president has rightly called an act of pure evil. one man, 29-year-old sonny melton, traveled from tennessee to las vegas for the concert with his wife heather. when the bullets began ringing down, sonny shielded her from dair danger. lindsey pageant. they fled from the scene and immediately returned with their pickup truck to rescue. what they did says more about who we are as americans than the cowardly acts of a killer ever could. >> just some of the coverage from today thus far. brian williams back here with you from new york. we're going to start our coverage this hour with the death toll at 58 with over 500 people injured. with nbc's steve patterson. he's been on the scene there since early this morning. and he is with us now. steve, what have you watched change from your vantage point? >> well, brian, the scene is drastically different than it

was this morning. we started out shortly after that shooting rushing to the scene with people rushing at us. we didn't know exactly which direction they were coming from because we didn't know necessarily where all the shooting was. there was conflicting reports about multiple reports of shooting throughout the city. so police were in place very early on. they had squad cards lined up against groups of them in riot gear. lined up against groups of them with long rifles aiming at different positions. because they are getting different reports in. so as we rush in and people are rushing out, we're realizing where the action is, which is behind my right shoulder here back towards the mandalay bay hotel where that shooter was up above 32 -- in the 32nd floor shooting down at a crowd of 22,000 people. been listening to the coverage. our experts saying it doesn't take an expert marksman to take aim at a group that large. so as we got on scene, we started speaking to some of the

victims that came from that scene. a lot of them we've heard from. you heard of people who had to survive by basically piling bodies on top of themselves to play dead. others hiding in bushes for hours not knowing what's happening in the outside world. others ducking in to hotels and thanking people that let them stay with them throughout the night as the panic increased and then finally passed. so the survivor stories absolutely incredible but again, now we've seen a complete change in the posturing of police, obviously. the threat to public safety has ended so they've lifted a lot of the blockades they've had. this section used to be swarming and teeming with the police presence. now it is just back towards the scene behind me with police now focused on the investigation as this move forward. looking into the motive. the background of the shooter. looking into how this occurred and what would cause a 64-year-old man to take aim at a crowd like that. those are the questions that are left to be answered.

meanwhile, business as usual along the strip. if you are further down, you might have no idea that this shooting even occurred. the casinos are packed with people once again. the slot machines are buzzing. people are outside enjoying taking pictures. but here, it is still a somber scene when you get closer to what happened. and it's really apparent when you get to this area, brian. >> steve patterson, thank you for that live report on the situation. and indeed how the situation and the scene there has changed over just the course of today. our nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has been on this story all day. and, pete, what i'm waiting to hear from your sources are the traces. looking back. any indication that in this hotel room was a man who was either deeply troubled or had snapped or had a plan to do what he did. >> in terms of the answers to

those questions, brian, we're starting to get a little more granularity here. we know that he bought at least some of these weapons legally. we've spoken to some gun shows that say they sold him weapons. and there was nothing in his background to disqualify him from buying firearms and no limit on the number of firearms you can buy if you are a resident of nevada, as he was. and nothing in federal law to prohibit it. so he bought some of these weapons legally but we still don't know because we're told the investigators don't yet know how it was that he had in his hands fully automatic weapons last night. they don't know yet whether he got it somehow in the black market or whether he bought existing rifle. these are what they look like, according to the investigators is the ar-15 type rifle. what some people call assault weapons that have high capacity magazines. they can be converted to become

fully automatic. there are certain parts you can modify in the weapon that make them fully automatic. and we don't yet know whether these were bought as normal semiautos, meaning they fired just once when you pulled the trigger and then illegally converted or exactly how he came to have automatic weapons in his possession. that's a very important question and one they're very eager to answer. that is sort of one thing. how did he get his hands on automatic weapons. the why, why did he carry all that firepower into the hotel? man, they are nowhere near the answer to that as far as i understand it. >> pete, during the briefing with the sheriff earlier this morning, i heard a local reporter ask the sheriff how could this have happened? and her implication was that he would have checked in with visible gun cases. there would have been so many --

so many optics of him in the hotel. and the sheriff answered with some version of, how could we have stopped this? >> right, i mean the -- the premise of the question is, surely they must have seen he was carrying guns into the hotel. and they'll get the answer to that pretty soon when they go back and look at the surveillance video and figure out when it was that he checked in. they say it was on thursday. and they'll find that video, assuming it still exists, and see what kind of luggage he had. but we just don't yet know whether he was carrying traditional gun cases. it seems unlikely, but we don't know. or whether he just had it in a golf bag or any number -- a duffel bag or anything else that would conceal the fact he was carrying in this enormous cache of weapons and ammunition. it could be that there was nothing to suggest in his suitcase that he was carrying, but even if it was, even if he

