>> i talked to a lot of students here today, some with the blessing of their principals, some not. they're telling me they want this message sent to lawmakers in washington, that they want real change to happen, and to happen soon. >> the question will be if they listen. we'll keep track of that. scott, you're in littleton, home of columbine. columbine happened back when bill clinton was president. what are the students there telling you? >> reporter: hey, john, like clockwork, students are just starting to walk out of class right now. you can see a steady stream of them leaving the building and going on to the soccer field. school administrators are not officially supporting this walkout. in fact, we're not even allowed

on school property, but they will excuse the absence if students are back in class by the time that it ends. columbine, obviously, knows all too well about school shootings. the students who attend here now, they weren't even born yet when the school shooting took place here in 1999, killing 13 people. but they've lived with the legacy ever since. in fact, i spoke to one current student this morning who says she cannot enter a classroom today without knowing where her exits are. listen. >> first thing i do is to find the best place to hide in case of an accident. it's just a subconscious reaction. any doorway i walk through, it's the first thing that goes through my mind, just in case. what if. it's a terrible thing to live with, but it's also better to know where you'd go. >> reporter: and john, the students who organized this local rally, this local walkout, want to make one point crystal clear. that's that they're not

anti-gun, they're pro second amendment. the reason being is they don't want to lose the support of any students whose parents maybe carry guns or support gun rights themselves. they say the minute this debate becomes a partisan debate, they've lost all hope of change. john? >> remarkable student demonstrations across the country. we'll come back to that story later. now to the other story this hour, panic in the republican party and the powerful new evidence, the revolt against the president and those in charge here in washington reaches deep into trump country. the evidence that the republican majority in the house is now at profound risk, and the evidence, the first big test of the 2018 midterms backs up all that talk. pennsylvania's 18th congressional district, you see it right here, it's not officially settled yet. democrat conor lamb has a narrow lead. republicans now calling in the lawyers, raising questions about last night's count, raising the possibility of a recount.

lamb and the democrats are imclaiimcl claiming victory. the results may not be official for days. a democrat ran even, likely a little better n a district where democrats didn't bother fielding a candidate the last two cycles. in a district the president won by 20 points just 16 months ago. in a district that is 94% white. republicans should be able to win this district broke and blindfolded. instead, they spent millions, and millions more, and they were powerless to stop this. and this is what they're worried about. allegheny county, right here. another case of a suburban revolt against the trump presidency. what happened? this is where conor lamb ran it up big, 57% to 42% over the republican rick saccone. the southern slice of allegheny county in the 18th district. go back in time 16 months. president trump in this part of the county, in the suburbs south of pittsburgh, beat hillary clinton by four points. those suburbs have now flipped, and it is not just in pennsylvania.

let's go back in time to 2017. pull out to the national map. alabama now has a democratic senator for the very same reason. in the suburbs of huntsville, of birmingham, of montgomery. you see that blue, a suburban revolt against the president and against the republican party. that's why it looks like pennsylvania 18 will go blue and why alabama went blue. not limited to alabama. it's all over the country. let's come up to virginia. last year's governor's race, switch here. same reason. why did democrats win? they won because of the washington suburbs, richmond suburbs. suburban voters revolting against the president. that's what republicans have to think about today, even as they weigh a recount, even as they weigh the possibility, maybe, they can take away conor lamb's lead. they know this is about the president. conor lamb, smart candidate, says, no, it isn't. >> this is my home, so, you know, you call it a red district, i just call it western pennsylvania. there are plenty of people here who are still pretty supportive of him, from what i can tell.

i think that his visits -- he came here twice. i think they did probably contribute to the turnout we saw. look, i was at a lot of polling places yesterday with cars parked outside that had president trump's bumper sticker on them. he's a popular person here. but i think that what happens when you campaign in real life as much as possible is that those divisions go away. everyone gave me a fair shake, and i know that there are people that voted for the president who also voted for me. you know, i thank them for hearing me out. >> with us, and i'm grateful, on little sleep to share their reporting, cnn's dana bash, and cnn's nia malika henderson. i know everybody is short on sleep on this day. but we are here and happy to work because of this. it's the drama. no matter who wins, we love a great story. and in this case, we're going to see the republicans have the lawyers in now. they're going to triple check all the counts from last night, as they should.

