think about the bumper sticker. that's all the time we have. shannon bream is ready to take over with "fox news @ night" ." >> shannon: thank you, hello and welcome to "fox news @ night." i am shannon bream in washington. this is a fox news alert. to the air force make a critical mistake that allowed the suspected gunman in the deadly texas church massacre to wrongly get his hands and multiple guns? the air force inspector general 's lodging investigation into the case of former airmen devin kelley's 2012 domestic violence convictions and why they weren't properly entered into the background check system that would've blocked his purchases. sunday's tragedy is the worst mass shooting in texas history. 26 people killed, 20 injured. some of them critically. families devastated. matt finn joins us from sutherland springs.

>> shannon, law enforcement says the shooter was able to purchase at least four guns and that those sales were done legally because there was no information at national databases that would've flagged the shooter or prevented him from purchasing guns. today, the academy sporting goods store in san antonio, texas, released a statement saying that store sold to guns to kelley. the shooter passed the national criminal background checks that sporting goods store and they are cooperating with law enforcement. it seems if the air force did report the shooter's criminal record to the fbi is required by pentagon law, the shooter might not have been able to purchase those guns. the shooter was discharged from the air force for bad behavior, for beating his wife and stepchild, it may need to cracking his stepchild's skull. he was court-martialed and imprisoned. tonight at least 13 people remain in local hospitals, two minors, some still being treated in critical condition.

shannon, back to you. >> shannon: matt finn, thank you. texas republican senator ted ted cruz travel to sutherland springs today and called the shooting evil. thank you for making it here to talk with us. how are folks doing? they go they are hurting badly. i spent the whole day in sutherland springs. i've never seen anything like this. this was the face of evil. this monster walked down the aisle of the church and executed every single person he saw. shooting men, women, children in the head, executing them. shooting children as young as 18 months. i was at the crime scene. bullets everywhere. blood everywhere. people hiding under the pews,

and i spent a lot of the day visiting with the families, visiting with law enforcement that's dealing with the aftermath of the crime but visiting with families and pastor pomeroy, and his wife. they lost a 14-year-old daughter. visiting with families at the hospital, visiting with victims. i have spent a lot of years in law enforcement dealing with some terrible crimes. this is unlike anything i've ever seen in my life. >> shannon: texas has been through so much. houston, devastated, and the surrounding areas by harvey. the pictures were devastating and heartbreaking. now this. i've got to say to the folks down there, there are so many heroes. they seem so resilient, talking about their faith and how they find strength. i think about stephen welford, the guy who initially engaged the suspect. to hear them tell the story, he didn't think twice. my understanding was he didn't

even have shoes on. he got his gun and ran out there without thought for his life. >> i spoke with him this afternoon and that's exactly right. he lived about a block from the church. he heard the shooting, he grabbed his rifle and he sprinted there barefoot. he sheltered behind a vehicle. i was standing at that vehicle today. exchanged fire with the shooter. and shot him. the shooter fired back. the home behind him, there are bullet holes in the windows on the walls. and i talked with a loft of law enforcement agents. texas dps, texas rangers, fbi. every single law enforcement agent i asked said that had mr. mr. willeford stepped up and engaged and shot the shooter, a lot more people would have been

killed. he was still on a rampage and this could have easily ended with a law of law enforcement losing their life and potentially a lot more victims. i tell you, mr. willeford is not someone who wants attention. the media is putting a lot of attention on him. one thing he said when i talked to dan, he said he was scared of his mind. i said sir, courage is not the absence of fear. courage is acting in the face of fear. i said thank you. thank you for the lives you saved. we may never know who was still alive because you are willing to risk your own life to stop a deranged lunatic madman who was set on mass murder. >> shannon: the things we learned from the air force this afternoon about the suspect. he had a 2012 conviction i domestic violence issues. 2014, bad conduct discharge. the information they say if it had been properly entered,

would've stopped him from these multiple gun purchases. the air force said the info didn't get entered. they got the inspector general of the air force looking into it. how concerned are you that this is an issue? speak i am deeply concerned, and shannon, i will tell you. as i was flying back from texas this evening, i was getting more and more angry sitting on the plane. because this should have been stopped beforehand. under federal law, it was illegal for this individual to purchase a firearm. he had a conviction for a crime that is punishable by more than a year in prison, and he had a conviction for multiple domestic violence crimes. both of those, it's already ineligible. but several things happened. number one, the air force -- the obama administration didn't report those convictions to the ncis database. that's an endemic problem. it's a problem of federal government and the states. when he went into buy the gun, they ran the background check.