had gun cases, it's not illegal to have guns. and it's not illegal to check into a hotel. question, should the hotel alert the police when anybody comes in with a bunch of guns? that's to be -- maybe that's a question for another day, but the premise of the question was, you had all these cameras. how could this be stopped? and i think the answer is, how could it have been stopped? just by the fact that he had -- even if they knew he had guns, which i'm not satisfied that they knew. >> there's also this. we've talked about it during today's coverage. there are billboards all over las vegas advertising for the big gun show in town october 7th and 8th. so it would make perfect sense that dealers, vendors would be coming into town. they have to stay somewhere. and a lot of them are going to travel with gun cases. >> i'm insure thatsure that's t. and there are gun ranges right

near that hotel that advertise you can come and practice shooting automatic weapons. so it's a gun-friendly state. it's just sort of the premise of the question, i think, the sheriff was saying is faulty in that it suggests that if anybody sees you with a gun case, they're going to automatically alert the authorities. >> absolutely. we've come to have great respect and trust in our security systems and optics and electronics but that might be a bridge too far. pete williams our justice correspondent in our washington bureau. thank you very much. we nour joined by telephone by angela rose. she and her husband were at this route 91 harvest festival watching the headline act when the gunman opened fire. angela, tell us when you first realized exactly what was happening. >> yes, brian, we were in the bleacher seats at the back of the venue. we were watching jason aldean,

just sitting, relaxing, enjoying the show. and we first heard just a couple of pops. we thought that at that point we thought it was firecrackers that somehow somebody may have brought in some firecrackers into the venue and was just playing a joke on the crowd. jason aldean heard it. i saw him look to the side. but he did sing a few -- just a few more notes. he didn't stop immediately. but the next thing that we knew, we heard a barrage of gunfire. this time, it was very rapid. it was pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. so fast that, you know, you couldn't even count how many it was. at that point, jason, you know, looked again to the side and he just went running. he sprinted off that stage, and the stage went dark. at that point, we started to observe the people that were all in front of us. a majority of the concertgoers

at that point were in front of us watching the concert. and they immediately turned towards us and began to run. and we were in the bleacher seats so we were away from the aisles of -- the foot traffic that was coming towards us. so we didn't want to go out and get into the herd, so to speak. we figured we could get injured if we went out there. at that point, we could still hear the gunfire. it was still happening, and our instinct was just to lay low. we laid as flat as possible on the floor of those bleacher seats. there was one row of seats behind use or in front of us, and we just laid behind them. i know they wouldn't provide any protection, but in that moment, there is no protection. you take what little you can get. so the people came towards uand

we stayed there for several minutes while we heard the gunfire. >> i've seen a delayed reaction in the response time. some people chose to get up immediately and run for the rear of the venue. others got low, as you did. others kind of waited it out or were confused, not sure what it was they were seeing or hearing. which you can also understand. >> right. right. it was just mass confusion. at that point, nobody understood what was going on. nobody knew exactly where the gunshots were coming from. was there a mad man running loose in the venue? i feared that if i got up and start running, maybe i would inencounter the mad man. so that -- at that time, i just felt laying low was the best thing we could do. and to be quite honest with you, i was frozen with fear. i couldn't move if i wanted to. >> sure.

as most humans would have been. i heard one young man interviewed today say that, like the movies, they could tell where the gunfire was by seeing the dust come up from the ground by seeing particles fly up from objects that were hit and they knew when they had to move when he was obviously pausing and reloading. but all of which is to say he couldn't believe he was in a combat environment. >> yes, i mean, at one point, and i may have taken video at this point. i don't know if i caught myself on the video. i haven't watched it myself. i can't bring myself to do that yet, but at one point, i remember screaming, why is it still happening? why haven't they gotten him? you know, how can this still be going on? and at the same time, i kept looking up because i did have the sense that the sound was coming from above. and, you know, we did keep looking up at the mandalay bay

building. and we saw flashing green lights on the side of the building that just didn't belong. but the sound of the gunfire didn't match the flashing of the green lights because sound travels at a different rate than light. and we just didn't quite -- it just didn't compute in those few moments what was -- if that was related or not. but then afterwards, when we thought about it, we knew then that that had to be what we saw was where he was. >> we've been watching your video while you've been talking mixed in with some others, shot by some other people. did you see the -- were the wounded coming past you? were some of the people coming past you, people who had been hit by gunfire? >> yes, definitely. they were heading in our direction. we witnessed many people that were injured, that were shot and bleeding, and they were being carried on both sides.

men on both arms, you know, essentially dragging the shooting victims out and they were shouting as they were running saying, he's shot, he's shot. get out of the way. so that they could get those people out as quickly as possible. and we also saw numerous people that were covered in blood that wasn't their own. and, you know, you had to ask somebody, are you okay because you couldn't tell by looking at their clothing because it was just drenched. >> let me ask you, are you okay? >> i'm still shaken up. i mean, we are physically okay. emotional scars will last. and i'm just thankful that my husband could stay calm through it all. he, you know, he took care of me and got me to safety when i was in complete panic.

and, you know, i couldn't function. i mean, i'm the most sensible human being but yet i couldn't function in that moment, but he got me out. and he said his biggest regret was that he couldn't go back and help others because once you left, you couldn't come back. but his top priority was to get me to safety, which he did. and, you know, we're just thankful to be here. we have essentially been in our room at the hotel ever since. and we only ventured out this morning to eat. and we're awaiting our flight home. it's not until later today so we're praying that it goes on time and we can get home safely and be with our families again. >> may your biggest worry today be an on-time flight. >> exactly.