they're raising the possibility of a recount. even if the leader board shift, the message is unmistakable. >> yeah, look, i don't think it will make much of a difference whether or not saccone can pick up a thousand votes to pull in the lead. this seat is going away because of the changes of the lines. the fact he had to hustle and is now locked in a recount after his party, the republicans, spent $10 million plus trying to bail him out. in a plus 20 trump district tells you everything about where we' we are right now. where did this happen? where did this democrat get his votes? he got them largely from the upscale, high-educated pittsburgh suburbs. allegheny county precincts. that's where this revolt is happening. it's everywhere in this country where you got moderate voters who were educated, live in suburbs. they do not like this president. and by the way, it's not issues

or policy. it's his conduct, his behavior. it's driving them into the arms of democrats. >> you're looking at at map and you're paul ryan, he's got to decide where he's going to run. so let's leave paul ryan on that list. more importantly, if you're in a district that trump carried, the republicans are already nervous. if you're a republican in a district trump carries by eight or ten points, now you're looking at this district and you're saying, huh? you're not only looking at the suburban revolt, which is the most important part of what's happening in american politics right now, the suburbs saying, sorry, mr. president, and sorry, republicans, because we associate you with the president. conor lamb also ran stronger in the rural counties. margins matter in a close race. >> i just got a text from a republican strategist who put it this way. kind of genius. if you're sitting on a beach and you see a tsunami coming, there's only so much you can fortify. the best strategy is to evacuate. and that's pretty much what it

is possible we're going to see, even more from republicans. already we've seen 38 house republicans say, i'm out of here, i'd rather leave than be involved in a very tough race that i'm probably likely to lose. even with the power of incumbency. so that really tells you a lot. and the notion that we're hearing from republicans, including the house speaker today, that this is a one-off, that this is a unique district, a unique candidate, it's just not true. it's not. this is more -- potentially and historically a lot less competitive than a lot of the races we're looking forward to in november. and there are other conor lambs out there. >> that's the thing. that's why i think this is a larger problem for republicans. there have been a swath of retirements and now open seats for republicans. they have an enormous recruitment problem. this is a clear case where

candidate quality really matters. republicans say, okay, yeah, we had a weak candidate here, a weak candidate in alabama. they're having a hard time recruiting quality candidates because they don't want to compete in a difficult election cycle. >> it's a lot harder today. >> and where democrats really have an advantage, they were able to recruit conor lamb, an excellent candidate. now their position got much easier. somebody with the military background who's young and so on. republicans have been in this position before where they got cory gardner and others who were young, forward looking. democrats certainly have the advantage in more than one way. >> to that point, and the democratic question is will they learn the lesson. quote, zrdemocrats are hungry f wins and the gop is not. that's a problem. also, yes, the president's popularity matters.

while you may like president trump, the most energized voters in america hate him. >> and you saw that energy. i was talking to folks on the ground in pennsylvania. they started organizing the week of donald trump's victory because they wanted to put a candidate in this race. democrats hadn't really put anybody up in previous races in 2016 or in 2014. so they are running candidates, and they're mindful of the fact they want to match people with these districts. if you look at their red to blue program, you've got a lot of military folks. you have people who are highly rated by the nra who the dccc is endorsing. i think they're a little smarter in terms of trying to recruit folks. >> and what aone of the hopes o republican side is we saw this democratic overperformance in 2017, even in the house special elections that the democrats loss. kansas, montana, south carolina. oh, that won't last into 2018. now they have 2018 proof in the midterm election year.