and they didn't find it because it wasn't of the database. but i will tell you we could have prevented this. in 2013 in the wake of sandy hook, i joined with chuck grassley, we introduced legislation called the grassley-cruz legislation. it was targeting felons and violent criminals to stop them from getting guns. it mandated federal agencies, including the air force, report to the ncis because that was a problem back then. two, this is critical. if it had been reported to the database, when he went into academy to buy these weapons, he lied on the forms. that's a felony to lie on those forms. the obama administration didn't prosecute those cases. in 2010, 48,000 felons and fugitives lied and illegally tried to purchase guns. they prosecuted 44 of them. >> shannon: it becomes a big part of the argument because people want more gun control laws but if were not enforcing the ones we have not, it's a big

issue. >> let me draw a big -- for individuals, law-abiding citizens, the democrats filibustered the legislation that would have resulted in this shooter being in federal prison instead of murdering those innocents in that church. >> shannon: so many missed places to potentially have stopped this. >> thank you for the prayers of so many americans. texans are so grateful. >> shannon: thank you for sharing the stories of those he met with today. we want to take you live to south korea where the president is touching down. we are getting information that he's touched down. because of technical difficulties, and this is live television, we lost the shot. we'll get back to the president of business we can. want to see the live pictures and experience his asia trip with him. in the meantime, just like senator cruz, president trump declared the mass shooting in sutherland springs an act of evil. he was visiting tokyo earlier today arguing the issue isn't about guns.

it's about mental health. the president is on the move was next up. john roberts reports to us from south korea. hi, john. >> good morning to you, shannon. not sure why we lost the shot of camp humphreys. everything was looking great but it went away. here we are back with you in seoul. the president landed at an airbase south of seoul a short time ago and flew from there to camp humphreys. he's going to meet in the dining facility there with some of the men and women, some of the 37,500 u.s. forces in south korea. one of the topics is going to be north korea. the president will take the time to think men and women of the military for serving their country and putting their lives in harm's way to protect freedom. the president will be meeting later on today with moon jae-in, the president of south korea. north korea clearly is going to be on the agenda. what to do to try to get kim jong un to give up his

nuclear program. yesterday in tokyo, a lot of tough talk from the president and japanese prime minister shinzo abe abe who said he is 100% with the united states and president trump on north korea. >> the regime continued development of its unlawful weapons programs, including its illegal nuclear tests and outrages launches of ballistic missiles. directly over japanese territory. they are a threat to the civilized world and international peace and stability. >> translator: i consider this time we were able to reaffirm strong bonds and ties between japan and the united states. of the north korean situation, between president trump and myself, we confirmed we are together 100%. we will enhance the pressure that the entire international community exercises over north korea to the maximum extent by both japan and the united states collaborating and working toward china and russia.

>> shinzo abe also saying that was not the time for dialogue. there is no reason for dialogue. dialogue has no use when north korea is not listening. they need to use diplomatic pressure to try to bring north korea to bear but it's moon jae-in, the president of south korea, was in the toughest spot. it is south korea that those artillery pieces are pointed at. it is seoul that will suffer devastating consequences if the united states attacks north korea to try to get rid of its nuclear program. at the same time, if north korea were to obtain a nuclear weapon, there are fears that kim jong un could try to blackmail the united states into allowing reunification of the free and penance law under the terms of north korea. moon jae-in has said he cannot tolerate north korea with a nuclear weapon but it's going to take diplomacy to try to get that done because the alternative really is unthinkable. he's got other problems. china was ticked off about the