>> you've survived the worst of it. thank you so much for sharing your story. i'm sorry for what you've been through, and we'll be thinking about all of you in the days to come. we appreciate it. angella rose whose video we've been watching. jolean kent is outside university medical center in southern nevada where some of the victims are being treated. actually in las vegas proper. jolene, what is it like there? >> well, we actually moved locations, brian. we're now at the united blood donation center where you can see behind me right here, there are hundreds if not thousands of people donating blood. they have heeded the call from city officials and from public officials. and you can see it's not just people in line here which, by the way, this line sneaks all the way around this enormous building. you can see here water is really of the essence because we're talking about very hot temperatures here in las vegas. people are standing in the sun. standing here for hours n hours.

we talked to some people at the back of the line who have been here since very early in the morning. at another blood center we met relatives of victims who, very sadly, have passed away. they were killed in the shooting. and they were standing to donate blood for five to six hours. and what you see here, brian, is a community really coming together. there is food being delivered from all kinds of small businesses, large businesses. we've seen walmart and chick-fil-a and all kinds of small bakeries here pulling up, dropping off everything from ice cream to corn dogs to food to make sure people are eating as they wait in line to donate blood. but the spirit is very high considering how tragic this event has been. in the last 24 hours here. and you have tons of volunteers coming out to keep things organized and peaceful. n surpri and surprisingly, a very peaceful, happy mood here in las vegas at this blood center. but we can show you the line just goes all the way back here. all the way around this building. and it's multiple layers.

it's longer than any amusement park ride you'd ever want to line up for here but you can see folks set up tents. volunteers put up tents here bringing out coolers. the need for blood, according to the director of umc who i spoke to earlier, is very high. this continues to be a need. people are showing up in droves. back to you in new york. >> we apologize for the in and out nature of the video. we're using portable technology, as we can, in the field. jolene kent, thank you for your live report. here in the studio, we're now joined by shawn henry, former executive stuftant director of the fbi. also an nbc news contributor. and president and chief security officer of crowd strike services. michael balboni, former new york state homeland security adviser. gentlemen, welcome to you both. michael, you are new to our studio for the purposes of this discussion. what will we learn from what

they call in the military and national security business the after action report, when it's all looked at. what do you think will change? >> the strategy going forward is going to center around what are the things you can do that are scalable and sustainable within the resources of this community to try to deter this from happening. no strategy is fool-proof. but there are some key elements when you try to protect a mass gathering like this. sight lines. potential sight lines for an attack like this. usually something the secret service certainly considers. and a way to defeat that, create obfiscation. create screening so you can't see into the crowd specifically. some situations, depending upon the threat level you can have an overwatch where you can use, the secret service does countersniper. the question is, is that appropriate in these kinds of venues? is this the threshold event that's going to change how we see mass gatherings?

>> how can you, in a city like las vegas, the member of the sheriff's -- former sheriff of the city of las vegas said ten of the 12 largest hotels in the world are located in that one city. all of outdoor public life goes on within sight lines of these huge buildings. this is a tough one to enforce. >> it sure is. and that's why you have to think in terms of different strategies. there are capabilities and systems that again, the federal anxieties will use, where there's a coordination among law enforcement with on the ground intel. social media monitoring. being able to put this into a situation, a rapid response capability. it is not fool-proof. it's not going to stop everything that could possibly be imagined. but what it would do is create a rapid response capability that perhaps would have terminated this quicker but also provide deterrence. that's what's going to happen as with the manchester bombing that happened.

we begin to take a look at two things. expanding the area of protection and having a protection after the event which is something we hadn't thought of. >> after an event is nothing, but as they say in the ghoulish business of security, soft targets exiting a venue. a lot of security folks thought our job is done now. they are on their way home. >> i think that's exactly right. you have got to look at the egress. what we've seen a number of times is people positioned at the egress to try and create this type of havoc and death as we saw in england. the security is not over until the people are home safely. and the security doesn't even end beyond that. you've got to continue to use your intelligence to identify who these attackers may be. and beyond the venue, the perimeter of the venue, there's a lot that law enforcement can continue to do with the use of canines, explosive canines, with the use of surveillance and cameras and the like looking for

somebody who might be ready to launch an attack. >> what would you have had to have on a guy like this to know he's in town and he's checked into a hotel suite on the 32nd floor? >> finding out that he checked into a hotel suite is not in and of itself. having the prerequisite information that would allow you to collect and provide that information to law enforcement is critical. we have a right to privacy in this country. and while we have the ability to collect a lot of data and to share it, it's got to be done using an authorized judicial process. if law enforcement had reason to believe this person was coming to town, he had made statements and he was going to create this type of havoc in the community, then they would have been able to pull those records. the key piece is, what is the prerequisite knowledge? the pred cat to allow law enforcement to use those authorities that are set specifically when you know someone or believe somebody is about to commit a crime. >> which is how the secret