guess what, it carried over. and it carried over in a plus-20 trump district. here's what they're thinking about today. i was told to watch for at least four or six more retirements. this morning everybody is panicking. so don't trust anything you hear today. but primary deadlines are coming up. so republicans are looking at what just happened in pennsylvania, and they're looking at this. the president's approval rating, this is an average of the five most recent polls, is 39%. the president's disapproval is 55%. you look at what just happened in a plus-20 trump district. you're looking at that approval rating. you're looking at the turnover in the white house. president obama had a 47% approval rating at this point. we know what happened. he was up 47 and they lost the house huge. >> i came back from pennsylvania this morning. i went up to capitol hill. i had talked to house lawmakers as they were coming out of their

weekly caucus meeting on the republican side. i was so struck by the level of denial about the president's role in this. i get party loyalty. i understand they have to be good soldiers here and sort of find a reason to rationalize what happened last night. but it couldn't did more apparent that the president is firing up democrats and is sending independent voters fleeing from their gop coalition. they don't want to confront that when they're asked about it. >> it's almost impossible. you understand that. democrats ran from obamacare, and they still got punished. so what is the balance? how do you find the sweet spot? >> that's what i was told. it doesn't get us anything to move from trump because we can't win without getting our base out. and if you flee trump -- >> it doesn't get you anything to hug trump in most of the country. it actually hurts. >> or run towards it, yeah. you know, because it's coming.

the contrarian view to that sounds like it's what patrick mchenry told you, what is i talked to some trump loyalists this morning who say that the mistake wasn't sending trump in on saturday. the mistake was not sending him in earlier. the democrats, the independents, the anti-trumpers, they're already fired up. so the mistake that many believe was not firing up the pro trump side of things. >> in that kind of a district. >> it won't happen everywhere. you can't do that in the suburbs of philadelphia necessarily. but in places like this, you can, and that is actually one of the things that republicans are looking at. it doesn't make sense on its face, but it does in that there is still that core, small core, but a core who really like trump and you got to get them out. >> they were all there, dana. ivanka trump was there, don junior was there, the president was there twice.

>> true, true. but this president, not unlike president obama, it's very hard for him to translate his appear. and that's what they're finding. >> we're going to talk much more about this, including trying to take what happened in pennsylvania projected out to the rest of the country. throughout the hour, we're going to keep an eye on those student walkouts happening throughout the country. it is remarkable, whatever your position on gun control and gun violence. we love democracy. we're seeing it across the country. students protesting. the principals might not like it. up next, then and now. president trump changes his tune on his cabinet and signals more big changes might be on the way. >> there are those that are saying it's one of the finest group of people ever assembled as a cabinet, and i happen to agree with that. of course, i should agree with that. >> i'm really at a point where we're getting very close to having the cabinet and other things that i want.

dearyou made moonshine inher, a backwoods still. smuggled booze and dodged the law. even when they brought you in, they could never hold you down. when i built my family tree and found you, i found my sense of adventure. i set off on a new life, a million miles away. i'm heidi choiniere, and this is my ancestry story. now with over 10 billion historical records, discover your story. get started for free at ancestry.com almost $800 when we switched our auto and home insurance.

with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey! oh, that's my robe. is it? when you switch to liberty mutual, you could save $782 on auto and home insurance. and still get great coverage for you and your family. call for a free quote today. you could save $782 when liberty stands with you. liberty mutual insurance.

your plaques are always there at the worst times. constantly interrupting you with itching, burning and stinging. being this uncomfortable is unacceptable. i'm ready. tremfya® works differently for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. with tremfya®, you can get clearer and stay clearer. in fact, most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks... stayed clearer through 48 weeks. tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections, and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or have symptoms such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. before starting tremfya®, tell your doctor if you plan to or have recently received a vaccine. ask your doctor about tremfya®. tremfya®, because you deserve to stay clearer. janssen wants to help you explore cost support options for tremfya®.