fact that south korea put a thaad antimissile system. china saw it as a threat. they have mended some fences somewhat and moon jae-in will be meeting with you xi jinping, on the sidelines of the aipac conference later on in vietnam. in a lot of moving parts, what's going on here. this is one of those knots that's difficult on time. there are thorny ones, thorny issues the president has to discuss with moon jae-in, and that's the issue of trade. the president wants free, fair, reciprocal trade. he believes trade between the united states south korea is neither free nor fair nor receptacle. he doesn't like the korea-u.s. free trade agreement and shannon, he's threatened to rip it up. he has so far stopped short of that. he plans on holding moon jae-in's feet to the fire to say

we've got to move on trade here. otherwise we're going to rethink the treed relationship between the two nations. for south korea, that would not be good. >> shannon: difficult issues on this trip. thank you. as the president travels while responding to his third tragedy in five weeks, it's a very busy time. joining me, former white house communications director ari fleischer and retired army general jack lane took a -- jack keane. the president has done a lot of international travel. how does this play for him? >> i think you have to give him credit for pivoting naturally and responsibly for what happened in the united states after he got to japan. he interrupted his normal remarks and addressed it. the big issue is going to be korea and what can the president

do to bring pressure from the alliance onto north korea. you are hearing this word "maximum pressure" as opposed to strategic patience. that is a term for the better. it is to the president's credit and that's what our allies need to do. hopefully china will get the message and exert greater pressure. the more you can squeeze them economically, the less you have to contemplate doing anything militarily. >> shannon: we have a little bit of video extraordinaire is known. the present arriving there. the next leg of his trip, arriving at camp humphreys, not too far from the dmz. it's an army base. beautiful welcome for him there is the commander in chief. deplaning off air force one, as they arrive. i want to bring in general jack keane. the president tweeted today: "getting ready to leave for south korea and meetings with president moon, a fine gentleman. we will figure it all out!"

how key is south korea? south korea shares the border. >> mostly their people at stake. as john mentioned, we've got millions of people living in seoul. they are concerned. it's a left of center president that's been elected, president moon coming south korea who really wants diplomacy. he has tried it himself with north korea. it hasn't worked. he's tried it with china. he is clearly very dependent on president trump succeeding here working with china. china has to be absolutely convinced that the president's military option is real. if that's a real option, if they believe him, they believe the rhetoric, then a catastrophic war on the peninsula is not in china's national interests. then they should take some action. that's what the president wants out of china. wants a commitment to do more than they are doing.

>> shannon: we have a statement by the pentagon saying "there are no good military options for north korea. baiting north korea could result in a catastrophic loss of lives for u.s. troops on u.s. civilians in south korea. it could kill millions of south koreans and put troops and civilians in guam at risk as well. that sounds pretty bleak. >> there is no doubt about it. the war is a horrific option. the fact of the matter is, that option is real because the united states, this president, and the pentagon is not going to accept north korea pointing nuclearize to icbms at the american people. that's the strategy kim jong un changed from his father and grandfather. this leader does not believe -- the only way you're going to preserve the regime is point the weapons at the united states, as

russia and china does. they believe we will acquiesce. they made that strategic choice when obama was president. now he has to rethink it because of president trump and what he is using as his number one policy, to put the military option back on the table and then put maximum pressure with economic sanctions on north korea. >> shannon: as he -- he continues on to china. he has to deal with another domestic issue. the slaughter in vegas, the devastating shooting. you have the new york attack last week. now we have this attack on sunday. he's going to be addressing this while he is out of the country but these are a lot of things to balance. >> it is and i suspect when he returns he will go to texas and do something appropriate to bring some healing and help the people who are suffering in texas. it comes with the territory, sadly, when you are the

president. nothing is a straight line. you can be on a foreign trip and you have to worry about things at home. when you are at home, you worry about things abroad. it's all part of the presidents' day. that's what he'll have to do throughout this trip. 11 days and is an unusually long trip. the white house goes with him. >> shannon: kirsten gillibrand from new york said today about the issue of whether the shooting in texas will be politicized and we should be talking about gun control. she said she rejects the notion it's too soon to act. if not now, then when. a similar statement from chris murphy from connecticut essentially saying none of this is inevitable. i know this because no other country endorses mass carnage like america. it's uniquely and tragically american. as long as our nation chooses to flood the country with dangerous weapons and let those weapons fall into the hands of dangerous people, the killings will not abate. a lot of people don't see it that way.

