this is just too hard. what we're hearing today at the capitol and white house are thoughts and prayers. thoughts and prayers are important. we send our thoughts and prayers, too. but they are not enough. your thoughts and prayers aren't going to stop the next shooting. only action and leadership will do that. for years gabby and i have been working to get the people in this building to summon the courage to take meaningful action that make our communities safer places to live. but despite the tragedies in places like aurora, newtown, and orlando, despite daily shootings and communities cross america, despite senseless deadly gun related domestic violence -- >> we'll leave this briefing at this point to go live to the

white house for today's white house briefing. just getting under way. >> with the victims and survivors of las vegas and the people of puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. massive storm recover efforts are ongoing. the president will be flying to puerto rico tomorrow to view the devastation. and will he assure the people there that we're with them 100% today and for the long haul. puerto ricans have shown incredible resilience and we're fully committed to helping them rebuild their lives. last night thousands of our sel citizens endured what the president has rightly called an act of pure evil in las vegas. the president has ordered our flags to half-staff and further honor those loves in the attack we'll hold a moment of silence in the south lawn at 2:45 eastern time. the president will visit las vegas on wednesday to grieve with the friends and family of the victims, to offer his support to those recovering from their wounds, and to thank the courageous first responders. in the coming days this attack will directly impact communities all over our

country whose residents were visiting the entertainment capital of the world to attend a consequencer. one man, 29-year-old sonny, had traveled from tennessee to las vegas for the concert with his wife. when the bullets began raining down from above he shielded her from danger, selflessly giving up his life to save hers. they had been married for year. others with saving people they never met. mike laid on top of students at the concert to protect them from the gunfire. he said i , and 53 lived in a good life. lindsay and her fiance immediately returned to the scene with their pickup truck to transport the wounded to nearby hospitals. gale, attending the concert her husband, says she owes her life to a brave police officer who served as a human shield, protecting her from harm. sadly, multiple police officers both on duty her husband, says her life to a brave and off dut among those killed or injured. but what these people did for each other says far more about

who we're as americans than the cowardly acts than the killer ever good. the cost pell of gone reminds there is no great love than to lay down one's life for freand. the memory of those who displayed the ultimate expression of love amidst unimaginable act of hate will never fade. their examples will serve as an eternal reminder that the american spirit cannot and will not ever be broken. in the days ahead we'll grieve as a nation, we'll honor the memory of those lost as nation, we will come together united as one nation, under god, and indy viss able. with that -- indy visible. with that i'll take your questions. >> can you tell us how the president first learned about with that it and your engagement with him his own personal reaction? he might spend more than a day in las vegas. referring to a couple days? >> we're still analyzing the details of the travel that will take place. be there r sure he'll

on wednesday. beyond that we'll keep you posted. as those arrangements are finalized. in terms of activity this morning, the president was be t on wednesday. yond that we'll keep you briefed early this morning by general kelly. and has been updated regularly and constantly throughout the day and will continue to as new information is provided by law enforcement officials. reporter: have you had a chance to talk about how he's dealt with this? ms. sanders: i have seen him today and he like most america is saddened and certainly his heart and compassion goes out rly this morning to those that were affected. reporter: many times when these horrible massacres occur, it leaves the question about gun control. has this particular massacre make the president think anything more about pursuing tight gun laws such as -- ground checks to prevent ms. sanders: this is an unspeakable tradgedy. today is a day for consoling

the survivors and mourning those we lost. our thoughts and prayers are certainly with all those individuals. place for time and political debate. but now is the time to unite as a country. there is currently an open and ongoing place for political law enforcement investigation, a mowive has yet to be determined. it will be premature for us to discuss policy when we don't fully know all the facts or hat took place last night. reporter: do you believe that -- does the president believe that this is a moment that this is a time when this should not be a political discussion. it should be a policy discussion. does he believe that he could bring something new to the gun bate that has been locked in typical politics for so many years? is more, s: today again, like i said a day of reflection, a day of mourning. a day of great fullness for those that were saved. and i think that there will be

certainly time for that policy discussion to take place. but that's not the place that we're in at this moment. certainly i think that there is a time for that to happen. reporter: before he was elected president some 15 or 16 years ago did he have a different view on guns than he had during the campaign. does he believe that this is something that he could lead a bipartisan effort on at some point? at what point would that be appropriate? ms. sanders: that's something we can talk about in the coming days and see what that looks like moving forward. one of the things that we don't want to do is try to create laws that won't create -- stop these types of things from happening. i think if you look to chicago, where you had over 4,000 victims of gun related crimes last year, they have the strictest gun laws in the country. that certainly hasn't helped there. i think we have to -- when that time comes for those conversations to take place, then i think we need to look at things that may actually have that real impact.

reporter: on puerto rico, can you tell us a little bit about the president's visit tomorrow. do you expect any tension given some of his comments over the weekend? ms. sanders: we have several stops that we'll put out later this afternoon in templets specifics of that trip. -- in terms of the specifics of thattry. we're going to be spending significant time. they are in puerto rico meeting both with first responders as well as the storm survivors. we'll put out the details of that exact schedule later today. reporter: some of his comments over the weekend, folks want everything done for them, to you expect that to come up? ms. sanders: i expect the focus to be on the recovery efforts which we're fully committed to. the top priority for the federal government is certainly to protect the lives and safety of those affect -- in affected areas and provide life sustaining services as we work together to rebuild their