the president tweeted again today about his cabinet. here's the breaking news. it was all praise. no, you're fired. not yet anyway. the praise was for cabinet members on capitol hill today to talk infrastructure, but other cabinet members are on edge, and who can blame them after the secretary of state was tweeted out of his job. the president is talking publicly about more changes, and administration sources suggest at least one cabinet shuffle could happen any time. the president, we are told, is discussing replacing his secretary of veteran affairs, perhaps with the energy secretary, rick perry. and new cnn reporting could land ben carson back on the hot seat. remember that $31,000 dining set? carson aides insisted career staffers made that call. but hud e-mails show carson and his wife personally selected the

pricey furniture. the president talked openly about it yesterday, laying out the standards. combination of low energy and bad head lines. you're in trouble? >> well, i mean, it's like he was describing ben carson, right. sorry. i'm sorry to say that. i know that maybe sounds mean, but it's true. look, he's obviously grateful to ben carson for dropping out and then supporting him, but that ability to be grateful only goes so far. >> maybe grateful to jeff sessions. >> i was going to say, i point to jeff sessions to make my point. so look, this is bad. there's just no question. it's bad. and we have recent history and a recent example of the president not having any tolerance for this kind of thing with tom price, the fact he fired his hhs secretary for lavish flights out of taxpayer dollars. >> you have this collision under way. the president's 14 months in. every president has a learning curve. president trump will never say that publicly. every president, they have the

job for a year. bill clinton, some of the arkansans went away. in george w. bush's white house, some of the texans went away. it happens to every president. it's happening on a bigger scale for this president. i just want to put up -- now, not all this is true. but this is what white house officials, other administration officials say. could be john kelly, could be h.r. mcmaster. the attorney general lives on the hot seat. they were mad at betsy devos. i assume we're not going to see all of those people go. >> possibly some of them. this week maybe. who knows. it's all up to the president. i talked to some people sort of in and around ben carson's circle. they have seen what happened with tillerson, right. he basically woke up and there was a tweet firing him. so they wonder too. is ben carson going to wake up one day and see the similar tweet. you talk to people familiar with the white house's thinking,

particularly with ben carson. they say, well, he's somebody who hasn't really disagreed with the president. he's kind of mild mannered, not necessarily an alpha male. so maybe he won't be on the chopping block. again, who really knows what the president may wake up and think and want to do one day. >> then the collision of timing is what makes it interesting to me. talk to republican pollsters doing races in the suburbs about their focus groups. suburban women don't necessarily complain about taxes or complain about this or that. they complain about chaos. i run my household. i get my kids to school. i take care of the bills. i have a job. i have sicivic responsibilities. i watch this white house and go, huh? so these republicans with all this chaos, all this turmoil. the president saying there will be more. >> so there's a lot of chaos and anarchy. this is just more of it, this type of instability and uncertainty is really not helpful for america or for the administration. >> i mean, you have to have some

stability to get things done. so i look at it and i'm just like, wow. where is this going? >> you find out you've been fired by tweet is not exactly reassuring. >> the republicans are saying it's bad for governing. they also understand it's bad for them politically. >> and probably no accident that the three republicans that we showed are either leaving voluntarily or wanting the president's job. but having said that, to be fair, those are the people saying so publicly because they're unshackled. many, many, many other republicans are saying that and more privately. they're just a little bit more worried about the political part. >> the republican you talk to will always point to, well, the economy is humming. this is not like 2010, getting out of the recession. it's not like '06 in the depths of the iraq war.

and there's truth to that. but here's what's scary for them. voters don't care because they're not voting on policy or substance or issue differences this time around. they're reacting based on the president's conduct, which last time i checked it not going to change between now and election day. unless you can make him not be donald trump, i don't see how the kind of moment changes. >> but he's president because people thought washington was a mess. and hillary clinton was not going to change it. now isn't it part of the problem? he's them, he's one of them now. it's a different kind of mess, but they're still mad at washington and don't see order, just churning. >> and the other factor here is this. john, you mentioned bill clinton getting rid of the arkansans and barack obama kind of coming into his own skin and learning how to be an executive. i think there's some of that going on with donald trump where he's been in the job a year, and he now feels like he knows what he's doing and he feels emboldened to make some of these