service works. they come into town prior to the president's visit to town for any known emotional cases, known criminal cases and try to get a handle on where everybody is. >> already on the radar screen. this guy didn't have a former military background that we can determine. so everyone is thinking the way he did this, he had some type of training but in reality, this amount of firepower at this distance is not that difficult. but we know he planned. chances are he was in that room. he saw what was going on. it's premeditated. it's not some random event. the profile has emerged so far is very unique and as such is very troubling. the lone wolf scenarios presented here is a challenge that law enforcement security personnel have been faced with for a very long time. the guy below the radar screen. you really can't see him coming. >> this deserves rewatching. this came as if this is to be believed an enormous surprise to

the family of the now dead gunman. here is his brother outside his house in florida. >> like i said, find out who sold him the machine gun. there's no -- i'm -- i don't know what else to say. i just -- i mean, it's his fault that he did this, but i'd like to know where he found the machine gun because that's not something easy to come by, i assume. and he's not -- he has no criminal record. nothing, nothing, nothing. no affiliations with anything. there's nothing. >> [ inaudible ]. >> describe what went through your head when you found out it was your brother's name that came out. >> i thought it was somebody joking. if all my cell phones and house phones didn't all light up with las vegas pd on them, i would have thought it was some dopey friend of mine making a joke.

there's no -- there's just -- i mean, we were working with the cops since the first thing trying to, you know -- trying to understand or, you know, trying to make it -- do what we could. there's just nothing -- we've got nothing to give you. there's just nothing. he was just a guy. >> what do you make of that? he was just a guy? >> mental health. like the virginia tech. there's some mental health component here that may explain what's going on. no other relationships that he knew about. but that's what's going on. there's an investigation as to his social media footprint. what's in his house? who are his friends? perhaps the brother didn't know there was a secret life. we say that all the time where people conduct business outside of the visibility of their friends and family. >> this is my theory of the lone wolf. just a guy until he takes a hammer to the corner of a window in a hotel room intent on

killing people below. it's just a car until it takes a left on the bridge over the river thames and starts mowing people down in an instant. >> i don't believe that it's just in an instant. this has been going on for quite some time. he accumulated those weapons over a long period of time. people knew that. his brother says, i didn't know he had machine guns, yet he took time and we've heard just reentsly that he acquired some of those lawfully. there clearly were parts of his life his brother had no visibility. there were other people that were aware. his girlfriend, neighbors, former co-workers. there are people who had interaction with him, and i think that over the next couple of days or even weeks, we'll start to get a much clearer picture about who this guy was and what motivated him. what pushed him over the edge. this didn't just happen overnight. this was preplanned for him to accumulate those types of weapons and check in five days ago and do what he did last night. >> our next guest who is a

frentd friend of ours combines your line of work and our line of work. ken delaney. about these weapons, as of 4:26 eastern time, what do we know? >> well, brian, we know that they seized more than 10 rifles in the hotel room. but the brother asked a question. do they know who sold him the machine gun. we don't know if he had a machine gun, fully automatic weapon. those have been illegal since 1986. however, you can get one if you register. there are ways to legally acquire pre-1986 weapons. also cheap and easy ways to modify semiautomatic weapons that are legally and readily available. the other issue is it's not easy for the atf to trace gun ownership in this country. there's no national gun database to trace the serial numbers quickly. it often takes them a long time because they're dealing with paper records and in some cases

microfilm at an agency in martinsburg, west virginia. there's been a lot of reporting on this because of pressure from the gun lobby and congressional restrictions. the atf has difficulty tracing gun ownership. and that may be one of the reasons we don't yet know whether there was a machine gun and, if so, who sold it to this perpetrator. >> will we ultimately find out about all of the weapons in that room or may some of them -- some of them could have been a cache, untraceable transaction? >> it's likely we'll find out the particulars on whether there was a modified machine gun. the ownership is traceable. generally. it just takes longer than most investigators would like to see happen, brian. >> and what else have you looked into during the day? what more do we know about this guy than we knew first thing this morning? >> you know, just looking at his profile, as these mass shootings go, this suspect seems to be more of a high functioning suspect than we've seen in the past. this guy is a licensed pilot.