lives. that will be the focus. not just in the conversations tomorrow, but certainly the focus that we have had since his began. i haven't talked to him specifically about a define of who they might be. again the federal government is doing everything within our powers he and capabilities to first focus on the life sustaining and lifesaving measures. as well as on the rebuilding process. we have over 12,000 federal staff on the ground. 64 hospitals out of 67 are partially or fully operational. 14 are now back on the electrical grid. 45% of customers in puerto rico have access to drinking water. eight commercial airports are operational. 65% of gas stations are open. all of these things are things that we're continuing to push. continuing to move forward. will be part of that effort. reporter: what happened amount to an act of domestic

terrorism? ms. sanders: we're still in a fact-finding motion. this is an ongoing investigation and it would be premature to weigh in on something like that before we have any more facts. we'll leave that to local law enforcement to work with. the federal law enforcement to make that determination. reporter: over the weekend it was pointed out the president was very sharply critical of the mayor of san juan. under the comments on friday morning where she criticized the elaine duke, this is a good news story in terms of d.h.s. getting supplies out to areas, what was she doing that prompted such criticism? ms. sanders: look, right now our focus is to bring the mayor into the coordination efforts. this administration, as well as other members on the ground have reached out to her. we hope that she will join with us in those efforts. even be part of things. she's been invited to participate in the events

tomorrow as well. and we hope those conversations will happen and we can work together to move forward. reporter: reimburse the government yet? if not is there a specific deadline? ms. sanders: i'm not sure the time frame on that or whether or not it's already taken place. but we'll certainly keep you posted on that. reporter: thank you. given what the president said about secretary and over the weekend, does the president still have confidence in him as secretary of state? s. sanders: he does. reporter: since those reporter: since those -- ms. sanders: i believe so. i have to verify. reporter: it's a very sad day in this country. you mentioned at the top the president said in his remarks he said when he goes out to las vegas he's going to meet with first responders and in addition to that families of the victims that were impacted by this. what's the message to each of those groups when he goes out there? ms. sanders: i think it's very

simple to say that his goal is simply to be there. to show the support of people from around the country. and to stand united in not only this act of evil but against all acts of evil. and i think that was clear in the president's remarks today. and something that you'll see his visit on wednesday. his vi. reporter: following up. the president tweeted, is it the position of the white house that you are trying to get back to talks or given up? ms. sanders: we have been clear now is not the time to talk. the only conversations that have taken place or that would would be on bringing back americans who have been detained like with otto. those are the type of conversations this administration was willing to have. beyond that there will be no conversation was north korea at this time.

there are three americans still detained in north korea. reporter: line of communication with pyongyang that's what you're using it for? ms. sanders: that would be the only reason for us to have conversation was them at this time. reporter: does the president believe diplomacy is not worth pursuing? ms. sanders: there is a difference between talk and putting diplomatic pressure. we still strongly support putting diplomatic pressure on north korea which we're continuing to do. but now is not the time simply to have conversations with north korea. we have encouraged all of our allies and partners to do more. and we're going to continue to keep all options on the table. reporter: you talked about how now is not the time to get into gun control. later talk aboutpolicy. after the orlando shooting, the president was on twitter talking aboutpolicy. talking about his travel ban. when senator chris murphy says it's time for congress to do something, is the president -- ms. sanders: congress should

get up and do something. i'm not sure it's specific to that. i think congress has had several months of doing very little and we'd like to see some actual legislation. reporter: what would the president like to see congress do? ms. sanders: we haven't had the moment to have a deep dive on the policy part of that. we have been focused on the fact that we had a severe tragedy in our country. and this is a day of mourning. a time of bringing our country together. that's been the focus of the administration this morning. reporter: that day he was talking about the travel ban. saying he didn't want congratulations -- ms. sanders: there is a difference between being a candidate and president. reporter: i do want to ask. before last night a bill was advanced through the house, republicans cleared it through the house committee of natural resource that is would, among other things, make it easier reporter: that day he was for people to buy silencers. hillary clinton tweeted about it this morning. she said imagine the deaths in las vegas if the shooter had a

silencer, which the n.r.a. wants to make easier to get. oes the white house have a position on this particular piece of legislation? ms. sanders: i haven't spoken with the president about a specific issue. i don't think that that is something that would have position on this particular iece changed. again i think before we start trying to talk about the preventions of what took place last night, we need to know more facts. right now we're simply not at that point. it's very easy for mrs. clinton to criticize and to come out, but i think we need to rert only person with blood on their hands is that of the changed. again shooter. and this isn't a time for us to go after individuals or organizations. i think that we can have those policy conversations. but today is not that day. reporter: are there any policy descriptions that the president considers to be out of bounds on the policy debate that will happen in the next few weeks? could you articulate what his positions on gun control is? ms. sanders clo the president has been clear he's a strong

supporter of the second amendment and do have anything further. one more question. reporter: couple questions. ne, puerto rico. nted to ask about the bill mccain has which would give exemption to puerto rico from the jones act. would they consider a permanent repeal of the jones act? ms. sanders: i don't think that's something that's necessary at this time if we deemed it was, we can have that discussion then. certainly something that we don't feel like is necessary today. wouldn't imagine that would be something needed. there's been some attacks among senators, some in the media, does the white house have some concerns about that?

ms. sanders: we certainly support religious freedom and would ask that congress also support that as well. as you-all know we've got a moment of silence taking place on the south lawn here momentarily, with that i'll close and just again i think we ask collectively that everyone across the country keep the people, both in las vegas and in puerto rico, virgin islands, in our prayers. thanks. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. isit ncicap.org] >> this morning president trump spoke from the diplomatic room in the white house about the massacre in las vegas. here's remarks -- his remarks are just over five minutes.