changes. his hand was forced with tom price and some of the others he's gotten rid of so far. john kelly came in and cleaned house. but rex tillerson, that was somebody that he had wanted to get rid of for a long time but i don't think he'd felt confident enough to simply fire. now, when you heard donald trump come forward yesterday, he said, look, i simply didn't have chemistry with the guy. he brought in mike pompeo, somebody he really does have chemistry with. i think that's important, but i think what people fear is that trump is somebody who turns on a dime on people, and his feelings about the sort of chemistry he has with people change very quickly. i think you will hear people say, look, it's good. he needs to have chemistry with his secretary of state, but there's worried that the feelings with the rest of the cabinet can shift so quickly that this guy will be firing people like it's "the apprentice." >> it's all media coverage. not to be, you know, self-absorbed here, but it's true. he responds to coverage.

you show that list of cabinet folks. of those you put on the screen, looking at all their faces, almost all the problems that they've found themselves in, the problem isn't the actual substance of what they purportedly did. it's that it got reported in the press. that's what trump cares about, the coverage of the action, not the action itself. >> we'll take a break from that but keep an eye on it. when we come back, republicans want to say pennsylvania-18 just one race. doesn't have any national impact. we'll map it out when we come back, just why they could be very wrong. i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ everything is working, just like it should ♪

♪ with expedia one click gives you access to discounts on thousands of hotels, cars and things to do. like the avalon hotel beverly hills for 40% off. everything you need to go. expedia.

if you'd have told me three years ago that we'd be downloading in seconds what used to take minutes. that guests would compliment our wifi. that we could video conference and do it like that (snaps). if you'd have told me that i could afford a gig-speed. a gig-speed network. it's like 20 times faster than what most people have. i'd of said... i'd of said you're dreaming. dreaming! definitely dreaming. then again, dreaming is how i got this far.

now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. can afford to dream gig. my ci can worry about it,ine. or do something about it. garlique® helps maintain healthy cholesterol naturally. and it's odor free. and pharmacist recommended. garlique.® this is the source of republican embarrassment and republican panic today. a democrat in the lead, it's not official yet. it's narrow, but still a democrat in the lead. most people think the likely winner in this pennsylvania 18th congressional district that just 16 months ago the president of the united states carried over

hillary clinton by 20 points. it's embarrassing as the republicans look at it now. the point they're trying to make today is, okay, two candidates, one race, western pennsylvania, no national implications. but we took a quick look at this. we want to show you how they're wrong. let's go back and look at this map here. let's bring up this national map. bring this out for you. these are the house districts across the united states of america. let me stretch it out a little bit. you see a lot of red there. republicans are in the majority. that's why you see so many. how many districts look a lot like pennsylvania 18? the population, the demographics, the other characteristics we study when we're trying to figure it out. let's take a look. 20 more of them. if you see the red, yes, a few democratic ones up here in new england. the reverse of them are republican. most of them are republican. so there are a lot of republican congressmen today asking their campaign advisers, asking their pollsters, asking themselves, what happened here? and will it happen to me come november? the speaker of the house, paul ryan, trying to calm these jitters, saying the democrats

ran a unique candidate. of course it won't happen again. >> i think the candidate that's going to win this race is the candidate that ran as a pro-life, pro-gun, anti-nancy pelosi conservative. that's the candidate that's going to win this race. so this is something that you're not going to see repeated because they didn't have a primary. they were able to pick a candidate who could run as a conservative, who ran against the minority leader, who ran on a conservative agenda. you will have primaries in all these other races, and the primarying bring them to the left. i just don't think think is something they're going to be able to see a repeat of. >> we touched on this a bit earlier, but did democrats get the lesson the speaker laid out? there's a lot of spin there. that's his job, to spin and get his members to calm down. he does have a point that in districts like that, including the ones i just showed you, it matters. we go to capitol hill first. somebody who's talking to these members today, our senior congressional correspondent

manu raju. what's the mood? >> reporter: it's interesting because paul ryan also delivered a bit of a warning in a closed-door briefing earlier this morning. i'm told he said to his members that, look, democratic enthusiasm is up. you need to be prepared to run aggressive campaigns. some -- that's also a message steve stivers also delivered behind closed doors. i talked to other republican members, including john cover noi -- cornyn, who said this is a wake-up call. they don't think it's over yet. they think they can still sell their tax law, but they also know that the major challenges ahead if their candidates and campaigns are not prepared to do battle, john. >> keep count, manu. do me a favor. keep count as you walk the halls over the next few days.