he's a high-rolling gambler. he was involved in cash transactions in casinos of more than $10,000 over a series of days. he has had a number of properties. so what we don't yet know are the crucial questions about his mental state of mind. that's probably the most important thing to learn about here. >> ken delaney, thank you. gentlemen, thank you for your end of the business and your part of this gruesome and hideous story. joining us now is storme warren, a sirius xm radio host who was at the music festival and witnessed the shooting. and storme, thank you for being with us. and as i ask all of our guests, all of the people who witnessed what they did, start with when you realized something was wrong. >> when we realized the rat-a-tat sound was not a

pyrotechnic device or audio glitch when it repeated and was a longer string of rat-a-tat-tats and we started to see the chaos and jason aldean's band get ushered off the stage. we knew instantly something was wrong and it clicked in this was not pyrotechnics. this was not an audio glitch. it was automatic rifle fire. we could tell where it was coming from. i would have said the roof of mandalay bay, but i was a few floors off. everybody was pointing in the same general direction. you could hear it coming from there. >> storme, walk me through what you did then after the firing started. >> well, it was actually watching the bullets dance off the stage deck and watching people drop in the crowd from the stage. we jumped off the stage and hid behind a concrete barrier stage right which separated us between the mandalay bay and we were

able to crouch down below it. and the bullets continued to fly overhead and land on trailers around us. you could hear the tick, tick, tick as the bullets were flying everywhere. this guy did not seem like he was just pinpointing a target. he was just raining bullets across the crowd. and that was the scariest part. i don't want to say it would have been better. if he would have had a target, there would have been something to focus on. but it was just random firing and then to see once the firing stopped, to go out and try to help people and to see exactly how many people he hit. i mean, it sounded like hundreds and hundreds of bullets. i couldn't even quote you a number. then to see the number of casualties instantly out in the -- to see the casualties and to see the injured and more importantly, those who were gone. i mean, just like that. in an instant, watching a country music concert.

very sobering. very stressful. very chaotic. and -- but the sense of humanity in that situation, i cannot say enough about everybody chipping in to help whoever was in need. >> from one moment to the next it was a family event. it was a beautiful night. to your point, to hundreds of thousands of rounds we have over 500 injured. we have 58 fatalities. as of right now, and you can listen on the audio. you can listen to what appears to be the soundtrack of a war movie. >> yeah. it was real. i mean, i can't listen to that noise. i hear it in the background, and it's the noise i could go the rest of my life without ever hearing again. it was on the news last night. when we got back to a safe place and we had to turn the sound down on the television. our veterans who do this for a 9:00 to 5:00 job or 24-hour job

and our military servicemen and women who deal with this on a daily basis, i have a profound respect for having to get used to that sound. it's not one anybody in our country should have to get used to. >> storme warren, my apologies for getting your name wrong initially, but what was important here is you bearing witness to what we've been reporting on all day. we're glad you're well. our hearts and prayers are going out to those who are not. what a terrible, terrible strategy that you witnessed in las vegas. we appreciate you being willing to talk about it. as the country came to grips with what had happened in the early morning hours, president trump chose to give a statement about las vegas this morning at the white house. >> my fellow americans, we are joined together today in sadness, shock and grief.

last night a gunman opened fire on a large crowd at a country music concert in las vegas, nevada. he brutally murdered more than 50 people and wounded hundreds more. it was an act of pure evil. may god bless the souls of the lives that are lost. may god give us the grace of healing, and may god provide the grieving families with strength to carry on. >> later in the afternoon, the pences and the trumps pause d. they rang a single chime from the first balcony. they were accompanied by members

of the white house staff and the military for this moment of silence, after which they filed back inside the white house. and like it or not, like all of the events in our news, this is tied to our politics, at least the discussion of it given the issues in our news. joining us to talk about that, the usual host of this hour on msnbc, nicolle wallace, peter baker is with us, white house correspondent for "the new york times," and kristen welker is with us from the white house lawn having covered this from there all day. kristen, let's start with you and the kind of hard news angle of this. how did you watch this progress as something the white house

really needed to get its arms around as the rest of the country was kind of waking up and understanding this was a staggering mass casualty event. >> it was clear from the very early morning hours of this day, brian, that the white house shifted its focus almost entirely to what was unfolding in las vegas. i can tell you there were a series of meetings this morning. the president was briefed first thing this morning by his chief of staff, and then we were told he's been briefed repeatedly in the aftermath of that. this is something that has really dominated their attention. what has been striking is that we have also witnessed a -- an amount of emotion that you don't typically see here at the white house. sarah huckabee sanders getting choked up during the press briefing as she answered questions about this. i can tell you that a number of the questions did focus on what the next steps should be.