but it's clear some folks think it's not too soon. >> i don't fault anybody, and i don't call it politics. i think people are trying to find a policy solution to something that's a national calamity. the issue is, is there a policy solution that's a good one? i don't think this is something you can legislate. i don't think you could have more gun control laws. we have them here, involving what to do with somebody was involved in domestic violence. he never should've been able to get a gun. what you had here was a government failure to do his job and thankfully you had a former nra trainer, somebody who train people on how to use weapons, stepped bravely out of his home and entered into the fray, took a risk for his own life. to stop the shooter, to shoot them twice. the government didn't work. here you had an nra trainer who did work. the question is what's an effective policy to stop it from happening? i don't fault people for searching for solutions and saying we should do x or y in

the wake of a shooting or calamity or terrorist attack. the question is, is the solution a good one? gun control is not. >> shannon: ari fleischer, general keane, thank you. when we return, donna brazile levels new stunning allegations against the democratic party shoes to lead. all of that comes hours before election day in two critical state races. we will hear from a woman who found herself face-to-face with a gunman as he shot to kill innocent churchgoers in colorad colorado.

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>> shannon: president trump promising to get tax of harm by christmas. members of the party signaling they want changes made. politics editor chris stirewalt and fox news contributor charles hurt join me. >> good to see you. sorry i'm not down there. >> shannon: you will be punished accordingly. we will figure it out. it's not only democrats -- mip the g.o.p. itself. >> simply find the tax code, cutting taxes sounds really great. it's a noble mission. but then when you get down to the brass tacks to start taking away things for people, tax exemptions ever but he likes everybody has. then he gets ugly. i think that's where the republicans are right now. obviously if democrats are going to sit on the sidelines and refuse to participate in any of it, it makes it really

difficult. >> shannon: chris, the senate is going to have its own versio version. you've got a bicameral situatio situation. in a party situation. >> arbitrate deadlines don't help. this is something we learned on obamacare. arbitrary deadlines don't help because you blow them and it looks like it's in trouble and then everybody says it's a lost cause. the other thing that doesn't help is skewing from your basic precepts. republicans of at a great brand with voters for 30, 40 years. they don't raise taxes on anybody ever. republicans are always against raising people's taxes. in this case, they are raising taxes on some people, lowering taxes on other people. it's not their brand. it doesn't work. the final thing is, they are making the argument on the other side of the grounds. they lost obamacare because they made the metric how many people are insured? when you and mack free insurance, fewer people are going to have it. and this one, the metric is rich people have to pay more taxes. not going to be a tax cut

conservatives are going to like. >> shannon: quickly, there are people who say they've forgotten about cutting spending. >> hello. washington doesn't have a tax problem. it has a spending problem. if they had begun with that at the very beginning, this whole process would be easier. >> shannon: gentlemen, we have to leave it there. chris and i will get back to you on that, charlie. >> i like that "hello." >> shannon: all right, hello and goodbye. gentlemen, coming up are going to have the latest from the president's visit to south korea coming live. stick around whoooo. i enjoy the fresher things in life. fresh towels. fresh soaps. and of course, tripadvisor's freshest, lowest...

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>> shannon: come back tomorrow night for the very latest on the president's trip to asia, as he was alive this hour, the president touches down to is it with the troops at camp humphreys in seoul, south korea. it is all happening right around this time, so you come to the right place. most-watched, most trusted and most grateful that you spent the evening with us.

tonight from washington, i'm shannon bream. ♪ >> i believe it makes sense for north korea to do the right thing not only for you north korea but humanity all over the world. a lot of good reason behind it. we are making a lot of progress. >> the president is doing this trip the right way so far. it has been a very good trip to japan. >> he didn't bring james taylor to sing you've got a friend when he visits japan or south korea because he doesn't have to. >> let's remind the world girls play too. >> we stand behind these people. >>