those who at least whisper they might think about retirement. i bet you find a few more as people study this. thank you, manu. now to that point, this is a fire alarm for republicans. the question is, do they get it. the next question is, if you're a republican, the climate is bad for incumbents still. the same climate that gave us donald trump is still out there. that's evidence. i think conor lamb in pennsylvania, newcomer, against nancy pelosi too. i'm against washington. i'm not the washington person. the other guy is a state representative who says i'm more trump than trump. so the climate is still out there. but if you're a republican, you still want your incumbents to run because they can raise more money and their battle tested in the district. if you had to replace them now, the mayors and state legislators would say, no way. >> my question is what exactly republicans can do in this situation. i'm not sure it's all that much. i mean, what could democrats do after obama had passed the affordable care act. it was not getting good head lines. it didn't have great approval ratings in the country. i think republicans face the same sort of situation. apart from trying to fend off retirements and encourage his members to fund raise

aggressively, i'm not sure republicans can really do all that much. there is some extraneous factors not in their control here, such as the president's behavior. >> to that point, let me just jump in. you're exactly right. we overthink this sometimes. we overthink why donald trump is president sometimes. we overthink what happened last night sometimes. in midterm elections, last year defied all the rules. this year in 2017, they've pretty much stuck to the rules. you have a president in office. his party suffers. his approval rating is what matters most. i want to say, the always smart amy walter. look at this tweet here. anyone see a pattern here? georgia '06, trump approval, 50, the republican candidate, 52. the montana special election last year, trump job approval, 50, the republican candidate, 50. >> i saw that tweet too. i thought, that's exactly dead on. because it is, as you said, in keeping with what we have seen historically. the most recent sort of analogy, of course, is, as we've been

saying, president obama and 2010 with the republican wave. and republicans who i've been talking to who were on the good side of the wave, on the winning side of that wave, were looking aggressively at president obama's approval rating and where that stood in all of these key districts really ended up determinative of how much they were able to win in those days. >> and to that point, as we finish this up, the tea party caused a lot of dust in 2010 and 2014. a lot of democrats said, oh, that's going to be our salvation because the tea party is causing all this dust. if there's a wave out there, sometimes you can have a bad candidate. if there's a wave, you can get carried. >> yeah, that's right. and you know, i think the republicans have to figure out what their message is. there's been so much focus on the democrats don't really have a message. they can't be anti-trump. republicans have some work to do in terms of the tax bill. like, is this actually going to work? whatever they ran against conor lamb just didn't work, didn't stick. >> ten seconds here.

democrats in red states seem to be more tolerant of their candidates coming out against pelosi than the republicans in blue districts are about coming out against trump. so democrats are basically accepting the fact that, hey, some of these districts and races, our candidates have to say they're against pelosi because that's what gets you elected. >> and maybe pro guns or whatever else. >> i don't see that same kind of tolerance on the republican side of, okay, against trump here. >> a lot of consultants saying you got to convince your candidate you're running for mayor. make it about the jobs in the district. make it seem like you're not going to washington in the end. not sure how that works. as we head to break, the british prime minister is blaming the kremlin for the poisoning of an ex-british spy.