if this shooting has in any way changed the president's thinking when it comes to having stiffer gun legislation. sanders reiterated his commitment to the second amendment but largely said today is not the day to talk about politics or policy. obviously, there are those who think that there should be stiffer gun laws, and this has reinvigorated their argument saying, if not today, then when? that includes the senators from connecticut, including senator blumenthal who said if we don't act now, when will we? so that is how the debate is evolving. president trump preparing to visit puerto rico tomorrow. but then on wednesday, he will be traveling to las vegas and when we asked sara sanders what that visit would look like, she said he's going to be meet with first responders, as well as those who have been impacted by the horrific events in las vegas. the president calling this an act of pure evil. the flags have been lowered to half staff. this is a response that is

ongoing, but one that is clearly deeply emotional for this president and his staff, brian. >> so peter baker, an incredibly sad moment, say nothing of the city of las vegas trying to come back together again. but for all of us looking on, and it has come as they say, at an interesting time for donald trump and this white house following an unusual weekend. >> well, it really has. of course, it comes at the same time he's coping with the hurricane in puerto rico, his response, the federal government's response has at times been criticized. he's made the point they're doing everything they can. it's an unusual role for him. not the most comfortable role for him being consoler in chief, comforter in chief. he made his political persona based on fighting, on being a fighter for various causes for various issues. now he's being tested in a way that every president is, ultimately, at some point during their administration. how to be a leader to pull

people together at a time of great grief and a time of, not just tragedy but a time of confusion. what are we to make of this? we look to the president, any president, to help us sort through it. what is the lesson of this. how can we get through this? what does this tell us about our country? president obama, obviously, had that happen. i remember the first time with the ft. hood shootings in his first year in office. obviously president bush with 9/11. president clinton, oklahoma city. each president has to transcend politics and become the leader of the nation. this is president trump's time. >> nicolle, i don't have a question for you so much as i'm curious to hear what you've been seeing and sensing and hearing all day and where you put this for perspective. >> you know, i put this in two places. in terms of this president's public pronouncements and attempts to unite, i can only find two others. one would be in the hours after steve scalise was shot

practicing for baseball. the other would be in his -- it's debatable whether or not he achieved it, but i think in his mind, his goal for his address to congress which they don't call a state of the union the first time you give it but that address to the joint session of congress was in his mind an attempt to unite. he talked about curing illnesses. it was a speech he set out to lay out an agenda that would bring people together more than his campaign had and more than his inaugural had. i've only seen him as president try to unite people two other times. it's not something he has a lot of practice at doing. he spends a lot more time speaking directly to his very animated loyal, faithful base. that's largely who he's targeting on twitter, who he is speaking to in the fights that peter baker alluded to. there's another category you have to put today's comments in because it's so divergent and

those are the other two mass shootings that have taken place. one was at the pulse nightclub. he had a very different reaction than the one he had today. he was just a candidate. he wasn't the president of the country. he didn't represent the country as our president, but the other was san bernardino. in both those instances, he was quick to get ahead of the fact pattern and quick to advocate for a policy that meant a lot to him. he came out and advocated on behalf of his travel ban at the time. at that time called it a muslim ban. so this speech today is interesting because it falls in both the category of the things donald trump has said in the hours after a tragic, senseless mass shooting, as well as attempts he has made as president to unite people, which is not, again, not something he spends a lot of time doing. >> peter baker, there's been a lot of discussion about his, in some cases, his first response or his verbiage being absent empathy. i thought one of the questions at the briefing today was going

to go right there and was going to in effect say to sarah huckabee sanders is he going to have empathy in his heart or words when he goes out there to las vegas? >> well, you are right that he's not known for empathy. he's known for, you know, for mixing it up. this is obviously -- he will be tested tomorrow in puerto rico and again in las vegas on wednesday to sort of be the comforter in chief. he did that during the hurricanes in florida. put aside some of the fights he's been having to go down there to wrap his arms around people who have been hurt and suffering and to try to sort of transcend the politics of the moment. obviously, he's going to spend a lot of this week having to do that. not what he expected. not what we could have imagined to do when we went to sleep. that's the task for him this

week. >> this is a genuine national tragedy by any measure. how does the white house deal with this tomorrow, next day, on through next weekend? >> you know, i was interested listening to kristen welker's reporting. of course he was getting briefed by his chief of staff and the fbi has access to some information before it's made available to people like us. that's normal. but there's so much that you learn from the media. and on 9/11, i will never forget sitting in my white house office watching the "today" show and as the staff, at the highest levels, they often have access to information that everyone doesn't have but the kinds of people putting together a statement probably got a lot of what they knew and a lot of what they sort of emoted and tried to represent for him for what they were watching on television. there are moments that need a president and there are moments a president has to come and meet. this is a moment a president has to come and meet. we're talking about empathy as

though it's something we wonder about. it's frankly something that he has failed at largely. he has shown a capacity to root for people who root for him. but there have not been a lot of displays of empathy or compassion for people who have been either critics of his or detractors. so this is a moment where he's going to have to travel a little distance to meet the moment. and i think that presidents and presidencies are always shaped by how a president reacts to an event out of their control. yet white house staffs spend much of their time either crafting legislation or trying to sort of force their will or force an agenda on the moment when most people going about their lives judge a presidency by how the president responds to a moment not of their making. >> peter baker, this may call for a judgment on your part, but again, to speak english, this interrupted a weekend of some

