and go down here to western pennsylvania. let me bring up this congressional district here. bring it back out a little bit. come back up to the district. there we go. just by 20 points in this district, just barely wins the state, wins the 18th district by 70,000-plus votes. you could make the case the margin of victory came right here out of western pennsylvania. he won by 20 points. this is trump country.

so what happens tomorrow? the democrat is now in a dead heat, somewhat of a favorite in a race that should be solid trump country. 90% of this district is white. this is the kind of place where donald trump ran it up big in 2016, a place where republicans are strong, a place where a republican should win. but the problem is the president has been stealing his aluminum tariffs, steel tariffs. mi steel 5%, mining less than 2%. this is different than it was back in 2016. if the democrat wins, it cuts the margin a little bit, at least for now, in congress. number two, if a democrat wins in a district the president carried by more than 20 points 16 months ago, there will be more republican retirements, there will be more republican panic. which is why, in an emergency fire drill, if you will, the president went up near the district on saturday night,

turned to the republican candidate and said, you better win. the world is watching. >> i love pennsylvania. i mean, look, how can i not love it, right? i love the state. but i really feel strongly about rick saccone. and i know him. i feel strongly about him. he's an incredible guy. the world is watching. i hate to put this pressure on you, rick, they're all watching. because i won this district by 22 points. it's a lot. that's why i'm here. >> that's why he's here. the republican candidate needed the help. better to go and try. this is so important for the republicans, because otherwise everyone is saying the republican is going to lose. my monday morning in-box this morning, phone calls and a bunch of e-mails, the republicans still think they're going to lose. and that would, wo send, wow, wa message. >> the president is in the middle of those, but he'll be

the cause of this loss or he'll get credit for pulling him to victory, so he had to go up there no matter what. make no mistake, even if this is a close race in that the republican barely pulls this off, major warning signs ahead of november. the map favors democrats significantly. they have roughly the same number of seats they need to pick up for the house that are republican seats. the president's rating continues to slide. this, of course, if he loses, would be a major fear. >> if democrats are winning districts that are 94% white, the republicans are in trouble. >> all you need to do is look at the amount of money being spent particular bill republicans in this race. for a district, if i'm not mistaken, that's not going to be there. this is a district that is being redistricted. so this is a seat that isn't going to be there in the same way it will be.

so it's really like a short-term -- they need a short-term win here. it also could cause a recalculation of their strategy. right now they're trying to pin nancy pelosi to connor lamm, the democrat in the race. if that doesn't work here, we'll see if they try to transfer that assault elsewhere to districts like this. >> a couple republican ads are targeting connor lamm. he's a moderate. he's not for gun control. he's not for a lot of things nancy pelosi is for. republicans say don't let him get away with it. >> conor lamb. another two-faced liberal. he'll say anything to get elected. >> lamb sides with pelosi and now her liberal friends are spending big on his campaign. >> my opponent wants you to believe the biggest issue in this campaign is nancy pelosi. it's all a big lie. i've already said on the front

page of the newspaper that i don't support nancy pelosi. >> this is an early test of a lot of things, including democrats won a national referendum on trump, republicans think we have to make nancy pelosi the issue. >> and one of the lessons of 2016, democratic enthusiasm, or lack of enthusiasm, was the attacks to the left, how many wanted like a bernie sanders type of candidate. what you see here is not a bernie sanders type of candidate. if the democrats are able to prevail in this district, it says a lot about decreased enthusiasm in trump country and says a lot about increased momentum on the democratic side. but it also says in the race where you have a pretty conservative democrat that does not have a lot in common with nancy pelosi, then the democrats have a shot. how does that help when you're ramping up for 2020 and who is going to be the democratic candidate? >> we should note on some

issues, for instance, abortion, conor lamb is actually much more in line with the democratic party opposing the abortion law. on that issue he is much more aligned approximate with pelosi. i thought it was interesting, when you look at the demographics of this district, the breakdown of service economy, like you said, not steel country anymore. that is what i would be more interested in. everybody is comparing this, this is an obama-trump district, sort of the white working class. i think it's more the suburban white working class that is worth watching here. it was a close race in georgia. georgia said at the beginning of last year, this has been a through line in these elections that it's white suburbanites who are the key swing group. even if conor lamb loses by just a few, that doesn't portend well for democrats who have built

themselves on white suburbans. >> the pittsburgh suburbs in the lower part of allegheny county will be 40% of the district tomorrow night. to that point i was told, look, there will be four or five more republican retirements, anyway, so look for that to double. >> what's frustrating for a lot of democrats is the fact she is still a leader gives the republicans an issue they ordinarily wouldn't have. you hear a lot of pelosi detractors on capitol hill saying, why is she still the leader giving republicans something to run against? >> and effective, too. >> that's why this race is significant for her, too. if they do lose, that's something the democrats don't have. >> she's trying to stay the leader. in a word, ambition. > elizabeth warren absolutely