♪ [cheers] that's all it takes? guess i'll bring a can of this stuff everywhere. yeah! then i'll become the world's best dad. made with real cream. reddi-wip. instant greatification. made with real cream. take 5, guys. tired of your bladder always cutting into your day? you may have overactive bladder, or oab. that's it! we really need to get with the program and see the doctor. take charge and ask your doctor about myrbetriq (mirabegron) for oab symptoms of urgency, frequency and leakage. it's the first and only oab treatment in its class. myrbetriq may cause serious allergic reactions. if you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, or difficulty breathing, stop taking myrbetriq and tell

your doctor right away. myrbetriq may increase blood pressure. tell your doctor right away if you have trouble emptying your bladder or have a weak urine stream. myrbetriq may affect or be affected by other medications. before taking myrbetriq, tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney problems. common side effects include increased blood pressure, common cold symptoms, urinary tract infection, constipation, diarrhea, dizziness and headache. okay, time to do this! don't let your bladder always take the lead. ask your doctor if myrbetriq is right for you. and visit myrbetriq.com to learn more. let's team up to get the lady of the house back on her feet. and help her feel more strength and energy in just two weeks yaaay! the complete balanced nutrition of (great tasting) ensure with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. ensure. always be you.

but he hasoke up wwork to do.in. so he took aleve. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve. all day strong.

topping our political radar today, a new chapter in a story that could be ripped straight from the pages of a spy thriller. unit united kingdom now formally sanctioning moscow. as part of the sanctions, 23 russi russian diplomats being expreled. no cabinet of the member or royal family will attend the world cup in russia. prime minister theresa may earlier today addressing britain's house of commons. >> it was right to offer russia to provide the opportunity to provide explanation, but their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events. the united kingdom does not stand alone in confronting russian aggression.

in the last 24 hours, i have spoken to president trump, chancellor merkel, and president macron. we have agreed to cooperate closely in responding to this barbaric act and coordinate our efforts to stand up for the rules based international order which russia seeks to undermine. >> fascinating story. cnn international correspondent fred plooeitgen live in moscow. how is the russian government responding to this? >> reporter: hi, john. there's some angry reactions coming out here from moscow. the russians are saying they're going to retaliate and that the brits are going to be sorry for doing this. it's quite interesting, actually. the brits are saying that a military grade nerve agent was used in one of their cities. that was only manufactured in russia. but the russians are saying the brits are at fault for making relations worse. the russians are saying they're going to retaliate, but not saying exactly how. all of this is going to be debated in the u.n. later. of course, all sides are waiting to hear what washington has to say about this as well, john.

>> fred pleitgen. we'll wait to see what washington says. it's a spy drama, international outrage. thanks so much. up next, senators grill a top law enforcement official on why the parkland shooter wasn't stopped. the victims' marparents, meanwh, also weighing in. >> the failure to warn the parents of the students. by this action or inaction, we were rendered powerless to fulfill our most sacred trust as parents. to protect our children. say hello to pre-tox! a whole new concept in skin defense. new absolutely ageless® pre-tox day mask from aveeno®.

its' formula with an anti-oxidant complex fights pollution and keeps skin looking younger, longer. aveeno®

with pg&e in the sierras. and i'm an arborist fights pollution and keeps skin looking younger, longer. since the onset of the drought, more than 129 million trees have died in california. pg&e prunes and removes over a million trees every year to ensure that hazardous trees can't impact power lines. and since the onset of the drought we've doubled our efforts. i grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly it's heartbreaking to see all these trees dying.

what guides me is ensuring that the public is going to be safer and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future. 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. while students across the country, including here in washington, d.c., protest inaction on new gun laws, over in the senate, a hearing today on the fbi and other police failures in the parkland, florida, shooting. >> another caller described the

shooter as someone who wants to kill people. and yet, in that instance, the fbi did not even open an investigation on it. why not? >> senator, i share your frustration. i share your anger. and i share your concern that this doesn't happen again. >> nobody followed up and called the local cops, do you know this guy? >> no, sir. >> cnn justice reporter laura jarrett has been tracking this hearing. what other news have we heard today? >> john, as you saw there, the acting deputy director of the fbi was questioned at length, specifically on the missed tips on the parkland shooter, nikolas cruz, and exactly how did things go wrong. he admitted, as he has done in the past, that the fbi could have and should have done more to investigate and follow up in