victim blaming as the president went after puerto rico, puerto ricans and the mayor of san juan. does this national tragedy change his verbiage or the way he carries himself in puerto rico tomorrow? >> that's a very good question. you had sort of imagined the trip to puerto rico tomorrow could be one of tension because, in fact, as you say, there has been this back and forth with the mayor of san juan and others out there. he's alternated between statements of resolve and reassurance that we're doing our best. we're going to get there. hang tight. you are our fellow americans. and this sort of, you know, unusual fight with the mayor over whether she's being political because she is calling for help and not satisfied with what had gotten to puerto rico. that's not what most presidents do in national disasters like this. it is a characteristic of this

president to respond to anything he sees as a sleight. tomorrow given this extra tragedy hanging over uyou wonder whether he'll be more somber and whether he'll be more subdued and focus more on the comforting part of the job and put aside some of the fighting for now. it's hard to imagine in this environment, you know, not doing that as a president but we dont know. we haven't seen him in a situation quite like this yet. it's going to be a real test. when he reads from the script as he did today, he can say the right things. it's when he kind of goes off script that sometimes he has a way of, you know, creating issues or exacerbating issues that are -- do tend to be divisive. and as nicolle said, presidents are made in these moments. when president clinton responded to the oklahoma city bombing, it helped him tran sknd and restore

his presidency. he was seen as a leader. same with president bush early in his tenure he transcended the divisiveness of the recount in the early days and became national leader in that moment with the bull horn on the wrecked fire hydrant and the national cathedral speech. these are moments presidents rise to the occasion because we as a country want them to and need them to. and so for president trump, this is both an obligation and an opportunity. >> so an analysis i heard over the weekend before this tragedy, as part of the context for puerto rico that i'd be curious what kristen and peter baker's reporting suggests to this theory that was positted to me. the white house staff under general kelly views things as being either below the line, which is the general kelly being the line and all the things that he could have improved for this president are largely in place. that was getting rid of steve bannon who was attacking the national security adviser. that was improving processes,

having things bubble up so that -- i think from now on, private jet travel will be vetted by the white house. >> i think so. >> so they describe those things as being under the line, in their control. the things they describe as above the line are donald trump's public utterances, donald trump's twitter feed, and the things that donald trump will say in the meeting, whether they are there or not. so i guess my question today, to either peter or kristen is, how much of the response today was above the line, donald trump's personal reaction to what he saw, and how much of this was below the line? people who understand everything you've been talking about about the history of either ronald reagan and the "challenger" moment, barack obama channeling the nation's grief after newtown. how much of this was below the line? this is a moment where the world will be watching you. this is a moment that could define your presidency. and how much of this was above the line, the president's

instin instincts? i guess to peter first. >> i'm sure his staff impressed upon him the obligations of the moment. what's expected of him in this moment. remember, none of his experience as a real estate developer, as an entertainment host on television has he ever sort of found this kind of, you know, a situation. there was one moment i think when he was a builder that a helicopter with some of his top executives went down and crashed and there were fatalities. that's a closest thing i can think of where he was a leader and required to be a consoler in chief. this is a grander, bigger, more important and epic scale. so, you know, did he have the right instincts or did they impress upon him or some mix? that's a good question. i think we have seen over time that there are moments when president trump can stick to a plan, but they are often interrupted by, you know, moments of impulse or, you know, ad hoc comments that tend to

take away from what he had accomplished. so john kelly has not made it his business to change donald trump. he has made it his business to create a better white house for donald trump to operate in. and a better white house for donald trump to operate in and if he can help the president on a paf toward a better presidency he deal that but he doesn't pretend he'll change the president of the united states. >> there was also the policy toward north korea and rocket man that we didn't get to, kristen welker, about those ad-l ad-libs, one of them was today, just a sentence fragment about the president believing maybe one day in las vegas. is that going to be the design for the trip? he indicated it could be more. >> we have asked the white house about that. they say they're still working on the final details, brian. so it's possible. he dangled that possibility out there that he does spend more

than one day but that hasn't been confirmed and i think that underscores the tension the chief of staff deals with in terms of trying to have a messaging that is streamlined coming out of the white house not only from the president but his staff. to that point i would say it's clear that at least from the senior level perspective there is an attempt to turn the page on those tensions leading up to the visit in puerto rico tomorrow. sarah huckabee sanders asked how tense she thought the visit might be and she said look, we invited the mayor of san juan to attend these events so there's a clear attempt to play cleanup and that i think underscores the point nicole was making that general john kelly clearly trying to keep things running on a smooth footing despite the fact that sometimes his boss the president goes off script but i would sense behind the scenes they are trying to impress upon the president that it's

important his tone and every word is pitch perfect tomorrow and wednesday. >> to kristen, to peter and to the woman who is normally the hoist of this hour everyday 4:00 p.m. eastern time, nicolle wallace, thank you all. the political backdrop never goes away but the events in front of it change as it did dramatically today. speaking of what we've watched unfold in las vegas, we have some aud audio. it is short of the moment the local las vegas p.d. swat team stormed what they then knew to be the hotel room, the corner suite on the 32nd floor. >> we're going to sit on the suspect's door. i need nerve that hallway to be aware of it and get back. we need to pop this and see if we get any type of response from this guy to see if he's in here or moved somewhere else. >> all units on the 32nd floor, swath has explosive breach.