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>> i told you, i am not running for president of the united states. i am running to retain my senate seat in 2018. that's why i'm staying focused. i am not running for president. >> no pledge on the six years? >> i am not running for president. >> so is that a final answer? i am not r "i am not running for president" sure sounds definitive, but i am not serving the six years sure sounds like she's leaving wiggle room. if warren is not a 2020 candidate, that would create a pretty big space for others to enter the fray on the left side. that was not shermanesque, right? >> that was the surefire way of not admitting that you are actually thinking about it. i do think it is significant. she is, i think, looking at 2018, waiting to see what happens, and it's probably a little less optimistic that it's going to be so easy for a democrat, even a democrat like bernie sanders or elizabeth

warren who have so much fervor on the left side of their party to take on donald trump. i think that's what all of these folks are watching and waiting for and why they're sort of keeping the anything definitive out of the conversation. >> i e mailed about this in massachusetts after she said that, and they're not sure what she meant, either. but they say, if you're on the ballot for 2018, you don't insult the voters by talking about being president. is it caution there, or is she saying no? >> she obviously sounds very evasive. i think she needs to come up with a better answer than this. >> is there a better answer if you're not sure of the answer? >> maybe she could be honest with the voters and say, i'm thinking about it but i'm running for this now. >> let's go back to 2006, two

people definitely, possibly, thinking about running for president. different answers. >> six years ago, you pledged that you would finish your full term in the senate and you did so. why can't you make the same pledge this time snarnd. >> because, dominic, i am focused on what i'm doing. i don't know what the future holds. i have no decision ready to be made or even waiting in the wings. >> "i will fill out my full six-year term." tim, you get weary. my thinking has not changed. >> you will not run for president or vice president in 2008? >> i will not. >> he did. >> he did. at least, for all the clinton critics out there, at least she gave a much more honest answer. "i don't have anything for you right now." she didn't say she wasn't running. the guy who ended up being president said no. >> that's the other thing.

even if she had said, "absolutely, i am going to serve my six years if i win." we still would be talking about it. >> i'm old enough to remember, i went to arkansas in 1981. bill clinton said he would not run for president, he was elected as governor. lo and behold, there were people popping up at meetings saying, sir, we need you to break that promise. it was a total grassroots explosion. another question for senator warren. she has faced a lot of criticism. the president of the united states uses what many think is a racial slur, calling her pocahontas. she has native american heritage. listen to this exchange with chuck todd. >> it's a part of me. and nobody is going to take that part of me away. not ever. >> what's wrong with knowing? >> i do know. i know who i am. and never used it for anything, never got any benefit from it

anywhere. >> the western part of massachusetts suggested she take a dna test. that's where the question came from. >> that's a little undignified, right? >> it sounds like the birth certificate thing to me. it is hearkening back to you need to prove what her family history says she is. i agree, it's a little undignified. >> i would say -- she said she never used it to gain advantage. she did say it in a professional setting that she sort of claimed this. and i think the fact that she's not been forthright, just a strictly sort of political, analytical matter, it is a problem for her. it didn't hurt her ultimately in winning her seat in massachusetts, but it's one of these things that i think will be certainly exploit bed by her opponents. >> it's certainly not dignified, but if you look at some of the things that come into the news,

it will be used against her, right or wrong. >> but to attach herself to legislation and such, and that's what she's doing with it. >> if she runs, we'll get a test of that. up next, why some of the president's allies in congress are worried about that off-script rally in pennsylvania. he gets to be the fun one?

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it's hard to get all the daily that's why i love fiber choice. it has the fiber found in many fruits and vegetables, all in a tasty chewable tablet. fiber choice: the smart choice. rally trump, as he's called, is the subject of some cracking today. his secretary today says part of what he said sends a bad example for children. >> did you ever see the story where it's 1999. i'm on "meet the press," a show now headed by sleepy eyes chuck todd. he's a sleeping son of a bitch, i'll tell you.

>> republican strategists who know they can't keep the president off the road wish he would stick to this: the price if republicans stay home and democrats take back the house. >> they're going to take away your taxes, your tax cuts. they're going to take away your second amendment rights. >> democrats want 2018 to be a national referendum on trump, which is why smart republican strategists cringe or scream when the president goes into full mt. rushmore mode. >> if we coasted for two and a half years, we did a hell of a job. you know that. we have done more than any first-term administration in the history of our country. do you like me? i think so. i like you, too. i love you. is there any more fun than at a trump rally? >> tom, share some reporting on

what people think. there was some good in there as a communicator on the republican agenda. there were a lot of things that the president loves. his fellow people in the party get apoplectic about it. >> his base loves the red meat but then he says something that doesn't surprise a lot of folks, it probably isn't the right thing to say, it distracts from their message and leads to several days of news stories they don't want to focus on. it's the risks and reward of putting president trump on the campaign trail, but in this case he need to do get his base to the poll s on tuesday. >> i think what the party needs to realize is that when trump does rallies, it's about trump. now, that reduced the closer you got to the election, i think it was like four days or something. so we'll see if that happens

here. but that is a risk that i think republican candidates are just going to have to internalize. >> the republicans are already reluctant. is this kind of a test where if rick saccone loses, they should keep him away? or if he ekes it out, well, maybe it is good that the president goes. >> i think if he doesn't win, they'll say he tried but it wasn't enough. >> and if he wins, he'll take credit for the win. >> of course. >> i just don't understand republicans fretting about this. we all know who donald trump is. we know it's all baked into when he appears or even when he doesn't appear. so the fact that you've got republican strategists sort of wringing their hands over this, wake up. it's 2018. this is the party, this is the leader you have, and you guys have to figure out how to make it work. >> they're trying to figure out how to make it less terrible.

i was in touch with someone this morning who said, we need to make it more national races. see you back here this time tomorrow. wolf starts after a quick break. have a good day. deyou were persecuted,, and forced to flee the country of your birth. but you started a new life in a brand new world. when i built my ancestry family tree, i found your story... then, my dna test helped me reclaim the portuguese citizenship you lost. i'm joshua berry, and this is my ancestry story. combine ancestry's dna test and historical records to discover your story. get started for free at ancestry.com

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held lorlo, i'm wolf blitze. it's 1:00 p.m. here in los angeles. thank you for joining us. stormy daniels now offering to return her hush money to end the silence. president trump now pleasing the nra by back-pedaling on his calls to raise age limits to buy some guns. cabinet chaos. this time the secretary of education under fire after failing to answer basic questions about america's schools. all that coming up. but let's begin with the breaking news. a new poll just released right