this case, and he detailed a timeline on two particular tips, one from last september where cruz left a disturbing message on a youtube posting, and one in january where someone close to cruz called an fbi tipline to warn about his arsenal of guns and that he was ready to explode. on that one, he admitted to lawmakers that it was, quote, explicit, the warning from that tipster. he admitted the person who received the tip at the fbi call center did not pass it along to local law enforcement, but she did raise it to a supervisor. now, what exactly happened after that appears to be in some dispute between she and the supervisor. they have different stories. neither one of them has been fired in this case. but he said that they are adding more fbi supervisors to review tips like this in the past to make sure it doesn't happen again. >> laura jarrett with the reporting on that hearing. thank you very much. let's bring it back in the room. you hear about this, the

failures. there's no other word for it. horrible failures. you see the students protesting today. they want more than what the president's proposed or what it looks like republicans are prepared to do. is there any chance? it is remarkable, again, whatever your views. peaceful protest is a good thing in our country. any chance the students get what they want? >> this is a big moment, i think, in the history of gun politics in this country. this issue, like every other shooting that we've seen in recent years, guess what, it's fading. why is it fading? because other stories have taken over. firing rex tillerson, a special election in pennsylvania. that's what we're talking about here. that's what's on the front page of my paper today. the question, john, now is can these kids today, by walking out of school, bring it back on the front burner and force congress to act. >> well, they're certainly trying. this is a walkout today. there will be a big march later this month. there's absolutely no indication that these students are going to give up at all. and the thing that all of these

politicians have to remember and have to keep in mind is maybe most of them aren't voting age now, but they will be soon. and that is the way we have seen change in the history of this country. exactly what you're seeing right now, people out on the streets, marching peacefully to get politicians' attention. >> and we saw nancy pelosi show up to the student rally on capitol hill today. house democrats would like to do more. a political question, is part of -- what about senate democrats? >> yeah. we saw this before with those red state democrats who didn't want to go along with gun control measures when they were up for re-election and barack obama was president. so that is the case here. if you are joe manchin, if you are heidi heitkamp, if you are john tester, it's not clear that you really want to kind of do anything on gun control because it could put you in a difficult place when you're asking voters in those red states to vote for you. >> and florida did pass a law.

governor rick scott making the calculation he would defy the nra. he's a republican we expect to run for senate now. a fascinating election. the governor of north carolina, who's a democrat, tweeting this out today. brave students are making their voices heard, and it's clear they want action. i do too. if not in washington, if we get modest improvements in washington, are we going to see florida and north carolina, two gun right states, two of the most eventually divided competitive states in american politics. >> yes, we're already seeing that. even before parkland we started to see more modest gun control legislation passed in some local communities and some states and so forth. the issue that people who are fighting for more gun control argue about is that if it's sort of patchwork, if it's this date, this date, and this date, there's nothing to stop somebody who buys a gun in the state where it's still legal from driving to florida where the laws have changed and to do whatever he or she needs to do,

which is why dhathey're arguingu need it on the federal level. but given today's politics, they might need to take it where they can get it. >> now the president says he's watching florida, watching the elections, watching court challenges. if republicans who voted for these things survive, maybe that will change the mood in washington. who knows. let's see. thanks for joining us today on "inside politics." see you back here this time tomorrow. wolf starts after a quick break. now it's time to make yours. ♪ everything is working, just like it should ♪ your society was led by a woman, who governed thousands... commanded armies... yielded to no one. when i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. my name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. now with 5 times more detail than other dna tests.

order your kit at ancestrydna.com

with a $500,000 life insurance policy. how much do you think it cost him? $100 a month? $75? $50? actually,duncan got his $500,000 for under $28 a month. less than a dollar a day. his secret? selectquote. in just minutes, a selectquote agent will comparison shop nearly a dozen highly-rated life insurance companies, and give you a choice of your five best rates. duncans wife cassie got a $750,000 policy for under $22 a month. give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford.

hello. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for very much for joining us. got breaking news. "the washington post" now reporting that larry kudlow will replace gary cohn as the next chairman of the white house national economic council. let's bring in our political director, david chaleon. the president yesterday was praising david kuz