everyone needs to move back. all units move back. >> breach, breach, breach. >> with us to talk about what we've heard, jim cavanaugh, a retired atf special agent in charge and former hostage negotiator himself. jim, i'm guessing you're going to tell me that's how it's done. >> that's how it done. it can't be done better. las vegas metro s.w.a.t. did textbook case and also patrol. you had the sheriff on talking about putting rifles. we called that s.w.a.t. light where patrol officers can get a vest on, get a rifle and respond to the emergency. likely they got up there to the 29th floor, swat is coming, they kind of located him in that floor, they got a static position then swat can come in. remember you have to breach the door. people don't think about things like that but a guy locks the

door, how do you get in? the s.w.a.t. commander radioed to tell everybody on the floor, that would be patrol officers, s.w.a.t. light not just his s.w.a.t. team because it's a large hotel sew the perimeter was probably large outside of the s.w.a.t. operators and they'll breach and see if they got a reaction. was he going to kill himself? we haven't heard the fact of he might have shot himself after the explosive breaching so we don't know that fact. i think your discussion is a good one and we have to rethink all across america how we do this with our police, nobody could have done this better than metro s.w.a.t. they did the job as good as it can be done but our political leaders have to rethink how we do this, too. do we need to have s.w.a.t. operators closer together in a hidden location near the

downtown almost like a fire company ready to go and ready to get there? can we cut the time down any time in any of these responses, not just las vegas but orlando and any other city? can we cut that time because all the time we can cut down to get those s.w.a.t. teams in we can engage these killers and we're going to have terrorist killers, we're going to have hate killers and we have to get there quick. we have the active shooter training but sometimes you need s.w.a.t. similar tos you could have explosive belts. you could have a seat like we had in bali so you sometimes have to rethink how you'll deploy those teams and that takes money and manpower and we're sometimes reluctant to do that so city leaders should listen to their police chiefs and sheriffs and tactical commanders if they think there's

a better way that might could be done to improve times across the board. >> jim, to that moment of breach, as you point out. all they know about the occupant or perhaps deceased occupant of that room on the 32nd floor is that he has been a tremendous lethal force. that he has not hesitated to take human life. don't you have to assume that he won't hesitate to take human life as they come through the door or has booby trapped the door or something like that? >> exactly. they don't know if there's one actor or multiple actors. they don't know if he's wearing a suicide belt. they absolutely know he's been firing a machine gun for quite a long time at citizens below. but s.w.a.t. operators practice

all the time. they know how to move. they know how to shoot, they have the right tools but you have to get them there quick and back them up. i think las vegas did it as good as anybody could do in the the world but we have to listen how it can be done better. when it's a-plus, how can we do it better? that's how we become the best at it. there's always room for improvement. even if you win the world series you come back the next year, how can we bebetter? >> that's great to hear all of it and the professionalism under incredible stress just throng that audiotape is a lesson for all of us. jim cavanaugh, thanks earlier we checked in with jo ling kent inside a blood services center where in effect the people of

las vegas have been told and so many of them want to help. want to do something. . there are many of the wounded needed help. >> that's right. there was a call for blood donations and the las vegas community has responded in droves. you saw hundreds of people we showed you earlier. we're joined by mitzi we have. >> we're getting hundreds not just at this las vegas location but our other las vegass locations across the country. great response. >> how does it feel? we've heard people say they haven't seen this since 9/11? >> having been here through 9/11, this is equal to that. the outpouring of from the community across the country. we have people show up at 2:00

a.m. once they heard what happened to get in line to donate blood. >> if people want to donate, how do they do it? >> look at your local blood center. they work together as a safety net to make sure the supply goes where the demand is so we try to supply local areas. when we need help we reach out to other blood centers to reach out and find out how to donate. >> as viewers see long lines, hundreds of people, maybe a thousand, will you be able to take everyone in? >> we are assessing that right now. the community outpouring had been phenomenal but at some point we may need to stop taking donors for today. we're looking aassessing hours for the remainder of the week but we want people to keep that passion that they want to donate blood and even if you donate within the next few weeks, that blood will benefit someone who needs it. >> i want to introduce viewers to mike behind us.

you're here donating not blood but platelets today. what do you hope to do with your donation? >> every time i donate i like to help someone. always help someone in a sad time we're going through to help assistance for those that need it. >> and when you heard the news, was it last night this morning? >> this morning. waking up to it. >> what went through your head. >> not saying another 9/11 but it hit local, it's here, right around the corner, it doesn't feel right and i'm sad for those who had to suffer. >> but seeing this response has been so powerful. >> it's nice to have everybody come together and help out. >> mike, thank you very much for your time. brian, that's what we have. we're in a very busy blood center. if you want to donate blood it's one pint every eight weeks. back to you. >> jo ling kent exclusively